billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 19, 2015

This is one of those weeks that I can imagine seems slow - the top ten barely moved, only a few new songs, and we even got the return of Christmas songs which imply that the annual winter slowdown is coming into place. But the more I delved into this week, the more I'm seeing some shifts that have real implications down the road - the 2015 charting trends seem to be fading faster than I expected, with the new ones - good and bad - creeping up to replace them.

video review: 'blue neighbourhood' by troye sivan

And that's two...next up? I honestly have no clue, I've got a lot of options to figure things out over the next few weeks before year-end lists.

But before that, Billboard BREAKDOWN, so stay tuned!

album review: 'blue neighbourhood' by troye sivan

I wasn't looking forward to covering this album.

And really, if you took a look at my review of TRYXE last year, you'd understand why. The only reason I covered that EP was because I was overloaded by requests, and even in that case I only remember fragments of that record over a year later - mostly because it took the modern percussion and reverb-heavy brand of modern pop production and paired it with broad lyrical conceits that didn't always land and a vocal performance that I would best describe as adequate. It was a perfectly harmless EP, but that also meant that outside of fragments of 'Happy Little Pill' and 'The Fault In Our Stars', I don't remember it at all. 

So when I started getting requests to cover his full-length debut Blue Neighbourhood, I had no reason to care about this record. But then I noticed a few things: for one, the critics were praising this more than I would have expected, basically being described as a male cross between Lorde and Lana Del Rey. And while of course the latter comparison did not strike any confidence with me, it was the Lorde remark that actually spurred more interest, mostly because all of his collaborators on this debut are other Australian and New Zealand acts, the majority of which I've never heard before. The person I had heard of before was in the songwriting credits: while Sivan had the main writing credit for every song, the name that caught my eye was Jack Antonoff, member of fun. and frontman of Bleachers, one of my favourite indie rock acts to explode in recent years. And hell, all the buzz was suggesting this would be a more upbeat and exciting affair than the tepid slog of TRYXE, so I decided to give Troye Sivan another chance: what did we get?

video review: 'a head full of dreams' by coldplay

Well, given how well the last Coldplay review went, I can't imagine this one going better... but hey, you never know, right?

Next up, Troye Sivan as soon as the upload finishes - stay tuned!

album review: 'a head full of dreams' by coldplay

I don't know how to start this review.

Because let me give you a glimpse into my usual process when it comes to making these. The first bit tends to be written before I've given the album an in-depth listen, often providing some degree of analysis into my thoughts and research about the band before I start delving into the record in detail. And normally it's framed around some topic that I feel will correlate with the album I'm looking to explore, which can lead to some interesting shifts in perspective mid-review, but hey, it happens.

And thus when I sat down to work on this review, my plan was to start with a lengthy digression on what it means for an act to 'sell out' in today's day and age, because I get the impression that not a lot of people understand what it means. No, it's not just a genre shift towards pop - you can sell out while still making the same genre of music - but it's more focused on a band submitting to the songwriting machine to crank out hits. And hell, it's not even always a bad thing: sometimes 'selling out' provides the creative impetus to spark otherwise known skills in the artists in question. But the reason why it tends to be regarded by so many - especially critics of the older generation - as a bad thing is that it reflects a loss of artistic integrity and individuality. And for a critic who will listen to hundreds of records a year, those individual elements that stand out are worth all the more, something that might not be the case for more casual listeners. 

But what happens when you get a band like Coldplay, a band who has always played for populism in broad strokes and has enjoyed consistent mainstream success because of it? Would it be even possible for them to 'sell out', especially considering their newest album A Head Full Of Dreams was intended as the upbeat resolution to the downcast, minimalist, very much underwhelming electronics of Ghost Stories? And sure, they were working with Beyonce and Tove Lo and Stargate, but they were working with pop stars as early as Mylo Xyloto and with mainstream producers like Avicii last year - this isn't anything new. And yet when I checked out their lead-off single 'Adventure Of A Lifetime', I got the impression that despite more personal themes, the change in sound might be enough to fall into that sell out lane. What did become clear is that further investigation would be required - so what did we get with A Head Full Of Dreams?

video review: 'have you in my wilderness' by julia holter

Well, about damn time I got this one out. Took way too long, but again, I wanted to make sure it was done right.

