Quick Hits, Vol. 71 (PWR BTTM, Tori Kelly, Sunflower Bean, Cage the Elephant)

PWR BTTM - Ugly Cherries.  Favorite album of the year so far.  I can't quit listening to this thing. It is super basic guitar rock, reminding me of old Weezer (and a little bit of another Wee- band, Ween), but done by two dudes with humor and fun layered over the guitar crunch in a way that I'm loving.  The tunes are catchy as hell, well played, and unapologetically gay.  By the time you get to the third song "I Wanna Boi," you'll catch on to that even if you are as dense as I am about such things.  And even though I can't identify with some of the sentiments in the lyrics, it hasn't stopped me from singing along about wanting a boy who thinks its sexy when my lipstick bleeds.  The most popular track on Spotify has only 83k streams, and I think 3k of that has been me, so this band is criminally under-represented.  I'm hoping they come to ACL - I bet they'd make it large.

The correct genre for this is probably pop-punk, but it feels more substantial to me than that.  It is sometimes a little sloppy, but it also just taps right into my musical zone.  Here is one more track, "!994"

Check that Weezer-esque guitar solo there near the end!  Only one track cracks the 3 minute mark, with several you can round down to 2 minutes, so these aren't prog rock epic tunes, but I think this one is worth your time to check out.

Tori Kelly - Unbreakable Smile.  Kelly is up for the Best New Artist Grammy award, so I nabbed this album to check out in my queue a few weeks ago.  I've listened to it a few times now, and although I fully expected to hate it from start to finish, I actually enjoyed the album.  The style is danceable R&B with some rap elements, and her voice is great.  The standout track for me is the title track, "Unbreakable Smile," which is a happy, bouncing trip.  But somehow, that track only has 6 million listens on Spotify, while "Nobody Love" cracks 32 million spins.  So I'll give you the hot track.

A little bit mid-range Mariah, a little bit Nelly Furtado, a little bit Disney pop-princess, but when that horn break kicks in about 3/4 of the song in, I can't deny it.  And "Expensive" is another club banger that belongs in the rotation on summertime dance floors in South Padre.  I can pass on the ballad ones (Ed Sheeran makes an appearance on one), but the dance jams are straight up fun (see the LL Cool J-assisted "California Lovers" as well.  LL!!).  She also has a Lauryn Hill -alike track at the end of the album ("Anyway") that is also solid.  All around a good album.  Surprised I like it, but there you have it.

Sunflower Bean - Show Me Your Seven Secrets.  Something about this new psych-rock movement is catching my fancy in just the right way, as I am grooving on this thing.  This one also brings to mind a transition caught between some of the 80's new wave folks like Echo & the Bunnymen and the 90's shoegaze folks like Slowdive.  Well, that is excepting the freakout found in the Dead Weather-biting "Tame Impala," which I'm struggling to enjoy.  (Seriously weird, making a song that sound like the Dead Weather but naming it Tame Impala?  What is going on there?)  But otherwise, this one is great fun.  Not a ton of listens on Spotify - under 50k for everything on this album.  I am loving the sound on "Rock and Roll Heathen," and I'd like to show you the most popular track on Spotify, "Somebody Call a Doctor," but the only track with a video, of course, is "Tame Impala."

YOU ALWAYS SAY WHATS ON YOUR MI*Cyndi Lauper Squeak*ND!  The music is fine, I just don't much care for the scream-o-rama lyrics.  "OK Mr. Man" reminds me of that Flowerpot Man song from Ferris Bueller mixed with Teenage Fanclub.  I'm in on this one.  Keeping it around for a while.

Cage the Elephant - .  Gleefully rockin' tunes toeing the line that the Black Keys have traced between the Arctic Monkeys' style of unhinged rock (hear "Sweetie Little Jean") and Tame Impala's psych weirdness.  I was never on board with Cage the Elephant before - their hit songs from a few years back "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" and "Cigarette Daydreams" were never all that interesting to me.  I had seen that this album was out, but fully planned to ignore it (until they get named to come to ACL as I suspect, when I'd have to listen to it).  But Rolling Stone just did a piece on them that was pretty interesting, so I decided to give it a shot.  Totally worth it.  The hit is "Trouble" with just over 4 million listens, but the one I want you to jam is "Mess Around."

Freaking fun track.  Tight and funky, with a perfect sound we will all yell along to when they play ACL.  Waaaaaahhhahhhaahhhaaaaa!  Oh no!  You know she don't mess around!  This is going to be fun.