Spotify made a map of the world that shows music "distinctive" to particular cities — "songs that are enjoyed there disproportionately a lot relative to in other places." It is updated each week, and so you can see that a lot of Austin people were excited about the REK show I went to the other night, with his "Corpus Christi Bay" one of the top songs, along with Bob Schneider, Cory Morrow, Randy Rogers Band, Turnpike Troubadours, and other Texas Country type guys.
San Antonio also has a lot of Randy Rogers band and other country music, as well as something called Massore
Houston is awesome, the top tracks there are all local southern rap dudes like Z Ro, Big Mo, and Fat Pat. Never change H Town.
Dallas, strangely, walks the line between Austin and Houston by having some local rap guys (more Z Ro, plus someone called Mr. Pookie) but also the Texas country guys like Randy Rogers Band and Josh Abbott Band).
Denver is also weird, with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Nathaniel Rateliff (makes sense) plus Tech N9ne (doesn't make sense unless those are weed growers trying to be tough in their grow rooms) and then a bunch of something called Greensky Bluegrass.
Memphis is all sketchy rappers, which is wonderful.
Vegas is stuff I've literally never heard of - Dizzy Wright, T3r Elemento, King Lil G, and the Hotpantz. Vegas is scary.
You should play around with it too, I always find this kind of data dump stuff fun and interesting.
Kevin Gates - Murder for Hire II. I swear, I feel like I've written about a Kevin Gates album 10 times this year. I know that is exaggeration, but he sure seems to spin these out frequently, and they all sound pretty much the same. That being said, the guy has fans - all but two of these songs have been streamed more than 3 million times. For me, I like the cadence of the guy's raps - tough and rapid. "Off Da Meter" is the most listened to track on here, with just over 5 million streams.
Nothing too special, and nothing on this album is nearly so good as "White Tan" or "2 Phones." I'll let this one go.
The Game - Streets of Compton. Another guy who needs to slow down and stop releasing daily albums, but that being said I really liked the Documentary 2, so I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt. Funny, because I used to mix up which guy was the Game and which one was 50 Cent, they seemed interchangeable to me, but I'm still digging what the Game is putting down here. Best track is this one called "Death Row Chain" that is all about the things he would have done, back in the day, to get with Death Row. Grimy history lesson on Death Row and his growing up.
I dig the classic beats on these tracks - I don't know if Dre is still doing his beats, but these work. That being said nothing on here is worth holding on to.
Young Dolph - King of Memphis. Ughhhhh, starting to feel like I'm just slogging through tons of mediocre rap music right now. I keep seeing all of these albums up at the top of the Q of new music, and I've been avoiding them to hear the stuff I really want to hear like the new Chilis or Green Day. Well, its finally time to pay the piper. This guy, not surprsingly from his album title, is from Memphis. One thing I respect on this album? Zero crappy collaborations. No Juicy J verse. No 2 Chainz hook. Just this dude doing his thing. Crazy thing? When I just went to look at his profile on Spotify, he has three more albums since this one, which was also released in 2016. Criminy man. All three of these dudes need to just take a chill pill and work on creating good music instead of firing out as many as they can as fast as they can. The most listened to track from this album is called "Fuck It," and has just over 3 million streams.
Word. Although I will take issue with the way that the man shoots the bird. Unless you are an eight year old, involving your pointer finger and ring finger as stair steps to the main event is inappropriate. The middle finger needs room to make its statement fully known and completely understood. Having the two little folded-in-half sidecars just muddles the message and looks weak. Give all the bird, all the time. That being said, this is a tough ass song to bang while you are driving around town feeling mini-van tough. This is not a smart rap song that is going to make you think. I'll probably add this one to my mix of tough-guy-trash-raps, and let the rest of the album go.
Margaret Glaspy - Emotions and Math. This album is really great. I've been listening to it for a while and just haven't wanted to move on and push it to my keeper playlist yet. Strong, lush voice, alt-rock bluesy guitar tracks, and clever lyrics. Hits all the right bases.
and even better, the Tiny Desk concert!
"You and I" is that top video up there, which is a biting kiss off tune and ranks second in her list of most listened to tracks from this album. First place is the album opener, and the first track on the Tiny Desk show up above. Liking her even more after listening to that concert, she has a growl in her voice that she doesn't use much on the album that comes through pretty frequently in the live show. Great album - making me re-think the fact that I didn't put it in my top ten for the year.
It is seriously like they intended to troll me. Spin listed their top 50 albums of the year, of course starting with #50 in their list so that you have to scroll down through 80 million ads to get to the top album, and #50 is none other than my top album of the year, Sturgill Simpson. Well screw you guys, I never even listened to your top album until just now! As my daughter would randomly say: "Oooh burn, lightly roasted, fully toasted."
Before I get to the list, I'll share a slight taste of the comments to this list, which reveal a bit of why America will soon be great again.
That is beautiful. Just straight up future of American discourse right there, in a little cute nutshell. Here are the Spin top ten records, and here is a link to my Rolling Stone top ten as well so that you can see more comments on the ones on both lists (Ocean, Bowie, Beyonce, Chance, and Radiohead).
