Lizzo - Coconut Oil. If you recall my reviews for ACL, and especially my follow up afterwards, Lizzo is the good stuff. Bad ass woman rapper/singer who has zero qualms about busting out and feeling good. I'm 90% sure that the album opener ("Worship") is about going down on her, and that "Scuse Me" might be about going after herself. If I'm reading some sexuality into this thing that doesn't exist, maybe I'm just BBW curious. And this album (EP?) has the instant classic on it - "Good as Hell" - which is what got me fired up about her in the first place. It is a jam. If you haven't already done it, go to the link of my review above and jam it loud all weekend long. I'm torn between giving you "Phone" or "Coconut Oil" for this one, but I think I'll go with "Phone," even though its kind of goofy. But you know I love that rap that tells a story!
So, not to go all analytics on you or anything, but what is she doing with the huge Beats headphones while she is walking home, if she doesn't have her phone. She using an old school Sports Walkman or something? I THINK NOT!!! Busted by the fact checkers! But its a fun song anyway. Good disc overall, if a little short for my tastes. In fact, I woke up this morning (a week after writing that review above) still singing "Scuse Me" in my head. "I don't, need no, body else, scuse me while I feel myself." This is the truth. And again, "Good as Hell" is the real deal song on this album. Between that and "Coconut Oil," she's just doing some rad self-empowerment action on this thing that I love. The xx - I See You. Funny thing, this album. I was fully prepared to really dislike this thing and kind of hate listen along while coming up with snarky things to say here. Instead, I find that I actually like the record quite a bit. I had honestly never even heard of this band until this new album dropped and Twitter had a fit over how amazing it was. Well, that and the fact that every festival appears to have added them to the lineup. The best is the most popular track, "On Hold," which has 37.2 million streams so far and a super rad sample of Hall & Oates involved.
Weird that they filmed the video in Marfa. I don't imagine that most people out there had any clue what was going on when this was being filmed. Although I guess Marfa isn't the same today as it was a few years ago. Now hip kids in crazzeee clothes are probably entirely normal. True story, my step-uncle lives in between Marfa and Alpine, and was driving to Marfa the other night to get some dinner. He spots a guy standing next to a broken down car on the side of the highway, and stops to give him a ride. The POS truck my uncle drives requires the manipulation of a set of vise grips to get into the passenger door, so I'm sure the guy was sufficiently impressed. Oh, and uncle is also missing a front tooth. After a little conversation, the guy mentions that his name is Sting. Uncle has vague understanding that he might be famous, but is pretty well unimpressed. I asked if he had at least taken a picture with the guy, uncle laughs and says his flip phone doesn't have a camera. West Texas, man. Anyway, these songs are all kind of longing and sweet sounding electronic pop. The guy behind the music is Jamie xx, who I previously reviewed as not being very impressive. But something about this does a better job of an 80's nostalgia trip, a feeling indebted to Molly Ringwald leaning against a brick wall and wishing for love. Whatever, I like it. The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody. These dudes are so weird. I liked the weirdness on Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, but I haven't been able to get behind their stuff ever since. The closest this album comes to that same trippy, feel-unsure-to-be-happy rock is "The Castle." That isn't the most popular track, because Miley Cyrus sings on one called "We a Family," so hipster nerds have been listening to that instead. But I play you the one I like.
That video is annoying. And no matter how much she cried cartoons and prayed, her brain could not be rebuilt. No way. No way. No way. I'll let this one go back to the weird depths of the band's brains. Ruth B - The Intro. I think Rolling Stone profiled this gal a while back. That is the only recollection of where she came from in my Q. My recall is that she became famous from a Vine and then a YouTube video that caught the eye of someone at a label. This is just a little 4 song EP, of very simple tunes full of soul and longing. The big hit from here, massively large over anything else she has released, is "Lost Boy," a clever take on the Peter Pan story put into a spare piano ballad. 178 million streams, with her next most popular down at 16 million. All four of these songs are good, but I'll give you the hit for your taste test.
Just simple and basic, but beautiful and powerful. Like that Lizzo album before this one, the short little 4 song thing is pretty weak, because it would be cool to see if she could take off from this super-basic sound and make something else even more interesting with that voice and lyrical touch. But I'll readily admit that this gal is good.
