Top Rock Tracks of 2019

Is rock OK?  I've had a few conversations with people recently wondering where all of the good rock and roll has gone.  I think those concerns are overblown - rock's still there it just isn't the cultural juggernaut it once was.  And how many times has the culture sang the swan song of rock and roll?  In my lifetime, I know it was lamented as dead when hair bands took over, pre-grunge.  And then again when nu metal took over.  And now people are saying it again as rap takes over.  But no, it ain't gonna die.

But I also see many reasons for the perception that it is dying or doing poorly.  First, the overabundance of choice.  Having a Spotify system with a zillion songs available at your fingertips, makes it hard to make your own choices.  And then you try to rely on algorithms to find new rock music, and they end up feeding you shit like The Score.  So you just go with those algorithms, or the radio, and maybe rock doesn't seem so strong.  

Second, rock has been fractured, like all other genres, into a million different little sub-genres of music.  Wikipedia lists more than 40 subgenres, and those don't even include the weird stuff that Spotify files things into like Vegan Straight Edge and Black Sludge.  For real, those are legit genres.  Country sounds more like Skynryd than George.  Panic! at the Disco sounds straight pop.  Ozzy just appeared on a Post Malone song.  Cats and Dogs!  Living together!  Mass Hysteria!  But it makes it harder to find a good new rock band because they may have decided to make drone math rock and you can't find them, whereas everyone used to be lumped together and the cream would rise to the top.

Third, one of the key reasons rock seems less present is that it's freaking hard to do well.  For the Black Keys' new album, they needed multiple, very skilled instrumentalists to come together and create a layered song where all the players have to be spot on.  On the other hand, the currently most popular genre is rap, where some dude in his bedroom can just create a simple beat on his laptop, spit some mediocre lyrics about being rich, and put the song out into the world for consumption.  And rappers are bloating their albums in a major way with excess tracks, because they're generally simple to create.  Don't get me wrong, good rap is out there, and it's hard to create, but I'll argue all day that most of the current rap is simple and terrible.  So, you end up with less rock because it isn't as simple and profitable.

I'm sure there are 90 other good reasons that rock seems to be dying, but ignore that shit and gather round while I talk about why it isn't dying and instead is doing just fine.

I was at a graduation party for a friend the other night when a neighborhood friend asked me if I had seen his post about his favorite rock and roll songs of 2019.  Because I refuse to look at Facebook anymore, I had not, but I committed to going and checking it out because his musical taste is solid and pretty well jibes with my own (except that I can see on Spotify right now that he is listening to the terrible Jay-Z 4:44 album, so maybe not?).  Anyway, I like the idea, so I'm also going to provide you with some thoughts about the RAWK in 2019.



I also had a text conversation with another neighborhood friend the other day who texted out of the blue to ask if rock and roll was dead.  He said "I need you to tell me 3 or 4 bands I need to be listening to - pronto - or a part of ME is gonna die."  I sent him a few thoughts that will be included in my list below, but we also had a good discussion about the current status of rock and roll in the musical landscape.  

First, some commentary about Adam's list:

• Sturgill Simpson - "Sing Along."  This track wouldn't be my pick off of this album, but I fully agree with Adam that Simpson created a very fine rock album.  This song is good - the guitar work in it is legit.  I found myself driving home on Mopac last night, boogieing in my seat to the funky weirdness of this tune.  My main beef is a very ticky tacky item - something about the weird bass drop near the end of this song is off-putting to me.  Why is that in here?  I want less disco and more rock.
• Of Monsters and Men - "Alligator."  I never got around to this album this year, but this track is freaking great.
• The National - "Rylan."  Man, I just can't get on board with The National.  Adam calls them the best band working today, and I just can't do it.  Sooooo moooooopey.  Every time the singer starts I wanna die.
• Brittany Howard - "13th Century Metal."  Another album I need to dig in to, but this track is good.
• Sharon Van Etten - "Seventeen."  I do not endorse this pick.  I tried her music the last time she came to ACL, and it ain't for me.
• New Pornographers - "The Surprise Knock."  Another album I missed from a band that I like.  Dope song.
• The Black Keys - "Eagle Birds."  Love this whole album, although (spoiler alert!) I'd pick "Go!" and "Lo/Hi" before this one.
• The Raconteurs - "Help Me Stranger."  Good tune and good album.  Saw them live two days in a row this October, and it was the loudest freaking thing ever.  I'm all for volume, but you lose some nuance and style when everything is at 11.
• Courtney Barnett - "Keep On."  Love her so much.  Hadn't caught this single yet, but its more good stuff.  Kind of a Sticky Fingers unreleased demo vibe.
• Tyler Childers - "Whitehouse Road."  Absolutely great track (although it came out in 2017, and is country, so it seems weird on this list, but whatever.  It's awesome.).

He also gave consolation prize shouts to Beck's "Chemical," which I find lacking, as well as a few others that were fun to try out.  I now dig PUP and plan to listen more to that band.

So, enough about Adam!  It's all about ME!!!  Here are the best rock songs I noticed this year - and you can jam them in the playlist up above.  I'm not limiting myself to ten, either.  The rock cannot be contained, bro.

• The Black Keys - "Lo/Hi."  Single-handedly brought classic rock back to the masses on all terrestrial radio stations this summer.  Such an amazing groove and swagger to this, all fuzzed out guitars and strolling drums and brawny guitar solos.  Money.  Also in the running for this spot, "Go" is high-octane rock fun.
• Vampire Weekend - "Harmony Hall."  For a minute, I wasn't sure if I wanted to disqualify this from the "rock" discussion because it strays from the simple guitar/drums formula, but the song is too fun.  When I sat it down to discuss leaving it off the list, it grabbed me by the wrists and started jumping up and down until I laughed out loud and agreed that it could stay.  From the intricate guitar trills at the start, to the bouncing Brit Pop synth at the jump, this tune swings.
• Catfish and the Bottlemen - "Longshot."  I was considering giving this to "2all," another great track from their album this year, but this was the one that caught my attention at the start of the year.  Catchy as all get out, with a great chorus and a tuneful swagger. Both are excellent tracks.
• Reignwolf - "Black and Red."  Unhinged guitar thrasher smacks it around on this bluesy piece.  I saw him at ACL a few years ago, and the wild and weird ways that he tortured his axe were legendary.  If you don't want to bang your head just a touch at this one, then you need more of the rock in your life.
• cleopatrick - "sanjake."  Crush this one up, soak it in ether, and inject it straight into my veins.  Another discovery from ACL this year, and this gives me all of the perfect aggression and power and truth that I need in life.  When he sings "didn't fuck with me in high school, now you're acting like my friend" I feel that down to the tips of my nerves and back again.  When they played this one at ACL, where I was holding tightly on to the metal barrier at the front of stage, I just about levitated out of my body with the fury.  SO GOOD.  Still, after no less than 50 listens, I just got goose bumps again.
• Gary Clark, Jr. - "This Land."  The first time I heard this one was a revelation - the burning, righteous anger simmering in the lyrics for this track, along with the fact that its based on a true story of Austin boy Clark getting racially profiled by his new neighbors at his hill country ranch, make this one an instant classic.  I only wish it didn't use the N word quite so much.
• Amyl and the Sniffers - "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)."  Next to "sanjake," this one may be the rock song of the year for me.  Violent, unhinged, thumping, raw, wild, unrestrained, pure fist-pumping rock and roll built to help you get a speeding ticket or punch someone much larger than you. Fuck and yeah.
• Ty Segall - "Every 1's a Winner."  Tasty, fuzzy psych rock with a stone cold groove embedded down in the basement.  I think this one came from KUTX.  Its a good respite from some of my harder tendencies to settle into this warm, gooey sensation.
• White Reaper - "Might Be Right."  Saw these guys a few years ago and they were loud and silly and awesome.  This track smells like Weezer and is more polished than prior albums, but its as catchy as rock and roll songs come.  A little shot of bubblegum pop rock tastes sweet.
• Briston Maroney - "Freakin' Out on the Interstate."  Another find from ACL, this song stuck with me long after I finished listening to him and writing him up.  It's got good guitarwork, plus a laconic and longing sense of sadness in the vocal and lyrics that really appeals.  Also, I can't stop singing the chorus.
• Sam Fender - "Hypersonic Missiles."  Who needs the new Bruce Springsteen album when you can get a young British dude who knocks it out of the park?  This guy was one of my favorite new finds on the ACL lineup, but then sadly had to cancel at the last minute because of health issues.  Which was a bummer, but this song is catchy and saxy and I dig it.
• Foals - "Black Bull."  I wanted to pick one of the tracks from these two albums Foals tossed out this year, and I think this one is my favorite of them.  Very propulsive, a little angry, polished but still feeling a little raw.
• The Amazons - "Mother."  Another ACL find - and their lead singer is a tall redhead, which means that he is actually the finest lead singer in all of the land.  This one has Royal Blood DNA in it, with a very fuzzed out heavy guitar sound once it kicks in, but then it also has some falsetto woohooo! bits and handclaps to bring it back towards pop rock.  I enjoy singing the chorus at high volume.
• Temples - "Hot Motion."  I love these dudes - they sound like the psych rock weirdos that Tame Impala used to be before they discovered the ability to loop synth rips for hours on end.  Trippy, and at alternate ends both tight and then loose, taking you for a slippery ride through the spectrum of reverbed-out rock and roll.  When the solo jam starts spiraling out of control near the end, I need to move my body.
• Sturgill Simpson - "Remember to Breathe."  I listened to this album a few more times in the past few days, and its really freaking good.  My brain is still having to row upstream with it because its so outside the norm for what he should be playing, but regardless of the genre sound he's living in now, the dude can jam.
• Coldplay - "Orphans."  Its got a heavy dose of world-y sounds, including a bass line that would feel at home on Paul Simon's Graceland and hooting and hollering borrowed from the bushmen, and then a sunny, bright chorus that is tailor made to be yelled along to at their next concert.  I know you may be out on Coldplay after their last foray into EDM pop, but this track makes me feel very good inside.
• The Raconteurs - "Help Me Stranger."  The Raconteurs are a perfect way to digest Jack White.  Adam had a good take on them and the usually overwrought tendencies of Jack White, and I wholeheartedly agree.  Adding in a pop-centric guy like Brenden Benson helps to soften some of the edges of White and churn out interesting rock songs with superlative guitar moments.  This one has a funk to it that is very appealing.
• Strand of Oaks - "Weird Ways."  This one has a great kick - you spend about a minute wondering if its just a folky lament over a simple acoustic, and then the electric and drums pile in and it converts from a beautifully sad poem into a driving (but still sad) rocker that takes flight at about 3:30.  By the end, it feels less like you've been hanging with a friend in a cabin in the smoky mountains and more like you just finished a massive arena rock show.

