Quick Hits, Vol. 70 (David Bowie, Hinds, Tom Petty, Ali Holder)

Hot Topic: The awesomeness of these earbuds.  I have no clue if these things would work, but if they can up the battery life and then these would work as advertised, it would be freaking sweet for shows. The coolest feature, and I can't tell if that is part of this, would be if the buds could be programmed to only let the music and your friends' voices through.  Block out the dude behind you drunkenly yelling the lyrics to "Learn to Fly."  Just keep the music clear in your ears, at a good volume, and if your friend turns over to you to say something about Grohl's sweet Throne, you hear that clearly as well. Sounds cool.  Next gen idea: have these that also include a communicator to talk to friends at a festival without needing cell signal.

David Bowie - Blackstar.  Well, now, of course, I feel like a big fat asshole unless I gush all over how great and challenging and artful this album is, how it reflect the chameleonic nature of David Bowie as he modified the past and future of pop music to fit his ever-astounding milieu of groundbreaking aural explorations.  My Facebook feed has been blowing up with these kinds of things.  Either that, or something like "I've been a huge fan all my life and Hunky Dory was the album that formed me and my dad died singing Suffragette City."  Look, I like David Bowie's hits - he has some great old fun rock and roll songs, including Surfer Jet City (as I used to sing it when I was 8 - an 8 year old who LOVED the WHAM BAM THANKYOUMAAM!! portion of that song). All of that being said, this album doesn't do much for me.  On one hand, it is amazing that he was in the midst of an 18 month long battle with cancer while making this, and yet his voice sounds great. On the other hand, the story behind the music doesn't make it any more palatable for me. Well, now that I'm officially a jerk, here is "Lazarus."

Hinds - Leave Me Alone.  Current buzz band in the indie rock/garage rock scene, out of Spain.  I fully expect that they will be booked to play ACL this year.  This one starts off pretty good, with some loose, jangly guitar rock action, but by the time I re-started the disc for a second listen, I realized that I don't enjoy this at all.  I'm sure I'll regret this review, as they'll be the next big thing and I'll be won over by their charming live show, but I can't get there right now.  The tunes are fine, but the vocals are too reverbed/fuzzed out/annoying and it becomes a big drag over time.  Here is the most-listened-to track on Spotify, called "San Diego."  About 330k listens.

Has that garage/Strokes-ian vibe, but it just grates on my nerves.  I've ground out three listens to the album and just have to move on.  Let me know when the rest of the world officially determines I'm an idiot for not being on board with these ladies.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Nobody's Children.  Hell yeah, new Tom Petty.  One of my sisters is a massive Tom Petty fan (and just yesterday, when asked what her favorite album of all time is, she went with Damn the Torpedos, although she waffled a little bit on that with some love for the Cure and the Boss) and so I have enjoyed a lot of TP over time.  I think my first album of his was Full Moon Fever (which, yes, I know was him gone solo, not with the Heartbreakers), and that album was awesome.  I remember thinking it was soooooo cool in the middle when he told people to flip over the tape or LP.  But that album has so many good songs on it.  I have a great memory of listening to it on the roof of a house boat on Lake Powell when I was a kid while looking up at the stars and cliffs.

Since then, Into the Great Wide Open, Wildflowers, She's the One, and portions of Echo have been excellent.  I've actually seen several different artists mention recently how they think that Wildflowers is one of their favorite albums of all time.  I have to agree that it is great - the title track is a beaut, and the rest of the album is similarly fine.  I bought that album right after I started college and have good memories studying to it or driving around in my car with friends while it played along. Anyway, enough history lesson.

Interestingly, no one is listening to this album.  It was released just over a month ago, and the top song has 36k spins, with others topping out under 20k.  His hits all peg out in the millions, but this one is a little bit unnoticed.  Looks like there was also another companion disc that came out at the same time.  I should check it out too.  The sound on here is classic Petty, with tracks that sound like the Wilbury's ("Travelin'"), Buddy Holly and Yoakum-ish country ("Baby, Let's Play House"), bare assed rockers ("Come on Down to My House"), and a kind of classic sounding jam ("Up in MIssissippi Tonight") plus a Lenny sighting, which is always welcome for me.  Not much on the lovely acoustic tracks, he went pretty well solidly electric on this one, but maybe "Waiting for Tonight" is that track.  TP's Vevo channel on YouTube apparently hasn't uploaded a video in 6 years, so I guess we shouldn't expect an official music video here.  But here is the opening track, the most listened-to with 36k spins.  "Got My Mind Made Up"

I know that I sometimes rail on artists for staying in a rut and making music that you can't tell apart (looking at you, Muse), but there is something nice about the Petty-ness of that track.  Classic rock with his smoky growl of a voice.  This album is worthy of keeping around to stick in the rotation.

Ali Holder - From My Veins Will Fall.  A friend of mine has been playing guitar with this gal, so I queued up the album to give it a check.  Her voice is freaking gorgeous.  I know that no one has heard of her yet, as she has 137 total monthly listens on Spotify, but regardless, I think her music is damn pretty.  The title track is so lovely, but I think I'll show you "Don't Show the Devil" instead.

That's my boy Jeremy there on the guitar.  I dig it, just slinky and sultry.  Gimme some more of that action.  All of 59 views for that video though, so once again she has yet to find a wide audience. Maybe she'll get to do ACL this year and blow up.  She's be a good selection for the local tunes to play early on a day.