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.
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