Showing posts with label Music Videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music Videos. Show all posts

Monday, May 09, 2016

I Want My Music Videos: 5/9/16





Burn the Witch - Radiohead


Paranoid Android was one of the weirdest music video ever to get heavy rotation on MTV. MTV may not actually play videos much anymore unless you happen to be awake in the middle of the night (though they have constantly been airing some in the morning recently, sure the videos they show suck, but hey, it is a start), but Radiohead continues to put out weird stuff. Burn the Witch looks like the kind of stop-motion animation we see every Christmas (minus the snow) but more warped.


Daydreaming - Radiohead


And if that was not enough Radiohead for you, the band released another video last week, this time with Thom York randomly walking through doors. Not as creative as stop-motion animation but equally as deep, or so my pretentious friends tell me.


Crown – Run the Jewels


Those Radiohead videos were cool and all but, Run The Jewels may hve released the best video of the year, a 360 degree video which you can rotate with your mouse. Okay, there was a learning curve because the first time I watch, I spent half the video rotating their shoes before I figured I could move the camera up.


100x – Tegan and Sara


Tegan and Sara were indie darlings for years before going ultra-pop on their last album which even garnered their first legitimate hit. They have a new album coming out that is sticking with that euro-trash pop type sound. Two weeks ago they released Boyfriend which I was pretty meh on. Same with U-Turn that came out last week. They dropped a third video this weekend and I am still pretty bored with the actual music, but c’mon, the video features windblown puppies. Though dying the one’s ears blue was a step too far.

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 5/3/16


Needed Me - Rihanna


Another Rihanna video and another Rihanna video where she wears a see-thru top. Why even wear clothes at this point.


Get You Back – Mayer Hawthorne


So we have reached the end of the Mayer Hawthorne noir trilogy and, well, it ended like every noir tale ever made, with him turning on the femme fatale. Guess I should have see that coming.


She Burns – Foy Vance


Putting hot chicks as a stand in is a music video staple, but Foy Vance (not to be confused with Vance Joy, the Riptide guy; not that I made that mistake or anything) could have done better than Aria. Should have tried to get Hannah instead.


Trash - Tyler Glenn


Rock music has slowly been dying for years and pop-rock is also nearly nonexistent anymore. Which makes it even more surprising that Neon Trees have managed multiple hits this decade. To the surprise of probably no one, lead singer Tyler Glenn came out as gay last year despite being a Mormon. His faith and sexuality are in stark contrast to each other in his first solo song and music video. I am just disappointed as catchy as the best Neon Trees songs are, this new song just sounds like every crappy dance-pop song that is making top forty unlistenable these days.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 4/27/16



Vroom Vroom - Charli XCX


So exclusive music videos are becoming a thing (even though it did not work for MTV when they tried their Supervideos a couple years back). Beyoncé dropped her video album over the weekend but you need an HBO subscription or shell out twenty dollars a month at Tidal to watch. Pass. Apple Music is the only place you can see the new Charli XCX video but at least you do not need a subscription to their service to watch. On the negative side, the video was choppy for me, something I never have a problem with while watching YouTube. As for the song, I find it extremely annoying, and kind of catchy at the same time and cannot stop hitting repeat.


Move Me – Sara Watkins


Two years ago Nickle Creek had one of the rare comeback records that did not suck. It probably helped that all the members of the band had been steadily recording during the group’s hiatus. After thaaqt album Sara Watkins already released an album with her brother and later this year is putting out another solo record. Judging from the first single it is a huge departure from anything she has done before with her ditching the folk rock she has been known for with something more alt-rock. Move Me sounds like it could have been released during the mid-nineties at the height of the genre. And I kind of wish I was invited to that dinner party, everything on that table looks great.


A Change of Heart – The 1975


Are The 1975 officially in their pretentious rock phase? I mean, c’mon, dancing clowns in black and white for a video they are completely absent?


