album review: 'bring up the sun' by sundy best

It's been almost six months since I made my Special Comment surrounding the evolving climate in country music, and where I made a plea to mainstream critics, on YouTube and otherwise, that country music should be afforded more coverage.

And for the most part, this has happened to some extent. Rolling Stone, The AV Club, and even Pitchfork have broadened their horizons slightly and have covered more country music - typically when it brushes either the pop or alternative spectra, but it's better than nothing. And yet at this current time, I'm still the only guy reviewing country music on YouTube, and honestly, I don't get it. Sure, it's a format that tends to cater to an older audience that might not be as web-savvy, and sure, it might have limited cultural force outside of the US, and sure, the people my age who are listening to country now probably haven't gotten all that invested in the genre - but still, it's a little jarring and a little lonely to see all the coverage that hip-hop, indie rock, pop, or even metal gets, and seemingly just me covering country. 

But then again, if it's just me talking, I've got a certain obligation to deliver not just quality reviews, but information and news about country acts of which you probably haven't heard - most of which I discover thanks to tips and accidents. I get annoyed with the lack of country music's web presence in comparison with other genres frequently, but the biggest contributing factor is that there isn't an aggregate. The coverage of alternative or indie country is so thin in comparison with other genres that it can be a real challenge to track down new acts, especially if they don't get mainstream radio airplay, and with the increased conglomeration of radio stations beneath single banners, a lot of local scenes end up getting lost in the shuffle.

This takes us to Sundy Best, a Kentucky-based act I would never have known existed if it wasn't for a tip in one of the comments. Primarily an acoustic country duo that called back to the days of singer-songwriters, they released their first album Door Without A Screen in 2012 that turned out surprisingly strong, with a lot of folk-inspired exuberance fused with fast-picked banjo and pretty clever songwriting. I won't say the album is without its flaws - the production has a strange lack of homegrown grit and texture that was a little perplexing, and I didn't think all of the lyrics were stellar - but they had a a melodic focus and a ton of energy, so I was interested in their sophomore album Bring Up The Sun, which came out a few weeks ago. How did it turn out?

video review: 'kiss me once' by kylie minogue

Well, I didn't have much to say about this. Meh.

Next up is Sundy Best, then a pretty busy week coming up, including Foster The People, Enrique Iglesias, and more. Stay tuned!

album review: 'kiss me once' by kylie minogue

You know, for as much as I get annoyed by artists who don't understand their narrow range as performers, that's not saying that I find artists that have a limited skill set intolerable.

Far from it, actually, and this ties into my love of pop music - if you understand your strengths, you can work on honing that skill set into something truly potent, even if it never really reaches depth or intellectual transcendence. There's an argument to be made for music that knows what it is and works to be the best possible form of it, and that's why I have a certain amount of tolerance for shallow pop music - instead of making some grand edifying statement or approaching depth that's out of its league, it works on making the best possible example of its genre, and the music can be just as great.

Take Kylie Minogue for instance. Her music career began back in 1987 with her early albums backed by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman (the gentlemen behind the Rick Roll) and has tended to stick to one of two veins ever since: the fast-paced dance-pop track or cooing sex kitten love jams. And sure, you're not exactly getting a lot of depth in the sort of Europop in which Kylie Minogue specialized - the 'deepest' thing she's ever done was working with Nick Cave - but you did get a lot of great pop songs that got mainstream attention whenever the dance scene got popular on the charts. Thus, it's not exactly surprising her biggest career successes came in the very late 90s and early 2000s, when slick Europop briefly crossed onto the charts. 

And thus, it didn't exactly surprise me to see that Kylie Minogue was releasing a new album this year since her last album in 2010 - after all, given the rise of the festival scene, EDM, and even the modest disco revival of last year, it makes sense that Kylie Minogue would attempt yet another return to the spotlight, this time under the management of Jay Z's label Roc Nation. On the one hand, I was enthusiastic - if she was working with producers close to Jay Z, Pharrell was going to inevitably be involved and that's only a good thing. On the other hand, the other executive producer besides Minogue on this album is Sia, an artist who only seems to be getting more ephemeral and less tolerable the more she moves towards the mainstream - and Sia has more writing credits on this album than Minogue does. So with that in mind, is the album any good?

video review: 'i'm a fire' by david nail

Forgot to put this up last night. Oops.