Things that I either wish I liked but they can't honestly make the list, or haven't gotten around to really digging into - the new Tool album, the new Sleater-Kinney, the Brittany Howard album, the new Fontaines D.C., weird shit like Slipknot, the new blink 182, Cage the Elephant, or whatever.  There is a lot of music out there!

I can't consider it rock, but Maggie Rogers' "Light on" is an absolutely killer song.  Makes me want to cry and yell and hug and dance all at the same time, and just about nothing feels better than feeling all of those things at the same time because of a song.

Also ineligible, because it actually came out in 2018, is Jealous of the Birds - "Plastic Skeletons," which is a funky ass jam of epic proportions that I only discovered this year.  

Whew!  Like I said, rock ain't dead.  Still pulsing along, churning out great things that my wife doesn't want to hear.  Rock 4 LYFE!

Yanny and Laurel

Yanny vs. Laurel.

The internet meme that tore up the whole world over a year ago.

I know this whole thing is very old by now, but it came back up in discussion last night, and I recalled that I had wanted to write something about it long ago.  So here you go.  If you have no clue what I am talking about, then go here: https://twitter.com/CloeCouture/status/996218489831473152

In short, someone heard the vocabulary.com audio entry for the word "laurel," but to their ear, it sounded like the recording said the word (?) "yanny."  It went viral via Instagram and then Twitter, and everyone weighed in on which word they heard when they played the clip.  After a while the scientists dug into it and decided it had to do with frequencies in the sound file and either which frequencies your speakers emphasized or which frequencies your ears were attuned to.

The reason it was so fun and polarizing is that people were absolutely certain about the sound they heard - and it seemed unbelievable that someone else could hear something entirely different.  I recall my daughter playing it on a phone for the whole family to hear, and we couldn't agree on what it said.  That is what is wild - through the same speakers, people hear an entirely different thing.

Which is fascinating when you are a music nerd who frequently publishes your opinions on music.  Because there are a ton of times when someone suggests music to me - and I totally respect that person's musical taste - and I can't freaking stand the song.  Or another great example is my wife.  She can't stand certain types of music that absolutely light my fire.  Nothing can make her leave the room (or take over control of the stereo) faster than something hard or with squalling guitars.  And so the truly intriguing thing to consider about that is that she very may well be hearing something entirely different from what I am hearing.  If we can sit side by side over a phone and hear an entirely different word pronounced in the Yanny/Laurel clip, then how can I know what signals her ears are providing her when I am deep in the pleasures of the Queens of the Stone Age?  So interesting to think about.

Now, back to telling you that something sounds great when your ears are telling you it sounds like dogshit! Woohoo!

Quick Hits, Vol. 235 (Goldlink, Lil Nas X, Grateful Dead, Gucci Mane)

Goldlink - Diaspora.  I remember reviewing this dude for his 2014 album because it had one hot song on it that people were talking about called "Ay Ay."  I put it into my Popcorn Rap playlist for further listening, but after a few years, I deleted it out as the tune got stale to me.  This one has a lot of interesting sounds in it - some Kendrick style verses, some Big Sean sounding stuff, and some singing R&B as well.  A track with Khalid is solid.  The one with Tyler the Creator and someone named Jay Prince has the most streams, "U Say" at 16.4 million.

The speed of that camera makes me want to barf.  I like the laid back vibe in that track, and a catchy chorus.  "Zulu Screams" has a very fun groove from somewhere other than here, which is fun.  In fact, many of these songs have a world feel to them - "Yard," "More," and "Spanish Song."   And Pusha T makes an appearance, which just about always make me happy.  I like the overall vibe of this album, but nothing on here really stands out as the key track that I perk up to every time it comes on.  I'll let it slide.

Lil Nas X - 7.  I'm still so shocked that this album was nominated for multiple Grammy awards.  Including Album of the Year!  It's freaking 18 minutes long!  And the best song on it is a ridiculous one-hit wonder piece of badly written fluff with a hyper catchy chorus that leans on Billy Ray Cyrus to get it any sort of gravity!  One of the songs ("F9mily") sounds like a bad Fall Out Boy song (But has Travis Barker inexplicably drumming on it)!  One of the songs involves Cardi B dropping an entirely forgettable verse!  Here is the thing, I really enjoyed the Lil Nas X phenomenon - breaking the Country charts with his dumb song, all of his goofy tweets, his generally winning personality throughout the whole rise to fame - he seems like a genuinely good dude.  But this album is dudu.

Chris Rock!  Vince Staples!  Other famous-looking people I should probably know!  The beat is undeniable.  The lyrics are horrific.  I will not save this album for any reason.

Grateful Dead - Live Dead.  Rolling Stone did one of those Guide things in the Sept. 2019 magazine that went through all of the definitive albums from the Dead.  In general, I like the Dead, so I was kind of surprised when I saw that they had this album, 1969's Live Dead, as the number one Must-Have album.  I'd agree with American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, and Europe '72 being up in the Must-Have grouping, but I had never even listened to this one.  RS says this is a candidate for the "best live rock album ever."  There is no way in hell that this album could take that crown.  It has an almost eight minute long track called "Feedback" that is just that - freaky feedback and distortion - not part of a song or jam or whatever, just a fuck you to the crowd.  I'll readily admit that this version of "Dark Star" is great, and "St. Stephen" is always solid, but this little five song album (removing the last two non-music tracks, but still with running time over an hour) is not the greatest thing ever.

Good one.  And the "Turn on Your Love Light" version on here, with the crowd yelps included in the slow and low part, is also good stuff.  But, I'll stick to the Europe '72 discs instead.