America’s Sweetheart – Elle King


It is time for one of my favorite running segment in One Hit Wonder Watch. Ex’s and Oh’s was an extremely catchy hit for Elle King last year (though it was only my list of the Best Songs of 2014). When her album came out I remember Ex’s and Oh’s sticking out not just because it was the best song but it was one of the few songs that did not sound like it was trying to be a cheap Adele rip-off. Apparently there was another rock tinged song on that album that I forgot and though I doubt it will have much dent on the pop charts, it could be a niche hit on adult contemporary stations.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 4/19/16



In Bloom - Sturgill Simpson


In my never-ending search for new music I go through Spotify’s Ne Music Friday playlist they update ever week with, appropriately, new singles and songs off of new albums. I usually get through each two hour playlist in about a half an hour, basically skipping all the horribly bland EDM songs that seems to just blend into each other anyway. This week was one of the rare times where I had to stop and go, what the frack is this? I did not give it much thought at first, the song sounded like another country singer who wants to be a soul singer which is apparently a thing these days for whatever reason. But then the dude starts singing, “He’s the one that likes all the pretty song.” I know that line. Is Sturgill Simpson really turning a Nirvana song into a slow jam by way of country music? Apparently yes. Sturgill Simpson even threw in some Stax type horns in for good measure. This song may very well be the first song ever to make my lists of Best and Worst songs of the year.


Yellow Eyes – Rayland Baxter


Sometimes I find new songs on the Spotify playlist, and sometime I find songs listening to my only library. I am not entirely sure when I downloaded this song by Rayland Baxter but it recently popped up while I was listening to my library on shuffle and was glad I did. It also bizarrely sound like it was influences by folk and RnB songs.


Chronic - Phoebe Ryan


I am all for a transformation storyline, but Phoebe Ryan’s band actually seem goofier after their transformation. And I kind of like her better with the glasses and afro puffs.


Motel – Meg Myers


Meg Myers has yet to release a song that I would say is great but for some reason I cannot take my eyes off her whenever I click on a new music video. It is a shame she was not born earlier because she may have been much bigger if she came around during the alternative boon in the nineties at a time when MTV still showed music videos.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 4/16/16



Nutshell – Phife Dog


We lost the great Phife Dog recently but there is one last solo album coming soon. I kind of wish the part where they sample great Tribe classics was a bit longer.


New Romantics – Taylor Swift


In what seems to be a trend with Taylor Swift, her last music video off an album is just a tour retrospective. But that really should have come about two or three singles ago because she ran out of good songs a while ago.


Boy Problems – Carly Rae Jepsen


When Call Me Maybe was released, you could have told me Carly Rae Jepsen was as young as fourteen and I would have believed you (she turned out to be in her mid-twenties). With her new album it looks like she is aging five years with every passing video. Whoever told her that mullet was a good look should be fired. But at least she can no longer be confused with a teenager.


Moving Mountains – Skylar Grey


At the end of the end of the last big singer-songwriter era last decade there was a new artist named Holly Brook who put out a decent album. Then singer-songwriters went out of vogue, Brooke changed her name to Skylar Grey, hooked up with producers more known hip-hop music and started to make darker music. It is interesting that her new single sounds more like something that would have been on that single Holly Brooke album than anything under her new moniker.

Monday, April 04, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 4/4/16



Dangerous Woman – Ariana Grande


Ariana Grande is just cheesy fun but I really do not like it when she tries to be sexy because it just comes across as a middle schooler playing dress up.


Kiss it Better – Rihanna


Now for an actual dangerous woman who does not need to try to be sexy. And for the second video in a row, Rihanna opts for the see-through clothing which actually leaves even less to the imagination than the Work video.


Real People – Ice Cube and Common


Who would have guessed in the early nineties that Ice Cube would be on the same track as Common? And the track would come a quarter century after they both started for a crappy movie, and the song actually does not suck?


I Need Never Get Old – Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats


Aw, studio hijinks from Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. And since they bring it up, I kind of wish the song actually had cowbell.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 3/17/16



Left Handed Kisses – Andrew Bird featuring Fiona Apple


Simple music video from Andrew Bird. But I do wonder if Fiona Apple’s allusions to You Can Call Me Al were intentional or not.


California Kids – Weezer


Just last week I was mentioning how I kind of liked Weezer's new song even though the music video was embarrassingly bad. The new video just plays of the cringworthy videos they have produced from this album cycle but the song is almost as embarrassing.


