Showing posts with label Lorde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lorde. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2017

The 50 Best Music Videos of 2017



1. Bad Liar - Selena Gomez


2. It's a Shame - First Aid Kit


3. Perfect Places - Lorde


4. Chase Me - Danger Mouse featuring Run the Jewels and Big Boi


5. Obession - OK Go


6. Feels Like Summer (Roses N’ Weezer Version) - Weezer

7. Humble. - Kendrick Lamar

8. Same Drugs - Chance the Rapper

9. Stand By My Girl - Dan Auerbach

10. Santa's Coming For Us - Sia

11. 1000 - N.E.R.D. featuring Future

12. …Ready for It? - Taylor Swift

13. Legend Has It - Run the Jewels

14. Galway Girl - Ed Sheeran

15. Fetish - Selena Gomez featuring Gucci Mane

16. Lift - Radiohead

17. Look What You Made You Do - Taylor Swift

18. Lemon - N.E.R.D. featuring Rihanna

19. The Sky Is a Neighborhood - Foo Fighters

20. Hard Times - Paramore

21. I Could Use a Love Song - Maren Morris

22. Don't Get Captured - Run the Jewels

23. Down - Marian Hill

24. Hold Me Tight or Don't - Fall Out Boy

25. Drink Up - Train

26. Alaska - Maggie Rogers

27. Back in the USA - Green Day

28. DNA. - Kendrick Lamar

29. Dis Generation - A Tribe Called Quest

30. Believer - Imagine Dragons

31. Loyalty - Kendrick Lamar featuring Rihanna

32. Physical - The Aces

33. King of a One Horse Town - Dan Auerbach

34. If We Were Vampires - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

35. Good with God - Old 97's featuring Brandi Carlile

36. Thunder - Imagine Dragons

37. Little of Your Love - Haim

38. Things it Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution - Father John Misty

39. Colors - Beck

40. Green Light - Lorde

41. Fake Happy - Paramore

42. Pure Comedy - Father John Misty

43. May I Have This Dance (Remix) - Francis and the Lights featuring Chance the Rapper

44. Now - Miguel

45. On + Off - Maggie Rogers

46. Run - Foo Fighters

47. Lost in Your Light - Dua Lipa featuring Miguel

48. G O O D - Erin McCarley

49. I Dare You - The xx

50. So Tied Up - Cold War Kids featuring Bishop Briggs

Monday, August 07, 2017

I Want My Music Television: 8/7/2017



Perfect Places – Lorde


Pure Heroine was a great album that I had on heavy rotation, I just realized that I listened to the new Lorde once when it came out and that is out. Perfect Places was my favorite track off that album, I may have go back and revisit it. I do really like the video; it reminds me a time when people actually spent money on videos by going to exotic locations. Just imagine how great those Rio-era Duran Duran videos would have looked in hi-def.


Bibia Be Ye Ye – Ed Sheeran


How do I put this nicely: Ed Sheeran is very white so it is weird to see a bunch of black people sing his songs. But I wonder if Ed has a Graceland in him, that could be interesting.


Boys - Charli XCX


Charli XCX can be very hit or miss for me and I am learning towards the latter for my early assessment of Boys. I like the chorus but the repetitive chorus may get very annoying.


Feels Like Summer - Weezer


Feels like Summer is another in a long line of underwhelming Weezer singles, but you gotta love the Guns N' Roses circa Paradise City send up.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

2017 Spring Music Preview


Oh wow, looking over the list of albums coming out this spring that I am kind of excited about. Sure not enough to make a most anticipated list, but it is inching that way. I already went on about the return of Michelle Branch dung the winter preview, then add to that Lorde and Fleet Foxes. It has been four years since Lorde debuted and changed the pop landscape and it sound like it has changed her too with two big piano based songs replacing her drum heavy sound of her first album. I has been six years since Fleet Foxes put out the excellent Helplessness Blues and it does not sound like they have chance much. Of course both albums are supposed to drop on the same day. Here is a list of other albums coming out in the next couple months that will at least be worthy of a spin on Spotify. Click on the album title to pre-order on Amazon, click the artists name to be taken to their iTunes page.


