Melbourne producer Lucianblomkamp scores our Album Of The Week this week with his follow-up to 2014’s Post-Nature. His second release, Bad Faith, sees him learn from past mistakes, “cutting ties with elements from his debut that were clunky or awkward” and ultimately enhancing and improving his strengths. We gave it four-and-a-half stars.
While the new record from Austin instrumentalists Explosions In The Sky follows on from the band’s last effort, 2011's Take Care, The Wilderness, it is no way repetitive. They’ve continued to remove heavy percussive lines, crashing cymbal plunges and sharp guitar constructs and the result sees a more balanced mix and musical patience. We gave it four stars.
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It’s been a long-time coming, but Brit-rockers The Last Shadow Puppets, aka Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and collaborator Miles Kane, have delivered another stellar record. The duo produce “'60s guitar riffs and swoon-worthy harmonies laced with just a hint of that British egoism for theatrical effect”. We gave it four stars.
Andrew Bird - Are You Serious (Loma Vista/Universal)
Ash Koosha - I AKA I (Ninja Tune/Inertia)
Autolux – Pussy’s Dead (Columbia/Sony)
Babymetal – Metal Resistance (RAL/Sony)
Bette Midler – A Gift Of Love (Rhino/Warner)
Bibio - A Mineral Love (Warp/Inertia)
Black Mountain - IV (Jagjaguwar/Inertia)
Black Stone Cherry – Kentucky (Mascot Label Group)
Bleached - Welcome The Worms (Dead Oceans/Inertia)
Bombino – Azel (Partisan/Cooking Vinyl)
Boulevards - Groove! (Captured Tracks/Remote Control)
Charles Bradley - Changes Daptone (Shock)
Coves – Peel (1965 Recordings/[PIAS] Australia)
Darq E Freaker - ADHD (Big Dada/Inertia)
Devine Electric - Devine Electric (Independent)
Dinner - Psychic Lovers (Captured Tracks/Inertia)
Eastward – Laurie Came Home (Omelette Records)
Green Buzzard - Eazy Queezy Squeezy (I Oh You)
Hound – MiniVolume (Independent)
Isaac Gracie – Songs From My Bedroom (Dew Process/Universal)
John Congleton & The Nighty Nite - Until The Horror Goes (Fat Possum/Inertia)
Jack Savoretti – Written In Scars (BMG/Liberator)
K.Michelle - More Issues Than Vogue (Atlantic/Warner)
Kaada/Patton – Bacteria Cult (Ipecac/[PIAS] Australia)
Katie Noonan & Brodsky Quartet – With Love And Fury (Universal)
Kirsty Lee Akers – Burn Baby Burn (Sony)
Landscapes – Modern Earth (Pure Noise/Song)
Loose Tooth - Saturn Returns (Milk Records)
Lukas Graham - Lukas Graham (Warner)
Mayfair Kytes - Animus (Independent)
Mike & The Melvins - Three Men And A Baby (Sub Pop/Inertia)
Mogwai – Atomic (Rock Action Records)
Moonsorrow - Jumalten Aika (Century Media/Sony)
Pet Shop Boys - Super (x2/Kobalt)
Sasha - Scene Delete Late Night Tales (Universal)
Sean McMahon & The Moonmen - Shiner (MGM)
Suburban Haze – It Will Never Happen (Spit The Dummy Records)
Sunset Sons - Very Rarely Say Die (French Exit/Kobalt)
Tacocat - Lost Time (Hardly Art/Inertia)
Teddy Thompson & Kelly Jones - Little Windows (Cooking Vinyl)
The Heavy - Hurt & The Merciless Counter (Inertia)
The Used - Live & Acoustic At The Palace (Hopeless/Unified)
Three Trapped Tigers - Silent Earthling (Superball Sony)
Tombs - All Empires Fall (Relapse Rocket)
Various - The Glory Days Of Aussie Pub Rock Vol.1 Festival (Warner)
Various Artists - Fargo Season 2 Soundtrack (Sony)
Vessels – Dilate (Different Recordings/[PIAS] Australia)
Weezer – Weezer (Atlantic/Warner)
Yeasayer — Amen & Goodbye (Create Control)