The Grammys are usually predictable, but not painfully so, like this year. This has been a year with a lot of heartache, and after the Grammys have blown it in nominating rock artists of consequence or giving the album of the year to an undeserving pick two years in a row, it’s hard not to get a little cynical, but here are my best guesses of who will win and should win:
Will Win: Lorde-Melodrama Continue reading
After the first two songs of The Killers’ set on their Wonderful Wonderful tour, frontman Brandon Flowers quotes Evil Knievel: “People don’t pay for the perfect landing; they pay for the attempt.” Unlike Knievel, The Killers don’t land as much as they attempt, and their performance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center left me wondering if I’d pay for another attempt. Continue reading
There’s never really a bad year for music. There are always going to be great albums from popstars like Lorde or underground masterpieces like Mount Eerie’s new album. When it comes to deciding a personal top ten, it becomes a mix of what releases seemed most significant and what I returned to the most. Where there were excellent albums from Kendrick, Japandroids, and Kesha, these were the albums that defined my year. Also, shoutout to Run the Jewels. RTJ 3 would’ve made the list, but they leaked it Christmas Day 2016, so too bad.
TWIABP continue to carry the torch they helped ignite in the emo revival. Always Foreign sees the band inching forward where Harmlessness left off. It’s the band’s most politically-minded release-to-date. “Marine Tigers” and “Fuzz Minor” are scathing social commentaries delivered by an impassioned David F. Bello. The band also doesn’t shy away from creating indie-rock with a sense of grandeur, as “Infinite Steve” and “Faker” see the band embracing post-rock the size of which the band hasn’t grown to before. With the songs “The Future” and “Dillon and Her Son,” TWIABP don’t shy away from Blink-182 style pop-punk, making this the most diverse set of songs TWIABP have ever released.
More often than not, when I don’t like something that I know is good (or everyone else likes), I tend to just say, “It wasn’t for me.” That is to say, I wasn’t the target-demographic. I said this about the Beauty and the Beast remake, Twenty-One Pilots, Serial, and countless other things that I didn’t really like. I didn’t begin listening to LCD Soundsystem until after they’d broken up, and I was excited to see them reunite. While I understand why fans were angry about their reunion, I could care less to be honest. That being said, American Dream doesn’t seem like it was for me. It seems catered to a certain subsect of fans that probably don’t mind that LCD reunited as opposed to feeling more indifferent about it. Still, even if it wasn’t for me, American Dream is an incredible album that I thoroughly enjoy. Continue reading
I’d only ever flirted with the idea of seeing a major pop-star live. I like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Justin Timberlake enough to think about going to their shows. I’ve seen Kanye on the Saint Pablo tour, but he’s a rapper. I’ve seen Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco at major arena tours, while they’re still mostly relevant, but both are still (mostly) considered rock bands. Lady Gaga was like my first kiss, kind of great-kind of awkward and underwhelming. Continue reading
Burger-A-Day 