ACL Lineup Announcement Coming on 5/4!

I just got an e-mail announcing that all of our dreams are going to come true and music will flow from the heavens like never before.  We just have to wait ten more days.  We can do this.  Help each other stay strong.

Quick Hits, Vol. 134 (Common, Duckwrth, Blood Orange, The Avalanches)

Common - Black America Again.  I don't know if there is a smoother delivery device for rap than Common.  The guy's tone of voice and delivery are just so damn smooth and effortless.  And when he adds a Stevie Wonder collab to the mix?  Can't get any more silky smoove.  Common's raps are almost always somehow political - not Republicans v. Democrats, more like honoring women and stopping drugs and questioning race relations.  My favorite off of this album so far has been "Little Chicago Boy."  Great story, apparently about his recently deceased father coming up in Chicago, over a chill groove.  Only one song from this album cracks the top ten of popular tracks for Common on Spotify, a groovy glide called "Love Star" with just over 2 million streams.

Oh yeah, I forgot, he sometimes goes for love songs (and like explicit shit, too) instead of political rap.  This is one of those, a track about how he's going to love you in exciting ways, but will be respectful of you after the boning is done.  I've always appreciated Common, but to be honest this album doesn't interest me.  After 5 or so listens, it just seems like I don't remember anything on it other than Little Chicago Boy.  I'll let it go.

Duckwrth - I'M UUGLY.  Weird to be listening to this dude right after listening to Kendrick rap about his dad in "DUCKWORTH."  Maybe this is Kendrick Lamar's dad!  I just solved a huge mystery!  Why can't people just use all of the proper letters that should go in a word? This is how we end up with Desiigner and Paerish and Haelos and LVLUP and PWR BTTM. We're better than this, people.  
I read a bit about this guy - he was raised in South Central by a Pentecostal mother who didn't let him outside much for fear of what would happen to him on the streets, so he spent a lot of time in his own head-space.  Sounds familiar to me.  Art school drop out, lived in San Fran for a while.  If you want to go in depth with the guy, go here. It is an interesting album, odd in comparison to the more straight-forward rap dominating the current space.  None of the tracks are runaway popular on Spotify, his top one is "I'M DEAD" at 307k.

Oh, OK.  Now I hear the Anderson-Paak influence here.  That tune is fun and loose.  Good times can be had while listening to that tune.  I feel like the weirdness of this album is best represented in "RUUUN," where it sounds like a cowbell-inflected sunshine tune (again channeling Paak) that erupts into a screaming chorus that sounds more like a De La Soul-meets-Body Count breakdown. Like that track, this album feels like it is all over the place.  I won't keep it around.

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound.  Not sure why I've gone back to try this guy again, as I pretty well know that I don't want to hear this modern R&B stuff.  I did not enjoy Cupid Deluxe.  I likewise have not enjoyed this album.  "Best to You" is the hit.  9.8 million streams.

Its definitely 80's rock influenced, but whatever.  I'm out.  Even if "Hadron Collider" sounds kind of like an old Madonna b-side.  This isn't my deal.  It's also 17 freaking songs.  I'm starting to hate the bloat brought on by streaming...  Just felt like I needed to acknowledge the time I spent listening to it instead of just deleting it from my Q.

The Avalanches - Wildflower.  Speaking of overly long albums!  This one clocks in at over an hour and 22 songs.  And at least half of them could have been cut out.  I don't know if you remember the Avalanches, but they put out some music back in the late 90's that I remember finding on Napster and enjoying - Since I Left You was the album, and it mixed together so many samples and sounds and styles that it really was damn interesting.  I suppose it would be called electronic, but certainly not in the current style of pummeling, beat driven electronic.  More in the neighborhood of Paul's Boutique than Skrillex.  "Since I Left You" and "Frontier Psychiatrist" were the hits I recall.  So this one put out a single a while back, and I enjoyed it quite a bit - "Frankie Sinatra" is random and weird and bouncy, and if you add up the listens of both versions, it wins the spin war on Spotify.

Nice.  Perfect for me to be watching on 4/20.  Who else wants some death lemonade?  I think that if MF Doom on that track as well, and I've always liked his odd cadence.  There is a ton of weirdness on this album, and loads of snippets of people talking (likely from old recordings), and it is surprisingly fun to listen to.  Another highlight is the freakout of "The Noisy Eater," with, I assume, Biz Markie.  And I liked "Harmony."  Although as I mentioned in the open, it could lose about half the songs and be much better off.

Quick Hits, Vol. 133 (Trinidad James, Violent Soho, Big Thief, Brent Cobb)

More great work on diving deep into the world of the festivals from Rob Mitchum.  Interesting questions he is asking here, about diversity between festivals and historical changes over time.  Love this stuff.  Although, his comment about sexual diversity, I feel like ACL is chocked damn full of woman-centric bands.  Hold please, going to go waste a bunch of time... and there we go.  Of 113 different artists on weekend one's poster in 2016, I counted 23 that are woman only (20.3%) and 18 that are mixed (15.9%) for a total diversity of 36.2%.  That maybe isn't a perfect analysis, as I'm not counting the fact that Chris Stapleton's wife sang with him on stage, because his "band" seems more like just him as a dude, and other similar cases.  But it shows that ACL is up in the top 5 or so with the other fests listed in that article at about mid-30's percent.  We'll see how they stack up once the official lineup comes out in a bit.

Trinidad James - The Wake Up 2.  I gave this guy the benefit of the doubt because of "All Gold Everything" from 2013, and "Just a Lil' Thick (She Juicy)" (which is awesome and I still sing it to myself all the time - SHE AIN'T FAT BRA!  JUSSALITTLE THICK!) but this mixtape is a bunch of misses to me.  The album opener is named "Taylor Swift," apparently solely to get search engine hits, because the only time her name is mentioned is in reference to her and Miley Cyrus making a movie (I think because they are so high from his super awesome drugs?)  I dunno, this song is not good.  Most of these songs have guests doing verses, but other than Makonnen, none are people of any note.  The most popular track from the album is, not surprisingly, the one named after the most popular artist in the world, likely from desperate fans who wish she was on Spotify or from dumb kids who don't know any better and try to play it before realizing their large mistake.  But the second most popular is "Henny Cup$," and although it isn't much better, I don't want to give this jackass any more plays for that other song.

Blah blah blah.

Violent Soho - Hungry Ghost.  I recently reviewed their most recent album (Waco) but had never heard this older one, which everything I read about said was the true hit from their catalog.  Aussie band, with a deep and true love for the 90's grunge rock/alt rock scene in their tunes.  I love it.  So much fuzz.  Walks the line between Fugazi and Nirvana and, like, the Offspring or something, in a pleasing way.

That shit makes me want to bum rush a huge crowd of people gathered for the World's Strongest Man competition and fight them all to the death using only my forehead.  I would very much like to jump up and down while that song is playing and get punched in the arm by a stranger beside me who is having the best time ever.  When "Fur Eyes" came on, I could swear that it is a cover song.  Something like R.E.M. or the Replacements or Pete Yorn.  No, I'm hearing the Smashing Pumpkins.  It is "By Starlight" from Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness, where Corgan sings about "dead eyes" over and over.  It is even the same inflection and notes on the two matching lines.  Weird that these things are stuck in my brain.  Anyway, this is a legit song of their own.  This whole album is my kind of stuff.

