album review: 'goon' by tobias jesso jr.

Before we begin, let's talk a little bit about one of the most common song templates in music: the piano ballad. Long held as one of the most basic but most versatile set-ups in the industry, it's a formula that's almost classic, and can be played in many different forms. The crowning era of this - as it was for many singer-songwriters - was the 70s, where the piano could be soft and intimate or clattering and loud, aggressive or graceful. As a pianist myself - albeit one without much subtlety, I can admit - there's a certain affinity I have to very good piano ballads for their ability to craft intricate melody with every note.

But it seems as time has past, the piano ballads that get popular these days are more maudlin and subdued, where our singer-songwriter goes to the piano because he wants to evoke an atmosphere of downbeat simplicity and nothing else. This really came to a head in the first half of 2013, where we were deluged with piano ballads that weren't bad, but rarely had the songwriting heft to really grip me - sure, I like sad love and breakup songs as much as anyone, but there's more to the formula and stories that could have been told beyond that. And it can fall along a similar line of the opinion I tend to hold of 'white guys with acoustic guitars' - if you can't elevate the bare minimum into something of substance or emotive weight beyond the very most basics, it's hard for me to connect with it, simply because I've seen so much of it before.

This is one of the big reasons I've been leery about checking out the debut album from Canadian singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. Originally starting as a bassist in LA for several years, Jesso eventually moved back to Vancouver and after a particularly rough breakup and family difficulties, he started working on this album. From there Jesso was able to leverage some pretty interesting connections - JR White formerly of the duo Girls, Ariel Rechtshaid, John Collins of the New Pornographers, and most interestingly for me, Pat Carney of The Black Keys. He also managed to enlist help from one of the sisters from HAIM, and wow, it seemed like this guy hit the lottery when it comes to critically beloved friends in indie rock. And from everything I had heard going in, I wasn't going to be getting the hyper-literate and intricate songs of Josh Tillman, but something simpler and more emotive. And that can work - Perfume Genius proved that on his earlier albums - so I decided to give Tobias Jesso Jr. a chance with his debut album Goon - how is it?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 11, 2015 (VIDEO)

Ugh, this took WAY too long to get out, from writing to editing to rendering. Put me a little behind schedule, but it happens.

Next up... honestly, no clue. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 11, 2015

So here's the issue with weeks like this one: when you have a half-dozen songs from one artist that debut thanks to streaming, they aren't going to last. Sure, you might get a song or two that sticks around, but the majority won't, no matter how good they might be. Such is the case this week with Kendrick Lamar, who lost all but one new song from the charts - and that one took a big hit that we can only hope a boost from the newly released video will save. But unlike with Drake a while back, we don't have the new release of Big Sean to compensate for all that was lost, which leads to a backfill of old tracks and new tracks to fill the slot along with our list of regularly scheduled debuts. In other words, it was a busy week this week, and unfortunately not all for the better, but we'll get to that.

video review: 'the powers that b' by death grips ('niggas on the moon'/'jenny death')

Man, it feels like I've been waiting to get this album out of my system for ages. Long journey to get to this one, I have to say.

Okay, next up... honestly, I have no idea what's going to come after Billboard BREAKDOWN tomorrow. All I know is that tomorrow will be a crazy day for other RL reasons, and getting the damn thing done will be tough. Stay tuned!

album review: 'the powers that b' by death grips ('niggas on the moon'/'jenny death')

Ever since I started talking about hip-hop on this series, I've been asked to talk about Death Grips in some form. And I've been delaying it for a while too, mostly because in hindsight, Death Grips has gone on to be surprisingly influential in underground and even fragments of mainstream hip-hop in crafting a noisier, nastier, more industrial sound that has touched everyone from El-P to Doomtree to Kanye West. But I haven't really talked about the wild trio responsible for this sound, who rose on a wave of critical acclaim and a cult following to land on a major label... where everything seemed to self-destruct until the group fell apart and broke up. Or maybe they didn't, and the group is still together screwing with the minds of their fanbase and any music journalist who hasn't yet realized the chaos and buzz is starting to eclipse the actual music.

