album review: 'under pressure' by logic

Let's talk briefly about hip-hop magazines - I say briefly, because at this point, many of them are teetering on the point of irrelevance, especially in print. But the odd thing is that it didn't use to be like that at all - I can remember within the past ten to fifteen years when ratings from publications like XXL and The Source held influence and power and used to be the go-to for people to get hip-hop exclusive news. Hell, I remember Eminem's beef with former co-owner of The Source Benzino, where he wrote some of his most infamous diss tracks like 'Nail In The Coffin'.

But now? The Internet has blown the hip-hop conversation wide open, between established music criticism sites, blogs, and - of course - channels like yours truly. And what this means is that the 'old guard' has needed to do something to maintain a vestige of relevance and hip-hop 'cred' - and this takes us to XXL's Freshman List. Now if you're a hardcore hip-hop fan or if you have your ear to the ground, you likely consider the list a complete joke, a flailing attempt by XXL to get a handle on what new acts in hip-hop could break out and become mainstream success stories, to be the guys that called it first. But let's be honest here: I'm not really part of the readership of XXL, and for less-invested hip-hop fans, I can see a certain degree of value in the list, and it's almost always a solid signal boost for the artists in question. And while artists like A$AP Rocky have turned them down, I'm not too proud to admit that I've found MCs I might have otherwise missed that have managed to surprise me from this list.

So on that note, let's talk about one of them: Logic. He started releasing mixtapes in 2010 and built some pretty strong buzz, but he was one of those artists I've always had a bit of a hard time getting a grip on. Yes, he definitely has a solid flow and he's got good bars, but I had a hard time getting a grip on him on a unique rapper. His first Young Sinatra tape did a fair bit to show a lot of sides to his personality and some of his personal idiosyncrasies, but on following tapes he aimed to diversify his sound and draw more of a mainstream hip-hop audience and it didn't always feel as cohesive as an album whole with the more lyrical oldschool tracks. And while I didn't dislike his mixtapes, I always found them a little uneven in terms of content - although that was more of an issue with Undeniable than Welcome To Forever, which I did think was better better. But I figured, 'Hey, when he works to create a fully cohesive album', it'd probably have more cohesion or a more defined style', so I was very interested in his major label debut from Def Jam titled Under Pressure, especially considering the fact there was no credited features on the standard edition of the album - so how did it go?

video review: 'syro' by aphex twin

Well, this took a while to get done, and I can't imagine it'll go over without controversy, but I'm happy I finally got to it.

Next up is Iceage, so stay tuned!

album review: 'syro' by aphex twin

I've written in the past that it's hard to discuss legends. Especially legends that have come to shape so much of modern music to the point where some critics describe revisiting their old classics as 'vintage'. And for me personally, it's even harder when the genre is electronica, an musical genre that I'm only beginning to peel into in any significant way outside of specific offshoots like trance. To go back to the source is more than a little intimidating, especially if you have the uneasy feeling that a mob with pitchforks and torches will set you on fire if you don't throw out critical acclaim.

So on that oh-so-comforting note... Aphex Twin. The stage name of the man with three first names Richard David James who used the Aphex Twin name among several others, his first release was a compilation of ambient mixes he had recorded from '85 to '92 - and surprise surprise, it's excellent. Even though on that album you can hear the sounds that would come to dominate so much of modern music, Aphex Twin had the twin advantages of good melody and even better texture, taking sounds that might be considered 'vintage' now and still crafting memorable and potent songs. And yet with Selected Ambient Works Volume II, some of that texture evaporated into a set of sparse, underweight and underwritten melodies that lacked presence even for ambient music and went on a good ninety minutes longer than they should have, even though it did get a fair bit better in its second half. Fortunately, that texture came back for 1995's ...I Care Because You Do and especially for the spiky yet beautifully melodic 1996 Richard D. James Album, a record that even today has a decidedly unique sound with the blend of strings, slightly off-kilter synth tones, and drill-like percussion, and has held up incredibly well. 

