video review: 'casualties of cool' by casualties of cool (RETRO REVIEW)

Holy shit, this album was fantastic. Seriously, I wish I could have gotten to this a few months ago, this is amazing.

Next up is Billboard BREAKDOWN, hopefully dropping tomorrow, so stay tuned!

album review: 'casualties of cool' by casualties of cool (RETRO REVIEW)

There are some records that the second you hear about them you just know on some level they're going to work - or at least they should. Maybe it's the people behind it, the concept, the genre fusion, you just have the feeling in your gut that this is going to kick all amounts of ass.

And really, the fact that I'm only getting to this now is more than a little embarrassing. A side project that Canadian extreme metal artist Devin Townsend had long dreamed about, the beginnings of Casualties of Cool started in 2010 as a pairing between himself and Che Aimee Dorval, a spacey country/blues/ambient blend that promised one of Townsend's most ambitious stories yet. And keep in mind this is the guy who wrote Ziltoid The Omniscient, a space opera that featured a dimension bending alien searching for the meaning of existence and the perfect cup of coffee. In other words, I had to make time to hear this album, half because it's Devin Townsend and half because I'm still one of the few critics on YouTube who really talks about country music in any capacity, and this looked to be right up my alley. 

So why did it take me so long to get here? Honestly, this is a case of me completely forgetting about this album when it dropped and struggling to find time to cover it. And part of it was beyond some scattered albums, I still hadn't taken the time to delve deeper into Devin Townsend's entire discography. But now that I've had the pleasure of doing that and since I've already covered Devin Townsend projects twice this year, why not make it three with Casualties of Cool? So I finally took the time to dive into this self-titled album - what did we get here?

video review: 'salvation city' by sundy best

Forgot to post this last night. Ah well.

Next up is Casualties of Cool, and it's been a long time coming. Stay tuned!

album review: 'salvation city' by sundy best

In early March of this year, I reviewed the sophomore release of the Kentucky country duo Sundy Best, and to say I liked it might be a bit of an understatement. In short, the record had a ton of energy, great melodic hooks, and a newfound lyrical maturity that grounded the record and has helped to make it one of my favourite country records of the year thus far. I loved the use of cajon for percussion, I loved the snarled guitars and organ, and I really dug how deeply Sundy Best were able to push their minimalist sound into something organic and powerful.

Well, apparently the rest of the world paid attention, because Sundy Best started gaining traction, the biggest features coming courtesy of Rolling Stone's new country division. People started paying attention to this duo beyond alternative country fans and critics, and really, it couldn't be a better time. After all, considering Dan + Shay never really caught fire and the Swon Brothers have struggled to gain maintain relevance after The Voice, we could definitely use a good country duo to give Florida Georgia Line some competition.

But I have to be honest, I was worried about this release. I said back when I reviewed Rick Ross' Hood Billionaire that I get an uneasy feeling when artists feel the need to drop two albums of original material in the same year, especially when the first release was as good as Bring Up The Sun was. Sundy Best had set a high bar for themselves, and considering they were moving away from the cajon to a full drum kit again, I was concerned that they might lose some of their original sound in favour of maintaining their hype or possibly making a mainstream breakthrough. That said, with every release Sundy Best had gotten better, and Bring Up The Sun was a damn strong record - did they match it?

video review: 'mess' by liars (RETRO REVIEW)

Huh, I wish this was better. Ah well...

Next up is the new Sundy Best record - hoping they pull off two in one year. Stay tuned!

album review: 'mess' by liars (RETRO REVIEW)

And now we're coming to the part of the year where I talk about artists and albums I might have otherwise missed throughout the course of the year and just never got the chance to really discuss. The biggest reason why these reviews tend to be as late as they are is fairly simple: they've either slipped the net, fallen off my schedule, or have such lengthy, complicated discographies that it makes talking about them at length a real endeavor.

And that's before we get to a band like Liars, a LA band that has only two consistent elements: a dark, menacing, groove-driven sound, and the fact that they'll keep evolving and pushing said sound in weird directions. They're a band that's infamous for making left turns, and thus expecting any sort of consistency from them was doomed the second they dropped They Were Wrong, So We Drowned and alienated a massive chunk of their fanbase. From there, they got noisier, darker, and heavier with their krautrock-inspired Drum's Not Dead, the more spacious and brutish self-titled album, or the warped, more gothic side of Sisterworld. They then followed it with WIXIW in 2012... which I didn't really love. The choice to go for more stiff, brittle electronic-inspired rhythms just wasn't to my taste, and while it is a subtle record, the songwriting didn't really grip me either. It was also a record that eschewed some of the darkness of earlier work, which for me was a slight misstep - I like Liars when they get surreal and creepy and ominous, and while there was that brand of feeling coming from WIXIW, it was muted to the album's detriment.