This post is made INFINITELY more simple this year because of Rob Mitchum and his spreadsheet detailing festival bands. I am such a nerd for good data, and this guy just rubs me in all the right places. So, where last year I had to go hunt down all of the posters for all of the festivals (which are multiplying like tribbles) and then compare those by hand, this year, I have his handy dandy spreadsheet to use.
His spreadsheet shows a ranking, which apparently takes the number of festivals and their average position on the poster to create a rank. So, for example, Tool, Beyonce, Kendrick, Radiohead, and U2 are all ranked #1 as of right now, I guess because they are all #1's on a good poster. The spreadsheet also shows a count of the number of festivals that each group/person will be doing this year, and that is the data I want today. I had to still do some of this post by hand because he hadn't yet updated with some of the new festivals, but then when I came back to it two weeks later, he's updated. What a guy! But anyway, the thought behind this post is that there are always a few artists who end up playing any and every festival all over the place each year. I'm thinking about someone like LCD Soundsystem in 2016, Drake in 2015, Outkast in 2014, etc. So, with Mitchum's spreadsheet in hand, here are some thoughts about who would be those bands. None of these look like headliner material, so I'm not seeing any of these that will be top line, these are more like lines 2 to 5 type people (and some are more like line 10).
Chance the Rapper. On at least 7 festivals that I looked at (including C3 booked Bonnaroo, Hangout, Boston Calling, Sasquatch, Governor's, Firefly), so maybe the most exposed of anyone I see. But he's the headliner for minor little things like JMBLYA, happening in Austin on May 6, which makes it seem very unlikely that he would be coming back to Austin in the fall or that he would be considered a headliner type talent. No tour right now, just festivals. He was at ACL in 2015, further reducing the likelihood that he should come right back. I'm going to say no.
Car Seat Headrest. The next most named one that I see. He's touring Europe this spring, and then back here for Coachella, Shaky Knees (c3-booked), Boston Calling, Sasquatch, Governor's, Bonnaroo, and others. I already mentioned him as likely because of his critically acclaimed album last year. I think you lock this one down.
Frank Ocean. Headlining a bunch of smaller fests like Sasquatch, Panorama, and Hangout. As I noted previously in the post about last year's acclaimed albums, I don't see him coming to ACL. That would change if he gets added to Lolla's lineup. no.
The xx. I never knew about this band previously, but Twitter acted like John and George had been resurrected and the Beatles were putting out a new double-disc from the way they reacted to the new album from these guys. I tried it out a few times and I actually kind of dig it. They are coming to Coachella and Bonnaroo and Lolla Berlin, as well as a bunch of smaller ones. The problem with them and ACL is that they are playing the Moody Theatre two nights in a row in May, which certainly indicates that they won't be back for another appearance in October. I was going to say these guys were a lock for ACL, but I have to say I don't see it now because of those two shows in May.
Francis & the Lights. I have no clue who this is. Top song is chill electro with Bon Iver. But they're playing Coachella, Boston Calling, Governor's, Bonnaroo, Firefly, something called Electric Forest, and something called Sloss Fest. So they're making the rounds. I have no clue, the band doesn't appear to really be on tour, just playing festivals, but I'll just say yes.
Mondo Cozmo. Seriously have zero clue who or what this one is. Ah, but I've heard his/their top song, "Shine" that sounds kind of like Dylan made a record with the Strumbellas. Playing Shaky Knees (c3), Hangout, Governor's, and Foreskin Fest ( :) ) for eight total on this spreadsheet. Feels pretty good on this one, although I won't say for sure until I see that he is doing Lolla. For now I'll just go ahead and say yes.
Lorde. Yeah, weird that she is all over the festival circuit with no new album out yet, but you have to imagine that she has one coming in the next month or two, right? Coachella, Jazz Fest, Governor's, Bonnaroo, all big deal places. She also just got tagged to headline the Free Press Fest in Houston. I'm going to guess that she continues that with an appearance in Austin in the fall. Yes.