Big Thief - Masterpiece.  No clue where I found this album, but this is a pretty solid album of indie rockers with a very good female vocalist.  It bounces between upbeat rockers and more tender, introspective sounding tunes.  I like the upbeat better, but I like the lead singer so much that I don't mind either.  The top track is "Paul," which has 2.1 million streams.  Pretty good for an indie band.

"I'll be your real tough cookie with the whiskey breath, I'll be a killer and a thriller and the cause of our death."  Some legit Bonnie and Clyde shit going on there.  But sang like a torchy love song, despite the fact that homegirl is a gangster.  Oooh, oooh, Tiny Desk! Hooray for the Tiny Desk!

That stuff sounds really really good.  I'd love to hear them play someplace intimate and small and just sit back and enjoy the sound.

Brent Cobb - Shine on Rainy Day.  Oh yeah, this is the good business right here.  If you've been sucked into the timeless country wormhole of Sturgill and Jamey and Stapleton, as I have, then this is going to taste smooth like Tennessee whiskey.  Smooth guitar work, solid, accented vocals, and loads of good stories like "Down in the Gulley" about his grand-dad making moonshine.  Or the lyrics in "Diggin' Holes," about his failures in love and how he ought to be workin' in a coal mine or oil field because he's so good at diggin' holes or workin' for the railroad because he's so good at leavin' town. The top track is the title track with 1.1 million streams.

Spare song, simple as can be.  But so damn pretty is hurts your heart a little bit.  I'm a fan of this album for sure.

Predicting ACL 2017: The Final Countdown! [EDIT 4/20/17]

I think I'm just about done with my predictions.  I have left out a few other angles that I've looked at in previous years, like major tours, big streaming numbers, or bands playing other C3-related venues like Trees in Dallas, but I don't feel like I ended up gleaning much from those angles in the past.  So now I feel like I've gotten through the majority of what makes sense this year.  Let's recap it all, with an eye on the formal announcement, which I expect to happen again around May 5 (even though ACL's twitter account keeps saying to expect exciting new soon - yesterday they posted it twice - "coming soon!").
Here is the run-down of my old prediction posts from this year:

• Extremely, Outrageously Early Predictions.  
• Live Nation Bands (and a Gut Intuition Update).  
• Bands Playing the International Lolla Festivals.  
• Critical Darlings.  
• Groups Making the Festival Rounds this Year.  
• Lollapalooza Chicago.  
• Big Bands with Shows in the Area Right Around the ACL Weekends.  
• Bands With New Music.  

Prior predictions that I think are junk now: 

• Green Day (will be in Austin for Sept. show).
• Daft Punk (no indication of a tour, not doing Lolla, and that Weeknd song is terrible).
• Steve Aoki (playing Jmblya in Austin).
• Paul Simon (zero indication of tour lasting longer than July). 
• Kings of Leon (playing Austin at 360 before the Fest)
• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (nope, will be in France)
• The Killers (I still just don't see how these guys end up here with no new album yet and no reason to be on the major festival circuit other than Lolla.  But they could be here, it would make as much (or really as little) sense as them being on the Lolla poster).
• [EDIT]  After the first comment below from EarDrumKicks (thank you sir or madam), I thought I'd look back at the likelihood of Chance coming back after being here in 2015.  Seems too quick to have someone back with just a one year gap, so I've been ignoring that potential.  So I looked back at my spreadsheet of ACL bands since 2011 for examples of bands who came back with only a one year gap.
• Fun fact, the original poster from 2002 just listed everyone in alphabetical order. Versus now when everyone probably fights and jockeys to be the number one guy on the poster.
• Of course, Asleep at the Wheel jacks up this whole thing, by playing every year. Delta Spirit also played 2011 and 2012 in a row. (I'm not looking at the gospel or kiddie shows, which play pretty frequently).
• A two year gap is seems more common, like Alabama Shakes and Bassnectar playing 2012 and 2015.  Others: Ben Howard, Chromeo, Father John Misty, Fitz & the Tantrums, Foster the People, Gary Clark Jr., Haim, J. Roddy Walston & the Business, Jon Pardi, Kendrick Lamar, Local Natives, Miniature Tigers, Skrillex, The Head & the Heart, Wild Belle. And it just barely is more common, with 17 of those just listed.
• I have to admit I am wrong - bands have done the one year gap - 16 over six years.  And it hasn't just been the minor bands at the bottom of the lineup.
• Cherub played 2013 and 2015
• Childish Gambino played 2012 and 2014
• Courtyard Hounds in 2011 and 2013
• FIDLAR in 2013 and 2015 (although as I recall, they were a late add to 2015)
• Houndmouth in 2013 and 2015
• Major Lazer in 2014 and 2016
• Mona in 2011 and 2013
• Nikki Lane in 2012 and 2014
• Phosphorescent 2011 and 2013
• Polica in 2012 and 2014
• Shakey Graves in 2013 and 2015
• Smith Westerns in 2011 to 2013
• Tame Impala in 2013 to 2015
• The Avett Brothers in 2012 to 2014
• The Durdens in 2011 and 2013
• Walk the Moon 2013 to 2015
• Of those sixteen, I'd say that none of those are the true headliners.  But of the three who come closest:
• Major Lazer was fourth line in 2014 and then second line in 2016. (So I guess they are a major headliner, even if I don't want to see them).
• The Avett Brothers were second line in 2012 but then fourth line in 2014.
• Tame Impala was sixth row in 2013 and up on the fourth line on the 2015 poster.  
• So that doesn't entirely jibe with the theory I'd been coming up with, that there can be a one year gap when a band goes from an unknown to a hit.  Otherwise, the Avetts would not have gone backwards on the poster.  
• Chance the Rapper was a fifth line artists on the 2015 poster, and his show was freaking packed.  We'll look more at Chance in a minute, now that I am going to edit my headliner picks.

The Big Headliners:

• Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Predicted them back in October 2016 with my first set of predictions, based on little more than my love for them.  But then I upped my confidence level in January when I saw they had been named to play Lolla Paris.  And then became super confident in this one when I saw that they are playing two shows in Mexico City during the week in between the two weekends of ACL.  Super confident.
• Metallica.  Was feeling confident about this one but that confidence has faded over time. I predicted them in that first set of predictions, and then kept them in it in January when I realized they were headlining all of the Lolla South America shows.  But I don't know, it feels like the buzz has dropped, and then they are playing Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas in June. But they do still have a big gap in their touring calendar that leaves the beginning of October open.  So screw it.  Even though this would lead to a pretty heavy rock headliner mix for the Fest, I'll still predict them.  Lukewarm confidence.
• I'm dropping out Metallica and adding in Chance the Rapper.  As noted above, I wasn't very sure about Metallica in the first place, but after EarDrumKicks' comment below, and then doing the research above, I guess that it wouldn't be out of line to have a big name come back after one one year's gap in between years.  I still think it is odd, because his schedule shows he'll be in Austin for a minor festival in May, then he'll be playing two sold out shows in LA the Wednesday and Thursday before weekend one.  Sure, he is the top name on the Lolla poster, but those other shows seems to indicate that he wouldn't be up for ACL too.  But I do feel like there needs to be a big rap name up at the top of this poster, and he's one of the hottest in the world right now (and is playing a ton of festivals this year other than Lolla). So, I'll adjust on the fly here and remove Metallica in favor of Chance.  Medium-level confidence.
• Arcade Fire.  Brought them up for the first time in the post about LiveNation bands from January, and I feel even more strongly about it since they were named as a Lolla headliner. Super confident.
• The XX.  I don't know if they should be considered a headliner, but I'm still on board with them showing up.  Playing all three of the south American Lollas and the Chicago version, and even though they just played some Austin shows, I still think there is an appetite for them in the fall.  78.7% confidence level.
• Lorde.  Doing all the festivals, including Lolla.  First predicted her in the listing of bands making the Festival circuit this year, and I still think she is going to come here too.  Strong confidence.
• So, that is five headliners.  Who is the big sixth one?  Here is my theory, which popped in to my head the other day as I prepared my final predictions post about bands putting out new music.  Both Gorillaz and Coldplay have new albums coming out this year, and both could be headliner-type talent at ACL that would be right up the alley of people who want to come to this festival.  But, neither of them appears to be available for both weekends, so what if Gorillaz plays weekend one and then Coldplay plays weekend two?  It could work!  The fly in this ointment is that Gorillaz is playing in CA the night before weekend one starts, so they'd have to travel and probably not play Friday, but that sounds OK, right?  I have low confidence here, but wanted to predict this because if I was right it would be some major Nostradamus shit.  More likely, neither of these bands is coming and DJ Snake will be turning down for what in this slot.

Looking at those predictions, they feel light on the electronic and rap that has been in the headliner slots for the past few years, so I could be significantly off-base.  But I just don't see any reason that any of the major rappers is going to do a one-off at ACL when they haven't been doing any of the other Fests (or like Kendrick and Chance they played here in the past two years already).  So I'll stick with it.  There very well could be some big electro person coming to take one of those slots, I just don't know squat about that world.

Others I think will show up.  If you need reasoning, go find my older posts about this stuff:

• Spoon
• Interpol
• Foster the People
• Ryan Adams
• Big Sean
• The Shins
• The Head & the Heart
• DJ Snake
• Angel Olsen
• Bon Iver
• Mitski
• Car Seat Headrest
• Nicholas Jaar
• Francis & the Lights
• Mondo Cozmo
• Marshmallo
• Warpaint
• Future Islands
• Rainbow Kitten Surprise
• Glass Animals
• Rae Sremmurd
• Ragn'Bone Man
• Highly Suspect
• Migos
• Temples
• Asleep at the Wheel   😉

Super excited about the announcement.  I hope they have a cool way of releasing them up their sleeves, I thought it was super cool how they had some bands announced last year through people standing on street corners with spinning signs.  I feel like they did it with bottle caps one year?  Or was it coffee cups?  Something where people were finding stuff out bit by bit...  Anyway, happy upcoming announcement day, folks!

Predicting ACL 2017: Bands Putting out New Music

I've gotten through the majority of my predictions, but there is one more (maybe another after this) that I've had bouncing around in my brain, and that is a look at all of the bands that are putting out new albums in 2017.  The festival doesn't always attract only those folks with brand new music, but I'd say that it is usually not normal for a band to come out on the festival circuit unless they have something new to flog.  For example, Kendrick Lamar was out there after To Pimp a Butterfly, or Radiohead was pimping A Moon Shaped Pool, or Cage the Elephant for Tell Me I'm Pretty.

So, who are the big artists with new albums who I would expect to show up?  Or maybe not even big artists, but at least stuff I've heard of before who make some sense for the ACL crowd.  I'm using this list from Wikipedia.  And because that list is excessively comprehensive, this post got real long.  If you want to tl;dr it, just look for the bolded names, those are the ones I've decided to predict as coming to ACL.

