billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 25, 2016

So, in the business, this is what we call a slow week. Hell, it's the big reason why I could get away with covering a week of country music and not really have to worry about anything else - which meant that very little worth caring about landed on the Hot 100. But that's fine, I don't mind having a shorter week, and I might as well enjoy it before the end of June happens and happiness goes right out the window - and if you've seen the hip-hop releases scheduled for June 24, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

video review: 'egomaniac' by KONGOS

And that's two. Fantastic record, just a shade away from being a shoe-in from the best of the year, really did love it.

Next up... well, that Jon Bellion album looks interesting, but Brandy Clark deserves attention too... well, we'll see. Stay tuned!

album review: 'egomaniac' by KONGOS

So one of the easiest benefits of being a music critic is that you tend to be ahead of the curve when it comes to whatever eventually hits the mainstream or the radio, but that's not saying I can't get surprised. And in 2014, that definitely happened thanks to a quiet rerelease from a newly picked up South African band called KONGOS and their massive sleeper hit 'Come With Me Now', a track that never got huge in the US except on the rock charts but was nearly inescapable in Canada - and since the song was absolutely awesome and ended up topping my list for my favourite hit songs of 2014, I had no problem whatsoever with that.

And yet it didn't seem like KONGOS was able to notch a second hit in Canada... and going into their discography, I can explain why. KONGOS is a band of four brothers and even in the style of blending alternative rock with kwaito - a South African style of sampling and looping that's closest to probably UK garage - they're a weird as hell group. For one, they've got a knack for off-kilter melodic grooves with a surprising amount of grime, and yet their production is often clean and spacious enough to highlight some pretty damn great hooks... and that's before they introduce the pedal steel, accordion, inverted samples, and an uncanny ability to leap from groove to groove. Coupled with lyrics that are smarter than you'd ever expect and a hell of a lead performance from Dylan Kongos, the band released their sophomore album Lunatic in 2012 in South Africa before self-releasing it a year later in the states, and yet just before the band was about to give up and move on to new material, Epic found them, signed them, and re-released Lunatic to press their advantage. And for a rock band in 2014, the level of mainstream success 'Come With Me Now', which went platinum as a single, was both thrilling and dangerous - even though I'd make the argument KONGOS were far more than a novelty and had serious chops, the eclectic instrumentation and demented subject matter meant that they had to stick the landing or risk being branded as one-trick ponies. So did they pull it off with their newest record Egomaniac?

video review: 'last year was complicated' by nick jonas

Ugh... you know, I don't think I should be disappointed in this, but I really am. I was rooting for this guy and look what we get. Fantastic.

Fortunately, the other album I covered tonight was far better - stay tuned!

album review: 'last year was complicated' by nick jonas

There's a part of me that wants to root for Nick Jonas... probably more than I should.

And no, it's not because of any extraneous Jonas Brothers connection - that group was around nearly a decade ago and made generally pretty forgettable music, and I sure as hell am not extending the same consideration to Joe Jonas in DNCE. For me, it's more linked to watching Nick Jonas evolve over the course of 2015 and showing measurable improvements. Sure, things may have started off bad with 'Jealous', but I genuinely liked 'Chains' and with songs like 'Good Thing' and 'Levels', he was only seeming to get better, with a reasonably sharp ear for songwriting and some decent, if formulaic production...

And then Justin Timberlake came back. And okay, while it hasn't been a full and complete comeback - just one single, and no sign of an album anywhere close - but it immediately placed Nick Jonas back into the context which to some extent I've been trying to deny for his sake. Because yeah, while it's arguably JT's worst hit in some time, it had more colour and life that Nick Jonas' 'Close' with Tove Lo didn't quite have, which was dour and heavy in a way I'm not sure flatters his voice or is all that fun. Let me put it another way, what I like to call the 'Mariah/Christina' comparison: Justin TImberlake makes pop music seem natural, whereas Nick Jonas makes it seem like work. And to give the public some credit, I think they get that, because Nick Jonas has struggled for real chart momentum, to really prove that he's worthy of the upper echelon of pop stars.

And hell, maybe he'll get there. His newest album is aptly titled Last Year Was Complicated, partially inspired by the breakup from a relationship that contextualized the majority of his self-titled record that was released in late 2014 and for some reason I never covered. So what did we get with this?

video review: 'obsessed' by dan + shay

This review... easier than I expected to make, although I'm a little surprised there hasn't been a pile-on of angry fans yet...

Eh, whatever. Next up, we're taking a short break from country to talk about KONGOS, so stay tuned!

album review: 'obsessed' by dan + shay

There's a part of me that thinks I should dislike Dan + Shay a lot more than I do.

