Quick Hits, Vol. 6 (Hold Steady, Gary Clark, Jr., King Tuff, Ryan Adams, Jeezy)

I'm going to need to come up with a snappier name for these, I think, since they have evolved into a constant stream of writing.  I shall consult the great Band Name Generator oracle and see what is handed down from on high.

The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams.  This is another band that was included in the American Championship Belt article that I needed to go check out.  It is a very American rock sound, kind of a gentler Gaslight Anthem with some Ryan Adams, Husker Du/Bob Mould, and Replacements influences.  I smell some Phish in here sometimes as well.  Yes!  I just went and checked the Wikipedia page, and the lead singer (Craig Finn) explains that Husker Du and Bob Mould were influences!  My ears work!  The first song on this album (I Hope this Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You) really sounds like Bob Mould.  Here is the second song from the album:

My first run through the album was unimpressive, but I just fired it up again and it is growing on me.  I think this is music meant to be played louder - the tunes are good, but the lyrics are full and ought to be heard and dissected.  Springsteen-esque imagery of people in here.

Gary Clark Jr. - Gary Clark Jr. Live.  Holy crap, this is hot fire.  I dug his EP and album, but he cranks it up and just plain makes kick as music right here.  Blues guitar attack mode, with some Stevie Ray and some BB and a little bit of funky funk thrown in for good measure.  He came to ACL last year and my buddy wanted to go watch some lame band so we split up and I went to get close to GCJr., and it was freaking so great.  I was super bummed that Jason hadn't gotten to witness it with me.  But the cover art for this album looks like it was taken that morning.



If you squint your eyes and have a good imagination, you can see me right there next to that other guy, just to the right of that guy with the thing.

King Tuff - Black Moon Spell.  Psych guitar rock.  I dig it.  Serious seventies sound - makes me think of the music on the Juno soundtrack where weird homemade tunes were mixed in with classic 70's sounds.  Kind of punky, old David Bowie, freakout rock with loads of distortion.

Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams.  How in the world can this guy not already have an album named after himself?  he's put out like 85 albums in the past ten years, so it seems amazing that he only just now thought to do an eponymous one.  Whatever.  This one is another good one.  I like Ryan Adams (Gold was excellent, and Easy Tiger was pretty good too) but I feel Ryan Adams fatigue whenever I think about his music.  There is just too much of it out there to deal with.  But if you just take this one on its own, it is good.

Jeezy - Seen it All: The Autobiography.  What is it with rappers and their extended album titles? Jeezy (used to be Young Jeezy, but I guess he grew up) has five solo albums since he became popular, and three of those five album titles involve a colon.  I also have to note that He apparently skipped the second course in his "Thug Motivation" coursework, seeing as he released "Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101" in 2005, then "TM: 103 Hustlerz Ambition" in 2011, with no mention of how he got the course credits to just skip right over the 102 level class.

Maybe the lack of that class in Thug Motivation theory is why I am unimpressed with this new album, but pretty uninteresting stuff.  Seen It All is the single, which likely gains significant popularity by having Jay Z on the track, but Jay Z isn't going to save this song from being boring.  More likely, the opposite.  Try it out for yourself:

Yawn.  You two are super rich and you used to sell drugs and still know more than anyone else who has ever sold drugs.  Good work.