Quick Hits, Vol. 161 (Broken Social Scene, Gov't Mule, Bleachers, Phoenix)

Broken Social Scene - Hug of Thunder.  Well, that is interesting.  Mentally, I thought this was something entirely different, but this album is excellent indie rock.  Sounds to me like Arcade Fire spent a lot of time listening to U2.  Especially if you listen to "Halfway Home," the brightly lit top song from the album (well, most listened to anyway, at 2.6 million).

Got a little Edward Sharpe-type action to it as well.  But do you hear that U2 sound?  Its like a less bombastic "Beautiful Day."  This band is weird, it is called a "creative collective" with a "flexible lineup," which is a curious thing to think of.  Of the 15 members on the album, the only one that I immediately recognize is Feist.  Some are sung with a female lead and guys in the background, others go vice versa.  Some Cure-esque guitar on "Please Take Me With You," so go along with vocals that sound cribbed from The National.  "Stay Happy" has a world music/Arcade Fire vibe that is pretty rad, and then the urgent collective singing on "Vanity Pail Kids" likewise cops that Arcade Fire rock and roll sound.  I really like this album.

Gov't Mule - Revolution Come ... Revolution Go.  I've been reading about Gov't Mule for some time, a jam band with southern roots in the Allman Brothers, but I've never really given them a shot before.  You can hear late-model Allmans in the voice of Warren Haynes on these tunes, and the guitar can do some good work here as well.  But after a few attempts on this one, I'm left pretty underwhelmed.  Another bloated album as well, clocking in at almost two freaking hours for 18 songs.  When the first song came on, I was confused as to what I had slotted in my queue behind Broken Social Scene, because it honestly sounds like your cousin's Rage Against the Machine cover band's crappy demo they gave you for your birthday and you forgot about until you realized that you couldn't access the internet on that drive into deep West Texas so you had to listen to whatever CDs you had lying in your car.  I get the feeling that this sound would be much improved in the live world.  Only one song makes their current top ten on Spotify, with "Stone Cold Rage" (the album opener) barely squeaking in at #10 with 190k streams.

You hear that Rage Against the Machine sound there?  Well, until the vocals anyway.  I'll let this album go.

Quick aside - if you are reading this and you have never tried out John Prine, get thee to Spotify immediately.  His music is clever and funny and smart and classic.  This summer, I made a Pandora playlist seeded with his music, and used it daily with my family when we were on our vacation in Colorado, and it was perfect.  You can start with Souvenirs for a greatest hits-type experience, or The Missing Years or John Prine for best individual albums.  "Jesus, the Missing Years" is funny stuff.  Give him a shot.

Bleachers - Gone Now.  This is the guy from Fun who is now producing and co-writing with big time people like Lorde and Taylor Swift.  I saw this new group play at ACL a few years ago and thought they were pretty solid.  He's won two Grammys, one for "We Are Young" with Fun and one for his work on Taylor Swift's 1989.  But this album should not be winning any Grammys.  Its not terrible, but also not very interesting to me.  The hit from the album (although still like a fraction of the listens for "I Wanna Get Better" from the last album) is "Don't Take the Money" with 17.5 million streams.

I have no clue what is going on there with the bride and her hardcore friend, but I know that this is an 80's music track that is unnecessary.  Just give me the real 80's music.  "Goodmorning" rips off the sound of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Our House."  "Goodbye" sounds like a Kanye b-side beat with some weak lyrics.  Nope.

Phoenix - Ti Amo.  Phoenix is one of those bands that I mentally think that I like well enough, and then one of their songs comes on the radio and I switch it to see if I can find something else.  This whole album feels that way, good enough sparkly 80's pop with disco elements, but I'd rather switch the station and see if I can find something else.  The album opener is the most listened to track, an indictment against the album, but I'm going to give you the title track because I think it is a better tune.  "Ti Amo" has 6.5 million streams.

Fun track, very heavy disco 80's dance party rock.  These guys came to ACL years ago (like 2013?) and I remember being relatively energized by their dance rock, but being pretty unimpressed overall.  Feeling the same way about this album.  Like the last one, just give me the classic 80's songs instead of this redux.  Not terrible, but not my thing.