Quick Hits, Vol. 304 (Armand Hammer, Father John Misty, Drug Church, Denzel Curry)

I'm rushing to publish the takes I've had for the past few weeks, so that I have a clear deck for the ACL lineup.  Let's go!

Armand Hammer - Shrines.  Never heard of this cat, and knew nothing about his music, but saw something somewhere that said the cover of this album was amazing.  And it kind of is.  A NYPD officer in a rappelling harness hanging on the side of a building with a shotgun in his hand.  And snarling at him through the window to his left?  A big ass tiger.  Now, I tend to think that the next frame in this story was a sad one, as Mr. Bengal probably took buckshot to the dome, but its a pretty cool pic.  As for the tunes?  This is actually a duo - Billy Woods and ELUCID.  I feel like I've enjoyed songs featuring both of those guys in the past.  The raps are knotty and dense, they almost can't fit into the beats.  And the beats are twitchy and jagged, it's not one of those where a bass hit cocoons a normal set of samples or high hat hits.  Instead, the actual beat feels sometimes hidden under the layers of other stuff - piano trills, found sounds, random singing, whatever.  The top track features Earl Sweatshirt - "Ramesses II" with 359k streams.

Super chill and laid back.  But it brings you the feel of the whole album - loose and odd, dense with words and tough to parse.  Overall, I don't need the disc.

Father John Misty - Chloe and the Next 20th Century.  I'm bummed out by my take on this one.  I like some of Misty's old stuff a lot, but I don't get this one at all.  I pinged a friend who has good music taste, and he was all over it, saying that he "nailed" it and that the "sophistication he achieves here kinda isn't even done anymore in pop. The arrangements are staggeringly pretty."  And yeah, the arrangements are really pretty.  They're also boring as hell.  If I wanted to hear this sort of music I could go back to the Lawrence Welk and Liberace classics that our grandparents thought were the bee's knees.  I'm being rude, but it doesn't change the fact that I don't want to hear this stuff at all.  There is a reason that no one makes pop music like this anymore, and it's because since this style was invented we discovered rock & roll and disco and funk and all the other stuff that makes music fun as hell and not just something to listen to as you make a jello mold and tap your toe.  The top track is "Funny Girl," which feels like it is a show tune.  2.7 million streams.

Or like this is something from La La Land, where lovely people should be languidly dancing around on Sunset Boulevard in twee outfits.  I will readily admit that the Harry Nilsson sounding action on "Goodbye Mr. Blue" is lovely and not a creature from the big band lagoon.  Really pretty song.  I get it, that the entire thing is lovely and pretty and smooth and full of flourishes.  But I literally just dialed up a Liberace song ("Love is Blue") from 55 years ago and it has the same feel.  I'm good without it.

Drug Church - Hygiene.  The same friend who talked up Father John also suggested this after a discussion about how amazing the Turnstile disc was.  This isn't nearly as pop-centric as the killer Turnstile disc, but its a great match for the name of the band.  If you asked me what Drug Church was going to sound like, I absolutely would have imagined this pounding rock.  The voice reminds me of Blue October, but the banging bash of the tunes reminds me of the more recent Pixies albums.  "Premium Offer" sounds like Psychedelic Furrs or something like that.  The early guitar on "Detective Lieutenant" also has some "Big Country" (the song, by the band, on the album) vibes, like these guys like post-hardcore as well as 80's New Wave.  I'm not saying anything is wrong with a Blue October/Pixies mash here - "Million Miles of Fun" is a great fuzzy rocker.  Hey, and that's the top single!  789k streams.

I feel like that track is begging to have me see it live and embarrass myself by being the old guy going nuts for it.  Digging that multiple guitar onslaught.  I don't love it as purely and deeply as the Turnstile stuff, but its pretty good.  Would have been fun to see them when they came through Austin recently.

Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future.  About 1/3 of the way through "Walkin'," when the beat shifts and he starts a perfectly syncopated flow along with a super chill beat, I freaking love it.  The opening beat is good and cool as well, but for some reason when that shift happens this track becomes next level.  Curry came through ACL Fest a few years ago, and speaking of next level, his 2019 song "Ricky" is the coolest track of that year's fest.  Hard as nails and super smooth.  Nothing on here is indelibly perfect as that one is, but "Walkin'" is probably the closest.  That is by far the hit with 19 million streams.

Love that chill start - just feels like walkin' in comfort and not a problem in the world.  Smooth as anything.  "X-Wing" is pretty cool too, even if it very much sounds like a TikTok track my kids would be listening to in the other room while they do the exact same dance move 9,000 times in a row.  "The Last" has a cool reggae-ish feel.  "Mental" sounds like a Common track.  But there is something about this album that blocks my mind.  I generally enjoy it each time I listen, but sooner or later Drug Church comes back on and I've missed paying attention to the second half of the disc.  I like it, but something is off - like the album closer is another chilled, laid back track with a good flow.  But I never notice it.