Oh baby, get those engines revving. Once the Lolla lineup is out, then we're getting closer to the ACL lineup, baby! I'll do a post soon about what my guesses are about the things that will overlap between the two posters, but for now, I just wanted to talk some shit. ;)
First off, Metallica, Green Day, and Jane's Addiction. That is a freaking amazing shot in the arm of 18 year old Jack. The Black Album, Dookie, and Ritual de lo Habitual were about 1/5th of my entire listening habit for a period of time, so having those three classic artists on here is freaking amazing. Love it.
Now, will they continue to be good in 2022? Green Day hasn't made something vital in 20 years. Jane's Addiction hasn't even existed for more than a decade. I dunno, but I'd go along for the ride.
Then, it goes daggy (to use my favorite new word I learned from Amyl and the Sniffers). Dua Lipa, Dija Cat, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Baby? All of that sucks. I'll admit that a few Dua Lipa songs strike my fancy, but overall to have those be the top line artists is not something that will ever appeal to me. J. Cole is fine, but not exciting to me at all. Kygo is electronic, I think, so I wouldn't care about that either. Yuck. Luckily, we just got Doja and MGK, so we won't have to suffer through that again. Is Lil Baby the one who got cancelled last year? or was that Da Baby? Whatever, don't want to see either.
For the smaller type:
Billy Strings jams. Glass Animals is bad.
Turnstile rules.
Big Sean is great.
What is Royal Blood doing on the 6th line? Below Idles? Huh?
Machester Orchestra is excellent. Would be happy to see them again.
Then it gets weird. I'd see ATLiens just in case they are like Outkast. Wet Leg is interesting. Sam Fender should be bigger than he is. Maxo Kream might be fun. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever is fun. Someone out there has the audacity to call themselves Dylan? WTF man.
Tons of unknowns. Never heard of three of the things on the third line! But, of course, that is part of the glory of the Fest, right? Learning about cool new stuff is part of the pleasure. Let's get it.
The rare time that all four reviews in this entry are great! Let's GO!
Also, I need to review the Lolla poster. May lead us to some of the ACL bands (which I have been very lazy about working on this year!)
Eddie Vedder - Earthling. Weird album, but I really like it. You get some songs that would absolutely sound at home on a Pearl Jam album, like the great rockers "Good and Evil" or "Rose of Jerico." Then you get a faithful recreation of a Beatles-ish song in "Mrs. Mills." An Elton John duet? Yep. A bouncing freaking that includes Stevie Wonder going nuts on the harmonica? Sure. "The Dark" makes me think of an eighties rock song - Loverboy or something. A faithful recreation of a Tom Petty-ish song in "Long Way." Trippy Frank Sinatra shit with the album closer "On My Way?" Well, sure! But you also get the opening track that sounds like an Eddie Vedder solo track of him aiming for the stars and singing something lovely about love. And yet, despite all of those disparate pieces and sounds, I love it. Really enjoyable disc. Really low streaming numbers, which is kind of surprising. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by low streaming numbers for rock music anymore. I was hoping "Rose of Jericho" was going to be the banger, just because I really dig it, but the top streamer is "Long Way" with 3.5 million.
Please tell me you hear the Tom Petty. Not just in the intonation and chorus, but also in the guitar and other instrumentation. I really like that tune. I also really enjoy the weird-ish Beatles-sounding tune. "Mrs. Mills" is about a sex worker? One of those dancers in a booth who do their thing for a few minutes while a guy watches from behind glass? Seems more like a sex worker since their hands get to roam on her flesh and bone. But no one ever takes her home, except Eddie really wants to, so he plays her some French horn licks as he repeats her name for a while. Just an unexpected song, and one of the reasons you can tell this isn't just a Pearl Jam album. Some of these songs would be at home there for sure, but that one would definitely be an oddity. I really dig this.
Momma - Two of Me. I mentioned one of their songs the other day in my post full of singles - that single I reviewed isn't on this 2020 album, but it was their most recent disc so I wanted to check it out. Freaking rules. If you are in to some 90's alt rock buzz bin stuff - then this scratches that itch right away. The band is two ladies who do the singing and guitar, and then a dude drummer (who doesn't show up in their photo and isn't mentioned in their very basic Spotify promo). On top of incorporating Breeders-esque alternative, and some Madchester shoegaze bits, these tracks are full of tight hooks that make them lean towards pop rock. Every time I listen I dig it all over again. Another album that is being criminally ignored (again, probably because rock is dead), the top streamer only has just over 1 million streams. "Double Dare."
