album review: 'CARE FOR ME' by saba

Well, this has been very long in coming.

And indeed, Saba is a name that's been on my radar for some time, even despite the fact it has taken months for his album to ascend my schedule. He's loosely affiliated with many of the indie acts in the Chicago scene that I've covered - he's shown up on Chance The Rapper's Acid Rap and Coloring Book, Donnie Trumpet's Surf, and he and Noname have traded guest appearances on each other's respective projects - and while he built a fair amount of buzz off a few mixtapes, he first came to my attention proper with his 2016 debut Bucket List Project. And for the most part I did like it, but I wouldn't say it was something that really resonated with me as much as I'd like, because for as versatile as Saba was as an MC, he definitely wore his influences on his sleeve. Sure, detailed flair to his writing and he had good taste in instrumentals... but I'd struggle to say I was in a huge hurry to come back to it, and it was tricky to pinpoint why. Maybe the songs just weren't quite there yet or he hadn't quite refined his unique voice, but I did figure that'd likely come on his follow-up. And given the critical reception that CARE FOR ME has received, I had every reason to believe this would be great, so what did we get with this?

video review: 'hill climber' by vulfpeck

So yeah, this was a mess... not my thing either so I expect the backlash, but eh, it happens.

Next up... yep, let's finally talk about SABA here - enjoy!

album review: 'hill climber' by vulfpeck

So here's something a little alarming about my job as a critic, and I'll walk you through the scenario. Say you're given a band, primarily promoted through Bandcamp so you'd assume they'd be a small-to-midsize act, and you've never heard of them. Fine enough, that's not uncommon if they're a step outside the mainstream or never have gotten Pitchfork coverage, so you start digging through their back catalog... only to discover that this band might be a lot bigger than you could have expected, with collaborations with named critical darlings and a social media presence that might actually guarantee an audience for the review... made all the more awkward by the fact that you really didn't like what you heard going through that back catalog!

And yes, this was my experience with Vulfpeck, an American funk act who broke out in the 2010s and have quietly been pumping out albums throughout the decade. And when you see the list of session players who have worked with them, it's a little astonishing that I hadn't heard of them sooner. Indeed, I can imagine some audiences are more familiar with how they were backing Darren Criss on his 2013 tour than the fact they had worked with Bootsy Colins, Bernard Purdie, and David T. Walker. Of course, if you're in the music industry you probably know them for having trolled Spotify in 2014 by putting an entirely silent album online in order to game streaming, which got them about twenty thousand dollars before the album got pulled, but in all due honesty, there are points I'd prefer to listen to that than their larger recorded output. Yeah, this is where things get awkward because I would struggle to say I'm a fan of Vulfpeck at all: limp production, underwhelming vocals unless they pulled up a credible guest, and with generally embarrassing lyrics that might just wind up as some of the most safe and sterile attempts at funk I've heard in a long time. Yeah, the playing is good, but with no edge or intensity or sense of greater texture, it got grating fast, and when you couple it with their social media presence which makes it hard to tell if they're a joke act that just so happens to have a few ringers who can play really well... well, that's not the sort of act I really feel the need to cover. That said, they slowed things down significantly for their album last year - it was more limp and boring than actively grating like The Beautiful Game was but at least was tolerable - but this new album has gotten some good reception, so what did we get from Hill Climber?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 15, 2018 (VIDEO)

And here we go - man, I look exhausted filming this, but thank god I got some sleep coming through.

Next up... ugh, this'll be frustrating to handle, so just stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 15, 2018

...you know, I'd call it funny if I was anyone else. See, I predicted last week that Meek Mill would have have something of an album bomb - he's had two already just in the course of me covering the charts, and I expected given the hype there'd be another one here, especially given some of his critical acclaim... but the Spotify numbers didn't seem that huge and it's not like he'd get sales or much radio. So imagine my extreme exasperation when not only did we get fourteen new Meek Mill songs, we also got a mini album bomb from Lil Baby - an artist I thought we could leave behind, preferably by the side of an abandoned road - and a sizable set of new arrivals, bringing our round total up to twenty-seven new songs for this week. All right before the holidays while I still work fulltime in the middle of trying to wrap up multiple year-end lists with a tighter schedule than any other year prior because of real life constraints. So yeah, screw it, album bomb rules are in effect, albeit revised from their original outing from Tha Carter V given that I'm not reviewing Meek Mill's new album formally - as if there'll be much to say - but with the suggestion taken from you all that the only songs I cover are his breakthroughs in the top 40 and any that would wind up as the Best/Worst of the week. That still comfortably gives me over a dozen new entries, and if anyone wants to complain about that, especially given Meek Mill is under Atlantic which is under Warner and that means this video will likely wind up copyright claimed and I won't get a dime from it, you go produce 200+ episodes of a twenty minute weekly series with a day's turnaround time on your own for over four years, and then get back to me. 

movie review: 'creed ii' (VIDEO)

And now I've caught up on everything... time for whatever's left in the year, so let's see what happens - stay tuned!

video review: 'a brief inquiry into online relationships' by the 1975

Well, this got the backlash I was expecting... eh, it happens.

