Predicting ACL 2018: Bands Making the Festival Rounds this Year

Oh man, we are getting close, baby.  ACL usually announces around May 5 or so, leaving just over a month for me to obsess and wonder if my sweet Beck is going to diss me and avoid Austin.  But, this blog is one of my favorite studies into who might be coming to the Fest this year, which is made so much simpler because of the hard work of the excellently awesome Rob Mitchum and his spreadsheet detailing festival bands.  I am such a nerd for good data, and this guy just rubs me in all the right places.  So, where in past years I have had to dig for data through all of the random posters from the eighty million festivals, now I have his handy dandy spreadsheet to use.

His spreadsheet shows a ranking, which I thought used to show the top artists based on the number of festivals and their average position on the poster, but it appears to be broken this year.  I just tried to order the spreadsheet based on that column and got a bunch of artists who are listed as being on zero posters.  So that seems wrong.  So I'll ditch trying to figure out the ranking for anyone, and just go with the raw data of number of festivals to see who will be the festival darlings this year - the thought behind this post is that there are always a few artists who end up playing any and every festival all over the place each year.  I'm thinking about someone like Chance the Rapper in 2017, LCD Soundsystem in 2016, Drake in 2015, Outkast in 2014, etc.  

So, with Mitchum's spreadsheet in hand, here are some thoughts about who fall into those categories and what I think about their chances to show up in October.  But first, a note that we got a handful of these last year, so we won't be seeing The Killers, Portugal. The Man, Tash Sultana, Ron Gallo, Vance Joy, Tank & the Bangas, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Thundercat, Alex G, Jacob Banks, or Two Feet this year.  So, what could we see that everyone else is enjoying?

• Manchester Orchestra.  Top poster dweller this year (so far) with 9 posters.  Never heard of the band.  Mentally thought this was Unknown Mortal Orchestra when I saw it on other posters.  Huh.  Nothing on their calendar after early August, but going to Lolla and Roo and Shaky, so I'm guessing Yes.  They can dwell down in the middle-sized type with the other weird bands.

Realizing that I'll be writing for days if I include all of the top bands on this list, so I'm not going to write about any of the other small fry bands that are on all the posters.  Not sure anyone really cares if LANY or Alex Lahey (both on 8 posters) are coming to Austin, so I'll stick to the bigger names.

• The War on Drugs.  7 posters, including Coach but not Lolla or Roo.  I previously predicted they would be here in the Critical Darlings post.  Their tour now includes dates through the end of the year, which leaves a big gap between mid-September dates and early December dates, so they have a nice chunk of downtime to come to Austin and melt faces.  Wow, they last played ACL in 2012?  Doesn't seem that long ago.  I feel better than mediocre that they'd come, so I'll go with a half-hearted yes.
• The National.  6 posters, including Lolla, Shaky, and Roo.  I've now predicted them to come twice, both in the Critical Darlings post and the Live Nation Managed Bands post.  Feeling very bullish about them coming to Austin now that they will be at Lolla as well.  Their current tour ends on September 25, in perfect time to come to Austin and prepare an epic bummer of a show.  Absolutely.
• Odesza.  6 posters, including Coach and Lolla.  After having experienced a Red Rocks show last summer, and also knowing the drug intake at EDM shows, one can only imagine that the State of Colorado is going to need to declare a state of emergency and get the National Guard on the ground for their two June shows at Red Rocks.  Pray for the children.  I don't know this music at all, but ACL is going to need an electronic "headliner," so this looks to fit the bill.  I'll go with a yes.

Odesza is playing A LOT of festivals - Mitchum's spreadsheet doesn't do it justice.  I count at least 15 festivals on their website.  Here are three real festival names and one fake.  See if you can pick out the fake:

• Melt! Festival
• Truck Fump Festival
• Down the Rabbit Hole
• We the Fest

If you guessed #2, you win a free t-shirt, size XL and likely stained, that I'll just grab out of my drawer and bring to you some day.  But you won!