So when I heard about Mess, I was intrigued, not just by the critical acclaim but by the fact that the recording was apparently very different, a lot more confident and strident. And given that Liars can make some genuinely thrilling music, I was definitely interested - what did we get here?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 6, 2014 (VIDEO)

Man, this video took a lot of work...

Okay, next up... shit, I need a break. Let me think about this one. Either way, stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 6, 2014

For our full-length debut episode of Billboard BREAKDOWN, we actually have a pretty damn busy week on our hands, as it's the start of the Christmas season - which means in addition to our usual chart circulation, we also get a deluge of Christmas songs. Now I normally, by rule, never talk about Christmas music and albums, mostly because it never evolves or changes beyond a very standard formula - until now, mostly because the highest debuting song on the list is a Christmas song - from YouTubers too!

video review: 'globalization' by pitbull

Man, this was a welcome shift.

Okay, I might tackle one of the albums I missed way earlier this year... stay tuned!

album review: 'globalization' by pitbull

I'm a little surprised I haven't done a full-length review of any of Pitbull's albums, or really given an opinion on him besides just in passing. Let's change that, shall we?

So, Pitbull. Miami-based rapper, started off in the southern crunk scene of the mid-2000s, he really hit it big during the club boom of the late-2000s, able to transition his limited wordplay with just enough charisma to take on the role of the club VIP. And for a while, Pitbull's continued success was mystifying to me, because not only was he racking up a respectable number of hits, he was also simultaneously restarting the careers of Latin stars like Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, and even Marc Anthony. And that's not counting hits he got with T-Pain, Chris Brown, Christina Aguliera, Usher, Ne-Yo, Ke$ha, the list goes on! Pitbull was like The Game of pop and EDM-flavoured hip-hop, the majority of his hits were on collaborations. And yet his lyrical content was so thin and interchangeable between track to track that it was baffling that he had managed to stick around even despite the complete implosion of the club boom.

Well here's the funny thing - I've actually been to a Pitbull show when he was on tour with Ke$ha - surprise surprise, he's actually pretty good live despite the majority of his collaborators not being with him - and I noticed something about his audience: they were usually older or European. And then his chart longevity started making a little more sense. Say what you will about Pitbull, but he does have charisma and a unique presence, and since he's so thoroughly entrenched in his own lane and is thoroughly bilingual, and one of his most distinctive lyrical traits is his love of travel, it makes sense he'd attract that kind of audience, who likely wouldn't be as fickle as a younger, more trend-following fanbase.

So okay, I get why he's stuck around, but does that make his material any good? Well for me, he's hit-and-miss, as he doesn't really compose album statements beyond heaps of radio-ready singles. So with that in mind, I figured it could be interesting to check out his newest record titled Globalization. What did we get?

video review: 'hood billionaire' by rick ross

Well, that was a waste of time. Ugh.

Next up... well, not sure. Barely anything coming out around this time of the year, so time to catch up. I mean, I could cover Pitbull if I wanted a musical lobotomy...

Wait, there's an album by Dallas Smith? Okay, this might require some deeper thought. Either way, stay tuned!

album review: 'hood billionaire' by rick ross

It's rare that artists release two records in the same year. It's even more rare that both of the albums are good, because if they aren't both incredibly solid, or even if they're both just merely good, maybe half an album apiece of good songs, you get naysayers - like myself - who say, 'Well, why didn't you just release one excellent album of material instead of two okay ones?'

And that's if the albums are good. Instead, we have Rick Ross, who can be reasonably described as to have peaked in 2010 with Teflon Don and has struggled to maintain relevance, presence, and put out a half-decent album ever since. And ever since I reviewed Mastermind back in February, I've continued to struggle with what this guy's appeal is, with the closest thing being that he picks solid enough beats with a veneer of class to rap over, a wallow in decadence and Mafiaso imagery that's paper-thin and an obvious fantasy. But go beyond that and what do you find? He's not a technically skilled rapper, he doesn't tell interesting stories with grime or texture, he doesn't have the sense of humour of a T.I. or Ludacris or the creativity of a Big K.R.I.T. or Jay-Z, and outside of a deep voice, he just doesn't come across as that convincing in that gangsta role compared to artists like Jeezy or Freddie Gibbs or Pusha T. 

And let's be completely honest, outside of Mastermind going to #1 on the Billboard 200, this hasn't really been a great year for Rick Ross, at least in terms of the charts. His biggest song in 2014 will likely be the verse he dropped on that only kind of decent Chris Brown/Usher collaboration 'New Flame', and outside of that, what more need do we have for another Rick Ross album? He might say that's how 'bosses' do it, but if anything it screams of desperation. But I figured I might as well give Rick Ross one last chance - did we get anything new here?

video review: 'shady xv' by eminem & shady records

There are more important - and vastly more enraging - issues going on tonight, but still, the album is worth talking about. Worth your time.