Tomorrow
The Wild - Raekwon
WildHorse - RaeLynn
We All Want the Same Things - Craig Finn
Souvenir - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
Damage and Joy - The Jesus and Mary Chain

March 31
Triplicate - Bob Dylan
The Ride - Nelly Furtado
Emperor of Sand - Mastodon
Bloodlust - Body Count

April 7
Hopeless Romantic - Michelle Branch
L.A. Divine - Cold War Kids
Pure Comedy - Father John Misty
Whiteout Conditions - The New Pornographers

April 14
Ladies & Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies & The Persuasions
The Seven - Talib Kweli & Styles P

April 21
Sad Clowns & Hillbillies - John Mellencamp
Be Myself - Sheryl Crow
8 - Incubus
Americana - Ray Davies
Wrangled - Angaleena Presley

April 28
God's Problem Child - Willie Nelson
Pleasure - Feist
Something Else - The Cranberries
Pussycat - Juliana Hatfield

May 5
Pollinator - Blondie
In Spades - The Afghan Whigs

May 12
Welcome Home - Zac Brown Band

May 19
One More Light - Linkin Park

June 2
Kaleidoscope EP - Coldplay

June 9
Relaxer - alt-J

June 16
Melodrama - Lorde
Crack-Up - Fleet Foxes
The Nashville Sound - Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

TBD
Forever - Phife Dawg
Fake Nudes - Barenaked Ladies
Mosaic - 311
As You Were - Liam Gallagher
Beck
Pat Benatar
Aretha Franklin
Shania Twain

And of course this could be the quarter Dr. Dre finally releases Detox

Wednesday, March 08, 2017

I Want My Music Television: 3/8/17



Green Light - Lorde


My first impression when listening to the new Lorde song was, good, it sounds like she is not just making Pure Heroine 2.0. But on further listening, I am beginning to realize it may be too glossy. The rawness is what made her first album great. I think we have Jack Abramoff to thank, he of Fun and also produced Out of the Woods, the most bland of Taylor Swift’s single. I am still cautiously optimistic for the new album.


That's What I Like - Bruno Mars


Bruno Mars said he wanted his new album to sound like the RnB heavy middle school dances he went to in the nineties. I did not think he quite hit his goal, except his latest video does look very nineties.


Beauty and the Beast – John Legend and Ariana Grande


Remakes are universally reviled by the internet but they keep happening because for some reason people in the real world keep seeing them. One of the worse remakes ever did not happen on the silver screen but was a musical remake: We Are the World 25. Seriously, Michael Jackson headlined the orginal. The biggest name in the remake was Lil’ Wayne. I think The Pussycat Dolls were involved too. Just a huge embarrassment. But where the eighties version featured a murders row of future first ballot Hall of Famers, in the new millennium, there just are not any superstar singers anymore. Taylor Swift. Adele. That is it. That is the list. Basically every other modern day singer would be happy to be Kim Carnes level of successful today. Now I will not call the Ariana Grande / John Legend remake as bad as the We Are the World Remake but it is weird that Ariana Grande is the best they can get to replace Celine Dion. I guess Legend is an upgrade for Peabo Bryson. But I fear the Sean Mendez version of Circle of Life for the upcoming Lion King Remake.


No Lives Matter - Body Count


Nothing more annoying when both sides of the political divide fight over stupid thing (case in point: who the fork cares where people go to the bathroom). Now police violence against unarmed black man is important, but the fighting over the “(insert subsection here) lives matter” got way out of control. Leave it to Ice-T, (you know, the guy from the lemonade television commercial) and No Lives Matter - Body Count to tell it like it is, that in actuality, No Lives Matter.


Saturday, April 12, 2014

Best of the Week: 4/12/14




Quote of the Week: Didn’t, I told you, you were going to wish I killed you? Well, Don’t you? (Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, Justified)

Song of the Week: (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Ă–yster Cult (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Scene of the Week:


Big News of the Week: Stephan Colbert Gets Called up to the Majors: Just a week after David Letterman announced his retirement, CBS has already found its replacement. Interestingly as Dave was announcing his long goodbye (he is set to continue until sometime next year), Colbert was in a mild scandal over what some called a racist tweet (note to self: do not say something that can be construed as racist to make fun of racist people). Even with the mild scandal, the announcement is not a surprise because Colbert’s was the first name that was floated as a possible replacement. It should be interesting to see how viewers react to Colbert who has been playing a parody of a conservative talking head for over a decade now, so dedicated to the persona; no one has seen the real Colbert on camera for a very long time. Or maybe Colbert really is a conservative blow hard and the joke has been on the viewers all this time. Either way, one can only hope that Daft Punk performs on his first show.

