As you might have noticed, this is a bittersweet week around here; because of budget cuts, we’ve had to say goodbye to pretty much all the Idolator contributing writers, from columnists to daily bloggers. The site is going to go on as a solo project of sorts, although the news cycle might run at a slightly slower pace. I just wanted to take a moment on this crappy day to thank everyone who’s contributed to the site during my tenure, from the people who helped me sift through the news cycle every day to the columnists, each of whom expanded the focus of the site. More »
Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up-and-coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the world’s music charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some may become the next little thing. That’s why every two weeks Chuck Eddy will be exploring the world beyond the Billboard 200, where he’ll look for diamonds in the MySpace rough. This week, his roster of up-and-comers includes a trio of country-singing sisters from California, Europe’s self-proclaimed “Hottest Guitar Player,” some unlikely beneficiaries of Jay-Z’s press, Viking metal from the Indiana tundra, a mysterious London 8-bit musician, and an Arizona outfit that actually wants to be known as “Internet famous.”
Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up-and-coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the pop charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some may become the next little thing. That’s why every two weeks Chuck Eddy will be exploring the world beyond the Billboard 200, where he’ll look for diamonds in the MySpace rough. This week, his roster of up-and-comers includes Loch Ness-inspired folkies, accordion-assisted cantina polkas, a Brooklyn MC who needs a rhyming dictionary, some internationally known Detroit rockers, jumpy Christian teenpop, and a 161-year-old Mormon institution.
Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up-and-coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the pop charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some may become the next little thing. That’s why every two weeks Chuck Eddy will be exploring the world beyond the Billboard 200, where he’ll look for diamonds in the MySpace rough. This week, his roster of up-and-comers includes a reggae tribute to Barack Obama, a chess-playing jazzman, and some screamo guys who think they’re collectively the devil.
Being a professional rock critic means you wind up accumulating a lot of records–some of which you even keep! In Singles Again, Chuck Eddy will, as he put it, “cash in on inevitable nostalgia for a more innocent analog time by digging out and spinning for myself all the mysterious indie vinyl 7-inches by forgotten no-names that have piled up on my shelf over the past decade or two, in hopes of figuring out why the heck I kept them in the first place.” In this installment, he careens from 1981 Louisville to the early-millennium deep German south and back again:
Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up-and-coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the pop charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some may become the next little thing. That’s why every two weeks Chuck Eddy will be exploring the world of Billboard’s Heatseekers and Hot Shots, looking for diamonds in the MySpace rough. This week, his roster of up-and-comers tattoo-inspiring Christian metal, a song that may or may not be viral marketing for Chevrolet, and a remake of the Dream Academy’s “Life In A Northern Town.”
Being a professional rock critic means you wind up accumulating a lot of records–some of which you even keep! In Singles Again, Chuck Eddy will…well, actually we’ll just let him explain it this first time around:
So this new column is where I cash in on inevitable nostalgia for a more innocent analog time by digging out and spinning for myself all the mysterious indie vinyl 7-inches by forgotten no-names that have piled up on my shelf over the past decade or two, in hopes of figuring out why the heck I kept them in the first place. In alphabetical order, no less.
Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up and coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the pop charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some of them may become the next little thing. That’s why every two weeks Chuck Eddy will be exploring the world of Billboard‘s Heatseekers and Hot Shots, looking for diamonds in the MySpace rough. In this installment he tracks a Miami rapper with a questionable crotch, religious goth-rockers scheduled to play a Salvation Army (possibly near you!), a military pipe and drum band that now shares a label with Slim Shady, a chubby reggae quartet, and many more:
Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up and coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the pop charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some of them may become the next little thing. That’s why every two weeks Chuck Eddy will be exploring the world of Billboard‘s Heatseekers and Hot Shots, looking for diamonds in the MySpace rough. For the initial installment, we’ll let the man himself explain his methodology:
So the concept here, this week and every fortnight hence, is a scorecard for artists new to the charts–generally ones nobody never heard of before, though somebody must be buying their music. The means of selection will be simple: Go for acts with the goofiest names, which in a best-case scenario will correspond with entertaining stuff on MySpace pages and in YouTube videos. If true artistry is stumbled on in the meantime, I’ll admit it.
A disclosure, before I start: The charts I’m using, inevitably, come from Billboard–a publication where, until recently, I toiled as a senior editor, and where I occasionally still do freelance editing work, though I promise that fact will not sway my choices.
Ready, set, go!
Obviously with all the tabulated lists to pore over, Idolator Pop ’07 offers plenty for music geeks to read and argue with. The year-end mixes, which will go up later today, will offer yet more fodder for banter. But let’s not forget the individual ballots, several of which make pretty good reading on their own. First prize for going over and above the call of duty undoubtedly belongs to Chuck Eddy, who not only offers an extra list of his 10 favorite EPs of 2007 but extends his Top 10 Albums to a whopping 150. In addition, he breaks them down by genre:
