Quick Hits, Vol. 16 (Mark Ronson, Pharmakon, War on Drugs, Ben Frost)

Mark Ronson - Uptown Special.  The lead single off of this album is a freaking weapons grade JAM.  "Uptown Funk":

That is James Brown, Prince, George Clinton, Sly, Flea, Claypool, and some more James Brown, all wrapped into something ridiculously amazing.  I straight up got goose bumps on my arms just listening again.  Bonkers!  Bring me more of that!  He uses a classic Stevie Wonder harmonica to open the album, turns freaking Mystikal ('member him?) into James Brown, and generally puts funk back into the pop scene.  I'd rather have an entire album of Uptown Funks, but as it is, Leaving Los Feliz, Feel Right, and Heavy and Rolling are good examples of the good groove on this album.  Nice.

Pharmakon - Bestial Burden.  Er, between the cover art (sketchy internal organs lying on someone's chest with their hands grasping on them) and the first track (which I'm pretty sure sounds like a lady showing her O face), this is flipping weird.  Second song "Intent or Instinct" is all ominous drums and distortion until about 3 minutes in, when someone starts screaming.  Not cookie monster sing/screaming, but literally like Possessed-by-Satan, full-throat, They-Just-Took-My-Precious-Give-Back-My-Precious screaming without words.  I'm pretty sure I've never heard a song on any album that is less pleasant than this experience. Yuck.  Yep, third song is all screaming (there may be words going on too, but I can't tell). This album really and truly sucks and I'm not going to finish it.  How in the world did it get into the Pretty-Good Top 5 list from last year?  Does everyone who reviews music hate themselves?  This is awful.

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream.  Here is what I said back in December after this popped up in multiple year-end top lists: "After one listen, it is really good - sounds like a Ryan Adams album with some Springsteen sax and Cure synth. Wow, no, seriously, after listening again, I'm 90% sure this is a Ryan Adams album. A really good one, but still."  A few days later, I said: "I agree it was good, although after about 10 listens now, I think this may be more David Gray than Ryan Adams.  Either way, it is a really nice album."  Isn't it fun to just rehash what you previously didn't read that I said on this blog?  Super fun.  I should just quote myself all the time.  Anyway, totally sticking by my David Gray comparison.  This is good music that sad, old KGSR is going to play to death to the few people out there who haven't yet figured out that KUTX is the actual sound of Austin.  "Under the Pressure" and "Red Eyes" are both really excellent songs.

Ben Frost - A U R O R A.  Yeah, that "Pretty Good Top 5" apparently sucks on toast.  This is awful as well.  A lot of silence, a lot of noise, no lyrics, extremely discordant.  If you are putting this on your list of top albums, then you absolutely must work for Pitchfork, want acclaim as a "serious" music listener, or generally hate music.  I'm not sure if it is my allergies or this music, but I literally feel sick to my stomach right now.  "Venter" is kind of pretty, in a very bleak sort of way that also sounds like a late-90's video game soundtrack from Final Fantasy, but otherwise this album is el sucko.  Its like NIN made an album to finish their contract with a label Trent Reznor really, really, really hated.