Thursday, December 31, 2015

The 100 Best Songs of 2015



1. First - Cold War Kids

2. Here - Alessia Cara

3. Leave a Trace - Chvrches

4. S.O.B. - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

5. Magnets - Disclosure featuring Lorde

6. Lonely Town - Brandon Flowers

7. Big Decisions - My Morning Jacket

8. Girl Crush - Little Big Town

9. Cocoon - Catfish and the Bottlemen

10. Coffee - Miguel

11. She Used to Be Mine - Sara Bareilles

12. Fool for Love - Lord Huron

13. Close Your Eyes (And Count to (Expletive Deleted)) - Run the Jewels featuring Zach De La Rocha

14. Work Song - Hozier

15. Lampshades On Fire - Modest Mouse

16. Photograph - Ed Sheeran

17. Feel Right - Mark Ronson featuring Mystikal

18. Hold Back the River - James Bay

19. Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) - Father John Misty

20. Your Type - Carly Rae Jepsen

21. Empty Heart - Grace Potter

22. Fight Song - Rachel Platten

23. Bright - Echosmith

24. Doing It - Charli XCX

25. Style - Taylor Swift

26. FourFiveSeconds - Rihanna and Kanye West and Paul McCartney

27. Let It Go - James Bay

28. Roll Up Your Sleeves - Meg Mac

29. Renegades - X Ambassadors

30. Nobody Love - Tori Kelly

31. Untouchable - Pusha T

32. One Time - Marian Hill

33. Electric Indigo - The Paper Kites

34. Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart - Chris Cornell

35. Hello - Adele

36. Sagres - The Tallest Man on Earth

37. Weight of Love - The Black Keys

38. Same Old Love - Selena Gomez

39. Brother - Needtobreathe featuring Gavin DeGraw

40. OctaHate - Ryn Weaver

41. Walk the Wire - Boy and Bear

42. Coming Home - Leon Bridges

43. Freedom - Pharrell Williams

44. The Wolf - Mumford and Sons

45. Outta My Mind - The Arcs

46. Love 3X - ZZ Ward

47. Bad Blood - Ryan Adams

48. Forever Mine - Andra Day

49. Dreams - Beck

50. Bad Blood - Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar

51. Smoke Break - Carrie Underwood

52. First Kiss - Kid Rock

53. Stand By You - Rachel Platten

54. Heavy Is the Head - Zac Brown Band featuring Chris Cornell

55. What Kind of Man - Florence + the Machine

56. John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 - Keith Urban

57. Empty Threat - Chvrches

58. The Next Storm - Frank Turner

59. 1,2 1,2 - Raekwon featuring Snoop Dogg

60. Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd

61. Hold On Tight - Greg Holden

62. The Healing - Gary Clark Jr.

63. All Day - Kanye West featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom and Paul McCartney

64. Still Want You - Brandon Flowers

65. One Last Time - Ariande Grande

66. Easy Rider - Action Bronson

67. Bloodstream (Arty Remix) - Ed Sheeran and Rudimental

68. Famous - Charlie XCX

69. The Wrong Year - The Decmberists

70. Take My Love - The Lone Bellow

71. Future People - Alabama Shakes

72. Strangers - Langhorne Slim and the Law

73. Things Happen - Dawes

74. Loving You Easy - Zac Brown Band

75. NWA - Miguel featuring Kurupt

76. Sound and Color - Alabama Shakes

77. How Could You Babe - Tobias Jesso Jr.

78. On To Something Good - Ashley Monroe

79. My Type - Saint Motel

80. Our Own House - MisterWives

81. Fell in the Sun - Big Grams

82. California Roll - Snoop Dogg featuring Stevie Wonder

83. Could Have Been Me - The Struts

84. Don't Wanna Fight - Alabama Shakes

85. Eyes Wide Open - Sabrina Carpenter

86. St Jude - Florence + the Machine

87. Mine - Phoebe Ryan

88. Delilah - Florence + the Machine

89. Focus - Ariana Grande

90. Good For You - Selena Gomez featuring A$AP Rocky

91. Adventure of a Lifetime - Coldplay

92. Put a Flower in Your Pocket - The Arcs

93. The Eye - Brandi Carlile

94. Biscuits - Kacey Musgraves

95. Numbers - Daughter

96. Inside Out - Spoon

97. Black Sun - Death Cab for Cutie

98. Sugar - Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds

99. If You Ever Want To Be In Love - James Bay

100. Fatal Flaw - Titus Andronicus


Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The 50 Best Music Videos of 2015



