Quick Hits, Vol. 172 (Fall Out Boy, BROCKHAMPTON, Anderson East, The New Pornographers)

Fall Out Boy - MANIA.  I know, you likely hate Fall Out Boy.  And that is fine.  I hate this album too.  But deep in my damaged mind, where the truth lives and posturing ends, the truth is that I kind of love the old Fall Out Boy albums.  A guilty pleasure for sure to jam out to that album that had "Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging."  But this leaves a lot of that clever song-writing and song-naming behind, and adds a lot of beats and electronic elements in their place, to make generic-sounding pop with guitars.  The "hit" on the album, "Champion," sounds crafted solely to be used as NBA Sunday Night commercial intro music, with trite "Champion, I can do anything!" lyrics and a generic "rock" sound.

Ooooh!  Will Smith's kid isn't having your FOB fan-boy virtual reality shit!  He gripped that bat SO HARD!  "Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea," the next song on the album is also very bad, but it includes a weird chorus intro spoken like Inspector Clouseau saying something about a "racist staaauunce."  "HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON'T" goes with a dancehall beat thing that just sounds sad on these guys, and then they go reggae-lite on "Sunshine Riptide."  Did growing old destroy their song writing ability?  Fame?  Drugs?  This is not good.  Funny thing is that they pushed back the release of the album when they realized that the original group of songs were not good enough.  God have mercy on whoever had to listen to the original songs.

BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION III.  I saw this album listed as a top ten album of the year somewhere, and then saw them added to a few festival posters, so I thought I'd give it a listen.  This is a hip hop group originally from San Marcos, Texas (?!?) that is now based in California, and this album is one of three all called SATURATION that were released through the second half of 2017.  The group has 4,378 members, and their sound is very odd (but kind of cool in that oddness).  Each song name is a single word, in all caps.  The top track from this album is "BLEACH," which has 5.6 million streams.

The warped, wavy, schlurped effects they use on that guitar/organ (? I have no clue what is making that noise) is rad, with a cool basic bass and click track with hand claps, not like anything I've heard recently.  Very cool.  Lyrically, the tune is depressing as hell, which matches the confused-sounding sample/effect very well.  "You'd be hurtin' if you trust me but you isn't, Honestly, that's probably the right decision," or "I found false hope in all kinda places, Hotel rooms and temporary feelings, I put my clothes on and try to check out, I try to hide from the sun, let it set now."  Or hell, the chorus/hook - "Who got the feeling? Tell me why I cry when I feel it,  Tell me why, Tell me why."  Cool track.  And the laid back beat and funny hook ("boys wanna play with my cell phone but I don't want nobody to see whats in it") of "STUPID" is another good one.  There are many good tracks on here.

But then, on the other hand, you've got the next most popular track on this album, the album opener of "BOOGIE," which has a crazy annoying sax/WOOOO WOOOO whistle sample/beat that is not a good thing at all.  I don't even know what the lyrics say, I just want that sax to stop making that noise.  [edit - you know what is funny though?  I woke up with that song in my head this morning and was mentally jamming along, a week after having last heard it.  The human brain is a funny thing.]  And I could do without some of the airy, R&B-ish singing stuff like "CINEMA 3."  So, its not a perfect album (what is these days in hip hop?), but very interesting stuff.  If I am later reviewing this group as an ACL band, I think they could be very fun live - their stuff feels offhinged and wild, like they would throw a party on stage.

Anderson East - Encore.  I had it in my head that this guy was a country artist - one of these outlaw country revivalists who have been popping up.  Nope, while you might be able to put him adjunct to the country people, this is more akin to the soul revival people like Nathaniel Rateliff than it is to the outlaw revivalists like Stapleton.  Maybe this is closer to Sturgill and the way he used some Stax horns on his last album.  Oh, hey, look, Spotify says related artists are St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats.  So yeah, this has nothing to do with outlaw country and I'm a dolt.  Welcome to my music blog!  Wheee!
Anyway, this is soul revival action - very well done.  His voice pretty frequently reminds me of David Gray (check "Without You"), when he's not pushing his vocal range and getting creaky.  When he goes there (check "Surrender,") he is more like Benjamin Booker.  I could, personally, use a few more up-tempo burners and fewer draggy, slow love songs, but to each his own.  And even though slow, I liked the imagery in "Cabinet Door" about holding hands and watching the Braves game.  "All On My Mind" is, by far, the biggest track on here with just over 3 million streams.

Apparently Ed Sheeran co-wrote the song, and he must have posted about it on social media or something, because most of the YouTube comments are weirdos saying they are seeing the video because of Ed Sheeran.  What causes people to do that?  What is the reward for telling other people that you are listening to a song because of NBA2K or One Tree Hill or whatever?  Strange.  (Meanwhile I am sitting here writing 2,000 words about random albums of music, to be read by 6 people).  But this album is a good thing.  The horns are my favorite part - without the heavy dose of horns on most of these songs, they'd just be pretty generic, trying to latch on to nostalgia for a past style of music.  As it is, I like it.

The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions.  There are times in my musical life when everything should work out just fine for an album, but for whatever reason - current attitude, sound mix, seasonal allergies, astrological plane, tidal positioning, an annoying vocal, or hunger - I can't get behind that album.  This is a perfectly fine album by a band that I generally like, and yet I have been putting off this review for weeks because I just don't care about the album.  I've probably heard it 15 times by now, and I keep stubbornly restarting it, figuring that this is going to be the time that it clicks and I enjoy the pleasantly groovy rock and roll.  Still hasn't happened.  But this is good, mild Dad rock, groovy and funky enough, harmonic, lyrical, and you may really dig it.  I can't.
The top track, with 1.8 million streams, is "High Ticket Attractions."

That video looks like fun.  Except for paint in the face, if someone throws paint in your face, you should be legally allowed to put them in a coffin filled with fire ants and launch them into a volcano.  But I wish the video had resolved somehow, it just fades to black in the midst of the riot.  Hmmm.  Anyway, that is a good song.  I have heard it on the radio a few times, and I like it.  But like the rest of the album, its just kind of fine to me.