• Tyler the Creator.  6 posters, including Coach and Lolla.  Done with his tour in August.  I looked at him before he was named to the Lolla lineup and figured that he might come through based on the Critical Darlings list.  I guess I'll stick with that prediction, nothing has changed that I see.  Yes.
• St. Vincent.  6 posters, including Coach and Lolla (three in a row for that exact phrase).  I had recently considered her candidacy for ACL and said no, because she couldn't even sell out two shows at the Moody here in Austin in February.  I still think that logic makes sense, why would there be excitement for her to come right back when she couldn't sell out this same year on this same tour.  But now that her tour includes Lolla and ends in mid-September, it sure looks like we should expect her in early October.  Yes.
• Brockhampton.  Surprised they are only on 6 posters, I mentally feel like they are everywhere.  And if you look at their website, looks like they are playing more than 20 festivals this year.  Those just aren't big enough to make Mitchum's report.  And are done in late August.  I'm just almost certain they will be here.  Got their start down the road in San Marcos, playing all the big fests (Coach, Roo, and Lolla), I've got this one on lock.  Yes.
• Eminem.  5 posters, including Coach and Roo, but thankfully not Lolla.  As I've stated a few times, I really hope we don't have to suffer through Eminem again, but let's look at the winds one more time.  God his new album sucks.  His tour ends in London on July 15, as of now, so he has the time.  But with no Lollapalooza headliner slot, I think we are safe from a reprise of the lip sync fest from a few years ago.  No.
• Jack White.  5 posters, including Lolla and Shaky Knees.  The problem is that Austin 360 Amphitheater show he has scheduled for May 2.  Tickets are still available for that show, revealing a lack of demand for the guy.  And its only 5 months before ACL, which also would seem to point at a lack of demand.  But I already predicted he would be here in my Live Nation Bands post, and with him being named as a headliner for Lolla and Shaky, it just seems like he will be included for us as well.  His current tour dates end in late August.  Going with yes.
• Khalid.  5 posters, including Roo and Lolla.  I would be shocked if Khalid wasn't on the ACL bill.  Texas boy, blowing up worldwide, showing up on many festival lineups, I'd just be amazed if C3 missed out on him.  Although, yet again, he has a May show in Austin (well, Cedar Park) that still has tickets available, belying both demand and excitement for October.  But personally, I just think Khalid checks too many boxes for ACL to miss adding him - highly popular right now, never played ACL before, youthful songs, crossover appeal between many demographics.  Absolutely.
• Post Malone.  5 posters, including Coach and Lolla.  An even more stern test of my thought that a touring show close to the ACL dates equals no slot at the fest.  This doofus has a June 16 show at the Austin 360, which is not sold out.  So my instinct is no - he sucks, he is playing four months before the Fest, and can't sell out that show.  But the same things hold true here as they do for Khalid - highly popular right now, never played ACL, both old dudes and young kids have probably heard his garbage radio hits.  The last show on his tour is Sept. 14 in California, so he has perfect timing to be in Austin, and is already on the Lolla poster, so I'll go with yes.  He also can hang on the 9th row with Manchester Orchestra.
• Fleet Foxes.  5 posters, although no Lolla or Roo, only Shaky Knees.  I'm a dorky fanboy for these dudes - I'd love to see them again - but nothing in their touring schedule makes it feel like they'd be here.  No major festivals and their tour appears to end in Europe at a bunch of small fests.  Going to say No for now.
• Greta Van Fleet.  5 posters, including Lolla, Shaky, and Coach.  More importantly, playing Stubbs in the next month AND its sold out.  Tour is over in September.  They are totally going to be here.  Lock it in.
• Arctic Monkeys.  4 posters, including Lolla.  Already guessed that they would be here from my Live Nation post, and I'm still feeling it.  Especially now that they have been named to play Lolla.  Their tour ends in August, so they've got the time, and I just think they match the rock and roll ethos of the ACL world well.  Yes.
• SZA  4 posters, including Coach but no Roo, Shaky, or Lolla.  I already talked about her on the Critical Darlings post, and begrudgingly included her in my list of people who would come.  But now that she is not going to be at Lolla, and she will be in Austin in May at the Austin 360, I'm just not feeling it.  I think she makes sense to pander to the youth vote for the fest, and she really is the major critical darling from last year, but without also including Lolla on her schedule that seems unlikely.  Why wouldn't she be booked to play both?  Undecided, but now leaning no.
• David Byrne.  4 posters, including Coach and Shaky but no Lolla.  Dang.  Before he failed to make the Lolla poster, I thought he was going to be a lock for the fall in Austin.  He's doing the other big shows and the south American Lollas, so it made sense.  I was almost thinking that we might get a Talking Heads reunion as a big nostalgia draw that would blow all minds.  Well, his tour shows three nights in June in Chicago, so maybe that took the place of a Lolla slot?  Huh.  He is playing in Dallas on October 6, which is the Saturday night of the first weekend of ACL.  That looks absolutely tailor made for him to be a Friday night headliner in Austin and then drive up 35 on Saturday morning.  Yes, I'm going for it.  Friday night sub-headliner.
• Anderson Paak & the Free Nationals.  4 posters, with only Roo being a major one.  I will not subject you to his website, because it is going to BLARE yacht rock at you as soon as you enter, but I'll let you know that the last things currently on his calendar are overseas performances at festivals (and they don't even list Bonnaroo on that website, which is odd).  He claims to be releasing a new album (maybe two) this year, so he could have some buzz by October (which I don't feel at all right now).  Uhhhh, I guess my instinct is to go with no.
• Dua Lipa.  4 posters, including Roo and Lolla (and Lolla Paris).  Had no clue who this was when I started a Rolling Stone article about her last week.  Now I realize that my kids want to hear her hit song all the time and I dislike it in a deep and primal way.  She is doing an international tour right now, with stops in Dallas and Houston, but none in Austin.  Last thing on her calendar right now is Ireland at the start of September, so she has the time to be here.  Since she is at Lolla, I'll lean towards yes.
• Margo Price.  4 posters, none major.  I included her on my list because I sure would like to see her again, she is super good and played the hell out of a set two years ago, but nothing out there really points to her being at ACL.  (although she is playing the Ryman in Nashville for three nights in May, and then Red Rocks with Lyle Lovett in September - ROAD TRIP - who is with me?).  She is part of Willie's Fourth of July festival in July, so I'll go with no.

