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.