Marshmallo. There will come a day when we all look back on this era and roll our eyes and how moronic this all is. Between the DeadMau5 helmet, and the Daft Punk robots, and then this doofus who has a huge marshmallow with a face on his melon, we're all heading to oblivion one dope bass drop at a time. This dude is playing a bunch of international festivals, but also the South American Lollas, Coachella, Hangout, Governor's, Bonnarro, Lolla Paris, and Lolla Berlin. This is happening. Yes.
The Head & the Heart. They last played ACL in 2014 (when they played all four of the big four), and are signed up for Roo and Coach this year (as well as One Big Holiday, Hangout, Sasquatch, Governor's, and Lolla Berlin). Lock it in.
Strumbellas are playing 6 of these fests, so they're all over the place, but they were at ACL last year so no. Same with Cage the Elephant and Flume - they were just here...
The Shins. Odd, because I haven't seen anything new from them in a while (2012 is the last album I see), but they are listed as playing five fests in 2017, so maybe they are just about to put out a new album and this year will be their big fest fest. Their website says no tour or events on the calendar. But I dig them and they are the kind of sound that ACL traditionally entertains, so lets say yes.
Others that just feel right, despite me not knowing much about their touring schedule (with the number of fests listed behind them):
This article is pretty rad. They take venue size for shows in NYC as a measure of success over time, to figure out who "makes it" and who fizzles out. I have no clue if that is a good representation of making it, seems to me that playing a venue for 3,000 in a city of 800 billion people who don't sleep might not be that big a sign of making it. But what do I know. One thing I do know? How freaking amazing would it have been to have been in the 300 person City Winery in 2011 when Sam Smith showed up. I bet people died right there on the spot, being that close to that voice for more than 20 seconds. It'd be like nuclear exposure where you just decompose right there on the spot. I also have to say that the City Winery is apparently the greatest venue in the history of man at booking dope music before it blows up. They had Smith and Sturgill Simpson before they blew up, and then in the bottom section they boast shows from 10,000 Maniacs, Bob Mould, Bob Schneider, Hayes Carll, James McMurtry, Leo Kottke, Lucius, Macy Gray, Marcia Ball, Matthew Sweet, Mavis Staples, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Rhett Miller, Sara Watkins, and a bunch of other good stuff. Vernon Reid! I must live next door to that venue immediately (well, no, I refuse to live in NYC, but move it here immediately and put it in the defunct oil change place by my house). Shawn Mendes - Illuminate. Nah. This is the guy who did that annoying radio hit earworm about how he'd be needing stitches. My kids love that song. This is kind of like that song, but more like this guy took the most recent John Mayer album, listened to it 3,000 times, wrote new lyrics, wrote significantly lesser guitar parts, and tried to replicate it from memory. Literally, the first song ("Ruin") cribs the guitar start from a Mayer song ("Gravity?" feels like that is where I have heard this) with no shame at all. I do not find this appealing to listen to, despite its bland pretty-ness. The hit is huge, with 511 million streams, so I'm apparently missing out on the greatest new artist on the planet. Try out "Treat You Better."
646 million YouTube views. This song is apparently massive. Doesn't mean I like it, but just another tidbit of information for you to enjoy. And another video showing some tame domestic violence so that the singer can show how much better he is than that a-hole. The last one I recall that was like this was Sam Hunt (Hurt? Hunt. Maybe? The country guy who used to play footbawww). I will not keep any of this around. LVL UP - Return to Love. Ah man, this is so very up my alley. Crunchy, grungy old school homage to the feedback soaked rock of my youth. I think I could listen to "Closing Door" all day.
Those guitars are the crunchiest crunch since a fresh Nature Valley granola bar opened in the backseat of my car by a 3 year old with no dexterity. Give me all the crunchy crumbs. Let them become lodged into my molars in a crevice no toothpick can ever reach. Sub Pop is the label of my daydreams. These dudes are from New York, and had another album or two before this, but I'd never heard anything else from them. "Spirit Was" is also a gem like "Closing Door." This stuff is so very good and I want more. M.I.A. - AIM. This gal has always been weird, but I have good memories of jamming Kala repeatedly back at my first house here in Austin, and digging on that weirdness as part of a funky groove. This one does the same, with head-bobbing grooves that are sometimes pretty normal in their funk ("Borders"), and others that are just odd ("Jump In"). Some of that can get annoying (the grating sampled voice on "Ali r u ok?") but most of this still grooves in a fun way. Nothing on here will last the way that "Paper Planes" did, but the first four or five songs are all solidly enjoyable bounce. There are two remixes of one song ("Bird Song") but no original of the song, which is odd, but any song in which you can: (1) make it sound like nerd kids with kazoos are bombing a track; (2) use at least 40 bird puns; and (3) sing that you be "rich like an ostrich" is a killer track that must be remixed twice. Spotify is still acting dumb with the play counts, so I'm going to give you the album opener, which I think is the most fun one. This is "Borders."
