Albums to watch

Peanut Butter

Joanna Gruesome

Peanut Butter

Second album of noise pop, dream pop and shoegaze from the Cardiff five-piece who won the 2014 Welsh Music Prize with their debut Weird Sister

ADM rating[?]

6.9

Label
Fortuna Pop / Slumberland
UK Release date
11/05/2015
US Release date
19/05/2015
  1. 9.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    With Peanut Butter, Joanna Gruesome have raised the bar... Its vitality is infectious
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  2. 9.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Devoid of pretence, ‘Peanut Butter’’s sonic impulsiveness is wonderfully chaotic
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  3. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    The band is tighter, more focused, and have honed their sound ever more slightly, tossing in snippets of texture and becoming even leaner
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  4. 8.0 |   Uncut

    Short but invigoratingly sweet. Print edition only

  5. 8.0 |   NME

    The Cardiff group bend macho rock tropes with silly solos and sensitive lyrics on their powerful second album
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  6. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Peanut Butter is a refreshing antidote to indie rock’s traditional sophomore slump
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  7. 8.0 |   DIY

    It’s an album that takes Joanna Gruesome to every possible corner of their capabilities
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  8. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Ebullient, thundering and made with unabashedly 90s vigour
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  9. 8.0 |   Exclaim

    With ten ridiculously infectious songs clocking in at just 22 minutes, Joanna Gruesome are in no danger of wearing out their welcome
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  10. 8.0 |   All Music

    The manic pop thrills and noise blasts will get the blood pressure of even the most jaded indie kid racing
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  11. 8.0 |   Paste Magazine

    An accomplished, confident and mature approach to a type of music indebted to teenage energy
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  12. 7.5 |   A.V. Club

    Succeeds as a rousing and frenetic call to arms, built on the back of sunny harmonies and squealing distortion
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  13. 7.5 |   Crack

    Awesome stuff, and while the band don’t cover any particularly new territory for themselves here, the main question to be asked is who the fuck cares?
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  14. 7.2 |   Pitchfork

    Peanut Butter is a chaotic listen, powerful in parts and fragile in others, and often both at the same time
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  15. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    10 noise-pop songs in 22 minutes, all bubblegum hooks and guitar explosions
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  16. 7.0 |   Spin

    Joanna Gruesome have learned a lesson many seasoned acts are still trying to figure out: Say what you need to say, and always leave ‘em wanting more
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  17. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Mash together lo-fi punk and fuzzy twee pop for a gleefully unbalanced follow-up to their acclaimed 2013 debut
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  18. 7.0 |   Beardfood

    A lovely mix-up between textured, frenetic strumming and sweetly sung vocals
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  19. 7.0 |   Under The Radar

    Like the original masters of Neanderthal-savant pop, The Ramones, Joanna Gruesome has proven to be entirely capable of devising rewarding full-length albums out of a single song, rewritten ad infinitum
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  20. 7.0 |   The Music

    Get this if it’s been a long time since you rocked’n’rolled
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  21. 6.0 |   musicOMH

    The band stick rather too closely to its formula, something which, for all that formula’s appeal, ultimately seems rather a shame
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  22. 6.0 |   The List

    Bite-size bursts of jangly noise pop gems such as ‘Honestly Do Your Worst’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Relax’ are infectiously giddy and silly good fun
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  23. 6.0 |   No Ripcord

    Grasping the contradictions enclosed in Peanut Butter makes for an intriguing, occasionally arresting listen, but also an infuriatingly muddled one
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  24. 6.0 |   The FT

    The result has a brisk, abrasive charm: winsome indie-pop after a vigorous punk-rock sandpapering
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  25. 6.0 |   Mojo

    Marrying violent shrieking with melodious pop. Print edition only

  26. 6.0 |   Q

    The songs occasionally thrill but tonally it all becomes a trifle exhausting about halfway through. Print edition only

  27. 6.0 |   God Is In The TV

    You can see which direction the melodies are going in from a mile off, yet somehow it’s an endearing trait
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  28. 6.0 |   NOW

    A sameness runs from track to track
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  29. 6.0 |   The Digital Fix

    There's a sameness that stops Peanut Butter from truly satisfying. Something more substantial next time, please
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  30. 5.8 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Joanna Gruesome are pertinent to today’s music scene. They just need to focus on their goals a little longer before pouring their points onto wax
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  31. 5.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    For a band with a gnarly pun name and talk of making rivals, we want to hear more punk and less dreaminess
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  32. 5.0 |   Gig Soup

    Both this album and their debut ‘Weird Sister’ certainly signify that the group is promising, but still sound like filler to the main event
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  33. 5.0 |   Clash

    One minute it's face-melting and messy guitars, the next ear pleasing vocals from Alanna McArdle - it's an infectious mix, but one that comes to seem formulaic and repetitive over time
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  34. 4.0 |   The Observer

    The winning hooks that made Weird Sister so special are few and far between this time around, making for a disappointingly unremarkable set
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Joanna Gruesome: Peanut Butter

  • Download full album for just £8.49
  • 1. Last Year £0.99
  • 2. Jamie (Luvver) £0.99
  • 3. Honestly Do Yr Worst £0.99
  • 4. There Is No Function Stacy £0.99
  • 5. Crayon £0.99
  • 6. I Don't Wanna Relax £0.99
  • 7. Jerome (Liar) £0.99
  • 8. Separate Bedrooms £0.99
  • 9. Psykick Espionage £0.99
  • 10. Hey! I Wanna Be Yr Best Friend £0.99
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