Next up, probably Coldplay, but not tonight - really shitty day, need to take a breather. Stay tuned!

album review: 'have you in my wilderness' by julia holter

It's so easy to forget that not everyone listens to everything, especially when you're not on the Internet. It's a bizarre thing, especially when you live in a city like Toronto and you hang around a circle that likes to stay up to date on trends - and it's all the more pronounced online where anything and anyone can build a following. But when I was leaving a meeting at my full-time job a few months or so ago and said I was going to listen to some Kurt Vile and I got blank expressions. This guy has been a fixture in indie rock for the past decade in multiple groups, and nobody in that room knew who he was. It really throws into stark relief that so many will only listen to the radio or a few personal favourites, and that while I could brush it off by saying, 'Well, I listen to weird stuff', I bet if I played some of the music off that album, it'd be easy enough to like - it's not that inaccessible. A bit off the beaten path, but if the money or push was put behind it, I could see it gaining a little traction on the right stations.

So fast-forward to me listening to Tragedy, the debut album from Julia Holter reportedly inspired by the Euripedes play Hippolytus, an atmospheric project that utilized overlapping soundscapes with absolutely no regard to conventional song-structure or hooks - in other words, far less accessible and the antithesis to radio, the sort of music that's just as difficult to describe as it can be to enjoy, especially if you're coming from the mainstream. And yet there was something oddly beautiful about the record in its brilliant control of atmosphere and mood that I really appreciated.

And yet since tragedy, every subsequent album from Julia Holter has been stepping towards more conventional definitions of songwriting, first with the gorgeous and pretty damn excellent Ekstasis and then a year later with the even better, more intimate Loud City Song, a tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood musical from 1958 Gigi. And the more I delved into the gleaming, elegant melodies and impressively textured production and impressionistic but surprisingly potent writing, I realized something that I'm sure will piss some of you off: this would be what Lana Del Rey would sound like if she was good at her job, if she avoided wallowing in her own melodrama and simply worked on polishing her vintage sound into something that brought the past to life now instead of simply revisiting it. Granted, she probably wouldn't have the same pop appeal, but with every album, Julia Holter was proving she could probably do just as well in that world.

And two years later, she's coming back with Have You In My Wilderness, her longest gap between albums and another release that's won her huge critical acclaim - is it deserved?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 12, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, that took longer than I wanted it to... eh, I'm still getting used to the new format (that's why I made that stupid Cole Swindell mistake... gah, two weeks in a row, get your game together, dude).

Next up, need to tackle some old business before dealing with Coldplay, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 12, 2015

It's the calm after the storm, the time of year where everything seems to fall back into place after frantic reshuffling to make it appear that the onslaught never really happened and all is right with the world.

Why, yes, I'm talking about Adele taking back chunks of the chart from Justin Bieber, why do you ask? Okay, snark aside, while everyone predicted there'd be chunks of Adele's new album breaking onto the Hot 100, it's not as pervasive as you'd expect, and along with plenty of returning entries and chart shuffling, it's more indicative that Bieber and to a lesser extent One Direction didn't have the same staying power.

video review: 'mutant' by arca

And that's two. Whew, glad I can get these out of the way before Billboard BREAKDOWN tomorrow - stay tuned!

album review: 'mutant' by arca

When I reviewed Arca's debut album Xen last year, I went in expecting dissonance. I was prepared for harsh blasts of abrasion and intense sounds that would push the bounds of listenability, the sort of experimental electronica that will alienate nearly everyone except the most hardened of critics and fans.