• As I've already mentioned, I think that Lorde will be at ACL, and her new album should be released on June 16.  She apparently killed it at Coachella, so that is cool.
• I still think that Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The XX have a good shot at being there, and all of them put out a new album in late 2016 or early 2017.
• Flaming Lips?  I doubt it, but I guess that one is possible, as their current tour doesn't come through Texas and is over in early September, [edit, they are playing the Moody on 10/1 with Mac Demarco, so I doubt they are coming to ACL a few days later] so they'd have time to make it happen.  But I'm going to say no based on gut feel.
• Cherry Glazzerr.  I have no clue who this is, but my Twitter account mentions them a lot, especially around their SXSW shows, so it seems like they could do it to support Apocalipstick, released 1/20.  They are playing Free Press, Pitchfork, FYF, Panorama, and Osheaga, and are done by early August.  Hmmm, with no Lolla spot and that big of a gap before ACL, I'm going to go with a no here.
• John Mayer - The Search for Everything.  I'd actually like to see him, but I doubt it.  I don't see any reason on the web to think he'd be there.
• Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life. Feels like Cherry Glazzerr, where they have buzz right now, but their tour of other festivals fizzles out in early September, and no Lolla, so I'm gonna go with no.
• Migos.  Sure, especially since they are on the Lolla bill.  (but screw those homophobic jerks).  I think it is funny that they are playing Corpus Christi on May 29.  Losers.
• Big Sean - I Decided.  Same thing here, with him on the Lolla bill and a new album out, seems like it could happen as one of the rappers to play the fest.
• By the way, RuPaul and Wyclef Jean continue to release albums.  Same with Michael Bolton.  This is still a thing.
• Rag'n'Bone Man.  Mentioned him before, but his album came out in January, he's playing Lolla, and he seems to have buzz.
• Future.  Ugh, I hope not.
• I had this idea the other day that maybe ACL's own twitter account would be leaking things. On 3/2/17, ACL tweeted out a #TBT to when Ryan Adams played the very first fest.  They could have chosen anyone to tweet that about, but chose the guy with a new album out right now and he's on a long ass tour that ends on September 22.  I think this is a lock.
• King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.  They should.  These guys are fun as hell.  But I see no indication that they would as their tour fizzles out in July.
• Thundercat.  I guess this one could happen too, he's playing other fests, but not Lolla and nothing after mid-August, so no reason to predict him.
• Ed Sheeran - I doubt it.  Seems way too huge to be playing a one off festival like ACL.
• Temples.  Yes, I feel this one.  I'm also currently listening to this album right now and loving it.  But they got some SXSW buzz and are doing some other fests, so this one makes sense.  Although they aren't doing Lolla.  Whatever, I'm predicting them anyway.
• The Shins.  I've mentioned this before, I think so.
• Depeche Mode - Spirit.  Doubt it, they play Austin at the 360 on September 20, so no way.
• Milky Chance - Blossom.  They are doing several other festivals and have the new album recently released.  But their touring schedule includes shows in the northeast during second weekend, so maybe not.  If they were on the Lolla lineup, then I'd be more likely to predict them, but I don't think they'll be here.
• Pitbull.  Hahahahahahahaha.  Yeah, they should get Pitbull.  MR WORLDWIDE!!!
• Real Estate - In Mind.  I'd say yes but they just played Austin.  Seems that would preclude them from coming right back, although the show is sold out, which means they could have demand to come back.  But I'll say no.
• Spoon.  YES.  Playing Lolla.  Excellent new album.  From Austin.  Do it.  do it.
• Drake - again, I hope not.
• Passion Pit.  Maybe, but they are playing Float Fest so I kind of doubt it.
• Body Count.  COP KILLA!  BETTA YOU THAN ME!  No, don't think this is happening.
• I dunno, Mastadon?  G-Eazy? Aimee Mann?  Sheryl Crow? (Doubt it since she is on the bill for Willie's picnic in July).  Incubus?  NKoTB?  Goo Goo Dolls?  Warrant?  The Cranberries?  John Mellencamp?  Willie?  Linkin Park? L.A. Gunz? Danzig? NICKELBACK!!!  I'm gonna say no on those.  How are all of these people still making music?  (who am I kidding, I'm going to listen to half of those new albums and like most of them)... but none of those seem likely to me.
• Cold War Kids - L.A. Divine. I doubt it, just because they were just here, although they will be in Texas for a show on 9/30 in Houston, so it sure would be easy for them to just shoot up 290.  But not two years in a row, that would be weird.
• Father John Misty - Pure Comedy. Man, I would LOVE to see him play again at the festival.  When he was here two years ago he was freaking awesome.  So great.  But he's playing in Austin at the Bass Concert Hall on Sept. 29, which really seems like he won't then turn around and do two more shows at ACL, so I'll have to try to just get tickets to see him at Bass.
• Future Islands - The Far Field is their new album, but they were just in Austin the other day.  They were supposed to have a show at Stubb's outdoors, which means they are on the C3 radar, but rain caused the show to go to the Moody.  Just played Coachella, scheduled to play Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, Outside Lands, and a bunch of other festivals.  But not on Lolla's schedule.  They have a huge gap in their busy touring schedule that leaves plenty of room to be here, with no shows from Aug. 21 to October 26.  Sure, I'll say that they are going to be here.
• The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions is the new album.  Neko Case is part of this band and therefore I dig them.  But they play Stubb's on May 6 (and it does not appear to be sold out), and then they have shows in Canada during both weekend of the fest.  So a hard no here.
• Gorillaz - Humanz.  Before they were announced to headline Outside Lands, I would have said no way on this one, but my Twitter is going nuts for them releasing new songs and touring and playing big fests.  So now the buzz makes me feel like there could be a good chance.  It still seems weird that a cartoon band would play live shows at all, but I guess Albarn drops the cartoon facade for a bit to do live music. Their tour includes a handful of lower tier festivals, and then they play Inglewood, CA on Oct. 5 (the day before weekend one), and then a date in Georgia on Oct. 11 before playing the III Points Festival during the second weekend of ACL.  So, because this would be a big headliner type of band, I doubt they would do them for only one weekend, so I'll go with a no here.
• Slowdive.   I remember liking these guys back in high school, but I couldn't identify a song for you at all today.  They are playing the Fortress Festival in Fort Worth (which looks boss, by the way, because of Run the Jewels) and then have a handful of other fests and tour dates before ending on 9/17.  Not feeling it, honestly.  Just not that much buzz or any indications I can see on the web that would make me think they'd show up here.
• Coldplay - Kaleidoscope.  New Coldplay album?  I didn't know about a new Coldplay album. Hmmmm...  If you follow Coldplay on Twitter, as I do, then you know they've been playing just about nightly shows in Asia for freaking ever.  And people over there give them the weirdest shit as presents.  So their tour heads to Europe next before coming back to the States at the start of August.  Nope, nevermind, because then they play two shows in CA during first weekend, so they definitely won't be here for first weekend.  Wait, wouldn't that be a cool move, to do Gorillaz for first weekend and then Coldplay for second weekend?  Two big time bands, although it would mean that I would have to buy a one day pass to go to second weekend, because I want to see Coldplay real bad.  Huh, interesting.  I'm going to say no, but this theory is interesting.
• Dan Auerbach - Waiting on a Song.  Nope, doesn't appear to be playing any shows.
• Halsey.  I feel like she was just here, and I didn't like her then either.  She has the time, with a tour that stops on Sept. 23.  Still going to go with no.
• Alt-J - Relaxer.  Playing Lolla, along with this new album, but they last came to ACL in 2015.  Seems too soon to come right back.  They have tour dates during the second weekend in Canada, and will be up there on Monday after the first weekend, so I'll go with no.
• Fleet Foxes - Crack Up (due June 16) - I'm going to say no, as they are already playing Austin in mid-August (and I just scored tickets!!!). Who else is pumped for me?!?
• Arcade Fire.  Release date for this new album is TBD, but I'm feeling it.  The last show on their "tour" of festivals is Lolla on August 6, so they have the time.  With them doing Lolla, this one makes sense.  I'll go with yes.
• Fleetwood Mac.  This would be a big get, but I see nothing that would make this seem like it is happening.  They are playing a show on each coast (Dodger Stadium and Citi Field) in July.  I don't think so.
• The Killers.  I mentioned them before now that they are a Lolla headliner, but their album is TBD for release date, and I still think it would be weird for them to suddenly headline two of the biggest festivals after being non-existent for a decade.  They don't appear to actually be on tour to support that new album to be, and are just playing a few minor festivals and then Lolla.  I'm souring on a prediction of them being here in October.
• Living Colour!  Oh please!  Please let them go on the festival circuit and release a good new album!  I loved Vivid and Time Up! so much.  In one of the weirder touring schedules I've seen, they are going to play three consecutive days in Honolulu in May, with two shows a day (5p and 8:30p).  Pretty weird, but I bet fun for the band to get to chill on the beach for a few days while melting faces.  I don't think we'll see them at ACL though.

I think I've only got another two weeks or so before the lineup is announced (usually around May 5), so I'm going to work up a single post that collects all of my predictions and get that out there sometime soon.  We're getting close!

Quick Hits, Vol. 132 (The Lox, Bas, Kendrick Lamar, Dropkick Murphys)

The Lox - Filthy America...It's Beautiful.  Weird ass album title.  I talked about these guys a few weeks ago, where all I remember from them was a guest verse or two on a Puffy or B.I.G. track from the mid-90's.  One third of this group is Jadakiss, who has made some good tunes in between here and there.  But overall, this is kind of plain.  It still sounds like a mid-90's rap album, including a terrible and long spoken interlude thing where they make it seem like a crowd of reporters would want to talk to these guys and would be fighting to ask them questions.  So lame.  So Will Smith from back in his popular days.  The most listened to track is the one I talked about a few weeks ago, "What Else You Need to Know," but I'm sure it just has the most listens because it was out for longer.  The top track otherwise is "Secure the Bag," which makes me think it is an off-brand version of Run the Jewels.

That opening voice sounds so much like DJ Khaled I had to go do internet research.  And it is!  Weird that he didn't get a shoutout sample in there, but I guess since he talks at the beginning about KEYS he figured that was good enough.  Eh, the beat is fine.  Nothing special.  And the lyrics are nothing special either.  Just about securing the bag because it has lots of money in it.  Yawn.  It gets much worse on the track with Fetty Wap.  There is no reason to listen to Fetty Wap do anything.  I can do without this.