This One's For Me and You - Johnny Gill featuring New Edition


Okay, not a full New Edition reunion because there is no Bobby Brown and it is technically just a Johnny Gill song featuring the other guys, but I will take it. But oh my, Biv is looking old, I fear he can no longer smack it up, flip it or rub it down.


Love Like That – Mayer Hawthorne


The second installment of Mayer Hawthorne’s noir music video anthology has arrived and it is already running thin. Why is he singing about wanting a love like that why developing crime scene photographs?

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 3/9/16



Best Fake Smile - James Bay


I am not entirely sure James Bay is not just John Mayer changing his name in hopes people forget some of his hotter hot takes that put him in the public’s doghouse (somewhat unfairly; what he said was stupid, not a shunnable offence… but anyway). After a bunch of midtempo songs, this is his first upbeat single, and though catchy, cannot say it is very memorable.


LA Girlz – Weezer


A lot of Weezer’s output over the past decade has mostly been embarrassing but this song does kind of sound like their old self. Okay, and outtake or B-side, not an actual album cut or even a single. Unfortunately the music video is very chringeworthy.


Been To the Moon - Corinne Bailey Rae


The “moon” Corinne Bailey Rae goes to looks a lot like the planet Simmons went to on Agents of SHIELD. Well, without the blueish-grey filter.


Daughters – Lissie


While watching Survivor, it is sometimes easy to forget, that the lack of access to quality drinking water is a reality for large segments of the population. And it is still hard to put it in perspective because even though we know the contestants have to walk to watering hole, then boil the water, we do not see just how long that takes, and then we know that after a month they get to fly home where they can just turn on the faucet to get water (unless they live in a city like Flint or near where fracking takes place where the water is just as poisonous) But there are no plane rides home for those that live in Africa. Though it is hard to put into perspective the 40 billion miles women in Africa have to walk a year for water. I kind of wish Lissie would have done a per woman average to give us a better idea the struggle for water on that continent is.

Thursday, March 03, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 3/3/16


The Sound - 1975


I never really liked Jimmy Kimmel's Mean Tweets segment because it jut feeds the trolls and instead of shaming these idiots, all you are doing is encouraging them to do it more. I am not sure if the critiques if are actual mean tweets or just up by the band or director but it just comes off as cringey. Though I did laugh at "Robotic Huey Lewis" despite making no sense. I guess it is a good thing I never got around to sharing my thought of The 1975's Saturday Night Live performance which was basically a Fameera David Bowie rip-off mixed with a cheesy disco song where the lead singer was trying way too hard to be the lead singer of INXS. And I kind of like that song, and this one too.

Work - Rihanna featuring Drake


Artist make multiple videos for the same song all the time, but this is the first time I remember anyone releasing two aat the sme time in the same video file. But listening to this song back to back only reminds me just how annoying that chorus can be and no matter how see-thru Rihanna's top is, I really cannot sit through it twice.

Fire Away - Chris Stapleton


Alchol has become so ingrained in country culture it has become a cliche, so kudos to Chris Stapleton, who has been flipping the genre on it heels since the release of his last album, for reminding us that there are negative consequences with the drug, especially when dealing with depression and mental illness.

Spirits - The Strumbellas


It is a rare feat to get song stuck in your head after on listen but The Strumbellas did just that with their first song because that chorus has not left my head since. For the past decade or so there has been a weird indie song that somehow manages to become a big mainstream hit, if there is any justice, that will be Spirits this year. Of course if that happens, I may be sick of it by summer.

Monday, February 22, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 2/22/16



Cherry Wine - Hozier


It is nice to see Saoirse Ronan finally get some recognition with all the nominations she has racked up for her work in Brooklyn, I thought she was one of the greatests child actors ever after Atonement but she kind of faded into the background after that aside from an attempt at action stardom with Hanna. I had the theory that it is hard to become a superstar when everyone is afraid to even try to pronounce your name. Even when she told Stephan Colbert it is like "inertia" while discussing absurdly spelled Irish names recently. Now she has teamed up with fellow Irishman Hozier for a powerful music video that brings to light domestic abuse. Proceeds from the single download of Cherry Wine will benefit a series of domestic abuse charities worldwide. Please visit Hozier.com/cherrywine for more information about this campaign.