Then came 2001's Drukqs... and here's the thing, I'd argue about half of that double album works incredibly well - experimental, drill & bass inspired production that holds up as innovative even today, and there are some phenomenal melodies that are utilized across that record that I really love. But there are also more tracks that go on longer than they should and the harpsichord interludes really did wear out some of their welcome. And from there, James decided to take a long break from using the Aphex Twin moniker until a Kickstarter campaign to reclaim the old, unreleased record Caustic Window from a record collector showed a great deal of popular interest still in his work. And to some extent that catalyzing incident is important, and was indicative of what might be on the record - we probably weren't going to be getting the insane, eclectic experimentation, but a piece that was sure to be a crowdpleaser for long-time Aphex Twin fans. Did we get that?

video review: 'blood moon: year of the wolf' by the game

Well, that was interesting. Not exactly good, but interesting at least.

Next up... you know, I think I'm about ready to talk about Aphex Twin or Iceage, so stay tuned!

album review: 'blood moon: year of the wolf' by the game

I haven't thought about The Game as a rapper in... damn, probably three years now, when I wrote a review of The R.E.D. Album back when I was doing these reviews on Facebook. It's been a long three years, so let's catch up, shall we?

So, The Game. West Coast MC, gangsta rapper with a solid flow and some occasionally offbeat lyrics that allowed him to stand out in the crowded mid-2000s. He struck it big with two legitimately great albums in 2005 and 2006, mostly thanks to extremely solid, hook-driven production and an embarrassment of collaborating artists. In fact, if we're to consider The Game's career as a whole, one of his most distinguishing factors is his networking abilities and his Master P-inspired tendency to overload his records with guest stars - which hasn't always been the best of choices, because he frequently mishandles them or allows them to blow him off the stage, which started early with Eminem on The Documentary and has continued to happen whenever Kendrick Lamar or Common are invited on the record.

But as the 2000s continued, The Game hit a serious rough patch. Between criminal charges, he released LAX in 2008 and the disastrously troubled The R.E.D. Album in 2011, the latter of which was a mess of epic proportions that only seemed to highlight The Game's inconsistencies in not only his own rhymes, but in his guest stars and his production. Thankfully, he managed to pull some consistency back together for Jesus Piece in 2012, but as an album trying to explore the dichotomy between being religious and still being a gangsta, it felt lightweight on actually reaching solid points. Because here's the thing: there's a reason I haven't really thought about The Game in three years, and that he's never really stood out to me as a rapper beyond a few great songs, some solid production, and his knack for calling everyone under the sun to guest on his records.

So until I got a request for it, I had no idea The Game was dropping a new album this year, and honestly, I had no idea what to expect from Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf. I mean, there was no Kendrick Lamar verse to look forward to, but Freddie Gibbs was on the back half of the album, and surely that'd make up for the contributions from Chris Brown, Tyga, French Montana, 2 Chainz and Soulja Boy, right?

video review: 'anything goes' by florida georgia line

Well, it could have been worse.

Okay, next up... honestly, I have no clue. Whatever it is, it'll probably be interesting, so stay tuned!

album review: 'anything goes' by florida georgia line

The time has come.

I've been asked a number of times to weigh in one of the most 'iconic' duo in the short history of bro-country, the act most instantaneously recognizable by so many people as the main 'faces' of the genre. A duo that is responsible for the longest running #1 single on the country charts of all time, the instantly recognizable, mind-bogglingly stupid single 'Cruise'. And with the massive success of the remix of that song with Nelly, they managed to propel bro-country into the mainstream and have become singlehandedly responsible for how most of my generation perceives country music. Yep, the duo is Florida Georgia Line, loved by casual and bro-country fans and detested by pretty much everyone else, and as the only country critic on YouTube, my verdict IS...

