album review: 'stardust birthday party' by ron gallo

So I wasn't expecting this.

Sure, when Ron Gallo came right the hell out of nowhere to blow my mind with the brilliantly witty, terrifically nasty album HEAVY META in 2017, I knew we were dealing with a very real talent that I was sure was going to throw me for a loop consistently, and when he followed it with the Really Nice Guys EP in January of this year which seemed to be an extended satire of the experience of the working musician, I knew that he would be have to be someone to watch. What I wasn't expecting was that Ron Gallo would have another project ready as early as this October, which I only assumed to be another slice of self-aware satire but buzz was suggesting was a much more gentle, introspective affair, blending in elements of funk and art rock... which yes, could indeed be very interesting, but given what I know about Gallo's delivery I wasn't sure this was a direction that'd really flatter him in comparison with the acerbic fire that stoked HEAVY META. Still, he's a fantastic songwriter, I really wanted to hear this as soon as I could, what did we get from Stardust Birthday Party?

video review: 'desperate man' by eric church

So... not sure how this'll be received, but it was an interesting album to talk about, even if I didn't quite love it as much as I wanted.

Next up, Ron Gallo and then I'll probably sneak out to see A Star Is Born at some point, so stay tuned!

album review: 'desperate man' by eric church

There's a part of me that wishes I had a firmer clue where Eric Church was going.

See, it seemed simple enough in the early 2010s, where he adopted a brand of swaggering rock-tinged country that could come across a little overblown but tended to have enough details, hooks, and nifty ideas bending around the genre of country music that critics gave him a pass. Then came The Outsiders in 2014, an album that was critically beloved at the time but in retrospect seems to have held up as worse for wear, at least in the circles I run. I'd argue that the record earned a lot of points for its novel steps towards progressive rock and metal that were damn near unheard of at the time, and the sheer balls behind the risk won acclaim... even though even then I was calling it a bloated, overwrought, sloppily produced mess that overplayed its hand, especially in comparison to the other boundary-pushing country albums of that year, and I reckon my opinion has held up a little more strongly than some of that critical acclaim.

And nothing was the strongest rebuke to The Outsiders' awkward reception was Eric Church's follow-up the next year with Mr. Misunderstood, a much needed course correction that still was on the outskirts of country - more roots rock and Americana - but showcased a fair bit more temperance and nuance in Church's songwriting and compositions, still taking risks but with a little more of a level head. And from there, all the buzz seemed to indicate his long-overdue album this year would follow in a similar path - still more rock and blues inspired than outright country, still with a casual blend of genres that thankfully Jay Joyce's much-improved production would flatter, only this time picking up more of a southern, swampy edge that would reflect Church's dogged commitment to pushing the genre into territory not quite untapped but certainly neglected. And given how much I liked Mr. Misunderstood, I had a lot of high hopes for Desperate Man, especially with its terrific lead-off self-titled single. So what did we find with this?

video review: 'ultraviolet' by poets of the fall

Well, this was awesome. Yeah, definitely want to hear more of this, although maybe a bit more metal next time? Please?

Anyway, either Ron Gallo or Eric Church up next, stay tuned!

album review: 'ultraviolet' by poets of the fall

You know, I could rattle off a pretty impressive list of disappointing events in 2016, but if we're just to confine it to music, the last Poets Of The Fall album would be up there.

And no, I'm not going to mince words with this: Poets of the Fall were one of the most strikingly potent alternative rock and metal groups to break out of the 2000s with multiple albums I'd rank as among the best of their respective years... and yet in 2016, it didn't work. And for once it was strikingly easy to point to the cause of it all: not Marko Saaresto's delivery or the band's increasingly dalliances with atmospheric pop rock, but the introduction of a new producer who seemed to grasp the basics of a Poets of the Fall sound but none of the subtleties, leading to a glitch in the alchemy that gave us possibly their most underwhelming project to date. Don't get me wrong, there were songs that worked off of Clearview and it was still good, but this is a band that delivers magnificence, and merely good does not cut it in my books. 

