Quick Hits, Vol. 281 (Death by Unga Bunga, Goose, Vic Mensa, Brockhampton)

Death by Unga Bunga - Heavy Male Insecurity.  Horrible band name?  Great band name?  I'm torn on that one.  On the one hand, it makes me think of Oingo Boingo, which immediately makes me think of Tom Hanks (good!) but also Titty Bingo (douchey!).  On the other hand, it makes me think of the old ass movie Caveman (good? It may have been cancelled by now if anyone actually remembers it, but I recall hilarity when I saw it 30-something years ago) but also fratty dudes talking about female anatomy (douchey!).  I just searched for the reason behind the name, and the lead singer says this: "The name comes from the old Mummies album, but it's also the punchline to an old joke."  I must know this joke!  Oh God.  I looked up the joke.  It's a terrible joke.  And yes, I know that one is "bunga bunga," but there are many examples of both spellings being used.  So, that is unfortunate.  I now, heretoforwith, under the powers vested in me, decree this a bad name.

BUT!  BUUUUUT!  This album fucking jams.  For some weirdo Norwegian dudes who dig bad childish jokes, they created a great disc of purely fun rock and roll jams.  Reminds me a lot of White Reaper - nothing in here is innovative at all, it's just drums, bass, guitars, vocals blasting through catchy-as-hell bashers, but it is immensely satisfying.  There is one song that is crazy catchy, and that confusingly references Jay-Z and Beyonce to reference the special connection the singer has for his best buddy.  Sounds weird, but it super works.  Even without that one and the name drops, "Egocentric," "All Pain No Gain," hell, the whole disc.  It's only 34 minutes long, so it's a power riff blast that doesn't take the time to waste anything.  Remember how Sum 41 had some rad jams that referenced classic rock things like Kiss?  You get some of that here.  Or how Weezer turned power-pop into rock?  You get that here too.  A little surf, a little psych, and loads of harmonies in the choruses.  It's both skuzzy and polished, and I love it.

I'm a little surprised that "Live Until I Die" is the top track, with 138k streams.  That number needs to go way up though.

Yeah baby.  Just streamed the whole album again while driving and it jams.  Sweetness.

Goose - Night Lights.  I blame Vampire Weekend for this.  I already know that most jam band music misses the mark for me, but these guys did such a cool job reimagining 20:21 that I had to go hunt down something else from them and give it a shot.  Some of this is fiiiiiine, but some of it was also so cheesy sounding that I actually worried the other day that the guy working on my sprinkler system might hear it from my home office and judge me for listening to some Teletubbies ass shit while working.  I'm sure the sprinkler guy gave no shits and/or was high and would have enjoyed it, but if you're getting self-conscious about what the sprinkler guy thinks, then you don't love the music.  The opening track is the best one - "All I Need" - and "Time to Flee" is the whack shit.  Neither of those is the stream king though, with "Wysteria Lane" claiming that crown with 735k.

Lower key than most of these other songs, or at least slower tempo.  Feels like the part of their show when you'll realize just how stoned you really are because you've stopped pogo-ing around and yelling alligator rhymed with see-you-later.  I dig some of the other tunes better, where they really intertwine their instruments.  This one is a little more straight.  Sounds like something The Revivalists might have played (except missing the slide guitar).  I have a feeling that I would dig their live show more than this EP.

Vic Mensa - I TAPE.  Lotta yapping on this disc.  Just, like, boring talking by some dude who is reminiscing about something uninteresting, that lasts for like 3 minutes.  And then the songs suffer from some R&B-ness that I don't need.  The intro is just an answering machine message and then some meandering cooing.  The unfortunately named "FR33DOM" starts with this lame R&B intro, and then turns into a hard beat and some brawny verses about not being scared of Hoe-lice.  Dig it.  But then it goes back to a mumble R&B thing for the last minute - sounds like the singer is missing his tongue.  Don't dig it.  Second most streamed at 303k.

I have a feeling that track does not make him very popular with the thin blue line crowd. But the rap portion is solid.  "MILLIONAIRES" sounds like singing Kanye.  But then "MOOSA" has a little R&B to it but otherwise its a good story-telling rap about a dude going to prison.  But then it devolves into an auto-tuned gospel song.  Blech.  "VICTORY" is the only one on here that feels like a full-fledged rap track.  Of course, it still ends with some random violins and a speech that sounds like it was left on a voice mail.  Maybe "SHELTER" is interesting just because I have a soft spot in my heart for Wyclef.  Don't need this album.