Gucci Mane - Delusions of Grandeur.  This is one of those albums that has been in my queue for a long time, so it keeps popping up, and I keep avoid writing about it.  Not because it's bad, it just doesn't really inspire a reaction at all.  Generically good trap beats, generically good flow, and a ton of big name collaborators (Beiber, Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Jeremih, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, Boogie Wit a Hoodie).  Some have a catchy flow to them - for some reason "Proud of You" has a cadence that pops into my head after listening to it - but most could be the same song just with a slightly different beat.  Well, I'll note that "Potential" usually makes me look up (first off because I think that little "coo!" aside might mean that ASAP Ferg is about to appear on the track, which would have been cool) but also because the mixture of the beat and flow is very cool and laid back.  Most of the tracks are down in the million stream range - but the ones with Beiber, Lil Baby, and Lil Uzi Vert get more streams.  I'm gonna just give you "Potential," just over 11 million streams.

You know, kind of cool sound to it - just generic as far as things go.  I won't keep anything from this album.

Albums of the Year 2019: Me

Ah, the year end list.  So fun.  So time consuming.  So incomplete, because no less than three billion new albums came out this year and I have only heard the slightest small margin of them all.  When I'm done with this, I plan to go review some year end lists from Rolling Stone and NPR and Spin and whatnot, and I can guarantee they will have albums I've never even heard of before.  Such is life, right?

Let's take a look at the ones that I know I heard (which doesn't include a million that I listened to because of ACL, but I can't recall their release dates).  Most of these I got from the Wikipedia listing of new albums for 2019, but that list is strangely missing a bunch of other ones I reviewed:

Future - The Wizrd; James Blake - Assume Form; Maggie Rogers - Heard it in a Past Life; Weezer - Teal Album; Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center; Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next; Gary Clark, Jr. - This Land; Julia Jacklin - Crushing; 2 Chainz - Rap or Go to the League; Hozier - Wasteland, Baby!; The Japanese House - Good at Falling; Weezer - Black Album; Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 1; Sigrid - Sucker Punch; Jenny Lewis - On The Line; Orville Peck - Pony; Wallows - Nothing Happens; Ben Platt - Sing to Me Instead; Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go (WHY are these album names so long?); George Strait - Honky Tonk Time Machine; Solange - When I Get Home; Khalid - Free Spirit; Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising; Anderson.Paak - Ventura; The Chemical Brothers - No Geography; Beyonce - Homecoming the Live Album; Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet; Cage the Elephant - Social Cues; Jade Bird - Jade Bird; Lizzo - Cuz I Love You; Kevin Abstract - Arizona Baby; Catfish and the Bottlemen - The Balance; The Mountain Goats - In League with Dragons; Schoolboy Q - Crash Talk; Judah & the Lion - Pep Talks; Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride; Charly Bliss - Young Enough; BTS - Map of the Soul: Persona; Logic - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind; Mac Demarco - Here Comes the Cowboy; Cass McCombs - Tip of the Sphere; DJ Khaled - Father of Asahd; Injury Reserve - Injury Reserve; Megan Thee Stallion - Fever; Reignwolf - Hear Me Out; The National - I Am Easy to Find; Tyler the Creator - Igor; Steve Earle - Guy; Wu Tang Clan - Of Mics and Men; Robert Ellis - Texas Piano Man; Strand of Oaks - Eraserland; Flying Lotus - Flamagra; Denzel Curry - Zuu; Miley Cyrus - She is Coming; Future - Save Me; Prince - Originals; Goldlink - Disapora; Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars; Madonna - Madame X; Gucci Mane - Delusions of Grandeur; Lil Nas X - 7; The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger; Two Door Cinema Club - False Alarm; Thom Yorke - Anima; The Black Keys - Let's Rock; Banks - III; Ed Sheeran - No. 6 Collaborations Project; K.Flay - Solutions; Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains; Sum 41 - Order in Decline; NF - The Search; Chance the Rapper - The Big Day; YG - 4 Real 4 Real; Amyl & the Sniffers - Amyl & the Sniffers; Bon Iver - i, i; Beast Coast - Escape from New York; Rick Ross - Port of Miami 2; Brockhampton - Ginger; Taylor Swift - Lover; Lana Del Rey - Normal Fucking Rockwell; Tool - Fear Inoculum; Post Malone - Hollywood's Bleeding; Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie; Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missles; Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury; Temples - Hot Motion; Avett Brothers - Closer than Together; Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 2; Kanye West - Jesus is King; Highly Suspect - MCID; Beck - Hyperspace; Coldplay - Everyday Life; Freddy Gibbs - Bandana; The Highwomen - The Highwomen; Tyler Childers - Country Squire; Justin Townes Earle - The Saint of Lost Causes; Willie Nelson - Ride Me Back Home; A$AP Ferg - Floor Seats.

Of course a bunch of the albums I reviewed this year were from 2018, or even older ones that I had never tried before...

But is that really it?  Does that seem like a weak crop for the best things?  I went through and bolded the ones that I remembered really liking, but few of those strike me right now as a lifetime album.  I feel like prior years have had me feeling like the best album of the year was a no brainer.

Gonna also use this space to note that Papa Roach continues to release new albums.  Also, Bryan Adams and Avril Lavigne have new albums.  Also, there is a band called Galdalf's Fist.  What a time to be alive!

Things I missed (some are in my queue and just haven't gotten heard yet, others I never even knew a new disc was out!) - Maren Morris, David Gray, Methyl Ehtel, Flaming Lips, Norah Jones, Glen Hansard, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Big Thief, Bad Religion, Carly Rae Jepsen, Morrisey, Middle Kids, Silversun Pickups, Of Monsters and Men, Sleater-Kinney, Missy Elliott, Sheryl Crow, Ghostface Killah, Iggy Pop, The Lumineers, Brittany Howard, Liam Gallagher, M83, DaBaby, The New Pornographers, Wilco, Blink 182, and Gang Starr.

So, let's figure out what the best ones were:

1. The Black Keys - Let's Rock.  Hits too close to my sweet spot to be ignored.  Classic rock jams and the killer single with "Lo/Hi."  Gotta go with it over the rest.
2. Lizzo - Cuz I Love You.  Not a perfect album - a little too much leaning into the R&B side, but the bangers make up for it.
3. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride.  I'm well aware that this entrenches me firmly into the Dad Rock world, but whatever.  I really like several of the songs on this one, and I can see keeping this album around a lot longer than others that could have been in this spot.
4. The Highwomen - The Highwomen.  I haven't even reviewed this one yet, but I've listened to it a ton.  Sign me up for whatever Brandi Carlisle touches, and this lady-centric country supergroup thing is dope.
5. Amyl & the Sniffers - Amyl & the Sniffers.  I know this shouldn't be this high, but screw that and screw you.  Go have some fun and blare this ridiculousness into your brain.
6. Coldplay - Everyday Life.  I'm also well aware that this sets me up for even more derision, but I really liked this album.  Dad rock for LYFE!
7. Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missles.  Many thanks to ACL for bringing this dude to my attention, just sad that he had to cancel his show.  Great album with a very good voice and excellent lyrics.
8. Temples - Hot Motion.  I'm such a sucker for these dudes - they're like Tame Impala-flavored catnip for my ears.  This one feels good in my brain.
9. Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury.  I haven't given this album the amount of attention it deserves, but I can already tell that I like it a lot based on a few of the songs.  I'll see him live in the new year and will need to fully immerse myself by then.;
10. Sigrid - Sucker Punch.  I love this girl.  Now, my youngest plays her music all the time, and we sing along and it's amazing.  This normally wouldn't be my first choice of music, but now that I've seen her live three times and she helps me connect to a kid, I'm down for life.