Next up will probably be Kylie Minogue, but I'm not sure. We'll see. Stay tuned!

album review: 'i'm a fire' by david nail

I feel like releasing this particular review so close to that of the Eli Young Band really makes my job that much harder - because, in the danger of repeating myself, I never felt I got the full picture about David Nail by listening to the singles he sent to radio. Like the Eli Young Band, he debuted in the mainstream near the end of the 2000s and he's had a steady stream of modest hits on the country charts. Like the Eli Young Band, he has a slew of songwriting credits but most of his albums have been defined by the Nashville songwriting machine throwing credits his way. 

But unlike the Eli Young Band, every impression I got surrounding David Nail from his singles was universally negative. I don't know if it was his too-polished instrumentation, his voice that had a bit of presence but didn't quite have charm or raw passion, or the fact that his lyrics toed the line between condescending dickishness and unwittingly painting him as an asshole, but it didn't work for me whatsoever. I think part of the problem was that his singles were mostly break-up songs and were often instigated by his actions, and thus, I had little sympathy for the guy on songs like 'Let It Rain' - I'm sorry, you're not going to get me feel anything but disgust from me for your cheating, David Nail!

And when I heard the opening single from his new album 'Whatever She's Got', I was immediately steeling myself for the worst. It was the sort of bro-country love song I always find a little repulsive, a song about some capricious girl that David Nail was to screw - and what's worse is that the description of this girl is pretty far from flattering and David Nail doesn't come across much better. But then I reminded myself that David Nail is usually better than his singles and despite some deep misgivings on my part, and besides, there were some good songwriters and collaborations on the record, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

video review: 'young money: rise of an empire' by young money

Ugh, did not like this. Glad to get it out of my system.

Next up will be David Nail and then... hmmm, not sure. We'll see. Maybe Sundy Best, maybe Kylie Minogue, maybe finally take a crack at Real Estate. Either way, stay tuned!

album review: 'young money: rise of an empire' by young money

I should really be less surprised this album exists than I am.

Because honestly, I thought the 'Young Money' posse was effectively over, at least to the extent that any rap posse breaks up or rebrands itself. And I thought this happened last year with the new rap supergroup Rich Gang which released an compilation album that went nowhere. And thus, that was a sign we as a culture accepted Drake as the one mostly consistent break-out success and consigned everyone else to popular irrelevance, including Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne who both did not have good years in 2013.

Turns out I was mistaken in that regard, because Rich Gang as a supergroup is more of the project of Cash Money Records, which is owned by long-time rapper Birdman and has been around since the 90s. Young Money as a group and as a label is owned by Lil Wayne - and all of the artists with him are also co-signed to Cash Money so there's a ton of overlap. What this means is that Young Money as a group never really went away as its own entity - and thus it makes a fair amount of sense that Lil Wayne is reinvesting some energy into the project.

And let say something I don't really like to admit: Young Money is probably one of the few hip-hop supergroups that has produced multiple high-charting stars. Between Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and to a lesser extent Tyga, they've launched some pretty successful careers, and with the round of additional rappers finally getting launch albums through Young Money, it looks like Lil Wayne is set on recreating that success for the rest of the posse. Now I'm far from a multi-million dollar businessman, but if I were in Lil Wayne's shoes, I'd be more concerned with making sure my existing success stories remain success stories, because with maybe the exception of Drake, everything put out by Young Money, including from its flagship artists, has been wildly uneven in quality, especially from Lil Wayne himself!

In other words, I wasn't looking forward to another compilation album from the ever-growing Young Money ensemble, especially when there are guest stars called in from outside the label (doesn't that really defeat the purpose?). That being said, the last time they did this was in 2009 and it wasn't terrible, so how did it go this time?

video review: '10,000 towns' by the eli young band

Can't help but feel a little disappointed with this album, it should have been better. Eh, it happens.

Next up... oh, Young Money. Lovely.

album review: '10,000 towns' by the eli young band

So here's one of the frustrating things about mainstream country artists: since so many of them have songs written by other songwriters entirely, it can distort your mental picture of an act's identity. That tends to be a complaint at the root of a lot of critics' issues with bro-country: when so many of the songwriters come from the same camp and write for many different artists, acts that should have a distinctive voice begin to blur together.