1. Anna - Will Butler


2. Good for You - Selena Gomez


3. Feel Right - Mark Ronson featuring Mystikal


4. She's Not Me - Jenny Lewis


5. Actin Crazy - Action Bronson


6. Bad Blood - Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar

7. Time Machine - Ingrid Michaelson

8. That Black Bat Licorice - Jack White

9. For Free? (Interlude) - Kendrick Lamar

10. Here - Alessia Cara

11. Dearly Departed - Shakey Graves featuring Esme Paterson

12. Empty Threat - Chvrches

13. Biscuits - Kacey Musgraves

14. Style - Taylor Swift

15. I'm in Love with My Life - Phases

16. Magnets - Disclosure featuring Lorde

17. Adventures of a Lifetime - Coldplay

18. Shut up and Fish - Maddie and Tae

19. Pedestrian at Best - Courtney Barnett

20. I Can Be Somebody - Erin McCarley

21. Hands to Myself - Selena Gomez

22. I Love You, Honeybear - Father John Misty

23. Close Your Eyes (and Count to (Expletive Deleted)) - Run the Jewels featuring Zach de la Rocha

24. Renegades - X Ambassadors

25. Same Old Love - Selena Gomez

26. S.O.B. - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

27. Doing It! - Charli XCX

28. Lonely Town - Brandon Flowers

29. One Last Time - Ariana Grande

30. Love 3X - ZZ Ward

31. I Really Like You - Carly Rae Jepsen

32. Heartbeat - Mat Kearney

33. Lampshades on Fire - Modest Mouse

34. King Kuta - Kendrick Lamar

35. Focus - Arianda Grande

36. Bittersweet - Archis

37. Bloosdstream - Ed Sheeran and Rudimental

38. California Roll - Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell Williams and Stevie Wonder

39. Bulletproof Picasso - Train

40. St. Jude - Florence and the Machine

41. Song for Someone - U2

42. Weight of Love - The Black Keys

43. Too Many Rapper - Beastie Boys featuring Nas

44. Work Song - Hozier

45. We Are Giants - Lindsey Sterling featuring Dia Frampton

46. Flesh without Blood / Life in Vivid Dream - Grimes

47. Delilah - Florence and the Machine

48. coffee - Miguel

49. Famous - Charlie XCX

50. First - Cold War Kids


Monday, December 28, 2015

The 40 Worst Songs of 2015



1. Watch Me (Whip / Nae Nae) - Silentó

2. Trap Queen - Fetty Wap

3. Dear Future Husband - Meghan Trainor

4. (Expletive Deleted) Up Some Commas - Future

5. (Expletive Deleted) I'm Madonna - Madonna featuring Nicki Minaj

6. Marvin Gaye - Charlie Puth featuring Meghan Trainor

7. Hey Mama - David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha and Afrojack

8. White Iverson - Post Malone

9. Dooo It! - Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz

10. Hit the Quan - ILoveMemphis

11. See You Again - Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth

12. Ayo - Chris Brown X Tyga

13. Pretty Girls - Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea

14. Truffle Butter - Nicki Minaj featuring Drake and Lil Wayne

15. Where Are Ü Now - Skrillex and Diplo with Justin Bieber

16. Honey, I'm Good. - Andy Grammer

17. Used to Love You - Gwen Stefani

18. Post To Be - Omarion featuring Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko

19. What Do You Mean? - Justin Beiber

20. 679 - Fetty Wap featuring Monty

21. Cool for the Summer - Demi Lovato

22. Roll 'em Up - Alli Simpson featuring Jack and Jack

23. Cha Cha - D.R.A.M.

24. (Expletive Deleted) Better Have My Money - Rihanna

25. Hotline Bling - Drake

26. This Summer's Gonna Hurt Like a (Expletive Deleted) - Maroon 5

27. Somebody - Natalie La Rose featuring Jeremih

28. She's Kinda Hot - 5 Seconds of Summer

29. Levels - Nick Jonas

30. Worth It - Fifth Harmony featuring Kid Ink

31. Hey Everybody! - 5 Seconds of Summer

32. Want to Want Me - Jason Derulo

33. Trini Dem Girls - Nicki Minaj featuring LunchMoney Lewis

34. I Don't Like It, I Love It - Flo Rida featuring Robin Thicke and Verdine White

35. Ghost Town - Adam Lambert

36. Drag Me Down - One Direction

37. Double Tap - Jordan Sparks featuring 2 Chainz

38. Time of Our Lives - Pitbull and Ne-Yo

