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.
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