Upside Down and Inside Out - OK Go


The kings of viral videos are back with maybe their best yet as they claim is completely real and filmed in zero gravity. Lots of replayability trying to figure what was going on. My favorite part is the paint balls. But again, the biggest problem with their video is OK Go made a song that is not very good.

Cosmic Love - Mayer Hawthorne


Mayer Hawthorne is going Trapped in the Closet for his upcoming album in the sense that all the music videos will be part of a detective series, and with his throwback style, of course it is a noirish type story. I think I may just wait until the whole story is release before watching another one.

Golden Gal - Animal Collective


And here is another trippy video from Animal Collective.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 2/16/16



Formation - Beyonce


I much prefer my Beyoncé when she is singing cheesy ballads or dancy pop song. My ears just glaze over whenever she tries to be hard. Please note I am not making a racist rant about the political overtones of the video. Seriously, anyone calling her Super Bowl performance racist are some of the dumbest people on the Earth like Rudy Guilani calling it an attack on police. Ugg, I do not know if he is a moron or he is just pandering to morons he can charge large amounts of money for speaking fees. But that is what the Republican party has devolved in and then wonder why Donald Trump is so high in the polls. I actually do believe some of the loudest rebel rouser (Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh) only say these crazy things knowing that it turns off a large portion of the population and makes the whole Republican party look crazy and unelectable and they will make more money under a President Hilary Clinton than a President Cruz or Rubio.

Ophelia - The Lumineers


My favorite moment in music this century so far is what I called the Neo Folk moment. Late 2014 I wondered if Shakey Graves' Dearly Departed was the last great song from the Neo Folk Era. Mumford and Sons is probably the biggest group of the era but their sophomore album just sounded like outtakes from their first and their last album it sounded like they were trying to be U2, and for the most part failed massively. The Lumineers had the biggest song of the era with Ho Hey and now are putting out their second album. But like Mumford and Sons, the first single just sounds like a leftover from their first. I guess I should wait to completely pass judgement until I hear the whole album, but this was a pretty "meh" start. The Neo Folk Era may truly be over. But then again, maybe the Fleet Foxes will release another great album this year giving a second wind.


Where the Lights Get In - Primal Scream featuring Sky Ferreira


Sometimes all the Brit-Pop band of the eighties and nineties blend into each other. Primal Scream is the one who sang Movin' On Up. I guess I can see why Sky Ferreira would jump on a track with them because she definitely goes for an eighties New Way type sound. Still kind of a weird collaboration that I am not sure about yet. In a month I am either going to really love this song or hate. Or more likely, forget it even existed.


Hold On (The Break) - Walk of the Earth


I get it, the new Walk Off the Earth song is entitled Hold On and they are hosting a contest to see which number can hold on the longest. Unfortunately there is not much you can do while hanging off a bar as you can tell by the minimal choreography. Instead it came off as one of the boring Survivor challenges that Probst always has to spruce up by tempting people to drop out in exchange for food. Really I was only left wondering if this was a real contest or if it was staged as to when they would give up.

Wednesday, February 03, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 2/3/16



Hymn for the Weekend - Coldplay featuring Beyonce


Didn't Coldplay already do the weird colored sand thing in a previous music video, or am I thinking of someone else that did that? But anyway. I am not really liking the happy Coldplay of their latest record. Yeah I know there last one was super depressing but they really did not need to swing the pendulum so far in the other direction.

Wide Open - The Chemical Brothers featuring Beck


The Chemical Brothers have always done some pretty creative music videos and add the mysterious disappearing dancer to that list.Simple but really visually effective.

Lose It - Oh Wonder


I do not know if the whole new Oh Wonder video was staged or these were actually reactions but I really hope it was the latter. I just feel bad for whoever had to clean up the confetti after every audition.

FloriDada - Animal Collective


The new Animal Collective music video is pretty freaky, I would not expect anything less from them.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 1/28/16


Genghis Khan - Miike Snow


I do not know if Miike Snow is parodying the absurdity of the James Bond / supervillan relationship but I want to just ignorantly believe that was their intent with this music video.

