video review: 'anthem of the peaceful army' by greta van fleet

Yeah, this was a tough one, have to be honest... but I'm happy I got it out regardless.

Next up, some old business in country, so stay tuned!

album review: 'anthem of a peaceful army' by greta van fleet

I genuinely wish the conversation about this band began and ended with just their recorded output.

But it doesn't - and even putting aside the unmistakable influences, the conversation about Greta Van Fleet's success on rock radio and rock streaming playlists has almost overshadowed any discussion of the band's unique quality. On the one hand, it's not surprising: radio loves familiarity, and if there's a band that's going to harken back to long-overplayed classic staples, they're going to win points in that scene right out of the gate, especially if there seems to be genuine instrumental chops. But that raises a very different, more ominous spectre, the question whether rock radio, through its slavish worship of the sounds of the past and a refusal to innovate the foundational sound without succumbing to pop, whether its embrace of this band shows a format so blinded by the aesthetic sheen they'll forsake actual quality.

And if any of this seems like a new conversation... well, it's not, and if anything it's a truly dire sign that rock hasn't found answers to these questions since the breakthrough of Jet and The Darkness in the 2000s, and yet it's the critical conversation surrounding those two bands that seemed like the most immediate answer I needed to evaluate with this band. Because it's undeniable that Greta Van Fleet was inspired by the past, but would they crank the sound up on steroids to campy, near-parodic levels, or would they just seem like a naked ripoff, most certainly marketable but quickly forgotten by anyone with class and taste? Of course, the third option is that they'd actually be good, but there was a part of me that had the sinking feeling that might not happen - review sites like Pitchfork have praised retro-leaning acts in the past and don't tend to bring out the level of old-school savagery they did for Greta Van Fleet if the band was actually solid. But fine, what did I get out of Anthem Of A Peaceful Army?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 27, 2018 (VIDEO)

And this week blew. No way around it, it sucked, and it leads me with a sour taste in my mouth if I'm stuck with Future and Juice WRLD next week.

Anyway, next up... a much bigger matter at hand. Stay tuned!

video review: 'what happens when i try to relax' by open mike eagle

Well, this was a great little project - definitely worth your time, check this out!

And now for a much less appealing project...

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 27, 2018

So am I the only one feeling underwhelmed? Like, I know the new Quavo album is already fading from memory - hell, you could make the argument that was happening the day it dropped - but beyond that and our... let's call them 'enterprising' new top ten entries, it just seems like the Hot 100 hit a lull this week, and while I do expect Future and Juice WRLD to rack up the streams for next week... well, the critical reception hasn't been much better there, so I'm just not sure if the album bomb is guaranteed.

album review: 'what happens when i try to relax' by open mike eagle

I missed covering the last time Open Mike Eagle put out an EP. And if you know anything about the hip-hop content on this channel and how often Open Mike Eagle has made my year-end list, I won't be making that mistake again.

And really, I'm not sure why I didn't review A Special Episode Of in 2015 - it was already a pretty strong year for hip-hop, I wouldn't have objected to another great project on the pile, especially considering my rules for EPs were flexible at best, even then. And yet when you consider the other years of which I've covered him... well, Dark Comedy was only beaten back by Run The Jewels and Jason Eady, and Brick Body Kids Still Daydream was only narrowly beaten out by the Mountain Goats, and even Hella Personal Film Festival with Paul White was my favourite hip-hop album of 2016 - if that's not a stirring indictment of how lyrical and potent of an MC he is, I don't know what is!

But Open Mike Eagle has had a busy year regardless - between podcasts, a show on Comedy Central, and a pro wrestling bout that showed him holding his own in the ring on the indie circuit, I was a bit amazed he had time to cut and promote another project... but hey, six tracks on his own new label, I wasn't about to sit this one out even amidst a strong year for hip-hop, so what did we get from What Happens When I Try To Relax?

video review: 'last building burning' by cloud nothings

So yeah, this album was awesome - hard to tell how much traffic the review will wind up getting as we're dealing with indie rock that still seems a bit under the radar, but we'll see.