Solange - A Seat at the Table. I knew that this was Beyonce's sister, but otherwise had no clue what kind of music this gal was into. Don't think I've read anything about the album or even noticed that it existed, and yet Spin thinks it ruled the entire year. Interesting. Most of the tracks on here have about 4 million streams, but three have more (6.6, 7.5, and 13.1), so its definitely getting play. But I am a little confused about what I am hearing here. Does anyone else think this is just an old Janet Jackson album with a few good cameos? Spin says "No other work in 2016 quite captured the feeling of living through a year of numbness. No other work in 2016 was quite as comforting in the sense that, as helpless as we feel, we’re never really in this alone." Interesting. Can't say that I agree, but I'm also just not that into chilled and quiet R&B music either.
Frank Ocean - Blonde. Yeah, as I mentioned in the Rolling Stone list discussion, not bad, but not great either. Some of it reminds me of the depressed R&B stuff of the Weeknd. Seems like I need to give this one many more listens to see what everyone else is seeing.
David Bowie - Blackstar. Not interested.
A Tribe Called Quest - We Got it From Here... Damn right. This one is good stuff.
The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it. Damn, that album title. I was not complimentary of this music when I reviewed it earlier this year. I just tried it out again and stand by my original analysis. This is derivative and not that great. Spin calls them "the only pop-aspiring rock band worth a damn this year," but nah, this isn't worth a damn.
Beyonce - Lemonade. Probably lovely, if I could just hear the whole thing (without buying it or subscribing to dumb Tidal).
Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book. Good not great.
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool. Bleh. I can almost guarantee I'll never go listen to that album again.
Angel Olsen - My Woman. Interesting. Kind of torchy Lana Del Rey feels at first based on a more electronic sound, which bleeds into a rock-ish sound (like the great "Shut Up Kiss Me"), then it slowly shifts into some Cowboy Junkies sense of more Americana/indie/folk sound. I wouldn't peg this in my top ten, but it is nice.
Bon Iver - 22, A Million. Challenging album. Spin calls it "a degraded world of agrarian space-folk." I have no clue what that is supposed to mean. Don't even get me started on the song names, which each make use of the wingdings keyboard or something to create weird-ass song titles. The album opener is absolutely gorgeous - I heard it on KUTX the other day and got a lump in my throat thinking I was listening to a new Peter Gabriel track that had been specifically written for my brain. Something about it is just perfect. Unfortunately, the title of the song involves the use of two infinity symbols, which is annoying, but that doesn't modify the sound. I call the album challenging because after this beautiful opener, there is a ton of weird stuff and autotune smearing (like Kanye on 808's) that isn't my favorite. You can definitely tell when Spotify moves on from this album and goes to his last one - 2011's Bon Iver - because the autotune drops away in favor of his pretty singing voice.
I sometimes feel like I'm aging out of the musical mainstream around here. I just pulled up the Spotify New Releases list to see if there was anything I might want to grab, and the vast majority of the artists listed there are things I've never heard of. Not things I've never listened to before, but artists I have literally never even heard of before. A smattering, in order, to show that I am not just cherry picking: GEMS, Quincy, KAMAU, Social Club Misfits, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Mozzy, ForteBowie, Jay 305, Felix Cartal, Moguai, Bro Safari, Gangly, Adelitas Way, Andreas Moss, and then J Cole and Steve Aoki. Wow. The musical universe is expanding so amazingly fast. None of those names are even made up, didn't have to. Peter Wolf - A Cure for Loneliness. This is the lead singer for the J. Geils Band (yes, the "Love Stinks" people, oh, and "Centerfold," which are both classics in my book) who has been making solo albums for a while. This album is a little more spare, singer-songwriter type stuff than the 80's pop version of this dude I had in my head. This almost has more of an Americana sound bordering on country at times - see the "It Was Always So Easy (To Find An Unhappy Woman)." I actually like that song quite a bit, great sing-a-long. His tunes kind of remind me of a simpler Pete Yorn or some of the Bruce Robison sound. It's really pretty good. Most listened-to track on the album is "Rolling On," the album opener, but I have a feeling that is most listened to by people just checking this out and then moving on. The most popular track on this album is a live track called "Wastin' Time." We'll do that one instead.
Stones anyone? I'm just going to keep this album in my new music Q and listen a few more times. I like it well enough, but I'm not sure it deserves to graduate into my more permanent playlists. Various - Southern Family. This is a compilation of tunes from producer Dave Cobb, who is the mastermind behind a bunch of the actually good stuff in country music right now. He's been producing people like Shooter Jennings, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Jason Isbell in their recent stuff. So this includes those guys (except for Sturgill) as well as cool new people (Jamey Johnson and Anderson East), garbage hacks I don't understand (Zac Brown), and an old classic (Rich Robinson). The disc is pretty clearly intended to be traditional and aim for the down home classic sound and feel. The "You Are My Sunshine" rendition by Stapleton and his wife is freaking great - I remember them killing that at ACL this last year. So good. Although it is over 6 minutes long, which is an interesting move in general. I'll give them a pass because of the impassioned guitar solo in the middle that requires you to close your eyes and lean back in your chair and speak in tongues. Spotify has me confused on how to see the play count for any of these tunes, because it isn't by a particular band, so I can't see their listing of most popular tracks. Er, no, maybe they just don't have enough listens to have most popular tracks yet? Whatever. I don't know what is most popular here, so I'll just give you one of the best in my opinion,
That's right, I skipped all the cool new country guys in favor of the most Nashville person on the disc, but screw it. Although I don't know Miranda Lambert's music at all, she sounds freaking fantastic on her track ("Sweet By and By"). Her voice is choice. Also, the soul country mash of Anderson East is cool as hell. The Shooter Jennings track is fun. This is a really good album, very even and chilled and pleasant. Train - Does Led Zeppelin II. Dammit, man, this actually isn't terrible. I wanted to hate listen to this album, mainly because Train is annoying, but more importantly because Led Zeppelin's II is one of the greatest albums of all time. And to have these jabronies slaughter it as a full album cover sounded like the perfect way for me to have fun and spill some rage onto the page. Instead, the musical part of it is actually really solid. Luckily, the vocals are such a shit weak sad copy of Robert Plant that I can definitively say that you should not listen to this album. If you feel like subjecting yourself to a slice of it, here is the most listened to track from the album, "Ramble On."