Brockhampton - ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE.  Then again, maybe it is just the vogue thing to do right now to make every song into a combo rap/R&B track.  Many of these Brockhampton tracks do the same move - go hard as a pure rap song over a great beat for the majority of the track, then morph into some lovely thing with a singer meandering along moaning about his feelings.  "BUZZCUT" is the hit, with a good cameo from Danny Brown, a great beat, and a fun thing to yell in the mosh pit: "WHO LET THE DOPE BOYS OOOOUUUUUUUUUTTTTTT!!!"  6.8 million streams.

I forgot how good their visuals are as well.  That video is a trip and a half.  The sample-sounding loop on "CHAIN ON" is also fantastic.  Definitely gets the head bobbing.  Overall, as usual, these guys make great beats.  If you don't recall them, they came through ACL a few years back and I saw them both weekends (with a Stubb's show in the middle) and they are a big collective of artists who rap, DJ, sing, produce, direct, etc.  The banger behind "THE LIGHT" is a head-bobber as well, although both it and the sequel ("THE LIGHT II") are tough tracks at times - with one of the guys getting very personal about his dad's suicide.  Feels weird to be grooving to a good beat while a guy's talking about the Glock his dad offed himself with.  Like jamming "Minds Playing Tricks" as they rap about their various mental illnesses.

The A$APs show up for a good tune.  The second-most streamed track is "COUNT ON ME," which sounds a lot like the last Brockhampton album, with versus by lots of different guys, plus a chorus sung by a crowd of these dudes.  "DON'T SHOOT UP THE PARTY" is also solid.  The one I don't much care for is "I'LL TAKE YOU ON," the beat that sounds like I'm listening to a late-80's Latino pop dance track.  Overall, loving the whole disc though. A lot.

Quick Hits, Vol. 280 (More good times singles!)

I just saw that EDC got pushed back to October - hopefully wouldn't affect any bands I wanted to see at ACL anyway, but as that month gets more crowded, I worry about the other Fests poaching good stuff from Austin.  Crossing my fingers we even get to do ACL in the first place.  I'm very hopeful that a lineup drops soon!