But rarely has there been a case where my view of an act has been so sharply divided as when I'm talking about the Eli Young Band. They were around in the country underground as early as the mid-2000s, but they exploded into mainstream popularity in 2011 with Life At Best. And considering I was only following country radio and less distinctive albums around that period, I was perplexed that the Eli Young Band could have such a variance in quality, as 'Even If It Breaks Your Heart' was close to one of my favourite hit songs of 2012 and 'Crazy Girl' would have had a shot at being one of the worst. 

So in preparation for this review, I went back and listened through Life At Best, and surprise surprise, both songs were written by different songwriters - and neither were members of the Eli Young Band. 'Crazy Girl' was written by Lee Brice, one of the most meat-headed and devoid-of-insight songwriters working in bro-country right now, while 'Even If It Breaks Your Heart' was written by Eric Paslay, who I reviewed a month or so back and whose debut album is only getting better every time I listen to it. But even with that, I didn't have a picture of how the Eli Young Band represented themselves, so I went deeper and...

Well, they aren't bad, but they didn't really stand out much for me. I liked the heavier guitars, the good lyrical flow, and the melancholy elements that were well-characterized and smartly delivered, but between the sloppy and often flat production and the strange dreariness that bogged down and homogenized parts of the album, I wouldn't call it a great record. And thus, I didn't know what to expect when I took a look at their newest album 10,000 Towns. They had about the same number of songwriting credits, but initial buzz suggested it had a bit of a lighter tone. So, how did it go?

video review: 'st. vincent' by st. vincent

Well, this was an intellectual adventure, and one I enjoyed the entire way.

Next up will be the Eli Young Band... and then Young Money and David Nail. Hold on, folks, this might not be pretty.

album review: 'st. vincent' by st. vincent

The term 'indie pop' has always got on my nerves. Not the music (for the most part), but the genre term itself. Springing up in the mid-80s, it describes music that was too weird or off-beat for the mainstream, but had a more melodic focus and was less characterized by angst. What always got on my nerves was the connotation associated with the genre: that simply being an indie act gave them music critic credibility they didn't always deserve. Furthermore, it denigrated pop music as corporate and derivative - and yeah, that's often true, but it's hard to deny that musical trends started in the indie scene often cross over into pop music or mainstream culture at large, and sometimes mainstream acts can do it just as well. And let's not forget, there was a point in the 90s where big chunks of the indie pop scene was enthusiastically embraced by adult alternative, shoegaze, emo, and even mainstream pop music (the 90s were weird like that).

And honestly, a lot of it really sucked. Sure, there were gems in the rough, but a large reason I don't love 90s alternative music like most critics is because the twee explosion of indie pop often fell into gutless bland garbage that didn't have the brains or deeper insight to back up the pretentiousness. And look, while I get everyone has different tastes, the 'revolt into childhood' (the embrace of twee innocence and focusing on living little ordinary lives) attitude has never ever been something I've liked. And since most of it involved fitting with a very white, middle-class, mostly educated ideal, it always felt trite, small, and in the end not exactly progressive or all that intellectual. And if you embraced the 'twee' attitudes ironically, that was even worse, because not only were you promoting by association, you lost the best element of good indie pop which was the heartfelt earnestness. 

And with the growth of 90s nostalgia, the revival of the 'hipster ideal', and the increased mainstream success of the indie scene, I feel that some of these trends are going to be coming back. And from a cultural standpoint, it makes a lot of sense - my generation is less cynical than Gen X, we're a lot less embarrassed of liking the sillier elements of our past, and many of the 'revolt to childhood' ideals aren't far from the truth when people my age can't get jobs and are stuck living with their parents. But to some extent, these trends aren't exactly healthy for long term mature cultural development, just as Gen X cynicism wasn't precisely healthy either. It's because of these trends, for instance, that tropes like the Manic Pixie Dream Girl exist and have widespread popularity.

Enter St. Vincent, the stage name of Annie Clark, singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso. Her name was originally taken from a Nick Cave song, and honestly, it's kind of a perfect fit because St. Vincent has a very similar brand of subversive darkness to her material. Starting with her debut album Marry Me, she's made a point of taking twee indie pop elements and tropes and then undercutting them with a seething, disturbing madness, and it's incredibly effective in a very baroque sense. It also helps matters that she's an incredibly inventive and talented songwriter, and all of her work has been pretty damn close to great. And thus, I was looking forward to delving into her new self-titled album, which early buzz was suggesting was even more weird and twisted than previous releases. And thus, I took some time to really delve into this record, try to dig deep and parse it out - what did I find?

video review: 'oh, what a life' by american authors

Wow, this was a fun surprise. A good palette cleanser, especially considering what might be coming up in coming weeks.

