Last Week's Releases Today: Marching Through

Can you believe it's quite literally the end of March already? Because I'll tell you this for nothing, I can not believe that. Leaving singles off here for this week else this post will literally never see the light of day. So here is your final instalment for the WIIHAMB March Library. You're welcome.

Albums and an EP Released Last Week:

Betty Who - The Valley It feels like Betty Who has been floating around for the best part of my adult life and I can't believe that this is only her second full length album. The Australian pop songstress has put out an absolute belter though. The Warren G feature is quite peculiar, but the Superfruit collaboration goes above and beyond. Obviously there are as many ballad-y bits on here as you'd expect from a pop album but they don't detract from all of the upbeat songs, which is reassuring. Overall, The Valley is a fun listen and I can't wait to finally see Betty Who live at The Great Escape this year. 7/13 tracks added to library.

Catch Fire - A Love That I Still Miss Catch Fire released their debut EP around this time last year and I was a massive fan of their ability not to fall victim to some of the classic UK pop punk tropes. I'm pleased to say that this has continued on A Love That I Still Miss. I have a real soft spot for how bitter a lot of the four-piece's lyrics are, and I love that they don't throw unnecessary metaphors in every other line, to the point where these songs are almost conversational. I really want to see Catch Fire get some really good support slots because I genuinely reckon they're worthy of it. 5/8 tracks added to library.

Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms I fully loathe Creeper, their music makes me cringe to no end but you have to listen to stuff if you want to be able to have an opinion on it, don't you? I've never enjoyed theatrical rock/punk like AFI or MCR, and Creeper are just 2017's version of those bands. I quite liked 'Misery' because it just sounds so different to all of the other tracks (apart from 'Crickets', which I thought I might also like but unfortunately that was not the case). I will hand it to Creeper though, their artwork looks stunning and if I wasn't so stubborn I'd probably buy their purple LP just for decoration. No tracks added to library.

Goldlink - At What Cost This is Goldlink's third album, follow up to the excellently titled And After That, We Didn't Talk but I'll be honest wit cha, it's my least favourite record of his to date. Goldlink, where the hits at? Because they aren't here. I've really come around to 'Meditation', which I wasn't initially mad into, but feel like 'Crew' is the only real standout on this album and that's super disappointing considering Goldlink only has one verse on it. There's just so little going on here that's even mildly interesting or demanding of your attention. Whilst we're here isn't it odd that 'Rough Soul' doesn't actually appear on this album? 4/14 tracks added to library.

James Blunt - The Afterlove You know who has gone and done the latest Ed Sheeran album better, with a load more integrity, yet won't get even half the amount of credit they deserve for it - James Blunt. Just by the nature of the music that Blunt makes, this album is not for me, but the pop songs on it, namely 'Love Me Better' and 'Lose My Number' are good. The sad thing is that the majority of people my age won't even glance in The Afterlove's direction purely based on who James Blunt is. In their defence, I will say Blunt's harping on about his legacy with copious references to 'Your Beautiful' does get a little tiresome but that's what he's got to go on, I guess. 3/13 tracks added to library.

Lewis Watson - midnight I'm quite surprised that Lewis Watson is still doing music, to be honest, it feels like for someone still fairly young he's been at it for a while. This is a singer-songwriter album, I literally don't know what you're expecting from me or this album. The end. 1/11 tracks added to library.

mansionz - Mansionz This is a collaborative project between Blackbear and Mike Posner, and not only is it not particularly good, an entire album of it is really unnecessary. Apparently Mike Posner reckons he's a rapper now? I'm lost. There is a surprise of a really good pop song hidden amongst the drivel though, in the form of 'Wicked', which unfortunately features everybody's least favourite Gerald, G-Eazy. His verse is every chauvinistic entitled thing you could expect from him but try not to let that ruin this bop. 3/13 tracks added to library.

Mike Will Made-It - Ransom 2 The year is 2730 and Mike Will is still making things. This whole album is fucking terrible. You know what my favourite bit is, that he just followed up his debut album Ransom by making a sequel and when was the last time a sequel didn't suck? Man. This is so bad. Also, imagine having an album with this many features yet not including Ty Dolla $ign. Absolute rookie. I can't believe Kendrick Lamar and Pharrell Williams were roped into this. No tracks added to library.

Northlane - Mesmer Northlane surprise released their new album last week and everybody was pretty stoked on it for good reason. They balance typical metalcore, with more technical and progressive elements really well to the point where it's tricky to draw comparisons between Northlane and their peers. Incidentally, the songs that I've picked out from Mesmer all sound quite similar but you can't have it all, can you? 4/11 tracks added to library.

Tuxedo - Tuxedo II Tuxedo are an outfit that I always have really high hopes for and they never quite seem to meet expectations. In a similar vein to Mike Will, the lacklustre effort that's been put into the album title really doesn't set anybody up for success. Tuxedo definitely have the potential to write an entire album of absolute bangers but the majority of the songs on this record fall very far from that mark. It's disappointing, but no doubt I'll still be holding out by the time their next album comes around. 2/11 tracks added to library.