Eh, they're not bad. I've made the statement in the past that bro-country in and of itself isn't a bad thing, and there are gradations of quality within the subgenre. You get acts that do it well, and acts that screw it up, and unsurprisingly for being the biggest name in the format, Florida Georgia Line fall somewhere in the middle. Believe it or not, I didn't hate 'Cruise' when it first debuted and I still don't hate it, mostly because it's too blissfully moronic to hate. You don't always need intelligence to make good pop or country music, and 'Cruise' kind of worked for what it was. See, Florida Georgia Line had two big advantages in their favour: a ton of enthusiasm, and a certain amount of authenticity. They weren't exactly polished or had a lot of dignity, but you could tell they believed what they were selling and didn't really come across as obnoxious. That's why the remix of 'Cruise' and the Luke Bryan collaboration 'This Is How We Roll' left something of a sour taste in my mouth - they stripped away the country twang and replaced it with stiff drum machines and egregious Autotune, and while the original melodic structure of the songs held up, they lost a lot of flavour. Plus, nobody wants to hear Florida Georgia Line rap - ever.

But that was last year, and you better believe I was curious to see how Florida Georgia Line would be able to translate the narrow shelf-life of bro-country into something that'd be able to last beyond the trend. And at first glimpse, it looked like the band would be able to pull it off, because the lead-off single 'Dirt' looked like it was going in a very different direction. But then I started to hear interviews from Scott Borchetta, head of Big Machine and affiliated with Republic Nashville, Florida Georgia Line's label, that his comments surrounding the necessity for country to diversify was directed at everyone except Florida Georgia Line. The duo seemed to be getting a free pass to pump out more of the same, and thus I didn't know what to expect with their newest album Anything Goes - so what happened?

video review: 'sweet talker' by jessie j

Ugh, I wanted this to be better too. It's what happens when your label rushes things, though, so I'm not precisely surprised.

Okay, that Florida Georgia Line album has been in my sights for a while... stay tuned!

album review: 'sweet talker' by jessie j

"This critic would like to begin this review with an acknowledgement that yes, he misinterpreted the song 'I Miss Her' on Jessie J's last record. It is not a song about a troubled same-sex relationship, but instead was about a family member suffering from a mental illness similar to dementia. No, he does not have the slightest idea how he could have messed that up, and he is very grateful to the many, MANY comments that felt the need to correct him on it. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming..."

I honestly wish Jessie J was more famous than she is, at least on this side of the Atlantic. By now she's built an impressive stable of hit singles, most of which I've liked, and yet there's a considerable number of music critics who brand her as a Katy Perry wannabe, especially early on. And to me, it's been interesting to watch their careers in parallel on the changing landscape of the pop charts. Because let's be blunt, as the charts have shifted to more R&B than pop, it has not been a great year for Katy Perry, with 'Dark Horse', her worst single from Prism being the best performer mostly thanks to crossover airplay thanks to Juicy J's awful guest verse. Because in comparison to the arsenal of singles from Teenage Dream, 'Unconditionally', 'Birthday', and 'This Is How We Do' have not really been smash hits, both critically or commercially.

But if anything, Jessie J has fared even worse. I thought Alive was a pretty decent album when I reviewed it last year, with good songwriting and performances but hampered by a lack of focus in instrumentation and production and some really sloppy guest appearances. But I'll be blunt, that record did nothing in North America, with most of the singles and chart success coming in the UK - and there's a reason for that, as the American version of the record was never released. Instead, a new album of material was thrown together in record time, featuring Jessie J's least number of writing credits to date. Now for me, that was grounds for a lot of concern - Jessie J's songwriting was one of the things I liked the most about Alive, and to see even more hands in the process for Sweet Talker was not exactly encouraging. But considering the shared opening single 'Bang Bang' with Ariana Grande has proven to be one of the strongest pop singles of the year, I figured it couldn't be that bad, right?

video review: 'aquarius' by tinashe

Man, this was an underwhelming record. Really should have been better, I have to say.

