PerthZine

Tag: album-review

  • Album Review – The Drowners: Karaoke Alone (2026)

    Album Review – The Drowners: Karaoke Alone (2026)

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Formed in 2021, The Drowners are keeping the Perth post-rock / gothic scene alive and let us all thank them for it. This city has a rich history of the style and we want to keep it going. Karaoke Alone is the debut album from the Fremantle 5-piece.

    Sonically the album has plenty to offer. Lots of pulsing synth melodies, jangly guitars & lead licks, and a driving rhythm section.

    Opener House Red, grooves nicely and vocalist Hugo Bartsch enters with lyrics bathed in fantasy symbolism; something like it’s the end of the world and we are apathetic about the whole thing. Let’s sit back and drink and pretend it’s alright.

    This riffy, gothic romanticism continues with Whole Days of Wasps. Daniel Kessler-esque guitar swirling around a pumping bass track, while Bartsch’s lyrics delve into insect-laden hell dreams.

    Dancing for a Dollar feels like the single of the album – catchy and danceable, with beautifully messy out-of-tune guitar moments. It pairs nicely with the heavier Lay Me Down – equally catchy but with more fuzzy bite.

    Things settle a bit for the middle of the album with the slower James Bond Theme and Evening World. There are plenty of lovely melodies running through ‘ballad’ section. Martin Amis and French Exit close this slow dance out and we are back the dancier tracks for the last few. Smiths vibes abundant.

    When I say dancier, let’s be clear I’m talking about either jumping or throwing yourself around, that’s the vibe here in case that isn’t obvious. Biting Nails has that drive which by now has become apparent is a signature of the band.

    Karaoke Alone finishes the album and the title track is an excellent tune that could easily fit in an ’80’s movie soundtrack. Light and airy but building to a driving chorus and finale, it ends things nicely and really sets the bar high for what’s next from the band.

    Keen to see how they develop and how that house red ages with more songwriting and gigging under their belt. For now this is good, raw post rock.

  • Album Review – Beck: Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime (2026)

    Album Review – Beck: Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime (2026)

    Odds and Ends

    Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

    Beck has released a short album mostly comprised of covers, plus a few rarities thrown in for good measure. As always, he mostly hits the mark, and who can resist an album that has Elvis, Hank Williams and Daniel Johnston songs together in one package.

    The title track has been a staple song for Beck since covering it in the early noughties and suits his timbre beautifully. Following it up with Can’t Help Falling in Love (played fairly straight) compliments the crooner as you’d expect, and he rounds out the first half with The Flamingos I Only Have Eyes for You, played with plenty of reverb and vintage feel.

    The album is separated by the only original, Ramona, a track he recorded for Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It’s a great tune that sits nicely in his noughties era sound.

    The second half consists of another eclectic mix starting with Caetano Veloso’s Michelangelo Antonioni, played with haunting beauty, followed by Your Cheatin’ Heart, the Hank Williams classic. A fine song Beck plays with straight guitar but gives it less twang, more space.

    To round out the album we get John Lennon’s Love, which he plays like it was one of his own, and the brilliant True Love Will Find You in the End. It’s a short track, and could be Daniel Johnston’s best, Beck playing it with the sweetness and delicacy it deserves.

    It’s a nice little picture of Beck’s brain and inspiration without offering much new material. Definitely worth a listen, a definite for Beck fans.

  • Album Review – Geese: Getting Killed (2025)

    Album Review – Geese: Getting Killed (2025)

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Geese must be in strong consideration for best rock band going around these days. Getting Killed continues their experimentation in what it takes to be a great band in the twenty twenties. Is rock dead? Hell no, and it ain’t ever gonna die.

    Opening with Trinidad, we immediately get everything we come to expect from Geese – great guitar licks from Emily Green (probably the best rock guitarist right now), Cameron Winter’s melodic and chaotic vocals, and the tight rhythm section consisting of Dominic DiGesu (bass) and Max Bassin (drums). “There’s a bomb in my car” is instantly quotable and already has a t-shirt line.

    A few moments of quietness, but not really quiet and still plenty catchy, we get Cobra and Husbands, and then back into chaos with Getting Killed; the albums balance is spot on.

    Getting Killed continues this way and doesn’t let up. Bow Down is a masterful highlight that mixes interesting rhythm with a soaring, melodic chorus.

    Overall the album, like the three that come before it, is the kind that you just want to listen to front to back – it’s not any one single that stands out and dominates – every track is listenable in a different way, with influences coming everywhere from Zeppelin to Radiohead, but never sounding like anything other than Geese. If they can keep making music like this, the future of rock looks good.

  • Album Review – Aldous Harding – Warm Chris (2022)

    Album Review – Aldous Harding – Warm Chris (2022)

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Having only discovered Aldous Harding, Warm Chris is her most recent release and a wonderful showcase of the vocal chameleon’s range and depth.

    Aldous has an uncanny ability to create these soft acoustic songs that suddenly morph into as catchy a chorus as you’ll hear anywhere. The opener Ennui is no exception to this, starting with a simple walking piano until finally, two minutes in, rewarding you with a brilliant hook chorus that also cuts deep lyrically (come back, come back and leave it in the right place).

    The catchiness doesn’t stop there. Next up, Tick Tock is just as catchy, and Aldous takes on an almost Lou Reed tone. Fever sounds like a stadium screamed anthem song but sung low key. The title track, gently played acoustic picking, goes further with more than one catchy line leaving you wondering which is the chorus (you make that impossible face, what a line).

    The range is astonishing. From the bubble gummy pop Passion Babe to sounding like Loretta Lynn in She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain, and an almost Nico-like sounding closer Leathery Whip, the album manages to have both enough variation to make it interesting while sounding distinctly like Aldous Harding.

    Overall it’s hard to fault what Harding does. Presenting a mysterious persona, who’s both uncomfortable and confident, it makes for intriguing listening and invites the listener to ask the question – who is she? Is she the shy quiet woman who appears awkward and uncomfortable, or is there more to this act? Either way the album is highly recommended, and give the songs a chance to kick in, you’ll see just how catchy they can be.

    ★★★★☆