Bas - Too High to Riot.  I found this guy through some best rap of 2016 list that named this one a top album of the year.  Here is a crazy-sounding statistic noted on the album's Wikipedia page - the album debuted at #49 on the Billboard 200 chart.  Care to guess what gets your debut into the top 50 in 2016?  500k? 100k? 50k? 10k? 2k? 14?  Only 8,065 albums sold and you can crack the top 50.  That seems crazy, but I guess no one buys records anymore...
But whatever, I like this guy's raps.  He's got a good delivery and good beats.  I thought that "Housewives" would be the most popular track (because I had heard it a while back on a mix-tape), but it comes in at second place to the J. Cole assisted "Night Job" with 16.1 million streams.

Oh damn.  He's a big ol' dude.  The cover of this album has a little kid holding an assault rifle over his head one-handed, so I had no idea what he would look like, but he's a hoss. Good track, this whole album is interesting and good.

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.  Honestly, I'm not sure that it even makes sense for me to write about this album, as I'll be unpacking it for months AND every website everywhere has already written a ten thousand word dissection of every song.  Literally, I just read one that was talking about the significance of this being scheduled for release on April 7.  Somehow that ties into a verse in the Bible.  People are crazy.
But, this is what I do, so here we go.  Actually before I start talking about this album I have to note that I have been listening to good kid m.A.A.d city in my car for the past two weeks, and it is SO FREAKING GOOD.  Seriously, go listen again to the opening track ("Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter's Daughter"), which is not the hot hit from the album, but is such a top notch fantastic bit of story-telling that perfectly sets up the rest of the album.  The naive lust on the track, plus the little details, and then the way it dovetails into that first voice mail, its just so freaking great.
So, this album does not have an obvious storyline like GKMC did, but a few tracks immediately stand out with rock solid beats and lyrics.  Maybe it does have a storyline, just reading the song titles in order, with BLOOD and DNA starting it off, followed by YAH, ELEMENT, and FEEL.  LOYALTY, PRIDE, and HUMBLE.  Then the LUST, LOVE, and XXX trilogy comes along before FEAR and GOD.  I don't know what that story says, but I'd say the themes of this album are the fact that no one is praying for Lamar, that police are scary, that Fox News sucks, and that Lamar has a lot of fears.
"DNA" and "HUMBLE" are the easy hits, I think - the beat on "DNA" is dope as hell and the lyric on "HUMBLE" where he is bagging on photoshop and says he wants to see some stretchmarks, that is perfect.  That track was released before the rest of the album, so it is the runaway king of the album as of now with 72.8 million streams.

Another 73 million views on YouTube.  My question about the track is whether he is talking to himself (my theory) or to his competition.  The Genius song annotation makes the argument that this is a message to his competition, telling them to sit down and shut up and be humble.  I guess I see that, since he is calling himself the Sandman and telling people to get off the stage.  But my thought in listening the first few times is that he is talking to himself - the first verse is his rags to riches story, eating syrup sandwiches to being able to buy the world with his paystub, but then the end of the verse hard stops into saying to sit down and be humble.  I like that version of the story much more than the one that is Kendrick bragging about how everyone else should be humble in front of his amazingness. I don't know, I like to think of Kendrick Lamar as being above that kind of petty little beef garbage and on a higher level.
One thing I definitely don't like on here are the DJ shoutouts that keep happening, like this is some low rent mixtape.  "NEW SHIT!  NEW KUNG FU KENNY!"  Lame.  But one thing I do like is how this album shifts back and forth between the more traditional rap beats as he used on GKMC (see "DNA" or "ELEMENT") and the more jazz-influenced sound he used on To Pimp a Butterfly (see "FEEL" or "FEAR").
The final song is awesome as well, "DUCKWORTH."  This is apparently the story of the founder of Lamar's label, Top Dawg Entertainment, and how that dude was going to hold up the KFC where Lamar's father (Ducky) worked, but Ducky hooked him up with free chicken and extra biscuits, so Tiffith let him live.  Its a cool story, the thought that TDE and Kendrick could just not be here today if things had gone differently at that KFC 20 years ago.
Oh yeah, and U2 appears on this album.  Which sounds weird as crap, but actually works really well.  It isn't a sample, it isn't some terrible thing of Bono trying to rap or Mullen trying to replicate a rap beat with his drums, its just an interlude in the midst of an already busily shapeshifting song, where drum, bass, and piano combine to form a new beat and Bono sings a hook before Lamar continues a diatribe against the current America.  Pretty cool.
First impression after two days of repeat listening is that this is good.  So far, I don't think it is as interesting as either good kid or To Pimp, but that may just be the effect of listening for years instead of just two days.  I'll be keeping this one around to mess with mentally.

Dropkick Murphys - 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory.  The Murphys really are an amazing band.  I can't think of anyone else who has been this exactly dedicated to one sound and maintained it over the course of 3,000 albums.  I own 2003's Blackout and 2005's The Warrior's Code, and I'll say this, other than a few songs, including the Patriot's Day ode of "4-15-13," this is the same exact formula that has made them awesome over the years - brash Irish-inflected punk made for singing along in a pub or the cheap seats at Fenway.  You can just imagine groups yelling these pithy phrases as they slosh cheap beer on each other: "Don't Count Me Out!"  "I'm a Survivor!"  "Straight from the Heart til the Job's DONE!"  "You'll Never Walk Alone!"  "Hold Your Head up High!"
You may remember them from their "Shipping Up to Boston" Woodie Guthrie-penned tune that was used in The Departed.  And now the Boston sports teams use it at games to get people hyped up.  The most popular tracks from this album are the fast burners, not the few introspective ones, that are made for sing-alongs and soccer stadium chants, with second place going to the "Lonesome Boatman" and its woaoooaooaooaoooaaah soccer chant appearing as the only lyrics over a driving rock track laced with Irish flute.  First place is "Blood," with 1.4 million streams.

Can't you hear a stadium of hooligans screaming this, chugging their tallboys, stubbing out their smokes, and then throwing down into an epic scrap with their bitter rivals?  BLOOD!  BLOOD!  You're not writing the great American novel here, but you're definitely tapping in to a real set of feelings about finding a group and rising up against something else.  Very Irish sentiment.

Quick Hits, Vol. 131 (Helmet, J. Cole, Neil Young, Colter Wall)

Helmet - Dead to the World.  It's too bad really, that I love the first two Helmet albums so purely and with devotion.  Because otherwise I might enjoy this album more, but as a comparison to the Helmet of old, this is some watered down junk.  Instead of the tight rhythms and barked vocals and winding/unraveling instrumentation, this sounds kind of like Alice in Chains b-sides made after Layne Staley died.  Maybe "Red Scare" gets me back there, or "Die Alone," but even those aren't as tuneful as the best Helmet should be, they are just pounding.  "Look Alive" starts to get there with the guitar soloing bits.  None of these songs crack the band's top ten on Spotify, although "Bad News" takes the most played from the album with 85k.