Funny coming from her, because if I recall correctly, she was a refugee originally when she came to England, and has been kept out of the US and maybe other places, so borders have some history with her. She likes to push boundaries on stuff, so I'm sure being a refuge herself led to her wanting to tweak people on the new refugee crisis. But whatever, bro, that beat is dope, right? That is the strength of these tracks, the beats, which are all kind of offbeat and original, but still conformist enough that they sound good and not just shit noise for the sake of being weird. This album is cool, but if I'm being honest, I'd say that I enjoyed listening to it a number of times but will probably just let it go away now. Wilco - Schmilco. My recollection is that I dogged on their last album. Well, sort of. But I can say for certain that I have not gone back and listened to Star Wars again since I wrote that review. This is another one that confounds me in a similar way. The music is all really quite lovely. Mostly very chilled acoustic-centric tracks, kind of sepia-hued Americana tunes with soft drumming. And its nice. But the album literally keeps ending (and this weird, violent sounding rap begins with the next album in my new music playlist) before I even really remember that I'm trying to listen to this thing. So, its good background music to ignore? That sounds like a mean review, but I don't mean it that way, its more that this would be good background music to fire up when you have some cool wine enthusiasts come over to sip pino grige while you chat about how mean that Trump guy seems. I think that one might sound mean too. I'll just leave it with this album is fine. Spotify still refuses to give play counts, so we'll go with the one I think has the only video available, and actually uses an electric guitar for a sec, "Someone to Lose."
Video is all sort of trippy. But then again, if you go into the cake after your clothespin bride who wanted to make out with the vomit worm, then you're likely going to get killed by the eagle cat or the waterfall, one of the two. Pretty good song. Like the rest of the album, pretty good. But Wilco Schmilco anyway.
Honestly, I thought that last year's show was a better show. For it being "music's biggest night!" as they said over and over throughout the show, it sure seemed like all of the shows were intentionally deeper cuts or slow songs. I thin "Hello" is great, and that Adele is wonderful, but opening the entire show with that tender, heartfelt, plodding version of the song made for an instant snoozer. The show caught some energy later, I just though that a lot of the acts, especially at the start, were very low key.
The thing I was most excited to see was the Metallica and Gaga mash up, mainly just to see Metallica crush one of their new tunes. And then Hetfield's mike was freaking broken. I mean, I know that it is probably brutally impossible to set up a million different sets, in the dark, in 30 seconds, but DUDE. Make it so Katy Perry's mike doesn't work or something, don't screw with Metallica. So while that performance had loads of fire and Gaga's overdrive wailing, it was kind of disappointing to me.
"President Agent Orange" was funny stuff, man. That Tribe performance was salty - I ghot goosebumps in that thing. I just wish they could have played more and for longer, and given Anderson.Paak time to really do his thing too.
Adele getting all three of the big awards was pretty insane. I honestly can't believe that they didn't give Beyonce any of them. And then the Adele speech? Oh man, I physically curled up in a cringe on my couch when she said something about her "black friends" loving Beyonce. I truly believe that she was coming from somewhere real and trying to genuinely express her love for Beyonce, but oh my gosh, man. Now, the interesting question to me will be whether she gets a bunch of shit for this, the way that Macklemore did when he apologized to Kendrick Lamar a few years ago. Feels the same, and people crapped all over Macklemore back then.
Daft Punk is stupid. There, I said it. Did they add anything at all to the stupid Weeknd song? No, they just stood there behind pedestals and (maybe?) twisted some knobs and punched some buttons in their robot masks. I don't get it. And also, thought that the Weeknd should have picked a more upbeat song, or a hit, or something to get people excited. My kids just kept asking when the robots where going to play Starboy.