• Ice Cube - Trying to Maintain.  Man, I so very much wish that Cube was still crafting lyrics at the same plane as he was in the early 90's.  I know I've talked about this before, but back in NWA and his first few solo albums, the dude wrote some of the best lyrics ever written.  This one is mediocre.  "fuckin' cancel culture, you can't cancel a soldier, see I thought I told ya, drunk or sober tell you when its over, slap the shit outta troller, I kill shit like Ebola, I'm the sun I'm the solar, your baby mind is in a stroller!"  Riiiiiiiight...  Beat is pretty spare and nice, but give me "Steady Mobbin'" any day of the week.
• Green Day - Here Comes the Shock.  I keep hearing this as "Here Comes the Shot," and its become my mental Coronavirus vaccine anthem. Solid, classic Green Day blast of jangly guitar and driving drums.  I like it.
• Brandy Clark and Lindsey Buckingham - The Past is the Past.  Fucking hate this song.  It keeps getting stuck in my brain, but I don't like it's cheesy ass.  And it's all my fault, I put it in my queue mistaking it for Brandi Carlisle, thinking it might be cool to hear her with a Fleetwood Mac member.  Instead, this is just bad soft country garbage.
• Lord Huron - Not Dead Yet.  I really like Lord Huron.  A few years ago when he played ACL, I went to his show both weekends and loved every second of it.  His voice is lovely, his tunes are catchy, and he frequently injects a sense of longing in his tracks that appeals every time.  This one has a snappy beat but also a soaring guitar bit that makes it seem high and lonesome.  Good stuff.
• JID - Skegee.  I loveJID's flow.  He's got an intelligent cadence that reminds me of Kendrick each time, and this one has a cool beat that makes me think of Peter Tosh or something.  Dig it.
• NF - Clouds.  I'm apparently into rappers with abbreviated names.  This is the guy who sounds like Eminem.  This track builds in a very pleasing way, even if some of the lyrics are trite.  Jammed it out in my car the other day and it felt pretty badass.
• Wallows - Quarterback.  Another band I liked from ACL, nice little poppy nugget of good times.  Catchy sucker too.
• cleopatrick - The Drake.  Probably my favorite new ACL find from the past few years.  Like Royal Blood before RB went poppy disco track crap.  Just two dudes, full of pure rock crunchiness.  I will readily admit that I hate the fact that the song opens with him saying he "feel some type of way," because every time a rapper says that part of my soul dies.  But otherwise, this is a deliciously heavy thumper that makes me feel strong and cool.  The drop at 2:48 or so rules.  Nothing fancy, just rulingness.
• cleopatrick - Good Grief.  More tasty tastiness!  Roll it up and dip it in me!
• Lucy Dacus - Thumbs.  Lovely, makes me think of Enya or something, just this ethereal synth background with Dacus singing sadness over the top.  Very pretty, but it also seems longer than it's 4:25 each time.
• Manchester Orchestra - Bedhead.  I seem to find all of my new music via old ACL lineups!  These guys ruled live - very good show.  This is another good track too - driving beat and a soaring chorus.  I like his singing voice very much.
• Taylor Swift - Love Story (Taylor's Version).  I don't know old Taylor well enough to notice if there are really any differences between this and the original version that is owned by the mean hedge fund guys.  According to Billboard, the main difference is the mixing.  booooring.  otherwise, this certainly sounds to be the same song.  Good one.
• Samm Henshaw - All Good.  Freaking great song.  Such a feel good blast of pleasure.  Came on the radio the other day and I scribbled it down on my hand to make sure I'd find it later.  Sounds like an Anderson.Paak thing, but it is its own joyous slice of funky happiness.  This is the video up above.
• Royal Blood - Limbo.  Dammit, boys.  This is some disco ass Muse shit going on here.  It's still catchy and rockin', but the chorus drum beat and little background singing is not what I come to you for.  I come for brutal riffs and the smashing backing drums.  Increasingly bummed about this eventual new album.  I'm sure it'll be a hit.
• Drake - Scary Hours EP.  Actually three songs, and they're better than the average Drake offering!  Which is like saying pouring salt in an open wound is slightly less painful than pouring habanero pepper juice into my eye!  The best of these, in my opinion, is "Lemon Pepper Freestyle" with Rick Ross.  The flow on "What's Next" is pretty good, but the beat is a little grating with the organ over the top.  Also, I dig lemon pepper wings.
• Red Fang - Arrows.  I know it is going to sound stupid to call a sludgy stoner metal band's song too sludgy, but the production on this song makes it sound like they are playing in a tupperware container and you can still hear it through the lid.  Which is too bad, because I dig these dudes. "Wires" is my jam. Hopefully when this track makes it on to an album they clean it up.  Because the last minute or so is tasty.
• Demob Happy - Less is More.  Good one - fuzzy guitars, catchy sound.  I'm really liking this band.
• Chris Thile - Laysong.  Not great, which is too bad.  He's so freaking talented on the mandolin, and he does some complicated picking in here, but the song as a whole is just kind of boring with no other instrumentation and a meandering vibe.
• Tierra Whack - Link.  More of the good vibes from Whack - playful beat and she does a great job of lightly bouncing along with it.  Snappy stuff.
• Willie Nelson - I'll be Seeing You.  Lovely little tossed off love song accompanied by a lightly strummed uke.  Should make me happy - love is a good thing - but it sounds like a final song, something they'll be playing at his funeral shortly.  PLEASE NO!!!
• Royal Blood - Boilermaker.  Here we go - this is the Royal Blood I wanted to hear.  Or at least it is closer to the good stuff.  No disco drums, no backing choir.  Just banging drums and fuzzy bass.  The best part is the breakdown in the second half of the track.
• Black Keys - Crawling Kingsnake.  ooooooh yeah.  Here we go.  I need to go listen to the original of this, but this cover sounds just like the title, slinky and smooth.

Quick Hits, Vol. 279 (Demob Happy, Dogleg, Lana Del Rey, Kevin Gates)

Demob Happy - Holy Doom.  Actually an older album, this is from 2018.  Brits doing a passable Queens of the Stone Age thing.  The key evidence of that is "Spinning Out," where the guitar riffage absolutely sounds lifted from something on Rated R or Songs for the Deaf.  And then "God's I've Seen" comes along with more "Sick Sick Sick" riffage and vocal harmonies that sound like something from Vampires.  Or "Loosen It" with the pure QOTSA riffage living right there in its belfrey.  That is the most streamed tune and it rules.

C'mon, that falsetto voice, those crunchy riffs, you're feeling it, right?  But then some of these tracks have more of a Brit-psych-rock thing and less of the stoner rock vibe.  "Be Your Man" is like that for me, the harmonies in the singing especially.  It's all certainly more gleaming and glammy than run of the mill Queens.  According to the Internets, the band name means being elated that you are leaving a stressful job situation - like if your army unit is being demobilized from a war zone so you are pumped.  Interesting.  I really like this one.

