Astronoid-Astronoid

I recently started compiling this playlist called “Music That Can Play Really Loud But Still Feel Like Background Noise.”  None of these songs are really bad, and the title is something of a joke.  Currently the playlist features the likes of Deafheaven, Radiohead, and Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, and none of these artists make boring music.  That being said, if I’m going for a long drive where I’m going to talk to someone, but I still want music to play; I’d be more inclined to put on this playlist than my collection of metal or songs with literary references.  Astronoid takes the shoegaze and atmospheric elements of those bands that I like and pumps them up with a power metal like brightness that really makes their self-titled third album kind of a drag. Continue reading

Place Your Bets: The 2017 Grammy Awards

46th Annual Grammy Awards - Pressroom

To me, The Grammys are the Super Bowl.  I always want to gamble on it.  I usually know what’s going to happen.  I’m glued to the TV for hours, and I get drunk while doing it.  Unlike the Super Bowl though, the person who wins is either met with indifference or excitement, rarely anger.  This year, BurgerADay are laying out the pics for who will win versus who should win.  Check out our picks, and either way, just remember it’s much more important than the Patriots and Falcons.  No one’s deflating these balls.

 

Album Of The Year:

25 — Adele

Lemonade — Beyoncé

Purpose — Justin Bieber

Views — Drake

A Sailor’s Guide To Earth — Sturgill Simpson

Should Win: Lemonade-Beyoncé

I may have been late to the party for a long time, but at the tail end of 2016, I listened to Lemonade, and it’s pretty damn great.  Beyoncé is completely worthy of all the praise she’s gotten for this album.  As most of the best albums of the year, Bey mixed the political with the personal, and the record can transition from an emotional gut-punch like on “Pray You Catch Me” or “Don’t Hurt Yourself” to a genuinely fun as hell hype song like “Formation.”  There may be a little protest to the politicization of Beyoncé, but as someone who’s never been on board with her as a simple pop-artist, she’s certainly left a great impression this year.

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2016 Albums to look forward to in 2017: Albums We Missed

There was a lot of good music that came out in 2016, and it’s terrible.  Of course, no one is complaining about the excellent tunes, but the greater amount of good music, the harder it is to keep up with.  There’s so much music that you couldn’t possibly give everything a thorough listen; therefore, here are some of the albums that won’t make my best-of list and may be on my honorable mentions list, but I still plan on giving a much more complete listen to in the end of 2016 and in 2017.

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The Best Albums of 2016: Honorable Mentions

As album-of-the-year season approaches, we’ve been reflecting on the music we’ve heard this year.  While a more formal list is coming, these items are all honorable mentions for a number of reasons.  While it may just be that we felt our list was better, for many of these albums it has to do with the fact, we just didn’t get to spend as much time as we would have liked with them.  These are still some of the best records of the year, in no particular order.

Chance the Rapper-Coloring Book

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Chance’s third mixtape is one of his strongest.  With gospel-infused hip hop, he brought some of the best feel-good songs of the summer.

Must listen song: “No Problem”

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Consequence of Sound release ‘Sold Out:…’

The music and film site has released a brief and informative documentary on ticketing and ticket scalping in America.  While the video seems to be temporarily down, it can be viewed over on Consequence of Sound, or watch the trailer above.  The video also looks at ways that individuals and the US government has tried to combat this problem.  It’s definitely worth the watch.

 

James is on Twitter.