Quick Hits, Vol. 153 (Harry Styles, Paramore, Logic, A$AP Twelvy)

Harry Styles - Harry Styles.  Funny, I've heard good things and terrible things about this album before I ever even tried it.  Friends on both sides of the spectrum have either loved it or hated it intensely.  I think I fall towards those who loved it, but I'm a little more reserved in my pleasure.  This guy, in case you somehow don't know, was one of the One Direction guys.  A friend who went and saw his show the other day at the Moody said that the decibel level of the screaming girls in attendance at the show was brutal, to the point of making it hard to hear the actual songs.  Which is funny to me - I've never seen anything like that before.
The opening track to this album makes me think of Dan Auerbach and the Black Keys, very spacey blues acoustic sound, reverb-soaked and chilled.  I like that tune, "Meet Me in the Hallway," quite a bit.  "From the Dining Table" has that same style.  But most of this album is more like a John Mayer album reflecting the soft rock sounds of the 70's in America.  I don't know what the problem is in the "Woman" song, but there is a weird buzzing fart sound that happens throughout it, and it is distracting beyond all measure.  I think, without that sound, it would be a pretty solid song, but as recorded, I say screw that song.  The most popular track, without any doubt, is "Sign of the Times," with over 265 million streams.  It is OK, I'm not in love with it, so I'll give you one of the other top tracks, "Two Ghosts."

Just a very nice little track.  Spare and quiet, very pretty.  Nothing flashy or heavily produced, not at all what you would expect from a former boy-band guy, but this is the vibe of most of the album.  I think it is good.  I'm surprised to be saying that I would keep this album around, but I'm going to do it anyway.

At pickup from basketball practice the other night, I put this album on when three 4th grade girls got in to my car, just to see what they thought.  No high pitched screaming was involved, but I did catch one of them singing along for a bit.

Paramore - After Laughter.  Paramore is a funny band.  In my mind, I think that they are a lot harder than they really are - pop punk with some screaming.  Maybe their older tunes were a little bit harder, but now this stuff is pure pop rock ready for all the dancing you can fit into your pants.  Hell, just sitting here listening to this album again I'm grooving around in my desk chair and unable to stop myself from thrusting my head forward in an uncomfortable turtle bird dance.  Just try listening to "Rose-Colored Boy" and keeping still.  If you can do it, I'll give you ONE AMERICAN NICKEL next time we see each other in real life.  Unless I don't have one, in which case you can get one for yourself and then remember that I gave it to you each time you see it.
FYI, their Spotify bio right now is a terrible thing probably written by a PR firm and it makes me want to die, but the current playcount listed by Spotify means they are the greatest band in all of history.  Literally, it says "6,087,1242,351,093" [sic] monthly listeners.  I mean, 60 TRILLION monthly listeners is pretty amazing.  Hot damn.  Thinking this was a typo, I checked Taylor Swift's count, and she has 315 TRILLION monthly listens.  Holy Hannah.  Anyway, I digress.
These tunes have a little worldliness to them, in the way Graceland or Vampire Weekend have a lilt of world music poking into them, but overall it is power pop rock stuff that is crazy catchy.  The top song is one that is reminiscent of their prior big hit ("Ain't It Fun," which is a legitimately fun track), the album opener, called "Hard Times."

Like I said, power pop with guitar.  Snappy as hell, very fun, even if the music behind it is pretty basic strum and drum 80's disco-fied rock.  I enjoy it.  These are the best songs on this album, others are slow and maudlin (looking at you, "26") full of violin swells and lyrics about dreaming.  But other tracks, like "Caught in the Middle," which are like funky No Doubt outtakes, are more fun again. While I've enjoyed a few trips through this one, I'll let it go but save a song or two into active playlists.

Logic - Everybody.  I generally like Logic.  I've written about him before, his rapid fire rapping is pretty fun.  He does a weird thing where each album has a spoken theme that weaves between some of the songs.  The last one was about space travelers or something.  This one has the story of a guy who dies and meets "God" in purgatory before he is reincarnated as every human being ever in the history of man.  Or something.  I'm a little confused, but I enjoyed the reaction he had when, right after he finds out he is dead, he found out his wife had been cheating on him.  One track from this album has blown up and become a real live hit, easily eclipsing any of his old hits (like the great "Flexicution" or "Alright").  I was going to choose "Everybody" as the song to play for you, because I think it best reflects his speed flow, but now that I realize there is a hit track on here, I'll give you that one.  380 million streams, this is "1-800-273-8255."

a) I love Don Cheadle (his character in Out of Sight is amazing); b) I need to go listen to that full album by Khalid to check out what the El Paso boy has going on; and c) watching videos for this blog is turning me into a blubbering idiot.  Why do I tear up at half of these videos now?  That one is really well done, but damn man.  BTW, that phone number is the suicide prevention hotline, and if you listen to the lyrics, it is the sound of someone starting at "I don't want to live anymore" and ending with "I don't want to die today."  Powerful song, well done video, but now I'm messed up.  I liked the piece of "Killing Spree" taking people to task for living through their cell phone screens.  I liked the black/white dichotomy study of "Take it Back" (and the shitty stuff that happened to Logic as a kid).  But overall, nothing on here is grabbing hold of me as much as the past albums for tunes that I'd want to keep listening to.

A$AP Twelvy - 12.  Another part of the A$AP Mob, and while this is better than the Mob disc I reviewed the other day, it still falls behind the best stuff that Ferg or Rocky put out.  The currently most popular track has just over 2.5 million streams, this is "Hop Out."

That is a jenky ass looking video, in their rented cars and getting all dirty in the desert.  OK song, pretty tough, no lyrics that really stand out.  The better stuff is the more laid back tracks like the opener, "Castle Hell" or "Diamonds" (which sounds very much like something from a Rocky album, instead of sounding like something he is guesting on for Twelvy, it sounds the other way around).  But then some of the laid back stuff is lame, just slow and boring (like "Yea Yea Yea (Maps")). This disc was better than I thought - popcorn rap, nothing of substance - but I'll still let it go.