Like I said, if I had never known about old Helmet, I'd probably go along with this, but as it is, I feel like the best parts are left out and you just get the ghost of the band here.  No thanks.

J. Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only.  I have a funny dichotomy in my brain over J. Cole, because I have nothing against the guy.  I liked his last album well enough, but I thought it was odd that he was near the top of the Lolla poster last year when he is no where near a top rapper.  And I've been reading a lot of Shae Serrano recently (mainly on Twitter), and that guy freaking HATES J. Cole, so mentally I think he must be terrible because I keep reading that he is the worst rapper of all time.  But honestly, I like this stuff.  It is that kind of quiet, introspective rap that I used to call backpack rap, where he'll do things like sing "I wanna cry" in a song, and it seems to fit.  Ice Cube this is not.  "Deja Vu" is the top song by number of plays, but I like "Neighbors" more (which has 58.7 million streams).

I mainly like it because of the big reveal - he actually IS selling dope!  They're right!  <Keanu Reeves voice> Woah.  Most of these beats sound more organic, crafted with real drums and a bass guitar, instead of the boom bap clicking of most new rap right now.  I like it, but it definitely feels less muscular and hard.

Neil Young - Peace Trail.  Young feels like he puts out an album every year, or maybe even two, just feels super prolific, even if I haven't really listened to most of it.  A look at his last few years shows two albums in 2012 (Americana and Psychedelic Pill), a live album in 2013, 3 albums in 2014 (A Letter Home, Storytone, Mixed Pages of Storytone), then 2 in 2015 (The Monsanto Years, Bluenote Cafe), and then 2 in 2016 (Earth, Peace Trail).  That is a bunch of music.  Looks like one of the trap rappers who tosses off a mix tape daily.

The sound of this is classic Young.  The opening tune has his trademark guitar solos mixed in with a pretty chilled tune about getting onto the peace train.  It gets weird, with the autotuned/vocodered "My Pledge," and then the robot-assisted "My New Robot" that features Siri for sure in a strange tune that seems to be about a connected house not working well once you break up with your wife?  I dunno.  I feel confused overall by this album.  Only the album opener/title track gets space in Young's admittedly amazing top ten, so here you go.  "Peace Trail," with 1.5 million streams.

The simplest of backing tunes, while Young's guitar stabs over the top.  I like it.  But overall, nothing on this album grabs me all that tightly.  If I'm going to listen to Young, I'll just stick with the classics over this one.

Colter Wall - Imaginary Appalachia.  No Spotify bio available, and I don't recall how this guy came to my attention.  Might have been through a cousin-in-law who was telling me about some good new music.  Dude brings Johnny Cash to mind, if Cash had made the soundtrack for the show Justified.  He's Canadian, which is an interesting twist to the listening experience, because I don't think I ever would have guessed that.  The runaway hit on Spotify is "Sleeping on the Blacktop" with 1.3 million streams.

A live version, but you get the idea.  Apparently this song was on the Hell or High Water soundtrack, which makes sense like my Justified reference does.  Hard scrabble Texan bank robbers or Kentuckian drug runners, not too much difference really.  His voice is seriously a trip.  His youthful appearance makes it seem like he'd sound like a kid, but then his voice is all gravel and Marlboro Reds and Old Grandad whiskey.  I like it.  I'm looking forward to the full album later this year.

Quick Hots, Vol. 130 (Big Sean, Future, Honeyblood, Drive-By Truckers)

Big Sean - I Decided.  I have a strange conundrum here with Big Sean, in that he does some of the same moves as Drake, with the sing-song delivery sprinkled among real rapping.  And yet I can't stand Drake but am really enjoying this Big Sean album.  What is up with that?  The big hit is "Bounce Back," and it is legitimately a deserving big hit.  Great beat, fun flow, good message.  It's up to over 176 million streams as of now.

Although, a tip for all of you dads out there, when this song is playing on the car radio and your kids are grooving and enjoying it and you get home and decide you should put that same song on the Sonos to jam in the house while everyone cleans up before bed, know that the real version of this song drops multiple f-bombs in the very first verse.  I was not paying close attention, but I can guarantee you the wife and middle daughter heard every word.  Big thumbs up.  But there is little as fun as waiting for it and then singing along to "I WOKE UP IN BEAST MODE!"  The other hit so far on the album is "Moves," which also depends on a well-crafted beat (apparently from 808 Mafia).  Both of these are the real deal rap.  I also like the sound of "Jump Out the Window."  "No Favors" was pretty dope (especially using a bit of the sample from Pharcyde's "Passin' Me By,") but I have to say that Eminem's verse on it is pretty mediocre (and the list of terrible things he wants to use on Ann Coulter's lady bits is typically disturbing for Em, but woah.  Come on man.)

Future - HNDRXX.  I don't know it annoys me for rappers to reference Jimi Hendrix, but I kind of want them to keep the master out of their mouth.  This was the album made famous because it was the first time that an artist replaced himself on the top of the charts with a new album.  What this means to me is that this doofus had 34 songs of mediocre rap and R&B crooning, felt like that would be too long and make it obvious how half of it was just bad, and so he split it into two albums to spread the garbage across two releases.  Of the two albums, this one is more of the R&B BS, less of the real deal rapping, so you don't even get a fun blast like "Mask Off" on this one to enjoy, you just slog through a massive pile of autotuned poo on the way to the end.  The two most popular tracks on here each feature megastars on them, with "Comin' Out Strong" (54 million) featuring the Weeknd and "Selfish" (27 million) featuring Rihanna.  So the one with the most listens that is not a collabo is "Incredible," with 10.2 million.

Usually, the thing that the Future tunes have going for them is at least a strong beat, but that little minimalist thing is kind of terrible.  Well, maybe not terrible, but pretty boring.  I'll say that, for Future, the lyrics are actually pretty good.  I like the story he pieces together with this lady friend who makes him feel like he can handle anything.  But when laid out there with an auto-tune rap/sing like that, I just can't do it.  I will not save any of this album.

Honeyblood - Babes Never Die.  I'm immediately confused in reading their bio on Spotify, as they are called a "Glaswegian noise pop duo."  Oh, look, Glaswegian just means they are from Glasgow.  Learn something new every day.  On top of that, the guitarist/vocalist is named Stina Marie Claire Tweeddale.  That is a hell of a name, right there.  The tunes are some crunchy 90's pop rock that reminds me of a lesser Wolf Alice or a better Luscious Jackson.  Their first album has two tracks that fired up over a million listens, with one topping out at 2.6 million, which is pretty legit.  But this disc falls well short of those numbers, with the top track ("Sea Hearts") scoring 432k streams.

Jam it out, ladies.  You'd never know from the sound that they were Glaswegian (my new word of choice).  But the scary sea monster lady in the video should be avoided, if you don't want someone rudely using up all of the dance floor in your house concert.  FYI.  This is a good disc.