I have no clue what the hell Keith Urban did up there. I have this recollection that he is a country guy, and I know Rolling Stone always talks about how amazing his guitar playing is, but that was a terrible pop turd that he laid up there for the world to see. Actually, no, it wasn't even pop. It was just a turd with a beat. Pop is better than what he did.
Beyonce's performance was weird as hell, and I still don't really understand what all of that was supposed to be about. She got on some seriously trippy psych shit up there. BUT, I listened this morning to a isolated vocal of her performance, and the girl is absolutely amazing. Go check that. When you strip away all of the bad music and weird backup people and her odd "dancing," you get an absolutely killer set of pipes plucking notes out of the atmosphere.
Chance the Rapper was awesome. I knew this last album was steeped in religion, but had no clue he was going to step out there and preach during every acceptance speech and his one performance. Again, I wish he would have done his hit instead of the big gospel choir arrangement thing, but I still thought that was good. I don't know, am I wrong to think that everyone watches this show to hear these people do their best songs and want to get up and jam out? I still can't believe he won the Best New Artists when Acid Rap was a huge "album" that was very well known and well received and reviewed everywhere. But I'll take it over the jenky other people up for the award.
I'm so pleased that Drake didn't win anything (or at least nothing in the big awards). Go work on your songs and quit putting out 30 tracks of mediocre on an album.
My kid was pumped when 21 Pilots won (me, not so much), but then was super confused when they shucked their pants. Still not sure he understood the explanation.
Good for Cage the Elephant. I need to go see how many of my predictions I got right, but for now I need to get some work done. More later.
Banks & Steelz - Anything But Words. I listened to a couple of their songs last year when they were a last minute addition to the ACL lineup. I was interested - this is the Interpol lead singer (Paul Banks) and WuTang member RZA, mashing up their musical styles into indie rock tunes with rap. I liked it well enough to go give it a try at the fest last fall, and it SUCKED. Like, sucked on toast. 👅🍞. I just spent like 30 seconds trying to hunt down emojis in the crappy interface that google now added to this blogger deal, and that is the best I can come up with. But it was really like each guy was doing their own song and then the other one just jumped in and screwed it up. Just didn't work and RZA was being annoying as hell. So this is the whole album, and while I still think it has a few tracks that mesh well, overall this thing is still destined for the digital equivalent of the used bin at Waterloo Records. I won't play you the three tracks that were pre-released and therefore got more play, so here is the next most popular, "Speedway Sonora," with 278k streams.
Not terrible, but nothing on either side of their house really makes this memorable or special. How most of the album works. Maybe the "Sword in the Stone" track, with Kool Keith, is better, but that is because it's mainly just a rap track and doesn't try to be everything. Dawes - We're All Gonna Die. Yeah, I'm not feeling much about this one. I like North Hills a bunch, and then Nothing is Wrong was pretty good, and I felt about the same for All Your Favorite Bands, but this one feels like it is striving for a rockier tone that falls flat. It also has a song called "Roll Tide," which does not appear to be about Alabama football, but it still makes me want to fight a random redneck bandwagon member, even though the sentiment and sound of the song is super soothing. The best part of this are the story-telling tunes, like "When the Tequila Runs Out" or "Less Than Five Miles Away." The former of those two is the most popular of the tracks on the album so far, with 1.3 million streams.
Meh? Not sure its doing much for me. Although the slow mo video and Mandy Moore sightings were entertaining in that video. Overall, the album is just fine after a handful of listens, but I can't say that anything on here is really just grabbing me by the ears and demanding me listen. Bonkaz - Mixtape of the Year. Interestingly, no Spotify bio at all on this guy. For some reason, I've had two of his songs at the top of my queue for months, waiting for a full album to come out, so I've heard of the guy somewhere even if he isn't big enough to be recognized fully by Spotify. This type of music is apparently called "grime," and its an offshoot of regular rap music that apparently defies simple explanation. Seriously, go read the "origins" section of this Wikipedia article and see if that is any clearer for you. From what I can tell, it is energetic, hard-to-understand rap over the top of electronic beats that don't quite get so far as EDM, but kind of take a snippet from an EDM sound and repeat it. I'm not deep down in the GRIME GAME, yo, but I like this guy. According to an article I just read on Noisey, he previously had a massive hit with a song called "We Run the Block," but I don't know that one and it isn't on this album. But let's learn together - Check it.