Next up... well, one more post first...

album review: 'a brief inquiry into online relationships' by the 1975

You know, it's a common trope among movie critics that most sequences involving computer hacking tend to suck, because not only do most filmmakers not know anything about hacking in the real world, you're trying to add tension and gravitas to what is, for the most part, just people writing code and running scripts. And while I'm fairly certain other music critics have made a similar comparison, I want to drill into one particular point: I'm really goddamn sick of artists making songs and albums talking about social media. Yes, it can be a toxic waste dump of bad opinions, spam, stupidity and let's not forget the Nazis, but as a whole I still view social media as, if not a net positive, a powerful force in the modern age to be used for good or ill, and as a tool it doesn't make for good subject matter if the person beneath it isn't interesting or compelling. 

Granted, I'm also coming at this from a technical background and a higher-than-usual level of impulse control when I'm not making hot takes or livetweeting from the metal bar or karaoke, but I think my point stands in being able to shine a light upon a worldwide community with the possibility to give a megaphone to anyone - and like any other tool or mode of communication or entertainment, it has its limits and failings and the potential to bring out the worst in people. So while I'm not surprised artists like to target social media in their technological dystopia themes, I rarely see a level of realistic insight that doesn't feel short-sighted or hectoring or technophobic in a really crass way, especially when said acts are going to turn around and use said social media for promotion for their next project. And thus I think I can be forgiven for being skeptical of the newest album from The 1975, with the loaded title of A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships - not only did I hear whatever remaining rock element had been sanded away, I heard it was taking some thematic leaps into this territory. So in other words, I didn't have high expectations whatsoever, so what did we get with this?

video review: 'some rap songs' by earl sweatshirt

Well, this was... tough to talk about. And since I'm not lavishing it with praise I expect there to be backlash, but whatever, I can handle that.

Next up, though... The 1975 - stay tuned!

album review: 'some rap songs' by earl sweatshirt

So I've always struggled a bit with how to properly evaluate Earl Sweatshirt - or indeed, how much I can call myself a fan. Don't get me wrong, I've scored both of his albums thus far highly, I think he's a great rapper with a powerful knack of distilling complex ideas down to aggressively concise ideas and he has a knack for honest introspection that rarely gets the credit it deserves, especially given his origin within Odd Future... but I'd struggle to say that I've revisited much of his work outside of a few songs, and his very limited presence in the hip-hop world at large always gives me the odd feeling I could be hearing much more from him... and yet I don't. 

And thus it was with a little trepidation I was approaching Some Rap Songs - his first album in over three years and his shortest to date, clocking under a half hour, it nevertheless has already gotten a reputation for being a pretty dense and experimental listen at that length. And... honestly, I wasn't sure how to take that, as wild experimentation in tone and production hasn't really been a thing for Earl - he's favoured dusty, stripped back, usually very dark beats so I didn't really have a gauge for where he'd take this. I did know he had lost his father and a close family friend who he considered his uncle earlier this year and Earl has always had a complicated relationship with his family, so I expected that subtext to loom pretty heavily, so what did we get with Some Rap Songs?

video review: 'what is love?' by clean bandit

Overall a little surprised I had enough to say about this thing... but hey, it happens?

Okay, Earl is up next - stay tuned!

album review: 'what is love?' by clean bandit

So this is the sort of review that I have no idea why I'm making - well, at least beyond the most cynical of responses, which is that Clean Bandit have several songs that have attracted a lot of attention and this'll likely wind up getting traffic for relatively little effort on my part.

But is that a fair assessment, especially given how many singles worldwide Clean Bandit have notched with a more distinctive blend of tropical elements, classical strings, and grooves that don't feel beholden to overweight trap percussion? Well, yes and no - I'll admit I've never really loved a Clean Bandit song - they have a weirdly pristine but fussy nature that can come across as oversanitized and underwritten, and I include 'Rather Be' in that category - but I wouldn't say I dislike them either. Yeah, the personality of any given song is more dependent on their guest stars and to expect a cohesive album is a crapshoot, and it's hard not to feel like a lot of their music is custom-designed for department stores trying to sound hip... but they can land some good melodies and while their first album didn't impress me at all, maybe their follow-up would be okay... even if it feels like I've already heard a significant chunk of it. Yeah, that's the other thing about reviewing an electronic project like this, the albums feel more like singles compilations - but hey, that's normally the formula for great pop albums so I'm not going to hold it against Clean Bandit here, so what did we get on What Is Love?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 8, 2018 (VIDEO)

