Harts, REMI, Against Me!, Jarrow, Die Antwoord and more
Harts — Smoke Fire Hope Desire (Dew Process/Universal)
The Prince and Hendrix comparisons are for good reason. Our Album Of The Week presents us with a "homage to a time gone by, a time of minimal production, lo-fi vocals and the beauty of a distortion pedal with a brass band". All Rise and Deeper The Hole are highlights, giving the album "with the impression of constant movement". We gave it four-and-a-half stars.
REMI — Divas & Demons (House Of Beige)
REMI once again offers up "easy, elastic flow" that is further enhanced by Sensible J and "their mutual understanding of each other's art". Collaborations with Sampa The Great (For Good) are one of "a number of well-fitting collaborations that bolster the album rather than overwhelm it". "REMI doesn't need to bark, bite or do the done-to-death Aussie-bloke hollering thing". We gave it four stars.
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Against Me! — Shape Shift With Me (Total Treble/Cooking Vinyl)
Continuing their trend, Shape Shift With Me sounds nothing like their other records — "this record doesn't have the commercial sheen of the band's last few efforts" though Rebecca and Suicide Bomber will "please New Wave fans". Laura Jane Grace lays out her "relationship insecurities, losses, rage and even moments of pure joy" and the record "demands repeat listens". We gave it three-and-a-half stars.
A Tribe Called Red — We Are The Halluci Nation (Radicalized Records)
AlunaGeorge — I Remember (Interscope Records/Universal)
Anthony Callea — Backbone (Sony)
Brujeria — Pocho Aztlan (Nuclear Blast)
Crooked Man — Crooked Man (DFA/[PIAS] Australia)
Cymbals Eat Guitars — Pretty Years (Sinderlyn/Remote Control)
Dallas Frasca — Dirt Buzz (Spank Betty Records)
Dawes — We're All Gonna Die (HUB/ADA)
Deap Vally — Femejism (Cooking Vinyl)
Die Antwoord — Mount Ninja & Da Nice Time Kid (Zef Recordz)
Heaven Shall Burn — Wanderer (Century Media/Sony)
Jarrow — 2003 Dream (Barely Dressed/Remote Control)
Jordie Lane — Glasselland (Blood Thinner Records/MGM)
Keaton Henson — Kindly Now ([PIAS] Australia)
King 810 — La Petite Mort Or A Conversation With God (Roadrunner/Warner)
Kishi Bashi — Sonderlust (Pod/Inertia)
Leah Flanagan — Saudades (Independent)
Led Zeppelin — The Complete BBC Sessions (Atlantic/Warner)
Mac Miller — The Divine Feminine (Warner)
Matt Berry — The Small Hours (Acid Jazz/[PIAS] Australia)
Meat Loaf — Braver Than We Are (429/Universal)
Mndsgn — Body Wash (Stones Throw/Inertia)
Moddi — Unsongs (Propeller Recordings/Caroline)
Molly — Molly (Ratbag)
Osaka Punch — Death Monster Super Squad (Bird's Robe)
Patten — Ψ (Warp/Inertia)
Preoccupations — Preoccupations (Jagjaguwar/Inertia)
Sam Newton — Violet Road (Independent)
Seth Lakeman — Ballads Of The Broken Few (Cooking Vinyl)
Sumerlands — Sumerlands (Relapse)
Taking Back Sunday — Tidal Wave (Hopeless Records/Unified)
The Comfort — Love (Independent)
The So So Glos — Kamikaze (Ten To Two)
Touche Amore — Stage Four (Epitaph/Warner)
Usher — Hard II Love (RCA/Sony)
Various Artists — Back On The Street Again: Australian Funk, Soul & Psych (Mostly) From The Festival Vaults (Festival/Warner)
We Set Sail — Feel Nothing (Independent)