That song is cool. Makes me think of Da Ali G show ("RESPEKKT!"), but is bouncing and looping and confusing and kind of intoxicating. And that article from Noisey is so full of insider references, I don't know that it even helped me understand the scene all that much more. Weird. Anyway, most of this is pretty good. I find the guys yelling "SKIRT SKIRT" in "Outside" and again on "Bands" to be offputting, although those are otherwise good songs. I think "Trouble" is cool, and "And Dat" is the top track on here, but I think I like "Run Out the Ends" most, personally.
Cool ass sound right there, and kind of makes me want to bounce, so I'm enjoying it. I'M A HUGE GRIME FAN, Y'ALL. LIKE THE BIGGEST IN ALL OF TEXAS, BRO. The Pixies - Head Carrier. Oh man, I am so very thankful that this album is good. Is there anything worse than when a great old band comes back together for a new shot and its just garbage? They could have tried to update the sound or otherwise screwed with the perfect formula they had from back in the day, but instead, this sounds like the real deal Pixies from back in the day. And actually in some ways, it is better, since Black Francis doesn't ever really devolve into the screaming shredding that he used to do, which wears on you after a while. I think the title song is my favorite on here, but most of them are solid tracks. "Oona" sounds old school for sure, just like a b-side that would have been at home on Doolittle. Weird thing about these guys on Spotify, all of their songs are listed as having less than a thousand streams. Everything, even Fight-Club-fanboy-anthem "Where is My Mind" or "Here Comes Your Man." Weird. Now I think Spotify might be having issues, because other artists are showing the same issue. Well, none of the songs on this album are in the top ten listed on Spotify, and it won't show me play counts for the individual songs, so I'll check out YouTube.
Here's the one with a video, "Tenement Song," and its another good one too. Especially when the soloing kicks in around 2 minutes. But this is why the Pixies rule, they've got good boy/girl harmony thing, but then they can chug/jam out for a while with their rock. This is another good album that I'll save.
Is Wolf Alice the greatest band of all time? No, but does listening again to their 2015 album My Love Is Cool make me want to speed and fight and hug and cry and jump and kick? Yes. "Bros," "Your Loves Whore," and "Moaning Lisa Smile" are such choice cuts. Also, does the Euphoria Fest lineup make anyone else out there feel like an old person? I don't think I'd intentionally go see anything on that poster. May end up being fun if I was there, but that is like a random amalgamation of the 7th line of every minor festival in Delaware, Kansas City Motor Speedway, and eastern Canada. DJ Mustard - Cold Summer. Ugh. After seeing this guy at ACL last year, which was one of the worst shows of the weekend for me, I don't really care to hear his music any more. And a run through this album doesn't change that opinion at all. I'll give him kudos for solid beat production, which is his work on this album, but the raps on here are mainly garbage. I was about to just skip past even giving you an example, because I just don't want to hear this stuff anymore, but here is the most popular track, "Want Her," which has just over 6 million streams.
For the first full minute and then some, you just hear one of two lines said over and over and over and over. And they aren't even fun or clever lines. This is Quavo, who is part of Migos, and YG, who is Mustard's #1 customer. And each of them pretty much takes one verse and then goes right back to repeating themselves. The beat is good, definitely a great groove and bounce, but lyrically its just trash. I won't keep any of this album. Kings of Leon - Walls. The Kings of Leon have been a favorite ever since I bought 2004's Aha Shake Heartbreak at a Best Buy, upwrapped the old cellophane wrapper, slid that disc into my sweet Jetta's soundsystem, and began the process of blaring it while driving around town. That album is great. I went and got Youth and Young Manhood (2003) soon thereafter, and then enjoyed Because of the Times (2007) after that. At first, I wasn't all that hot on Only By the Night (2008), but then I saw these guys at Stubb's and connected much more forcefully with some of those tracks. I love when that happens, you go see someone pour their sweat and fire right into a song, and hear the crowd soaking it up (and firing it right back at the band), and then your feeling and memory of a song is forever transformed. Good stuff. I remember "On Call" that way, just the hymn-like quality and the crowd carrying the vocals to a different place than I'd noticed before. So I've stuck by these guys as they have continued to release albums through the years, and they've been fine. Nothing as urgent and awesome as those first few albums, but still keeping these guys up there in the conversation for the best (out of very few contenders) rock band left in America. This one keeps that same conversation going. Nothing new or revelatory, but still solid groove-based rock and roll with one of my favorite lead singer voices. Strong, but glitchy enough to be real, and harmonic, but not so fancy that it loses its rock sound. Most of this album is in the 5 million plus range for streams, except for two tracks that both bust trough the ten million zone - "Walls" (15 mill.) and "Waste a Moment" (31.5 million). Here is the latter.
