The Temper Trap, Dope Lemon, Ngaiire and more
The Temper Trap - Thick As Thieves (Liberation)
Stack it up again 2012's self-titled effort and it’s a completely different beast, with less “dense and diverse aural experiments” while still retaining a “distinctive, stadium-pop sound and delivering “strong melodies and harmonies, singalong choruses and expansive layers of instrumentation”. We gave it four stars and our Album Of The Week.
Dope Lemon - Honey Bones (EMI)
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The second offering from Angus Stone’s Dope Lemon channels “jangly guitars, and dreamy, echoed lyrics” as well as “the motorway-like beat of the late '70s to mid-'80s post-punk” - the latter of which is where it truly finds its stride. There’s a “deep contemplative aesthetic” throughout this albums’ dope tunes. We gave it three-and-a-half stars.
Ngaiire – Blastoma (Maximilion Brown)
Blastoma sees Papua New Guinean, Sydney-based soul artist really carves our her place as a soul songstress to be reckoned with, and features a wealth of exciting cameos from the likes of Paul Mac and Megan Washington.
Its lyrics content runs deep, with the title a reference to a form of cancer she survived as a child. With her second full-length Ngaiire begins “exploring the boundaries of contemporary Australian neo”.
We gave it four stars.
Air - Twentyears (PLG France/Warner)
Allen Toussaint - American Tunes (Nonesuch/Warner)
Augustines - This Is Your Life (Caroline)
Big Deal - Say Yes (FatCat Records/Cooking Vinyl)
Brandy Clark - Big Day In A Small Town (Warner)
Colvin & Earle - Colvin & Earle (Fantasy Records/Universal)
Cornelius – Fantasma (Fat Possum/Inertia)
Emma Russack - In A New State (Spunk/Caroline)
Fatherdude - The Balance (etcetc)
Fitz & The Tantrums - Fitz & The Tantrums (Atlantic/Warner)
Garbage - Strange Little Birds (Stunvolume/Liberator)
Globelamp - The Orange Glow (Wichita Recordings/[PIAS] Australia)
Greenthief - Tremors (MGM)
Jimi Beavis - Post-Apocalyptic Love Songs (Independent)
Josh Pyke – Live At The Sydney Opera House (ABC/Universal)
Kongos - Egomaniac (Sony)
Letlive. - If I'm The Devil… (Epitaph Warner)
Little Big Town – Wanderlust (EMI)
Marcus Wale – Inland Sea (Good Manners)
Nahko & Medicine For The People - Hoka (SideOneDummy/Cooking Vinyl)
Nick Jonas - Last Year Was Complicated (Safehouse/Universal)
Peter Bjorn And John - Breakin’ Point (INGRID/Kobalt)
Plaid - The Digging Remedy (Warp/Inertia)
Rage - The Devil Strikes Again (Nuclear Blast)
Rival Sons – Hollow Bones (ADA)
Scorpion Child - Acid Roulette (Nuclear Blast/Universal)
Spring King - Tell Me If You Like To (dew process/Universal)
The Gotobeds - Blood//Sugar//Secs//Traffic (Sub Pop/Inertia)
The Invisible - Patience (Ninja Tune/Inertia)
Tom Odell - Wrong Crowd (Columbia/Sony)
Until Home – Optimistic (Independent)
Yung - A Youthful Dream (Fat Possum/Inertia)
Various Artists - Everybody Wants Some!! (Music From The Motion Picture) (Warner)