READ IT AT BILLBOARD (in print too)
I got back together with Selena Gomez to review a little bit of her banner year — specifically, the song that started it all, “Good for You.” This one has more to show in print, but I conducted the video interview with her (and her team) as well. Want more? Revisit our October cover story.
It was an honor and a responsibility to write about Kendrick Lamar’s incredible To Pimp a Butterfly. It’s a monumental work that’s owed much more than I could give, but helping to crown it SPIN’s Album of the Year is a good start. I spilled ink on four others that made the year’s 50 Best LPs: Deerhunter’s Fading Frontier at No. 7, Protomartyr’s The Agent Intellect at No. 20, Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late at No. 23, and Blur’s Magic Whip at No. 37. Peep the whole list, which not only includes a ton of great music, but words by people I dig a whole lot.
They gave me free reign to program the entire Tuesday Reviewsday segment this time. Tune in for new jams by Björk friend Arca, Cavanaugh (Serengeti + Open Mike Eagle), cool brainiac Martin Crane, and Shovels & Rope in tribute mode. Click through or stream here:
Sweet sax prevails on this episode of Tuesday Reviewsday. The voice of my usual co-anchor Shirley Halperin was beamed in from New York, so I couldn’t actually see her grooving to Lazyboy Empire’s batshit “Vampire” track, but of course it happened. I also spoke on SPORTS and their new (final?) album, All of Something. TRD is now podcast on iTunes. It’s below too:
A brief list of things I collect: 1) Music. 2) Beer. So when Diffuser asked me to pair 21 brews of my choosing with their alt/indie/rock album equivalents, well, the work was already done. This was a labor o— hiccup! Er, sorry. What was I saying? Oh yeah: pop cap, hit play, cheers.
READ IT AT BILLBOARD (in print too)
There’s something delightfully cheesy and jaw-droppingly awesome about Pentatonix. If you’ve seen their YouTube-owning a cappella covers videos, then you know what I’m talking about. If you’ve witnessed them sing in person, you probably wanna strangle me for the “cheesy” jab — these five are that impressive in real life, and they’re a lot of fun to talk to as well.
READ IT AT BILLBOARD (in print too)
I sat with Machine Gun Kelly to retrace a week in the hard-living MC’s life. Now I feel like I need a shower. Naked groupies, mushroom trips, and Puff Daddy are only half of the story. There wasn’t even room for the $2000 he dropped on an ax-shaped weed pipe. Photo by Casey McPerry.
READ IT AT BILLBOARD (in print too)
A week in the life of Disturbed bassist Dan Donegan is endearingly, excellently mundane.
READ IT AT BILLBOARD (in print too)
At the heart of the respective careers of Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers (both solo and, um, brolo) is one man who never went to college — instead he went on tour with Britney Spears, then moved to L.A. to build a small empire. Read Phil McIntyre’s story. Photo by Yu Tsai.
I was joined by the estimable Nic Harcourt for the latest installment of Tuesday Reviewsday, which is now a podcast on iTunes. My picks for this week? An EP, The Catcher of the Fade, from the L.A.-centric squad anchored by Open Mike Eagle, Busdriver, and Milo. And an album, Poison Season, by Destroyer. Listen up over at NPR member station KPCC, or right the heck here:
Chris Writes Things 