album review: 'bangerz' by miley cyrus

I'm sick of people talking about Miley Cyrus.

Yes, I'm aware of the hypocrisy here with me making that statement and immediately jumping into my review of her recent album, but here's the big difference between me and what most of the non-thinking members of the entertainment press did in the aftermath of the VMAs: I'm going to talk about her music. I don't care about her image or her supposedly 'scandalous' behaviour, and as much as I'm annoyed she found a way to get twerking inserted in the cultural lexicon, I'm really not all that bothered by the fact she managed to drive up controversy at the VMAs and give the program another couple years of relevance. Frankly, the level of slut-shaming by too many correspondents 'commenting' on this issue has reached disgusting levels, particularly when you consider historical context - I mean, maybe I'm just looking at this from somebody who knows his country music, but do any of you remember Billy Ray Cyrus' early persona? He was the one who wore the sleeveless shirts and conducted his concerts like a Chip 'n Dale show and showed up in Dolly Parton's 'Romeo' where she and a gaggle of other female country singers mooned over how incredibly hot he was - in 1992, no less! And sure, he got flack for it, but when Miley does the same thing in a pop context, everyone loses their goddamn minds?

Ugh. No, if I'm going to take an issue from Miley's VMA performance, it'd be with the music - it sounded terrible, mostly because Miley Cyrus isn't very good live (she goes sharp and off-key more often than she should) and was working with a lousy song. If anything, that's been one of the big issues I've had with Miley Cyrus as an 'artist': she has been given a ton of really terrible material by her handlers who seem bewildered by the fact that Miley clearly wants to take her image in a much more provocative direction. If she's given good songs, she tends to be fairly decent on them, as evidenced by her presence on the excellent 'Ashtrays & Heartbreaks' by Snoop Lion - which, I should add, is still one of my favourite songs of the year. And thus, I think I was the only critic stepping away from the VMAs thinking, 'Well, she's got a new album coming out and she's apparently got songwriting credits on the majority of the songs - this could actually be interesting, all things considered!' And given that Miley at least seems invested in her material (in comparison with her fellow pop starlet Selena Gomez), it might come across as better than expected.

So I gave her new album Bangerz a listen - did Miley Cyrus manage to present something interesting?

video review: 'redneck crazy' by tyler farr

So yeah, another day, another mostly mediocre bro-country act. Man, this one was a chore to get through.

Next up is the big one: Miley Cyrus. Stay tuned, folks, this could get ugly.

album review: 'redneck crazy' by tyler farr

We return - again - to country music, where things have certainly escalated.

When I originally wrote my Special Comment on the state of modern country music, I did not expect the response I got. I expected maybe a bit of praise, a larger bit of hatred as a holdover from the Justin Moore review (keep the hatred coming, folks, I can take it), and then for it to sink like a stone. I did not expect to be pointed towards a growing contingent who are growing very angry about the state of modern country music, or to discover the country music feuds to be heating up in a big way with more and more stars taking sides, and then to be contacted directly by the country music correspondent from Entertainment Weekly! Suddenly, I was inundated by country music news and links to underground country acts that I'm excited to explore, and it appears my Special Comment may just be one of many from mainstream publications talking about and analyzing this issue. A feud within country music hasn't been this enflamed since the 2000s, and with the rise of social media and instant responses, I can see this blowing up in a big way.

But let me make this part absolutely clear: I'm still a music critic and not a gossip columnist, and my job is not to get involved in the drama of the stars or their various feuds. I definitely stand by my criticism of certain other online critics for their refusal to cover country music on narrow-minded genre classifications, but I've found good music in traditional and neotraditional country music, and I've even managed to find good stuff in the pop-country and bro-country subgenres as well. Admittedly, I've got more of a pop sensibility than most, but good music is good music, and as long as I can defend my critical opinions, I'm gong to be fair with my coverage regardless of genre.

So when I heard about the rumblings against Tyler Farr's debut bro-country album Redneck Crazy, I took a deep breath and kept my senses. Sure, the guy has basically come out of nowhere and had a criminally underwritten Wikipedia page, but maybe the hatred was overblown, right?

video review: 'days are gone' by haim

Wow, review number fifty, and only one of them have broken a thousand views. Eh, this sort of shit takes time, I've accepted that.