OK, folks.  Where does this set us?  Add to the list of other people I expect to come here:

• David Byrne
• Manchester Orchestra
• The War on Drugs
• The National
• Odesza
• Tyler the Creator
• St. Vincent
• Brockhampton
• Jack White
• Khalid
• Post Malone
• Arctic Monkeys
• Greta Van Fleet
• Dua Lipa.

Wait.  I pretty much just agreed that every single band on this blog is coming here.  🙄🙄🙄  Hard hitting investigative journalism right here...  Whatever, just because its crazy doesn't mean it isn't true.

Quick Hits, Vol. 181 (Tyler Childers, Logic, David Byrne, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats)

Tyler Childers - Purgatory.  A Kentucky Americana guy with a new album produced by Sturgill Simpson?  Yeah, I'm in for that.  I give you that nugget of fact, but know that if you are looking for the next Sturgill, you'll likely be let down.  He has some great turns of phrase and very strong lyrics, and some of these tunes are good, but nothing on here is so genre-bending and powerful as what Sturgill brings to the table.  This is pretty straight-forward country/Americana.  Funny thing, I was sure that I had pegged his top song with the reverb-filled "Universal Sound," but instead it is "Feathered Indians" by a mile - 3.3 million streams versus only 1.2.

Look at that opening couplet, man:

"Well my buckle makes impressions
On the inside of her thigh
There are little feathered Indians
Where we tussled through the night"

Freaking fantastic love song - well told tale of finding something to finally live for in the Appalachian hills.  This guy reminds me more of a Chris Knight or Slaid Cleaves, relatively simple tunes anchored by very good lyrics.  Which, I mean, I love both of those dudes.  While I don't know squat about a banded clovis arrowhead, the story of "Banded Clovis," in which a desperate digger murders his buddy for a great arrowhead, is a banjo-fueled fine tale.  This is a good album.  I need to print out the lyrics and read it like I'm 10 all over again.  I heard he came to SXSW, and now I see him on the Lollapalooza poster, so I'm guessing I'll get a chance to see him play live in a few months.

