video review: 'beneath the skin' by of monsters and men

Eh, I do wish this was better, and I'm not sure how long it's going to stick with me, but still damn solid.

Okay, Algiers, FFS, and Sun Kil Moon for sure, but there's this Hilary Duff album that a part of me really wants to cover... eh, we'll see. Stay tuned!

album review: 'beneath the skin' by of monsters and men

I didn't expect to get as many requests to cover this album as I have.

And on some level, that's exciting, because it meant that Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men had somehow managed to make an impact in popular culture beyond just 'Little Talks', the song that somehow managed to chart just high enough to lodge a place on the pop charts in 2013, two years after it was released. And I'll admit, it was off of that song that I dug into their pretty damn solid debut album My Head Is An Animal. Now to put things in perspective, the reason 'Little Talks' did as well as it did was because Of Monsters And Men had fortuitous timing - the folk boom was kicking into gear, and they had the benefit of a horns section, potent melodic grooves, and interweaving male and female vocals to stand out from the crowd and especially from Mumford & Sons. Of course, the huge benefit that Of Monsters And Men also had was a wind-swept haunted swell to the production, some noisier electric guitars that never compromised the texture, and pretty damn solid songwriting that wasn't afraid to get weird in terms of a more feral brand of poetry. Or to put it another way, there's a reason why 'Little Talks' ran away as my favourite hit song of 2013 - because it's goddamn amazing.

So why haven't I been jumping all over their sophomore release? Well, part of it was a certain amount of trepidation: I wasn't initially wild about their opening singles, and early buzz wasn't great, especially emphasizing that the album reportedly had more filler. This was a concern for me, because if I were to level one big complaint with their debut, it'd be that their sound can have a certain uniformity to it if the songwriting or melodies don't stand out. It's not a bad sound by any stretch of the mind, but it can get a little repetitive. 

But look, I still like this band, so I dug into their sophomore album Beneath The Skin - was it better than expected?

video review: 'surf' by donnie trumpet & the social experiment

Oh, I can predict this review will piss off a lot of people... eh, it happens.

Next up, not quite sure yet, either Sun Kil Moon or Algiers. Stay tuned!

album review: 'surf' by donnie trumpet & the social experiment

Oh, I've been getting a lot of requests for this one.

And I'm not surprised either, because if we're looking for rappers who many have asked that I cover in some way, shape or form, Chance The Rapper would be near the top of that list. With an off-kilter, free-flowing style and wordplay that seemed to skitter across rhymes and concepts with effortless ease, Chance built a ton of buzz with his breakthrough mixtape Acid Rap in 2013, and while I didn't love that tape, I did appreciate his boundless personality and off-kilter brand of wordplay. The odd thing is that Chance The Rapper tends to get in the way of his best material - either it would come from his production being a little overmixed or his actual content not always adding up to as much as I had hoped.

But then again, when I heard he was teaming up with Donnie Trumpet and several of the producers he had worked with on Acid Rap to create the collective The Social Experiment and they were going to be dropping a record called Surf, I figured it might be a interesting experiment, especially considering this is really Chance The Rapper's first official "album". Something lightweight, fun, and with a frankly stupefying list of guest stars that spanned from Big Sean and Jeremih to Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu, I knew I had to give this record my due consideration. So how did it turn out?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 20, 2015 (VIDEO)

Completely forgot to post this. Oops!

Next up, Surf - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 20, 2015

You know, after the past few weeks – and somehow falling behind again in my reviews – it’s nice to actually have a new Hot 100 that’s actually fairly lightweight in terms of new songs, most of which I’ve already heard before in some capacity. It’s one of the breather moments you get as summer starts to settle into gear and the album release schedule eases back a bit, at least for the pop charts.

video review: 'summer forever' by billy currington

Man, I'm glad I managed to get this out when I did - although as expected, RL prevented me from getting this post up earlier. Eh, it happens.

Okay, next up is Billboard BREAKDOWN, and then Surf, so stay tuned!

album review: 'summer forever' by billy currington

Let's talk a little about the whole concept of the 'summer album'. 