Next up is Tyler Farr and the newest update from bro-country. Spoilers, it doesn't end well.

album review: 'days are gone' by haim

You know, for as many solo female acts I've reviewed this year, I haven't actually covered that many girl groups, or at least in the traditional definition of a pop girl group. I mean, the closest would probably be Icona Pop, but that was a duo and after that? Savages and Echo Bench were girl 'bands', not precisely fitting the stereotypical definition of what would be considered a girl 'group' in the vein of, say, the Spice Girls or TLC. 

The truth of the matter is that girl groups haven't been nearly as successful in North America than internationally, where they continue to exist to this day, particularly in j-pop and k-pop. Of the international girl group acts, I probably like the UK-based girl group Girls Aloud the most, almost to the point where I'd consider them my favourite of the genre (although most of the credit must go to top-notch producing team Xenomania). Yes, seriously - as with boy bands, girl groups didn't quite go away in the UK, and while they didn't quite crossover, acts like Little Mix and Fifth Harmony have achieved some minor success stateside thanks to the influence of Simon Cowell. And really, it's only been a matter of time: as soon as boy bands starting coming back, I knew girl groups would be right around the corner.

So with that, let's talk about HAIM (I guarantee I'm pronouncing this wrong however I say it), a group that really toes the line between girl band and girl group, and which broke into public view last year. These three sisters all do play their own instruments, but they claim to draw a lot of their influence from mid-90s female R&B acts like TLC, which is why I stand by the 'girl group' mention. Strangely, though, many critics have drawn the much sharper comparison to not girl groups or girl bands, but to Fleetwood Mac of all things. That, plus the critical acclaim, was enough to catch some interest from me, and I gave their debut album 'Days Are Gone' a listen. What do I think?

video review: 'the bluegrass album' by alan jackson

Holy crap, this one came together fast. I don't know what it was, but I didn't really have a huge amount to say and this review came out surprisingly quick. Better for me - brevity is good - but still...

Next review is HAIM's 'Days Are Gone', and then maybe I might get a chance to tackle a few indie acts before Miley. And yes, I'm working on the Dream Theater review. Give it time, people.

album review: 'the bluegrass album' by alan jackson

When people ask me why I listen to country music, or how they can get into country music, I point at Alan Jackson.

It's kind of hard for me to fully articulate why Alan Jackson stands out for me in terms of country singers from the 90s in a way that few of his peers do. He's a superb musician with a gift for catchy, memorable melodies and lyrics with a superb flow. He is completely unafraid to write political songs and he's intelligent enough to work to capture many layers of nuance in those songs (signified in 'Where Were You', one of only two songs that managed to properly memorialize September 11 by any artist). He's not a man who actively seems to get angry in his material, but you can tell he is the kind of man you do not screw with, as evidenced by his legendary performance at the 1999 Country Music Awards, where he switched song mid-solo from one of his own to George Jones' 'Choices', in protest of how one of the legends of country music had been pressured to trim his performance for commercials and had bowed out of the ceremony. 

And as a neotraditionalist country singer - one of the most successful at that - Alan Jackson has been fighting for decades to preserve the historical spirit and culture of the medium. Besides releasing a ton of amazing music in this vein, he also recorded with George Strait a song called 'Murder On Music Row', where he directly criticized the slide of country music towards the mainstream courtesy of Garth Brooks and Shania Twain. It was a controversial song on country radio in 2000, and arguably contributed in a big way for country receding from the mainsteam in the early years of that decade (besides just being a goddamn great song that nails commentary on the genre without getting preachy). 

So really, it was only a matter of time before the lead crusader of traditional country music came back, with the slide of country, yet again, towards the mainstream. And while Chris Young has accumulated some fame and critical success, he doesn't quite have the same pull within Nashville that Alan Jackson has. And thus, I wasn't surprised in the slightest when Alan Jackson announced his new album would be titled The Bluegrass Album, one that he has been 'threatening' the country music industry that he would make for years now. 