Logic - Bobby Tarantino II.  Logic is cool - he just has a sweet flow that goes from quick to measured but generally stays pretty interesting for me.  He had a couple albums (or maybe mixtapes) that I liked a few years ago - Under Pressure and The Incredible True Story - and then enjoyed a truly massive hit with his anti-suicide track last year "1-800-273-8255."  More than 566 million streams for that one.  Nothing on here smells like a massive hit - there are lots of likeable tracks on this mixtape, but none of them scream immediate hit.  I guess the current top one has some of those hallmarks, because Marshmello is the collaborator and he has popular EDM crap out right now, so maybe that one will end up going large.  45.9 million streams so far right now.

Meh.  The chorus sticks in my head (of course), but the lyrics are pretty bland and the beat is mediocre EDM stuff.  I like "44 More," "Overnight," and "Wassup" much more than this track.  And although I'm not a Wiz Khalifa fan, I like the chilled out vibe of "Indica Badu."  None of these are deep thinkers like his hit about suicide, but they are certainly fun.  I'll keep some and let the rest go.

David Byrne - American Utopia.  I've always enjoyed the great Talking Heads tunes, but then been baffled by some of the less popular tracks.  A few years ago, I went and bought Speaking in Tongues and Remain in Light to try to decode the band, and I still feel the same about them.  In spurts, they are funky and groovy and fantastic.  In other sections, just weird and confusing and so experimental I just don't know which side is up.  Byrne is, of course, the lead singer, who has been out there making his solo albums since the band broke up in the late 80's.  Like his band, some of these things are fun and funky, and some more like verbose strings of poetic ramblings that happen to have music playing in the background.  But overall, fun stuff.  I'm very pleased that one of my favorites happens to be the most streamed - here is the LCD Soundsystem-esque "Everybody's Coming to My House."

Which, I guess, if I really think about it, LCD probably ripped off this sound in the first place, with funky basslines and cowbells and agitated synths, so I shouldn't give that dude credit for inspiring the O.G. in groovy freakouts with cowbell.  Suck it, LCD.  "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets" and "Every Day is a Miracle" are also fun.  "I Dance Like This" gets on my nerves, with the robotic chorus and more stressful interlude of synths, but then it ends up stuck in my head as I want to walk around the house saying it in a robot voice all over again.  "Bullet" also stops my train of thought, as I listen to the album, because its such a lovely-sounding song about a non-pretty subject.  "The bullet went into him, his skin did part in two, skin that women had touched, the bullet passed on through.  The bullet went into him, it went its merry way, like an old grey dog, on a fox's trail..."  "Here" makes me think of old (good) Peter Gabriel.  I like this album.  I'm suddenly hopeful that Byrne will come to ACL.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - Tearing at the Seams.  I'm such a sucker for this dude.  Saw him at ACL two years ago, saw his Austin City Limits taping as well, and now I just fall in line for whatever he hands out.  Gimme some mo.  This album is a more chilled out vibe - none of these songs bring the raw thunder like "SOB" or "I Need Never Get Old."  But that isn't necessarily a bad thing, you get sweet mellowed vibes like "Coolin' Out" and "Hey Mama" instead.  Which each make me want to bite my lower lip and thrust my face forward repeatedly to the beat.  "Intro" is a little more excited, but literally sounds like the song a band plays when they are opening up a concert and just getting the crowd hyped up before kicking into the real music.  Doesn't hold a candle to the hype hits of the last album.  The top track is one that attempts a little more of that excitement, but honestly still holds back a little bit on fully going for it - "You Worry Me."

Things that rule in this song - the voice, the bassline, the subtle horns/sax that mimic the guitar, the lyrics, the soft lilt in the vocals during the breakdown about 2/3 of the way through the song.  "Everybody wants the same thing..."  Good tune, good album.  Not great, but good enough for me to keep enjoying it for a while.

Lollapalooza 2018 Announced!