He actually sounds OK until the chorus kicks in, and then for sure sounds like a guy in a cover band at a crappy bar on East 11th singing to a crowd of 3. Robert Ellis - Robert Ellis. I reviewed this guy a while back for his appearance at ACL 2014 and liked him. The feeling still holds with this album, although it seems to go even further afield from his country-ish leanings that I recall from back then. I'd still pretty seriously continue the Wilco comparison though, this stuff is still great lyrics and kind of a country-fied indie rock thing. "How I Love You" is the currently most popular track on the album, but "California" has doubles the streams at 1.3 million.
That girl is going to beat your ass, Robert. Do not mess around with her anymore, just let her go to Cali with your kid and you won't get your sunglasses smacked off anymore. Win win. His haircut is speaking to me right now because I got a similar one today. I have used the same barbershop, except for when I didn't live in Austin, since I was about 2. I guess I'm stubborn or loyal in this way. I'm also cheap. But the shop right now has two dudes who are almost always in there to cut hair. One, the owner and a native Austinite, does a great job and makes my hair look kind of like it did when I originally sit down, just shorter. The other dude, a native New Yorker, generally tries to take my hair into the hipster stratosphere with loads of hardening agents and tinctures that smell of herbs and this weird blade thing that thins out my hair. Today, the owner had a line of 3 dudes and the New Yorker was cooling his jets in his chair, so I rolled the dice yet again. The shell on top of my head right now smells of some mysterious herbaceous concoction and is hard enough to stop hockey pucks. Literally, while walking the halls a few minutes ago, a co-worker looked up and just exclaimed "GOOD GOD!" Anyway, Robert Ellis has a hipster hair-do and I feel for him, I hope that he is happy with it. This album is good - another good track on here I'd suggest to you is "Drivin'." I'm going to hold on to this disc and see how it feels after a few hours in the car.
In news that is not shocking at all to me, Rolling Stone picked Beyonce, Radiohead, the Stones, and Bowie in their top ten. However, shockingly to me, Sturgill Simpson didn't even make their top 25. They put Maren freaking Morris at #13?!? I think they are scared after when they gave the free U2 album their top spot and everyone lost their collective shits, so now they're just going to wig out and do weird things. And make sure to add in some color to their stodgy old man list.
Beyonce - Lemonade. Still can't stream this on Spotify, which is very annoying. I'm not signing up for stupid Tidal just to hear this album. YouTube has a few of these available to watch, so I checked out "Sorry," "Hold Up," and "Formation." I gotta say, I like it. I'd like to easily hear the whole thing.
David Bowie - Blackstar. My previous review. Yeah, still feel like a prick for not loving this as some way to honor the dead, but I just don't much care for it.
Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book. My previous review. I generally liked this album, however, the best gauge for whether I actually like it shows that not so much, because I haven't listened to it a single time since I wrote that review. I just fired it up again, and I like it well enough.
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial. Agreed, this one is good stuff.
Frank Ocean - Blonde. Sometimes, this is written as "Blond," other times as "Blonde." Don't know which is correct, but that felt like a fact you should know. I don't know what to do with this album. I've only heard it two times now, and while R&B type tunes aren't really what I aim for in life, I find myself enjoying the album. I don't think I can fully review this one for a while. Feels like the kind of disc I need to live with for a while. I will say that it makes me giggle when the mom in "Be Yourself" says "weedhead." And "Solo" is pretty cool sounding, as is the Andre 3000 verse on "Solo (reprise)."
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool. Bleh.
Rolling Stones - Blue and Lonesome. At first, I said that I had not heard it enough to really have a strong opinion, but what is the damn point of that? So I went and spent the last few hours on repeat, and it is good. Reminds me of the Eric Clapton blues album he did in the mid-90's From the Cradle. This one is worth keeping around.
Kanye West - Life of Pablo. My previous review. I just re-listened to this again, and it is better than I remember. Still not top ten for the year, and still feels tossed off and incomplete, but it definitely gets points for solid beats and a few clever bits of wordplay. That being said, I miss the old Kanye.
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker. Hadn't tried this one out yet. Felt exclusively like a nostalgia pick for putting this in the top ten. It's macabre as shit now, in light of his recent death, to have him growling "I'm ready my Lord" in the title song. His voice is kind of mesmerizing - so very gravelly and spare and whispered. The album is actually pretty solid, even if it never gets above a kind of plodding sway under his clear and insightful lyrics. "Treaty" is fantastic. The album just keeps catching my attention, all day, and making me pause to listen to it again. Maybe not a nostalgia pick, this is good stuff.
