album review: 'skeleton tree' by nick cave and the bad seeds

I know the easiest way to start this. It's also the way I don't want to start this. It feels cheap and exploitative to acknowledge it, especially given how so many music websites have covered this story - I can't imagine how much it stings every time he might see a review and the first thing that's mentioned is... well...

Goddamn it, this is hard - harder than for most artists, mostly because of the acts who have defined my evolution as a music critic, Nick Cave looms as one of the biggest. His record The Good Son from 1990 I would call a classic 10/10 record, and that's not even counting Henry's Dream, Murder Ballads, The Boatman's Call, Tender Prey, and Push The Sky Away, the last of which was my best album of 2013. Spoilers, I stand by that pick too: some may consider it too slow and muted and impenetrable but there's a genuinely unsettling power in the cryptic writing once you decode it, one of the few records that when Nick Cave is called an 'apocalypse prophet', he earns the title. 

So of course when I heard he was working on a new project I was thrilled... and then came the news that his fifteen year old son Arthur had died in a tragic accident. And there's no way around the fact that it would colour the album, especially when Nick Cave had come back into the studio to finish the recording. Most of the songs had been written but later takes had been semi-improvised, as Nick Cave noted that he had lost his faith in 'narrative-based songs', the sort of statement that can ring as frightening coming from the man who wrote Murder Ballads - for such a storyteller to lose his faith in that form is understandable, but genuinely chilling and reflective of the deep, unyielding pain he had to be experiencing. As such, there was a part of me that didn't even want to listen to this record: it felt too personal, too real, almost reminiscent of Blackstar, the last album David Bowie wrote before he died. And as you can likely tell by this point, I was almost certain that this album would get to me as deeply, if not more so... but by this point, with so many critics hailing Skeleton Tree as one of the best records of this year - it's currently the highest rated record on Metacritic, if you put stock in such things - I had to hear it. What did I hear?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - september 24, 2016 (VIDEO)

Well, this happened - I can imagine people might be a little surprised that I'd actually brand a Kendrick verse as subpar... but yeah, it happens, he hasn't quite mastered the tactic of coasting on pop guest verses yet like Lil Wayne (in his prime) or Ludacris could do effortlessly. The king does have weaknesses, folks.

Beyond that... I think I'm about ready to talk about Nick Cave. Brace yourselves, folks: this one gets heavy. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - september 24, 2016

Do you ever have those weeks where you were expecting a lot to happen... only for very little to actually materialize? I was expecting Lady Gaga to debut, for Travis Scott's album to make a major splash, for some pretty significant shakeups... and yet I didn't really see that, as we otherwise had a pretty quiet week, with a sparse number of debuts, a few returning entries, and overall very little to complain about. 

video review: 'wild world' by bastille

So this happened... man, I wish I could have liked this more, but the more I think about the writing and framing the less I like this project. Ugh, such a disappointment...

But moving on, we've got Billboard BREAKDOWN up next, then Angel Olsen and Nick Cave and whatever I've got time for before my insane weekend - stay tuned!

album review: 'wild world' by bastille

I have a gut feeling that this review will end up being more controversial than it should be.

Hell, the last time I covered Bastille it ended up controversial, mostly because while I didn't mind the record I also felt a little distant from it. Keep in mind this is a group that had a song that landed on my top ten best hit songs of 2014 and a record on which I was positive... but not one that I felt held up outside of a few songs. Part of it was the somewhat awkward blend of textures that came through matching colder, stiffer electronic beats and percussion with more organic vocal textures, and then when you factor in lyrics that occasionally aimed for higher concepts and yet rarely stuck the landing when they weren't wallowing in relationship drama that didn't match the bombast... it felt like an odd blend that didn't quite connect.

But to be fair, Bastille's always been a weird mishmash of an act - probably closest to the percussion-over-melody brand of indie pop rock that can be very hit-and-miss with me, and yet they did have a distinctive style and attitude that I wished I could like more. And that's one reason I was willing to give their follow-up record Wild World a chance - same production team, a little more experience and polish and knowledge of a workable sound, maybe it would lead to stronger songs. Was I right?

video review: 'splendor & misery' by clipping.

Oh, I expect the responses to this album to be all over the map - I only ask you actually give it a real chance before dismissing it as pretentious and up-its-own-ass (which, yeah, it kind of is, but in the right way).

