Quick Hits, Vol. 223 (pile o' singles)

I am, amazingly, just about to empty out my new music queue entirely.  I don't know what the deal is, I guess a lot of new music released recently is just uninteresting to me, but its been forever since I have gotten this playlist down to only singles and no full albums, so I figured I'd do a mega-bag of singles and get the playlist fully emptied out.  Exciting.  Time to go out and hunt for new tunes!

Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall.  Freaking great tune.  Vampire Weekend has always done this very interesting thing of using classical music riffs and elements, and then dragging them into a modern shift.  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.

Reignwolf - Black and Red.  I've talked abut this guy before because he brought his shredding, frenetic talents to ACL last year.  This is a straight up rock and roll jam.  Guitar and pounding drums.  Love it.  I need a full album from this dude.

Earth - Cats on the Briar.  Weird, sludgy, stoner rock instrumental tune.  Have no clue how it ended up in my queue.  Kinda cool, not going to save it.

The Black Keys - Lo/Hi.  Perfection.  These guys do the classic rock revival thing better than anyone, and this one is some fuzzy-assed "Bang a Gong"-flavored rock goodness.  The background choir, the riffs, the rhythm section cranking it out underneath it all - just perfection.  Looking forward to the new album for sure.

You may not like sweet sweet classic rock.  You may be a flavorless sugar-free lollipop languishing at the bottom of a dentist's treat bowl since 1985.  I don't know.  But that is good shizz.

Vampire Weekend - Sunflower.  And then, the Grateful Dead emerged directly from the chests of Vampire Weekend.  Totally weird - still sounds like some classic music reinterpreted, but now instead of their classic music bending into 90's dance pop, it merges with jam band weirdness and still sounds dope.

The National - You Had Your Soul With You.  Weirdly frenetic tune from the sad-core National.  First impression was negative, but after about 20 trips through it, I kind of appreciate it.

Tierra Whack - Gloria.  This gal came out of left field last year with her 15 song, 15 minute rap album, and so this one using a whole 2:37 for a rap is weird, but its got a good groove.

Schoolboy Q - Numb Numb Juice.  Every time this one comes on, I look up to see who it is again.  Beat is very basic, but ominous and dark, and it catches me up each time.  Lyrics are mediocre, but it still makes me excited for a new album.

The Head & The Heart - Missed Connection.  Best song from these guys in a while.  Has a very good underlying bass line that sucks me in, gets my head bobbing, and then I enjoy the tune as well.  Seems like one ready to be yelled at a festival.  LALALALALA!

Grace VanderWaal - Hideaway.  Lovely little pop hit for an upcoming movie called Wonder Park.  Very much the sound of Taylor Swift over a simple pop beat and some strummed uke.

Tame Impala - Patience.  I'm a huge fan of this guy, still jam the last album all the time.  I can't tell what I think about this one, despite many listens.  On the one hand, it has a great groove and many-layered psych sound that I dig.  On the other hand, it feels a little too tricky, like he's showing off the layers he can stack and the effects he can apply.  I need the full new album to properly judge.

Lizzo - Tempo (ft. Missy Elliott).  Oh hell yes.  Gimme this flute-laced beat that ain't for skinny hoes.  Lizzo is the real deal - proud and funny and bad ass.  The Missy verse isn't even the best part, feels like Lizzo could have hammered this one all on her own.  Between this and "Juice," Lizzo's on course to take over.

Logic - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.  Logic is a very good rapper, and this one's another great sounding track.  It also has a bunch of bummer lyrics talking about the horrible things that people say to him online.  Why is everyone so damn awful all the time?  Depression, leading to substance abuse and suicide thoughts - phew.  "Remember love yourself" is what he ends up with, but that's a hard thing to do if people are saying horrible things to you all day online.  Good track though.

Catfish & the Bottlemen - 2all.  Another good tune from these guys - not as effortlessly perfect as that last single, but still a well-crafted rock and roll nugget that I need to pogo around to in a crowd.

Anderson .Paak - King James.  Cool sounding organ licks in this one, like some old school Stevie Wonder fun-times stuff.  Pretty good song, not his best one, but I like it.

Cage the Elephant and Beck - Night Running.  Huh.  This should be a jam, with one of my favorites of all time and a newer bands that I like a lot, but its a little gimmicky with that reggae dub beat.  OK track, but not great.