Young Thug - Jeffrey. Also had not listened to this album except for listening to a couple of singles while writing a review for Sound on Sound Fest. Not a fan of this dude. Rolling Stone says that "Pick Up The Phone" is the "deserved hit" on this album. However, counter-point, this song is garbage. Let's look at the lyrics for the first verse and hook:
"I pour a four up I call your hoe up Just to fuck her and show her I just went, got my dough up Pullin' off and I'm gone! Then I go and pour four up Then I roll up that roll up Then I'm callin' your hoe up (Like Brrrrr) Pick up the phone, baby (Like brrrrr) I know you're home, baby (It's lit!) I'm in the zone, baby (Straight up!) I just poured up a four baby (Yeah, yeah)" Is there anything in there that is "deserved hit" material? Anything? Maybe we need to check the next verse? "Never will I cheat on you Never will I commit treason Blowin' a bag on you Do all of that for no reason I'mma pull up and murk too Hittin' the block and I'm bleedin' Throwing that Rollie on you I like the way it be freezin' (Brrrrr)" Nope. Still garbage. This guy should just print off Wikipedia pages on 18th century politicians and rap those words as his lyrics instead. I swear the only reason RS made him into their top ten was so they could mention that he appears in a dress on the cover art, and therefore is making strides in reducing the misogyny in rap music (just before he then mentions that he called your hoe up. Perfect.
I can't recall how I made this list in past years, but the entire process is honestly very daunting. I obviously haven't listened to everything in the world, and so I know there are going to be a large number of albums that other people loved that I never even noticed, see: (1) Beyonce's Lemonade, which has never been available on Spotify, and I'm too lazy to hunt it down elsewhere; (2) new Rolling Stone or Kings of Leon, which I just haven't gotten around to listening to yet; or (3) Lady Gaga's new one which I just don't even want to try.
My methodology here was to go through a Wikipedia listing of all 2016 albums and then look back over the Quick Hits I've published from the last year, and see what triggered a good memory. I'm probably missing out on some things, so just be gentle to me. So very gentle. By the way, four funny album observations from this year:
"Blaze Ya Dead Homie" is apparently a rapper's name.
The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are still making music, many moons after we all got over our Swingers phase.
Yanni! Freaking Yanni is still making records! And he called his new one "Sensuous Chill." Damn, Yanni, don't hurt the ladies, man.
Daughtry put out an album called "It's Not Over...The Hits So Far." I feel really sad for them that they decided to call their album that.
I'm well aware that this list is not going to likely track the ones that have been submitted by the big music blogs and magazines. I predict that the top albums for the nerd analysts are going to be Radiohead, Bowie, and Beyonce, in some order. I have been very intentional to not look at those professional top ten lists, as I don't want for my thoughts to get mingled up with theirs. And I'm sure that the new David Bowie and Leonard Cohen are going to get really high marks from everyone who is trying to kiss dead ass. And I'm sure Beyonce's album will be big this year, as likely will Drake's disc. But I don't really care, this is my list. Suck it everyone else! And now that I'm done with this, I'll go out and read other lists and give you some thoughts about what other people said in those.
Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth. I love this album. Lyrically it is cool and touching and interesting, with the messages he is passing along to his son. Musically, it is varied and fun because it touches on country, soul, and rock, bringing all of those things together into a great mix. Honestly, this was the only album on this entire list that felt like an absolute lock to make my year end list.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway. As I've said before, I am a sucker for the Chilis. Just so good. And this album is funky enough. I'm not saying it replaces Blood Sugar or anything, but I keep catching myself singing little snippets of this long after having listened to it.
A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service. Like the Chilis, I'm a sucker for the Tribe. But this one stands on its own without even knowing the past - this is how rap is supposed to be.
Highly Suspect - The Boy Who Died Wolf. What? Who? I know, I'm surprised too, but I can't get this album out of my head. Great old school alt rock that I keep wanting to hear again.
The Struts - Everybody Wants. Oh man, these guys are so bad ass. This music isn't going to change the world with its lyrics, but if we could just play this on the battlefield, people would stop wanting to blow each other up, and would just jam out and boogie, and we'd dig up those parking lots and plant paradise in their place. I'm still sad I missed their second-weekend-only show at ACL.
Paul Simon - Stranger to Stranger. His show for the ACL taping this year was so very fantastic. Seriously. I still have this deep sense of satisfaction having witnessed that show. And this album isn't as amazing as Graceland, but it still has some gems and has grown on me throughout the year.
White Denim - Stiff. Local dudes doing good work. This is the only CD I have bought all year, and I've worn the sucker out in my car ever since then.
Jim James - Eternally Even. Late entry to the game (only released about a month ago, but I keep going back to it. Kind of funky, but in a low key, chilled way.
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial. This is good, crunchy alt rock stuff that keeps coming back to me over the year.
Metallica - Hardwired...to Self Destruct. It isn't their greatest album, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep bashing it out and enjoying what they've given me. The lead single is freaking good stuff.
Those just barely missing the cut: Schoolboy Q, case/lang/veirs, Mudcrutch, Margaret Glaspy, Cage the Elephant, The Record Company, Kamaiyah, Green Day, Foals, All Them Witches, Fitz & the Tantrums, Kendrick Lamar, Sunflower Bean, and Chance the Rapper.