Next up... shit, I've got no idea. Stay tuned, anyhow, it'll be coming soon!

album review: 'oh, what a life' by american authors

Well, we knew this was going to happen eventually. We knew that someday, some major label executive was going to notice the smash chart success of The Lumineers and The Neighbourhood and Bastille and think, "Oh god, indie rock has actually scored a foothold on the charts, how the hell are we going to capitalize on this without signing an act that's actually challenging or hard to market?"

Well, the funny thing is that there really are a lot of bands in this vein, just indie-sounding enough to avoid the pop brush but not so indie that Pitchfork gives a damn about them. Acts that you might know and like for 'that one song' but would be hard-pressed to call yourself a hardcore fan. In other words, we're looking at a silent majority act, or, to be a little more snide, the indie rock that gets popular thanks to commercial jingles or showing up on sitcoms. And while you have acts like Bloc Party, Vampire Weekend, and Deafheaven who have shaken the silent majority label by actually being critical smash hits, most critics don't tend to care much about bands in this vein.

Enter American Authors, formerly called The Blue Pages when they were still trying to build buzz on Bandcamp. After two independently-released EPs, they landed a major label contract with Mercury in early 2013 and have since then seen their songs feature in mainstream ads around the world. And like with Alex Clare's 'Too Close' from 2012, this has led their big hit single 'Best Day Of My Life' to gain some major traction on mainstream radio. My initial judgement of them based on that single were as a cross between The Lumineers and Imagine Dragons (in other words, the marketer's wet dream), but I've been surprised by bands in this vein before and I didn't want to brand them as derivative without giving them a fair chance, so I gave their debut album a few spins. How did it turn out?

video review: 'mastermind' by rick ross

Well, this wasn't much fun. Gah.

Next up, not sure. Right now, I need to make sure I get some sleep. Stay tuned!

album review: 'mastermind' by rick ross

I have never, ever been able to understand Rick Ross' appeal.

And by this point, I probably should have an idea why this guy is famous, but for the life of me, it's not clicking. Rick Ross released his debut album in 2006 and ever since then, we've been inundated by hits from this guy, none of which have impressed me. His reported 'best' album was Teflon Don back from 2010, and if we're looking for admittedly well-produced luxury porn, I guess Rick Ross delivers, but that's not a version of escapism I find attractive or all that interesting. Maybe it's because I look at that sort of music as walking advertisement from all the brands he mentions in his songs, and sure, I get the appeal of luxury rap, but wouldn't you want a better rapper spitting those lines?

Because here's the problem: while he has gotten better, I've never thought Rick Ross as a good rapper on a technical level. What's worse is that I can't exactly look past how transparently phony elements of his persona are - sure, he's rich as all hell, I can buy into that side of his rapping, but when he talks about hustling coke or blowing away his rivals, I find it hard to buy in comparison to a guy, to take a recent example, like Schoolboy Q. At least at his peak, Rick Ross' appeal was that of the crime boss, but maybe it was a lack of charisma, his inconsistent technique, or the fact that he was frequently blown off the stage by his many, many collaborators in the Master P school of making albums, but I was always underwhelmed by the guy. Where he wanted to come across as Vito Corleone, I always saw Luco Brazzi. And when you throw insulting trash like the 'U.O.E.N.O' verse from last year onto the mix and the complete lack of stage presence appeal in the 50 Cent mold, I was just about done with Rick Ross.

But yet, he still gets positive reviews and that utterly mystifies me. And since I'm always one to give artists a chance to surprise me, I gave his newest album Mastermind a few listens. How did it turn out?

video review: 'louder' by lea michele

Ugh, this album really should have been better. Exasperated that it isn't. Gah.

Next up... fuck, I have no clue. We'll see what happens, so stay tuned!

album review: 'louder' by lea michele

Ugh, I might as well admit it: I used to be a huge fan of Glee.

