Quick Hits, Vol. 277 (Pile o' Singles!)

Damn.  Can people just release their lame pandemic albums already?  I'm struggling to find new music around here.  So, here is another pile of singles that I've collected over time (and am tired of listening to, so I'm writing about them so that I can either save them or delete them forever).  I will say that I have exciting personal news, in that my gigantic mop of hair is going to get dealt with this afternoon now that Austin has shifted down into Stage 3.  I am very much looking forward to less hair.

Also, just saw on Spotify that my boy is listening to Stone Temple Pilots from 25 years ago and my soul is so very pleased with the world.  I made out in the driveway of my girlfriend's house to that song a million years ago.  🎜🎜"All my life's a circle, sunrise annnnnndd sundown!" 🎜🎜

• Lil Nas X - Holiday.  I gotta give this guy credit for making catchy shit.  You can roll your eyes at "Old Town Road" all you want, but it is 100% fact that the guy came out of no where and captured the nation's ears in a way people rarely do anymore.  This one leans on a very basic beat, but the "don, don, don" thing he says to start the chorus sticks in my ears after every listen.  As does the dorky ass "hee hee, I'm bad as Michael Jackson" that comes right before it.  Pretty solid.
• Run the Jewels featuring Royal Blood - the ground below.  I know, I need to relax about RTJ, but this mash of two of my favorite musical groups from the past few years is freaking great.  I was walking to the car the other day, hearing this in my head, and had to jump and kind of punch at the ground at the same time, which my wife saw, which was unfortunate for the tiny shred of cool factor I still bring to my marriage.  It's not terribly different from the album version of this song, just a little rawer.
• System of a Down - Protect the Land.  Preachy track about using a gun to protect the earth, but the plodding riffage sounds like classic SOAD.
• System of a Down - Genocidal Humanoidz.  Ahhhh, there we go - here is the speed metal riffage and freaky gypsy carnival sideshow barker vocals that I needed.  Chunky and good.  Way better than the other one.
• Jade Bird - Headstart.  Dig the Jade Bird action.  This one starts light, and then gets full throated.  Catchy and singable - good stuff.
• Brittany Howard - You'll Never Walk Alone.  Showcases her powerful pipes on a classic track done by loads of other singers.  Every time I listen, I'm shocked at how quickly it ends.  I'd do a longer version in a heartbeat.
• Greta Van Fleet - Age of Machine.  I know, I know.  I'm a lame dad for digging this stuff, but whatever.  You probably love the Telletubbies theme song or something, jerk.  More classic rock fetishism for the olds to raise their lighters to.  There are moments when I'm not so sure about the Golden God-esque wailing, but honestly the tunes wouldn't be the same without it.
• Greta Van Fleet - My Way, Soon.  I mentioned something about this one the other day, that is very much sounds like a Pearl Jam song from the Vitology or Vs. era - the guitar work and the whole sound of the opening and the chorus.  Just need Eddie Vedder warbling over the top instead of fake Robert Plant and you'd have a good b-side.  This is the better of these two tracks on this single.
• Black Crowes - Charming Mess.  Classic.  Sounds like it could have been recorded at the sessions for "Hard to Handle."  Huh, I just read about it, and this really did get recorded as part of the Shake Your Money Maker sessions, and according to the website I just read, was supposed to be the first single off that album, but then ended up being left off entirely.  Weird!  Great track.
• Brandi Carlisle w/ Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun.  Hell yeah.  Carlisle's voice is killer for this track (even more so for the next one) that was made for a Record Store Day promotion.  Sounds great.
• Brandi Carlisle w/ Soundgarden - Searching (With My Good Eye Closed).  But this deeper cut is even better.  Fucking roll me up in this and smoke me when I die.  The pure grunge of the riffage, the hammering drums, and Carlisle's range just sliding right in there perfectly.  if that doesn't make you want to push out your lower jaw and bob your head, then I can't help you with your malfunction.
• Kings of Leon - The Bandit.  I get that a lot of people are sick of these guys because of that dumb ass "Sex on Fire" song, but I freaking dig this track and most of their music.  Very distinctive sound, kinda jangly rock with that nasal, a little slurred vocal delivery, and a beat that grooves all day.  Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times are classics for me, so I'll buy what they're selling.  Bring the album on boys!
• Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over The Country Club.  Meh?  Lana has grown on me some - that last album had some really nice songs, but this one is kinda boring and forgettable.  Very pretty, kind of a swishing ballgown of a song.
• Royal Blood - Typhoons.  This one is highly disappointing to me, and even worse, it has started to grow on me.  The whole thing about Royal Blood was the crushing badassery of the band just being drums and electric bass (making guitar sounds) and ramming those two things down your gullet.  Now this one adds in a drum machine and hand claps?  Is this disco?  And then I hear it on the radio or it sneaks back into my Spotify and I find myself grooving my ass off to it.  Dammit.  That build that starts at 2:30 kinda rules if you want to do an Axl Rose serpentine dance and get funky with yourself.
• Royal Blood - Trouble's Coming.  A little more traditional, but the drums still sound a little too clean, and the little synth strings or whatever make me bummed out.  UNTIL they get to the chorus and my body absolutely must twitch and do some sweet old man shoulder raises.  Catchy rock and roll business.  I'll give these guys the benefit of the doubt and see about the new disc.  I'm a little worried but their old albums are so great I'll wait and see.
• Eric Church - Heart on Fire.  Always chasing "Springsteen" with this guy, and he always disappoints.  That was his apex for sure.  This one likens the way his truck shook on a gravel road to the way Elvis moved while singing "All Shook Up."  I do not enjoy this.