Take it Back - Nate Ruess


Two thing that will help you get on my list of the best music videos of the year is to either get kids to lip sync your songs or a pseudo celebrities to fill into you. I am not sure why Nate Ruess picked the dude who let Don Draper bed his wife back in an early season of Mad Men (and countless other roles that none currently are coming to mind), but it is enough to be in the considerate for this year's list.

Blue Wonderful - Elton John


Last year Brandon Flowers released a music video featuring a hot chick dancing weirdly alone in the house during what looked to be the eighties. I spent way too much time watching that. It looks like Elton John is showing us where her parents were at the time, assuming the hot chicks parents have the power of flight and used it not to fight crime but to do Cir de Sole type aerial dancing. Alrightly.

My Church - Maren Morris


I do not particularly mind the two ads per fifteen minutes on streaming radio, what I do mind is that it is the same two of four ads every single time. Can these streaming services not find more advertising? I do like when ever Spotify offers to watch one ad in exchange of a half hour of music. But again, those video ads are very limited too. But I have to say it kind of works when they are advertising music. I watched so many ads for Maren Morris that I am kind of digging this song now. Not that I ever want to see that ad again.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

I Want My Music Television: 1/12/16



Wildest Dreams - Taylor Swift


I remember a couple years ago Jay-Z tried to make a big deal about being the first new music video of the decade. Except no one really cared because no one ever bothered to watch Carson Daly's New Years Eve show. Taylor Swift is trying the same thing with the second half of the decade. Granted it was technically the last music video to premiere in 2015, but whatever. The song itself it pretty meh, but what would you expect sixth single from an album that only had two great songs. But this is the second mediocre song in a row that Swift spent late nineties type money on for a music video (somebody better be making some money for making me sitting through that horrible Natalie Dormor horror movie before every video I watch). I wonder if people are starting to make money on music video or is it basically only Taylor and Adele that are making any money. I just wished she had gone full Evil Dead during the muddy forest scene.

Irresistible - Fall Out Boy featuring Demi Lovato


Speaking of overpriced music video from the late nineties, Fall Out Boy pay, um, homage(?) to *NSYNC in their music video (which begs the question whatever happened to Kim Smith?) and boy you can tell just how less money they spent on it compared to the original with really bad doll make up. They were able to even recruited on N'Sync member who was already referred to as Fat Spice back in their heyday and looked to have not stopped eating since. But was there a second member at the beginning, my goodness, Adele smashing their single week record is not treating these guy very well. Do not expect a N'Sync Cochella reunion anytime soon. And those she only has one song that does not suck massively, Demi Lovato actually kind of works as a backup singer.

Flip and Rewind - Boss Selection featuring Rashida Jones


One more nineties throwback. Rashida Jones has recreated some of her favorite RnB music video from the decade. I am old enough to recognize them but am too old to actually remember what half of them are. TLC's Baby Baby Baby is obvious, and Mary J. Blige's Real Love in also fairly easy but I am hard pressed to place the other. Xscape? All-4-One maybe? Are the mustard suits from Heavy D and the Boyz? And for those scratching their head as to why Rashida Jones is getting into music, just remember she got her last name from father Quincy as in the guy who produced all the great Michael Jackson records. Boss Selection is actually the stage name for Sunny Levine, Quincy's grandson and Rashida's nephew.

Lazerus - David Bowie


I actually wrote most of this post last week but did not finish it in time to post it before the weekend. Originally I started off by making a poor attempt to tie this into nineties nostalgia before mentioning how this video reminded me of Metallica's One. But David Bowie ended up passing away before I did post it. So instead of the poor jokes I originally made, let me take this time to celebrate his life. As a child of the eighties, I first learned of Bowie due to his cheesy Let's Dance phase (Modern Love being my favorite), which of course every five year old loved, so I did not realize until much latter how embarrassing that video with Mick Jagger was (or the rumors surrounding them). I did not get into his older stuff until high school when he hooked up with Trent Resnor on an album and realized just how weird he was and was much closer to what he was like in the seventies than what I grew up with. But maybe the most lasting memory I have of Bowie is when he opened The Concert for New York with a sparce cover of Simon and Garfunkel's America before launching appropriately enough into Heroes in front of the brave men and women who risked their lives on 9/11. Friday, Bowie released what turned out to be his last proper album Blackstar on his birthday which will will go down as one of the haunting final album like Johnny Cash's American albums.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

I Want My Music Television: Cheesy Pop Songs Edition



We may be living in the greatest era for cheesy entertainment since the heyday in the eighties. On television, Supergirl is pure cheesy fun and The Librarians is not far behind (and word on the street is they are rebooting the cheesy eighties classic Greatest American Hero). Then on the radio music is fun again. Here are four songs that I am not so secretly jamming out to in the shower.


Focus - Ariana Grande


Leading the new era of cheesiness is Ariana Grande. I know I should hate everything she does, but I cannot stop listening to her music (well that is until her duet partners start rapping, she has done some horrible collaborations). Sure her new single Focus is just a Problem retreat except instead of someone whispering the chorus there is some annoying fake Mystikal dude shouting it. But hey, there is no Iggy Azalea to completely ruin the song. Where the song may be lacking, the video is golden cheesy. There is maybe the least sensual lip licking ever filmed and whenever Ariana tries to dance it is never not entertaining.

Stand By You - Rachel Platten


Ariana Grande may had made a last second pitch, but the cheesiest great song of the year will likely go to Rachel Platten's Fight Song (of course it was used to perfection in the Supergirl trailer). The follow up may not be as great (it kind of rips of the stacatto piano notes in the chorus that Katy Perry's Roar ripped off from Sara Bareilles's Brave), but that does not mean I was not singing along by the second listen.

Your Type - Carly Rae Jepsen


When historians look back and try to figure out when pop music when from the annoying Katy Perry / Lady Gaga / Ke$ha era to the current annoyingly catchy era, most will probably point to Taylor Swift but I would argue it was the release of Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. She followed that up with I Really Really Really Really Really Like You which was somehow more annoying and more cheesy than her first hit. But here is the thing, the rest of her new album is kind of, sort of, almost... not bad. And Your Type may be my favorite in a cheesy version of Chvrches kind of way. Just do not ask me what the weird trashy Cinderella music video is about.

Same Old Love - Selena Gomez


Back during the dark ages when Katy Perry was ruling the pop world, Selena Gomez was actually making some fun and cheesy pop-rock songs with her band The Scene. Last album she went solo and recorded a bunch of half baked Rihanna leftovers. Her new album was a little better, though the first single Good For You came across as an overly sexualized version of a Lorde song. The best song off the album is this one even if it songs like a Charli XCX leftover (because basically it is, Charli XCX wrote it). Still, I wished she would get back to her cheesy pop-rock roots.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

I Want My Music Television: 8/19/15


Leave a Trace - Chvrches


When I first heard the new single off of the new Chvrches album I thought it may be a Mumford & Sons or Kacey Musgraves situation where the sophomore album sounds like like average leftovers from a great debut. But the more I listen to Leave a Trace, the more I like it so I will hold my judgement until September when I hear the whole album (though I would not be too angry if for their third album Chvrches pulls the anti Mumford Sons, who when electric on album three, and goes acoustic). The video kinda has a lo-fi eighties feeling to it which actually goes with the new wave sound.

Put a Flower in Your Pocket - The Arcs


For those who thought the latest The Black Keys album was trippy, wait until you get a load of Dan Aurbauch's side project The Arcs and their weirdly violent cartoon animal human hybrid starring music video.

Live Forever - The Band Perry


People have been bemoaning the death of rock and roll for about a decade or so now, but here is the thing, rock did not die, it put on a cowboy hat because that is the only place on the radio dial that plays guitars anymore. What used to pass as Adult Contemporary has also been gobbled up by ten gallon hats (which is why we have gotten country albums from Jewel, Sheyrl Crowe, and Hootie of Blowfish fame). The Band Perry have always been in that AC wing of country radio but it sounds like they are aiming for the Taylor Swift crowd because the first single off their next album sounds, and the video looks, nothing remotely resembling country. Unfortunately the result is a bland, sounds like every other boring and simplistic third rate pop song from last decade (the song was produced by RedOne who helped out with songs from Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and Pitbull; Pharrell and Diplo are also reportedly part of the upcoming album which does not have a release date yet). Between albums, the group teamed up Fall Out Boy for CMT Crossroads and the male part of the group looked like they raided the other group's wardrobe. None of it works.