Highly Suspect - The Boy Who Died Wolf. These guys came onto my radar last year when they were up for a Grammy and yet I had never heard of them before. They are pretty damn awesome alt-rock purists. And this album also jams, although I've noticed some pretty blatant aping on this thing - the Lenny Kravitz voice on "Little One," "For Billy" makes me think of Eddie Money, and the Queens of the Stone Age riffs and piano hammering on "Postres." But honestly, who gives a damn. I'm going to blare this stuff from my car this weekend and no one can stop me. I thought that the most popular track would be "Serotonia," but I was an incorrect mofo. Instead, the album opener, "My Name is Human" is the top track, with 4.5 million streams on Spotify. But, "Serotonia" is the one with an official music video, so you get that one despite what the play count says.
Woah. That neck tattoo is the real deal. A slow burn of a song, that really doesn't get to take off until about 5 minutes in, but still stays kind of slinky and mysterious sounding even then. Science lesson! Serotonin is the chemical in your body that is understood to make you feel happy and well. According to Wikipedia, almost all of your serotonin is located in your GI tract. In my super sciency mind, this obviously is why you feel awesome when you drop a kick ass bomb. The whole album would be great, except for when they also cover "Send Me an Angel," an 80's song I remember but wouldn't seek out to ever hear again. And this cover version does it no favors, all plodding and sappy. But, one bad track (that I can just delete from the Spotify playlist including this album) can't hold me back. Going to keep mainlining this 90's nostalgia rock and freaking roll. Rainbow Kitten Surprise - RKS. An early leader in the clubhouse for worst band name to mention to a friend as something they should listen to. Unless that friend is an eight year old girl, in which case, she is probably instantly a big fan. Until she hears the music and realizes it is a Kings of Leon-esque blues rock band (only thinking the first two KOL albums here) and not a Katy Perry-fronted band of My Little Pony cartoons. Weak name aside, the music behind that weak name is great. If you were a fan of the early Kings of Leon, you could very easily get confused after a few songs into believing that you are listening to an unheard, old KOL album. The vocals match, the underlying tunes match (especially the guitar part), it really clicks to that comparison. Amazingly, if you had found these guys before now, you could have potentially spent $300 to back their new album on Kickstarter and then received an in home concert in exchange. I mean, how amazing would that be? I know these guys aren't Springsteen or anything, but I sold my Dixie Chicks tickets from this year's show for almost $300 a piece. To get a show in house with all of your friends for only $300? Would have been pretty rad. Their most popular tune from this album is "Cocaine Jesus," with 1.7 million streams. Here is a live (not quite acoustic, but stripped down) version.
That lead singer has got more beard and chest hair than I could grow in a month of Sundays. Real talk. He could braid those two suckers together and, well, uh, like severely hurt his neck because he was always looking down and stuff. Whatever, Richard. Anyway, this is a good album that I like and will continue to play with. All Them Witches - Lightning at the Door. This is a 2016 album from some sludgy badass rockers from Nashville. I am loving every second of this album. If you dig some Led Zeppelin and Queens of the Stone Age, then you'll be on board here. They played to some acclaim at SXSW in 2015, although I did not get to see them, but I think seeing this live would be intensely awesome. The big tune is the second from this album, at 2.1 million streams, and it is so very heavy and jammy and rad. Hold on to your ass, Fred.
That version is live, so it is a little raw in comparison to the studio version, but it doesn't change the general intensity of the track to hear the hiss of the snares a little bit more. Not sure what the deal is with the album and the rest of the song names, but you've got tracks such as "Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird," "The Marriage of Coyote Woman," and "The Death of Coyote Woman," so there is something weird and mystic going on here. Good stuff right here. Enjoy. Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation. Wikipedia says that "Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins." Well, let's get him a Nobel Prize. Safety pin fashion is highly underrated. Highly. This is a 1977 album of punk skuzz. This has been kicking around in my queue for a few months now, but I'm finally writing a blurb about it just so I can delete and move on. I would not recommend that you go back to this one. Here is the most popular track, with 1.9 million streams, the title track from this album.
Woohoo! Boobs! I don't know about you, but that is pretty much my first memory of anything associated with Dolly Parton. I knew she had huge knockers and sang the theme song from 9 to 5. Later on, in college, I recall two sorority girls who would frequently (and for no apparent reason) sing "Two Doors Down" over and over while binge drinking at a party.
Kind of a depressing ass song to sing when you're at a party, but I guess after all the tears and depression she ends up rolling down the hall to find a guy for some rebound action. Nevermind, Happy Times!
You might ask, why am I writing about country icon Dolly Parton? Well, I'm glad you asked. The wife scored a ticket to go see Dolly this coming week with a friend who is a huge fan. So I figured that I would help the wife out with a short primer of what to expect, other than boobs. I'd call them 70 year old boobs, but I'm not sure of the age of the implants. The great thing is that she has no qualms about any of that. Wikipedia has a quote from her: "When asked about future plastic surgeries, she famously said: "If I see something sagging, bagging or dragging, I'll get it nipped, tucked or sucked.""
In reading up on her, she's kind of amazing. Huge piles of awards. Written over 3,000 songs. I even forgot she was in Steel Magnolias. Also, she is apparently a hell of a person even now, as she is giving a ton of money to the folks in Tennessee who were recently burned out of house and home.