Now, I must confess, I'm not the most familiar with bluegrass as a genre, but I know enough to get by and if I'm looking for a way into the genre, I can't think of a better introduction than that of a country legend who has been preparing for this album for nearly a decade. And thus, I chose to take a listen to Alan Jackson's The Bluegrass Album - how did it turn out?

video review: 'pure heroine' by lorde

Ah, it's good to be back on the wagon (felt ill yesterday, didn't do all that much, that's basically the reason this review is as late as it is). So yeah, Lorde - great ideas, not perfect execution.

Alan Jackson's coming up next. Stay tuned!

album review: 'pure heroine' by lorde

About a year ago, a critic that I like made an interesting statement regarding the evolution of the pop charts. He commented that due to the success of 'Call Me Maybe' by Carly Rae Jepsen, the return of the boy bands, and the fact that Justin Bieber could finally claim to have real chart hits, that indie rock wouldn't be the music that took over - instead, the next few years would be dominated by what he deemed 'teeny-bopper crap'. This statement, in its own way, was rather prophetic, as it did predict the chart success of Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Miley Cyrus over the course of this year, but I wouldn't quite say indie rock has been replaced either. On the contrary, I'd make the argument that considering the rise of digital music and the greater prominence of indie acts, the charts are somewhat split right now between acts moving towards smarter and more mature music and those moving in the exact opposite direction, to mixed success on both ends.

But could there be a possible act to rise up from the intersection of both worlds? Enter Lorde (real name Ella Yelich O'Connor), a sixteen year old New Zealand singer who released her debut album this year titled Pure Heroine, and who has achieved a shocking amount of chart success with her first single 'Royals'. And while I have a healthy amount of skepticism regarding the quality of teenage stars, Lorde has accumulated a certain degree of critical acclaim and praise for her 'razor-sharp lyrics', and her claims to be inspired by Lana Del Rey and Kanye West. And I was even more intrigued by the fact that she actually turned down Katy Perry who wanted to recruit her as an opening act, so I picked up Pure Heroine (heh, good pun) and gave it a spin. What did I think?

special comment: the state of country music

In the year 2000, two of the greatest country acts of the decade teamed up to perform a song formerly written by bluegrass artists Larry Cordle and Larry Shell. The song was never released as a single, but received significant airplay anyway due to its controversial nature in the country music industry. It was a song about how traditional and neotraditional country music - and the performers who made it - were being shoved to the sidelines in favour of mainstream pop crossover success. The song spoke of how artists like Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, and George Jones would never have had success in this industry climate - they, and the culture and history that they represented, would have been ignored. The legends, the icons of the genre, would have been likely been forgotten.

The song was titled 'Murder On Music Row' and it was made a hit by Alan Jackson and George Strait - and the situation of which they were singing...

Well, it's happening again.

On September 12, The Nashville Scene published a breakdown of the lyrics on the top 20 songs of the country music charts, indicating the common lyrical threads and the genre's shift towards party songs centered on beer, trucks, and girls. The case the article made was not to highlight the individual successes or failures of the songs on said list, but to point out the astounding similarities between the songs in terms of subject matter, theme, and even lyrical content. Furthermore, given that the extreme majority of acts on the list were performed by solo male country acts, the argument could be made that the average listener would not be able to tell these men apart. There is only one songs fronted by a woman on this list - Carrie Underwood, and I would have a hard time calling the American Idol winner a country singer over being a pop star. On the list of songs, the noticeable outliers come from Tim McGraw - a stalwart of the genre who has been around for decades - and a song penned by Bob Dylan sung by Darius Rucker, the former frontman of Hootie & The Blowfish! Neither song was in the top ten.

On September 19, Billboard magazine released an article showing how a growing number of country acts are showing concern regarding the sameness of their peers' content. Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band said, 'there is not a lot of the country format I enjoy listening to. If I hear one more tailgate in the moonlight, Daisy Dukes song, I wanna throw up. There's songs out right now on the radio that make me... ashamed to even be in the same format as some of those artists.' Think about this for a moment: the frontman of a critically acclaimed country act from rural Georgia, from a town of just over 5000 people, made the statement that he is ashamed to be in the same format as these artists. He goes on to call Luke Bryan's 'That's My Kinda Night' 'the worst song he's ever heard.' He goes on to target the country music industry, saying it puts 'songs and people on a pedestal that have no integrity to them whatsoever', and to the writers of these songs, 'you can look on song credits and see some of the same songwriters on every one. There has been, like, ten number one songs in the last two to three years that were written by the same people, and the exact same words, just arranged different ways.'