I know this news is like 3 days old by now, but I got busy with work and play and whatnot, so you'll just have to enjoy my thoughts now.  I'll get deeper into what this lineup means for ACL in a later post, but need to run through this with an eye for Lolla on its own merit.

First impression?  Gross.  Travis Scott is garbage.  Post Malone is awful.  Lil Uzi Vert is trash.  Why is that on this poster at all, much less on the top three lines?  Those guys are not talented and have a hit or two that people won't even remember in a few years.  The Weeknd is legit talented - very good singer - but I want nothing to do with him.  I tried out his show in Austin a few years ago and it suuuuuucked.  On the other hand, I bet a Bruno Mars show would be freaking fun, and I love me some Jack White (although I'm not so sure about the new album), and the Arctic Monkeys are great.  So there are good things at the top of this bill, but I'd honestly be disappointed if this was the lineup in Austin.

I've seen Vampire Weekend a few times, and they are really fun.  I wonder if they'll release new music?  Logic has some fun tunes, and Khalid is great.  I've never cared much for The National, but I know that I am in the minority there.  Love Chvrches.  Catfish & the Bottlemen are awesome.  Rainbow Kitten is very good.  Want to see Greta Van Fleet.  Dig Franz Ferdinand.  And then the list gets real weird.  Most of the bands below the fold I've never heard of or they came to ACL recently so I recall them (Lizzo, Big Wild, etc.) from that experience.  My God, what the hell are these bands?  Cky?  Space Jesus?  Blackgummy?  Kuuro?  Cleopatrick?  Oshi?  Gashi?  Its like a Japanese computer was asked to create band names in English.

Very heavy on the new rap and, to the extent I know who these people are, some light electronic stuff.  No more mega EDM stuff, but Odesza, Zedd, and Excision will keep the dance kids happy before the Weeknd show kicks off.  Very little country that I recognize (and Luke Combs kinda blows), very little in the way of old school legacy artists (LL Cool J, maybe Jack White qualifies by now?).  Still can't get over the Weekdn and Bruno Mars as the top two artists for freaking Lolla.  Please don't let that be the case in Austin...

[EDIT] - apparently ticket sales are pretty slow.  Attributed to several factors, including a "stale lineup."  I had no clue that Bonnaroo tickets were off so hard, that is not a good sign.

Quick Hits, Vol. 180 (YUNGBLUD, Lil Yachty, slenderbodies, Jack White)

YUNGBLUD - YUNGBLUD.  If you can get past the dumb-looking band name, this is highly fun music.  Sounds kind of like the Arctic Monkeys lead singer decided to make excellently danceable pop rock and pulls it off damn well.  This is just a 5 song EP, but it is infectiously fun.  I thought that the lead song would be the most popular, as "King Charles" kind of rules, but instead it is the second track, "I Love You, Will You Marry Me," with 2.3 million streams, that wins that prize for now.

The way that brits say Adidas is super weird.  But whatever, that tune is crazy fun.  Gimme more of that stuff all day.  Two tracks, "Anarchist" and "Polygraph Eyes" pull back the throttle for a bit - everything else on here is maniacal and therefore awesome.  But even those slower tracks are good stuff, even if the latter us sad (and a well-told story). I'm in on this guy.

Lil Yachty - Lil Boat 2.  Why do I do this shit to myself?  I mean, I know this album is going to suck.  Like, everyone knows this album is going to suck.  Yachty himself probably knows this.  He just wants it up on Spotify so that he can make his $20 jillion dollars and get another platinum album.  Somehow the last song on this thing is the top streamer at 9.1 million streams.  That is either 9.1 million idiots or a bunch of people streaming some "Worst New Rap" playlist who had to suffer through this.