Drive-By Truckers - American Band.  This band touches an old nerve inside of me, the one that used to love Wilco and still thinks that Whiskeytown's "16 Days" and Son Volt's "Tear Stained Eye" are two of the finest songs ever created by man. I saw these guys play ACL many years ago, and I remember thinking that they were outrageously loud, for their style of music.  They are more of a alt country slash rock kind of sound, which doesn't quite meet eye to eye with the blasting rock wall that I heard that afternoon.  But this album is great.  The music is fine, but I think tunes like "What It Means" are the best, just because I think it is important (God, that sounds pretentious, but I believe it) for a band that sounds like this (white, redneck) to sing about how jacked up America is right now.

Just over 622k streams on Spotify for that tune, it is their most popular from this album.  But there are others on here that tread the same (or similar ground).  You should go give this one a try, I think it is really good.

Quick Hits, Vol. 129 (Protomartyr, Sting, Sleigh Bells, Kodak Black)

Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect.  This is a 2015 album that snuck into my queue after I was listening to bands who were going to play Sound on Sound Fest.  I'm not feeling especially inspired by this album, despite it being a critical darling and everyone wanting to write about how these guys are going to revitalize the Detroit punk/post-punk scene.  The most listened to track from this album is "Dope Cloud," with 589k streams.  Just about everything from the album has more than 200k listens, so these guys are maintaining a respectable level of popularity.

Jeez, that video is a little stressful for the kid in the phone booth, right?  That brings back not-so-happy childhood memories of being hassled by older kids.  Pretty good song and all, but the album just never gets my interest.  I won't keep it around.

Sting - 57th and 9th.  Old Sting is the good stuff in my book.  I loves Soul Cages and Ten Summoner's Tales and even Mercury Falling (which was less well received by the majority of folks, but has "I Hung My Head" (excellent) and "I Was Brought to My Senses," which is also great).  The last couple things he's put out have been weirder stuff, less classic Sting rock and more symphonic or tied to his musical.  So this one was his great return to rock and roll, although for the most part it falls flat for me.  I don't know if this is a real thing, but I feel like he has several songs on here where he (as the bassist) just finds one note and plays that same note for the entire 3 minutes of the tune in a driving Chinese water torture.  "Petrol Head" certainly works that way.  Thrum thrum thrum thrum thrum thrum.  The popular tune on the album is the opener, " I Can't Stop Thinking About You," with 4.8 million streams.

Perfectly fine pop rock tune.  The song that I keep enjoying much more is the acoustic beauty of "Heading South on the Great North Road."  Like a beautiful song from Ye Olde England or Game of Thrones or something, but I like it.  Otherwise, this album isn't going to stick with me.

Sleigh Bells - Jessica Rabbit.  I actually found Who Framed Roger Rabbit the other day and sat down to watch it with my oldest kid.  That movie is actually pretty funny, and although in my mind it was pretty racy, it actually isn't all that explicitly sexualized (I mean, other than the Jessica Rabbit character's body shape).  Anyway, you might remember these dudes (or maybe not) from their 2011 album Treats, which was this excellently odd mashup of brutal rock/electronic beats and a pop singer's hooks.  I still use "Kids" from that album as a running track (to the extent I ever run anymore), and "Infinity Guitars" was also cool.  "Rill Rill," also from that album, is their most popular track by a bunch with 20 million streams (although its not the one I think should get the most plays).  But it feels like the shock and excitement of those tunes is just getting re-tread here without any new-ness or the same powerful hooks.  You just get loud beats banging in your ears with a pretty voice laying stuff down over the top without much of interest.  Here is "It's Just Us Now," the top track from this album with 571k streams.

Hot guitar licks!  Thumping bass!  Skittering beats!  Bikinis!  Sultry songstress vocals!  It's all there, but I can't say I care all that much anymore.

Kodak Black - Lil BIG Pac.  Interesting homage paid to three of the biggest rappers ever.  I'd say that I hear the Lil Wayne sound, but I wouldn't say that I'm hearing much in the way of the two dead kingpins of rap.  I'd say that "Can I" sounded like the hit to me on here, with a laid back trapp-ish beat and lyrics about just trying to get by, but instead it is the half rap/half R&B sound of "Too Many Years" that has 63 million streams (and sounds like that Post Malone junk I reviewed a few weeks ago).

Yeah, nah.  But this is the stuff that sounds like Lil Wayne too, so you can check that out.  This guy apparently just put out another full album, so maybe I'll go check that one out and see if it gets better, but I don't need to hear this one again.

Quick Hits, Vol. 128 (John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Temples, The Candles)

John Mayer - The Search for Everything - Wave Two.  Mayer appears to be releasing his new album in four song tranches.  I've always liked Mayer, likely more than I should, because some of his music is straight up cheeseball.  BUT, I can't help but acknowledge that he is a guitar master and can hone some pop ideas right into the sharpest of hooks. The stand out on this one is the third track, "Helpless," which sounds to me like Clapton in his "Pretendin'" form from the late 80's.  He mixes a good pop groove with some guitar action that is just too good.  But the top track from the EP is "Still Feel Like Your Man," the opening track lamenting love lost in a comfy little soft-rock Al Green groove.  5.4 million streams.

OK, I just laughed out loud at those dancing pandas.  Got that little BB King reference in there everyone knows because of the Primitive Radio Gods.  This is a good EP.  Looking forward to hearing more.

Ed Sheeran - <symbol for division>.  You know what is weird?  The keyboard doesn't have the division symbol on it.  We have stupid crap like { or ~ or | available for regular use, but one of the four major elementary school math symbols gets nothing.  In fact, if you keep your number lock on, you have two keys that do asterisks or plus symbols.  This is tragic. But I was able to find it in the blogger emoji list - ➗ - so there you have it.  3 minutes of my life gone because Terry Keyboard (the originator of the keyboard) hated division in the 3rd grade.  Prick.
I've bagged on Ed Sheeran before, but I've actually come around on the guy since then. First, it was his Grammy performance where he created the different aspects of "Shape of You" into a cool looping solo band.  I thought that was pretty boss.  And then I read a recent profile in Rolling Stone that made the guy seem less like a complete cheeseball and more like a real person who doesn't know what he's doing but is enjoying the (drunken) ride.  My thought about him the other day while listening along to this album is that Sheeran is like a modern day James Taylor.  Some of his stuff can get pretty cheesy and lame, but if you just go with it, you'll actually enjoy it and find yourself singing along to sweet lyrics about love and true friends and love for mom who is your true friend.

Speaking of John Mayer, "How Would You Feel (Paean)" has some guitar licks where if that isn't John Mayer on guitar then he should sue someone for stealing his signature licks.  (and it is, just found that on Twitter).  This album also does some weird travelling in it too, with "Galway Girl" going for Irish jigs, "Barcelona" going for a sunbathed dance party, and "Bibia Be Ye Ye" hopping across the Strait of Gibraltar to borrow some African riddims to back up a tune about getting shitcanned and passing out.  I'll take "Barcelona" as a good example here - if you try to really pick this thing apart, you're going to roll your eyes at pretending to dance in the street like you're in Barcelona and the little flute playing and Sheeran singing some random Spanish words.  But if you just let all of that go and have a good time, you're going to actually enjoy the song and have a good time.  And "Bibia Be Ye Ye" is also highly fun, with the sound of Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend biting the African feel and then handing it down to Sheeran for a tune that involves him losing his shoes during a drunken evening.  Two of the tracks on here have massive hit status by now - "Shape of You" has 686 million streams and "Castle on the Hill" has 300 million streams. Here is the latter.