Barely missed the podium (not in order):

• Taylor Swift - Lover.  This one was as high as #8 on the list above, but the more I thought about it the more that I find it uneven.  Pieces are great.  Pieces are to be skipped forever.  So I don't think it can make top ten status.
• Beck - Hyperspace.  This one almost made the top ten, based solely upon the fact that I love Beck.  But if I'm honest with myself, this isn't his strongest album.  "Die Waiting" is a great feel, "Saw Lightning" is fun, but some of these songs are straight up R&B balladry.  Is "See Through" really a thing?  I still haven't reviewed the whole album, but after a handful of listens I can tell it ain't the one.  Less Pharrell next time, more quirky Beck.
• Maggie Rogers - Heard it in a Past Life.  I love the first single, and I like her because I've seen her live, but if I'm being honest about the album I haven't gone back to it in months.
• Gary Clark, Jr. - This Land.  Similar feeling here.  I really want to love this album, and I love the anger of the title track, but the overall recollection of the album is that I don't remember much about it and am not fired up to go back to it right now.
• Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 1.  SOme of the songs on this (and Part 2) are awesome.  But some are clunkers.
• Catfish and the Bottlemen - The Balance.  This one is honestly based on the strength of two killer singles.  The rest of the album is good, but "2all" and "longshot" are golden.  I had it at #10 above, but then realized that Sigrid is more deserving.
• Wallows - Nothing Happens.  I know that I previously said that I liked this album, but if you asked me what was on it, I wouldn't have the first clue.  Not a good sign for longevity. 
• Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet.  This album is beautiful - I really liked it.  It just doesn't beat out those other ten above. 
• Cass McCombs - Tip of the Sphere.  Like Wallows above, I have a good memory of how awesome this album was, but I haven't thought about it since and can't recall anything except that it reminded me of the Dead.
• Reignwolf - Hear Me Out.  This guy rules.  "Black and Red" rules.  But the album overall isn't top shelf.
• Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars.  Almost made the list based solely on the power of his catalog, but when I really think about whether this one feels like something I'll still want to break out in a year to jam again, I have to say it fails that test. 
• The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger.  Same here.  Love this band, liked this album, but it didn't ever stick to me.
• Freddy Gibbs - Bandana.  The only true rap album that I apparently liked this year.  Which is weird.  I guess my personal rap preferences are being left behind as everyone gravitates to the thought-free trap stuff of Lil Uzi Vert or Migos.  Oh well, this one is cool.
• Tyler Childers - Country Squire.  Another that I originally had up in the top ten, but it just fell out as I thought more about the others.

So there you have it - the next thing I need to work up, that will likely be next to impossible to do with any semblance of completeness, is albums of the decade.  Woah!  The teens are over, baby!

Quick Hits, Vol. 232 (Khalid, YG, Amyl and the Sniffers, Beast Coast)

Rolling Stone did one of those Guide deep dives into the catalog of my favorite band for their August edition - although I had a funny thought the other day when a guy at a show asked me what my favorite band is.  Are you still allowed to claim a dead band as your favorite band?  Is that OK?  I mean, obviously, you can do whatever you want.  You can call Peter Cetera your favorite band for all I care, but it just dawned on me how odd it is to claim something as your favorite band when you can never go see them again, and they will never put out new music (other than moldy oldies from the vault).  Maybe you can only say that they were your favorite band, or name some of their albums as your favorite - but it seems like if they stopped existing as a band, then you can't still say that they are your favorite band.  Welcome to a deep dive into the weird shit that I go through in my own brain!  I'll be here all week!

Back in 2015, I wrote up my own deep dive into the albums of R.E.M., and the main place where I diverge with the magazine is that Green still sounds awesome in my mind, and they say the production is "dinky" and that the songs get "dour."  Well, no shit!  That is part of the beauty of the band - they don't all sound like "Shiny Happy People," some of them reflect the fact that people get bummed out sometimes or feel a little confused and disappointed.  I love that album.  But we apparently agree that Up was a mistaken album.  Anyway, good stuff.  And good excuse for all of you to go back to their catalog and dig into the goodness that lies in wait for you there.


Khalid - Free Spirit.  You aren't normally going to find me listening repeatedly to an R&B album - or at least not current R&B - you may find me jamming some of the good old days of R&B from the 60's, but I don't much care for the Chris Brown or Usher thing going on these days.  But I really like this album.  His voice is great, of course, but the music feels expansive and powerful (see "Intro" and "Free Spirit"), with good beats and some funkiness added as well, and lyrically there are several times in here where I really like a turn of phrase or couplet that he puts together.  I've had this at the top of my music queue for a while, and I keep going back up to the top with pleasure - and then even when I'm not at the desk I find myself humming some little snippet from "My Bad" or "Talk." "Talk" misses out on being the top track on the album, in favor of "Better," with 585 million streams.

Dig the George Clinton/California Love effects, also just generally dig the groove of the beat.  Elsewhere on the album, you get some sweet John Mayer guitar licks in here on "Outta My Head," which is always soothing for my soul.  I'm losing all of my hard rock cred here, aren't I?  I also appreciate that, for the most part, he is doing these tracks on his own.  Many of his top tracks right now are features with someone else like Billie Eilish or whatever, but he carries all of these tracks on his own.  I'm not saying this is my album of the year or anything, but I've enjoyed it.

YG - 4REAL 4REAL.  This dude has put out a few good tracks in the past, and I kind of liked the first single from this album ("Stop Snitchin'," although it makes me uncomfortable when it comes on in the office because of the exceedingly liberal use of the N word).  But overall, I wouldn't say that the whole album hits.  The G Eazy collaboration is horrible.  The Latin-flavored "Go Loko" is a little bit annoying, but catchy as all hell.  But the Kamaiyah parts are good, the "Stop Snitchin'" (both original and remix w/ DaBaby) are good.  "Keisha Had a Baby" sounds like an old Tupac song (although his was "Brenda").  The Meek Mill collab is pretty solid.  Of course, "Go Loko" is the most popular by a ton, at 180.4 million streams.

Anything with that Latin flavor right now is the big deal.  But its pretty hard for me to listen to that and not bop along at least a little.  That Spanish-language rapper near the end is hilariously bad.  And the fact that he uses English curse words in the midst of his Spanish flow is also funny.  Dirty mop looking dude.  I'll probably save a song or two, but overall this one can go.  Cool, by the way, that he is giving all proceeds from the album to the family of Nipsey Hustle.  The two pennies from my listening 10 times maybe will do some good.

Of course, I found myself singing the "Go Loko" tune and chorus all night long last night.  Damn catchy stuff.

Amyl and the Sniffers - Amyl and the Sniffers.  The opening track and the closing track on this album are both the highly-concentrated perfect concoction to get my blood pumping.  The band absolutely crushes a heavy groove in both "Starfire 500" and "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)," and I am extremely here for it.  The vocals can get a little yell-y over time, but the deep, dark, fuzzed out rock and roll is worth every penny.  Australian band, and the lead singer's name is Amy Taylor, which makes me grin just because its such a plain jane name despite her bruising vocals.  Surprisingly, "Got You" is the top streamer, at 651k.

A blast of punk fury with a very freaking weird video that looks like lost archival footage of something weird from 1983.  "Gacked on Anger" sounds very much like she is repeatedly saying that she "gagged on dick" (or at least that is what I hear, which is probably unfortunate).  Because I get to make the rules around here, I'm going to give you another song so that you can hear one of my favorites as well.  This is "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)."

560k views on that video, 464k streams on Spotify.  The intro is enough to get me jacked up and run through a brick wall for sure.  I know its a pretty basic package of riff-tastic rock, but I'll be damned if those riffs don't work like drugs to my brain.  My Daily Commute mix put this on two days ago while I was driving home, and if there hadn't been eighty billion cars in front of me on Mopac at the time, I would have driven 120 miles an hour to Canada immediately.  I keep singing it in my head and banging my head around and then needing to fix my hair, while at work.  This shit is going to get me in trouble.  "Shake Ya" also provides a similar package of riffs, even if the overall tune isn't quite as awesome.  Keeping this one for sure.

Beast Coast - This is a big pile of dudes from the New York hip hop scene, but the only ones I recognize are Joey Bada$$ and the guys from Flatbush Zombies.  It actually reminds me a lot of the Flatbush Zombies albums I have listened to in the past - generally pretty good beats, pretty OK flows, and imminently forgettable by the end of the album.  That being said, I enjoy the overall vibe of the album - as I'm listening I'm bobbing my head and kind of digging the feeling.  But even after hearing it no less than 20 times, I couldn't pinpoint the key song from the album or the moment within some song.  "Left Hand" is the top track with 13.5 million streams.

