Quick Hits, Vol. 25 (Father John Misty, Viet Cong, Drake, Action Bronson)

BTW, interesting article about James McMurtry, song of Larry and father to Curtis (who knew about the kid?!).  Unfortunately, the new James album (Complicated Game) ain't available on Spotify, so I'm not able to go check it out, but "Walk Between the Raindrops" might need some Classics treatment sometime soon.  Such a great songwriter.

Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear.  Calming but wry tunes from the ex-Fleet Foxes drummer.  I just read a short interview with him where he talked about not wanting to be a "hired gun" within the Fleet Foxes.  Which is a weird term and sheds a little of the misty-eyed mystique about being in a kick ass band.  I would think that drumming in a successful band is the end game for most players, but not ol' Father John.
Anyway, this is a lovely album.  It is odd (the song "When You're Smiling and Astride Me"), brutally real ("Bored in the USA"), and generally really pretty sounding.  The last three tracks stood out to me over repeated listens.  "I Went to the Store One Day" is a achingly poignant, and yet sarcastic, look at finding love(?) by chance, set over the most basic of strings and picked acoustic guitar.  "Holy Sh*t" reminds me of "It's the End of the World as We Know It" or "We Didn't Start the Fire," except those two are pretty frenetic, and this one is more of a sleepy recitation of current ideas and commentary. "Bohemia nightmare, dustbowl chic, This documentary's lost on me, satirical news, free energy, mobile lifestyle, loveless sex."  Weird, but kind of sticky in my head.
Then, more than any other tune on here, "Bored in the U.S.A.

This rendition isn't terribly far off from the studio version.  Although his twitchy restlessness in that video is even more off-putting, especially when he climbs on the piano.  The thing that you might not get, which is highly disturbingly effective, is that the canned laughter is actually in the track (not just the audience being jerks). Reminds me of a Pink Floyd bit, but it is just perfect in this song.  I bet that audience had no freaking clue what to do with that song during a Letterman joke-fest.

The lyrics sing about spending mindless days obsessively accruing junk so that we can live in debt, or sadly growing older and seeing ourselves deteriorate.  And when that laugh track kicks in, he is lamenting the fact that he got a useless education, a sub-prime loan on a Craftsman home, and prescriptions that help him deal but mean he can't get off.  Brutal, haunting, and terribly sad indictment of the American Dream.  "Save me President Jesus!"  While a crowd laughs uproariously.  Wow.  I'm going to listen to this album more, I feel like there is even more to unpack here.

Viet Cong - Viet Cong.  Pummeling low-fi rock and roll that fires out synths and effects every once in a while in a surprising way.  Reminds me of the way the Killers combined alternative rock with new wave, this is kind of new wave indie punk stuff.  Their most played track at around 400k, is "Continental Shelf," but I think you should check out "Sillhouettes."

Boom!  I need for a big ass rock band to put out something killer - I feel like most of the rock I am hearing right now is pretty good but not absolutely top shelf.  But this stuff is pretty good.

Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late.  Drake dropped a surprise album last week, just before Valentines Day.  After a number of listens, I can't find the gem on here.  Nothing strikes me nearly so hard as some of his recent cameo work on other peoples' tracks.  I think my favorite moment is when Lil Wayne mentions Debo, because having mind control over Debo will never not be funny.  Maybe "No Tellin'," "Energy" and "6 Man" for the best ones?  Meh?  Hard to tell if this is a proper album or just a mixtape, but the quality seems to me more like it is a mixtape of rhymes that weren't strong enough to make it on an official album.

Action Bronson - Actin' Crazy single.  I dig Action Bronson.  Sounds like Ghostface with a fetish for fancy food.  I mean, you seriously can't get through a single song without him mentioning some weird foodie thing ("Melon and Pro-jute").  Makes me think of my buddy Chad.  I don't think that Bronson has ever even put out a true album, just a bunch of mixtapes and singles.  One of those mixtapes (Rare Chandeliers) is pimp as hell, even though you can't hear it on Spotify and have to go download it somewhere like DatPiff.  This single has a woozy, smeared beat with a couple deep bass kicks underneath Bronson's lyrics about actin' crazy.  Hope the new album is good!

Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne - Truffle Butter single.  I think the beat is what makes this Drake superior to the Drake presented on that mix tape above.  Beat bounces like a cartoon tiptoe, with Drake tossing off a goof rhyme with a smooth ass delivery before Minaj takes the cake for this song.