Kirin J Callinan — Bravado (Siberia/EMI)
Kirin J Callinan loves keeping his audience "slightly unsure of his intent", keeping a look of "eccentric danger". He's " shifted from the frequent serrated shards of guitar" that was his first album to now crooning like he's "sometimes Iggy Pop, sometimes kd lang". Bravado also features Neil Finn and his kids, a raucous scream from Barnesy and " '70s avant-garde jazz/funkist James Chance". We gave it four stars and our Album Of The Week.
London Grammar — Truth Is A Beautiful Thing (Dew Process/Universal)
Hannah Reid's voice is boasts an "incredible range" — from the "deep-chest murmur, via her soulful mid-range to the delicate head-note arpeggios". However the trio collectively bring "well-placed texture", "skittering percussion" and "highly disciplined dynamics" to the table, making the album "well worth the wait". We gave it four stars.
Phoenix — Ti Amo (Glassnote/Liberator)
Phoenix "happily [defies] genre classification", creating "uber-catchy music that simply cannot fail to turn a frown upside-down". The album is "so bright, fun and breezy, but so full of substance at the same time", making it the "sweetest and freshest breath of air imaginable" in a world dominated by the "conveyor-belt inanity" of mainstream pop. We gave it four stars.
and the rest of the releases…
AJR — The Click (AJR Productions)
All We Are — Sunny Hills (Double Six/Domino)
Anathema — The Optimist (Kscope Records)
Big Thief — Capacity (Spunk)
Chuck Berry — CHUCK (Decca/Universal)
Cigarettes After Sex — Cigarettes After Sex ([PIAS] Australia)
Glen Campbell — Adios (Universal)
Grim Rhythm — What Do You Know About Rock'n'Roll (Suspect Records)
Hot Spoke — Calm Down (Universal)
INVSN — The Beautiful Stories (Dine Alone)
Jim Lawrie — Slacker Of The Year (Barely Dresses/Remote Control)
Katy Perry — Witness (EMI)
Kronos Quartet — Folk Songs (Nonesuch/Warner)
Lady Antebellum — Heart Break (EMI)
Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie — Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie (Rhino/Warner)
nyck — Alive (100s + 1000s)
Rancid — Trouble Maker (Hellcat Records/Epitaph)
Rise Against — Wolves (EMI)
Slow Dancer — In A Mood (Pieater)
Suffocation — ...Of The Dark Light (Nuclear Blast)
Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister — Planetarium (4AD/Remote Control)
SZA — CTRL (Top Dawg Entertainment/Sony)
Tora — Take A Rest (Lustre)
Various Artists — Closed Circuits: Australian Alternative Electronic Music Of The '70s & '80s, Volume 1 (Festival/Warner)
Various Artists — Descent Into The Maelstrom — The Funhhouse Jukebox (Stop Start)
Volumes — Different Animals (Fearless/Caroline)
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