While searching for that video, I also saw this article from Genius saying that this was going to be the runaway hit from this album.  Not good.  Boring brags without any interesting bits.  You do not need to go listen to this album.

slenderbodies - fabulist: extended.  Do you remember that insufferable song "Gooey" from Glass Animals?  I do, because they came to ACL so I had to listen to their music and suffer through that song repeatedly.  This is like if that song became an entire band of whispery love songs soundtracked by limp guitar licks.  Also, if you go read their Spotify bio, you will wish for the sweet oblivion of death.  "intricate airy guitar work complemented by gentle vocals and present drums. With vivid imagery at the forefront of vocal waves, the duo paints portraits of siren songs, sultry nights with foreign lovers, lost romance, and home."  <gurgle, death, sweet embrace, gurgle, choke, deadthery>

I think I'm probably being an asshole here, because I kind of enjoy the lower end of the tune - the slinky smearing guitar over the nimble bass groove - but the overall sound of this and the rest of this EP are annoyingly twee to me.  Not on board.

Jack White - Boarding House Reach.  I mean, just the title alone is enough for an eye roll, and then the first song is a groaner of a brutal tune.  I'm sorry, "Connected by Love" just sucks.  And it makes me so annoyed, because I freaking love Jack White's stuff sometimes.  The White Stripes and Raconteurs (took me 3 minutes to correctly spell that, by the way) freaking ruled.  But then he pulls this "Connected by Love" garbage, all moody synths and trite lyrics.  It's like he lost a bet or something.  I just don't get it.  And then the next song, "Why Walk a Dog?" doubles down on the moody synth thing.  Why can't we have a driving rhythm section with bad ass guitar heroics?  
This album is damn weird.  "Respect Commander" is way out there - did White find an old cool synth somewhere and just make a wager with himself that he could make an album using it on each song?  "Abulia and Akrasia" is like he just randomly decided to perform a play in the midst of this album.  "Connected by Love" is the top track on Spotify, but you don't need to experience that (although honestly it is an indication of suckiness that it has been out for a while and only have 2.6 million streams).  I'll give you the much better sounding second most streamed track - "Over and Over and Over."

Musically, I dig it.  But what is up with the schlocky backup singers who sound like they are intentionally out of tune and offbeat?  What is happening?  If White wasn't on his own label, I'd think this album was put out only to fulfill a contractual requirement.  I kinda dig the groove action on "Corporation."  But this album is extremely uneven after a few attempts.  I'm going to keep playing this disc and see if it clicks, but so far this is outside of my comfort zone.

Quick Hits, Vol. 179 (I'm With Her, Soccer Mommy, Moby, Robert Finley)

I'm With Her - See You Around.  I'm an unrepentant sucker for Sarah Jarosz.  Pretty much just sign me up for whatever she plays or sings.  This band combines her with Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) and Aoife O'Donovan (which just took me like 9 minutes to type correctly, and who is from bands called Crooked Still and Sometymes Why, which I have never heard of before).  So, with those three ladies involved, you are getting prime harmonies and good, subtle musicianship.  This is right up my alley.  I will admit that, after probably 10 listens to the album in the past three days, the album tends to just disappear on me.  It just glides past my earholes and then a terrible new DJ Khaled song comes on before I've even noticed that all the songs are over. (FYI, PSA, that new DJ Khaled song with Jay Z and Beyonce is trash)  But if you pause your day and just listen to these ladies go, each of them is doing something rad throughout each song.  Very cool.  The top track is "Game to Lose," with 1.2 million streams.

Like I said, harmonies for days and lovely musicianship - Jarosz with that mandolin is my crack cocaine.  "Overland," which sounds like something from the Basement Tapes album, keeps catching my attention as well.  Also, not on this album, but they have a stand-up-bass-centric cover of Adele's "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" that sounds like something they jack off to at NPR's corporate headquarters.  This album isn't especially exciting, but it really is beautiful.  I like that the word subtle popped into my head up above, because I think that perfectly matches my feeling here.

Soccer Mommy - clean.  This band popped up on my radar mainly because I though the name of the band was clever.  Great band name.  I guess it showed up as a related artist when I was listening to Hovvdy the other day, which makes some sense, since this is cool indie rock stuff in that same vein, but a little more fun here.  Several of these songs are very good, but one stands out so far that I have to play it for you immediately.  "Your Dog" has some swagger and anger, covered by a relatively sunny indie rock tune, that meshes just right.