Bringing that alt rock sound forward like Soccer Mommy or Mitski. Not any sort of groundbreaking tune, but just deeply solid and catchy as hell. That freaking corn dog looks good as hell. I hate eating healthy foods when shit like corndogs exist. I just studied the small print of the Lolla poster, hoping I'd spot these ladies on there so that they might be coming to ACL, but no such luck.
Mitski - Laurel Hell. And interesting album, shifting styles between disco party jams and dark indie tunes. More than once in here my brain likened the tune to something I remember from an old Hall & Oates song. Mainly "Should've Been Me" with the bassline from "Maneater." "The Only Heartbreaker" sounds like a straight eighties banger. Benetar but with subdued guitar? I definitely like the brighter tunes than the dark ones, but overall the whole album is a good vibe. The top trick is one of the darker ones - "Working for the Knife" - with 25.2 million streams.
That video takes a while to get going... and then you open with "I cry at the start of every movie," which is a bummer. I read an article about her in one of the recent Rolling Stone magazines - she was planning to hang it up and move on from doing music anymore. That bums me out. I know she was just tired of the spotlight and the demands and expectations, but its sad to me that someone this talented considers giving up on their music just because the industry sucks so bad. And that song sings to that issue - she thought her music career would go one way and feel one way, and instead she feels trapped into a different way and feeling. Its a lovely track in sound, but just sad. And the video doesn't make it any happier with that extended dance freakout at the end. Good little 32 minutes album.
Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa. No clue what is going on with the title of this album, but I fuckin' love it. Just a perfect slice of yummy rock and roll goodness. Got some groove to it, got some lyricism to it, got some pure guitar solo action. Just a super solid bite of rock with every instrument feeling like its been perfectly placed. The drums are crispy and match right up with the bass. Guitar slashes and jangles. I have been up and down with Spoon over time. Overall, I like them, but a few of their albums have missed the cut in my mind. Like, Hot Thoughts was good, but a little too electronic for my taste. This one is the triumphant return to their best form. "The Devil and Mr. Jones" has a slinky groove that jams. "Wild" has a build to it that feels exciting every time. But the top streamer is the one that is the most perfect of the guitar-focused rock tunes on here - "The Hardest Cut." With only 4.2 million streams, this is criminally under-listened.
Gimme groove-based rock and roll all day. Not sure why those people are having to run/dance in place in the video though. What do we have going on there? I thought that bald guy with the knife was Billy Corgan at first. Right about the time that hot guitar solo kicks in, Billy loses it all. Weird, but actually an engaging video that has nothing to do with the song at all. I dig it! I know at least one of my regular readers thinks Spoon is dumb, but I also think he is dumb, so we're square. Just give this album a shot and I think you'll be into it.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raise the Roof. These two match up really well. Their Raising Sand album from a few years ago was great. (hahaha, by the way, that was freaking 15 years ago! Where has the time gone!?!) This one has that same spirit, kind of a slinky, mysterious, jazzy, sexually-charged, dimmed-lights, muffled-drums sound throughout. Feels like someone should be dancing softshoe as they undress. The Lucinda Williams cover is freaking awesome. Oh, and hey, that wins the streaming crown as well, for good reason, with 4.1 million streams. "Can't Let Go."
Great track in its original form, but this keeps the same feel while adding some of that slinkiness I mentioned before. The bells in "It Don't Bother Me" remind me of the bells in the movie Big when he is searching for the Zoltar machine. And I dig that song in general, the long outro at the end of just pluckin' and clappin' is great. Overall, this is a good disc. Nothing stands out as the obvious jam that will appeal to the world, but it's just generally solid from front to back. If you like roots music then this will scratch your itch.
Lightning Bug - A Color of the Sky. Just a wonderful collection of songs. No clue how this album made it into my new music playlist, but every time it comes on I want to stop work, close my eyes, and bliss out for the next hour. I don't know if this is shoegaze or not, but it makes me think of those uber-chilled tracks from the 90's like slowdive used to do. Opener "The Return" encapsulates all of those feels right away and sets the tone for the disc, and then the second track ("The Right Thing is Hard to Do") brings even more lovely Sundays vibes. I feel like I've been washed on the beach of a space moon and need a nap. Super dreamy and spacey and quiet, but then every once in a while one of the tracks pumps it up for a bit to raise the pulse, like on "Song of the Bell," where it feels like the sun starts with the sunrise and then her voice flies in to calm the day. You have to work hard to really hear the vocals - they're so soft and ethereal that it almost becomes another instrument adding another layer of beauty onto each track. Shockingly few streams. At least to me! The majority of these tunes have less than 100k streams. Top one is the second track, "The Right Thing Is Hard to Do," with 565k.
