A bit of DZ Deathrays Aussie garage punk here, a splash of gravely classic Foo Fighters post-grunge there, some vocals that remind me of classic Aussie crooners and 80s rock, Kuarna Adelaide band West Thebarton's second album feels like a catharic and nostalgic piece of noise rock that never feels like it's just trying to retread the past.

Have you ever listened to an album and felt like a band isn't actually making music they want but making music they think people think they make? Because that's what this Veronicas album feels like if you can even call it that since it's 7 songs plus and acoustic version of the lead single. This feels like a focus group was asked what they think a Veronicas album should sound like and then that album was made.

Perfect has the same feeling as MGK singing about kissing behind the bleachers, two ... read more

While Kita Alexander has some strong tracks under her belt, most of the singles on here are the best tracks on here. Frontloading the album with 4 big singles means the album feels like the further it goes, the fewer ideas she has. Those singles are some really strong dance pop though without feeling overly derivative of modern titans like Carly Rae Jepsen or Dua Lipa. Her collab with LAUREL feels perfect as the two feel like they already come from similar influences and they beautifully ... read more

Hands Like Houses returns with a new vocalist and the worst fucking stadium rock Fall Out Boy impression on their newest EP, which is apparently meant to be a teaser for more projects to come from the band. Oh boy.

I always hear people talk about Nick Littlemore as a prolific, visionary Australian producer with his hands in a bunch of huge Australian projects such as PNAU as well as Empire of the Sun. I've heard some classic EotS music and enjoyed it, I've enjoyed some of PNAU's work but this project is just soulless. There's this distinct difference between the two singles on here, River and Solid Gold, released before the Cold Heart remix blew up and everything else on here. And hell, even those two ... read more

I have listened to this album twice now and I am an inconsolable ball on the floor sobbing

Porter Robinson says Fujoshi rights

Genuinely one of the worst Australian songs put out this year fuck me man

So yall, listen to bye and then listen to Boy Problems by Carly Rae Jepsen and tell me they aren't the same song.

Anyways, I feel like at this point I'm never going to connect to an Ariana Grande project. There's something about her music that doesn't work for me, even when I appreciate the artistry behind the music. Like, when the single yes, and? came out I just did not see the hype behind it, it was just kind of pleasant and it's still one of my least favourite tracks on this album. I think ... read more

Honestly, with all the more experimental ska going around with 4th wave ska that's been extremely hit or miss lately, Naarm Melbourne group The Kittyhawks have come out with a ska record that feels like it's just tryna be a solid, at time visceral record that also manages to never quite take itself too seriously at the same time. The opening two tracks feel like these huge calls to action whereas other tracks like Speed Dating for Serial Killers are just weird scenarios that are still fitting ... read more

What the fuck did I just listen to this is so bizzare and I love it. It's like whatever crack Dogsbody was on last year was cut with something nasty that makes this just feel like a fever dream.

I genuinely feel nothing from this record. I can't deny there is good songcraft here and there on here but from the uninteresting song topics that make Laufey's debut album feel deep to music that feels like it's going too long. The opening track is 6and a half minutes long man. It's so repetitive by the end and it just keeps doing that the whole album. Why don't the songs ever end when they're actually over. Just... yeah.

So, with a mix of new songs and country reimaginings of old Whitlams hits like No Aphrodisiac, this album feels like it's very intentionally trying to bridge that gap between what The Whitlams was and what the band now called "The Whitlams Black Stump" is to be in the future. Unfortunately, I can't help but feel like this is overall underbaked. There's honestly been a resurrgance of good ass country lately, so this project just feels like it's just kind of bare bones when Critterland ... read more

Imma be honest, I'm really kind of exhausted with the lo-fi trend. While there are great cuts on this project, I just feel like I'm not getting much out of the music as a whole. Like, I compare this to something like Melt My Eyez which did that whole lo-fi jazz vibe a lot too (especially the huge Cowboy Bebop influences), that still created memorable instrumentals alongside the tracks and it turned the songs into these amazingly whole experiences. Comparing that to a lot of the stuff that's on ... read more

So it feels like the first three tracks on this thing are just written with different mindsets. Fuckboy, Two Faced and Poison Heart all feel like they're written like Laufey or Haitus Kaiyote was made to cover like, your typical girl gets screwed over by a shitty guy pop punk track, meanwhile Six Feet Under comes around and feels like it's written with a lot more care and humour for the kind of adult contemporary sound it's going for without losing that similar thematic vibes of the start of ... read more

I can't help but notice the glaring hole left in the back half of this record from Wayalup/Fremantle band San Cisco. Scarlett Stevens, an integrel part of the band's sound, feels like she's just absent from a lot of this record for Jordi's vocals to stand on their own and they cause a lot of the album to feel less distinct. Audibly it also sounds less ambitious than Between You and Me.

That doesn't make this album terrible, the ooening stretch is pleasant and the sudden Jungle cut that is ... read more

Okay, so I wasn't exactly expecting metalcore instrumentals from Calli. There's a strong foundation here, but I can't help feeling like part of the execution is missing. Like, it feels like there should be a more memorable hook here somewhere, whether from Calli's vocals or the instrumentals. The instrumentals also feel like they get muddier and muddier as the song goes on and it just loses the impact that it has at the start.

Positives, Calliope is on her Ado shit on this song and is leagues ... read more

My biggest complaint is that this thing kind ends in a really unsatisfying way. When the it starts going full Prodigy mode and explodes, the 26 minute mark is just kind of comes back down to an unsatisfying simmer. Even the frenetic scattering of noise in the last 40 seconds just couldn't quite get you back into that same zone that you were in from about the mid-point to the 26 minute mark.
This whole thing feels like it's just this steadily intensifying club mix that never feels like it's ... read more

NGL, my first thought of this record was "Wet Leg meets Amyl and the Sniffers" and it only just got better from there. Mannequin Pussy is not an outfit I'd heard of before this dropped, but the positive reviews on here and one of my friends hella recommending it gave me the push to listen to this ASAP.
Man, this is absolutely my shit.

Everything in the first half of this record has this perfect mixture of quirkiness and rawness that feels like that middle ground between the two acts ... read more

I feel like there's a strong foundation here, but I don't think Hazumi's writing here is strong enough to really sell what she's going for. That combined with the instrumental not really complimenting the instrumentals until it gets into the full Porter Robinson EDM breakdown. It feels like it's going for that kind of vibe of a Porter Robinson song or the original songs that Enna Alouette has put out not including Roll Dat Dough but she sounds more strained than natural with her vocal delivery ... read more