Kylie Auldist, Switchfoot, Biffy Clyro and more
BADBADNOTGOOD — IV (Pod/Inertia)
The instrumental jazz band have "opened up to modernised production styles" with their "heightened" focus on the brass section and keys that "sound closer to synthesisers". With "swaggering '70s funk" and sax salos that are both "explosive" and "pervading", we suspect "quite a few babies will probably be conceived" to this record. We gave it four-and-a-half stars and the Album Of The Week.
The Avalanches — Wildflower (Modular)
16 years since their first, Wildflower is "more sonic art piece than album" with "a feast of samples" like "vinyl pops and crackles, computer game sound effects, traffic noise and vibrant sounds of life happening". The album is what "[hearing] a kaleidoscope" would be like, but "nothing reaches [Frankie Sinatra]'s zenith". We gave it three-and-a-half stars.
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The John Steel Singers — Midnight At The Plutonium (Create Control)
"Zappa-esque funk" is "unleashed in full, glorious force on this latest record, which is heavily influenced by '80s psychedelic disco and early 2000s house party tunes". Highlights include Can You Feel The Future, Midnight At The Plutonium and Weekend Lover, with the band sounding like "[they] had lots of fun making this". We gave it three-and-a-half stars.
Aphex Twin — Cheetah (Warp/Inertia)
Biffy Clyro — Ellipsis (14th Floor/Warner)
Canary — I Am Lion (Independent)
Emarosa — 131 (Hopeless Records/Unified)
Eric Copeland — Black Bubblegum (DFA/[PIAS] Australia)
Gone Is Gone — Gone Is Gone (Black Dune Records/Cooking Vinyl)
Kenny Chesney — Some Town Somewhere (Sony)
Kylia Auldist — Waste Of Time (Freestyle Records)
Missy Lancaster — Missy (Sony)
Motioner — Black Wave (Independent)
Roisin Murphy — Take Her Up To Monto ([PIAS] Australia)
Sample Answer — Good Boy (Create Control)
Sarathy Korwar — Day To Day (Ninja Tune/Inertia)
Schoolboy Q — The Blank Face (Universal)
Shura — Nothing's Real (Polydor/Universal)
Stillwater Giants — Munich (Independent)
Switchfoot — Where The Light Shines Through (Spinefarm/Vanguard)
The Julie Ruin — Hit Reset (Hardly Art/Inertia)
Various Artists — Sing Street (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Decca/Universal)