But that wasn't exactly what I got. Arca's distinctive brand of electronica went in a different, yet not less dissonant direction: wild tempo changes, off-kilter melodies, awkward tunings, gorgeous atmosphere and gleaming classical instrumentation contorted through strange, warping progressions. It was the sort of the music that could easily be branded by a classicist as incompetent instead of transcendent, but somehow Arca mostly stuck the landing, even if I did wish that he could pair his bizarre melodic choices with more of a foundation in the actual beats and percussion.

So fast forward to now, and Arca has a new record titled Mutant, which promised to be weirder and darker, even blending in elements of industrial noise music. Now immediately I thought this was a good idea - my favourite track off of Xen had been 'Bullet Chained' because it had managed to fuse that textured atmosphere with a clanking progression that roiled and spooled like the titular tool, and if Arca was going more in that direction, we could get something very strong here. And considering I've spent the majority of this year delving into more abrasive and experimental music than ever before, I was excited to check out Mutant - what did I get?

video review: 'shadow of a doubt' by freddie gibbs

You know, I wish this record had turned out a bit better, but I can see myself going back to it a fair bit, especially considering how strong those hooks were - this album was a lot of real fun.

Next up, Arca - stay tuned!

album review: 'shadow of a doubt' by freddie gibbs

If we were to flash back to about eighteen months ago, before the release of the collaboration project between Freddie Gibbs and Madlib titled Pinata, there would be some that probably didn't care all that much. As much as Gibbs had accumulated respect in the underground for being a hard-edged and reasonably insightful gangsta rapper, he never really stood out as much as some of his contemporaries outside of his refusal to cater to pop tastes and his authoritative voice. And sure, Madlib was bound to give him great production, but that can only go so far - sure, the lead-off singles had been impressive, but would they be enough to put Gibbs back on the map?

Well, to the majority of critics it certainly was, because Pinata was a massive step up not just for Madlib delivering a great selection of colourful old-school production, but Gibbs as well. His wordplay and rapping technique was the strongest it had ever been, and his willingness to show more of a thoughtful picture of gangsta rap gave his pictures a ton of personality. He wasn't so much treading new ground as he was delving deeper and subverting traditional archetypes. For me, it was easily one of the best hip-hop albums of 2014, and thus set some high expectations for a follow-up.

And I'll admit that I was concerned. For one, the guest list was a lot less impressive: where Pinata had Scarface, Raekwon, Danny Brown, Ab-Soul, Earl Sweatshirt, and a host of other spitters, Shadow Of A Doubt looked a lot more sparse. Sure, there was Black Thought, and E-40 was bound to be entertaining, but Tory Lanez and Gucci Mane? As much as I like and respect Freddie Gibbs, I was concerned about a possible regression: did that happen?

special comment: 15,000 subscriber Q&A (VIDEO)

Again, I have to say I'm thrilled that so many of you have continued to support me and this channel over the past few years. It's really been something special to see things grow this far, and I hope to continue making these Q&A videos every 5,000 subscribers for some time!

video review: 'autumn eternal' by panopticon

Man, I'm so thrilled I was able to finally cover this. Such a great record, definitely has me enthused to check out more black metal in the future, that's for damn sure.

Next up, Arca and Freddie Gibbs, so stay tuned!

album review: 'autumn eternal' by panopticon

So one of the things I've discovered in my expanding exploration of atmospheric black metal is that while there's a pitch-black core of explosive tremolo picking and blast beat drumming to complement the the howled vocals, there have always been efforts to mutate or expand the sound. By now most people know how Deafheaven drew on shoegaze and emo, but they weren't the first to draw forth more atmospheric textures, like the ambient sounds of Wolves In The Throne Room or the more blatantly pagan and progressive touches of In The Woods... So what if I were to tell you about an American black metal project that didn't just blend in folk, but bluegrass as well?

