video review: 'give a glimpse of what yer not' by dinosaur jr.

And there we have it. Man, this was a rewarding journey revisiting the entire discography, and a pretty damn solid record to cap it all off.

Unfortunately, our next few entries might not be so lucky. Still need a little more time for Lori Mckenna, so until then, we have Arkells... and presuming it doesn't get delayed, Rae Sremmurd. Strap in folks, and stay tuned!

album review: 'give a glimpse of what yer not' by dinosaur jr.

I've said a number of times in this series that it's difficult to talk about legends - and yet that's definitely not something I'd say about Dinosaur Jr., one of the bands responsible for creating the rough-edged jangling side of indie rock in the mid-80s we've all come know and love. It's an act that's defined by three distinctive eras, all with their own high and low points, strengths and weaknesses: their early indie years in the 80s before the departure of bassist Lou Barlow; their major label years in the 90s; and everything after that.

Where things get interesting are when you discuss which of the eras was best, because again, they each had their own strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I'm partial to their rough-edged material in their early years, especially Bug which I'd call a indie rock classic, mostly for a lot of the same reasons why I like early Weezer in terms of composition and letting the rattling basslines interplay with the main guitar melodies. Now don't get me wrong, there are good tracks after Barlow departed, but they rarely had the same edge as borderline J Mascis solo projects - especially Without A Sound - and none of them were really comparable to what Barlow was doing with Sebadoh anyway. Things definitely improved when they reunited in the mid-2000s for a pretty solid string of records - Farm is probably the standout for me - but it also was clear that J Mascis was starting to understand Barlow was the foundation of the group, which led to basslines that weren't exactly rougher but more prominent all the same. And hey, that was a progression I wanted to see continue, so you can bet I was interested in digging into Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not - how did it go?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 20, 2016 (VIDEO)

Bit of an odd, unstable week here. Guarantee it's going to be rough in upcoming weeks - I have that odd feeling we're on the precipice of a major shift, just watch.

Anyway, next up is Dinosaur Jr., so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 20, 2016

So I can't be the only one who thinks that the charts are a little unstable right now, am I? Now that the summer lull has faded for good, we might not have gotten many new songs this week but it doesn't shake the feeling it's only a matter of time before everything is thrown into chaos. Keep in mind that we still have a solid fourteen weeks left - there are songs that could debut in the next few weeks that'll make the year end list, and if they debut higher they'll need even less time.

video review: 'the shadow self' by tarja turunen

Well, this was an unexpected surprise. Tarja really did deliver here, definitely impressed by this. Seriously, you should all check this out, it's kind of amazing.

Next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN, then I've got Arkells, Dinosaur Jr., and see if I can find time to get in Lori McKenna before... Rae Sremmurd. Anyway, stay tuned!

album review: 'the shadow self' by tarja turunen

First off, some unfinished business: when I covered Tarja Turunen's last album Colours In The Dark way back in 2013 when I was first starting my channel, I'm fairly certain I mangled the pronunciation several times over, so I'd like to extend my apologies for that. 

But truth be told, that's probably the most I actually remember about that review - or most of that album, if I'm being brutally honest. I know, it's been three years, but I haven't really been inclined to go back to Tarja's solo work, even compared to what she did with Nightwish. And I'm not sure why that is - going back to Colours In The Dark, it's a damn good record, but with the exception of a few songs, it never really grabbed me in comparison with the symphonic metal I love, I probably overrated it a little back in 2013. Maybe it was the buzzy industrial effects that didn't always click or the songwriting that never quite came together, but Colours In The Dark very quickly fell into the category of being a record I really liked but not one I felt inclined to regularly revisit.

Well, it became clear that Tarja wasn't slowing down, even in the lead-up to this release dropping a EP called The Brightest Void with songs that had to be cut from her newest record. Hell, it was practically an album in its own right, produced by Tarja herself and featuring the sort of eclectic elements that she'd never touched before, from the horns and harmonica that dominated 'Your Heaven And Your Hell' to the creaking piano-driven glitchy atmospherics on 'An Empty Dream' and 'Witch Hunt', and that's not counting the Paul McCartney deep cut or the symphonic metal cover of 'Goldfinger' that completely misses the point and isn't nearly as good as you'd hope. But whatever, that was an EP of extras - now that we have the full album, how is it?

video review: 'encore' by dj snake

Always forget to cross-post these videos more than I should... even if the album is completely mediocre.