Next up... Christ, another Rick Ross album. Really?

album review: 'shady xv' by eminem & shady records

I wish I had a better feeling about this album going into it than I did.

See, when I heard Eminem was talking about launching a collaboration album, I immediately had very real concerns, because I remembered when this happened eight years ago with Eminem Presents: The Re-Up, a record that had a few pretty decent songs but really was nothing all that special. I'll reiterate what I said back in March when I reviewed the Young Money compilation project, that these sorts of records are made for three purposes: reassert the strengths of the old talent; show some cool interplay across your label; and show off the new guys.

And yet Shady Records is in a bit of an odd position. In comparison with its other rap label peers, it's proved to have a shaky track record of establishing definitive new stars. Albums from Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse proved to be non-starters even despite their very real talent, and while the Bad Meets Evil project was the biggest shot of adrenaline to Royce de 5'9'''s career possible, the last EP Hell: The Sequel hasn't exactly been a record I've really revisited outside of maybe one or two songs. That's not saying I wouldn't enjoy the wordplay of records like Shady XV, but I definitely did not have high expectations.

And there were other issues too, with the lead-off single 'Guts Over Fear' being one of the Eminem's least interesting opening singles for a project ever, and while I understood bringing on Sia and Skylar Grey for hooks, why the hell was Danny Brown, DeJ Loaf, Trick Trick, and Big Sean on this album? Sure, I get it, Detroit rappers, but wouldn't it make more sense to stick with your label if you're looking to push them? And while I get putting money behind Danny Brown and DeJ Loaf, Trick-Trick hasn't been relevant in years and Big Sean shouldn't be relevant, period. And the fact that this album was also being included with a disc of former Shady Records 'hits', most of which are from artists who are no longer signed, screamed of either Interscope's interference to guarantee their investment, or pure desperation.

But you know, this is Eminem, and even though his track record has been inconsistent, he's still got a solid group of rappers behind him, so this might be pretty solid, right?

billboard breakdown: an introduction (VIDEO)

Really excited about this turned out, and really psyched for the new series. Might mean I need to tune back the album releases a little, but cutting the chaff is always a good thing. Plus, this'll give me something to do in the slower seasons.

In any case, stay tuned!

video review: 'the endless river' by pink floyd

Man, this should have been better. Ugh.

Okay, next up is... well, honestly, not sure, next week looks a little crazy. Stay tuned!

billboard breakdown: an introduction

Since 1959, Billboard magazine has published a list of the top 100 songs in the United States. Many other publications have competed against them, but for decades the Billboard Hot 100 has reigned supreme, chronicling the popular songs through sales, radio airplay, and recently the rise of streaming and YouTube. These are the songs that have captured the cultural zeitgeist, for several months or for just a minute. And while a select few will rise to reach that history-defining year-end list, there's a whole load of tracks that will miss the cut or go unexamined...

Until now. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Billboard Breakdown, a new series where every week I will be taking a look at the Billboard Hot 100 chart in detail. Those of you asking for singles' reviews, here's your chance for me to grant your request. 

This new show will have three parts. The first will be examining the "cream" of the crop, the Top 10, where we'll be talking about what the movements in that select group. After all, it's these tracks that have the best shot of making that year end list, and I'll be talking about how and why these tracks behave the way they do.

Next up is an examination of our big movers, the songs moving by increments of ten or more. These are the tracks that are building buzz and airplay, drawing a lot of attention, or the songs that are losing that traction and flying towards the recurring list, where if songs drop below 50 after twenty weeks, they will be removed from the charts.

Our third segment is the one so many of you will likely enjoy the most: the new chart arrivals! This is where I will be covering the new songs debuting on the charts in detail. Whether they debut in the bottom ten or smash the charts at #1, this is where you'll get the chance to hear me discuss these songs in detail. Now if you watch my regularly scheduled album reviews, you might hear me talk about a few songs before they show up here, and vice-versa, and keep in mind opinions about said songs might differ from album review to here. That's inevitable, and honestly expected as album reviews will highlight singles in context with the rest of the album, while on Billboard Breakdown the songs must stand alone. 

And across the series, there might also be some random asides about other Billboard Charts, like the unavoidable fact that despite how good the American charts might be, the Canadian Hot 100 will always be better, or whatever insanity will randomly crop up on the UK Official charts. And keep this in mind: just because a song charts highly is no indication of whether or not it's a good song - certain artists have established fanbases, record labels have a vested interest in certain singles from certain artists doing well, and of course there will be fads and trends that will trigger certain odd shifts. Not to worry, there is nearly always an explanation, and I will endeavor to provide it. 

