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.