39. The Night Is Still Young - Nicki Minaj

40. I Know What You Did Last Summer - Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello

Sunday, December 27, 2015

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 12/27/15



Homeland: Well that was two straight seasons with kind of subdued finales. Last year was all about Carrie's father's funeral and this season Carrie foils the terrorists plot in the first act. I figured the rest of the episode would focus on catching Allison but there were a lot of scene inter-spliced with Carrie's boss weirdly coming on to her (I think?) the whole Quinnn thing and when they finally got back to Allison, they just sprayed the car like a mobster movie which left me thinking, wait was that actually Allison in the trunk, maybe I miss saw and it was really just one of the human trafficking girls from the house. But I re-watched that see, paused and zoomed it and am pretty sure that was Allison. Maybe a season of getting Allison out of Russia would have been a good set up. Oh well. So what is next, will next season be Carrie married to Otto still in Berlin or is she going to change her mind and take Saul up on his offer and we will be in another war zone next year?

The Affair: When Noah came up as the focus of Act 1, I thought, well he probably did not kill Scotty and it will end up whoever is the focus of Act II. Except at the end of Act I, we see a drunken Helen run over Scotty after Noah made her take the wheel. Well that explains why she paid for his high powered lawyer. Then the lawyer of all people ended up spoiling the surprise twist by suggesting to Noah that they should float the idea in court that Alison pushed Scotty in from of the car. Then I though, oh, that is extremely plausible. And of course that turned out to be what happened. So Noah is left to decide whether to let his wife or the mother of his child take the rap, of course he takes option three and falls on the sword. Not that I think he will spend much time in jail. I do not think the Scotty case is closed and season three will end with someone else taking the fall. But what I do not understand is the whole Alison's baby daddy situation. They spent half the season teasing Scotty was the father and that was the big news he had over Alison. But it turns out Cole is the father but does not know. But if Scotty, who did not seem like the smartest man on Earth, can figure this out how has Cole not? Can Cole not count nine months? It never really accorded to me because they do plenty of time jumping between episodes so it was unclear where they are in the timeline any given episode but how does Cole not learn when Alison is pregnant not do the math? I have had issues with the show from the beginning, but I an still intrigued where the show goes next.

The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines: Three weeks ago there were three crazy Brazilians on my television screen, and now there are none. Hurumph. Yeah, this format sucks massively. They they even messed up the best challenge of the season by not having everyone participate in trivia instead having half the people answers questions (I am too lazy to go back and rewatch but Nany's cousin got some of the easiest questions in the history of the show) the the dumbest people did not even get a chance to show the world how dumb they are. But as much as the show is trying to ruin the format, the competitor are giving a valiant effort at acting crazy. And things do not get much crazier than Abram and his head tattoo (even more socking than Abram's arrival: his brother looks and acts like everyone's tax guy). Knowing CT and Zach are coming at some point, is it too easy to predict that Abram literally kills the guy Cara Maria has been hooking up with and that is why we need two new bloodlines?
You can download The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines on iTunes.