Believe it or not, it's a fairly new thing, along with the whole conceit of a 'song of the summer' - sure, music critics who cover the pop charts mention it, but the concept of mass culture talking about it or marketing it can be traced to the internet making the conversation easier. And sure, there has always been lightweight sunny 'summer' albums forever, but the concept of an artist purposefully releasing a record of that material specifically at that time to capitalize on that vibe is a little different. And as a critic, they're surprisingly difficult to talk about. On the one hand, the content tends to be pretty lightweight which means reviewing them doesn't tend to require a lot of digging, but on the other hand, evaluating the record becomes trickier, because the purpose of these records is to be lightweight, ephemeral, and fun in the broadest way possible. They're designed to be enjoyed for a season over pool parties and barbecues, and you can bet by the end of the year most people will forget the songs ever existed. So on some level, evaluating what's considered 'good' summer music is the stuff that persists beyond one season - and that can be hard to pinpoint if you're covering the record before the season has really kicked into gear.

As such, I had a certain amount of pause before covering the newest record from Billy Currington, a country star I've liked but never quite loved. He broke in the mid-2000s, started consistently racking up #1 hits on the country charts thanks to his hangdog, generally affable delivery and for recruiting songwriters that could consistently pump out decent songs. And yet in 2013, he jettisoned the few writing credits he had for We Are Tonight, a pivot towards bro-country that was actually pretty good but wasn't anything I was really interested in revisiting either. It was lightweight, inoffensive, and had just enough personality to stand out - in other words, if it hadn't been dropped in mid-September, it'd be the perfect summer record, the sort of smash that bro-country often seems weaponized to create. And with that in mind - and with the addition of a single writing credit from Currington himself - I figured it might not be bad for me to check out Summer Forever, which buzz was suggesting was even more in that vein. Hell, it could be fun, right?

video review: 'drones' by muse

Well, this was better received than I expected it'd be. Hmm, interesting.

Okay, tomorrow I'm going to try to get the Billy Currington review out, but RL might get in the way, so no promises. Stay tuned!

album review: 'drones' by muse

There's no easy way to talk about Muse. Fans of the band love them for their genre-pushing style, their imagination, their technically potent melodic construction, and Matt Bellamy's uniquely powerful voice. Non-fans hate them for their lyrical pretentiousness or outright absurdity, their self-serious appropriation of progressive, alternative and arena rock tropes without getting the substance, their hyperbolic presentation, and Matt Bellamy's shameless caterwauling, especially in his high falsetto range.

In other words, they're a polarizing group - and unlike most, I tend to fall in the middle, in that they're not a bad group by any stretch of the mind, but they are definitely uneven for me. The odd issue for me across their first four records is that outside of the few songs they have on every album that are just goddamn amazing across the board, they tend to fall into an agreeable confort zone that can start to run together a little. This started to change around the mid-2000s, with the broader embrace of styles on records like Black Holes and Revelations, but it was also where my opinion on Muse tends to get more mixed. Yes, I can appreciate the genre-bending and the worship of progressive rock and especially Queen, but lyrically it often felt Muse was spiralling into a rabbit hole that was interestingly sketched but increasingly incoherent, and the band took themselves way too damn seriously to realize it. In other words, it's the exact same path that so much progressive rock took in its heyday, especially around the tail end of the 70s. Credit to Muse for always maintaining a distinctive sound in the face of going over the top in a half-dozen different genres, but by the time we hit The 2nd Law, I worried that I'd lose my ability to take the band remotely seriously, especially when they got political with the subtlety of a tactic air strike.

And on that topic, I can't tell you how sceptical I was about their upcoming record called Drones. On the one hand, I was a little fascinated that Muse was going for a 'back-to-basics' approach of all things, but I wasn't sure grabbing producer Mutt Lange, most known for producing albums from AC/DC's Highway To Hell and The Cars' Heartbeat City to Shania Twain's Come On Over and Nickelback's Dark Horse was the best way to do it. And let's be blunt, Muse does not do subtle or complex when in comes to their political material, and while I dug their populism, drone warfare and modern geopolitics are kind of hard to boil down into anthems for monstrous live sets. So did Muse pull it off?

video review: 'silverball' by barenaked ladies

Dear god, this was a disappointment. I wanted this to be so much better than it was...

Anyway, next up... holy shit, Muse, Of Monsters And Men, Algiers, Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, Billy Currington, so many albums I want to cover... anyway, stay tuned!

album review: 'silverball' by barenaked ladies

I did not know this album was dropping until a few days ago. And to be fair, I don't think that unless you follow the band anybody knew. There was no single on the radio, American or Canadian, no major review sites south of the border seemed to mention it much, the hype has been nonexistent.

And on some level it's a damn shame and another example of people not giving the Barenaked Ladies enough credit. Breaking out in the mid-90s with an album that's a borderline classic with Gordon, they did consistently well up here until Stunt and Maroon broke them in the U.S.. And then without warning, everything seemed to fall apart. Their 2003 album didn't land them traction in the rougher, darker rock scene of the early 2000s, and pop rock acts that actually had a sense of humour were marginalized. So the Barenaked Ladies did the next best thing - they went independent and continued to put out albums of reasonable quality... until the second blow hit and frontman Steven Page left the band. It was a shadow that hung over the otherwise excellent All In Good Time that was released in 2010 as the Barenaked Ladies grappled with the loss.

Fortunately, by 2013 things had recovered and while I didn't love their 2013 record Grinning Streak, longtime fans of this channel might remember I included 'Odds Are' as my favourite song of 2013 across the board. And I stand by that choice - 'Odds Are' is damn near a perfect pop rock song and the music video made with Rooster Teeth was all kinds of wonderful. But what gave me hope coming out of Grinning Streak was that the band was starting to construct a new identity minus Page, and while the lyrics weren't quite as biting or obscenely clever, there was still a sense of whimsy and underdog charm that was impossible to take away. Sure, there were cracks in the production and writing, but they could refine that going forward, right? And so of course I was going to cover Silverball, and I had high hopes. These guys are Canadian pop rock veterans, and what meagre buzz I could find suggested that this album was even better than Grinning Streak - so did they pull it off?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 13, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, the computer crashed twice when uploading this thing, which might be a sign or something.

Next up, something special - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 13, 2015

Well, that didn't last long. Almost as quickly as it took the top slot, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar were elbowed off the top, and it's not exactly surprising that happened either. Once again, the fight over the top will likely be the biggest story this week, but it obscures what happened below, where a whole load of songs surged up the charts and we got another well-sized crop of new songs - and in a nice change of pace from last week, most of them are actually decent!

video review: 'everything is 4' by jason derulo

Goddamn it, this took WAY too long to get online. Stupid Google + messing with my YouTube connectivity with my editing software... although on the plus side it did give me a chance to consolidate some other connections which proved quite handy.

Next up is Billboard BREAKDOWN, which'll hopefully be a reasonable week given my busy day tomorrow, but you never know. Stay tuned!

album review: 'everything is 4' by jason derulo

I remember when I reviewed Tattoos, Jason Derulo's last record in 2013. I remembered  being flabbergasted at the choices on display. I was barely able to articulate what the hell Jason Derulo was trying to do, with one foot in Bobby Brown-esque R&B and the other in his typical brand of overly slick dance-pop. And I remembered thinking that this couldn't possibly be a hit. Sure, 'The Other Side' was a fine enough opening single, but there was no way that any record executive would release singles like 'Talk Dirty' to mainstream radio, with lyrics as bad as they were. Because no public in their right mind would let him get away with songs as asinine as 'Trumpets', right?

In hindsight, the more I've covered the Billboard Hot 100 the less I've had any faith in the listening public, but 2014 was a year of success stories for Jason Derulo, to the point where songs like 'Talk Dirty' weren't just massive hit, but were influential and have spawned multiple rip-offs. And on some level I get it: in a year where pop music seemed to be taking itself more seriously, Jason Derulo being awash in bad taste at least gave him a personality. It wasn't exactly indicative of quality, as the consistently mixed critical consensus proved, and it didn't stop songs like 'Wiggle' from the Talk Dirty rerelease being absolutely atrocious, but it was at least interesting.

But here's the thing: between Tattoos and Talk Dirty, Jason Derulo actually managed to sell some records in the United States, something which he really didn't do even in his first wave of success in 2010. Now if you're a label executive and you see a record in the 'So Bad It's Good' vein like this, records that should not be successful and yet somehow are, you've got a tricky choice to make. On the one hand, you could try to keep a tight leash on him to repeat the formula, or you could give him more money, more creative control, and tell him to go nuts. And from the look of the guest stars on this list, it looks like the executives at Atlantic went in the second direction - I understand maybe getting K. Michelle or even Jennifer Lopez, but Stevie Wonder? Meghan Trainor? Keith Urban of all people? Furthermore, there's not a single rap guest verse? What the hell was Jason Derulo making with Everything Was 4?

video review: 'how big, how blue, how beautiful' by florence + the machine

Man, another record I really wanted to like more than I did... guess I'll go back to listening to more Jamie xx (although I was going to do that anyways...

Next up... hmm, not sure yet, because I'm going to need some time with Sun Kil Moon or that Surf album. I might talk about Billy Currington first, see if my goodwill doesn't run out. Stay tuned!

album review: 'how big, how blue, how beautiful' by florence + the machine

Well, I'm pretty much obliged to cover this. Not because I've been getting requests - although I have - but more because I think every girlfriend I've ever had is a fan of Florence + The Machine, and if I didn't say something, I'd probably hear something.

And really, I can't blame them, because Florence + The Machine is one of those acts I always thought deserved to get a lot bigger than they have. When they smashed onto the scene in 2009 with the album Lungs and anthemic songs like 'Dog Days Are Over', a lot of critics drew comparisons with artists like Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey, and especially Kate Bush. Now I would not go that far - especially on the last one - but there was often a raw desperate power behind Florence's vocals that lacked subtlety but had a ton of presence and power, which was often enough to allow you to overlook the fact that the lyricism could occasionally stray into clumsiness and that the instrumentation wasn't really as raw as it could have been. Hell, you could make the argument that without Florence + The Machine, you wouldn't have so many acts hammering the percussion-groove-over-melody as has been popular over the past few days, although they did do plenty to make it sound pretty damn pretty along the way.

So with that in mind, why the hell isn't Florence + The Machine more popular, like on the charts? Well, I'd argue part of it is the fact that they've never really played the 'pop' game, especially in the lightweight silliness of the beginning of the club boom in 2009. Some of it might tie to the fact that Florence + The Machine fall into a similar area where most power pop ends up - too heavy and loud for pop radio, yet not quite rough-edged enough to rock harder. And part of it might just be that Florence Welch's intensity and rawness can be a hard sell - granted, I'm not sure I buy that, given the recent success of acts like Sia or Tove Lo. Hell, even Florence landed on the charts thanks to goddamn Calvin Harris making everything worse as he usually does. Or maybe some of it was just bad timing - their follow-up record Ceremonies dropped in 2011, and yet had the misfortune of going against 21 by Adele, which took Florence + The Machine's percussion-heavy formula and one of their main producers Paul Epworth and brought a level of tightness in the writing that Florence had never quite mastered. Yes, I get that a voice like Florence's doesn't exactly need subtlety to make impact, but eventually cranking every chorus to eleven loses impact when you don't have adequate melodic crescendos or stronger lyrical punch, especially when she goes for such self-serious gravitas.

But after four years away, Florence + The Machine are back, apparently after Florence went through one of the most difficult points in her life, having a 'bit of a nervous breakdown' according to her, which places this record as her most personal. Did it pay off?

video review: 'in colour' by jamie xx

Holy shit, I was not expecting this album to be as good as it was. But with every listen, I find more to unpack in this production, and the emotional beats hit me like a ton of bricks every time.

Next up... whoo boy, might as well pry open the fangirl hole and discuss Florence + The Machine. Wish me luck!

album review: 'in colour' by jamie xx

So first let's talk a little about remix albums.

Believe it or not, even despite being in an era where electronic music is bigger than ever, outright remix albums don't seem to be as popular as they used to be ten years ago. Sure, you'll see a few of them in pop, especially from acts who are more on the electronic side and want to push the success of their albums a little longer by enlisting various DJs to remix their material, but the concept of one producer remixing an entire project from another artist is a lot less common. Granted, we live in the era of the internet, where you can find dozens of remixes of entire projects on Soundcloud or YouTube within hours of the song dropping, but to be able to infuse the entire project with a distinctive and unique personality is a different matter entirely.

And thus you can kind of see how big of a deal it was when Jamie xx, producer and remix artist known for working with the critically acclaimed indie pop group The xx teamed up with Gil-Scott Heron to make We're New Here, a full remix album of Gil-Scott Heron's album that had dropped the previous year after sixteen years of absence from the music industry. And while Jamie xx's personality had been visible with The xx, his glassy, edged synths, subtle beats, and crisp percussion paired with Gil-Scott Heron's aged vocals were much more striking. Of course, one of his beats ended up being sampled by Rihanna and Drake for 'Take Care', which was a massive hit in 2012, but honestly, I've always liked Jamie xx's original version more for its greater texture and edge, and thus I was anticipating his upcoming debut with a fair amount of excitement, even though I found the second album from The xx album underwhelming and lacking some of the melodic tightness I dug on their debut. So did Jamie xx manage to deliver on his own with In Colour?