Okay, that's unfair, because believe it or not, when Death Grips dropped their debut album The Money Store after the well-received mixtape Exmillitary, there was a lot to like. An explosive, choppy, abrasive brand of production, impressionist lyrics that sketched out half-formed graphic nightmares, and MC Ride's bestial delivery balancing gruff nihilism with deranged paranoia. For the most part, it was pure, unrestrained id with some real visceral punch, and I can't deny it did exactly what it was designed to do... but for me, Death Grips doesn't always connect. For one, I'm not the biggest fan of MC Ride - his delivery works what the music is, but savagery loses impact with me over the course of a sustained album, even despite some eclectic production. As such, even though I'll acknowledge The Money Store being a slightly more cohesive and probably better project, I like more tracks from No Love Deep Web for a slightly more cutting and electronic approach in comparison to MC Ride's usual broad wallop. Then came Government Plates... which was just underwhelming across the board, easily Death Grips' least impressive album and one that started to show the band might be running out of ideas.

But in 2014 they dropped the first half of The Powers That B even amid the rumors of their split, and after a teasing process that frankly has gone on several months too long, they have released the second half, now giving us a full double album of material. And like I promised - and because this might be the last Death Grips release ever - I decided to cover it. What did I get?

video review: 'ludaversal' by ludacris

Finally, a record that didn't let me down in the slightest - man, it might be a quick listen, but it's a ton of fun!

Next up... you know, I think it's time I discuss Death Grips. I think I'm ready, so stay tuned!

album review: 'ludaversal' by ludacris

I didn't think this album would ever be released.

And can you blame me for thinking that? There have been a lot of rappers from the era of the early-to-mid 2000s that didn't last, and for a long time, I thought I'd have to include Ludacris in that list, one of the more iconic southern MCs to explode in that period. And if you go back through the Billboard Hot 100 charts of that time, it can be a little startling to remember how huge he was. Exploding out with an elastic flow, buckets of expressive charisma, solid enough beats and bombast, a great sense of humour, and a lightness of tone that gave his material a strong pop sensibility, it seemed like in the early 2000s he could do no wrong.

Then came Release Therapy in 2006, his shot at more mature subject matter, to prove he could step outside the box, but going back to it almost a decade later, it feels both like an overreach in terms of its concept and yet underweight in terms of insight. And while there are great moments on that record, it was wildly inconsistent in terms of tone and execution, and it wasn't helped by being overloaded with guest stars, which has always been a problem for Ludacris especially when they're nowhere near his level of talent or personality. And the problems continued onto his next two records, Theater of the Mind underperforming and Battle of the Sexes just being embarrassing. Not only did it seem like Ludacris wasn't trying as hard, but he was getting outshone in terms of personality by his guest stars - which should never happen on a Ludacris record! Granted, it didn't help matters that Ludacris frequently found himself as a guest rapper on songs he should never have touched - when you're collaborating with Justin Bieber and Enrique Iglesias, you need to take a step back.

Which takes us to Ludaversal. Recorded over four years, initially announced for 2012 and now pushed back to 2015, I had a lot of reason to believe this album would never get released. As much as I'm a fan of the guy - and I am - Ludacris has been out of the industry for a while, and any leftover buzz from that talent show he was on with Kesha, Brad Paisley, and Josh Groban is gone too. Yeah, he had an EP titled Burning Bridges that was released late in 2014, but was anyone going to care? I did not want to go through another mess like what happened with 50 Cent last year and Animal Ambition - Ludacris has always been one of my favourite southern MCs, I did not want to see him fall off. So with all of those concerns in mind, I checked out Ludaversal - is it good?

video review: 'strangers to ourselves' by modest mouse

Man, it seems like we're on a streak of underwhelming albums here, and this one is weaker than even I expected, especially considering it took eight years to make it... eh, it happens.

Next up, Ludacris - stay tuned!

album review: 'strangers to ourselves' by modest mouse

It's the dream story of any indie rock band - well, at least the first half of it is. You start out with a ramshackle, rough-edged sound that catches the ear thanks to solid melodic interplay and distinctive vocals, that's just enough to entice people to read your lyrics. And while they might be a little disjointed and indulgent on that first album, your second release cleans things up significantly, refines the storytelling, and ends up creating a critically acclaimed gem, one that actually manages to snag the appeal of a major label. And your fans tense immediately - would you lose your sound in favour of something that was popular? Would you sell out?

But somehow against all odds, you use the major label influence and budget to only further refine your sound and improve the mix, and your newest release is even more critically acclaimed. There are a fair number of fans who prefer your sophomore release, but they can at least respect the cohesion and added polish that comes with time and more ambition. And then somehow on your next album from said major label, a single somehow catches fire not just on rock radio but everywhere. Suddenly, you're not just critically acclaimed, but you have an earworm of a hit and dropping an album that goes platinum, something you never would have expected.

That was the story of Modest Mouse, and it seemed like for four albums since their debut in the mid-90s they could do no wrong... and then something happened. Their 2007 follow-up, We Were Dead Before The Ship Sank, to their 2004 major break-out wasn't bad, taking a loose nautical theme for their typical brand of manic depression and confusion. And sure, it was decent, but I don't know if it was the much cleaner production, slightly more commercial focus, or songwriting that just felt a few shades less sharp than their best, but it didn't click with me as well. To me, some of that trademark raw, fluid power had been eased back, even with the added talents of The Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr. And the thing is that it wasn't bad music, it just didn't seem to have that same spark.

Well, from that, Modest Mouse seemed to drop off the face of the earth, with only an extended EP in 2009 to mark any sort of progress. But now, eight years later, we have a new Modest Mouse album and I'm finally getting a chance to cover it. Yeah, I know I'm a little late to the punch here, but going through that entire discography in depth took a long time. So does Strangers To Ourselves hold up to their best?

video review: 'endless forms most beautiful' by nightwish

Another album from a favourite band of mine that just doesn't deliver. Not a bad record, but pretty far from great. Eh, it happens.

Next up, I think it's about time I finally get that Modest Mouse review done... stay tuned!

album review: 'endless forms most beautiful' by nightwish

Back when I reviewed Blind Guardian's most recent and pretty damn awesome album Beyond The Red Mirror, I made the comment that it was one of two bands that got me into metal, and without those bands, I probably would never have become a music critic. The second band was always more symphonic, more gothic, and a fair bit more complicated to talk about. Yep, it's time to talk about a band of which I've been a fan for probably over a decade, the first metal band I saw live, a band that has been around for less time than Blind Guardian but is substantially more difficult to talk about. Yes, folks, it's time we talk about the Finnish symphonic metal titan Nightwish, a band that began in a campfire conversations in the mid-90s and spiralled away into becoming one of the most successful acts of the genre. And for the purposes of this conversation, I'm going to divide their output into three distinct categories, categorized by their female lead singer: the Tarja era, the Anette era, and the Floor era.

Nightwish began more in the realm of acoustic-flavoured power and symphonic metal, and their late 90s output was a time of developing a refining a sound that would become iconic, buoyed by the sharply melodic songwriting of Tuomas Holopainen and the glorious vocals of Tarja Turunen. Tuomas was always the band's mastermind when it came to composition, and the choice not to go with a heavy rhythm guitar section meant that melody was placed to the forefront over groove. It wasn't until 2002 and the addition of bassist Marco Hielata that the darker gothic elements moved much closer to the forefront along with some of their best compositions like 'Ever Dream', but the metal landscape was shifting too, with the success of Evanescence suddenly opening up a window for similar sounding - and better - bands to break. Suddenly, the symphonic metal sound was commercially viable, and Nightwish rode that wave to their - at that time - biggest album Once in 2004. And going back to that album, while the seeds were planted for their later expansion, it's also a very compromised record in terms of the subject matter, and I'd argue only about half of that album is very good or up to their usual standard.

And that compromised vision certainly did bleed into the band, which fired frontwoman Tarja Turunen in 2005 and split the fanbase in two with the arrival of Anette Olzon, signalling the second major era for the band. It was a time that signalled even greater ambitions for the band, who ditched any pretense towards following trends and grabbed up richer musical influences wholesale for 2007's Dark Passion Play. And yes, while Anette was not as technically refined and powerful of a singer as Tarja, she balanced against the loose roughness and eclectic style of the album far better, which was able to get darker without needing gothic pretense. Where pretense did become a factor was in Tuomas' writing, which had always walked the line of being too clever and yet bitingly straightforward. And the while the symphonic element became more and more prominent, first with the inclusion of Troy Donockley on the pipes and second with the heavier usage of orchestras, inspired by Tuomas' love of film scores. So it almost seems logical that that their 2011 album Imaginaerum would be paired with a movie and feel even larger and heavier than the last. And it was, and while I could argue that the album was even more self-referential than usual in terms of themes and lyrics, it features some of Nightwish's best melodic compositions and was overall a fantastic release.