But I had hope for this one, folks, I did. For one they had brought the production back in house and while buzz was indicating the wild experimentation that has characterized their 2010s work was still in swing, I've been of the belief that this band has a better grasp on genre blending than most - hell, I absolutely adored their biggest pop pivot on Jealous Gods, and if they were going to keep going in that direction, I had to hope they'd stick the landing. So, what did we get on Ultraviolet?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 13, 2018 (VIDEO)

Okay, I think I'm pleased with how I landed things here with regards to album bombs going forward, and the episode turned alright along the way. Enjoy!

billboard BREAKDOWN - october 13, 2018

Well, I was half right with this. I knew there'd be some form of album bomb with Lil Wayne - the sales and streaming numbers made it practically undeniable - but what I didn't expect that it kept Logic from charting anything with the entire album dominating the Hot 100 with a full twenty-two debuts from that album alone. And since I already reviewed the album... well, you'll see in a bit, but suffice to say that considering album bombs are now the norm in the streaming era and have been throughout 2018, I'm going to be putting in some new rules on how to properly handle them in a way that's reasonable to the health of this show, so stay tuned for that.

video review: 'trench' by twenty one pilots

It's strange that it feels like I'm the one who somehow wound up being the most cool on this album of the YouTube critics. I mean, it's not bad - it's a good, thematically rich listen, but I'm not convinced the hooks are there and the songs are as gripping, and the sonic palette got really draining after a while. Just not really feeling it, I guess.

But next up... so much Lil Wayne, folks, it's a big album bomb coming, so stay tuned?

video review: 'grave mounds and grave mistakes' by a forest of stars

So this was a mess... honestly, I was tempted just to put this on the Trailing Edge, but I wound up easily having enough for a full review, go figure.

But of course, what everyone's really talking about is...

album review: 'trench' by twenty one pilots

Well, it's been a bit of a journey getting to this point... and I'm not even sure I can say that with a straight face, because I think what people think about my opinions around twenty-one pilots are very different than the actual reality, so I think it might help to bring folks up to speed.

So, twenty-one pilots. They started off the late 2000s and very early 2010s with two independent albums that fans in the Clique adore a fair bit more than they deserve - not that there wasn't good ideas but both records are desperately unpolished, leaving twenty-one pilots as one of the few groups that actually got better through signing to Fueled By Ramen in the early 2010s. This led to them putting out their major label debut Vessel in 2013, a genre-blurring mess of an album that I still wound up considering pretty great because the compositions and songwriting contributed to sharp hooks, a keen sense of self-awareness, and a few genuinely brilliant tracks. In 2015 they followed it with Blurryface, delivered even more polished compositions and then ascended right up their own asses with a blistering self-aware dissection of their newfound fame... and it's also their best album to date and one of the best albums of 2015. And if it sounds like these comments are phrased to intentionally annoy the Clique... well, they are, but it's all in good fun and with the realization that I'm a pretty big fan of this group too - I'm just also very much aware of when a band starts taking the piss out of themselves - which may have been the entire damn arc of Blurryface, for the record.

But I'll admit I was worried about Trench. Yes, the actual guitar on 'Jumpsuit' was exciting to me and the hope that this group was finally going to get some rock muscle was only encouraging... but I'll freely admit that there were warning signs about this project that made me wary. Because even going back two years later I did not like 'Heathens', and the less said about that butchering of My Chemical Romance's 'Cancer' the better, but both were signs that the band was starting to drown in their own veneer, and I wasn't sure a dystopian concept record was the way out of that, especially given that in my circles the hype seemed oddly muted. But hey, I still think this band is talented and having heard their blatant copycats and wannabes chase their fanbase, I was curious where they'd take their sound next, so what did we get with Trench?

album review: 'grave mounds and grave mistakes' by a forest of stars

You know, there was a time when I was starting to get into black metal that I was unsure if I'd be recommended acts I didn't like within the genre. That's the funny thing about extreme music and one reason why critics who don't exclusively specialize in it tend to hand out high scores more often, mostly because it's more organic. The good stuff rises to the top and picks up popularity, the bad or incompetent stuff just... doesn't, and winds up in the pits of obscurity.

