7 June 2020
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 sources worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Debut album from the Libertines and Babyshambles leader's new band recorded live in France
6.4
Pete's latest is an album of serene folk songs. The former kid in the riot now seems more at home as the old man by the sea Read Review
As Doherty once sang, “Let’s get straight to the heart of the matter”, and the heart of the matter on this record carries so much weight and substance, but it is presented in light playful ways and therein lies its appeal and beauty Read Review
A deeper dive into the grooves pays substantial dividends, not just with Doherty's impermeable gift for melody and neat turns of phrase but the intriguing torrent of witty self-examination. Print edition only
Great for the die-hards, fairly inconsequential for everyone else Read Review
This sensitive, late-Dexys style psych-Celt outfit mould Doherty’s numb-tongued half-songs into evocative reflections of their pastoral surroundings, but the album is backloaded with meandering, semi-bothered filler Read Review
Doherty still brazenly peddles this mediocre drivel, an overflowing Keep Calm And Carry On ashtray blight on our culture that’s bizarrely still admired, and his beloved Good Ship Albion sails merrily on. Please God, someone send a U-Boat Read Review
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Brigid Mae Power Head Above The Water
Rich, textural melodies with arresting narrative lyrics make up the Irish artist’s third record The FT
Run The Jewels RTJ4
The duo’s timely fourth album deploys booming basslines and dystopian imagery to confront the US’s oldest trauma The FT
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Sideways to New Italy
It’s an album that you can leave on the background at a patio party or really delve into its intricacies with headphones on Northern Transmission
Hinds The Prettiest Curse
The band's grown up, but they haven't lost their edge Paste Magazine
Mike's lyrical dedications to the downtrodden and disenfranchised throughout RTJ4 amount to a fitting soundtrack for this fractured moment. Exclaim
Killer Mike and El-P craft a hard-hitting manifesto of boisterous anthems and fearless criticism Consequence Of Sound
Sonic Boom All Things Being Equal
Kember’s clients and partners know he’s immune from changing zeitgeists, which is partly why they work with him. Perhaps it’s appropriate he’s now set the controls to dialling-up his own past The Arts Desk
Urgent, retro-futurist and profoundly absorbing. Print edition only Mojo
He has clearly been galvanised creatively. What an excellent record. Print edition only Uncut
The ultimate question is: was the album worth a thirty year wait? The answer is a resounding YES. Just don’t leave it so long next time though Clash
It's a lovely return to the scene for Sonic Boom that finds him in full control of his vision and making music that stands proudly next to the best work he made in his so-called glory days in the 1990s All Music
All things being equal, this is arguably Pete Kember’s finest body of work since Spacemen 3 Under The Radar
Their notable consistency and subtle growth prove this is an act constantly on the rise and one to continue to watch Under The Radar
Aussie indie band’s second album might be the best guitar record of 2020 so far Rolling Stone
Political, pugilistic and horribly prescient — it’s the sound of now Evening Standard
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past eight years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy