album review: 'kill the lights' by luke bryan

At some point we need to ask the question how it came to this point. At some point music historians are going to look back at bro-country and its legacy and ask how on God's green earth we let this happen. And inevitably the focus will swivel to Luke Bryan, who has arguably profited the most from this trend by being the A-list talent to rode bro-country to the very top, partially through his series of spring break mixtapes and partially through hauling in so many of the songwriters who would become staples of the genre behind the scenes.

But about midway through the fourth single dropping from his 2013 album Crash My Party, I came to the realization that the music in a Luke Bryan concert is functionally irrelevant. The fans probably couldn't care less that the album production was increasingly synthetic or that Bryan himself was writing fewer and fewer songs with every release, or that his subject matter was a grabbag of country cliches rattled off with obnoxious efficiency. Because it wasn't about the individual songs or the increasingly haphazard albums: it was about the image and live show experience, Luke Bryan on stage and shaking his ass to get the girls screaming. In other words, this isn't new: what Luke Bryan did in 2013, Billy Ray Cyrus did in 1992, and history repeats itself.

And thus on some level reviewing this record is pointless. To those who have turned on bro-country, Luke Bryan is everything wrong with modern country, while to his fans he's everything right, and the latter's presence means this album is guaranteed to sell. But as somebody who has always held the belief bro-country can be done right - and someone fascinated by the slow-moving trainwreck that I predict many will consider Luke Bryan's career in a decade or so - I figured I might as well cover Kill The Lights. After all, he did discontinue his Spring Break series of mixtapes - considering he's turning forty next year, it's not a bad decision - and considering he wrote six of his new album's songs in comparison with the one he wrote on Crash My Party, I had reason to believe this might be marginally better. Was I right?

video review: 'compton: a soundtrack' by dr. dre

...and that was fun. Whew, I loved that review, really think I did a good job with it.

Next up, Luke Bryan or Chelsea Wolfe, stay tuned!

album review: 'compton: a soundtrack' by dr. dre

If it was up to me / you motherfuckers would stop comin' up to me / with you hands out looking up to me / like you want somethin' free / when my last CD was out / you weren't bumpin' me / but now that I got my own company / everybody wanna come to me / like it was some disease / but you won't get a crumb from me / 'cause I'm from the streets of...

Compton. South of downtown L.A., it's a area that has become synonymous with hip-hop past and present. DJ Quik, The Game, YG, Kendrick Lamar, and - of course - N.W.A., the rap group widely hailed with the founding of gangsta rap. Hell, their first album is called Straight Outta Compton, a rap record seminal in gangsta rap but bizarrely has not been one to have aged particularly well - I know, heresy, and it's a great record, to be sure, but it's an example of how hip-hop was able to build on a rock solid foundation to new heights. And given that hip-hop is arguably better than ever right now, having a downright stellar year with several excellent records, it's almost fitting that a biopic is being released with the same title discussing the rise and fall of N.W.A.. And inspired by the creation of that film, we got something special that I don't think any of us saw coming: Compton: A Soundtrack, by none other than Dr. Dre himself, heralded as his final album.

And I don't think I need to stress how big of a deal this is. Dr. Dre has been touting his long-awaited Detox project that it's become one of those projects nobody really expects will happen, like that J.Cole/Kendrick collaboration album or Jay Electronica actually dropping a studio album. And from reports, this isn't Detox - according to Dre, that's been shelved permanently - but instead something new, complete with an arsenal of collaborating artists from across Dre's history in the industry. But after the wave of excitement cooled - holy shit, we're getting a new Dr. Dre album after sixteen years, the doctor who brought us G-funk and one of the most forceful voices inn hip-hop is back - I did have a little trepidation. Hate to say it, but having revisited The Chronic and 2001 in preparation for this release, they're both albums that as a whole hold up more on vibes and personality than they do on wordplay beyond a few iconic songs. Plus, it's been sixteen years, and the songs he's released over the past five years haven't exactly made a new album from Dre all that appealing. Plus, Dre has always been a more interesting producer than rapper, and even though his best bars have been ghostwritten by other MCs, a full Dr. Dre project might not be as high quality as we all wanted it to be. In other words, my expectations were tempered going into this album - I prayed for this to great, but I expected the worst. Sixteen years after 2001, can Dre still deliver?

video review: 'yung rich nation' by migos

I have no idea why I covered this, but I needed something to fill time, and I did want to have my say.

Next up... hopefully that album from Dr. Dre. This'll be a big one, stay tuned!

album review: 'yung rich nation' by migos

Some of you are probably wondering why I'm covering this. Because given the hip-hop I'm known to like, this probably seems like going straight through the bottom of the barrel to the dregs. And I can already see the comments: 'dude, you don't like ignorant hip-hop, why the hell are you going after Migos?'

Well, let me clear up a few things first. For one, I honestly don't have that much of a problem with hip-hop being shallow, accessible, and fun - provided, of course, the hooks are solid, the flows are cohesive, the performers have some charisma, and there's at least a modicum of wit behind the bars. And while I'd argue that there's enough hard-hitting hip-hop that's both smart and anthemic - I can only point at Doomtree so many times, folks - I get that party music doesn't have to be that lyrical if they can make up for it elsewhere.

All of that being said, to say I had trepidation approaching this record would be understating it. Migos broke with the viral track 'Versace' in 2013, a piece of repetitive brand name porn where I kept feeling the track was shutting off every few seconds. But what Migos were able to do over the next several mixtapes was established a distinctive staccato triplet flow that quickly flooded through hip-hop. And I'll admit I wasn't really a fan - sure, it was distinctive and catchy, but it often felt jumpy and lacked a decent groove. Beyond that... well, what else do you say about Migos? Everything I heard from them was shallow, hedonistic luxury porn of the basest variety, to the point where I've seen YouTube comment sections filled with admissions that, 'yeah, this sucks and the lyrics are garbage, but I still like it anyway!'

So this review is more an experiment for me: I wanted to see if there was actually anything more beneath Migos' idiosyncratic style, so I took a deep breath and dug into their debut album off Atlantic Yung Rich Nation - what did I find?

video review: 'kill the wolf' by b. dolan

And I'm glad to have this out of my system. Tough review to write, but definitely worth it.

And next... whoo boy, the descent into the abyss... and unfortunately not the Chelsea Wolfe kind, although that's coming too. Stay tuned!

album review: 'kill the wolf' by b. dolan

Let's talk a little about poetry.

Now you'd think this would be a concept that gets discussed more frequently in hip-hop culture, but it's a lot less common than you'd think that you could describe rappers as poets with a straight face. Putting aside the technical considerations - which tend to be fluid with poetry anyway - that label, fairly or not, tends to imply a level of writing sophistication that hip-hop can occasionally fall short of, especially in the mainstream and especially nowadays with the greater focus on production over lyricism.

But if you start digging deep into the underground, you'll actually find a fair few artists who have an established background in a more literary circle, and it shouldn't surprise many people that a few of these poets I'd also identify as some of my favourite rappers, like Dessa or Sage Francis. And if you want to go even deeper, you need to talk about B. Dolan, rapper and spoken word artist from Rhode Island, affiliated with Sage Francis and who broke into the scene in 2008 with the harrowing and absolutely fascinating record The Failure. And for a hip-hop traditionalist, The Failure is far from an easy listen - the beats and production is minimal, much more focused on the words themselves, and when they are there it's abrasive and nasty as hell. And yet the bars themselves earn that harrowing production, an incendiary record targeting politics, religion, and philosophy with naked abandon that chars everyone in its path, including B. Dolan himself.

And thus it's not exactly surprising that his 2010 record Fallen House Sunken City was a slightly more conventional hip-hop record in terms of its construction - still politically charged, still with abrasive and nasty production, still with fiery and intense wordplay... but I dunno, it didn't quite have the same unbelievable moments of visceral intensity that came with songs like 'Kate' and 'Joan Of Arcadia' and 'Skycycle Blues' with the sole exception being the haunting story track of 'Marvin' about the death of Marvin Gaye. Worse still were the elements of conspiracy theory nonsense creeping into his material on tracks like 'The Reptilian Agenda' - yeah, I appreciate the shots at Cheney and Bush as much as anyone, but that Illuminati horseshit is patently ridiculous when a far more dispiriting and honest explanation is that people are lazy, stupid, overwhelmed, or incompetent, stuck in venial sins than grand conspiracies - think The Wire instead of House Of Cards.

But even beyond that, I was in the mood for some hard-edged politics, and right now, rap has all the more reason to get political, so how does Kill The Wolf turn out?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 15, 2015 (VIDEO)

Yeah, I was away for a bit. Long weekend, got a haircut, shit happens.

Next up, B. Dolan, then it'll depend which leaks first. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 15, 2015

So I think last week was a bit of an anomaly when it comes to the summer slowdown - a glut of new tracks and very minimal changes within the chart itself. This week made more sense - a whole slew of shuffling and not many new arrivals, which reflects the pretty sparse release schedule right now, especially when it comes to mainstream album.

video review: '25/8' by lmno & mr. brady

And there's two. Slightly ahead of schedule too, nice to see.

Next up, B Dolan, and I'm expecting this one to be a doozy. Stay tuned!

video review: 'the blade' by ashley monroe

And that's one. Next review on its way soon, stay tuned!

album review: '25/8' by lmno & mr. brady

You know, LMNO, there is such a thing as flooding the market.

For those of you who follow this series, you're probably aware that this is the fourth time I've covered LMNO in two years, a rough-edged California MC with a reputation for a relentlessly monotone delivery and yet bars complex and thought-provoking enough to redeem it. What he's also known for is his insane release schedule: in one year he dropped ten albums of material with various producers and collaborators, to the point where it got exhausting just to keep up with him. And yet I still do - mostly because his collaboration album with Evidence After The Fact was excellent and I'm still convinced he can deliver something of that quality.

Now one of the better received albums from that crazy year was called Banger Management, which paired him with Mr. Brady, an MC whose lower tone and softer delivery actually made LMNO's conspiratorial rasp sound energetic and lively. The two have collaborated plenty of times since, and this year they sought to put together a new project, the instrumentation handled by New York producer Asthetic. And for the most part, I was interested in this - yeah, I know, four projects in two years on this channel, but LMNO can bring up interesting material in his bars, and Mr. Brady would offer good contrast. So, how does 25/8 turn out?

album review: 'the blade' by ashley monroe

Okay, fun experiment. Name a country band that is all women and more than just a duo. Then name one that might have some mainstream appeal... and that's not the Dixie Chicks.

At this point, a few of you are probably wondering who could possibly fit that category, and in 2011, we got an answer: the Pistol Annies, a group formed of newcomer Angeleena Presley, A-list powerhouse Miranda Lambert, and underground country starlet Ashley Monroe. Together they cranked out the pretty damn excellent debut Hell On Heels in 2011 and the great followup Annie Up in 2013, but they're probably most well-known for collaborating with Blake Shelton and playing background vocals on 'Boys 'Round Here', easily one of the worst hit songs of that year. And I don't blame any of the Pistol Annies for that - they're a hell of a lot better than the minimal role they played in that song. Hell, Ashley Monroe proved that when she showed up on Blake Shelton's next album on the song 'Lonely Tonight', one of the few highlights of that record.

And yet some of you are probably wondering why the hell I called her an underground starlet. Well, Ashley Monroe initially was positioned a decade ago as another entry in the wave of fire-spitting female country singers in the mid-to-late 2000s, but Sony outright refused to release her debut unless she had a charting hit, eventually only getting a fragmented release briefly in 2006 before finally getting on iTunes in 2009. A damn shame, because the album is great, a gem where only diehard fans and the country underground seemed to care.

Fast forward to 2013, where the Pistol Annies were gaining swell and Ashley Monroe had signed to Warner Bros Nashville in order to release her follow-up record Like A Rose... and like her last release, it barely made the charts and the only people who seemed to care were those in the country underground - plus a lot of critics, because, again, the album is excellent. Not perfect - it's got its rougher, hokier moments, and the duet with Blake Shelton that ends the album is pointless - but it had a certain lived-in maturity that proved really charming, especially with songs like 'Weed Instead Of Roses' that were a bit goofy but still a lot of fun.