Next up... probably Bastille or Angel Olsen if I can get back on schedule and give NIck Cave a few more listens to really sink in... stay tuned!

album review: 'splendor & misery' by clipping.

There will be two sets of people who will see this review.

The first set are those who know what clipping. is, the experimental rap trio signed to Sub Pop who in 2014 dropped their debut which remains one of the best records of that year and featuring some of their best ever songs. A trio known in the underground for explosively distorted music, twisted samples, and the sheer mindbending wordplay of Daveed Diggs, I know why all of you are here. You know what clipping. is and the meticulous yet delirious intensity with which they approach their work, and how their newest concept album experiment makes all too much sense for an act that has a knack for storytelling...

But let's get brutally honest, you're not the set of people I'm worried about. I'm talking about you, the people who saw Hamilton - or more likely just got the soundtrack - and were entranced by Daveed Diggs' insane skills as a rapper, which won him a Grammy and Tony earlier this year. From there you might have heard that this guy had a group dropping an album this year and were curious to hear more - maybe it would be like Hamilton? So let me disabuse you all of some notions: this is not going to be like 'Hamilton'. The theater that Diggs was involved with before Hamilton was experimental, the stuff that would never land on Broadway in a million years, and clipping. is even further away from that, in production and content. And this record looked to be pushing in even weirder directions: heralded as a hip-hop space opera - of which I hoped was a lot more Deltron 3030 than Shabazz Palaces or Logic - this is an album that was looking to push its high concept to the limit. Of course, you'd expect that from a group where one member has a Ph.D with a dissertation on experimental music and who is influenced by Tim Hecker and Death Grips, but if all you know is that 'Daveed Diggs was in Hamilton', you might run screaming for the hills before giving this record its fair consideration. And hey, you'll be in fair company, there are plenty of critics who have dismissed this project rather than admit they don't get it. So if you're expecting something accessible or easy to take in, this is your change to clear off now, friendly warning.

Are they gone? Good, so let's dig into Splendor & Misery - does it live up to some high expectations?

video review: 'and the anonymous nobody...' by de la soul

So I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected I would. Hell, I think I enjoyed this more than a lot of people did... which is a damn shame, because it's a great, intelligent release that definitely deserves a ton more attention from legends in hip-hop.

But moving on to something more experimental, I think I'm going to push the Angel Olsen review back a day or two... mostly because clipping., Bastille, and Nick Cave all dropped records and I'm far more interested in those. Stay tuned!

album review: 'and the anonymous nobody...' by de la soul

So a few months back I had the misfortune to read a piece at MTV from someone I hesitate to call a journalist about his first exposure to De La Soul's 3 Feet High And Rising. And if you want to imagine the worst sort of scattershot, self-involved millennial 'thinkpiece' for which Buzzfeed pays a premium, it would be that, as the author meanders from half-hearted engagement with the project to musings about yoga, bagels, and a whole load of dance music that shows the sort of professional disinterest that creeps right up to the line of insulting. And look, I get it if the old-school sample-heavy sound isn't for you - that can be a bit of an acquired taste - but the complete failure to actually dig into the music or content almost makes me suspicious that it was an attempt to troll and gain clicks rather than make an actual point.

But it also served as a stark reminder that I myself hadn't really given De La Soul their due, so in preparation for this review and an album funded on Kickstarter and their first full project in twelve years, I went back through their entire back catalog and wow I'm glad I did. Naturally clever and insightful without being incredibly showy about it, featuring some great grooves and killer sampling choices, I can definitely see why De La Soul is held up as legends in hip-hop, and I'd argue their material has certainly aged better than some of their contemporaries. Sure, there were a few goofy elements that can read as missteps, but De La Soul were comfortable their audience was smart enough to get the subtext behind the comical flourishes, like the album-spanning middle finger to Vanilla Ice that was De La Soul Is Dead, or how measured their retort to gangsta rap was on Stakes Is High, or just how goddamn fantastic Buhloone Mindstate was, probably standing as my favourite of their classic records. Now I will say that around the turn of the millennium De La Soul did hit some diminishing returns, mostly courtesy to overloaded guest stars lists and a seeming dilution of their tighter thematic focus, but even with that I did like the aborted Art Official Intelligence trilogy to the point I'd love to see it eventually concluded. And yet, I have to say I was a little worried about this project, mostly because not only had the overloaded guest star list returned, it was more varied and eclectic than ever, which can be tough to blend into a cohesive sound or a smart narrative. But look, I had faith in De La Soul, that they could pull something together that was interesting and insightful - did they pull it off?

video review: 'the sun's tirade' by isaiah rashad

Oh, I can imagine this review raising a fair amount of controversy... but eh, I wish I liked this more too. It accomplishes its goal, that's for damn sure... I just wished I like this more.