But the problems weren't over, and midway through the tour Anette was fired and replaced with Floor Jansen of After Forever. Now there's a lot of ugliness to that conversation and nobody looks good, but it led to Floor Jansen joining the band full time along with Troy Donockley for their next album. Unfortunately, drummer Jukka Nevalainen had to take a brief hiatus and his drums were instead recorded by Kai Hahto, of the melodic death metal acts Swallow The Sun and Wintersun. Also in that intervening time, both Marco Hielata and Troy Donockley participated on the progressive metal album The Theory of Everything from Ayreon, easily one of the best records of that year, and I had to wonder if any progressive influences would be creeping towards Nightwish, especially with Marco as a secondary writer. And then I heard Nightwish was going to be discussing themes surrounding evolution on the album, even quoting Richard Dawkins! Keep in mind that the majority of Nightwish's material seems to fit in its own universe, and the last time they came remotely close to getting political was 'The Kinslayer' back on Wishmaster in 2000! To put things in context, Epica spent almost a decade trying to refinne their political messages before getting it to work consistently - I had no doubts that Tuomas was a good songwriter, but he's playing in a very different ballpark here!

In other words... look, even as a fan, I had no damn clue what to expect from this. Nightwish aiming for an even heavier sound, stabbing outwards with new subject matter and with a good half of the band changed, I had no idea what to expect, especially considering I wasn't really in love with Tuomas' solo album he dropped in 2014, written around the same time as this record. But I'm still a fan and at the very least it'd be an entertaining record, so what did we get with Endless Forms Most Beautiful?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 4, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, this was a great week - effectively repeating a lot of things I already said in the Kendrick review, but whatever.

Okay, next up, got a whole slew of albums after I tackle this particularly difficult one. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 4, 2015

So you know how I said last week that I knew something awesome was coming this week? Well, here's a funny thing - when you start hearing press releases about certain artists beating streaming records off of critically acclaimed releases, you suddenly realize that Billboard includes streaming information in its calculations, and that means songs that would never otherwise land on the Hot 100 will suddenly notch hits. And sure, they might not stick around for long, but if they somehow land enough impressions or make enough of an impact with the audience... In any case, by now anyone who follows the music industry should know what I'm talking about: Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly, and by some miracle six songs from it landed on the Hot 100. And it seems like in response the Hot 100 went into a massive panic in response to so much great music injected into it, and all sorts of semi-explicable insanity happened this week.

video review: 'the diary' by the gentle storm

Man, I wish this had been better. I mean, it's good, but it should have been awesome, and it's still a bit of a letdown. It happens even from the best.

Next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN, and then I have about four or five albums lined up in the queue I could easily cover. What to pick, what to pick... oh hell, I know what I'm covering, and you all should too. Stay tuned!

album review: 'the diary' by the gentle storm

I've been looking forward to this project since the beginning of the year.

Now long time followers of my reviews probably aren't surprised by this, but everyone else is probably perplexed by where this album came from, who this duo is, and why anyone should care. For those who don't know, The Gentle Storm is a project under the direction of Arjen Lucassen, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and creator of the Ayreon project, an ongoing progressive metal act that pulls in vocalists from dozens of the most critically acclaimed acts in symphonic, progressive, folk, and even extreme metal. One of his long-time collaborators is Anneke Van Giersbergen, frontwoman of The Gathering and who has worked with acts as varied as Devin Townsend, Within Temptation, and Napalm Death. Together, the duo decided in 2014 to collaborate on a new project, a double album under the name The Gentle Storm. Both discs would contain the same compositions, but one would be played entirely with folk and acoustic instrumentation and other was all-out symphonic and progressive metal - and both discs would tell the same story, an epic historical romance, one of the few times Arjen Lucassen has ventured away from the sci-fi epics that have been his purview.

Now on some level, I was skeptical of this. With the exception of Guilt Machine, I've had mixed results with Arjen's side projects and solo albums, having never been a big fan of Ambeon and Star One rarely hitting as strongly as I've hoped. Plus, the double disc format struck me as the duo hedging their bets - were the compositions really so strong that they'd be able to be transferred to entirely different instrumentation and maintain their impact? Granted, this isn't the first time Arjen has done this - the first Ayreon release The Final Experiment had an acoustic version as well - but I couldn't help but feel the record might be better if they had just selected the more poignant version of each track and interweaved metal and acoustic together.

But this was the format they chose, and I knew that Arjen Lucassen was a songwriter who had never made an outright bad album. This was a team of veterans in writing and instrumentation, and it certainly wasn't shying away from being an ambitious project, so I gave the double album my full attention - was it worth it?

video review: 'i don't like shit, i don't go outside' by earl sweatshirt

Man, this might have been short, but it hit me surprisingly hard. Seriously, check this out, damn good record.