Quick Hits, Vol. 275 (Paul McCartney, Weezer, Madlib, Sleaford Mods)

I am literally getting to the end of the new music I want to hear.  This stupid pandemic needs to chill out on people so that the artists will put out their new albums.  The recently added tab of Spotify is a wasteland of mumble rappers and weird junk.  To find Sleaford Mods down there I had to really hunt for something new to listen to.  Pandemics are so anooooyyying (emphasis added because it feels so bratty to whine about new music when people are still regularly dying of this damn virus).

Paul McCartney - III.  Surprisingly nice album.  I never loved his solo stuff after the Beatles - he had some good individual tracks, but I wasn't wholeheartedly signing up for the experience.  You could tell that he understands that feeling, as his ACL set a few years ago was light on his solo stuff and heavy on the classics.  But, I'll readily say that "When Winter Comes" is 100% lovely.  A quiet little acoustic ditty that shows McCartney worrying through a checklist of items he needs to handle on his farm before winter rolls along.  Great imagery about some little foxes nosing around and the tweaks he needs to do to protect his carrot crop.  I really like that one.  And the opening semi-instrumental "Long Tailed Winter Bird" is also solid - kind of flamenco in the start and then a little rock and roll in the middle.  "Finding My Way" is the top track, at 2.4 million streams.

I absolutely love the video showing him doing every single ounce of that song.  Oh, wait, they don't show him on the horns.  What a hack!  Something about his jamming those drums makes me very happy.  His voice isn't as strong as it once was, but it still mostly does the trick.  There's definitely an odd song on here too, called "Lavatory Lil," that I thought is about some lady who wants to bone in the bathroom. But that was incorrect.  Despite the name, Paul has said its just about someone who screws you over - he drew on his dislike of her to make her into a song character.  Silly little tune, not great.  To me, the only song that is a thorn in my side on the album is the semi-rap-ish "Deep Down," which reminds me that Paul was on that track with Rihanna and Kanye that sucked and I get annoyed all over again.  But this one definitely has a bunch of nice moments.

Weezer - OK Human.  I always get sucked back in on the Weezer train, man.  They made like two good albums in my formative years, and now I'm always expecting more of the Blue Album.  Instead, I just keep getting this mediocre dreck.  This one has a lot of classical influences - violin and cello and harpsichord and horns - to go along with lyrical references to all sorts of ancient junk like Grapes of Wrath and Moby Dick and a "french noir flick."  But then he also bitches about everyone staring at their screens all the time in the aptly titled "Screens."  Also, several of the songs seems to just use the same chord progression throughout.  Like he heard one DeBussy song and decided that would be the inspiration for the whole album.  The top track is "All My Favorite Songs," which is, true to it's lyrics, both slow and bad.  Er, was it supposed to be "sad," I can't recall.  1,.8 million streams.

I wonder if he got paid for shouting out Hey Google.  I'm gonna guess yes.  Very pandemic-y video to go along with that tune.  And more commentary on liking our phones too much.  "Weak" is a funny word to use for this, as though I need to hear some sort of strength from this band, but it also feels right.  Like they used to use steel in their music and this one is all wool instead.  "Playing My Piano" just sounds like Cuomo whining for two and a half minutes.  I think saying I hate this disc is too strong a word, but I certainly don't care to hear it anymore.  98% sure I'll never think about one of these songs again.  I wonder if he got paid to include a repeat shout-out to the Audible service for books on tape?

Madlib - Sound Ancestors.  Saw this one in the new music thing and remembered that he was one of Madvillian's collaborators for the kick ass Madvilliany.  Thought I'd give it a spin.  Kind of an interesting thing, like a hip hop album missing it's rapper.  But tracks like "Road of the Lonely Ones" is really nice even without Ghostface throwing down a verse about fishscale and pyrex.  And then some just don't work for me, like "Loose Goose," all abrasive squeaks and squiggles that grate on my nerves.  And some feel a little too full of disparate elements fighting for the limelight - like "One for Quartabe."  I think I just like the laid back ones.  "Two for 2," "Right Now," or that one I mentioned earlier, which happens to be the top track on Spotify with 2.1 million streams.

I can literally hear Ghostface kicking off a verse with a staccato "Yao!"  Great groove, really cool sound in that song.  Don't love the album as a whole, but that piece is good.

Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs.  Not sure I've ever heard anything quite like this before.  Vocally, it sounds kind of like the dude in IDLES in a heavy English accent, but less his screaming tone and more when he kind of sort of raps/barks ironic things and observations.  So maybe more like The Streets doing raps.  The music is extremely basic, like a drum machine on it's demo setting with a bass doing something funky and repetitive over the top.  I was just starting to think to myself that this album is giving me a headache, and then "I Don't Rate You" came on and I started dancing and thinking about LCD Soundsystem.  Makes me think of some Guy Richie movie - like if halfway through Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Bacon just broke into an Austin-Powers-esque-fourth-wall-breaking rap-dance-boogie-party with Eddy randomly jamming on the bass behind him.  The top track is "Mork n Mindy" with an inexplicable 864k streams.  That is so many streams!

Hear that drum machine doing it's demo mode?  And then this cockney bra just starts talking about something dumb happening in his house.  This one at least features a mullet lady singing a hook, which is a plus?  Feels like a song you would only truly vibe with when really stoned and trying not to show it, standing in the crowd at someone else's show, while you're waiting for the roadies to switch the stage from the opener to the main act.  I'm sure this is one of those discs that Pitchfork is going to give a 9.8 to an call the greatest new music of the modern era, but I'm good.