Okay, hopefully I can get the Jessie J video up tonight, so stay tuned!

album review: 'aquarius' by tinashe

If any of you remember my reviews from 2013, particularly any where I talked about R&B, I may have mentioned that I didn't tend to be a huge fan of the genre, mostly tied to underwritten lyrics, songwriting topics that didn't really evolve, and - particularly in modern years - a brand of synthetic production that was really bleaker than the subject matter could support. 

Well, this year seems to have been doing its best to crush my predilections towards the genre into rubble, because not only is R&B bigger than ever this year, there have been some genuinely great records in this vein. I've only warmed more to the FKA Twigs debut since I reviewed it, and Jhene Aiko's Souled Out is still one of my favourite albums of the year, mostly for proving all my preconceptions surrounding R&B nearly completely wrong in terms of songwriting, themes, and instrumentation. And considering that R&B - particularly female-fronted R&B, and especially the stuff drawing inspiration from the indie scene - has only gotten bigger this year, I figured that keeping my eye on the artists who actually land chart success could prove very interesting.

And sure enough, I started getting requests to cover Tinashe, a California-based R&B singer who I most recognized from - and I can't believe I'm going to mention this - Two And A Half Men, where she played Jake's girlfriend Celeste. Originally a member of the girl group The Stunners, she began making mixtapes from her home studio, which eventually caught the serious attention of RCA Records who signed her and overloaded her with the biggest producers in mainstream R&B and hip-hop. And with an album full of interludes and guest appearances, it looked to have a fair bit of ambition behind it too, so I gave it a couple listens - what did I find?

video review: 'hozier' by hozier

Wow, I did not expect this album to be this good. Seriously, get it, it's fucking amazing.

Okay, Tinashe is probably next, but I've got Iceage and Aphex Twin (finally) to cover too, so stay tuned!

album review: 'hozier' by hozier

Let's talk about religion. As I've mentioned in the past, I'm Catholic, mostly practicing but to say my faith gets complicated from there is understating it. One thing I'm quite certain of is that my faith is my business, and nobody else's, and if religion operated on that level on a broader scale, we as a society would be much better off. 

And yet unsurprisingly, there's a whole subsection of the music industry devoted to music with strong Christian themes, a subsection of the industry that tends to get relentlessly snubbed, panned, or outright ignored by critics. And to some extent that's not a good thing - when you shut down the critical discourse and artistic conversation, art developed in that environment tends to develop insular tendencies without the slightest element of quality control. But to be fair to myself and other critics, it's not like we don't have good reasons for ignoring that particular subsection of music - putting aside the issue that elements of the fandom immediately perceive criticism of the music as criticism of not just the artist, but the religion as well, the production and instrumentation is often substandard, or in some cases outright derivative of other non-religious acts. And lyrically... look, religion has inspired some fantastic artists to write classic songs - Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, the list could go on - but in that particular subgenre can fall into two distinctive traps. The first is that much of the material is not willing to directly comment or criticize the faith that underlies it, which can lead to a serious lack of drama - after all, if the answer always can be provided by deus ex machina, you really undercut the tension, which tends to lead to the music coming across at best placid and at worst self-satisfied. And the second problem is evangelicalism - for a critic, it can get exasperating when the music's sole purpose is to preach or go political in a way that lacks nuance, especially when their answers loop back to a holy book that should be read allegorically and metaphorically rather than literally.

What this also means is that, with rare exception, most Christian music never gets play on mainstream radio or the charts, and everyone tends to be okay with that. But at the same time, it's been a generally accepted rule that songs that are outright anti-religion don't tend to get a lot of airplay either - because let's face it, spitting in the face of people's faith without a certain degree of nuance is just as exasperating. So you can believe that I was surprised to see a song titled 'Take Me To Church' creeping up the lower half of the charts, a song fairly blunt in its 'losing my religion' metaphors when linking back to his complicated relationship. Now let me stress that this is a strong way to immediately grab my attention - strong single, intriguing content, doing something new - so I decided to check out his self-titled album. What did I find?

video review: 'everything will be alright in the end' by weezer

Man, it's nice to see Weezer pull something together. Not their best, but far from their worst.