Anyway, the key issue here for the wife is the music. What is she going to hear? You'd expect the classic songs that everyone associates with Dolly: 1. "Jolene" is her most popular track, with over 57 million streams on Spotify. Covered by lots of people, including the White Stripes. This one crosses over into popular music and not just country.
LOOK AT THAT FREAKING PANTSUIT THING! You damn right.
2. "I Will Always Love You" is her fourth most popular track on Spotify (14.8 million streams), but if you could the Whitney Houston streams (93.2 million) it would rule all.
That hair is almost better than the power pantsuit. You could easily hide 3 hot dogs, a small jar of mustard, and 2 capri suns in that wave of bangs, if you just had a few strong bobby pins and 10 minutes.
3. "9 to 5." The fact that this song uses typewriter clicks as a sample/beat device is pretty amazing.
How awesome is it that this movie was made? They attempt to murder their boss, then kidnap him and torture him, then in the end the boss gets sent to Brazil to be captures by aborigines and one of the perps takes his job. How freaking weird is that?
What should the ladies expect to hear on Tuesday night? Well, since she has played the exact same concert for three nights in a row (New Orleans, Corpus Christi (CC got one less song), Dallas), I expect we know the answer.
Train, Train
Why'd You
Come in Here Lookin' Like That
Jolene
Pure &
Simple
Precious
Memories
My Tennessee
Mountain Home
Coat of Many
Colors
Smokey
Mountain Memories
Applejack
Rocky
Top/Yakety Sax
Banks of the
Ohio
American Pie
/ If I Had a Hammer / Blowin' in the Wind / Dust in the Wind / The Night They
Drove Old Dixie Down
The Seeker
I'll Fly
Away
Baby I'm
Burnin' / Great Balls of Fire / Girl on Fire
Outside Your
Door
The Grass Is
Blue
Those
Memories of You
Do I Ever
Cross Your Mind
Little
Sparrow / If I Had Wings
Two Doors
Down
Here You
Come Again
Islands in
the Stream
9 to 5
I Will
Always Love You
In the
Meantime (Monologue)
Hello God /
He's Alive I was kind of figuring that you might get some "Hard Candy Christmas" with it being Christmas time and all, and that song is pretty solid, but no such luck. But you get the good stuff there with "Jolene," "9 to 5," "I Will Always Love You," "Two Doors Down," "Islands in the Stream," and some classics like "I'll Fly Away" or "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." Should be pretty fun.
Holy shit, I made it to a hundred of these things. A large part of me figured I would have fizzled out by now. The best part is that I still think this is fun. It is almost assuredly a massive waste of my time, as far as my time is valued in six minute increments that can be billed to someone, but as far as a mental release and source of happiness, its worth the suck. On my drive in to the office this morning, I was thinking how I need to get back to some other writing on here, deeper than these quick hit things. Including my top ten of the year list, which I need to get thinking about ASAP. In honor of hitting the big century mark, I'm only going to tell you about bands that I love today. Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway. A couple of weeks ago, I finally finished the Anthony Keidis biography (Scar Tissue), which is a great read. If you enjoy the Chilis, you really should go check it out. The level of debauchery and insanity that Keidis has put himself through is freaking insane. Like, totally insane. Like jumping off a four story building to land in a pool and breaking himself on the lip of the pool. Like banging his dad's girlfriend. And this book pulls no punches on the drugs and women and bad acts. But one of the great things that the book does is give a deep look into some of the lyrics from some of the classic albums, explaining how and why he wrote the lyrics to stuff like "Could Have Lied" or "Under the Bridge." Loved it. I'm a big fan of the Chilis, so I approached this disc with excitement and a little bit of nerves. Nerves just because I really wasn't that excited about the last two discs from these dudes. Blood Sugar is my favorite (maybe my favorite album of all time), with Mother's Milk right behind that. The albums before those and the albums after those are also great, but the double-disc overload of Stadium Arcadium, and the plainness of I'm With You had me a little turned off recently. The last time I saw them play live, I was kind of bummed with the complete lack of any tunes before Blood Sugar. But, after many listens to this album over the past few weeks, I think it is really good. I'm down for the trip. As usual, I think that the key strength in the band is Flea. The new guitarist is good, Will Ferrell on the drums is solid as usual, and Keidis sounds just as good as ever, but the funkiness of Flea is what makes the RHCP worth listening to in the first place. The first single from the disc is "Dark Necessities," which showcases that funkiness in the forefront of the groove.
Feel that? I know you did. From the pop bass interludes to the general underlying funky weaving that he does - like around the 3 minute mark when he is doing these little waterfalls of bump - this is the good stuff. Now, its a little slower than some of the best funk bomb tracks (think "Subway to Venus"), but this thing still funks all over the place. BTW:
The wrestling is legit funny in that. I feel like Kinghoffer is Robert Pattinson with long hair and Bono sunglasses. I don't think he sings or says a word for the first 5 minutes. Do you think the rest of the band was like - "SHUT UP, new guy or we'll fire your ass." But then he sang in "Dark Necessities." Maybe they told him only to sing on his new music or else die. Nope, he sang on "Under the Bridge" too, he just needed time to warm up, I guess. But 13:50, when they all jam out, is also awesome. I'd never watched one of those Carpool Kareoke things before, but that is good stuff. The album closer is interesting to me. I think that spending time in Atoms for Peace probably provided some influence to Flea that he can't shake, regardless of whether he knows it is there or not. Or hell, maybe he intentionally made this song to sound this way. Because this song, "Dreams of a Samurai" totally sounds like a Radiohead/Thom Yorke track, from the piano and soft singing of the intro, to the lilting, nimble bass line, this reminds me immediately of the Thom Yorke style. This album is great, that I'm going to leave in the Q and keep jamming. Green Day - Revolution Radio. I'd rank the Chili Peppers ahead of Green Day in my fandom canon, but I dig these silly bastards as well. I wore Dookie out in college, probably listened to it hundreds of times, and Insomniac got similar treatment. Nimrod and Warning got less playtime, but they still have some great tracks. And then American Idiot was the soundtrack of about 6 months of my time in Waco. Great album. So, this new one doesn't try to pull any "important" Punk-Rock-Opera moves with some big thematic core to the album, but it sounds just like most of their recent stuff. The great, shot-across-the-bow, we-are-not-here-to-fuck-around first single is "Bang Bang," which makes me want to crank my car radio to 11 and throw my kids out the windows while ramming other drivers with abandon.