I mean, there's like 48 different rappers who take a turn during that track.  Never really seems to find a footing, just bounces between all of the different styles and voices and then the chorus comes on but doesn't do much either.  "Problemz" sounds kind of like an A$AP Rocky track.  "Desperado" has a weird sound effect a few times in it that sounds like like the dial tone on my office phone, so I keep thinking that something weird is happening as it plays in the office.  According to YouTube comments, the people of New York are very hyped that this collaboration (of Pro Era, Flatbush, and The Underground) came together, so I'm happy for their joy.  But I'll let it go.

Quick Hits, Vol. 234 (Bruce Springsteen, Black Keys, Taylor Swift, R.E.M.)

So, Spotify just put out its annual Wrapped thing where they tell you all about your listening habits from the year.  Mine claims that the top genre I listened to in the year was "pop rap," and I'm irrationally annoyed about it.  Which made me dig into the issue way more than I should have, which meant that I just spent a long time reading about Spotify genres.  This article is actually very funny, digging into some of the most obscure genres out there.  After all of that, I finally found that Spotify has playlists - The Sounds of Pop Rap and The Sounds of Rap - and they literally look the same.  They both have the exact same song as their first track in the playlist.  So I have decided that I am just as gangsta as I always believed myself to be.  Word up.  [immediately turns on the new Justin Beiber rap album]

Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars.  This guy is always going to get he benefit of the doubt from me - great lyricist with a ton of fantastic songs in his catalog.  So I was excited to hear about a new album that was supposed to have a country-flavored California pop vibe to it - that is definitely not what the last two albums were like (which hewed more rock and roll).  The tunes themselves are fine - a little more orchestral than I would prefer, but lyrically we get a bunch of interesting stories of characters  - a broken-down stuntman listing his bodily ailments and reminiscing about the good times, a cowboy too tired to think, and a D-list actor down on his luck.  Some lean in too close to a Broadway sort of sound and get a little cheesy in my opinion - see "The Wayfarer" - but the majority of these sound like good storytelling Springsteen tunes (albeit all a little softer and less rocking that the past).  Lots of strings.  No song from this album cracks his top ten songs on Spotify, which isn't all that surprising since his old stuff is as classic as it comes.  "Hello Sunshine" pops up the most streams at 7.5 million.

A nice one for sure - that driving patter of the drums, his very solid voice, singing a sort of longing song about sadness and hoping that sunshine will hang around.  "Western Stars" is very good, and I liked "Drive Fast," "North of Nashville," and "Moonlight Motel."  That last one reads like a sad poet's final missive before eating a pile of pills.  It's a fantastic set of lyrics.  The whole album isn't some instant classic, as I would love for it to be, but the tunes do well with repeat listens and concentration on the lyrics, so I think this one will grow on me some.

Black Keys - Let's Rock.  I'm a big fat sucker for these guys.  I'm sure there are a lot of too-cool-for-school rock and roll purists who think they have sold out or are Dad rock or whatever, but I feel like they have injected some life and swagger back into the regular rock sound - mainly by going back to the traditional sounds and tried-and-true methods for this stuff.  Dan Auerbach is a one man production dream team who has made everything from YOLA (countrified soul) to Lana Del Rey (dark pop) to Cage the Elephant (garage rock) ring with a retro style and cool.  I remember buying Magic Potion, the Keys' fourth album, unwrapping it from the plastic, jamming it into my car stereo, and loving every heavy, crunchy blast.
This album stays true to that same sort of rock and roll crunch, although with quite a bit more production value and smoothness to it.  The obvious hit, which is a stone cold jam, is "Lo / Hi," with its fuzzy guitar tone and soaring solos and background singers.  As a very professional music blogger, I am required by law to mention T Rex when I describe this song.  Thus: Sounds like something T Rex would have fired up 40 years ago to get the Camaro crowd erect.

I know there's nothing especially groundbreaking there - but give me that groove all day long - just has more swagger packed into each bar than a couple thousand other rock and roll bands can muster in their whole career.  Give it.  "Shine a Little Light," "Every Little Thing," "Go," and "Breaking Down" also provide heavy lifting of pure guitar rock jams.  Even the non-stompers are great - they always still have a good groove or a smooth feel.  Heavy on tambourine.  This may make me a Dad rock nerd, but whatever, this album rules.

Taylor Swift - Lover.  I'm not some sort of Taylor Swift purist, where I only want her to stick to the original tunes, but I'll readily admit that Reputation was not my favorite of her albums.  Red is still my favorite.  This one sticks with the formula she found on Red and since, pure pop music with confessional lyrics presented by a great voice.  The opening track is apparently a Kanye diss, which I find delicious, and its a pretty good tune as well.  I think my favorite of all of the songs is the jamming "The Man," a pointed jab at male power in the music industry, set over a great dance beat.  I've found myself singing it to myself for hours after each listen.  The chorus is supremely catchy.  "Paper Rings" is very fun.  "You Need to Calm Down" is good and I use it repeatedly on my children when they, in fact, need to calm down.  In a show of just how popular her music is when it is released, all ten of her most popular tunes on Spotify are from this album - so her massive hits from prior albums (over 500 million for "Look What You Made Me Do," 358 million for "Shake It Off," etc.) have been shoved down out of the top ten.  Although "ME!" has more streams, I'm gonna give you "You Need to Calm Down" instead at 269 million streams (mainly because the Brandon Urie bit bugs me).

That opening synth sounds like something from Stranger Things or Bladerunner.  And then she and Katy Perry make up by dressing as burger and fries to hold hands while a bunch of trans ladies throw cake at each other?  Yep.  The catchiness is undeniable.  By the way, she has one with the Dixie Chicks on here that is lovely, tender little country thing.  And then the Panic! at the Disco guy farts all over "ME!" in a way I could do without.  But overall, its a very good album.  Shows many facets of her talent and seems to be pretty happy, which I lean into.

R.E.M. - Monster 25th Anniversary Edition Second Disc That is All Outtakes and Stuff.  Not sure what to properly call this disc, but it is available to stream on Spotify, and listening to it makes me ache for R.E.M. to be a band again.  They were my favorite band for many years, and helped to form so much about what I like in music, and yet they show zero signs of ever reforming and playing their tunes to make me happy again.  Anyway, I saw that they had re-released Monster, their hard-rocking followup to the soft folky stuff on Out of Time and Automatic for the People, and figured I'd go back to it.  After the regular album was over, this second disc started playing, and it's lovely.  Most of these are instrumental tunes, and the first half sounds like they were likely outtakes from the Out of Time or Automatic sessions, because they're heavy on country-tinged sounds and the sustained-organ-notes style that the boys leaned on back then.  "Lost Song" is great.  Then the back half goes kind of hard, probably meaning those are Monster out-takes - tunes like "Sputnik 1 Remix," "Revolution 4-21," and "Time is on Mike's Side."  Heavy on the power guitar.  Here is the top track "Uptempo Mo Distortion," with 229k streams on Spotify.

Can't you just hear a happy little set of lyrics to go with that one?  The annoying thing about these tunes is that they are really solid.  I could easily see them backing a great new R.E.M. tune (or for that matter, a Decemberists song, or Beck, or any number of bands who have ripped off this indie college rock sound since).  Oh well, now I just need to go back and listen to the old REM stuff for a few days...

Spotify Year in Review!

Receiving this makes me realize that I need to be working up my best albums of the year list!  I have no clue what will be on it - so exciting!

For those of you who don't use Spotify, they release a cool annual look-back at the music and styles and whatnot that you have listened to in the prior year.  Of course, they are sending it at the start of December, so they are missing out on 25 more days of my streaming prowess.  Also, this is sometimes annoying because my kids will use my Spotify and screw up the playcounts with their weird pop music.

Let's see what we have to unwrap!