Because in theory it's not as far removed as you might think. After all, the fast-picked tremolo melodies aren't that far from the quick picks of a banjo - the key would be finding the right subject matter. And like most, when I heard about the one-man black metal project of American musician Austin Lunn called Panopticon, I decided to dive in at the 2012 album Kentucky... and wow, I was glad I did, because this is something special. What immediately struck me about Kentucky was on a conceptual and lyrical level how much it worked - a ramshackle presentation delving into the desperate poverty and bleak devastation of backwater rural Appalachia, ravaged by a flailing and heartless coal industry, damn near perfect themes for a black metal project. Now in execution it didn't quite land as well - as much as I dug the bluegrass and country touches, especially with the vocal snippets, the transitions always felt a little clumsy and I found myself underwhelmed by some of the black metal compositions themselves. Thankfully, much of this was cleaned up two years later for the frigid and excellent Roads To The North, which brought in some symphonic touches with strings, great drumwork, and great atmosphere. What was also interesting was the shift in mood - where Kentucky was more immediately abrasive and confrontational, Roads To The North was more contemplative and wild, finding a certain tranquillity in the frozen heart of the wild. Where bands like Immortal and Satyricon wrote about Scandinavia, Austin Lunn was writing about the rugged American wilderness, with the more eclectic instrumentation only adding to the authenticity. I'll be straight with you - if I had covered Roads To The North last year when it was released - it might have had a very real shot at making my year end list.

So you can bet I was going to be checking out his newest record Autumn Eternal, apparently intended as the conclusion of a trilogy with Kentucky and Roads To The North and with more straightforward black metal - what did we get?

video review: 'homeward path' by vallendusk

Goddamn, I'm happy that I was able to do this. Next up, Panopticon - and yes, then I'm going to be covering Arca, Alessia Cara, and Freddie Gibbs, so stay tuned!

album review: 'homeward path' by vallendusk

So here's one of my favourite things about this semi-professional music critic thing: the research. There's very few things that really grab my attention than venturing into certain genres and slowly beginning to untangle their more intricate elements or finding bands that might be related to what you want to cover. After all, if I want to be considered remotely credible when I cover a band, you need to know the context where it was created.

As such, when I prepared to cover Deafheaven's New Bermuda a month or so back, I knew that I had to hear more black metal than just Sunbather to build a workable opinion, so I went deeper. I found acts like Wolves In The Throne Room and In The Woods... that I'd actually argue I liked more, so I figured if I could find more black metal that brushed up against progressive metal or atmospheric folk, I'd probably find more acts that'd run up my alley. So when I heard positive buzz coming out about the sophomore record from Indonesian black metal act Vallendusk - thanks, Myke C-Town! - I figured I'd dig up their debut album Black Clouds Gathering and explore. And I'm definitely glad I did - like most Indonesian metal acts, the guitarwork was ridiculously strong, but I also found a lot in the untamed and bleak poetry to like to match with the huge melodies, with imagery that wasn't quite visceral or incredibly dark but set a fantastically creepy mood to pay it all off. In other words, it definitely had earned the critical acclaim it had received, and as such as I was curious to dig into their newest release that was dropped a few months back called Homeward Path - what did we get?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 5, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, this took way too long to finish.

So, now for a complete change of pace, that black metal that I said I was going to be talking about - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 5, 2015

We are now beginning the second year of chronicling the Hot 100 charts in detail - starting in December because Billboard is weird like that. And even though this is the week I was prepared to unveil some new changes to the format, we also have to deal with one of the largest ever lists of new songs - because for some godawful choice to split their bases, One Direction and Justin Bieber released their new albums in the same damn week. Now sure enough a whole slew of these songs will be gone next week, but for now, given Bieber's shrewd promotional strategy to jack up streaming, we have a full list of twenty new songs. Now given that I already reviewed both new albums from Bieber and One Direction, I'll endeavour to keep these short unless it's a bonus track I hadn't otherwise covered, but strap in, folks, this'll probably be a long one.