My Favorite YouTubers: Spectrum Pulse

Hello all! I'm Kelsie and these are my thoughts.

Today, I'll be talking about the man who inspired me to start this blog. The lovely Mr. Mark Grondin.

So for those of you who don't know, Mark Grondin is a Canadian author and music critic who is the host of the YouTube channel Spectrum Pulse. On that channel, with subtitles being provided by a plush Voltorb, Mark discusses music,movies, art and culture with his trademark eloquence and passion. He can sometimes be harsh but is always honest. I mean, there are so many things I absolutely adore about this guy. He's smart, honest, opinionated, respectful, drop dead gorgeous, humble, funny, the whole nine yards.

Now I first discovered Mark from his review of the self titled album by one of my favorite a Capella groups Pentatonix on August 3rd, 2016. I quickly grew to like his enthusiasm and passion for music and began to browse through his channel. The series that caught my eye the most was Billboard Breakdown, the weekly series where our critic (as Voltorb calls him) dives into the insanity that is the Billboard Hot 100, discussing the best and worst of the given chart week. Seriously, anyone that could've put up with the mess that was 2016's Hot 100 deserves a goddamn medal.

If I had to pick ten Spectrum Pulse videos to show to new viewers, they'd be these:

This is Mark at his most fangirlish.  Marianas Trench's Astoria would eventually become his top album of 2015 and this video shows why. If you like positive reviews or if you're a Trencher, this is the video for you. Also make sure to check out Astoria. It's an amazing album.

Something else that Mark does on his channel are Special Comments, in which he channels his inner Keith Olbermann/John Oliver and talks about various elements in pop culture. This one is about the Ke$ha/Dr Luke/Sony Music debacle from late 2015/early 2016 and is arguably his best. Unbiased, informative and intelligent, this is the best take on the #FreeKesha mess.

Speaking of Special Comments, this is Mark's first one. This one is on the state of country music in 2013 and out of all of Mark's earliest videos, this is where he really hit his stride. From here on, I no longer saw someone who looked awkward and like they didn't want to be on camera. Here, I saw someone with a love for music explain his concern about the direction one of his favorite genres was headed.

Ah yes. Dave Cobb's Southern Family. The record to earn Mark's first perfect score. The way that he describes this album is incredible and the excitement is infectious. While another record would also get that elusive 10/10 from our lovely Canadian later that year, it would be this album that scored his top album of 2016. Speaking of which...

The other record to score a 10 on SP was Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. This is one of Mark's more somber reviews. The shakiness of his voice perfectly encapsulates the pain expressed by this record which was written right as Mr Cave lost his son in an accident. A beautiful review for a beautiful album.

Every 5,000 subscribers, Mark will do an unscripted Q&A. This is his most recent one and arguably one of his funniest. His original plan fell through so we got this instead. The meme question starts off hilarious. Speaking of memes...

The most viewed episode of Billboard Breakdown and easily the funniest. It starts out normal but once you get 10 minutes in, the blazer comes off and it turns into a meme review, inspired by the segment on Anthony Fantano's side channel thisistheplan. It's the hardest you'll laugh all year.

Now if negative reviews are more your speed, try this ass-reaming of Miley Cyrus' free album from 2015 Miley Cyrus and her Dead Pets. It's one of the more vicious reviews in Mark's catalog but oh so entertaining.

Going back to positivity, here's another one where fanboy Mark comes to play, this time for black metal band Fen's newest record Winter and his excitement is very reminiscent of a child on Christmas. Also, this is the debut of his amazing custom thumbnails.

And finally, this might just be the saddest of Mark's reviews. Fresh off of David Bowie's death, his final album Blackstar was a gut punch and this review was beautiful. You could tell that he was pretty emotional between takes but the end is when the real gut punch hits. You might need a tissue or two.

So in conclusion, Mark Grondin is an amazing creator who truly deserves way more subscribers than he has. And I didn't even mention his book To Kill A Dragon or his Patreon. If you haven't subscribed to this man, FIX THAT!!!

And Mark, if you somehow happen to stumble across this, you truly inspire me everyday and I can not thank you enough for everything that you do. Love you loads!

Thanks for reading! More thoughts coming soon.