Love Myself - Hailee Steinfeld


Speaking of embarrassing third rate pop songs from last decade. After breaking out in True Grit, Hailee Steinfeld has been dabbling in musical movies lately. Last year she was in the rather mediocre but had its moments Begin Again from the writer director of Once as the Hulk's guitar playing estranged daughter. Earlier this year she popped up in Pitch Perfect II and even though her song from the movie did not become an Anna Kendrick size hit, she still got a record deal out of it. And the result is maybe one of the most embarrassing pop songs since R.E.M. released Shiny Happy People (if the double entente of the chorus is not that obvious, she wears a Self Service t-shirt). You have to wonder how something like this is allowed to happen. If this is the best her music career has to offer, them maybe she should stick to movie, or at the very least she needs to beg her buddy Taylor Swift for some of her castoffs.

Thursday, August 06, 2015

I Want My Music Television: 8/6/15



Nwa - Miguel


Who would have guessed two and a half decades after imploding, we would be having an N.W.A. reconnaissance? And there is not a better time considering the most popular rappers this year have no flow and are just really bad RnB singers (seriously, how are Fetty Wap and Future a thing?). Straight Outta Compton comes out this month while Dr. Dre is releasing a pseudo soundtrack to it (assuming it is not perpetually delayed but unlike Detox, Compton has a release date, we will see if it actually drops tomorrow). Beating both of those is Miguel's ode to the group that does not actually feature any members aside from a third degree of separation Kurupt instead. C'mon, do not tell me Miguel could not at least get MC Ren on the track.

Ditmas - Mumford and Sons


After shunning music videos when their album was originally released, now Mumford and Sons cannot stop releasing them. The got silly dressing up for The Wolf, not they are going a more serious, artsy path for their latest with a song that pretty much has the same structure as The Wolf. As I blindly hated on their new electric sound, I did not realize at the time how similar many of the songs sounded.

Freedom - Pharrell Williams


Pharrell Williams's last album was kind of annoyingly (pardon the pun) happy. It looks like he may go a little darker on the follow up. Sure Freedom is as dark as his darkest moments with N.E.R.D. but I think I like this better than anything on G I R L.

Go Away - Weezer


I should probably enjoy Weezer making fun of a dating app, but after Hilary Duff's blatant commercial a couple months ago masked as a music video, this just leaves me a little cold. It does not help that the song is not very good.


Thursday, July 23, 2015

I Want My Music Television:7/23/15



Song For Someone - U2


The prison industrial complex looks to be one of the bigger issues in the upcoming presidential election and one that it seems like both Democrats and Republicans should agree on. It a rights issues for the dems and the GOP should not like our tax dollars being wasted on nonviolent prisoners. President Obama just recently became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. But like most of what goes on in Washington, I would be shocked if anything actually gets done other than a few more states decriminalizing the wacky weed. I am not sure sure if the new U2 video is part of that movement as we seem Woody Harrelson's final day in prison which gets kind of creepy after being picked up by his real life daughter. It is probably good that the video cut off where it did.

Good for You - Selena Gomez


Someone recently pointed out that the new Selena Gomez music music video was made for dirty old men. I think pretty much any red blooded American man can appreciate it, c'mon, it is not Fiona Apple Criminal type creepy or anything. Okay, close, but there is no seventies shag carpeting. (Sure I may just be talking myself into not being creepy for watching this somewhere between 100 and 1000 times.) The song itself is kind of boring. It sound like she went into a producer and said, "I want Lorde but sexier." Except I do not want a sexier version of Lorde. But at least the music video omits the unnecessary A$AP Rocky verse for multiple reasons.

The Wolf (Live At Bonnaroo 2015) - Mumford & Sons


Mumford and Sons dropped their new album without a music video saying they do not really like doing them but had come around and may end up filming a couple. Um, I am not sure transversing around Bonnaroo as Robin Hood, Maid Marianne(?), a chicken, and a wolf (natch) makes may not actually be better than no video at all. Like most people when the new album came out, I met it with a "huh?" and "why?" but after a couple listens I do not completely have The Wolf but still find their electric conversion unnecessary.