Next up, let's see if I can get De La Soul and Angel Olsen out before I dig into Nick Cave and clipping., so stay tuned!

album review: 'the sun's tirade' by isaiah rashad

Here's something I don't often talk about when it comes to records: timing. Specifically the timing of when I might hear something in comparison with the general public - and while you would usually think that wouldn't matter all that much, it does play something of a role when you consider the hype cycle in the popular consciousness. Now since I'm a music critic I'm normally ahead of the cycle - I've heard the record early or at release, and by the time the rest of the mainstream catches up - which can be anywhere from a week to months later - I'm going to have very different feelings about the project, especially depending how much time I've sat with it or whether it's made a big impact. An easy example nowadays is twenty one pilots - I was cheerleading for the bad in early summer last year, and even though I still like Blurryface a lot, I'm also keenly aware that the band might wear out their welcome if they keep releasing weaker singles. 

But I don't want to say I'm always ahead of the game - on the flip side, I got on board with Isaiah Rashad over a full year after the release of his breakout project Cilvia Demo in 2014, a project that many consider his debut album at nearly fifty minutes... but it was an EP, and I don't normally cover those, only talking about it in the summer of 2015 as my second year anniversary review voted by you guys. And yeah, the project was great, a genuinely insightful and versatile project that showed the aftermath of family estrangement, overloaded responsibilities, and the complicated position of leadership that he falls into thanks to his success. And yet while I was enjoying the project late, Isaiah Rashad was seeing his life reflect art, sinking into a Xanax and alcohol addiction that nearly led to label conflicts with TDE, depressants reflecting isolation and inactivity weighing on him all the more heavily. Indeed, you could argue it's a miracle that we got this project at all, given how quickly drug abuse can destroy careers, but Isaiah Rashad pulled out and more than two years later has delivered a proper full-length follow-up called The Sun's Tirade. I can't imagine for long-time fans how much anticipation there is here, but you can bet I was curious about this - so how did it turn out?

video review: 'e.mo.tion: side b' by carly rae jepsen

Well, you all wanted it. And I needed more time to think through Isaiah Rashad, but the bigger story is that you wanted it. 

And on that note... let's see if I can get through The Sun's Tirade. Stay tuned!

album review: 'e.mo.tion: side b' by carly rae jepsen

I'm seriously starting to rethink my rule about not covering EPs.

And really, it's not even so much a rule but a guideline I gave myself to avoid getting swamped by the neverending stream of artists looking to show off their newest bundle of songs, and it's one I've been willing to break at least a couple times a year. At this point, it's borderline arbitrary, one minor stopgap to prevent my schedule from becoming overloaded. But believe it or not, I did actually have a reason why I didn't cover EPs: I liked covering albums with thematic arcs and concepts and the drive to put together a self-contained idea, and my general thinking is that you couldn't usually pull that off on an EP with two to three songs. But in a era where I've seen EPs longer than some albums - hell, Isaiah Rashad's Cilvia Demo was nearly fifty minutes - or loaded with eight or nine songs, the more you get the impression artists are calling them EPs as a stopgap, something to hold time before official releases where they can push out their extras while using that as a gentle excuse to not judge them as harshly. And in a sense that's fine, that's why most EPs were released, fragments and teasers for fans who were craving more between records - and yet in the digital era where we're no longer bound by physical space on a disc, EPs have been getting longer and longer.

So I'm left with a quandary: continue to ignore EPs except when I really, really want to highlight a neat song, or break the rule altogether to dig into Carly Rae Jepsen's E.MO.TION: Side B, a project that doesn't even attempt to hide that it's full of extras from that pretty damn good synthpop album from last year. And yet given how many critics were saying it was even better than E.MO.TION... well, I was curious. At the very least Carly Rae Jepsen's got some serious competition thanks to Shura's excellent debut Nothing's Real that dropped a few months back, and given that it is a pop record, Carly Rae Jepsen probably isn't going to be bothering with a core theme or idea anyway. So whatever, I was curious and I was looking for some good synthpop, so did with E.MO.TION: Side B did I get it?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - september 17, 2016 (VIDEO)

Man, computer problems couldn't have come at a worse time... goddamn, this has been tough to get out, especially considering I flubbed part of the audio editing the first time round.