Of course, the big exception to this rule is when a band slips into 'avant-garde' territory and is simply so unique that they seem custom-made for a cult following even if the quality isn't there - and on that note, A Forest Of Stars. I'll be very blunt and say that when I checked out their first few albums, I wasn't a fan whatsoever - and given my fondness for fantasy or at the very least Celtic folk tones you'd think they'd be up my alley, but with every listen I found the slapdash blend of black metal, quasi-futuristic psychedelic rock, and pompous neo-classical folk to be a total mess. Yeah, the poetry was okay, but the progressions were underwhelming, the production rarely rose above mediocre and nothing close to consistent, and the less I say about the attempted blend of male and female vocals, the better. I'll admit they got better with each passing album, but up until this release I'd only call them okay for some good violin work and some passable black metal segments, and I've never been a fan of the vocals across any of their projects. They reminded me a lot of Diablo Swing Orchestra, who at their best were able to balance the ridiculous camp with some genuine menace and chops but at their worst could come across as oversold and gimmicky, which is just as true about A Forest of Stars down to their fake origin story! And when I heard that this album was going to be revisiting sounds from their 2012 release A Shadowplay for Yesterdays - which is arguably where their theatricality picked up the most flop-sweat - I was steeling myself for a rough listen. How did it turn out?

video review: 'ysiv' by logic

So yeah, this was a tough one to push out... but now I'm heading into an overloaded October, and that means we've got twenty-one pilots next - stay tuned!

album review: 'ysiv' by logic

It's hard to believe it was just five years ago when I was openly praising a Logic album.

Hell, I think a lot of you remember my review of Under Pressure, his 2014 album that built on some pretty solid mixtape momentum and had some real significant weight to match Logic's flows and contemporary but distinctive boom bap production. I stand by that record as legitimately great, highlighting a rising talent who had great taste in production and a lot of ambition, which translated into his follow-up the next year The Incredible True Story which took his content into a space-themed concept record that couldn't quite stick the landing. And then he followed it two years later with Everybody that went for an even more ambitious and polarizing topic about being biracial in America that earned him even more backlash...

And yet it was that project that netted Logic his first massive smash hit, complete with guest appearances from Khalid and Alessia Cara he got a song with the title of the suicide hotline to break into the top 5. It hadn't been his first charting presence - the posse cut from Suicide Squad 'Sucker for Pain' gave him that, and it's important to note that his less conceptual, more mainstream mixtapes had a tendency to do very well on the Hot 100 - but the suicide hotline song set a narrative around Logic as an approachable, generally nonthreatening rapper who could flow his ass off but wound up speaking around platitudes that could feel misconceived or shallow... which yes, was something that had leaked into his songwriting on the albums, but I do remember when Logic had more to say and could stick the landing.

And I'll admit I had a bad feeling about this project in particular, coming hot on the heels of some particularly stupid comments that he made how he makes music for his 'fans', not hip-hop culture - a bit of a spicy statement and I guarantee it wasn't made with the Wu-Tang Clan in the room, even despite somehow getting a significant chunk of the members to contribute to a song on this album. But even calling the album YSIV was telling, an album follow-up to a series of mixtapes with four songs breaking the six minute mark and a lead-off single featuring Ryan Tedder's caterwauling on the hook. Suffice to say, I was not expecting this to be great or even good - was I wrong?

trailing edge - episode 009 - september 2018 (VIDEO)

So yeah, this took WAY too long to get finished... so enjoy?

Next up... Logic. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 6, 2018 (VIDEO)

So this came together pretty damn quick... nice stuff.

Next up... you know, this Logic album is so damn long, I need to knock out an episode of the Trailing Edge soon, so we'll see what comes first!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 6, 2018

Okay yes, I'm very relieved it's a cooldown week... but look, in the era of the album bomb and with Logic and Lil Wayne set to do stupid numbers for next week, it's really not that much consolation that I get a breather here, especially if it comes at the expense of any analysis or predictions beyond 'well, Lil Wayne has a shot for a few top 10 debuts and maybe a shot at #1'.

video review: 'tha carter v' by lil wayne

Took a long-ass time to get here... and honestly, I have no idea whether this'll be enough to satisfy folks, but enjoy?