In any case, next up will probably be Hozier or Tinashe. Depends which gets the most requests over the next few hours, so stay tuned!

album review: 'everything will be alright in the end' by weezer

It's almost a cliche these days to begin a Weezer review talking about Pinkerton. Because let's be honest, it's an album that took Rivers Cuomo's band into a dark place that split critics and sent fans away in droves. Sure, the album is praised as a classic now, but it sure as hell wasn't when it was released, featuring abrasive production that some sardonic critics branded 'Pavement-lite' and lyrics that went to the uncomfortable dark recesses of Cuomo's mind, with all of its depression, absentee father figures, and myriad fears and insecurities about women. Coming off of The Blue Album, it was a massive change in focus, but keep in mind this was also 1996. Sure, the emo crowd of the time embraced Pinkerton, but the mainstream fans that came for 'Say It Ain't So' and 'Buddy Holly' and instead got 'El Scorcho' and 'Pink Triangle'? Once again, 1996 - even the Brit power pop of Oasis and Blur wasn't getting this explicit or off-kilter, and in a situation where the paradigm was shifting from Nirvana to Aqua, Pinkerton was unlike anything else. 

And its failure crushed Rivers Cuomo. He bared his soul to the world and the world spat in his face, so after a five year hiatus the band came back with the Green Album and the change was stark. Not only were the heavy shields of irony in place, but the loss of Matt Sharp's subtle bass harmonies and lighter than ever production meant the songs were all the more ephemeral and empty. For as good of a songwriter as Rivers Cuomo is - and let's make this clear, he can write great melody lines and is a solid songwriter in terms of lyrical poetry - but it was a mask. And nowhere was that more vivid than 'Beverly Hills', the successful Weezer comeback single that owed its airplay to the pop rock boom and nothing else because that song is one monster riff and that's it. It's a shockingly empty song - empty of ideas and soul, two things that Weezer used to have in spades. And from there, the next slew of Weezer albums fell into that mold, with only occasional flashes of brilliance to sustain the band as their output petered out at the end of the decade.

And so I wasn't exactly surprised to see that Weezer was returning to the original well for their newest album Everything Will Be Alright In The End, a title making a statement to both Weezer fans and critics, the latter of whom had more than their fair share of reasons to be skeptical. And I have to admit, it was really damn hard to work up any excitement about a new Weezer record, even despite the reassurances from the band that 'No, really, it's going to be more like Pinkerton!' I hate to say this, but I'm not looking for another Pinkerton so much as I'm looking for Rivers Cuomo to actually say something that comes from some place real and not just empty artifice. Did that happen?

video review: 'old boots, new dirt' by jason aldean

Well, I needed to get this out of the way... and it was actually better than I expected! Go figure.

Okay, next up is Weezer, so stay tuned!

album review: 'old boots, new dirt' by jason aldean

I haven't been looking forward to doing this review.

Now some of you are probably scratching your heads and wondering, 'Wait, this is Jason Aldean, one of the biggest country stars in the industry. And not only that, he did it by not grafting himself to a major label, instead sticking with the indie label Broken Bow Records, and he's a major success for nearly a decade with massive sales!'

And all of that is completely true... and yet, Jason Aldean has never really been a country star that has interested or impressed me, even at his best. Even though he's on an independent label, he uses the same Nashville songwriting machine that many of his major label counterparts do, and with his thinner voice halfway between Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert, I wasn't really immediately gripped by him as a performer, even if I did occasionally like the rougher edges of his production. It didn't help matters that he tended to have really poor choices for singles: his biggest off of his debut was 'Why' which paired a decent melody with a self-aggrandizing message of why he treats his girlfriend like garbage. He hit a stronger side with the southern-rock tinged 'Johnny Cash', but it's on that song where my other issue with a lot of Jason Aldean's work surface - his production always seemed a little flat and colourless to me. Not his melodic compositions, those were often pretty solid, but his guitar tones and compositions always felt a little dreary, especially with Aldean's lack of a real sense of humor. It definitely did not help matters that as the 2000s ended, Aldean fell into a lot of the southern pandering with songs like 'Flyover States' that always set my teeth on edge.