We begin at the tail end of the 2014 Billboard year - which began at the beginning of December, because Billboard is weird like that. The current Top 10 is a state of disorder, with Taylor Swift's 'Blank Space' rocketing to #1 on digital and airplay gains, just enough to overtake Meghan Trainor's 'All About That Bass', still holding steady at #2 thanks to massive streaming. 'Shake It Off' manages to hold onto #3, and its replacement by 'Blank Space' makes history for Taylor Swift to be the first artist to replace herself at #1. #4 is Maroon 5's 'Animals', lodged there thanks to still-growing radio airplay, and rounding it out is 'Habits (Stay High)' by Tove Lo at #5, easily the best of the top 5. Below that, the biggest news is Nick Jonas' awful song 'Jealous' breaking into the Top 10 off the back of his album, and in a just world he'd be exiting just as quickly. 

Curious to hear more? Stay tuned for next week, folks - and welcome to Billboard Breakdown.

album review: 'the endless river' by pink floyd

I didn't want to do this review.

Really, I didn't. If it wasn't for your requests, I would have kept on my regular schedule and found every possible excuse to pass this record by. And hell, it's not like I wouldn't have excuses - my backlog is reaching enormous proportions again as we get to the end of the year, and with year-end lists and the holidays approaching, a record like this that demanded deep, thorough analysis would take up a lot more time than I could reasonably afford.

But that's not the only reason why I didn't want to cover this album. To answer that question, we need to talk about Pink Floyd, one of the greatest and most influential progressive rock acts of all time. A band that has made records like the excellent Dark Side Of The Moon, the slightly underrated Animals, the slightly overrated but still awesome The Wall, and that's simply touching on their seminal mid-period work. And, of course, there's Wish You Were Here, a record that might not have the killer singles but stands up as the most emotionally evocative and powerful record of Pink Floyd's career. For a band that many derided throughout the 70s as detached and lacking in emotion - themes the band themselves explored on The Wall - Wish You Were Here was a deeply poignant record that holds up as one of the best albums of the 70s, hands down.

And then it all fell apart. The 80s were not a good decade for Pink Floyd, with The Final Cut being pretty good but having more than its fair share of problems, but then Roger Waters left the band. And I'll be blunt and say it - from there, some of the legendary instrumental prowess might have been there but the writing wasn't. It was breaking the rudder chain and leaving the band adrift, lacking the focus and tightness that defined the band's best work. And sure, the music might have been passable, but Pink Floyd should be better than 'passable'. 

So yeah, I wasn't looking forward to The Endless River. Not just because Waters was gone - with the death of founding member and keyboardist Richard Wright, pieces of his compositions during the creation of The Division Bell in the 90s were adapted posthumously for the record, something to which I take issue with on principle. Sure, I get that the album was intended as a tribute to the late and great keyboardist, but I can't help but think Deep Purple's approach when they paid tribute to Jon Lord with the incredible 'Above & Beyond'. But putting that aside and knowing that much of this album was reportedly pulling inspiration from Wish You Were Here, I gave The Endless River a deep listen - what did we get?

video review: 'black is the color' by lucette

I need to remember to do these entries the night I post the video... this is starting to turn into a bad habit.

Anyway, time for Pink Floyd. Stay tuned!

album review: 'black is the color' by lucette

We're now returning to the realm of independent country - and long time viewers know what that means, another rant about country music's lousy web presence! But you know, I wouldn't keep bringing it up if it didn't have some weight, and outside of some truly stellar country blogs and journalists I follow, tracking down independent country music is often a harrowing task. I get that it's a more 'traditional' or 'old-fashioned' brand of music, but if indie or alternative country wants to maintain its foothold or increase it, some artists need to improve online buzz and presence.

Because let's face it, even very mainstream acts are suffering if they don't have that online buzz and hype - even Garth Brooks, one of the biggest names in country music even today who has gone on record calling YouTube 'the devil', has had an at best underwhelming opening week and was forced to hastily launch a web presence days later. And that's a country act who's a household name! As much as I'd like to think that my humble channel has done something to give indie country acts more exposure, the lack of a 'Pitchfork' equivalent or any sort of aggregator for indie or alternative country has left me and other country bloggers scrambling a bit at the end of the year for artists we might have missed.

And here's a real glaring oversight on my part - the debut album from Canadian country artist Lucette, titled Black Is The Color. Based out of Edmonton, Lucette was originally on the path for a more mainstream brand of easy listening before she met Dave Cobb, the critically acclaimed producer who worked on Jason Isbell's Southeastern and both of Sturgill SImpson's releases - in other words, she was finally connecting with the right people. She brought an album's worth of material to Nashville to record and scrapped all of it in favour of a darker, more pitch-black Americana direction, with some comparisons made to Nick Cave's Murder Ballads. And major labels would have none of it - Black Is The Colour nearly didn't get released, but now it's finally here and earning a lot of rave reviews across the board. So while it's a little late, I made it a priority to give a few deep listens - what did I get?