Dogleg - Melee.  A loud ass train of rock barreling off the track.  Every one of these songs is rough edged and blaring in a way that was appealing at first, and then starts to wear thin.  Punk has never been my first choice for hard rock, I'd rather have less of the raw yelling and more of the nice vocals carried along by harsh instruments.  This one, at times, reminds me of that Refused album The Shape of Punk to Come, where the singer is just barking raw vocal pain into your ears.  And then the backing vocal soar around like its the Gaslight Anthem.  I'd blame the low grade headache this is giving me on the COVID shot I got yesterday, but this one has been a hard listen the entire time I've been working with it for the past two or three weeks.  The opening track has the most streams with 940k - this is "Kawasaki Backflip."

Yeah, that one jams.  I just wish he relaxed the vocals just a tad.  And yes, I know that makes me an old man and super lame.  But I'd love to smash up a bunch of old vases with those dudes as they rocked my face off.  That part sounds great!

Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails over the Country Club.  The first song on this album just makes me want to run away so far and fast.  Half whispered, half squeaked, I just want it to stop each time it comes back on.  I wrote the other day about not much caring for the lead single of this one either.  It's too bad really, as I though Norman Fucking Rockwell had some bright spots that I still like, but this one is a dud.  Too much whispy, lovely, blah stuff.  Interestingly, the vast majority of the songs on here have around 2 million streams, and then just two of them have large counts - title track with 35.7 million and then "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" with 29.5 million.

Those opening lines are really nice, but the overall feel of the song is just too treacly.  "Let me hold you like a baby" and the soft piano bits and sighing delivery all grate my brain.  Nopedy nope nope.  "Dance Til We Die" has a funky little interlude in it, but it still generally sounds like the rest of this smooth jazz dreck and I don't want it.

Kevin Gates - Only The Generals, Part II.  Gates has a great flow and a good beat selection, but his immense output makes it harder for me to appreciate individual tracks that start to bleed together after a while.  Just mixtape after mixtape from the dude.  The opening track is solid, even though the lisp that he adds to the way he says "Yes Lawd" over and over is a little offputting, like he's trying to do some sort of homophobic joke, but I have no reason to suspect he actually is.  I thought that would be the top track, but I was very wrong.  The strangely named "Plug Daughter 2" is the big one, with 4.5 million streams.

Do I take that to mean that he is having sexual relations with the daughter of his drug source?  Yes, yes I do.  Brave man.  That is a pretty solid track - love the explainer for how to better run drugs across international lines.  I also have to discuss "Send That Load," where he at one point notes that his connection with his lady friend is more than physical, it's spiritual, but then later he's talking about licking her butthole and she's squirting in his face as he's doing it.  Which certainly comes across as a distinctly physical moment.  Like the last few albums of his that I've listened to, I generally enjoy the listen, but nothing on here really pokes out as a special hit or something I must retain.

Quick Hits Vol. 278 (Navy Blue, Foo Fighters, Vampire Weekend/Goose/Sam Gendel, Willie Nelson)

I know we're not allowed to dislike anything from Dolly Parton.  Patron Saint of like 50 important things.  But that single where she flips "9 to 5" to be from "5 to 9" really sucks ass.  Her voice isn't as strong, and the message is fucking terrible.  "Work your fingers to the bone so that you can barely get by and Jeff Bezos makes another trilllllioiioooooon!"

Navy Blue - Song of Sage: Post Panic.  This was an album I hunted down when the queue had finally emptied out almost entirely.  Maybe Pitchfork had given it a good rating?  Can't recall now.  it's one of those dense rap albums that is almost more poetry than it is music.  The opening track has an atmospheric track in the background that barely would be called a beat.  I mean, yeah, there is a beat there, but you're not finding any traditional 808-fueled beat there.  It's more like someone sampled a bit of flute, and then looped it over a cat sleeping on a synth's keys.  A lot of these sound similar - spacey, laid back, low key, loopy - and aiming more for a canvas for him to rap over than the real basis for the track.  "1491" is the top track with 239k streams.

Much better beat - you can tell why people would flock to this one.  Pretty chill, and I like his flow - makes me want to pay attention and see what he is trying to say.  Although, I'll note that I just went and read the lyrics and I'm not sure I know any better why he thinks Christopher Columbus was a one and done?  Genius isn't much help.  Oh well.  I like the line in "Ponderoso" where he says that a girl's kiss tasted like "sweet peppers and blunts, peppermint gum!" Was interesting to try something new out, but I don't think this one is my thing in the end.

Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight.  Ah, the Foos.  I read a pretty good Steven Hyden deep dive into the best Foo Fighters songs the other day, and he pretty much just shut down their entire discography several discs ago.  Which may be a good call, but I also think it a little harsh.  If you are ranking the entire discs, then that makes sense, but if you are cherry-picking songs, then some of the more recent albums have some good bits on them, even if the record as a whole isn't all gold.  Shout out the partial song "T-Shirt" from Concrete and Gold.  

But these guys have become a punchline for a lot of the cool kids in music who think it's lame to enjoy the straight-forward rock earnestness that these guys still push on us every few years.  I still dig it.  I know it isn't revelatory - they are derivative of loads of things that came out before them - and many of these songs are indistinguishable from their last few albums.  I'll readily admit that his lyrics leave something to be desired - he spends a lot of time trading in generic deep thoughts and tropes - but he's always been like that.  "There's got to be more, to this, than that!" lines up well, as a yell-along chorus, with oldies like "It's times like these time and time again!"  And so instead I just take pleasure in the joys of guitar and drums and the occasional howl of pain to signify an important moment.  And so in that vein, you get the opening salvo of "Making a Fire," chock full of backing choir "nah nah nah nah nahs," groovy drums, and chunky riffs to go along with a chorus that soars like a good Foo jam should break out with. Digging that one.  "Shame Shame" was the initial single, but "Waiting On A War" is the one I keep hearing on the radio.  That one is at 10.6 million streams.

Just sooooooo sincere.  The treacly strings over the acoustic intro.  But then, in pure Foo fashion, you get halfway through and they ramp up for the ... oh no, wait, they keep the strings, and now add in some soaring woaaaahs to really schmaltz it up.  The rockin' outro doesn't kick in until 3:10 on this one, but it delivers.  At the same time, the visuals in the video for that rockin' outro part are like what my 10 year old thinks of when she thinks of kids rebelling.  Oh, they were running fast!  And someone broke a piece of glass!  And someone peed!  He shot the finger!  SO HARD!

But also, this album has some bits that sound totally out of place - the start of "Medicine at Midnight" sounds very slick and drum-track-y.  Each time it starts I think a new album has started.  But then a few minutes in, it sounds like Gary Clark Jr. stops in for a guitar solo (that isn't credited on Spotify, just sounds like him). "Cloudspotter" uses what sounds like a toy cowbell for some jenky little swing during the verses.  Also, some of the guitars on "Love Dies Young" sounds like these guys felt like giving The Cure a shot at jamming with them.  But, while I generally enjoy the album, I don't hear one in this that is going to be added to the list of Foo's best songs.  They'll just add some into the concert rotation for the next thirty years and only true fan weirdos will remember which album they came from.

Vampire Weekend/Goose/Sam Gendel - 40:42.  Are you ready for the weird shit?  I knew you were.  This is where you get the weirdest shit.  We'll go back to the beginning.  And in the beginning, Vampire Weekend released a song called 2021, on the album Father of the Bride.  Pretty good song.  The guitar solo in the center sounds like some classical song I can't recall right now, like "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" or something.  

Well, this album takes that minute and forty second track and turns it into two twenty minute and twenty one second tracks that just noodle through, in, and around that same song into infinity.  The first one, with a guy named Sam Gendel, is called "2021 (in the space between two pieces of wood)," and it is twitchy avant-guard jazz saxophone freakout stuff for a good long chunk of it.  I don't much care for it.  But then the second one, by a jamband called Goose, is actually pretty freaking great.  "2021 (January 5th, to be exact)"

Hews a little more truly to the sound of the original to start, and then just ambles off into the sunset with it, before suddenly unfurling wings and launching into the sky for some steel-powered fireworks, and then turning back around and loping back towards the barn to look for a soft place to lay down.  Honestly, I'm gonna go look up some Goose music and keep them going in my queue a little bit.

Willie Nelson - That's Life.  Like Dolly discussed above, Willie can do no wrong.  Old badass.  I really hope to be able to see him live one more time.  But this album is honestly not very interesting to me.  His voice sounds surprisingly spry and smooth for his age, but each of these songs are million year old jazzy standards covers of Frank Sinatra songs that I honestly don't care to hear, even if the MAN is the one skee-bopping them into my ears.  Lots of horns, piano chords, and plucked standup bass in here.

Yeah, he sounds great.  Don't need it.  Love ya, Willie.