So hmm, I'm not sure this'll get all the way past the copyright bullshit, but this is a new tactic I'm trying, we'll see how it goes - enjoy!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 8, 2018

So I've talked before about deceptive weeks on the Hot 100, where there seems to be a lot of activity at first glimpse before a closer look reveals a more stable week - and I think if that assessment is appropriate for this week, it's entirely coincidental, a culmination of three stories that all seem to either cancel each other's impact or will be rendered irrelevant by the next week. Somehow this also wound up giving me a second shorter week, so I'm not complaining, but it's still worth pointing out.

video review: 'the pains of growing' by alessia cara

So yeah, I really wish that I could like this more. I mean, it's not bad by any stretch and I'm still rooting for Alessia Cara, but man, this should be better.

Next up... honestly, not sure, but I've got Billboard BREAKDOWN next, so stay tuned!

album review: 'the pains of growing' by alessia cara

I can't help but find it a bit strange that going into this review, I was rooting for Alessia Cara.

And let me make this clear, I've been at least trying to be on her side since 2015 and the influx of Lorde-wannabes in which she came up - I'd certainly prefer her to Halsey or Daya, that's for damn sure. But Alessia Cara's success has frustrated me, because as much as I liked her breakthrough single 'Here' and her follow-up 'Wild Things', I had the sinking feeling that given the success of 'Scars To Your Beautiful' and her feature on Logic's suicide hotline song, that would be the direction Def Jam would shove her in. Yes, she had won the Grammy for Best New Artist off those singles, but that award can be the kiss of death for a lot of new acts, and poor management has destroyed more promising pop artists than bad albums. 

And I can't stress how much I didn't want that to happen, because I've always been convinced that Alessia Cara was a more interesting and vibrant personality and songwriter than just churning out self-esteem anthem pablum, and given how rushed Know-It-All felt, I had to hope that her follow-up would show more refinement, especially as her competition had gotten stiffer with Lorde's resurgence and the striking rise of Billie Eilish. Yeah, I'd still prefer to listen to Alessia Cara than Camila Cabello or Halsey or especially Bebe Rexha, but this project had to stick the landing. And by all accounts it could - Alessia Cara had taken a much bigger writing and production role with her sophomore album with no guest stars, and major labels don't tend to offer that freedom unless they've got faith in the release... or are looking to cut their losses by keeping the team and budget as small as possible. And I didn't think it was the latter case here - Know-It-All had moved a lot of units on the back of Alessia Cara's writing - but I was cautious about The Pains Of Growing, so what did we get?

trailing edge - episode #011 - november 2018 (VIDEO)

Man, this series always takes so long to put together... still pretty pleased with how it came out, even despite that minor edit in the video and the goddamn copyright claim. Resonators is up next, so stay tuned!

video review: 'dicaprio 2' by j.i.d.

I honestly did not expect to have this review ready to go for tonight... but it came together faster than I expected, which was nice to see. 

Next up, Resonators/Trailing Edge - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 1, 2018 (VIDEO)

So yeah, still fighting some copyright nonsense with this one, but one of the claims was released so I've got a hope that it reflects well going forward. Beyond that...

Well, J.I.D is out and I'll probably get Resonators and the Trailing Edge out soon, so stay tuned!

album review: 'dicaprio 2' by j.i.d.

I think my reaction to J.I.D. was pretty much the same as just about anyone who stumbled across him on hype alone, beginning with, 'okay, his voice is a little weird and pitchy but man he can flow', followed by 'my god, this guy's debut is seriously good', and of course followed by 'holy shit, J. Cole signed somebody to Dreamville who doesn't sound like him - and is actually quality!'

I kid - somewhat - but seriously, J.I.D. came right the hell out of nowhere for me and a lot of other people, and one of my biggest mistakes in 2017 was not reviewing his debut album The Never Story, mostly because it was a really damn good album but also because he's the sort of Atlanta rapper I don't feel gets enough attention - lyrical, but unconventional and offkilter in a way that reminded me of some of the old Dungeon Family crew, along with a fair bit of Lil Wayne, Kendrick, and Anderson .Paak. Now there were some moments that didn't quite click as strongly as I'd like from that debut, but given that the buzz for DiCaprio 2 was pretty high - a sequel to his breakthrough EP and following a string of pretty impressive guest verses, especially with Denzel Curry - I really was excited about this. So, what did we get from DiCaprio 2?