Anyway, next up is Tarja, Arkells, and Dinosaur Jr. as I work my way through Lori McKenna's back catalog and gear up for some awful hip-hop coming sooner than I'd like. Stay tuned!

album review: 'encore' by dj snake

I've never been completely sure how I feel about DJ Snake. 

And if you've been following his seemingly meteoric rise to fame over the past three years, you'd understand why. As a producer, his synth tones and beats have the sort of aggression that can match the firepower of someone like Lil Jon but also have enough restraint to intensify the tension for more low-key singers. And while it can definitely take a while to get on-board with some of his more off-kilter melodic progressions, he does have a distinctive sound - probably one of the big reasons Lady Gaga tapped him around the turn of the decade to produce for Born This Way and ARTPOP. And considering how many bonafide hits he's had, I'm surprised it's taken him this long to make a full-length debut, even as an producer.

But on the other hand, there's a part of me that's not that surprised - DJ Snake has probably been making enough bank off of singles to not need to worry about albums, and when you combine that with the fact that his unique selection of tones can seem a tad limited when you explore his material at length, maybe he was concerned about wearing out his welcome. Hell, he's even calling his debut album Encore, maybe he's aware of his possible longevity. But that doesn't mean I wasn't curious, so I checked out Encore - how did it go?

video review: 'american woman' by jake owen

I honestly wish this record was a lot better than it was... but eh, it happens. 'LAX' was a great song, hope it gets dropped for release soon.

Next up, DJ Snake, so stay tuned!

album review: 'american love' by jake owen

Let's talk about charisma. I think a lot of people - and I include critics in this - who downplay how much charisma contributes to an act's success and viability, but let's get real: there are people who 'have it' who can stick around and become superstars; and people who don't and have to utilize every trick in the bag to compensate. These are the artists who make it look easy like Usher and Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake and Ludacris, or the people with such prodigious stage presence where you can't help but look, like Garth Brooks or Ke$ha or - as much as I don't like to admit it - Luke Bryan. And artists who have raw charisma can often get away with a lot more than less-expressive counterparts, or somehow find a way to what would destroy so many other performers and make it something that connects.

So let's talk about Jake Owen, arguably one of the most immediately charismatic country stars to come out of the opening years of bro-country and ride the trend to reasonable success. He was also one of the few artists who understood if you're going to make stupid music, you might as well make it fun, which is one of the reasons why 'Beachin' still holds for me as one of the best hit songs of 2014. But I've always thought that if he wanted to aim higher, he could put together potent music that cut more deeply, as songs like 'Ghost Town' and 'Life Of The Party' from the far better than expected Days Of Gold proved in late 2013. Hell, pair him with solid songwriters and I had hopes that Jake Owen could deliver, especially in 2016 with bro-country a mostly distant memory and minus Joey Moi's overdone production. And while I thought the lead-off single 'American Country Love Song' was a little by-the-numbers in the writing, I was still won over by Owen's performance, so I figured what the hell and I checked out American Love - what did we get?

video review: 'major key' by dj khaled

I still have no idea why I covered this record. Still think it had more potential, there were things to like about this record... shame it didn't come together.

Next up, Jake Owen, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 13, 2016 (VIDEO)

Well, this was an interesting episode. Not really a good one, but eh, what can you do?

Next up, DJ Khaled and Jake Owen, so stay tuned!

album review: 'major key' by dj khaled

I don't use Snapchat. I don't use Vine. I have an Instagram but have never posted a photo, and Socialblade tells me I have a substandard Twitter account. So maybe I just don't get social media in some capacity - it's fine, I've accepted that, and while I find the success of many acts based upon their social profiles bewildering, I get the appeal. Hell, on some level you can almost admire someone who can so manipulate social media to still make themselves relevant - like it or not, it's a skill, especially if you're not especially good for what you're 'supposed' to be famous.