Granted, it's a very silly and petty part of me, one that considers their brand of pop country painfully cheesy and lightweight, the sort of over-polished fluff that I'd condemn if it was coming from Hunter Hayes or Rascal Flatts... and yet I don't. For as much as they're very easy to rip on and might as well represent the "boybandification" of pop country, there's a surprising amount to like about this duo that doesn't get a lot of credit. I think a major part of it was that their debut album Where It All Began was uniformly good without being great or having huge standout singles, mostly courtesy of some pretty basic melodies and songwriting, but there was a core to this group I actually quite liked. For one, they actually tried to harmonize and tried to keep their instrumentation on the organic side, and for another the duo were the sort of songwriters able to inject enough detail to keep things a shade more interesting. Most importantly, they were so sincere in writing uncool music that I was inclined to have a measure of respect for them - despite the polish, it was authentically them, and when they referenced neotraditional country artists like George Strait, I got the impression it came from an honest place.

But while their debut has held up reasonably well, I probably was a little too generous to it - in contrast to the onslaught of bro-country that reaching the dregs of quality in 2014 - to say nothing of how bad competing pop country records like Rewind by Rascal Flatts would be - anything would have been a breath of fresh air. Now that bro-country is gone and mainstream programmers are basically plugging the radio with anything that keep the ears of the youth while steadfastly ignoring promising indie acts that promise more authentic country, Dan + Shay were poised to fill in the gap. But even with that I liked their lead-off single, and from the looks of things, Dan + Shay didn't seem to be bothering with mainstream appeal - hell, they titled their record based on a hashtag that their fans were using to describe their music. Not precisely a great sign - it did kind of smack of pandering - but again, I liked the lead-off single and I had some hope for this record. Did it deliver?

video review: 'HERO' by maren morris

Well, this was a tremendous disappointment. Gah.

Okay, next up... probably Dan + Shay, although that KONGOS album is tempting... eh, we'll see. Stay tuned!

album review: 'HERO' by maren morris

I've been worried about this review.

And by all accounts I shouldn't be, but I still am. I knew it was only a matter of time before the major labels 'reacted' to the success of Chris Stapleton and the burgeoning indie country scene. And thus they did it like they do any other trend in mainstream music: swoop down and find an indie starlet that could be guided towards the mainstream and throw her enough of a budget to capitalize on the sound.

Here's the problem: what an artist like Chris Stapleton has is significantly harder to fake than your average sonic gimmick. Heartfelt raw soul and the production of Dave Cobb has the sort of texture and deeper impact that resonates on a frequency that's tough to categorize, and also signifies the sort of authenticity that's even harder to deliver. But it looked like Columbia Nashville was going to try anyway with Texas country artist Maren Morris. Like many red dirt country acts she had been in the independent scene, and actually released three albums on smaller labels, but with the push and success of 'My Church', it seemed like the label was set to satisfy three trends at once: Texas country, a rougher, more soulful country sound, and the recent lyrical trend for more country to reference religion without outright being religious music. And so with the groundswell behind 'My Church', they pushed a debut album out as quickly as possible and now we've got HERO. And look, 'My Church' is a damn good song, but I've been down this road a number of times before, and I had real worries that Maren Morris might not be able to deliver as promised. So I checked out her debut - was I wrong?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 18, 2016 (VIDEO)

So I'm going to be experimenting a little with colour correction in my videos, add some richer hues, see if it looks any better. Thus far, turned out pretty sweet, I'm definitely pleased.

Next up, Maren Morris, then Dan + Shay and we'll see if the country streak will continue - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 18, 2016

So you know how this week I'm aiming to focus more than normal on country music, given that by far it'll have the most new records dropping? Well, it turns out that the Billboard Hot 100 decided to follow suit, because especially when you take a look at our new arrivals, the big story is country music gearing up for the summer, and I can expect if songs from all those albums impact the charts, we might be seeing a fair bit more of it and I'm not really complaining.

video review: 'playing with fire' by jennifer nettles

Man, definitely a big surprise with this, and I'm a little annoyed I didn't get to it sooner - ton of fun.

Next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN, and then Maren Morris and probably Dan + Shay - stay tuned!

album review: 'playing with fire' by jennifer nettles

Let's talk about artistic maturity.

This is something I don't really delve into, but I think lurks in the back of the mind of most critics, that when they reach a certain age or state of life that their music is supposed to evolve or mature into something that's got a little more weight and wisdom and gravitas, particularly in the songwriting. Now of course you'll get acts that'll never change, or will approach middle age by going wilder than they've ever gone before - and all the more power to them - but it's a fair expectation that at some point, especially in more traditional genres like country, the artists begin to grow up.

And yet paradoxically, while I think this did happen to Jennifer Nettles, the former singer of pop country group Sugarland, I'm not really sure it was the best choice for her. I remember covering her solo debut That Girl in 2014 and mostly liking it, but her unique vocal tone always seemed more suited to upbeat quirkiness than downbeat, more adult-contemporary leaning country music - she wasn't Brandy Clark, after all. And so there's a certain sort of irony in noting that instead of changing direction when she left Mercury Nashville for Big Machine, Jennifer Nettles seemed to be doubling down, outright bringing on Brandy Clark herself to cowrite over half the album. Granted, she was also working with producer Dann Huff, who you could argue has definitely had a mixed legacy in country music, tending to play towards the poppy side and not really known for subtlety. But hell, it's not like Jennifer Nettles was ever known for that and working with Brandy Clark was bound to bring some of the gravitas or wit that was missing from That Girl, so how did Playing With Fire turn out?

video review: 'black' by dierks bentley

Sincerely hope this review finds an audience, given how many requests it got... but eh, given how much country I'm planning to cover this week, I can imagine it'll probably be one of the most viewed episodes.