The drum fill at 2:50 is pure air drummer-rama-thon gold. I need to have that song played while I'm in a room full of upright bozo the clown inflatables I can punch to death. And the message in the track, apparently written from the perspective of a piece of garbage homeland terrorist shooter, is pretty hard too. Good stuff. Now, the rest of the album can get a little rote - there's only so many times I need to hear CHORD-CHORD-CHORD-HEY! on an album, but it still feels good to just jam out along with them and bounce to some power pop punk action. This album definitely does not have the original Green Day swagger of the early nineties, but it keeps the same feel, sound, and flavor of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown (seriously, I think "Youngblood" is just a copy of "Whatshername" with different lyrics). I will keep this album and continue to blare it in my car and think about going full Grand Theft Auto. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here ... Thank You 4 Your Service. I mean, the first track uses a section of the original Willy Wonka movie, which is my love language. How can I not dig on this album? Honestly, I figured that the Tribe was done as soon as Phife passed away, the same way that the Beasties disappeared after MCA passed. But from reading about the album online, it sounds like this one was mostly made while Phife was still alive, and then just completed and released posthumously. The best thing about the Tribe is immediately evident on here - great jazzy-sample-based tracks and a smooth, fully intelligible flow - which is why they were a massive success back in the day. Low End Theory was my favorite of their old stuff, which might be the most obvious thing anyone has ever said about a hip hop album - it might be the best hip hop album of all time anyway. But this one has a bunch of that same flavor (check "We The People..." or "Solid Wall of Sound"), I love the smoothness of their delivery, you don't have to work hard to understand their lyrics, you can just bounce right along and catch on to the words. The groove of "Dis Generation" is fantastic, just a sunny, floating guitar lick with some hand claps underneath that makes me want to drive down the PCH with my top down. "Enough!!" grabs a nugget of their old school "Bonita Applebum" sitar (?) lick (which I also noticed being used the other day on The Fugee's version of "Killing Me Softly," which is also a jam). I feel like this stuff references the old school enough to be properly reminiscent without being slavish to the old sound. The most popular track on the album right now is "We The People...," which cranks up 4.8 million streams on Spotify.
Good stuff in parts (the chorus is some good Trump-baiting stuff and timely, politically charged) but then portions of the first verse from Q-Tip are cringe inducing, trying to sound like the new school talking about getting brain from a chick. But I can forgive that in favor of the chorus and the groove of the beat. And the Phife verse. So cool that they caught some new bars from him before he passed. But more importantly, I'm just glad that this is a new rap track that talks about something interesting and important, and not solely idiot boasts and nonsensical words that rhyme over and over. This stuff is why rap matters. They also pay homage to Phife (see "The Donald," which also includes a great couplet from Q-Tip that references Tombstone) without being overly maudlin or centering the whole album on his passing. My biggest beef with this album is the overload of guest stars: Andre 3000, Busta Rhymes, Anderson Paak, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, plus others. So you end up with tracks that get a different feel - Busta spitting anger all over an otherwise chilled Q-Tip vibe - and I'd rather just stick to the Tribe guys. The exception that is immediately apparent to me is Paak, whose turn on "Movin Backwards" matches the vibe entirely and sounds just right in there. This is a good album that I'll keep around. Metallica - Hardwire...to Self Destruct. Oh hell yeah. I always enjoyed Metallica a little bit over the years, ever since talking my sister into taking me to the mall to buy the Black Album in high school. Have you gone back and blared that album again in your car recently? Absolutely holds up with the crunchiest, roughest, thickest riffage that is still accessible and fun to jam out to. Anyway, when these dudes came to town last year, I dove deeper and deeper into their tunes and now I'm a big fan of their pre-Black Album work as well. If I'm in the mood to brood and thrash and pump my fist into the air, this is the right music to hear. That live show was freaking amazing. You should go see them play if you get the chance. But, their last albums have been lacking in the real deal swagger department. Well, I guess Death Magnetic had some good bits, but Load and Reload and Garage, Inc. and (especially) St. Anger all fell short of the classic stuff. This new disc is apparently a double disc, as I have seen reported on the Internet, although from listening to it on Spotify, it just seems like a super crazy long album. This is especially true on Spotify, which gives you the deluxe edition that includes 4 extra songs (at 25 minutes total). The regular album is 12 songs and clocks in at 1:17, with only two songs clocking in at less than six minutes. This makes for a really long-feeling album, with each song (on the real album) averaging about six and a half minutes. That being said, the individual songs are pretty bad ass, and don't feel overlong. You just have to settle in for the extended thrashing and hard groove sound of each track. The hit is the first track on the album, the shortest as well, called "Hardwired."
