Quick Hits, Vol. 213 (Okkervil River, Anderson .Paak, Tom Morello, Eric Church)

Okkervil River - In the Rainbow Rain.  Taking a page from the book of Arctic Monkeys, this band went full lounge singer with this one, and it blows.  I recall this band (from the Austin area) being more rock/Americana-based and kind of rad, but this is sad and slow and treacly.  "Don't Move Back to LA" is probably the best one, with a more country feel, and unsurprisingly has the most streams at 1.0 million.

Moving on.

Anderson .Paak - Oxnard.  Paak has a very cool flow, a great singing voice, and generally goes with an upbeat, sunny sound on his stuff that I really like.  "Headlow" is a lovely, funky little ode to oral sex that ends with a car accident that he ignores for a bit to just finish his business.  "Mansa Musa" has a Nicki Minaj-soundalike rapper named Cocoa Sarai and an odd sounding Dr. Dre, but the better G-Funk cameo is "Anywhere" with Snoop.  "Tints" is like Paak's best stuff from his last album, a low-key Stevie Wonder keyboard funk odyssey that features a medium good verse from Kendrick Lamar.  That's the hit at 34.9 million streams.

Dark ass video, and the more I listen to the song, the less I think I have any clue what it is about.  About him needing to hide from public view?  But then he's talking about the goons on his payroll doing work?  Not real sure.  Either way, fun song for sure.  "6 Summers" starts out with a line that keeps popping back up in my head - "Trump's got a love child, and I hope that bitch is buck wild," with a Jefferson Airplane-sounding bass wiggle in the background.  This is a very solid album - kind of surprised it didn't pop up as a top album of last year on anyone's list.

Tom Morello - The Atlas Underground.  Oh, hey, a new album from the Rage Against the Machine guitarist?  Cool, I bet its

Oh God.  My ears.  The opening riffs are just what I expect, and then all hell breaks loose when they throw the real instruments into a volcano of generic EDM squiggles and squonks.  Make sure you get to the drop-type-thing at 1:30.  Oh no!  There is also a bad one with Portugal the Man, a terrible thing featuring Marcus Mumford, a crap Steve Aoki one that reminds me of a screamed version of some 80's song over trash dubstep beats, and a bunch of other techno trash.  Oh God, the Portugal the Man one just came on again and its so ploddingly wretched.  Die, vile ear weed!

Eric Church - Desperate Man.  This dude walks the thin line between garbage Nashville and cool outlaw country juuuuuuuuuuust so.  I love his old song "Springsteen" a ton, and some of his other old stuff has worked really well.  But also some of his old stuff is a little too intentionally BAD ASSSSS! and ends up being gross.  This album keep that pace up just right.  Like, "Heart Like a Wheel" is cheesy and not great.  And "Monsters," with its heavy twang and obtuse imagery, also jars me from enjoying the album.  But then "Some Of It" is kinda nice, and "Desperate Man" is pretty good.  "Hippie Radio" is a good dose of nostalgia and storytelling that I like.  That title track has the most streams - $18.8 million - which pales in comparison to other songs in his top ten.

Got a Stones-ey vibe with those bongos and hoots at the start, and then the bassline kicks in with the chorus, and it makes the song.  I like it.  But honestly, after running through it five or so more times, I don't much care for the album as a whole.