Quick Hits, Vol. 258 (Pile o' Singles time again!)

I've been piling up individual singles for a while in my new music queue, so its time to clean some of that out for you, Dear Reader.

• Bruce Springsteen - Letter to You.  Much like Stephen King, I'll dutifully line up for anything this guy puts out as well.  This one has a lot of the classic Bruce flourishes, striking piano chords, that guitar squonk that he used on Glory Days, even his vocal "hooohhh!" right after the end of the first verse.  This is a nice song - nothing groundbreaking or special, but it's nice.
• Smashing Pumpkins - Cyr.  Another that I jump on as soon as I see they have a new track, and holy shit this is horrific.  Drum machines?  Tron-ass synths?  Muse-ass background vocals?  The background notes sound like this wants to be a James Bond theme song.  But it's truly horrible.
• The Rolling Stones - Living in a Ghost Town.  Not a bad little bluesy number, but it sure sounds like Mick is using Auto-Tune, which is an automatic no thank you for me.  Dammit.  I'm still sad that they cancelled their show in May.  Would have been awesome.
• Kacey Musgraves - Oh, What a World 2.0.  Kind of a nice electronic re-imagining of this song from her last album that adds in some weird bird chirps, but also strips it down a little until some spacey Kacey synths hop in there.  I like it.
• Ruston Kelly - Brave.  Very pretty, very quiet, finger-picked song that knocked me for a loop when I finally listened to the lyrics.  I liked this guy's older tunes, this one is very good as well.
• Travis Scott & Kid Cudi - THE SCOTTS.  If you read me normally, then you know that I don't much care for Travis Scott - he just doesn't appear to try when writing his raps.  The only thing redeemable about this one to me is the track - I like the beat and the weird final frontier synth freakout near the end.
• El Dusty - Cumbia Anthem.  Texas Monthly had an articled about this guy so I fired it up to check it out - kind of a EDM version of classic cumbia music?  I am not a connoisseur of either, so I don't know what I'm talking about, but kinda fun!
• Ray LaMontagne - We'll Make It Through.  His voice is just so damn pretty.  This one has a definite Neil Young vibe, between the brushed drums and harmonica.  Tender and lovely.
• Megan Thee Stallion ft. Beyonce - Savage Remix.  This track bothers me only because my daughters sing it after their TikTok sessions, and it is disturbing to me.  But if I'm being honest and leave that out of it, it kinda bumps.
• YG - Laugh Now Kry Later!  Completely forgettable.  I go back to him because of a track or two from years ago, but I can't think of anything he's done recently that is worth the time.
• S.G. Goodman - The Way I Talk.  Not sure where this one came from, but it builds in a very slinky, mysterious way that I dig.  Kind of bluesy indie folk, but when the guitars leap into the room it's strong.
• Eric Church - Stick That In Your Country Song.  So horrendous.  Just gross.  From the way he sings the word "that" in the chorus, to the treacly attempts to sound important and smart, like he's on the front lines of the BLM movement or something, are barf-o-rama.  Nope.
• Neil Young - Try.  This is off of a "lost" album that he recently released, where all the tunes actually date back from the Harvest era.  I love when he sings "shit, Mary, I can't dance."  It's kind of a nice, shuffling, little ditty.
• John Prine - I Remember Everything.  RIP to a songwriting legend.  This one has a Cash with Rick Rubin vibe, the voice a little more grizzled, the songwriting not especially top of the game, but still a pretty tune.
• Beyonce - Black Parade.  I had heard this a few times at my desk, but it came on the other day when I was driving and I just about hopped out of my car to dance for a bit.  The beat is like an even better reinterpretation of the Gambino This is America track, but then Beyonce just glides over parts and pounds other parts, the whole time making me feel more powerful and strong than I have any right to be.  My shoulders absolutely need to roll during this.
• Megan Thee Stallion - Girls in the Hood.  Biting the beat and scheme from Eazy E's Boyz in tha Hood, but adding in a little bit more spice both in the lyrics and in the high hats for the beat.  Fun.
• Billie Eilish - my future.  So painful.  Can this finally be the nail in this musical coffin?  Starts as a whispered/vampy cringefest over a exceedingly minimal synth tune, and then a terrible beat kicks in and I'm suddenly trapped up to my knees in already chewed-bubblegum left behind by Chester Cheetah.

Now, back to the albums - my queue is lighter than usual right now, in major part because I haven't had ACL bands to check out and enjoy (crying emoji), but I'll have some more stuff up on full-lengths soon.