Ahhhhhh! The drums, man. That is the perfect thrash base underneath the rest. I think I might break my neck if they come to ACL and I have to destroy everyone within a five foot radius of my position in the crowd. My only beef is that I feel like the bass gets washed out in the mix so that you almost can't tell that its under there thrumming along in time to the drums. But that is a tiny quibble with a classic sounding jam. If I had to pick a song on the album that I could do without, I think it would be "Murder One," but with "Spit Out the Bone" right after that song in the lineup, you forget about it pretty quickly. This is hard stuff - the wife would not enjoy even a minute of this - but it is lighting up the pleasure centers in my brain. Keeper. Happy 100 everyone!
As an aside, I woke up the morning after the election all sorts of fuzzy and bummed out. Partially from drinking the majority of 2.5 bottles of wine while watching the election results, but also because I just couldn't believe that Trump had actually won the election. You know what helped? Day drinking during the work day here at my desk certainly made things better, but I also listened to Tame Impala's Currents about 8 times throughout the day, and it made me feel better. The great click in the middle of "Disciples," and the morose truth in "New Person, Same Old Mistakes," just seemed to make me feel right again. I'm a big fan of that album, and it was good to take a break from new music and just find a groove in there. Wire - Pink Flag. A 1977 album of punk bounce from some Brits who were in on the original punk movement. This thing is 21 songs, many of which don't even hit the minute mark, and none of which break 4 minutes. One track, "Three Girl Rhumba" sounds like a riff later borrowed by Garbage. One track, "Strange" is familiar to me because R.E.M. covered it years ago on 1987's Document. Pretty great, fuzzed out track. Not especially punk rock -ish, but still a good tune. But the most popular track in their arsenal, which also comes from this album, is "Ex Lion Tamer," which in fact sounds like an R.E.M. track and makes me realize that those boys might have owed more to the punk sound than I ever thought.
This album is fine, but I wouldn't go out of my way to name it a greatest album of all time or keep it around for later listening. Lukas Graham - Lukas Graham. This band, confusingly named as though it is one individual, is several dudes from Denmark, and you've almost certainly heard of them despite not recognizing that name. This is because their ubiquitous hit, "7 Years" has been an unstoppable radio juggernaut. And for good reason, quite frankly, as it hits on the right nostalgia notes and is preciously solid.
The rest of the album? No thanks. Reminds me of someone, maybe Jason Mraz or Ed Sheeran, with that kind of vaguely whiny rap/sing thing. Not terrible or offensive, just nothing memorable. Have a feeling that VH1 (or whatever takes their place in the Virtual Reality world of the future) will be featuring this band as a one hit wonder in 20 years. Fitz and the Tantrums - Fitz and the Tantrums. Funny story, that one tenth or so of my readership already knows, is that a friend of mine has two twin boys, who are like 4. And those twin boys freaking LOVE themselves some Fitz and the Tantrums. They wanted to be Fitz for Halloween. They watch live Fitz shows in their free time. They know the name of the drummer for the band. I'm very jealous of this maneuver, as my kids wrinkle up their nose to any music that isn't the absolute most overplayed pop music at any given time. Taylor Swift or the godawful Chainsmokers! They're in. Zeppelin or Chilis, and they're yelling at me to change the station. I've done something terribly wrong in the raising of my children. Anyway, beyond my parenting shortcomings, this band is super fun. I saw them play ACL a few years back, and it is just a straight up massive dance party when this group starts blasting you with their good times. This is the new album from 2016, and it keeps the same vibe, lots of imminently danceable tracks and fun stuff ("HandClap" or "Complicated"), that really never slows down for any serious or slow jam tunes. Obviously, the big hit is "HandClap" with just under 27 million streams.
Quite a set of dancers in that video. Good song, very catchy and the kind of thing I think I could easily get behind jumping around to like a crazy person if seeing this band live. The album really sticks that same fun and danceable flavor - I also like "Fadeback." This thing is good and I'll keep listening. Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady. Another old album (1979) I'm giving a shot because of its purported iconic status among punk people. You gotta love the start to this album. The opening chords sound like this is a White Stripes b-side made in a garage, and then you realize that the song is literally titled "Orgasm Addict," and is actually about an orgasm addict. Who like ends up with damp pants and stuff. Which is an odd thing to make a song about, and an even more odd thing to make the opener for your singles collection. But whatever! These days, this song is probably being played on Disney Radio or something. And, then again, the freaking band is called the Buzzcocks, so maybe I'm the ignorant person here. This music is fast and raw, but its not all that punky to me. The singing actually sound pretty tuneful and harmonic, and while the pace is fast, it isn't the breakneck crazy speed of what I think of when I think of punk rock. The top song from the album, with 1.2 million streams, is "What Do I Get?"
See, not all that sneering and asshole-ish, right? I mean, a little whiny, what with repeatedly asking what he gets, but still they sound relatively clean in this track. Do you know of a more boring video than that one? I mean, white background, and the four guys just standing there playing the track? Is there a music video anywhere set to an image of a snail crawling across a white board? This album is just fine, but I'm not going to keep it around.
