Quick Hits, Vol. 49 (The Slits, Wolf Alice, The Arcs, Hop Along)

The Slits - Cut.  This is apparently the seminal punk riot grrrrl album.  I think I found it because Carrie Brownstein mentioned it in an interview about her key influences.  It feels like the reggae/punk stuff that the Clash did about this same time in history (and no, I don't know who was first), and the true album (the first ten songs of this interminable 40 song deluxe edition) is actually pretty damn enjoyable.  Very raw, with vocal sounds echoed by Sleater-Kinney 40 years later, you can hear their effect on today pretty easily.  Glad I listened to it a few times.  Doubt I'll keep it around, but cool to hear 1979's version of lady reggae punk.  Here is "Typical Girls."

Man, that video is sweet.  And awful.  Enjoy that time capsule into the belly of the beast.

Wolf Alice - My Love is Cool.  This album is fantastic.  Tuneful, rockin', pretty, funky, lyrically interesting, I have loved listening to it all day today.  I just can't bring myself to move on to the next album.  Freaking awesome with the flavor of some grunge, but also some mid-90's shoegaze references.  "Swallowtail" is a good capture of that sound - pretty and meandering for five minutes until the Teenage Bandwagon-esque rock out ending.  The most listened-to track (3.5 million) is "Moaning Lisa Smile," which is good stuff, but I'm going to go with the second most jammed, so here is "Bros."

Not just a straight grungy chug, with vocals sounding a little like the Sundays, and lyrics that make me want to be 10 and spending all day with my best friend again.  Perfect tune.  Other standouts - "Giant Peach," "Freazy."  Really good album I think you should give a listen.

Quick aside before the next album: the Isaac Hayes track "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" is freaking solid funk-tastic gold.  Chuck D mentioned it in something talking about an old track he made with it, and although it gets long and a little meandering near the end, the first two minutes are a stone cold groove.

Just groove the first two minutes of that thing real quick.  Yeah!  I remember an Ice Cube song using that bass line, but I didn't recall the Public Enemy track without some Internet help ("Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," which honestly doesn't take full advantage of the smoothness of the entire tune).

The Arcs - Yours, Dreamily.  This is yet another Dan Auerbach project (the Black Keys guy) that sounds pretty similar to the stomping southern blues rock of the Keys, but with a little psych rock shuffle added in.  Some tracks go a little further afield (including the weird "Come & Go" which seems to involve the sounds of sexytime for some ladies), but overall, this is another good album of fuzzed out rock and roll.  While "Stay in my Corner" is the most listened-to track on the album, "Outta My Mind" has the music video, so here you go.

Auerbach evokes that exact classic sound so very well.  And that video?  No clue what is going on in the middle with the weird fight scene that involves some dude yelling that another bro has "done lost your Chinatown pass!"  Mmmmkay.  If I was going to make an ACL flag/sign thing, I call "You Done Lost Your Chinatown Pass!" as my cutesy saying! Dibs!  But this album is tight.  I like it.

Hop Along - Painted Shut.  39 minutes of pretty solid indie rock.  Tuneful indie grunge, and shifting between kind of whispery singing and then cracking with almost scream power. Their bio says they are from Philly, but the lead singer's voice sounds Irish or something similar.  Seriously, if you listen to "Happy to See Me," she fires between cooing and wailing and a pretty falsetto and a growl and a pained whine in no time at all.  It is kind of amazing, although it grates my nerves after a while.  Most listened-to is "The Knock," with almost 415k.

That track opens up the album with a lot of the same kind of swagger I associate with Sleater-Kinney. I don't know who came first or why I've invoked their name twice in this one post, but its the truth. Good tunes, but I'm not into the vocals, so I don't expect I'll keep it around, but I've enjoyed a few listens well enough.