RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 93In the eight years since The Age of
the Understatement, Alex Turner
has made the transition from fop-
pish rascal into bona fi de rock star
right before our eyes. While Miles
Kane is, well, Miles Kane. Since his group the
Rascals disbanded in 2009, the likely lad from
Merseysidehashadacoupleofcracks at a solo
career, without really attaining the same level of
notorietyashisbestmate.Dudecan still rock a
mod suit like few others, though.
Everything You’ve Come To Expect is every-
thingyou’dactuallyexpectfromtwofriends
whohavegrownseparately
together. Back onThe Age of
the Understatement,thepair
enlisted the help of producer
James Ford and arranger
OwenPallett(ArcadeFire)tofulfiltheirEnnio
Morricone/Scott Walker dreams. Both are back
inthefold,butthistimePallettwas embedded
withthebandinRickRubin’sfamous Shangri La
Studios, making his arrangements feel more like a
legitimate ‘third member’ than an accoutrement
to some damn suave rock songs.
On “Sweet Dreams, TN”, Pallett’s sweeping
strings provide a nice pillowy bed for the greased-
up crooner Turner hinted at on Arctic Monkeys’
AM. Kane’s vocals are less convincing on “Used
To Be My Girl”, but his primal wail on “Bad
Habits” conjures the kind of gothic L.A. these
English transplants have based an aesthetic on.
Deliciously noir. DARREN LE VINDuo’s Great Expectations
TheLastShadowPuppets
Everything You’ve Come To Expect
Domino★★★★
Mature second album from English
super duo now based in L.A. Blaqk Audio
Material Blaqknoise/Kobalt
★★★
AFI alumni dust o their eclectic
electro for third album
AFI frontman Davey Havok
and guitarist Jade Puget have
once again swapped their usual
alt-rock for synth-heavy elec-
tronic pop on side project Blaqk
Audio. Their third album since
2007, Material is layered with
lush synth and super-charged
beats. The record embodies a
seamless fl uidity as energetic
electro masks some of the more
forlorn lyrics on the likes of “I’m
a Mess” and “You Will Hate
Me”. There’s a hint of familiar-
ity as Havok’s clean vocals soar
on “First to Love” and the title
track, but the absence of his
signature scratchy growl can be
unnerving. To fully appreciate
Blaqk Audio and the duo’s artis-
tic licence, make sure to check
your AFI-fuelled expectations
at the door. SALLY MCMULLENWild Belle
DreamlandSony
★★★½
Chicago duo embrace the
darkness on second record
On their debutIsles,Chicago
brother and sister duo Wild
BellecarvedoutaLanaDel
Rey-via-a-dub-dancehall vi-
sion with varying success.
OnDreamland,they’vere-
linquished the languid guitar
upstrokesandimbueditwith
afairwhackofguitardistor-
tionandsometrulygrippypop
hooks. It’s an excellent trade,
from the dark, murky energy
of “Mississippi River” to the
scuzzy,percussive“Cannon-
ball”. Elliot Bergman’s arrange-
ments are as swampy as ever,
scattering baritone sax solos at
every opportunity, but it’s sister
Natalie’s voice that impresses:
it’s expressive and endlessly
elastic, whether scraping the
husky lower register in “Giving
Up On You”, or floating high in
“Dreamland”. JULES LEFEVRE
The Murlocs
Young Blindness Remote Control
★★★½
Melbourne blues-punks re-enter
the garage with hips swingingFor a band like the Murlocs
there’s no improving on the
perfectly twangsome clamour
of the proverbial garage. Their
second LP waives any illusion
of progress to push the same
buttons as their first: mildly
psychedelic axe riffs framing
the squalling blues-harp and
brattish bleat of Ambrose Ken-
ny-Smith. It comes together
like six guns and bourbon on
the title track, a 5/4 shamble of
sloppy handclaps and wild west
grit. Only in the leaner, slower
likes of “Rolling On” are Smith’s
lyrics decipherable through his
tin bucket of reverb, but mostly
this is about locomotive clang,
rumble and howl. From the
fi re-alarm rif of “Wolf Creep”
to the hip-swinging sleaze of
“Unknown Disease”, that’s
quite enough. MICHAEL DWYERPet Shop Boys
Super X2/Kobalt
★★★½
British pop legends venture into
sweaty clublandSometimes prone to introspec-
tion, Pet Shop Boys are glori-
ously defying their age – Neil
Tennant and Chris Lowe are
just either side of 60 – by head-
ing to a darkened, throbbing
dancef loor. Super, their 13th
album, was partly written in
the clubbing capital of Berlin,
and the synths are harder, the
beats are thicker and the bass
is more relentless than any-
thing they’ve ever released.
While some of the lyrics are
trite (“We’re gonna burn this
disco down before the morning
comes”), “Inner Sanctum” and
“Happiness” are more inven-
tive and euphoric than the cur-
rent cut-and-paste hits from
EDM heroes like Avicii. Super
is a confi dent love letter to he-
donism, and the title sums up
the LP perfectly. MICHAEL WILTONJoe Bonamassa
Blues Of Desperation
J&R Adventures ★★★
Blues-rock behemoth carries on
doing what he does bestJoe Bonamassa is one of the
most technically profi cient gui-
tarists in the world. This has
characterised all his releases- note perfect blues-rock, not
a thing out of place. In that
regard, nothing’s changed with
Bonamassa’s 12th studio re-
lease – all polish and straight
edges, it’s vintage Joe. How-
ever, there is a bit more varia-
tion than on past albums. The
blues-rockers (“This Train”,
“Mountain Climbing”, the
title track) are heavier; there
are dalliances with slow and
steady (“Drive”); and even
jazz (“Livin’ Easy”, with per-
haps the tastiest guitar on the
whole record). It’s still “A Joe
Bonamassa Record”, but per-
haps there’s enough variation
here to attract some new fans.
SAMUEL J. FELL
KEY TRACKS:
“Dracula Teeth”,
“Sweet Dreams,
TN”, “Bad Habits”May, 2016