And I think at some point, DJ Khaled got this. He realized that nobody gave a damn about his interchangeable party anthems for his contributions, so he did the next best thing: marketing. He inflated his online persona to comical sizes and then focused on his one real skill: collaboration. He became an expert at connecting people and making his 'records' star-studded affairs that were more notable for guest verses than anything else. And going into this, I had no expectations that this would be anything beyond over the top party jams- but on the other hand, it's not like either of his lead off singles were any good, so my expectations were rock bottom. Could DJ Khaled at least rise to that?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 13, 2016

You know, there's an adage I have on this show that the Canadian charts are always better, mostly because we didn't get rid of rock radio and we at least try to cultivate more unique Canadian acts. And yet if we look at the 2016 Hot 100, which many critics are already claiming is one of the worst years on record for this decade, it's been dominated by two Canadian artists coasting more off production than any sort of lyrical or vocal personality. Now I could make the argument that we as Canadians tend to manufacture some distance with our stars - Drake and Bieber have both been bigger south of the border than they have here - but on the other hand, we did let Bieber debut at #1 where he only landed #2 this week, so take it as you will.

video review: 'HEAVN' by jamila woods

So yeah, I really fell behind with posting things the past little bit - went to ConBravo and basically spent the rest of the long weekend decompressing (it's been a rough little while, if I'm being honest). But next up, I've got Billboard BREAKDOWN, Jake Owen, and DJ Khaled waiting, so stay tuned!

album review: 'HEAVN' by jamila woods

Let's talk a bit about Chicago and hip-hop. A city that in the past has given us Kanye West, Common, and Lupe Fiasco, but if you know anything about it recently it's a much darker territory. Gang warfare and ever escalating violence has led to some of the darkest and most aggressive hip-hop to emerge from its South Side, from the now mostly ignored Chief Keef to the emergent drill scene. This is hard music made by young artists who have seen far too much too young, and while she's more adjacent to it than a part of it directly, the rapper Dreezy whose debut I covered yesterday comes with the scars of that sound.

But there's another side to hip-hop in Chicago, a side that is just as touched by the violence but has rebelled with an unrelenting, socially-conscious optimism that seeks to mine some good out of The Windy City. Chance The Rapper is by far the most well-known name, but you also have Donnie Trumpet and Saba and maybe even Vic Mensa in a pinch. And then there's Jamila Woods, an artist who straddles the line of hip-hop, R&B, soul, and spoken word poetry and who has worked with Chance and even Macklemore. And though I wasn't really familiar with any of her solo work, I liked her contributions to songs like 'Sunday Candy', 'Blessings', and 'White Privilege II', and with the critical acclaim her debut album HEAVN has received, I figured it might be worth a look. Was I right?

video review: 'no hard feelings' by dreezy

I expected this record was going to be good, but I have to admit not quite this good. Solid record, genuinely enjoyable, I'd definitely dig in more and I hope Dreezy gets some momentum to compensate for her crap first week of sales...

In any case, let's stay in Chicago for our next review and talk about Jamila Woods, so stay tuned!

album review: 'no hard feelings' by dreezy

You know, I feel I've made the exasperated speech about why there aren't more women in hip-hop a half-dozen times and pretty much before I cover any artists in this vein, and frankly, I'm sick of making it. I'm also coming to the realization that a lot of promising female rappers are fighting their way through an industry that's cutting them no favours and that the only way we're going to see more of them is if more critics like me start giving attention. 

In other words, instead of giving any attention to another dime-a-dozen Gucci Mane project that's only going to give me a headache anyway, let's talk about Chicago MC Dreezy. I've actually mentioned her before a few times in the series, once when she dropped some authoritative bars on Common's Nobody's Smiling back in 2014, and once when she released her pop crossover song 'Body' with Jeremih earlier this year that actually had a bit of success on Billboard BREAKDOWN. What most of this told me is that while Dreezy could play to the mainstream pop charts, she was also a solid MC in her own right, not quite part of the drill scene but still capable of hard bars and good flows, certainly more than what I'd seen from DeJ Loaf out of Detroit. So I figured why not dig into her debut album under Interscope No Hard Feelings, which reportedly was pushing with some real narrative ambition and had guest appearances from Jeremih, Wale, T-Pain, and - unfortunately - Gucci Mane. Looks like I'm not going to be able to get away from this guy this week, but whatever - how's the album?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 6, 2016 (VIDEO)

Well, this was an interesting week. I wouldn't quite call it a great one, but overall pretty solid.

Next up, we hit Chicago with Dreezy and Jamila Woods, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 6, 2016

And just like that, the summer lull gets burst wide open, and there's a part of me that couldn't be happier. Yeah, I could definitely raise questions about why - to say nothing of the viability of both the new songs and the new #1 that did it - but I have to admit, the past few weeks have been so stagnant that there's a part of me that's thrilled there's change at all!