But whatever, next up... well, you all asked for it, let's talk about Carly Rae Jepsen. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - september 17, 2016

So let me give you all a quick recap of my past few days. I get home from vacation, put up my big recap video, get ready to set up the Travis Scott review and then Billboard BREAKDOWN today... and then my editing computer loses multiple cores and experiences systemic hard drive failure. Now I've been having computer troubles for the past few weeks so I knew this was coming - hell, I've got a new machine in transit right now - but given the insane album release schedule of the next few weeks, I was hoping to save the transition for a slower period and not have to work with a machine that's on its last legs. No such luck - hell, I'm just thankful Billboard BREAKDOWN seems a little slower this week, giving me a little more time to prepare for the shift.

video review: 'birds in the trap sing mcknight' by travis scott

So yeah... this happened. Not quite sure I can quite explain it, but I didn't mind this at all. Pretty decent listen, all things considered, and yet the critical backlash on this one has been fascinating to watch. Go figure.

Anyway, Billboard BREAKDOWN will be going up shortly, then probably Isaiah Rashad or Carly Rae Jespen - stay tuned!

album review: 'birds in the trap sing mcknight' by travis scott

Man, Travis Scott can frustrate me.

See, I didn't want to cover Rodeo last year, mostly on the thinking that his production was too cavernous and dark to really support the banal party lyrics and his general lack of distinctive personality, but going back to that review, I can say that I don't really hate that record so much as I find it underwhelming. The problem wasn't as bad as on Days Before Rodeo, but Travis Scott was getting crowded off the stage by guest stars with more presence or charisma, and it was hard not to see his persona as a composite of other artists.

That said, in recent months I've come to the conclusion that Travis Scott can work for me in the right environment, because he does have a knack for huge hooks that can go over the top, and he's not afraid of giving his mix the depth you'd need to pull it off. I wouldn't really be expecting substance... but again, he's making over-the-top party music, you don't really need a lot of substance if you avoid errors and crank up the bombast. That's one of the reasons I was a little exasperated when people accused me of 'not liking party music' during the Rae Sremmurd review - I can like it when it has convincing swell and personality that doesn't fill me with seething rage, and at least instrumentally Travis Scott can deliver that, and even over the past few months on hooks like 'Champions', he's been a propulsive presence. 

That said, I was a little worried about The Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight - outside of the frankly bizarre title, this record had the feel of being rushed out to capitalize on Travis Scott's now ascending popularity - and yet it missed its planned release date twice! And with fewer production credits than ever - yes, I know he's the executive producer but it's not a good sign that he's handling less of the beatwork with each successive album when that production was what added so much flavor - and still plenty of guest stars... look, I had reason to be concerned, but I really did want to like this - so, did it work?

VACATION SERIES - album review RECAP

Well, this finally happened. Long video to render, which is giving me the unsettling feeling that my computer is finally starting to give out on me - not a good sign, but given the problems I've been having with the processors, it's only a matter of time. Plus, in the meantime I've got so many reviews to cover before next weekend...

Eh, Billboard BREAKDOWN is next, followed by Travi$ Scott, Isaiah Rashad, Angel Olsen, De La Soul... suffice to say, I have a lot to cover, so stay tuned!

video review: 'moonbathers' by delain

Oh, I know a whole load of you are going to be peeved with this review... but look, there was nothing all that distinctive or interesting about the writing, themes, compositions, or production on this record. When we've got Avantasia and Tarja dropping far stronger and more interesting projects, this is just forgettable and all the more cements Delain as a b-list act. Sorry.

In any case, I'll be expanding on these thoughts soon as I'll be heading home from vacation! Vlog talking about more will probably go up either tomorrow or Sunday, but we'll see. Stay tuned!

video review: 'dig your roots' by florida georgia line

I know I shouldn't really be all that surprised this was a letdown... but I really am. Florida Georgia Line try so desperately hard for maturity and yet fall so short it's damn near tragic. Of course, a major factor of that is some godawful, overdone production that's way too slick and sterile for its own damn good, but hey, it happens.

And on the topic of records that have their fair share of warning signs, Delain! Stay tuned!