• 7,881 unique songs played this year.  That actually seems low - after listening to 140+ bands for ACL, I would expect to have done more than 10k.  61,135 minutes listened.
• Artists from 34 countries (which was almost all from ACL listening).
• Favorite songs (at least most streamed) in 2019:
• Lizzo - Juice
• Reignwold - Black and Red
• Billie Eilish - bad guy (thanks kids)
• Denzel Curry - RICKY
• Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall
• (surprised that cleopatrick's "san jake" didn't make the list)
• I "vibed" with Megan thee Stallion, because I spent more time with her as a new artist than anyone else.
• Top artist of 2019 was Guns N' Roses, says I listened to them for 16 hours.  Damn!
• Top genre of 2019 was "pop rap," which makes me feel very sad inside.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers was my artist of the decade.
• Other top artists for the decade: Brockhampton, Kendrick Lamar, and Queens of the Stone Age.
• Top genre for the decade was rock.  Which makes me feel happier.

Let's see if I can crack 70,000 minutes listened next year!

Quick Hits, Vol. 233 (Miley Cyrus, Future, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Coldplay)

I've had a stupid cough for about a week and a half, because of my stupid body's stupid reactions to pollen and other garbage in the air, and I' super sick and tired of it.  This happened last year as well and I vowed that I would see an allergist and fix it all forever.  Did I handle my business?  You know that I did no such thing.  Super annoyed with 2018 Jack right about now.  I can't even imagine what I would be like if I was actually sick for real some day.  A simple cough sends me to bed early with seven remedies purchased from CVS and a heating pad.

Miley Cyrus - SHE IS COMING.  Why do people need to use all caps in their album title?  Here's the thing, normally I'd say no before an album like this even got into my new music listening playlist, but for whatever reason I threw this one in there, and I kind of dig parts of it.  The opener is "Mother's Daughter," and it's highly catchy stuff.  I keep bopping it in my head after I've listened to it - lines like "don't fuck with my freedom," and "must be something in the water know that I'm my mother's daughter" aren't groundbreaking or anything, but they flow just right with the beat.  "Unholy" has a groove that is undeniable, although there are multiple times, showcased in this song especially, where I find her voice less than great.  "D.R.E.A.M." made me cringe at first, as a rip off and play on Wu Tang's "C.R.E.A.M," where it is drugs that rule everything around her, rather than cash, but the Ghostface cameo saves it from being terrible.  The next song is the one on here that I find truly terrible - "Cattitude" - with RuPaul getting nasty over a set of generic bounce beats.  Bad one liners like "I love my pussy, that means I got cattitude."  Ugh.  "Mother's Daughter" is, by far, the top track, with 127 million streams.

MMMkay.  Overall, the album (or it might just be considered an EP because it is short) isn't amazing or anything, I think I'm just personally surprised that I liked some of the songs.  I'll let it go though.

Future - SAVE ME.  I still don't understand the appeal of Future.  When he first came out, he was the only guy making this particular brand of rap, so I get that he had some originality appeal, but now, when over Auto-tuned rap/singers are a dime a dozen, this just sounds so tired.  Just a bunch of smeary vocals slathered under and over and through uninspired beats.  Nothing from this 2019 album even makes his top ten on Spotify, revealing that I'm not alone to think this is so weak.  Maybe everyone else thought the same.  And yet I've listened to the stupid thing repeatedly!  Why do I do that?  "Government Official" has the most streams at 14.7 million.

Not a good album.  It acted as a stopper in my queue, so the last five or six albums I reviewed got a ton more listens than I normally would have gone through, just because I'd get midway through this album, realize it sucked, and then go back up to the top to try to find something I wanted to write about.  Nope.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Black Star Dancing.  Just a little three song EP, plus two very annoying remixes of the first song, that remind you a little bot of how good Oasis are, but then also remind you that this ain't Oasis.  It's a bummer.  These tunes are fine, but none are revelatory or anything.  "Black Star Dancing" has 3.7 million streams.

I very much want to go hang with all of those crusty old Brits at that club.  Also, those dudes dancing before Noel came on may be the most fit humans ever.  Like I said, not a bad song or anything, I like the bass groove, but nothing nearly as excellent as the classic Oasis stuff that combined good music with clever or interesting lyrics.  We'll hope for better from the full album.

Coldplay - Everyday Life.  Oh, thank God!  Coldplay is back, and they put away the Chainsmokers bullshit!  I'm so please to hear them backing off of the last few albums and going back to the classic reason that everyone loved them in the first place.  I'm not even being sarcastic saying that I am pleased that they have returned - this is real enthusiasm.
The first time I heard "Daddy," I wanted to cry and then share the song with everyone I knew immediately.  It couldn't be softer, or more tender, or more lovely.  And yes, I'm sure some snide internet jerk out there is making fun of it right this second, but I loved it from the start.  Some of the songs come off like they were voice memos on his phone like "WOTW/POTP," that is a nice sounding little acoustic ditty, but literally could just be him sitting by the pool tossing that off.  I thought "Arabesque" would be the big hit off the album (and maybe it will be), but right now it is getting whipped 6.0 million to 23.3 million by "Orphans."  "Arabesque" just has that big sound, that full-bodied Coldplay band sound, as well as some world music flourishes, that makes it seem like the defining tune of the album.

I like it - the semi-unhinged sax solo in the middle is an odd addition, but it kind of gives it a jam band/jazz groove that is outside of the norm for Coldplay.  I'm also going to give you "Orphans" so we can discuss that one as well.

That one feels like the one written to be yelled at top volume on tour for the next few years - "I want to know! when I can go! Back and get drunk with my friends!!!  I want to know! when I can go!  Back and be young again!!!"  I like it.  It sounds epic, and real, and it makes me happy.  Great groove - this is the good stuff.  I've been singing the chorus again for the past week and a half.  "Eko" has some beautiful trills in it that bring Paul Simon to mind.  This album is good - there is more to unpack here, but I already like it.  (although I'll readily admit that I could do without the piece of "Trouble in Town" that is apparently a real recording of police brutality/over-aggressiveness, I get what they are going for by including that, but I'd also rather not have that so expressly under my nose).

2020 Grammy Nominations

The annual Grammy nominations list is out, and as I was told this morning by the screen in our elevator, Lizzo and Billie Eilish have dominated the nominations.  Which is all very exciting, and probably correct, except for the fact that Lizzo has been making music for years, and so yet again nominating her for Best New Artist in 2020 is freaking weird.

Anyway, some random observations:

• Album of the Year somehow includes fucking Lil Nas X.  Which is unbelievable.  I mean, give the guy a nod for "Old Town Road" being the catchiest track of the year, but anyone who considers his album (the 18 minute long 7) anything other than forgettable is crazy.  Otherwise, this list is kind of whack - Bon Iver, Lana Del Rey, Eilish, Ariana Grande, H.E.R., Lizzo, and Vampire Weekend?  I guess Lizzo and Eilish are the favorites there - those two blew up this year - but that just feels like a really weak slate.
• Best new artist includes Austin band Black Pumas!  That is kind of exciting, even if likely would never happen.  Having Yola and Maggie Rogers in there is very cool as well.  BUt this one is either going to Eilish or Lizzo.
• My favorite anger-inducing piece of this announcement is always to go look at the Rock nominations and get all steamed about how dumb they look.  Best Rock Performance.  Gary Clark Jr. makes rock.  That one is OK.  Bones UK makes industrial electronic, there is no way that Karen O and Danger Mouse are making rock and roll (edit, I heard it, and its not better than any of the other retro rock things on the Black Keys album), and I've never even heard of Rival Sons.  How do they do this every year - find some unknown random band (oh no, wait, it couldn't be because this is all for profit and some agent or producer or something bought this nom?  NO way.).  It makes no sense at all that "Lo/Hi" isn't on this list.  Much less something off the new Cage the Elephant, Tool, or some other band actually playing rock and roll you have heard of.
• The Best Rock Song includes one by the 1975.  Which is 98% synth beat track and 2% high pitched guitar noodling.
• The Best Rock album has something called Bring Me The Horizon (which sounds like emo), Cage the Elephant, The fucking Cranberries, something called I Prevail, and then that same Rival Sons band.  Cranberries?  Three bands I've never heard of (and I listen to a bunch of rock and roll).  So weird.
• Alternative isn't much better - Bon Iver, James Blake, Big Thief, Vampire Weekend, and Thom Yorke.  I mean, I suppose "alternative" can mean anything, but the radio stations that we grew up on, listening to "alternative" play Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and others in the edge of the rock world, James Blake has nothing at all to do with that world.  Bon Iver and Thom Yorke really don't either.  This is weird.
• I don't think I have ever heard any of the songs nominated for Rap Performance.  Best Rap Album nominates something called Dreamville, the yelped garbage that is Meek Mill, the mumbled trash that is 21 Savage, the confusing R&B meanderings of Tyler the Creator, and something called YBN Cordae.  Really?  Was there no good rap this entire year?