Next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN and we'll see where the chips fall on upcoming records, so stay tuned!

album review: 'tha carter v' by lil wayne

I don't think anyone can deny at this point that the hype behind this album has long ago eclipsed any impact it could ever make. 

And when I say that, I'm referring to artistic impact in the same way Lil Wayne drove a decade ago, because the sales and streaming numbers mean in terms of popular impact, it looks like Lil Wayne still has it. But I think even Lil Wayne fans grasp this, because I know even a fair few of them considered the possibility of this release like a pipe dream, the sort of project that remains shelved or unreleased to become the stuff of what might have been, especially when it came to Lil Wayne's stifled career over the past five years. But beyond the possibility, the largely unasked question - namely, whether Tha Carter V should be released at all - is a much dicier one. Folks forget that while his commercial clout was undeniable, Lil Wayne hadn't exactly been on a hot streak of quality in the 2010s. Between album concepts that felt unrealized or at the very least uneven and Lil Wayne struggling as both an MC and songwriter across mixtapes, albums, and even guest appearances, despite his undeniable influence his star had fallen hard and far. And with Tha Carter V developed in that environment, I don't even think it would be reasonable to expect a return to the glory days of Tha Carter II or III. At best I expected another overlong, messy project that could nail a few more hits than misses that would get better than expected reviews thanks to a relieved fanbase... and thus with my expectations safely lowered, did Tha Carter V deliver?

resonators 2018 - episode #009 - 'rites of spring' by rites of spring (VIDEO)

First video of the night... and man, it's a fantastic one. But now up for the main event...

resonators 2018 - episode #009 - 'rites of spring' by rites of spring

The tricky thing about this series was always going to be where the line was drawn when it came to genre. That's the tough thing when you're on the cutting edge and subgenres are forking off of subgenres, and considering how much music critics and fans love drawing lines, I could very easily run into trouble by covering this act under the umbrella of a series looking specifically at 80s hardcore punk. On the other hand, as I've stated a few times already it makes sense to look at what came out the hardcore scene in its entirety, and since I've gone through a fair number of the albums that set the foundations for the genre, it makes sense to examine what was built upon them.

So the year was 1985, and the setting was Washington D.C. - we've already talked about the D.C. hardcore scene surrounding Bad Brains and Minor Threat, but by the mid-80s the scene was shifting - the original wave of hardcore punks were entering their mid-20s and a whole new wave of teenagers were flooding into the scene, using the excuse of the genre to get more raucous and violent. Now the roots of that change in the scene are complicated - some of it was demographics, but a pronounced theme of that era was machismo. And to be fair, this was endemic across American culture in the mid-80s, a hypermasculine ideal reinforced by the Reagan administration and an economy that had picked up a lot of steam, to say nothing of a reactionary media climate that loved to brand punks as thugs or outlaws. This was an era of swagger, cockiness, and no fucks given, and even though hardcore had a left-leaning slant, it's always been more complicated, which meant not only did a lot of young guys push a very different ideology, they had the bravado to saunter in and use the show as an excuse to get violent. And while some punks who shied away from ideology flourished, a lot of hardcore acts were either evolving out of the genre or quitting altogether.

But in D.C., Ian MacKaye was not going down without a fight, and in 1985, he and various other members of his independent label Dischord Records began forming new acts for what would be branded as Revolution Summer, beginning an active pushback against aggression at shows and the sexism that was leaking into the scene. Many of the acts wouldn't last beyond laying the groundwork for bigger bands to come, but one has survived and has become what so many have branded as the genesis of an entire new genre just adjacent to the infant post-hardcore. That's right, folks, we're going there, we're going the only album released by the band widely considered as the inspiration of emo, the 1985 self-titled record from Rites Of Spring - and this is Resonators!