Zac Brown is right. So is Gary Allan, who, in an interview with Larry King, said 'I feel like we have lost our genre.' So is Kacey Musgraves, who said in an interview with British GQ when asked about what trends in music need to die, she replied, 'Anyone singing about trucks, in any form, in any song, anywhere. Literally, just stop - nobody cares! It's not fun to listen to.' Unfortunately, Miss Musgraves is likely wrong on this front, at least in comparison with the programming that Nashville has been pushing for country radio over the past few years, because it has become abundantly clear that a growing audience wants it. Incidentally, Kacey Musgraves released an album this year titled Same Trailer, Different Park, a controversial yet critical acclaimed debut album where she spoke openly about topics such as deteriorating rural culture, religion, and even same-sex marriage. It is one of the best albums of this year and will beat out Daft Punk, Kanye West, Vampire Weekend, Deerhunter, and a slew of other critically acclaimed acts on my Top 10 list.

Outside of major professional publications, Robert Christgau, and AllMusic, it was ignored. In most top ten lists by mainstream critics, I suspect it will be forgotten. And while it has sold better that you might expect, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 it was far from a smash hit, with the lead single only reaching #14. Oh, and the album it was up against that week, the major competition the label was setting Miss Musgraves against? Justin Timberlake's comeback album The 20/20 Experience, which proceeded to sell approximately 968,000 copies that week alone. That week, Kacey Musgraves sold about 42,000. For a more fitting comparison, the previous week Luke Bryan sold 150,000 copies with a compilation album, a glorified spring break mixtape. 

Now I'm not here to make a value judgement on whether I think the trend towards the mainstream is a bad thing - as much as mainstream modern country in all of its varieties isn't really my thing, I can acknowledge good music when I hear it and there is some there. But what is a much more worrying trend is the sidelining of promising new acts like Kacey Musgraves, a female singer-songwriter with incredible chops, fresh ideas, and an excellent sense of solid country music, in favour of meat-headed, practically interchangeable male country stars who have pop crossover success by catering to the lowest common denominator. From a business point of view, Nashville is making a killing on these country acts, but it does not reflect a sustainable business model when you put your most promising and intelligent new singer-songwriter in a decade up against Justin TImberlake. But at the same time, the country music industry is a business, and if they want to milk and oversaturate the market with mainstream male country acts to roll in the dough until the world gets sick of them, that's their choice. But there's a much bigger issue at stake here, and that is reflected in the comments made by Kacey Musgraves, Gary Allan, and Zac Brown: the loss of culture in country music. A loss of flavour and texture and the feeling that the songs are informed by authentic real emotions and songwriters who know their history and the place country music has played within the United States for nearly a century. At this point, Nashville seems to have forsaken this, presumably under the belief that nobody in their audience wants it.

But more and more evidence is coming to light to me that that is not the case. Recently I reviewed the newest album released by country singer Justin Moore, titled Off The Beaten Path. Now that album was terrible and I stand by everything I said about it, but it was something in the comments to that video that both concerned me and got me thinking, because people jumped to the defense of Justin Moore and not just because they thought his music was good, but they thought his music was relatable. They could connect with it, they saw in the offensive pandering nonsense that was that album moments with which they could connect - it was something. And they gravitated to those songs about small town USA and God and rural culture and all of that not solely because they were something they could relate to, but because mainstream country music has nearly completely abandoned that demographic. Or worse still, they attempt to appease that demographic with shallow, vapid pandering that sounds and looks utterly soulless, and yet the audience will take anything they can get. And frankly, I can empathize with their concerns - their defense of Justin Moore, who at least appears to believe the crap he's selling, is pretty much identical to my defense of Kacey Musgraves, at least on basic principles - we're both looking for culture in country music.

So what happened? How did we get here? What led Nashville to throw their history and culture under the ties of a Chevy truck lining up for a tailgate? Well, there's a lot of factors in that. One I can definitely pinpoint is within the country music industry itself - they've always gunned for the mainstream audience, with country pop rising in the late-70s and 80s and the explosion of Garth Brooks and Shania Twain in the 90s. But in those climates, there were still traditional and neotraditional country stalwarts like Alan Jackson and George Strait who fought to preserve that history, and there was an audience that bought it. But when Nashville found out they could appease that demographic by pandering to southern pride and small town nationalist spirit and patriotism, those that fought for culture and history were forced to the sidelines. 