Weird video. Still don't understand what he is accomplishing with the side-head-jazz-hand whenever the bad guy whips out his comb. Although it appears to be something involving fire and toys. I dunno. But this whole album contains the classic sound of the KOL and works well. I wish this album had more of the rawness on their first few albums, but I get it, they aren't young and raw anymore. They are fully practiced and skilled at using their instruments. But I like it anyway, still hoping the come to ACL again. The Game - 1992. It feels really weird that I like The Game so much. I don't know why I want to resist this music, but something inside of me wants to assume that he sucks, when truthfully, his last few albums have been great. This one is more of the same, story-telling rap, heavy on good homage (Wu Tang, Dr. Dre) and cool sampling. This is the kind of rap I've always loved the most. I will say that the bonus track available on Spotify is weak. But otherwise, this is solid stuff. Haha! I just went to look at the most popular track to discuss it here, and see that the bonus track that I just crapped on ("All Eyez (feat. Jeremih)") is that number one track with 35.3 million streams. Unfortunately, my choices for videos for this album are that and the other weakest cut, "Baby You." Both are just more of the slow jam love song crap. I guess I'll just play you the most popular one.
Best part is when he dogs on Future and Desiigner. But seriously, much better stuff on here like "True Colors/It's On," "Bompton," "I Grew Up On Wu Tang," or "The Soundtrack." I especially like that last one, which shows Game's love for Dre, even though he's no longer on the Aftermath label, which I respect. The cool thing is that most of these songs seem like an homage to someone awesome. So "True Colors/It's On" sounds like an Ice T lover's track, and "The Soundtrack" sounds like Clams Casino took a trip to a g-funk class, took a bunch of drugs, and hashed together a laid back beat from Dr. Dre's leftovers. Best thing about all of this, and the other recent Game albums, is that this is real story-telling rap. Actually reminds me of Nas in some of this. But instead of just listing brands, he's weaving tales and reminiscing about his past. Love it. WRONG - WRONG. Oh hell yeah. There is that deep down filthy love making music I need. If you were like me, and loved Helmet back in the day, then this is your stuff. Loud, crushing, thumping, based on a dark ass groove and then searing guitar solos, this is where I LIVED in high school. I swear, these guys just listened to Helmet songs from Strap it On and Meantime and just made a slight adjustment to create their copy. Check out "Wrong," which is "Turned Out" and "Iron Head" and "FBLA II" mashed together for me and only me. Sadly, not available on the YouTubes, so I'll have to choose between "Turn In" or "Mucilage." We'll go with the more streamed one, "Turn In."
Its not only the music, but also the cadence of the singer that reeks of Helmet. "Fake Brain" is also spot on Helmet homage. By the way, it is difficult to search for the song "Wrong" on the album Wrong by the band Wrong, on YouTube, because of Donald Trump's weird little mutterings about Clinton's claims in a debate. Definitely going to keep this album, its like I'm being transported right back to my straight-edge, faux-angry days of high school and I love it.
The Head and the Heart - Signs of Light. Another great album from these folks, I'm generally impressed by them and enjoy what they do. Slightly more pop-centric than the indie-heavy first album, but I'm not using the pop moniker as an insult at all, more just that this is tuneful and fun instead of all introspective. The hit from the album so far, that I've heard on radio a good bit, is "All We Ever Knew," which clocks in at 19.3 million as of right now. Very good tune. But there is one other song on here that I want to highlight, because as I've spent all day listening to this album, it keeps grabbing my attention and making me look up from my work. "Library Magic" has just over 3 million streams.