Next up, either Billboard BREAKDOWN or another great project that I can knock out quickly, so stay tuned!

album review: 'last building burning' by cloud nothings

Yeah, I won't lie, I was a little worried about this one.

See, I was among the few that actually seemed willing to get on-board with Cloud Nothings making a more accessible, borderline pop punk-friendly record in 2017 in Life Without Sound - no, it wasn't the razor-sharp explosion that characterized Attack On Memory which remains their best work, but I didn't expect that to return. And by hiring a second guitarist to flesh out the melodies, I actually found a lot to like on that project, an album that at least seemed wiling to push the band out of their comfort zone, both sonically and lyrically.

And yet given the rather mixed critical reception that project got, I wasn't surprised when buzz was suggesting the band was going to wrench their sound back into darker territory - and when I say 'dark', I mean hiring Randall Dunn, a producer most well known for Earth, Sunn O))) and Wolves In The Throne Room, the last being a black metal band. And when you hear that the band was intentionally looking to go back to the scuzzy, nastier era produced by Steve Albini... well, I had high hopes, but this might wind up as a very different animal than I was expecting. But hey, what did Cloud Nothings deliver on Last Building Burning?

video review: 'bottle it in' by kurt vile

So this was... honestly, kind of tiring to review, but I'm happy I got it out anyway. Enjoy!

Next up... hmm, let's see if I can kill two birds with one stone and cover both Open Mike Eagle and Cloud Nothings soon, so stay tuned!

album review: 'bottle it in' by kurt vile

It's hard not to feel like Kurt Vile is going in the exact opposite direction I hoped he would.

Or at the very least it's hard to say if he's playing to his strengths, because I've always been of the opinion that when the man feels fit to string his ideas together he can craft some fascinating songs with great hooks that I'll recommend to this day. Hell, I put one of his biggest singles 'Pretty Pimpin' on my year-end list of the best songs of 2015, and I stand by that - yeah, the songs might coil and meander but so long as the hook stabilizes it's some great indie rock. It's also why I tend to like his earlier, garage-inspired records more than his newer stuff - less complex and psychedelic, sure, but there's a visceral catchiness and core of tension to his best work I really do appreciate.

And yet that seems like the last thing on his mind, which can get frustrating for me because while the shaggy song construction and perpetually stoned demeanour might give some the impression of laziness, I've never bought that. I've read interviews with Kurt Vile and the impression I've got is closer to the guy in the room who is so smart he might operate on a different detached plane of existence, where you cling to moments with a hook or stable progression because it's a clue of what level he's on. But over the past two projects I've heard increasingly less desire to get there: b'lieve i'm goin down felt increasingly lethargic and his project with Courtney Barnett Lotta Sea Lice felt more like an extended jam session than a fully composed piece, and with buzz suggesting this record was even more obtuse... well, I wouldn't say I was thrilled, but I was curious. So okay, what did we get on Bottle It In?

video review: 'ella mai' by ella mai

Well, this was... kind of a mess, but I wound up being a bit more charitable because 'Easy' is a legit great song to end the album, really dug that.

Next up, Kurt Vile - stay tuned!

album review: 'ella mai' by ella mai

So here's a serious question: who the hell was expecting 'Boo'd Up' to be as big as it was?

Because I sure as hell didn't, I'll say that right now - when I first covered Ella Mai's breakout single on Billboard BREAKDOWN on a week chock full of better R&B tunes, I was underwhelmed by this... hell, I think on some level I'm still underwhelmed by it, or at the very least stunned that it was a top 5 hit! And I'll be very blunt and say that it seemed like the odds were stacked against Ella Mai - signed to DJ Mustard's label of all places from getting discovered on Instagram, unlike so much modern R&B 'Boo'd Up' was not a darling of streaming so much as the radio, which made me very curious what sort of organic groundswell Ella Mai would be able to carry into her full-length debut. Yeah, those EPs had gotten a little traction, but it was hard to avoid the narrative that this album was as much of a trial for the redemption of DJ Mustard's career than it was for Ella Mai. And really, I won't lie and say that I was incredibly interested in this beforehand, but I did want to see if Ella Mai would stick the landing on her own, so what did we get from this self-titled, full-length debut?

video review: 'afterlife' by alterity

You know, I will say I'm surprised this did not wind up on the Trailing Edge for me... but to be honest, I wound up having plenty to say on this one, so I'm okay with a review even if it doesn't get a lot of traffic.

