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.