And how can Nashville get away with that? Well, that's a twofold problem, and here's where things get ugly, because one of the groups that deserves blame are modern music critics, particularly those who are my age or a little older. The majority of critics outside of major publications like AllMusic and Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, who must cover country by obligation, have ignored and marginalized country music for a long time now, preferring to cover the newest underground hip-hop mixtape or independent album that nobody outside of a very, very small community of music nerds will ever care about. I could go on about how this attitude betrays the spirit of populism which the best critics have always embraced, but that misses the meat of the message: by ignoring country music, the critical press shut down the artistic conversation with country music. They made the implicit statement that there is no artistry or craft or intelligence or meaningful commentary in country music. And I would be remiss not to mention the political angle, where certain people, ignorant of country music as a genre, dismissed it as music for small town, right-leaning white trash rednecks who were incapable of appreciating 'better' music. This sort of thinking and dismissal is cowardly, shameful, and utterly despicable, and it shows most critics as narrow-minded as the demographic they dismissed.

But the country music industry heard it and realized they didn't need critical acclaim to sell records, unlike other genres like metal and indie rock and occasionally hip-hop. They didn't need us. So instead they started catering to the lowest common denominator more aggressively than they ever have before, putting money and professional songwriters behind anyone with a hint of talent, and they reaped the rewards, particularly considering the culture of anti-intellectualism and victimization that was being adopted by the stagnating and unfairly ignored rural population of the United States. And while I will not claim that country music was directly responsible for shoving large tracts of the United States towards the right politically, you can't deny that with the success of acts like Jason Aldean and Justin Moore and libelous songs like 'Have You Forgotten' by Darryl Worley that it didn't happen. And with the role country music played in the aftermath of 9/11, things got even worse - as much as I never liked The Dixie Chicks, they didn't deserve to have their careers ruined because they were right about the War on Terror before everyone else realized it. Like it or not, country music did contribute to the increased polarization of America, and the critics not doing their jobs by ignoring covering country music only made things worse, because the cultural conversation stopped. 

So thus I wasn't surprised that I get comments on my country music reviews saying that I shouldn't even be covering country music, because I'm a Canadian city boy and thus must be some sort of privileged white-collar Commie homosexual - even though I've been listening to country music for about twenty years. Even though I know more about country music than I do about most hip-hop and metal and electronica. Even though I'm the only critic on Youtube who has even bothers to cover country music and review it fairly, to give it a goddamn chance. And sure, YouTube is an echo chamber and any critical opinion gets pounced upon, but there was something different about this, because it reflects the fact that there is something seriously wrong with the shape country music is taking, that acts like Justin Moore are making money simply because they can pander to rural pride and the starving audiences will take anything they can get. And as Zac Brown said in his interview, 'country fans and country listeners deserve to have something better than that, a song that really has something to say. Good music makes you feel something.'

So what's the solution to this? Honestly, I have no idea - if I could solve the increased polarity of America, I probably wouldn't be reviewing albums on the internet. What I will say is this: the increased popularity of country acts in the mainstream won't last. At this point, the market is nearly saturated, and when trends shift and the mainstream public gets sick of country, it's going to ruin a lot of careers. Right now, however, I'm significantly more concerned about two groups: the artists whose careers are suffering now because the industry is sidelining them and whom might never get another chance for the spotlight; and those concerned about American culture and history, particularly those who love country music and who don't want to see the genre implode in the same way other oversaturated musical genres collapsed, like disco and prog rock and punk and hair metal and grunge. But country is unique because so much of it is linked directly and is informed by American culture and American history. If you forget where your culture comes from, and the people who represent it instead of those who are looking to profit off of it in order to make a quick buck, you lose something you can never get back.