Goldmine - Kimbra


Is the Kimbra music video stop motion (live action stop motion is a weird concept)? At any rate it is freaky cool.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

I Want My Music Television: 6/18/15



Biscuits - Kacey Musgraves


2013 was a great year for new music, Lorde, Haim, Chvrches, and Daughter all put out very good debuts, but my favorite album by a new album was Same Trailer, Different Park by Kacey Musgraves (it came in second on my list of the 25 Best Albums of 2013). So her follow was one of my most anticipated albums of 2015. Except it became a little less anticipated when I heard the first single Biscuits which sounds exactly like Follow Your Arrow off the first album both musically and lyrically ("Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy" is literally a left over line from Follow Your Arrow). I began to fear a Mumford and Sons situation where the second album ends up sounding like B-sides leftover from a stellar first album (Family Is Family which was released last week did not quash those fears). But I will say the music video for Biscuits is more entertaining than that of Follow Your Arrow although thanks to the bouncing biscuit, I learned that the first line of the chorus is "Hoe your own row" and not, "Hold your own rope" like I originally thought.


Coffee - Miguel


Ever since the turn of the century, RnB music has gotten worse and worse. And with the lack of good RnB meant the lack of good baby making music. Really there has not been many reasons to update the Baby Making Playlist since Babyface sank into obscurity. And then two years ago Miguel came along and lit the bedroom flames again with songs like Adorn and the kind of date-rapey How Many Drinks. I have high hopes for his follow up and though Coffee may not be as smooth as Adorn, it will certainly worth an add to the Baby Making Playlist.


Love 3X - ZZ Ward


I kind of wanted to like ZZ Ward's album but it was trying a little hard to be important but just failed despite have a couple good, but no great songs. That first album had a post Adele-bluesy feel to it, but judging by the first single from her sophomore album, she is going for more of a pop sound with this faux-Jamaican, cheesy fun ditty. It is definitely catchier than anything on that first album, but I still think Put the Gun Down is still a better song overall. But the music video is a little weird because for some reason ZZ has decided to look like Ashlee Simpson circa her new nose phase. At least that silly hat work better with the shorter hair.


Songs I Can't Listen To - Neon Trees


The latest Neon Trees is about songs someone can no longer listen to after a break up. Funny, I sort of get more obsessed with those songs afterwards.

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

I Want My Music Television: 6/3/15



Fight Song - Rachel Platten


Earlier last month I trashed the Supergirl trailer for basically being silly. But after watching it a couple hundred times, I have completely come around and kind of absolutely love it. The actress is extremely likeable especially as Kara where they really nail socially uncomfortableness that none of the live action Supermans (Supermen?) have yet to master especially the most recent who inexplicably just went with a rugged alter ego route. Then there are small moments like Kara rejecting a costume that looks exactly like the comic version. Really my only complaint now is Ally McBeal's silly defense of calling her Supergirl (as well as her stealing Anne Heche's face Face-Off style). To be honest, now I cannot wait until this premieres until November (okay I can wait because I have no desire to download the leaked Pilot since I would then have to wait six month to watch episode two). My love for the trailer is so complete I even ended up downloading the song from the trailer and have played it on a loop whenever I am not watching the trailer even though the song is the latest in a long list of annoying self empowerment anthems. But like the trailer, the video works very well, especially the part with Rachel Platten (who like Supergirl comes off as very likeable) playing to a nearly empty bar which really ties to to the lyrics well.


Lonely Town - Brandon Flowers


Another somewhat catchy song from the new Brandon Flowers solo album (aside from the unnecessary auto-tune in the middle. Plus you got to enjoy the retro chick with her Walkman dancing on her own alone in her house.


Go - The Chemical Brothers


I am not that interested in a The Chemical Brothers reunion but I am all for more Q-Tip who is for some reason not credited on the song.


Loving You Easy - Zac Brown Band


As the new Zac Brown Band starts off black and white with a hot chick on the beach I thought, great it is about time someone ripped of Chris Isaak Wicked Game. Alas, it just turned out to be a day in the life of life of a random hot chick. At least she finally made it to the beach by the end.