Preview Picture of the Week:

“Where There’s Smoke” Dallas Winter Finale, Monday at 9:00 on TNT

Free Download of the Week: Somebody Loves You - Betty Who (iTunes)

New Album Release of the Week: Illmatic XX - Nas

New DVD Release of the Week: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Video of the Week: This year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class have been waiting awhile to get in. Hall & Oates, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt, and Kiss had been eligible for a combined 87 years before being inducted. Even the E Street Band had to wait fifteen years after Bruce Springsteen was inducted by himself. The lone first ballot inductee (or one that did not have to wait more than a decade) was Nirvana. The surviving members had not played any Nirvana songs live since Kurt Cobain died, but Krist Novoselic did play bass and accordion on Foo Fighters 2011 song I Should Have Known. The following year Novoselic, Dave Grohl, and touring guitarist Pat Smear teamed up with Paul McCartney for a new song off the soundtrack of Ghohl’s Sound City documentary.

But since they never played any Nirvana songs together so there was some debate if they would do so for the Hall of Fame, and then the bigger question, who would sing? That in part answered earlier this week when Grohl posted a picture to his Instragram account of his drums, Novoselic’s bass, Smear’s guitar along with Joan Jett’s guitar. Jett, who herself has been eligible since 2005 (2001 if you count The Runaways) came out and sang Smells Like Teen Spirit. But the band did not stop there, Kim Gordon would sing Aneurysm, and St. Vincent would come out to perform Lithium (she covered the song recently on the anniversary of Cobain’s death). Then Novoselic introduced Lorde to sing All Apologies in a bright pink suit. Did not see that coming. I guess the video that popped up a month of two with Novoselic playing Royals on accordion makes a little more sense now. The crappy cell phone videos will have to do for now because The 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special does not air May 31 on HBO. Seriously HBO, it is 2014, how does it take something seven weeks to make it to air?


Next Week Pick of the Week: Mad Men, Sunday at 10:00 on AMC: It is the beginning of the end for Mad Men with its final season premiere. Granted it will be a while until the actual end because AMC split the season in two so the series finale will not air until sometime in 2015. Ugg.


Monday, January 27, 2014

We on Award Tour: 2014 Grammy Awards



After a lackluster 2013, this year's Grammy's was surprisingly not horrible. Only two performances had me reaching to switch to the Pro Bowl. Of course the no defense game had me back on CBS quickly. Here are some quick thought on the show.

- Beyoncé gave me a serious seizure. Not a very good way to start a show. Plus I do not really like the Grammy trend of opening up the show with someone who is not nominated but just promoting an album.

- LL Cool J has to be the most boring host ever. Seriously, can you get a host next year that will make at least one Justin Bieber joke. Why did they not have Anna Kendrick host? She was more more entertaining in two minutes than he was all night. Or at least have her present with Kendrick Lamar?

- Um, Lorde already did Royals at the nomination special. How about let her do something else. At least they did not force her to perform with Madonna.

- Remember how Best New Artist was a joke but last decade they managed to get it right ever year for almost ten straight year from Alicia Keys to Adele? Well it looks to being back to being a joke.

- Should I know who Hunter Hayes is, that performance was not very good. If that was The Voice, no one would have turned their chairs.

- Oscar winner Juicy J should be brought up at every award show. Katy Perry, not so much.

- Was Pharrell Williams the first interpreter at the Grammy's? I guess it should not be a surprise they did not speak, they are French.  He certainly was the first real life human to wear an oversized Dudley Do Right hat.

- Kevin Hart was in the house and still they had LL Cool J hosted?

- So Robin Thicke sings blurred Lines with Earth, Wind & Fire on the nomination special and with Chicago on the big show. Hey Grammy's how about stop double dipping. At least they were both an upgrade over Miley Cyrus.

- Having YouTube performances during the Pop categories was stupid.