Alan Jackson and George Strait understood this when they recorded 'Murder On Music Row' back in 2000 - and really, the only reasons pop country imploded at the end of the 90s are the near-simultaneous failures of Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, and 9/11, where Nashville correctly realized that the USA needed a connection with its culture and its roots more than ever, or else the blow to the nation's spirit would never heal. But this time, things are different, and I don't see a good ending for traditional country music. Or, to put it another way, Alan Jackson released a new album this week: how many of you have heard it?

That's what I thought. I don't want to see another murder on music row. And why do I care? Well, the same reason Alan Jackson and George Strait and Zac Brown and Gary Allan and Kacey Musgraves care: I love country music, and there's room on the charts for both culture and partying. To quote Zac Brown again, 'I'm opinionated because I care so much about the music and the songs'. 

He's not alone.

video review: 'the 20/20 experience 2 of 2' by justin timberlake

Yes, I know it's late, but I do have a social life to keep up, and I went out before I could do any proper promotion. It happens.

So, coming up will either be Lorde or Alan Jackson. Probably the latter, because nobody else touches country, but you never know. Stay tuned!

album review: 'the 20/20 experience 2 of 2' by justin timberlake

Okay, let's try this again.

For those of you who don't know, I've already said my lengthy piece on Justin Timberlake earlier this year, and as much as I was hoping that my views would evolve or change, I'm still not the biggest fan of that album, and the majority of my issues with Justin Timberlake have unfortunately persisted six months later. For a brief recap, I did like some of the elements of The 20/20 Experience - the production, most of the instrumentation, and the fact that Justin seemed to be actually trying - but to me the album fell short because of serious bloat and the fact that the lyrics simply weren't up to the task of sustaining longer songs. These problems seemed to be linked to a few issues that have always stopped me from really liking Justin Timberlake, for as much class and swagger and professionalism he brings to pop music, I've never liked his towering ego or the fact that he never seemed to care as much about his art as other artists. Some acts seem like they make pop music because they want to enhance the medium or express deeply held emotions that they can't articulate any other way - Justin Timberlake, on the other hand, seems to make pop music just because he can, almost on a whim, and he's good enough to get away with such nonchalance when it comes to his career because he's seriously talented and supported by some of the best acts in the industry (particularly Timbaland, who is filling the role of Quincy Jones to Justin's Michael Jackson).

But that wasn't to deride the elements of The 20/20 Experience that worked - and really, it was an album that worked better in pieces than as a whole. I was happy to see 'Mirrors', the best song on the album and a favourite of mine, rise to chart success, but at the same time, it was also a song that was criticized for being a prime example of Justin Timberlake's hubris. And while that was certainly true, the bigger example of that arrogance for me was his sudden announcement in May that he was going to be releasing another album later this year, the follow-up to his March release called The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 (man, that's an awkward title - that 'of 2' doesn't fit well there), reportedly composed of extra material from the original recording sessions.

Now to me, this set off all kinds of warning bells. For one, it smacked of a cash-in - given how well The 20/20 Experience sold, it wasn't entirely surprising that Justin was looking to terminate the label obligations he clearly loathed by dropping a second record that year. But from an artistic angle, it also was a massive warning sign for me, because not only did it mean that Justin took the same recording methodology into the studio with him with the bloated songs and lack of restraint, but it also looked like these were the leftover tracks that weren't strong enough to make it to the first album (and judging by the disappointing chart performance of 'Take Back The Night', the first single, the public might agree). But even if they weren't and were grouped for the second album during the initial recording process... Jesus, JT, did you not learn the lesson that Billie Joe Armstrong and Green Day suffered through last year, releasing three albums of material in the space of months when they all could have been trimmed of the chaff and compressed down to a single, much more solid release? Furthermore, the element of expectation is completely gone here, and any element of wonder garnered from the return from hiatus is absent. To me, this album was a bad idea from the start, and I went in with low, low expectations about how well it would materialize.

So, how did The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 turn out?

video review: 'the bones of what you believe' by chvrches

And now the second review. Phew, that's tiring. Now to prepare for the real challenge tomorrow...

Okay Justin Timberlake, let's try this again.

video review: 'this is... icona pop' by icona pop

The first of two videos coming out today (well, today as I measure it, which means the day ends as soon as I crash), and it's the worse of the two first. Can't imagine this review'll go over with much controversy whatsoever...