Well holy fuck.  That video is disturbing as all hell.  But again, great song, I like the slight distortions in the guitar that remind me of Mac Demarco, and the way she slips in profanity and anger as though she is singing a love song.  Very cool.  "Cool" is also a great tune.  Something about the languid way she sings and tosses in offhand curse words is highly bitchin'.  Some of this reminds me of the early Car Seat Headrest stuff - DIY sounding and raw, but others of these tunes are a little more polished.  I like this album quite a bit.

Moby - Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt.  For all of the rad-ness of that last album, this one is just boring.  I generally liked Moby back in the day, but I don't see why this needed to happen.  More of the same things he used to do - chilled out beats and some ethereal singing and here and there some rap-ish speaking.  I kind of like "Like a Motherless Child," but that is probably the best thing on here.  None of the songs on this break his top ten most popular tracks (not a good sign).  The second-to-last tune on the album is the most streamed, at just over 200k (which is weird, but whatever, streaming does odd things to music these days).  Here is "This Wild Darkness."

Soooooooo deep, bro.  <vomit, burp, cough, hack, vomit>  If it wasn't all so pretentious, with Moby stolidly speaking straight to the camera with his platitudes, it might be kind of neat, the chill beat and the gospel choir.  But nope.  Not for me.  GTFOH.

Robert Finley - Goin' Platinum!  You have to love the brash confidence of this dude with that album title.  This is fine blues rock stuff - first stop in the experience should be the "Bang a Gong" fuzzy swagger of "Real Love is Like Hard Time," with soulful choir and legit guitar fireworks.  High fun on that song.  The guy looks like he's 70 years old, but literally has only two albums available on Spotify - 2016 album and this one from 2017.  According to his bio this album is produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and you can tell, which I think is a great thing.  I might need to just set up some sort of Internet warning thing to let me know anytime an album is released with production from Auerbach, since I know I am likely going to dig it.
The top track is "Get It While You Can," which has only 188k streams, and is the album opener.

OK, man.  That dude is cute.  Like charming grandpa cute.  Acting out his lyrics and dancing around in that shiny orange shirt.  And after he's done shoving his crotch toward the camera for 3 minutes, that raised eyebrow point to the camera move?  Boss level shit, man.  I require adoption by this man and immediate grandfather/grandson fishing trips and catfish fries.  Good stuff.

Quick Hits Vol. 178 (SOB x RBE, Diet Cig, Hovvdy, Vance Joy)

My daughter rolled into my room this morning singing this song.

I am sooooooo going to need help in figuring out how to direct my children to legitimate music.  I am failing in myriad ways here, if she thinks this song is good in any way.  (other than being catchy and kind of hilarious to hear your nine year old singing as she brushes her hair).

SOB x RBE - GANGIN.  These dudes had a track on the Black Panther soundtrack ("Paramedic!") that was actually pretty good.  Which led me to trying out this whole new album.  My first trip through the disc was disappointing, sounds like R&B garbage sprinkled with a few good tracks.  But over time, this one grew on me, starting with the big hit.  "Carpoolin'," the first song on the album, has the most streams at 455k.

OK.  That one is out on a limb - like some booty bounce speed beat with high energy brag rhymes.  Kind of good.  More tunes on here are actually pretty good - they combine a fast pace of beat along with a fast flow of rap - nothing new or all that different, but the kind of stuff that's pretty fun to bounce along to.  But a lot of the tracks are weak.  The beats are pretty plain, and its just bragging, no good stories.  And some are garbage R&B stuff, like "Lifestyle."  Or "Back to Back," also lame.  I want to like it more than I do, but it is mostly forgettable.  After about 5 listens, I've come back to edit this review a week later and can't recall a single thing I heard from the album.  I think the best songs are the hype ones, "Carpoolin'" and "Paid in Full," where the tempo jumps up and the rhymes fire by in rapid flow.  I'm OK without this one.