More of a quiet hymn, to be sung in the dusty aisles of the library, with all the harmonies possible. Well, until the librarian shushes them. And then cranks up "Hot for Teacher" and throws her glasses into the reference section so that she can start to STRIPPIN! Sorry, got out of hand there. This tune is lovely and so well done. I want to drive up through Colorado or Northern California with the top down and this playing on repeat while holding hands with my woman and backing in the warm glow of the sun. And then a few days ago, a friend from work told me that this album sucks. At the time, I was valiantly avoiding the basket of tortilla chips on our table, and therefore was unable to hear or process information, so I can't recall his logic here, but whatever dude. That guy probably likes Shawn Mendes and Trill Youngins, yo. DJ Khaled - Major Key. Khaled is a well-know beatmaker and Instagram advice-giver, and I heard a pretty interesting NPR piece on him the other day that discussed his fascination with the "major keys" in life - those items of knowledge you need to be successful. The one I recall from the story was you need a lot of pillows. Like tons of extra pillows. The quote he said was something about how you should have something soft anywhere you turn when you are sleeping. Which is weird, unless you are sleeping on concrete, the bed itself ought to be relatively soft for you. Whatever, go buy pillows, bra! Anyway, Khaled makes pretty solid beats, and then he just invites a who's who of rappers on here to do the lyrics. You get superstars like Jay Z, Nas, Kendrick, and Lil Wayne. You get other interesting rappers like Big Sean, YG, Busta Rhymes, and Nicki Minaj. And you get the garbage rappers that other people seem to love like Future, Drake, J. Cole, and 2 Chainz. The interesting thing about that is this variance allows you to really pay attention to the differences in their sounds and vocals. Like, Jay-Z actually sounds relatively good because he's paired with Future. The best is "Don't Ever Play Yourself," which has Jadakiss, Fabolous, Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes, and someone named Kent Jones, so you really get a four pack of old(er)-school rappers, one after another, to compare. Jadakiss has a grimy flow, then Fabolous sounds smooth as silk, the Fat Joe does he usual blah, then Busta comes in with a pretty reserved verse, then someone named Kent Jones (who actually puts down a pretty good verse) fires in for the final verse. I figured that "F*ck up the Club" would be the top song, but it doesn't even make his top ten. Instead, "For Free," which features freaking Drake, is his biggest hit with 97 million streams. But F Drake, I'm going to give you the lead song with Future and Jay Z instead.
43 million streams for that one, and Jay sounds pretty good. Especially when compared to the robotic idiocy that is Future. I might keep a couple of these tracks around in my Popcorn rap playlist. The Shrine - Rare Breed. Shit yeah. Some Sabbath-y, stoner rock that freaking rules. If you want some dope shredding that includes a song called "Savage Skulls and Nomads," then you should look no further than right here. And I know that is exactly what you want out of life. I'm going to listen to this album every day on my way home for the rest of my life and I'm going to buy a Hummer and outfit it with Mad Max-style armor and spikes and flamethrowing guitar gimps and I will OWN MOPAC LIKE A GOD!!! Oh, did you want a taste? I knew you did. Top song on the album is the opener, "Coming Down Quick," with 286k spins. Taste it.
Straight power right there. Nothing out of the ordinary, well, except for the trippy ass video, but as far as the music goes, we are just blasting on drums, guitar, bass, and vocals. But the vocals are not scream-y so much as yell-y (kinda Henry Rollins at times, or Red Fang), and I much prefer that angle. FIGHT ME! Speaking of fight me, before that video played, I saw, yet again, the super annoying ad where they show an "old guy" who is so very obviously not old, like a bad jackass skit thing, who then strips off his shirt to tell you about how crazy strong he is because he watched a video or something. I hate that commercial so much. But I dig the fire on this album. Sum 41 - 13 Voices. I was a big fan of 2001's All Killer No Filler, and even liked the next album (Chuck) well enough, but this one is much less pop-aware and more of a straight slog of punk-ish bashing. Don't much care for it. The top song still has a bunch of listens (6.5 million), so they're getting love from others even if not from me. Here is that track, "War."
Yeah, I get that we're going for a more introspective look here (likely because the lead singer almost died recently from alcoholism), but it doesn't make me care all that much to hear this album more.