This entire thing is crazy pills.

Quick Hits, Vol. 231 (Wu Tang Clan, The Mountain Goats, Charly Bliss, Kanye West)

I just watched Juice last night - the 90's movie with Tupac in a starring role.  It made me realize that I don't think I've ever seen any of the movies with him in them.  Which seems kind of weird - I went down a rabbit hole and found that he was in a number of movies.  Most of those were not popular, but his performance in Juice was great.  I'd slightly fault the director or writer who made him with the ability to just pop up anywhere like a monster in a scary movie, but his on-screen transition from generally happy dude with a small mean streak to a full on sociopath was well done.  Now I'm gonna end up watching Dridlock'd and Poetic Justice and being very disappointed...
Wu Tang Clan - Of Mics & Men Soundtrack.  There is apparently a documentary about the group on Showtime right now, and this very short album is the soundtrack for it.  Don't expect that you are going to get their classic songs - these are new tracks for this docuseries.  None of them even come anywhere close to the classics - the beats are weaker, the rhymes are uninspired - but the great piece to me are the skits/interviews.  "Yo, Is You Cheo," a story told by a guy who got punched in the eye by one of the members because he talked smack about caricatures drawn of the members for a magazine story, is funny.  The story in "One Rhyme" is cool.  The opening track is the top streamer - "On That Sh8T Again," with 1.7 million streams.

Ghostface has always been my favorite of the Wu members - best storyteller, a distinctive flow - so I'm glad he is featured on that one.  I'll let this little album go.

The Mountain Goats - In League With Dragons.  Pretty sure I came across these guys because of a friend mentioning them repeatedly on Twitter.  I've never come across them or heard any of their music, and yet they have been firing out albums since 1994, and this is their 17th. (!!!) Kind of weird feeling to "find" a band that has been plugging along for decades.  This is their 2019 album, and it has a very relaxed, kind of Decemberists vibe to it.  The first comparison I came up with was the part of the Barenaked Ladies catalog where they go kind of soft, but after a few more trips through the album, The Decemberists have lodged into my mind as the proper comparison.  The top track so far,m with 760k streams, is "Younger."

"Possum by Night" is a pretty one as well - something about it sounds familiar.  And the "Cadaver Sniffing Dog" song is also pretty snappy.  "Doc Gooden" makes me think that I actually like the album - a little higher tempo, weird lyrics that includes a reference to "Mama Said Knock You Out."  And the odd story in "Waylon Jennings Live!" is funny.  I don't know man, the album is nice.  Super chilled and odd, but its kinda pretty.

Charly Bliss - Young Enough.  I loved their last album - "Westermark" is my jam, and "Ruby" and "Percolator" are fun ass tunes too.  Sometimes, as I listen to a full album of theirs though, the tone of the lead singer's voice makes me wonder if it's annoying or good.  I generally then decide that it is good, but just every once in a while it comes across as a little whiny and I question myself again.  This generally still tracks to the same sound - power poppy punk-ish rock - although none of these have that same unmistakable swagger as those tracks from the last album.  The hit is "Capacity," with just under a million streams.

Pretty little rock ditty - but it just never really takes off.  I keep waiting for the guitar licks to really kick in - they kind of squeak around for a sec in the second verse, but then they duck back into their hole.  I know that not every song has to be a rock and roll banger, but this one just feels like it's missing a little more swagger.  There are other, more fun songs on here, and I like this album well enough, but it's not as good IMO as the last one.

Kanye West - Jesus is King.  This guy is such a freaking asshat.  His first few albums were absolute masterpieces.  Great beats, amazingly funny and intricate lyrics, important topics.  He hit every single button for the best that rap has to offer.  And since then, he's turned into this petulant, bomb-throwing, out-of-touch, crazy person who makes nonsensical decisions to the delight and disgust of the entire country.  

And so this is his newest bomb - thrown out in the midst of a crisis of religion in America, where our administration repeatedly pushes policies and makes statements diametrically at odds with the teachings of the Bible, and yet they get solid and unblinking support from the supposed Evangelical folks.  I gave it the benefit of the doubt at first - OK, Kanye is going to make a real Christian album and move the conversation forward.  But instead, you end up with this furtherance of his personal brand of grievances and gripes about how much he himself is mistreated and misunderstood, sprinkled throughout with bland religious tropes he adds as though those out-of-context lines can somehow connect without any effort.  "I bleach my hair for every time I couldn't die, but I survived, that's on God."  I mean, he literally shouts out Chick Fil A repeatedly in "Closed on Sunday."  Which is funny now that they have pulled their support for the anti-LGBTQ groups...

I know he has repped Christianity before - "Jesus Walks" had not only a good message but a great beat - but this just feels like either performance art or insincere exploitation.  I can't tell which because the dude is so damn weird and inscrutable, that there is no way to understand where he is really coming from.  This just uses Bible verses and vaguely biblical phrases and words to create a thin veneer of Christianity, once it is combined with the pretty solid choral pieces in the background of many of these tracks.  But if his goal really is to convert people to Christianity, he should spend more time talking about actual key teachings of God, or fruits of the spirit - things like grace and justice and kindness and love for your fellow man, rather than griping about the IRS or shouting out his ranch.  

I mean, he calls out the thirteenth amendment twice (the one abolishing slavery), saying "we gotta end it" on "On God."  What the actual hell is that about?  Is he seriously adding a lyric, on an ostensibly Christian album, about going back to fucking slavery in America?  And the problem is that many people will just see the headline that Kanye is saved and putting out a gospel album called Jesus is King, and be so pleased by the news, without realizing that this is just a little nugget of dogshit, shoved between the pages of an open Bible, eased shut and handed to a kid for Confirmation.

Luckily the album is only 27 minutes long.  But no, I am absolutely not hanging on to this garbage.

The Black Keys: Erwin Center: November 13, 2019

I'm a sucker for the Black Keys.  I, maybe foolishly, invited the wife to come along to this one, thinking that they are a relatively benign radio rock band that wouldn't be too offensive to her musical tastes, but I think in the end I pushed it a touch too hard.  These guys get pretty raucous when they jam.

"you're the Black Keys, goddammit."  I just laughed out loud when they fist bumped.  I'm a big dork.

Modest Mouse was the opening band we saw - we made it to the show too late to catch any of the set from Shannon and the Clams, mainly because the parking situation around the Erwin Center is freaking horrific.  I was excited to see MM - if I've ever seen them before I don't recall it (but part of me feels like I've caught them at ACL before) - and I have a friend who loves them.  The music sounded great - I really enjoyed the semi-weirdness of their groove and the three guys all blasting percussion effects into the tunes - but the vocals sounded godawful.  Just fully washed out and unintelligible.  The guy literally could have been mumbling the word "pineapple" every time he opened his mouth, for all I could tell.  Which is too bad, because I'd like to like those guys.  Also, at one point I decided to run out for another beverage, and when I came back to my row, the single guy at the end of our row didn't move for me when I walked up with both hands full of drinks.  He was straight up asleep.  Had to bump his knee with my hand and he sheepishly jumped up.  You know the show is scintillating when someone can rack out during it!  Anyway, I was bummed about this part of the show.

The Keys played a hell of a good set.  They included a handful of tracks from the excellent new album, they included tracks from the old albums like Magic Potion and Thickfreakness, and then they played the hits in between.  My favorite part of the night was also my favorite song - "Little Black Submarines" from El Camino - where Auerbach started the track out with an acoustic guitar and then shifted on the fly to bash out the rest of the tune with his electric.  So freaking good.  I also loved that they played the real version of the song, and not the annoying radio version that cuts out a portion of the acoustic build up at the start, because: (1) I got to lord my knowledge of the song over those around me who expected an earlier shift to electric; and (2) its a better song like that.  I also really liked "Lo/Hi" and "Go," played back-to-back during the encore.  For the encore, they brought out a huge ass electric chair thing to sit at the back of the stage.  Seems odd to just bring that out for the last three songs, but whatever.