Diet Cig - Swear I'm Good at This.  This band played in Austin recently and my Instagram feed was chock full of love for them, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Interesting how there is a recent trend of power punk/pop/almost grunge bands with female lead singers that have cropped up recently.  Between Charlie Bliss, INHEAVEN, and these guys, sort of Sheer Mag, and of course Paramore and Wolf Alice, it feels like I have heard a lot of that recently.  Anyway, this is a highly fun album of energetic tunes over fuzzy, crunchy rock riffs.  The last track on the album is the top streamer, which is an odd thing.  Pretty rare to see a save-the-best-for-last move like that.  Here is "Tummy Ache," which just barely tops a million streams.

(1) too bad the band isn't really a bunch of woke 12 year old girls; (2) good song; (3) remember writing shit on your converse?  Is that still a thing these days with the kids?  I don't remember writing on the top of the toe, but I definitely wrote around the edges on the wide white rubber rings.  Good times.  But I wasn't especially cool in high school, so maybe y'all didn't get into that stuff.
Ooooh, Tiny Desk.  Shit yes.

Enshrine the lyrics to that opening song (also the opener from this album) into the Smithsonian:
"When I was sixteen, I dated a boy, With my own name, It was weird, In the back of his truck, Moaning my name, While trying to fuck, And I didn't think you had to, Go to town, And tell everybody's mom, That I'm, Sleeping around."  And then she goes on to tell him to bugger off with his shitty friends.  Great tune - high energy - wish I had seen them live.  I have no clue how she can jump around and kick and then sing without sounding all winded and old.  Hope they come back to Austin.

Hovvdy - cranberry.  I had a friend suggest these guys to me the other day, telling me that he was friends with the band (two dudes in Austin) and that they had chosen their band name because they were the only result to come up on Google if you searched for that slightly annoying misspelling of Howdy.  The music is very relaxed, almost sad-sounding, indie - gentle strums and chord-change-squeaks, lovely harmonies, basic drums, and intermittent synths that flit along under the lyrics.  It all feels melancholy, like Pavement or Real Estate of Alex G if they were trying to make you nostalgic about some bummer in your history.  Quite nice really.  Several of the songs have a good number of listens, but then a lot of the album is locked in together around 20k streams.  Which is interesting, like people enjoy the first half of the album (except for "Thru") and then just bag the rest.  The top streamed track is the second one, "In the Sun," with 253k streams.  But it doesn't have a cool video that I can find, so here is "Petal" with just over 166k streams.

"I had a feeling, of who we used to be," repeated repeatedly.  For the most part, the lyrics are covered over by the tunes, rendered nondescript and fuzzy under the soft guitar and light synths.  I like the feel of the album.  Nothing on here really stands out, no chorus is all that memorable, but the whole thing just puts me in a somber, relaxed mood.  Feels like I should go back and painstakingly recall details about old regrets and then quietly cry even though I don't actually care anymore.  "Truck" is kind of interesting too, in that it adds some pedal steel to the mix.  This whole thing feels like songs auditioning to be part of Garden State 2 soundtrack.  I think I'll keep it around, even if its kind of a bummer of a feeling.

Vance Joy - Nation of Two.  Vance Joy is a perfectly pleasant musical thing.  I've reviewed him fully twice already, in 2015 and 2017, because he came to ACL.  I thought for sure he would have released new music before ACL last year, being that he otherwise still just had that one old tune with the Michelle Pfieffer-loving "Riptide" song on it.  But nope.  Just came on through in 2017 with the same stuff going on.  So now, a few months into 2018, he released the new album, which is more of the same - pleasantly-OK, guitar-based, entirely forgettable indie rock tunes.  That "Riptide" track has 573 million streams - pretty legit for a guy that isn't EDM or Drake.  His new single from this album, "Lay It On Me," isn't nearly that massive, but has 47.3 million streams in just a few weeks.

In news that will shock no one, it has a soaring "wooooahhahhhhh ohh oh!!!" type chorus background for people to yell at festival concerts, and a repetitive chorus ("lay it all on me now!" x100) otherwise that will be "memorable" for people who don't actually know the music but will walk up to the festival set and go "oh yeah, this is that lay it all on me now guy!" and then proceed to sing along as though they are big fans.  I sound bitter right now, but I promise you I'm not, this stuff is just fine.  No offense given and none taken.  But I don't want to hear it anymore...