Next up, I'm going to cover an album I've been looking forward to since the beginning of this year. No, not that one. Or that one either. Want to know which? Stay tuned!

album review: 'i don't like shit, i don't go outside' by earl sweatshirt

So time for a serious question: does Odd Future have any buzz anymore?


I don't mean that to be a slight against the rap collective, I really don't, a group that leapt out of the underground with a fully formed style and sound that won them a fair bit of critical acclaim and a strong cult following. And for a couple of years at the beginning of the decade, it seemed like the group was going to ride that wave of hype to album after album of success - not especially in the mainstream, given their subject matter and style, but there would be success.


But across 2014, Odd Future seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Yeah, there were a few scattered mixtapes but none of their big names dropped full-length records, and outside of some touring controversy that got some of their members banned from a New Zealand tour, Odd Future was pretty quiet. Now if you were to go back twenty years, there'd be no issue with this - albums and mixtapes take time to make if you're doing them right, and if Odd Future were secretly cooking things up, it'd be good to see a quality product. But we're also talking about the rapidly shifting landscape of hip-hop, where rap collectives live and die by their buzz, and with the internet that timeline has only gotten faster. And this means the unfortunate question isn't so much when the new Odd Future project would drop, but who outside their diehard fanbase would care if it did?


But out of nowhere, it looks as though we do have a new record dropping, and from the last person I'd expect: Earl Sweatshirt, the slightly off-kilter oddball of the group that initially built his reputation off of his darkly hyperbolic subject matter before destroying it with his surprisingly personal and introspective debut Doris. Now when I reviewed that debut way back in 2013, back before I even had a decent camera, and while I definitely liked it, it wasn't a record I saw myself going back to often - it was slow, dark, dreary, with Earl Sweatshirt's cadence and somber beats making it a heavy listen. Having gone back through it recently, though, I can definitely say I appreciate how meticulous and well-structured it is, balancing social commentary with a personal story well-told. In other words, of the rappers in Odd Future, I got the impression there was the most depth and layers behind Earl Sweatshirt. I was just surprised he would be first to the punch for a resurgence and not Tyler The Creator, and with a surprise album with few features and nothing from Odd Future outside of production, it looked to be an interesting listen. So what did we get?

video review: 'run' by awolnation

Well, this was a total dud. Hoping for better, but given Megalithic Symphony and the mess that it was, it was probably hoping for too much for the lightning to strike twice.

Anyway, Earl Sweatshirt next. Stay tuned!

album review: 'run' by awolnation

There are bands that you can put on any album in their discography and immediately know the group. You can put on an AC/DC album or a Foo Fighters record and there's a sort of comfort in knowing nearly exactly what you're getting - there'll be slight differentiating factors, but you'll know what's coming. Then there are the groups that'll switch things up with every record - sometimes they'll make it subtle, sometimes they'll work in broad strokes, sometimes they'll throw curveballs into the mix that only hardcore fans will see coming.

And then there's AWOLNATION, a band that no matter how many times I've listened to their debut record, I still have a hard time pinning down what the hell they're doing. After a well-received EP in 2010, they burst onto the scene with the messy, cacophonous electronic rock Megalithic Symphony in 2011, that pulled from a half-dozen styles, bands, and added plenty of their own fuzz-saturated and semi-demented flavour. Part punk, part U2-inspired rock, part genre-breaking digression, the album showed a wealth of ideas and most of them were pretty compelling. But it's definitely a record that works better in pieces than as a whole, especially in the case of its haphazard production, and it's hard to ignore that the lyrics often feel thinly sketched and underweight for the big ideas they're trying to tackle. And while 'Sail' landed on my Honourable Mentions list of my favourite hits of 2013 - because that's how long the mainstream took to catch up with the style that AWOLNATION was pushing, for better or worse - I was curious how long the band could push their ideas and whether they could develop some cohesion on the way.

In other words, I was looking forward to reviewing this album - not because I expected it to be a great or classic album, but because it would be interesting. Was I rewarded here?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 28, 2015 (VIDEO)

Oh wow, this took way too long to get online - again - but I'm overall happy for it, if only because it gave us 'Bills' by LunchMoney Lewis. Got to love it.

Next up... probably Modest Mouse or AWOLNATION, we'll see. Stay tuned!