- After Steve Hyden of Grantland suggested that a potential Lorde acceptance speech could be a mix between Pearl Jam circa 1996 and Fiona Apple on MTV, her acceptance speeches were a bit disappointing. But she definitely deserved it.

- I have a feeling one day we are going to learn the last twenty years or so of Ozzy Osbourne's life was a Weekend at Bernie's situation.

- Jamie Fox was only a little bit awkward focusing on Beyonce.

- I feel bad for Kacey Musgraves for having to follow the Imagine Dragons / Kendrick Lamar song. Whoever sequenced that did a really bad job. I still would have had Kendrick perform a mash up with Anna Kendrick instead. But I did love how Imagine Dragons did not bother to clean up after their performance. And Kacey's boots were awesome.

- Why does Taylor Swift not have her own dedicated dance cam stream? It is 2014 people.

- Mike Ditka on a wrecking ball during the "halftime show": something I will not be able to unsee.

- Where was Taylor Swift during the massive Daft Punk dance party? She could not have been pouting over losing the Best Country Album. Not only was Kacey Musgraves' better, it was an actual country album.

- Does Lars Ulrich really have a mullet?

- Same Love needed more Trombone Shorty and less Madonna.

- It is interesting that Miranda Lambert performed The Everly Brothers song with Billie Joe Armstrong instead of Norah Jones considering they just recorded an Everly's cover album together. Come to think of it I do not even remember them performing together to promote the album.

- Get Lucky is a great song but not great enough to get an otherwise underwhelming rest of the album worthy of Album of the Year. But then again it was a weak category this year.

- A solid closing performance, I really enjoy the Lindsey Buckingham enhanced version of Copy of A better than the original. Get that version on iTunes soon before I have to get a copy through nefarious means.