On a different note, Jennifer Nettles review is also dropping later tonight, so stay tuned!

album review: 'black' by dierks bentley

I think Dierks Bentley doesn't get the appreciation he deserves.

Now that's a loaded statement, especially if all you know him for are the singles - most of which he himself would throw under the bus. Even though I was late to getting on board with Bentley, he's had a surprisingly interesting career, starting off the 2000s with some reasonably well-received records before making a hard left turn to crank out a bluegrass album. And while he's pivot back around to release albums like Home and Riser in the following years, he's always stood out from the pack. Sure, he's had his party songs or proto-bro-country tracks, but delve into his albums and you'll find a smarter, more inventive songwriter and one that doesn't need to cater to trends to crank out hits - and even when he does he tends to do it better! As much as 'Drunk On A Plane' is far from his best, there's still something about the detail in the writing and loaded bitterness of his delivery that adds bite to it. And again, that's him at his worst - at his best there's a subtle sort of emotive charisma to his voice that makes songs like the tribute to his late father and his crisis of faith on 'Here On Earth' some of the most powerful work you'll hear in modern country music and one of my top songs of 2014, hands down.

As such, I was prepared to give Dierks Bentley a lot of credit - sure, 'Somewhere On A Beach' was the sort of leering douchebaggery that's hard to stomach but even he had slagged the song as one he didn't write and not at all representative of his record, which was more of a concept album exploring complicated relationships. And given how true that was about his last record Riser and how Dierks Bentley has a reputation for working with the right people - he brought Maren Morris and Elle King on board for this album, always positive signs - I gave him the benefit of the doubt and dug into Black - was it worth it?

video review: 'love you to death' by tegan and sara

Man alive, this review was absolute hell to write. Kept hoping that it'd click more and it just didn't... but thankfully, I got it out of my system. Next up would have been Dierks Bentley... but then Jennifer Nettles showed up and delivered a real surprise, so it'll probably be both dropping tomorrow, so stay tuned!

album review: 'love you to death' by tegan and sara

So let's go back to the topic of 'selling out'.

Now a few episodes back I raised the point about how even when it didn't involve a shift in genre that 'selling out' wasn't inherently a bad thing - hell, sometimes it's the first chance for bands to discover a knack for melody or hooks that they'd never bothered with in the past. And for those who do pivot towards pop... well, a pop sensibility isn't exactly a bad thing if it leads to populism without compromising artistic identity - or hell, even if it does, if the hooks are irresistible I'm prepared to forgive a lot.

Want a perfect example of that? Tegan And Sara, the Canadian indie rock identical twins that developed a decent amount of buzz in Canada but I would never consider them an act I liked. Sure, they have a couple songs in that genre that I liked - the most notable being the title track from their 2007 album The Con - but for the most part I was never impressed by their songwriting or their hooks, even if I could appreciate some of the unique ideas that colored albums like Sainthood. They were always a band I wanted to like a lot more than I did - and yet in 2013, they partnered with producer Greg Kurstin, who has worked with nearly every mainstream pop act in the past decade, to release Heartthrob. The album was an outright pivot into synthpop, and I will handily say it was the best record they've ever released. It wasn't quite a great album - it falls off after the first six or so songs, and I wasn't wild about the gratuitous pitch correction - but it was such a better fit than indie rock for the pair, if only because it accentuated the strength of their melodies and better fit the lighter scope of their writing. And while everyone loved 'Closer', I was much more impressed with 'I Was A Fool', which was one of my favourite songs of 2013.

But now it's three years later, Tegan And Sara had ditched all other producers besides Greg Kurstin, and the edit for the album looked tighter than ever, barely over a half hour. And sure, Greg Kurstin's star might have been tarnished a bit with overexposure - between Sia, Lily Allen, and Kelly Clarkson, he's been attached to far too much lackluster pop music - but I had faith they could synthesize something awesome: did they make it work?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 11, 2016 (VIDEO)

Man, nearly forgot to post this after the past few days of craziness. Between work and damn great weather, it's been a chaotic process to get stuff up. Need to correct that ASAP.

Next up is Tegan and Sara, and then a whole week of country, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 11, 2016

So it seems like things have finally gotten back to normal on the Hot 100. Well, as normal as you can expect in the aftermath of Drake and Beyonce laying waste to most of the past month, but for now things seem to have fallen back into their established momentum, where even major album releases don't hit with the same impact. I was expecting another week of chaos thanks to Ariana Grande, but outside of one returning entry, the biggest story of this week is the finale of The Voice - seriously.

video review: 'delirium' by lacuna coil

Man, this pissed me off so much. I was legitimately hoping for quality here... and it did not happen at all. Gah.

Next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN, so stay tuned!