This Week's Releases
Saint Etienne, Dan Auerbach, Alt-J, Halsey, All Time Low and more
Saint Etienne — Home Counties ([PIAS]/Inertia)
After nearly 30 years, Saint Etienne have " found a way to sound more English than ever". With "a luxuriance of lyrical paronomasia and moreish candy choruses", Home Counties brings to mind "Sean Connery’s 007" in Underneath The Apple Tree and "glitzy disco dressed in denim and button badges" in Dive. "An unexpectedly groovy treat," we gave it four-and-a-half stars and our Album Of The Week.
Dan Auerbach — Waiting On A Song (Nonesuch/Warner)
With many "righteous old timers swinging by, including John Prine and Duane "Titan of Twang" Eddy", the album is a "perky, highly polished work". Far from his work on The Black Keys, it's "full of homey, feel-good toe-tappers" but on the whole, "comfortable dad rock with not a lot of fresh inspiration". We gave it three stars.
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Alt-J — Relaxer (Infectious/Liberator)
The band have dipped into "the world of almost-electronic music" with this album, moving on from their "nostalgic folk". For longtime fans, highlights include "the slow, creeping, delicate gem House Of The Rising Sun" and the eerie Hit Me Like That Snare. However, Deadcrush, with its "trap-ish, electronic beats", falls flat. We gave it three-and-a-half stars.
and the rest of the releases…
'68 — Two Parts Viper (Chariot Music/Cooking Vinyl)
All Time Low — Last Young Renegade (Fueled By Ramen/Warner)
Benjamin Booker — Witness (Rough Trade/Remote Control)
Bleachers —Gone Now (RCA/Sony)
Charlie Fink — Cover My Tracks (Independent)
Chastity Belt — I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone (Hardly Art/Inertia)
Dauwd — Theory Of Colours (Technicolour Recordings/Inertia)
DBFC — Jenks (Different Recordings)
Dua Lipa — Dua Lipa (Warner)
Flogging Molly — Life Is Good (Vanguard/Caroline)
H Hawkline — I Romanticize (Heavenly Recordings)
Hachiku — Hachiku (Milk! Records)
Halsey — Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (Astralwerks/EMI)
House Vs Hurricane — Filth (UNFD)
Husky — Punchbuzz (Liberation)
Korey Dane — Chamber Girls (Innovative Leisure/Inertia)
Ladi6 — Royal Blue 3000 (Low Key Source)
Lemaitre — Chapter One (Astralwerks/EMI)
Luke Combs — This One's For You (Sony)
Marika Hackman — I'm Not Your Man (AMF Records/Caroline)
Milk Buttons — Songs For My Butcher Bird (Independent)
Miss May I — Shadows Inside (SharpTone)
Noga Erez — Off The Radar (City Slang/Inertia)
Obey The Brave — Mad Season (Epitaph/ADA)
Pandamic — Archer (Ratbag/Warner)
Pete Murray — Camacho (Sony)
Pixx — The Age Of Anxiety (4AD/Remote Control)
Richard Dawson — Peasant (Weird World/Domino)
Roger Waters — Is This The Life We Really Want? (Columbia/Sony)
Roya — Roya (Burger Records)
Sam Buckingham — The Water (The Independent)
School Damage — School Damage (Chapter Music)
Sean Paul — Dutty Classics Collection (Rhino/Warner)
Sikth — The Future In Whose Eyes? (Milennium Night)
Tankard — One Foot In The Grave (Nuclear Blast)
The Kills — Echo Home — Non-Electric (Domino/EMI)
The One Hundred — Chaos + Bliss (Spinefarm/Caroline)
Unleash The Archers — Apex (Napalm Records)
Various Artists — Hardly Released: Bedroom Recordings, Demos (Hardly Art/Inertia)
Various Artists — Mavis Staples: I'll Take You There — An All-Star Concert Celebration (Blackbird Presents/Caroline)
WAAX — Wild & Weak (Independent)
Wednesday 13 — Condolences (Nuclear Blast)
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