Monday, December 30, 2013

The 100 Best Songs of 2013




1. Royals - Lorde

2. The One That Got Away - The Civil Wars

3. Get Lucky - Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams

4. Youth - Daughter

5. Wake Me Up (Acoustic) - Aloe Blacc

6. Berzerk - Eminem

7. Pompeii - Bastille

8. Stubborn Love - The Lumineers

9. Bleeding Out - The Lone Bellow

10. The Mother We Share - Chvrches

11. Chill In the Air - Amos Lee

12. Lego House - Ed Sheeran

13. The Woodpile - Frightened Rabbit

14. Let Her Go - Passenger

15. Falling - Haim

16. Team - Lorde

17. Merry Go 'Round - Kacey Musgraves

18. Dust to Dust - The Civil Wars

19. Torpedo - Jillette Johnson

20. Diane Young - Vampire Weekend

21. PrimeTime - Janelle Monae featuring Miguel

22. Little Numbers - Boy

23. Closer - Tegan and Sara

24. Everything Has Changed - Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran

25. Change - Churchill

26. Numbers On the Boards - Pusha T

27. Only a Clown - Caitlin Rose

28. Rap God - Eminem

29. I Got You - Jack Johnson

30. Better Dig Two - The Band Perry

31. Grace for Saints and Ramblers - Iron and Wine

32. Don't Save Me - Haim

33. Hero - Family of the Year

34. Paper Doll - John Mayer

35. Retrograde - James Blake

36. Hearts Like Ours - The Naked and Famous

37. Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

38. Tears Always Win - Alicia Keys

39. Blowin' Smoke - Kacey Musgraves

40. Gun - CHVRCHES

41. Fire We Make - Alicia Keys and Maxwell

42. Tennis Court - Lorde

43. Stay - Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko

44. Another Is Waiting - The Avett Brothers

45. If I Loved You - Delta Rae featuring Lindsey Buckingham)

46. The Wire - Haim

47. Chocolate - The 1975

48. Boy - Emma Louise

49. My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up) - Fall Out Boy

50. Survival - Eminem

51. Supersoaker - Kings of Leon

52. Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend

53. Inland - Jars of Clay

54. Still - Daughter

55. Her Favorite Song - Mayer Hawthorne

56. Still Into You - Paramore

57. Radiate - Jack Johnson

58. Follow Your Arrow - Kacey Musgraves

59. Babel - Mumford & Sons

60. The Ceiling - The Wild Feathers

61. Forever - Haim

62. Hurricane - MS MR

63. The War Within - Churchill

64. Better Days - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

65. Cups (Pitch Perfect's “When I’m Gone”) [Pop Version] - Anna Kendrick

66. Big Blue Wave - Hey Ocean!

67. Wings - Haerts

68. Treasure - Bruno Mars

69. Bad Things - Meiko

70. Murder of Crows - Lindi Ortega

71. No Cure - Megan Hilty

72. Shake - The Head and the Heart

73. Nosetalgia - Pusha T featuring Kendrick Lamar

74. Recover - Chvrches

75. February Seven - The Avett Brothers

76. Hopeless Wanderer - Mumford & Sons

77. San Francisco - The Mowgli's

78. Drinkin' - Holly Williams

79. Heartbeat - Kopecky Family Band

80. Wildest Moments - Jessie Ware

81. Wear Me Out - Skylar Grey

82. Mission Bells - Matt Nathanson

83. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons

84. Beautiful War - Kings of Leon

85. Come & Get It - Selena Gomez

86. Pumpin Blood - NONONO

87. Hard Out Here - Lily Allen

88. Final Warning - Skylar Grey

89. The Man Who Wants You - Amos Lee

90. Ya Hey - Vampire Weekend

91. Breakfast Can Wait - Prince

92. You’re Not the One - Sky Ferreira

93. Mama's Broken Heart - Miranda Lambert

94. Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It - Stars

95. 3AM - Kate Nash

96. We Come Running - Youngblood Hawke

97. When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars

98. Sirens - Pearl Jam

99. Tin Star - Lindi Ortega

100. Done. - The Band Perry




Sunday, December 29, 2013

The 100 Most Entertaining People of 2013



1. Lorde

2. Tatiana Maslany

3. Seth Rogan

4. James Spader

5. Timothy Olyphant

6. Mads Mikkelsen

7. Pharrell Williams

8. James Franco

9. The Civil Wars

10. Eminem

11. Rick Rubin

12. Jim Parsons

13. Kacey Musgraves

14. Vampire Weekend

15. Robert Downey Jr.

16. Rob Ford

17. Jon Hamm

18. Jonah Hill

19. Ken Marino

20. Kat Dennings

21. Charlie Hunnam

22. Daughter

23. Michael Shannon

24. Kaley Cuoco

25. Haim

26. Alison Brie

27. Keri Russell

28. Connie Britton

29. Craig Robinson

30. Janelle MonĂ¡e

31. Hayen Panettiere

32. Emma Watson

33. Bryan Fuller

34. The Avett Brothers

35. Leonardo DiCaprio

36. Megan Boone

37. Hugh Dancy

38. Caitlin Rose

39. Ashley Benson

40. Danny McBride

41. Jay Baruchel

42. Caroline Glaser

43. Eden Sher

44. Holly Henry

45. Ciera Eastin

46. Eliza Coupe

47. Donald Glover

48. Elizabeth Henstridge

49. Jane Levy

50. Kacey Rohl

51. Vocal Rush

52. Charlie McDermott

53. Amos Lee

54. Jeff Garlin

55. Mumford and Sons

56. Jack Johnson

57. J. B. Smooth

58. Chvrches

59. Maggie Lawson

60. Beyoncé

61. John Slattery

62. The Hero

63. Jere Burns

64. Abigail Spencer

65. Bailey Buntain

66. Come and Get It

67. Pearl Jam

68. Sarah Hyland

69. Sutton Foster

70. Kristen Bell

71. Donal Logue

72. Jeremy Renner

73. Patton Oswalt

74. Wendell Pierce

75. Ed O'Neill

76. Jason Segel

77. Amy Adams

78. Neil Patrick Harris

79. Margo Martindale

80. Emmy Rossum

81. Kings of Leon

82. Taylor Swift

83. Walton Goggins

84. Prince

85. Alexandra Chando

86. Emily Van Camp

87. Eric Clapton

88. Lana Parrilla

89. Madeleine Stowe

90. Robin Williams

91. Simon Helberg

92. Laurence Fishburne

93. The Roots

94. Gemma Arterton

95. Julie Bowen

96. John Stewart

97. John Mayer

89. Sara Bareilles

99. Nick Searcy

100. Aubrey Peeples