Well, fucking hell, man.  That video just gave me full arm goosebumps and then I got pricks of tears in my eyes.  I want to go back too, Ed!  Let's go back to being stupid kids again! So, from that tune, you get the idea of what is going on here - some huge, arena-sized pop rock jams of earnest lyrics and love and sadness and happiness all rolled into one messy ball. Despite myself, I like this album a bunch.

Temples - Volcano.  Their last album (Sun Structures) touched a nerve for me back in 2014, and I listened to it a bunch.  I don't know if I had ever really paid much attention to the psych rock world before then, but since then I have loved things like Tame Impala and King Gizzard, so now I'm a convert.  This album is all excellent stuff, echo-ey and fuzzy but bright and clean and groovy.  Echoes of the Beatles on tracks like "In My Pocket," or Tame Impala/Spoon groove rock on the hit song "Certainty."  That track has 2.1 million streams and should have 10 times that many.

That video is tripping balls.  But if it doesn't make you want to kick back your desk chair and dance a little bit, then I don't know what to tell you.  You are a sad and lonely human being. That track is definitely the most beat-forward of the tracks, but the whole album is just plain good.  I hope they'll come to ACL and show me the way live.

Good Lord.  I just looked at my New Stuff playlist.  I have 47 hours and 54 minutes of tunes to listen to.  Criminy.  That is depressing.  I'm just going to listen to Temples all day.

The Candles - Matter + Spirit.  I have no recollection of how I came across this album, but its a pretty solid derivative of the country-steeped version of the Grateful Dead.  The Dead tune that is particularly obvious to me is "Lost My Driving Wheel," which really sounds like a long lost tune being covered by a passable cover band.  But most of these songs just have a few thousand listens, except for one with Norah Jones that has shot up to 757k.  Here is that one, called "Move Along."

One of those sun dappled, laconic love songs that seep out of southern California like a quiet spring.  Their second most popular track is the album opener, with 48k, but after that none of the tunes break 10k, making me think this is an album that people go try out because of the Norah Jones collab, and then they toss back to the sea.  I like the tunes well enough, but I too will let it go.

Quick Hits, Vol. 127 (Skepta, Jake Bugg, 21 Savage, Leopold & His Fiction)

Skepta - Konnichiwa.  I have now immersed myself so deeply into the UK grime scene, by listening to three different albums of this style of music, that I am without a doubt the world's foremost authority on UK grime.  I know everything there is to know about this topic.  Do not test me, as you will be embarrassed.  In all seriousness, this guy's tunes are actually freaking tight.  His bio says that he was one of the originators who was influential in getting grime into the mainstream.  Well, whatever that took, I'd have to say that some of these tracks ("Konnichiwa," "Crime Riddim," "That's Not Me") are solidly fun.  Like the last one I reviewed (what was that dude's name?  Stormzy!  That's right) he's got that thick British accent (I want to call it cockney, but that is probably wrong, as I don't really know what that means other than a Dickensian note or the way the kids talked in Bedknobs and Broomsticks) which makes this infinitely more interesting.  Oooh, and when the beat kicks in on "Detox," I want to go creep around Surrey in a low slung Vauxhall and brandish Walther PPKs at other gingers before robbing a bank with Jason Statham.  Here is the top song on Spotify, with 33.2 million streams, "Shutdown."

Tough guy, right there.  I won't say that track has the best beats on the album - those ones I mention earlier are significantly better on the beats.  But you still get the feeling for his sound there.  I like this guy.

Jake Bugg - On My One.  For whatever reason, this album has kicked around in my new music playlist for months, and always ends up being right after whatever I want to listen to.  So I've heard the first three or so songs about 3 billion times.  Usually I get about that far in and decide I want to hear something else instead.  If you remember this guy, he came out with an album as a teenager and everyone fawned over him with awards and adulation.  I like that first album (2012's LJake Bugg) well enough, and this one is also just fine, but I won't say that I'm in love with it.  The top track from the album is a kind of sappy one called "Love, Hope and Misery."  just over 3 million streams, so nothing nearly as popular as his older hits (which top 35 million).

Brings to mind a depressing ass Ryan Adams tune that someone remixed to add in too many strings for the chorus.  This is fine, but I'm going to let it go.

21 Savage - Savage Mode.  I'll give it up to Metro Boomin, his beats are super solid.  Every track on this album is made with a Metro Boomin beat (he's the guy with the song tag that sounds like someone saying something about a metronome - to me it sounds like it says "if you metronome trust me I'm go shoot you," as little as that makes sense).  This guy's rap flow is the most laid back and slow sounding thing I've heard since DJ Screw died.  He very rarely speeds up his flow past a turtle crawl (but see "Bad Guy," actually don't, that song is dumb), but it works.  But then there are some garbage tracks like "Feel It," which involves the guy saying that he can feel it in the air about 3,727 times and also talking about the demeaning ways he plans to bone his lady friend (and let her meet his momma).  The most popular track is the one featuring Future, which is pretty weak.  The "Ocean Drive" beat uses something that is familiar to me.  It's that flute (?) lilt with harpsichord in the background that starts at about 0:13 or 0:14 in the track.

What is that from?  Dammit!  I can't find anything about it on the Internets, but I know I've heard that sample before.  I feel like someone should be talking under it, like a movie clip, not singing or rapping. Daaaaaaammmnn. Whatever, this track is solid - the beat and the chilled rap too.  I like that one.  I'll dump the rest of the disc though.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!  I figured it out!  That sample, or at least the sound for that flute lilt interpolation Metro Boomin' made, matches up to the sound in U2's "Never Let Me Go" from the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack.

Listen right about 3:02 in when the sax/flute plays a little soft tune.  Oh man, it makes every synapse in my brain tingle and vibrate right now that I was able to come up with that little nugget of brain real estate and remember this.  I just literally grabbed my head and then pumped my fist.  I knew I knew that sound.

Leopold & His Fiction - Darling Destroyer.  I've seen these guys play live twice now, and I really enjoy the band.  During the last time I saw them, at the rain-shortened Sound on Sound Festival, I happened to get a good photo of them as the storm was rolling in over the back of the stage.  I put it up on Twitter and the band later re-tweeted my picture and followed me.  Since then, I've had some fun interactions with the band ( I keep assuming it is the lead singer, but it could be the sound guy for all I know), including one that made me laugh because after a little while the twitter account for the ice cream company that makes Drumsticks got involved in our jokes.  This is how Twitter can be fun.
Anyway, these dudes make legit, straight-forward rock and roll.  Kind of like a White Stripes-esque sound of bluesy rock and swagger.  "Waves (Golden)" is probably the closest to the Stripes sound I can hear on here.

This was the mustachioed Leopold from a few years ago, before he discovered the joys of hair bleach.  But the biggest tune on the album, I'm guessing it must be featured on a Spotify playlist somewhere, is "I'm Caving In," with just over 305k streams.

It is a great tune.  Not only am I a fan of their live show and the interactions I've had with the guy since then, this is a legitimately good album of rock and roll business.