This Week's Releases

13 October 2016 | 3:32 pm | Staff Writer

The Peep Tempel, Jagwar Ma, Lisa Mitchell, LANKS, The Laurels and more

The Peep Tempel — Joy (Wing Sing Records)

They're not just purveyors of "bracing, noisy punk-rock" — it's "a little bit sharper. A little bit more accessible. A little bit (read: marginally) shinier". With "exceptional lyrics and character-driven vocal delivery" from Blake Scott and "tightened" style and songwriting from the entire band, Joy is "a decisive improvement on an already-outstanding formula". We gave it four stars and our Album Of The Week.

Jagwar Ma — Every Now & Then (Future Classic)

It's been "perhaps too long" between drinks for Jagwar Ma, and Every Now & Then is filled with "a lot more production and a bit too much seriousness". The album is "full of promise and introspection" but feels like "a failure to launch", with a number of "repetitive (albeit well- and cleverly-produced) Afro house-infused shoegaze" songs. We gave it three-and-a-half stars.

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Lisa Mitchell — Warriors (Warner)

With "an ear for a good melody and a good line", Mitchell has abandoned her "piano and acoustic guitar" for "sparer", "gloomy corner", taking "a leaf out of Lorde's book - sonically and thematically". Her "cutesiness" has given "way to something richer, and surely more enduring" and it is "her best release to date". We gave it four stars.

and the rest of the releases…

Beth Hart Fire On The Floor (Provogue/Mascot Label Group)
Black Rheno — Let's Start A Cult (Rocket)
Conor Oberst — Ruminations (Nonesuch/Warner)
Darkthrone  Arctic Thunder (Peaceville/Rocket)
DEPARTE — Failure, Subside (Season Of Mist)
Dr John Cooper Clarke & Hugh Cornwell — This Time It's Personal (Sony)
Duchess Says — Sciences Nouvelles (Slovenly)
Dusky — Outer (Polydor/Universal)
Jamie Lidell — Building A Beginning (Jajulin Records)
Jeff Rosenstock — WORRY. (SideOneDummy/Cooking Vinyl)
Jonny Fritz — Sweet Creep (ATO/[PIAS] Australia)
Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker — Overnight (Rough Trade/Remote Control)
Kings Of Leon — Walls (RCA/Sony)
KLP — Ember (EMI)
LANKS — Viet Rose (Independent)
Moby & The Void Pacific Choir — These Systems Are Failing (Warner)
Nils Bech — Echo (DFA/[PIAS] Australia)
Powell  Sport (XL/Remote Control)
Rebecca Ferguson — Superwoman (Syco/Sony)
Red Fang — Only Ghosts (Relapse)
Sleaford Mods — TCR (Rough Trade/Remote Control)
Suzanne Vega — Lover, Beloved: Songs From An Evening With Carson McCullers (Cooking Vinyl)
The Dillinger Escape Plan — Dissociation (Party Smasher Inc/Cooking Vinyl)
The Laurels — Sonicology (Rice Is Nice)
The Lemon Twigs  Do Hollywood (4AD/Remote Control)
The Naked & Famous — Simple Forms (Somewhat Damaged/Universal)
The Nation Blue — Black (Poison City Records)
The Nation Blue — Blue (Poison City Records)
Tom Chaplin — The Wave (Island/Universal)
Trophy Eyes — Chemical Miracle (Hopeless Records/Unified)
Two Door Cinema Club — Gameshow (Parlophone/Warner)
Zed's Dead — Northern Lights (Deadbeats/Caroline)