Next up, let's deal with Ella Mai - stay tuned!

album review: 'afterlife' by alterity

So just so you all understand my point of reference, let me describe how I handle artists who are more of a Bandcamp/independent stripe that wind up on my schedule. Most of it would seem self-explanatory: unless they absolutely blow me away or I literally have nothing else to talk about on my schedule - like in early January - I typically put these artists on the Trailing Edge. And for the most part folks have been fine with this: the acts are just starting out or are very underground, after all, and sometimes bringing down my full critical scrutiny can be a lot to handle, and while there's often a consideration on my part when it comes to traffic, there's also the acknowledgement that a lot of these acts don't exactly give me a ton to say.

Of course, there are exceptions where I do have a little bit more - I'm sure some of you are familiar with my Eric Taxxon reviews by now - but Alterity is a bit of a different case. A duo of producers who also happen to contribute to my Patreon - no guarantee of a positive review or not winding up on the Trailing Edge, for the record - they've patiently voted this up the schedule and I'll freely admit after checking out their debut EP I was pretty sure this was going to wind up on the Trailing Edge too. Not that it was bad, but more that I was generally a little underwhelmed by their sound and approach, of which I'm very familiar and have some pretty strong tastes on what I like in this collection of subgenres. But okay, what then is there to say about their follow-up Afterlife?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 20, 2018 (VIDEO)

Yeah, this was messy, putting this together... not a good episode at all, but hey, I tried.

But alright, can't promise a review tomorrow (again, crazy IRL shit), but I'm going to try and prep a few records to possibly land on the Trailing Edge as I work through my schedule, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 20, 2018

...you know, it's funny, when I made my rule about album bombs just last week I was expecting that it'd face a challenge sooner rather than later with something that was a bit smaller... and sure enough, skating right under the wire with seven new songs from an album I haven't quite covered (though it's on my schedule), we've got a smaller album bomb from Lil Baby and Gunna, and that's before we tack on a considerable chunk of A Star Is Born - almost makes you forget twenty-one pilots put out a project, but they sneaked in too!

video review: 'always in between' by jess glynne

Damn, I really do wish this was better... but it happens, I guess...

Okay, this week is going to be crazy for personal reasons outside of video production, so we'll see where this goes, but Billboard BREAKDOWN is up next, so stay tuned!

album review: 'always in between' by jess glynne

So here's something I've realized about myself and pop music: when it comes to sheer competence in song construction, more often than not I'll give acts that might not be the most innovative more of a pass than most. Part of this is the appreciation and acknowledgement that crafting a damn solid straightforward pop song is often just as hard if not harder than making a track in any other genre, but I do think it runs a little deeper, to the pop that did work so damn well in the late 90s on which I was raised. Hell, one reason I've gone to bat for S Club 7 more than I think anyone should is that they put out at least three albums of damn solid, well-produced pop music that might not have blown apart any paradigms but did exactly what it was designed to do - that consistency rarely gets the hype it deserves.

And I think there's some truth to that surrounding how much I like Jess Glynne, because I was much more positive on her debut album in 2015 than pretty much any other critic. Yeah, there were a few misfires in production and the lyrics were never great, but Glynne was a solid enough singer and the hooks were there, enough so that I was genuinely interested in her sophomore follow-up this year, even if I had the expectation that like last time I might not have much to say. But what the hell - what did we get out of Always In Between?

movie review: 'a star is born' (VIDEO)

Yes, I know I'm going to get a ton of hate for this... but really, considering how badly I wanted this to be good, I just want you all to know I wanted to love this too, you know?

Gah, whatever. I've got a bunch of album reviews on the docket, so stay tuned!

video review: 'stardust birthday party' by ron gallo

Ugh... this was hard to talk about, because I really wanted to love this one, and it just didn't connect all the way through. It happens, though.

Next up... I think it's time I talk about A Star Is Born, so stay tuned!