And then came 2010's My Kinda Party, and the song that would redefine Aldean's career for the worse: 'Dirt Road Anthem', a slow-paced slog of a country rap song that featured Ludacris near the tail end of his commercial success and Jason Aldean rapping with no energy or passion whatsoever, and also managed to land on my list of the Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2011. Yeah, his duet with Kelly Clarkson 'Don't You Wanna Stay' was good enough, but as Jason Aldean got bigger, his songs and public persona got less likable. 2012's Night Train brought in more aggressive and macho country-rap inspired tracks like the Luke Bryan and Eric Church collaboration 'The Only Way I Know' and the absolute atrocity '1994', and while songs like 'Night Train' felt sincere and catered well to Aldean's female fanbase, they didn't really stand out for me. And combined with a recent Billboard magazine cover story that only seemed to highlight his aggressive frustration for being one of the acts responsible for triggering all the elements of bro-country that piss me off: the macho posturing, the bad rapping, the inert 'rock-inspired' production, basically a country-flavoured brand of hair metal minus the cheesiness or shredding riffs... well, Jason Aldean did not put forward a good picture. 

And yet with 'Burnin' It Down', the opening single from Jason Aldean's newest album Old Boots, New Dirt, I didn't know what to expect for this new record, so while I didn't expect to like it, I figured that at least he was trying something different, right?

video review: 'bringing back the sunshine' by blake shelton

Goddamn it, as a fan, I wish this album was better... gah.

Okay, next is probably Weezer. Stay tuned!

album review: 'bringing back the sunshine' by blake shelton

You know, the more you think about it, the more Blake Shelton looks like one of the luckiest guys in country music - because at first or even a second look, his career should have ended years ago.

And that's not a slam against him, but as country music has evolved over the past decade, Blake Shelton has managed to ride the wave with uncanny ability. He started off the very viable 'easy listening country' mold with his debut in 2001, with the added benefit of having a few killer singles like 'Austin' to get his career going. From there, he coasted into rowdier material as the 2000s continued on, toeing the line between Toby Keith and Tim McGraw. And while he definitely racked up a fair share of hits on country radio, the mainstream didn't embrace him in the same way, and as the decade wore on, Blake Shelton seemed to fade into the background. So in a move that in all fairness should not have worked as well as it did, he signed on to be a judge on a little singing competition on NBC called The Voice.

And almost overnight, Blake Shelton rocketed back into the starlight, and it's fairly easy to see why. Tim McGraw's career on Curb Records was sputtering, country had never been as ready for his brand of slick, well-produced music that could be corny as hell but was backed with real charisma, and The Voice did a lot to enhance his profile. Coupled with a marriage to the more talented and interesting Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton seemed to have all his stars aligned.

Then came his 2013 album Based On A True Story... and that big hit single 'Boys 'Round Here', and it was the crossover smash for which Blake Shelton had been waiting. Even though that album really wasn't all that far removed from his typical midtempo material, Shelton latched onto the bro-country wagon for a monster single, and coupled with the fact he shot his mouth off on the subject more than he should, he seemingly became one of the biggest symbols of Nashville's embrace of bro-country overnight. 

But now it's 2014, the bro-country well has seemingly run dry, and while Blake Shelton was able to smoothly pivot back to his usual material, it left me curious where the hell he was going with his career. Let's face it, Blake Shelton isn't exactly a trailblazer in country, and with the country sound fragmenting even further, where did Shelton take his newest record Bringing Back The Sunshine?

video review: 'too bright' by perfume genius

Man, this was something special. Seriously, listen to this, it's damn near unearthly.

Okay, next up will probably be Blake Shelton, but you never know. Stay tuned!