As I was getting psyched up for the show over the past week, I got to thinking, yet again, about who the best rock and roll bands are in America right now.  Personally, I'd have the Keys near the top of the list, but when I just tried running a search, I see that Billboard would give the crown to Imagine Dragons in 2018, with something called Five Finger Death Punch at #5, so I apparently know nothing at all about rock and roll anymore.  I guess that comes from, in large part, the diversification and splintering of the genre, so that now you have 87 different types of music that would all think of themselves as "rock," but I don't want to hear.  If these guys are in the same zone as black metal and glam and psych rock and emo, then it's hard to locate things like "best."  Whatever, these guys are a great rock and roll band.  Shut up, Richard.

Black Keys do a great job of staying relatively close to the originals of the tunes, but slightly different so that you aren't just sitting there listening to the album at home.  Also, my wife was semi-amazed at how much Patrick Carney hits his drums, which I found hysterical.

Lots of empty seats in the arena, which I thought was interesting.  I snapped up my tickets the second they went on sale, expecting this one would sell out, but I guess I overestimate the draw of classic rock action in today's rap-centered world.  And once I realized there were lots of empty spots, I realized that the show could have been at a smaller, better venue, which would have been sweet!  Oh well.  Good show.

Quick Hits, Vol. 230 (Vampire Weekend, Joni Mitchell, Joni Mitchell, The National)

I went to the Erwin Center in Austin last night to see the Black Keys play, and I happened to have been there the night before for a Texas basketball game.  It is fascinating to me how arenas can flip their space like that, and go from being a brightly lit basketball arena with a huge, four-sided jumbotron thing imposing its will on the center of the room, over a hardwood court that looks seamless and glossy, and then less than 24 hours later be set up as a dark half-room ready for the lazer show and rock riffage.  I'm sure it's not actually exciting to watch it transform, but the idea of that stuff happening fascinates me.
Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride.  Now, I'm well aware that I am supposed to hate this album.  All the cool kids have already written their hit job pieces about how this is grandpa music, or Grateful Dead knockoff crap, or "failed Sting."  I like Drew Magary's take on just about anything, and my musical tastes definitely hew towards his, meaning there is usually a huge riff and some chugging and it makes you want to run through a brick wall.  But he is wrong about this one.  

First off, he is wrong about the opening song having a children's choir - or at least a children's choir in the traditional sense of that term - there are some sort of weird effects tacked onto their voices (backwards?), and someone in there is definitely already a baritone.  But also, that opening track has one of the Haim sisters adding in a fine countrified lyrics over a mellow fingerpicking and pedal steel.  It's nice.

Then, I've already written about how fun I think "Harmony Hall" is.  So this one starts with a classical guitar playing some Rachmaninoff trill, that then slides right into a party-starting piano riff pulled from an early 90's Brit-pop track like "Unbelievable," that then soars its way into an Orbital atmospheric track.  When the pianos kick in it is all euphoria and happiness, just bounding in to give you a huge hug.

It's greatness.  "I don't wanna live like this, but I don't wanna die" is a great sing-along line.  Good stuff.  Vampire Weekend has always done this very interesting thing of using classical music riffs and elements, and then dragging them into a modern shift.  The underlying music and chords used in that tune could very well sound like a classical piece of music, if the words and percussion were removed and it was just played with piano and cello.

I forget where I read that people were saying this sounds like a Grateful Dead redux, but I suspect it must have been in Rolling Stone.  I guess I can hear that in some songs, but the overall vibe is not one of noodling jam band rock - it very much sounds like classic Vampire Weekend to me.  Which is a positive.  "This Life" is good - maybe some latter days Dead in there, like the "Touch of Gray" era.  "Sunflower" is fun (I guess that one does have more of a Dead vibe too).  "Big Blue" is pretty, with a George-Harrison-on-guitar vibe.  I like the groove of "Unbearably White," although until I really listened hard to the lyrics, I was worried it was a song about the style of this band.

I'd say my only beef with the album is the length.  They probably could have cut out a few songs and made a stronger overall experience.  I'd probably cut the Spanish clappy "Sympathy" and the final track about Berlin and New York.  But overall very good!  That was an exceedingly long take, for one of the quick hit posts!

Joni Mitchell - Blue.  Joni Mitchell is one of those artists who I kind of generally know exists, and remember because of that Big Yellow Taxi song, but have never really given any mind to.  Probably the most I've ever thought about her is because of the movie Love Actually, when Professor Snape gave Professor Trelawny a copy of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, which caused Professor Trelawny to cry alot because it meant that Severus was for sure boning the secretary.  So now I think of sadness when I think of Joni Mitchell.

Anyway, Rolling Stone had one of those two page spreads recently that ran down the best and greatest things from Mitchell's career, and so I thought I'd take the time to consider her two best things.  This stuff is truly beautiful.  Something like "Little Green" just showcases her astonishing voice over the most simple of guitar, and it feels important, while also feeling melancholy.  Mitchell goes from a light whisper to a brassy full-throated tone without any apparent effort, and her lyrics are excellent.  There is a new show on Netflix, that I can't decide whether I actually like, where Ben Platt sang "River" in the first or second episode, and it was one of the most beautiful moments in television I can remember.  His voice is also astonishing, and lyrically it's an interesting tune, that comes off as a Christmas carol at first.

And in case you are interested to hear the Ben Platt version, here you go:

MF'er.  That is so good.  I so very much wish I could go back and see Dear Evan Hansen when he was in it.  We loved the musical, and the guy in the main role when we saw it was still excellent, but I can't believe we missed Platt.

Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon.  I won't fully review this one, because they pretty well meld into one another in my mind, but this one is also beautiful.  I feel like I need to save this for some cold, rainy day and then play it for the family and see if I can make everyone cry.  Although, the melancholy breaks for a second for her to fire out "Big Yellow Taxi," one of the best anti-gentrification/sprawl/pollution anthems since Talking Heads "This is the Place."

Also, if you recall, sampled in a cool way by Janet Jackson and Q-Tip a few decades ago.  This album also includes her song "Stardust," which was later covered by Crosby Stills Nash & Young (which is the only version I had ever heard before now).  Finally, "The Circle Game" is a freaking lovely song - reveals just how amazing she can be with lyrics.  I like both of these albums quite a bit - they really are beautiful and touching and worth keeping around.

The National - I Am Easy To Find.  If you've been around here for a while, then you know how much The National vexes me.  On the one hand, multiple people I like really like them.  On the other hand, I've never found an album of theirs that I actually enjoy.  But then when writing them up for ACL 2018, I found a live version of some tunes and I liked that sound much more.  
This album actually sounds kind of good though - the starting track comes out like a glitchy monster - "You Had Your Soul With You" - that kind of stumbles its way into my psyche, and then the sad pause in the middle throws it back to what I am used to hearing from these guys.  Apparently that female singer is someone named Gail Ann Dorsey, who was bassist for Bowie for a while, which is kinda cool.  The title track is also more of what I am used to hearing from them - kinda sad, kinda beautiful, wonderfully melodic tunes to play when you need to be bummed out.  And it also features a lady singer - as most of these songs do (it now dawns on me, after trying this album eight times).  In case you wanted to see a full on short film based upon these songs, guess what?  You're in luck!

Well, that was weird, and then it got a little more poignant and now I'm sad again. Although there were a couple of times while watching it that I felt like I had left Spotify playing while I tried to watch a movie - its a very weird construct, just having random music play as that woman ages.  Neat concept though.  
As for the actual album, I don't hate it, but yet again listening to the whole thing gets boring.  Oh, and its also really long - over an hour of this same experience.  "Where is Her Head" and "You Had Your Soul With You" are my standout tracks.  "Not in Kansas" and "So Far So Fast," back to back tracks on the back half of the album, are where you can really dig into the boredom and same-ness.  Even with all of those lady singers, this seems like more of the exact same I heard last time I heard one of their albums.  A depressing dread seeping into every nook and cranny, with an upbeat tune or two here and there to ramp up the energy before sinking back in.  I genuinely thought this review was going to go a better way, but more listening has solidified the feeling.  No thanks.