Quick Hits, Vol. 299 (French Montana, Sting, Snail Mail, Spectacular Diagnostics)

French Montana - They Got Amnesia.  Just a deeply bad album.  I don't hear anything on here that is even worth commenting on.  Which is too bad, because I still like to play "Marble Floors" from like 10 years ago from this guy.  Lots of good collabs on here, but anytime that French gets started, I get bored.  Amazingly, "FWMGAB" and its remix "FWMGAB (Remix) [Bonus] (feat. Moneybagg Yo)" each have exactly 26,262,000 plays.  Feels like that can't be correct.  Either way, those tracks crush all the other songs on here.  A bunch of them don't even crack a million, which makes me feel correct to think these songs are jenky.  Well, here is that remix for you. 

That horn lick is definitely stolen from something else.  I can't think of what.  Also, that is just a metric ton of ass.  My goodness.  But just a boring track.  Nothing interesting in there.  And the whole thing is OVER AN HOUR LONG.  Blech.  Happily deleting this album.

Sting - The Bridge.  Happy convergence of things here, in that I have been watching Only Murders in the Building and listening to this new album, and so I'm having a pleasant resurgence of love for Sting.  His classic solo albums were some of my favorite music at the time, and the classic Police stuff is still excellent music (that I think is underrated).  Some of those songs of Dream of the Blue Turtles and Ten Summoners Tales were classic mixtape fodder to show the ladies just how deep my love was for them. And he's pretty funny in the show, capably interacting with the show's heroes with just the right mix of aloof star and normal human.  This disc has some classic Sting flourishes.  I swear, the chord progressions in "Harmony Road" have to have been trademarked by the man by now - especially when that saxophone kicks in.  It gets kinda funky sometimes, like his skee-boppin-bittly-boopin' on "Captain Bateman's Basement."  It goes gray-haired classic, on tracks like the "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" cover or "The Book of Numbers," which makes me think of recent McCartney tunes that reveal a slight tremble in the old voice.  The top track is the first one, with the second in close contention, before most of the album falls into the 6 figure stream range.  I'm going to give you the third top streamer, "For Her Love," with 1.8 million streams.

Those guitar plucks sound very much like "Shape of My Heart" from Ten Summoner's Tales.  He still looks great, and sounds very good as well.  It's a pretty little tune, I probably would have included it on a mixtape as a 13 year old and considered myself very deep for finding meaning in the streetlight.  I am continually so thankful that Twitter and Facebook were not around to catalog the terrible, treacly thoughts I had as an adolescent.  I've overall enjoyed this album, but nothing on it jutted out at me and demands to be retained for all time.

Snail Mail - Valentine.  Loved her last album Lush.  (although sometimes I will admit that I get her, Soccer Mommy, and Mitski mixed up in my head).  This one isn't as instantly badass to me, but it still has a lot to like with hard rock elements mixed with indie tunes and a lot of plush arrangements that groove.  Like "Ben Franklin," which has a bouncy, climbing, smarty-pants bassline that makes me want to dance.  Sometimes she slows down too much for my taste, and I lose the thread on the tunes ("c. et al." or "Mia," but I also understand that changing up tempo and style is a good thing).  They just kind of disappear into the back of my mind as I work.  But several of these tunes grab my ears and demand to be heard.  The opener and title track is the top streamer, and is probably the most rockin', so that is what you get to hear.

Starts low and quiet and then erupts.  "fuck being remembered, I think I was made for you" is a great line.  That video definitely went in a darker angle, but pretty rad anyway.  Great songwriting, fun jangly rock, not sure I need anything else.  "Glory" is also an awesome song.  Very good disc.

Spectacular Diagnostics - Ancient Methods.  No recollection of where I found this one, but its a weirdo blast.  A pile of samples and beats and freaky twinkles and twists.  Great fun.  The snippets of dialogue from movies(?) make it seem like this has something to do with space?  But then the next track sounds like it samples a Bollywood track and Flavor Flav at the same time.  Definite MF Doom vibes.  "Crystal Ball Emoji" sounds like Action Bronson should be spitting a rhyme over the top about eating prosciutto at the top of the Eiffel Tower off of a model's ass crack.  The fascinating thing is that, seriously, where did I find this album?  The top track has 6,076 streams!  What is going on?  That track is "Yellow.Plates," let's check it out.

Very much a trip hop track, and super short.  The whole disc is super short at less than 26 minutes.  This track feels like something that would be playing in a hip clothing store.  Or poolside at a swanky Palm Springs hotel.  He brings on a rapper here and there, like the tracks with billy woods or ELUCID are pretty good.  Definitely could do more of those - although I also like the vibe of the rapperless beats.  This is cool.  I think more people should be checking it out.