Comes on like I'm listening to one of the forlorn Beck songs, and that video matches the song so well. Poor little rat! The other one that opens up the sound some is "I Lie Awake." But mostly this stays in that relaxed and beautiful lane of shoegaze wonderment. I really like it.
Big Boi - Big Sleepover. I miss Outkast. Every time I hear one of these Big Boi solo albums, it lays bare the amazing way that those two dudes made great music together. By themselves, they're just not as good. I like Killer Mike's cameo, but he's pretty much on the same wavelength as Big Boi. You need that off-kilter weirdness of Andre to really mix in here and make it right. Like, "Animalz" is very weird and kind of gross in a sexual way, but it's not good weird, just freaking weird. I kind of like "Can't Sleep," but much of this album is just boring. "Sucka Free" is good though. The final track on the album is the top streamer, which is interesting. "Doin' It," with 5.3 million streams.
Yeah, that is a good one - just a happy track with that piano riff and Boi doing his best to run with that flow. Also, cute puppies! But as I try the album yet again, so much of it just flows by without much of note to snag my mind. I don't need to keep it.
Texas Hill - Heaven Down Here. Another album that I have no clue where it came from. Lots of harmonies and country twang on here. Apparently, all three of the guys in the band were contestants either on The Voice or American Idol. Some of these songs are good - remind me of classic Allman Brothers-type vibe - like the title track. Even has a breakdown in it with some lilting guitar tones inspired by the Allmans (at least to my ears). But then there is dreck like "Neon Heart" that comes off more like a bad Big and Rich b-side. "Easy on the Eyes" is the hit with 724k streams. Only two other songs on here have more than 100k.
That is a weird version filmed in a hallway somewhere with weird lighting, but you get the idea. The guy without the guitar is giving me some Nickelback vibes. Freaking weird place to film that video. All the poor guy with the camera can do is get close and then go far away again, while the guys just awkwardly nod their heads and squeeze into the space. I don't much care for this overall.
I need to pause these little Quick Hits posts and look at some more predictions for ACL. Hard to believe I've written 300 of these things, in addition to loads of longer posts about ACL bands. Lots of words for my furious two fingers to have written! But, instead of whole albums, I'll clean out a bunch of the singles I've added into the queue.
Denzel Curry - The Game. Ominous beat, especially when the scary synth note starts playing. Lyrically, the chorus sounds cool but I don't hear any great lines in here.
Courtney Barnett - I'll Be Your Mirror. Classic Velvet Underground tune, and Barnett makes it her own. The disaffected meander of the VU matches up really well for Barnett's style, so this works really well. Sounds like her last album, where it could have just been a demo she did in her closet before having breakfast.
Eddie Vedder - Long Way. Every time I hear this one, it makes me think of Tom Petty. Totally sounds like it could have been on Into The Great Wide Open of She's The One. Especially in the chorus, when he sings "freeeeeeway" and you think of "Free Fallin'" where Tom sang about the "freeway runnin' through the yard." Good tune, makes me look forward to the whole album that just dropped.
Guns n' Roses - Hard Skool. Beyond that unfortunate spelling thing, its actually a pretty good tune. Slash freaking rules, man. This very much sounds like they took a song from Use Your Illusion and repurposed the track with new lyrics. "You Could Be Mine" lite. Despite myself, I'm digging it.
Momma - Medicine. This song is so good. 90's alt rock vibes to 11 and a great groove. Had to ask Siri to identify it for me in the car the other day because I feel for it immediately. They sound so disaffected by the whole thing, but cut a chill rock track anyway. Classic Breeders energy here.
Tears for Fears - The Tipping Point. More old school bands adding to their canon! This tune is fine - nothing close to the power of their best, but surprisingly fresh sounding anyway. Sounds like some current indie band moping about love.
Coldplay and BTS - My Universe. I'm not a BTS-knower, but if this is their schtick, I kinda dig it. Snappy little tune, where I can't understand part of the lyrics, but then when he sings in English it sounds great. Lyrically dumb as hell, but I've grown to expect that from Coldplay now.
A$AP Ferg - Green Juice (feat. Pharrell). Totally sounds like a Neptunes beat! Those bouncy 808s and a slower pace than seems possible. I love me some Ferg, but this one isn't special.
Jambinai - Time of Extinction. This track is some heavy duty rockin' but with traditional Korean folk instruments also involved. The first part is deeply cool as hell, I got literal goosebumps down my arms during my first listen. But by the end its unlistenable as grating and hellish.