Second one is CHVRCHES - stay tuned!

album review: 'the bones of what you believe' by chvrches

It's always interesting delving into new synthpop acts, at least for me. Even though I was not born in the 80s, I've always had a certain affection for the synth-driven pop and rock of any age in its various permutations. Whether it's the experimental synthesizers of the late 70s and early 80s, adding currents of unearthly unease to post-punk and early synthpop, or the surging, moody darkness of darkwave, or even the mutated hybrid of everything that's popular now, which draws upon pop traditions, the mainstream rise of EDM, and every genre in between, synthpop has always remained an attractive genre for me. Yes, even with the evolution of vocoders to Autotune. 

Now for me, I tend to gravitate to synthpop that attempts towards organic instrumentation, like electronic rock (I have my limits here, though, and you can define that boundary at electronicore) or where the synths support and augment the singers rather than swallow them. And while I have a passion for weirdness, I'm also very much aware that additional dynamic is a little harder to capture, especially when you have some performers who choose to have their unearthly electronics operate as the basis of their weirdness. Incidentally, that's been one of my consistent issues with The Postal Service - I understand their appeal, juxtaposing the very emotionally-driven lyrics with the highly synthetic delivery and instrumentation, but I don't quite connect to it in the same way I did with Deathcab For Cutie's other work. That lack of connection, incidentally, is why I like Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak as much as I do - it's an album about isolation and retreating inwards, and the autotune Kanye uses perfectly encapsulates his attempted separation from his own humanity. 

So with those thoughts in mind, what did I find on the debut album from Chvrches, a new synthpop act who released their first EP last year to some critical acclaim and have presented a full-length debut with The Bones Of What You Believe?

album review: 'this is... icona pop' by icona pop

So, approximately six months ago, back before I was regularly doing these reviews for every album that came underneath my nose and browsing Pitchfork for the ones that slipped the net, I heard a song on the radio that had apparently been connected with Snooki and JWOW's spin-off show and had yet received critical approval from a certain majority of critics. And considering those two facts are rather disingenuously paired together, I took a deeper look at the song and discovered that it was called 'I Love It' by Icona Pop, featuring Charli XCX. To be completely honest, at that time I wasn't a big fan of the song, mostly because it sounded like fuzz-saturated house music with ephemeral lyrics and maybe one clever line, but I discovered that the song had been a big enough hit to help propel Charli XCX's debut album True Romance out of development hell and I figured that I might as well give it a look. And I actually did review that album and found it rather lacking, a expansive and well-produced darkwave-inspired album that threw out the hooks, the interesting lyrics, or absolutely anything compelling courtesy of Charli XCX. It was thoroughly below average, and outside of rave reviews that made no sense to me (seriously, for the most part the lyrics were completely worthless and Charli XCX either sounded vapid or too disconnected to care), I've spent the larger part of this year forgetting it existed.

Now 'I Love It', on the other hand, stuck around a little longer in my mind, mostly because the pop charts for this year have absolutely sucked. Compare this year to 2012, which had songs that at least seemed to have some staying power in the popular consciousness ('Gangnam Style', 'Call Me Maybe', 'Some Nights', I could go on), and you'll see charts that have no idea what style or genre is popular and thus a whole lot of junk (often really boring junk) rose to the top. So perhaps it was the benefit of lower standards that caused me to warm to 'I Love It', but then again, I can't deny it does have certain merits: the dual voices give it some real populist appeal, it has a lot of energy to match the crackling instrumentation, and the sheer wild abandon of the song, particularly in the bridge, is definitely infectious.

So on those qualities, I figured what the hell and I picked up the international debut album from Icona Pop. How did it turn out?

video review: 'nothing was the same' by drake

Yeah, I can't imagine this review will have the slightest iota of controversy whatsoever...

Eh, even reflecting on the album after relistening, writing, and filming this review, I think I stand by my opinion. Next up will either be Chvrches or Icona Pop, so stay tuned!

album review: 'nothing was the same' by drake

Okay, time for a bit of disclosure: I live in Toronto, Canada. To quickly get over this part, I don't care about the Blue Jays or the Leafs - I didn't grow up in Toronto so neither was a favourite for me growing up. I've only been living in the city for about a year, and there's one thing I've noticed about this town that I find both perplexing and somewhat hilarious: this city wants to be the Canadian version of New York so bad it hurts. I swear, there are whole neighborhoods, particularly downtown, that are trying to replicate some of that NYC experience. And yet, since this is Canada, there always seems to be something of an underlying insecurity, a fragment of perspective and self-awareness that informs us in the back of our minds that no matter how hard we want to be New York, we aren't New York. 

