2 November 2016
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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Fifth album from the Middleton, Greater Manchester indie rockers produced by Joe Cross
6.1
The Courteeners might finally have a record to unite regions in a late-flowering akin to The National’s High Violet. Print edition only
NEW They're out of the indie ghetto forever now. Print edition only
NEW Sub-Smiths smartarsery abounds. Print edition only
To the ears of their detractors, Courteeners will always sound unexceptional, but in the eyes of the faithful, ‘Mapping the Rendezvous’ will only make them more irreplaceable Read Review
Cleaves to the meat-and-spuds basics that have dominated much of the city’s musical output in recent years Read Review
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Frank Ocean Blonde
A window into the soul of an artist who's just as fallable and worried as the rest of us. Print edition only Uncut
Frank Ocean Endless
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Another deeply personal album with the singer addressing love and pain. Print edition only Uncut
The Courteeners Mapping the Rendezvous
Sub-Smiths smartarsery abounds. Print edition only Uncut
They're out of the indie ghetto forever now. Print edition only Q
Goat Requiem
Wholesome and unique listening experience Gig Soup
The Dillinger Escape Plan Dissociation
A hallmark and definitive piece of work Gig Soup
Banks The Altar
It’s never easy to get a grasp on BANKS’ identity or even think of her as a real person. Rather we get a studio manufactured robot that’s wanting to be Rihanna and FKA Twigs Earbuddy
Kero Kero Bonito Bonito Generation
Welcome to the Bonito Generation, the dancefloor is waiting The 405
Lazarus Cast / David Bowie Lazarus (Original Cast Recording)
Doesn’t provide us with some great revelation about Bowie’s magnificence nor does it reinvigorate material that never had a problem aging well. It celebrates those songs and the man who either wrote or had a hand in writing them Spectrum Culture
Ultimate Painting Dusk
Seems destined to end up on all of those “Best Records You Missed in 2016” lists Spectrum Culture
Agnes Obel Citizen of Glass
Agnes Obel’s third album finds her a long way away from the sweet Tori Amos-style pop that adorned her first album The Skinny
C Duncan The Midnight Sun
Each track is a pretty, almost perfect, aural snapshot that captures the freedom of airlessness, but it's impossible to shake the feeling you're hearing subtle variations of the same song Under The Radar
Machinedrum Human Energy
Stewart spins whirlwinds of infectious beats, swirling synths and supple bass for his most upbeat tracks in years The Quietus
S U R V I V E RR7349
Many listeners will find the foggy atmospheres and neon-lit cityscapes of RR7349 irresistible PopMatters
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past seven years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell
Deafheaven Sunbather
Sleater-Kinney No Cities To Love