billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 13, 2018 (VIDEO)

And here we go... not a great week, but I think it was somewhat interesting overall? Eh, you never know.

Next up... well, the schedule is pretty open-ended, so you never know. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 13, 2018

So remember when I said last week I was expecting a slowdown... well, thanks to three factors I'd argue I was probably wrong in that department, because if you're looking a certain shifts in the charts, you might conclude it was a pretty busy. Now that's not entirely the case - indeed, look into the details and you'll see a pretty average or even slower week - but I would say it is more transitory, as the holidays rotate out for whatever's coming.

video review: 'what if nothing' by walk the moon

...frankly, I'm amazed I had as much to say about this group as I did. Eh, oh well.

But next up, something a fair bit more underground - stay tuned!

album review: 'what if nothing' by walk the moon

So I've always been a little on the fence about Walk The Moon - probably a good bit more than many people expect, it all you know them from is the 2015 smash hit 'Shut Up And Dance'. And yes, that song did make my year end list for the best hit songs in 2015, but there was a part of me always a little distant from it, mostly because I always questioned how much I liked it because it was Walk The Moon... or because it sounded so much like The Killers-lite.

And look, I have often praised plenty of acts for calling back to the past, but what I've stressed is that the act should do something to make themselves distinct from their influences, and covering Walk The Moon's record Talking Is Hard in 2014... look, it's not a bad album, but it didn't have that memorable star quality for me, not helped by an underwhelming frontman and lyrics that didn't often click when they aimed higher. So when I heard that Walk The Moon was heading in a more electronic-inspired direction - because they're an "indie" band in 2017 and of course they are - I at least had the hope that they were going to do something interesting this time around. On the other hand the early buzz was suggesting they fumbled this too, so I really had no expectations on quality - but what the hell, what did we find on What If Nothing?

the top ten best hit songs of 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, this was fun to put together. Yeah, a few minor glitches, but it did come together in a hurry more than I'd otherwise like (mostly because I'm travelling atm and have limited Internet/computer time). Interesting to see all the controversy about my #1 pick, but you always get that sort of thing.

Anyway, now to focus on the Top 50 Songs of 2015, so stay tuned!

the top ten best hit songs of 2015

Of all of the lists that I put together throughout the last weeks of the year, this is probably my favourite, because it's where I feel the most populist. It's the acknowledgement at listing the absolute worst hits that there is good stuff that deserves attention too, and that the mainstream public actually agreed. And 2015 really was a good year. Yeah, hip-hop and country in the mainstream struggled, but there were a lot of great pop songs pulling on rock, synthpop, funk, and even R&B. And while I wouldn't say this year's hits are quite as strong as a year like 2012 or 2011, it handily beats the last two years I've been putting together this list not just in number of great songs, but their quality. And again, the songs had to land on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 - the deep-cuts and stuff outside the mainstream, that's coming next - but this was the good stuff that got popular.

So let's start with our Honourable Mentions, shall we?

video review: 'talking is hard' by walk the moon

God, another album I wish was better. I will say that it's one of the rare albums that mid-edit it did seem to improve a bit, but not enough.

Up next... hmm, maybe it's time to finally give Todd Terje a try. Stay tuned!

album review: 'talking is hard' by walk the moon

As many of you undoubtedly know, a lot of music pulls inspiration from older genres and styles, sometimes looking backwards to evoke a retro sound and style, sometimes looking forward to innovate. But with so much of pop culture pulling from different eras of itself, one needs to ask the question when it's less of an affectionate homage and more of a shameless ripoff, because in some cases it starts to become blatant, especially with pop music when you don't have a unique driving spirit behind it. And even then, taking the example of Lady Gaga, even she gets accused of outright ripping off Madonna when she does do more. Is it a factor of time, how many years that go by before an artist can draw from the past, or a matter of the influence's presence and clout and how sacrosanct one might consider their art, or how well the successor uses those influences or adapts them into something new.

Now these are heavy subjects to deal with the succession and progression of art, and are probably a little too heavy to be linked with Walk The Moon, an indie rock act who first burst onto the scene in 2010 and have been slowly gaining some steam thanks to some strong singles with quirky videos. And as I mentioned in the last Billboard BREAKDOWN, instrumentally they remind me a lot of The Killers, just minus some of the self-serious posturing, the grander lyrical scope, and the decadent insanity that used to characterize some of The Killers' best work. But bands that sound more like The Killers isn't a bad thing, and Walk The Moon have a loose, electric energy that made them fun. I wasn't sure how much it would really grip me, but at the end of the year, why not throw on a fun indie rock record, so I chose to check out their newest album Talking Is Hard, which has actually been getting some critical acclaim - is it worth it?