And when I look at Drake as a hip-hop R&B act, I see a lot of that same self-awareness, at least in regards to his fame. While I've never been the biggest fan of Drake on anything he's done, he does seem to have a certain degree of perspective, particularly when it comes to the fleeting nature of fame. He knows that his time in the spotlight has an expiration date - and what becomes interesting is that self-awareness has leaked many times into his art. A lot of critics have considered it a very 'Canadian' sensibility, and I kind of buy that: there has been something of a lack of ego that can feel resonant throughout Drake's work that does reflect a view that's counter-intuitive to the majority of rappers south of the border; and whenever he does brag, it can come across as very hollow and empty.

This, if anything, was both one of the great strengths and great weaknesses of Take Care, Drake's critically acclaimed second album of which I wasn't much of a fan. It popularized a certain bleakness in modern hip-hop (which has had mixed-to-negative results in my opinion) and while it fit the more subversive and intellectual songs on the album, it really didn't fit the tracks where Drake and his collaborators were trying to prove they were unironically awesome. On top of that, the traditionally 'Canadian' sensibilities of his instrumentation and production - atmospheric, sweeping, kind of pretentious to the point of reaching tedium - didn't always pay dividends. It was rather analogous to some common criticisms of Canadian art films, interestingly: Take Care might have had things to say, but it was bleak, depressing, somewhat pretentious, and at points very boring. And as much as I like Drake - and I do - this lack of energy was a bad fit for him because it didn't play to all of his strengths, namely his rich, emotionally compelling vocal delivery and one of the reasons I think he'd be a great R&B singer if he chose to ditch rap entirely. 

But that being said, I was mildly impressed with Drake's verse on 'No Guns Allowed' from Snoop Lion's album earlier this year, and I was curious to see what he'd deliver on his new album Nothing Was The Same. Is it an improvement on Take Care?

video review: 'alive' by jessie j

Man, this took way too long to get online. In any case, here's the new video talking about Jessie J, and the first of the last heavy wave of September releases. It's going to get crazy here, folks, stay tuned!

album review: 'alive' by jessie j

It really sucks to be branded a wannabe, particularly when it's not fair.

That's always been the thought that's played in my head whenever I think about Jessie J, who many critics very early on branded as a Katy Perry wannabe, and which I've always considered patently unfair. To this day, I still have a hard time understanding why Katy Perry got incredibly popular and Jessie J has not, and in the end have been forced to concede that it's thanks to Dr. Luke's gift for writing catchy hooks and good melodies for Miss Perry - because, let me tell you, it sure as hell wasn't for her live vocals or superb lyrics or strikingly original personality!

Jessie J, on the other hand, while she has worked with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, also takes a major hand in writing her own material and, unlike Katy Perry, has a personality and great voice away from the Autotune. Coupled with her real feistiness and her desire to connect with her fanbase, I've got a ton of respect for Jessie J and I genuinely like her music. Hell, I nearly put 'Domino', her big hit from early last year, on my year-end list of the Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2012! I want her to be more in the modern pop landscape than the UK's version of Katy Perry, and I seriously think she's capable of getting there.

So, the question that I've always pondered is why doesn't Jessie J stick out more than she does already? Working the middle ground between Katy Perry and Pink, I've liked Jessie J's songwriting for the most part, but I suspect if I were to get a little closer on my issues with her, some of them might come down to the fact that she doesn't quite do enough to stand out from the pack on either a songwriting or instrumental basis. Sure, she's got some odd lines in her songs, but this is 2013, you can almost expect the weird, off-kilter lines in music these days. No, to me I think if Jessie J wants to distinguish herself, it'll have to come from the instrumentation, perhaps following along the line of Ke$ha and Natalia Kills going towards a rock style, or perhaps returning to the classier R&B of her roots. 

So, what do we see from Jessie J's sophomore effort, Alive?