So now that her career has stabilized - probably bigger than ever thanks to the Blake Shelton collaboration - I wasn't surprised when I heard her newest album is a slight pivot towards the mainstream, and I really wasn't all that worried. After all, she was still the primary songwriter, and it's always a good thing to have more women getting critical acclaim in country. Were my assumptions correct?

video review: 'not an apology' by bea miller

Well, that sure as hell did not take long. Next up, LMNO & Mr. Brady, so stay tuned!

album review: 'not an apology' by bea miller

So as some of you know, I'm twenty-five years old. I've got a full-time job beyond this, I pay rent on my own apartment, I buy my own groceries and do my own laundry. And even by the nebulous way most people tend to view my generation, I can marginally be defined as an 'adult'. But even as I get older, pop music tends to stay the same age, which is now leading to the situation where I'm reviewing music that might speak to experiences almost a decade disconnected from my own. Now in theory, this isn't a problem: good music can surpass barriers of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and age isn't as much a barrier as you'd think.

But I'll admit feeling hesitant covering Bea Miller, mostly because warning flags began popping up all over the place. Coming in ninth on the second season of X-Factor, signing in the first ever joint venture between Simon Cowell's Syco Records and Hollywood Records, and all of it at the age of sixteen! On the one hand, there's a certain gut reaction of surprise, but thanks to YouTube and Vine and the ease of creating content skewing younger and younger, I'm not surprised. Hell, even though she wrote less than half of the songs on her debut album, she's probably got a firm hand on her pop career at this point. And besides, teen starlets have existed before, I shouldn't be fazed by this.

No, my flags were more tied to the presence of Simon Cowell and Syco Music, a label that does not have a good reputation with me in bringing out quality, mostly thanks to bland, regurgitated production that is the definition of formulaic. At best, you get acts like Ella Henderson who can rise above it, but at worst, you get Cher Lloyd or Fifth Harmony, the former of whom only started improving when she tore away from Cowell's clutches. And that was my big concern for Bea Miller's debut titled Not An Apology - was I proven wrong?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 8, 2015 (VIDEO)

Yeah, a little late, but it uploaded late and I was tired last night. It happens.

Next up, Bea Miller, and then probably LMNO & Mr. Brady, followed by Ashley Monroe and B Dolan. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 8, 2015

Well so much for the summer lull. Even as the album release schedule has slowed a bit, it was a reasonably busy week on the charts, thanks to even more change-ups in country, a slice of album tracks from Future, and one of the biggest leaps to the Top 10 I've seen in a while.

video review: 'pound syndrome' by hopsin

Oh, I can't imagine this'll go over well...

Okay, next up is Billboard BREAKDOWN, but I could have a big announcement coming up. Stay tuned!

album review: 'pound syndrome' by hopsin

You're not going to find many underground rappers as controversial these days as Hopsin - and not for the reasons you might think.

See, I remember reviewing Knock Madness nearly two years ago and liking it, but upon repeated relistens, outside of a few tracks it's not exactly a record that's held up all that well. As much as I like Hopsin's flow and bars and his penchant for descriptive imagery and his desire to hit more serious subject matter, his material has its fair share of problems. For one, he's a better rapper than producer, and while he rides his beats well, they don't nearly have the texture to really hold up if there isn't more melody. But the larger issue comes in the dichotomy of his content and persona - like his main influence Eminem he uses the alternate Hopsin persona when he wants to get visceral or violent and the 'Marcus' persona when he wants to get more serious. The problem is that the line can blur and not only can it make some of his conscious material feel preachy, but it can also feel pretty hypocritical, especially when he talks about women. At its best - sort of like his singing and his hooks - it's corny and I can tolerate a fair amount of it, but at its worst it's more than a little insufferable, especially considering Knock Madness was nearly full throttle all the time and could have used some room to slow down and breathe.

And I'm not sure exactly when it was, but the critical conversation about Hopsin polarized in a big way with this shift in his subject matter, especially considering how much he was dicking with his fanbase, saying he was going to retire to Australia and then pull a Dumb And Dumber To joke to unretire and drop another album he produced himself. And look, I was going to cover this album: for the most part I like Hopsin, and you can't deny he can spit and even if Pound Syndrome sucked, it would at least be interesting, right?

video review: 'born in the echoes' by the chemical brothers

Yeah, forgot to post this last night. Sort of a last minute bit of craziness, things were wild.

Next up... well, not sure yet. I know Hopsin and Ashley Monroe are on the list, but who else... stay tuned!