And I'm not really apologetic for that, either. Glee burst into pop culture in 2009 and turned itself into a cultural force capable of propelling songs and artists into the popular consciousness. And as much as it's incredibly easy to rip on the show's sloppy continuity and characterization, haphazard writing, and ham-fisted treatment of some special issues and criminally fumbled treatment of others, there are moments where Glee actually earned some of the critical praise it got, thanks to good actors, emotionally satisfying arcs, and shockingly good covers (well, at least for most of the first two seasons - things really went off the rails in Season 3 where they started burning through plots like kindling and anything close to sanity went out the window in the writer's room). 

Now, I stopped watching at the end of Season 3, mostly because Glee pulled off a genuinely season ending and I didn't need to see more, and since then, I've been reading the episode reviews on The AV Club and Autostraddle, which have proven to be often more entertaining than the episodes themselves. But there was a time back early in Glee's run that I was really into the show, almost going so far as to making an audition tape for The Glee Project (that none of you will ever find). But back when I watched the show, there was one character who drove me off the wall - and that character was Rachel Berry, played by Lea Michele. That wasn't saying that she was a bad singer - she had stepped off of Spring Awakening and had a ton of natural stage presence and charisma - but that her character could be so mind-bogglingly annoying and self-obsessed. And in retrospect, my annoyance was likely linked to the fact I shared those particular traits and refused to admit it to myself.

But putting that aside, Lea Michele has finally done like many of her fellow cast have done and have started to move towards a solo direction. Now, Glee hasn't exactly had a good reputation turning its cast into stars away from the show. Matthew Morrison's solo career really hasn't taken off, Darren Criss has done some Broadway, and Heather Morris will likely just go back to dancing with Beyonce (so no worse, but no better either). The one who has probably done the most is Chris Colfer, who wrote a best-selling children's book and wrote/directed/starred-in a pretty decent indie film Struck By Lightning. And while I suspect Lea Michele will end up going back to Broadway eventually, she's trying her hand at pop stardom with her debut album Louder. How did it turn out?

video review: 'g i r l' by pharrell williams

Well, this happened. Can't imagine the controversy that'll come with this one...

On another note, it's taking me a lot longer than I'd like to get through St. Vincent's material, half because I'm enjoying it as much as I am, but also half because this week will probably kill me in terms of the amount of material I need to get through, plus keep my full-time job and a semi-functioning social life. Strap in folks, this might get wild.

album review: 'g i r l' by pharrell

It's always a little worrying when producers step out from behind the sound board and try to make hits of their own.

And I know that sounds terrible, but it circles back to the fact that it's extremely rare that a genuinely gifted producer will be a smash performer, and vice-versa, because while there is some overlap in their skill sets, it's incredibly rare to find someone who can handle both effectively. In modern years, the one that immediately leaps to my mind is Timbaland, who worked with Justin Timberlake and even had a few hits of his own throughout the mid-2000s, songs that might not have been amazing but Timbaland's unique baritone and some decent charisma gave the songs some staying power. But even with that, I'd have a hard time calling his material as a frontman amazing because there was something of a calculated element to his presentation. It was a little stiff, a little awkward, something you never saw in his beats, and that lack of comfort does show in front of a microphone. Then again, when compared to will.i.am, the other beat-making producer who stepped out from behind the mic and and showed nothing but disinterest for the idea of recording lyrics that made sense and sounded anything close good, Timbaland holds up pretty well.

Now to his credit, the artist we're going to be talking about today has never really seemed to have this problem. Pharrell Williams may have started his career in the same era as Timbaland as a member of The Neptunes with Chad Hugo, making slick R&B and hip-hop jams, but his career got a major boost thanks to 'Get Lucky' and 'Blurred Lines' doing so well last year. That, plus his many production credits, some solid live performances, and that ubiquitous hat have led him to drop his second solo album. And from the early buzz, it became apparent that Pharrell wants to be a star all on his own this time, as his newest record was reported to be a feminist borderline-concept album celebrating the place of women in society. Let me repeat that: an album with strong feminist themes, written in the wake of the controversy over 'Blurred Lines', controversy that I will go on record saying was overblown even though that song did contain seriously questionable elements, written by a man.

...well, you might as well hot-link Jezebel and your local MRA forum, because I'm bound to offend somebody in this review, so before I inevitably shoot myself in the foot, how's the album?

video review: 'helios' by the fray

Well, this was a disappointment. Guess I understand why critics have thrashed The Fray in the past.

Next up is St. Vincent, and then next week is extremely busy. Stay tuned!