Spoon - The Hardest Cut. Great tune, with a swaggering little riff at the start and all-out riffage for the chorus that will be very fun to sing along to at their next show. I'm so glad these guys are from Austin.
Kasey Musgraves - Fix You. Speaking of Coldplay, this is an excellent cover of a great song. Just beautiful. I like the small tweaks she does here to make it interesting to hear again.
Freddie Gibbs with Jadakiss - Black Illuminati. I freaking love the way Gibbs flows. Just sounds tough and pissed, but also relaxed. Like he won't even worry about shooting you in the face. I don't know Jadakiss at all, he hit back in the day in a blind spot for me. But his voice is somehow even more gravelly than Gibbs.
Paul Cauthen - Country as Fuck. Funny on multiple levels. First, because I saw this guy play ACL a few years ago and he was a very serious singer-songwriter country type, but now this one is just chock full of jokes. I grin each time I hear him sing "real cowboys don't rock to Kenny Chesney."
"if you bumped into me, gonna always say sorry" just cracked me up as well. Dumb and fun. Dig it.
Kanye West and Andre 3000 - Life of the Party. I miss Andre3k. This verse is very endearing, with a dive into some of his childhood stuff and asking Kanye's recently deceased mother to go chat with his relatives in the afterlife, and sounds nice over the top of this soul sample track. Kanye's verse is uninteresting. Not as bad as some other raps on his last album, but just nothing particularly special. The track ends with a weird thing, it sounds like DMX making his daughter do something scary and being proud of her for surviving? Not sure. Just makes me miss Outkast more than anything else.
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges - B-Side. Another funky masterpiece from these two. Something about the ethereal funk of Khruangbin elevates the smooth delivery of Leon in a way I don't feel on his own songs. This is beautiful while still being funky as hell.
Tame Impala - No Choice. I love me some Tame Impala, so this one is good. Not great, you can tell why it didn't make the last album, but still good and groove-laden and a little trippy. I really wish they would tour again, I think middle kid would love to go to that show.
Band of Horses - In Need of Repair. Nice little ditty. Starts out very quiet and chilled, ratchets that up for the chorus, and then slides right back into the relaxation zone.
Band of Horses - Crutch. A little more high-spirited and jangly. Dig this one, although I thought he was saying "crush" the whole time until I actually looked at the name of the song. Have no clue what the lyrics are on about - "bailing toilet water in lake full of moccasins" is a weird one. And just the chorus too - "i got a crutch on you" never makes much sense, and its followed by a different line each time? Whatever, sounds fun!
EARTHGANG - American Horror Story. I've really liked some of their tunes, but this one doesn't leave much of an impression.
Best Coast - Leading. Love them. This crunchy, poppy alt rock stuff is always welcome in my earholes.
Waxahatchee - Tomorrow. Pretty. Has an optimistic feel to it that feels different than her last album. Feels like someone should be pushing a kid in a shopping cart in front of a sunrise to it.
Father John Misty - Funny Girl. Misty is such a weird dude. His voice is lovely here and the spare arrangement is nice, but it's more like a showtune than a rock song.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Black Summer. Keidis sounds like he's doing some sort of weird accent here. Irish? Welsh? Middle Earth? And his lyrics are another random patchwork of well-worn phrases. But the song itself jams. I'm glad to have Frusciante back in the fold, although I wish they increased Flea's volume just a little. On the solo, he comes through, but on the verse portions he gets stashed away. Not their best song of all time, but it's a tasty little morsel.
$NOT, A$AP Rocky - Doja. This sounds like a freaking killer live show banger. Absolutely sounds like something Brockhampton or AG Club would play when they take the stage to be able to yell FUCK THAT, FUCK YOU with the crowd. Rocky's verse is kind of weak, but the beat is right and the chorus is very ready for a crowd.
Lucy Dacus - Kissing Lessons. When you are crushing the songwriting game, you can leave a gem like this off of your badass album. Great pop rock gem here, along with awesome lyrics that tell a super specific story. Love this. Dacus is killing it right now.
Denzel Curry - Walkin. I liked the track well enough, and then about half way through, the beat shifts into a bouncing beat that sounds like it was stolen from Big Boi, and then I reallllly like the flow. Just lay back your seat and get to swervin' already.
Pusha T - Diet Coke. When King Push starts talking about the dope trade, I'm in. Love the intro clip of "YESTERDAY'S PRICE ... IS NOT TODAY'S PRICE!" And then the classic Kanye beat. Very glad that Ye doesn't hop on this and smear his lyrical feces all over it. Cool track, hope it means more Pusha is on the way.
