Quick Hits, Vol. 318 (Starcrawler, Ryley Walker, Freddie Gibbs, Nikki Lane)

Starcrawler - She Said.  Relatively generic rock and roll, but I am enjoying it each time it runs back by in the queue.  Also, loving the runtime.  Just a tight set of ten good songs that clocks in right over 30 minutes.  No fluff, just a selection of bangers to fill it up.  The album is hilariously perfect in streaming numbers, so that you can easily tell that people don't much like it.  The first song is the only one with more than a million, and then it almost perfectly drops off in streaming numbers with each song.  You can practically see the lack of interest.  I really liked their song "I Love LA" from a few years ago, and this stays in that same lane.  Heavy-ish rock and roll, but never too hard.  I'm not going to give you the first one, despite it being the most popular, but will throw you song three.  "Stranded" has 273k streams.

Gives you just what was advertised, right?  Guitar rock.  Fine bass.  Fine drums.  Fine vocals.  Nothing especially special or memorable, but still pretty fun to rock out to.  But with the dearth of legit rock and roll in the world these days, I'll take it.

Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance.  I still have no clue how this dude ended up being the opening act for Dinosaur Jr a few months ago.  Their music styles couldn't be more different.  But you know what?  I freaking DIG this album.  Very chilled out stoner tunes - slow and spacey and radiant.  Some Dead vibes, but less countrified than the Dead.  Every time the first song kicks in, it just makes me want to stop what I am doing and let the music wash over me like a warm blanket.  "Can't Ask Why" rips it up a little bit, with more splashy, fuzzy guitar licks, but even that still maintains the stoner groove vibe.  "Telluride Speed" totally sounds like something they'd be listening to in the Brewery in Telluride.  "Rocks on Rainbow" is the top streamer at 3.2 million.

Has a little Mac Demarco vibe to it, keeping it both simple and lush at the same time.  Makes me feel warm inside.  Tight little 1:45 of lovely picking.  Really enjoyable album.

Freddie Gibbs - $oul $old $eperately.  I said this last time when he came to ACL - he was for sure the best actual rapper on the poster.  He's not as exciting as many of the guys who will get higher billing at the festivals, but if you are just looking for a bar-for-bar dude, this guy punches above his weight.  This album is weird, in that it is some sort of thematic thing with him checking in to a hotel or something, and his reps are mad at him, and Joe Rogan brought him some bulletproof underwear and drugs, and other odd bits and bobs.  But regardless of all of that weirdness, the beats are solid and the verses are good.  I keep starting it over and finding myself just bobbing my head, enjoying the flow.  He has a bunch of good cameos in here, from Offset to Rick Ross to Anderson.Paak to Raekwon to Pusha T to Scarface.  Pretty solid list.  And yet, the top track is buried in the middle of the disc and has no features.  Just Freddie throwing down over a sad beat.  "Dark Hearted," with 7.3 million streams.

My man definitely loves himself some rabbits.  "Pray the chopper never jam on me."  Good tune.  The one with Paak and Raekwon is really good too, as the is the opener with Kelly Rowland.  Just solid up and down on this disc.  I don't really hear a pure hit that would cross-over to the radio, but the whole thing hits for me.

Nikki Lane - Denim and Diamonds.  She is coming to that Two Step Inn festival in Austin in a few weeks, and so I found this album while listening to those bands.  This is freaking good.  The opener, "First High," is like a Black Keys song and it rips.  I really like that one a lot.  The title track is also a great tune, fuzzy guitar licks and attitude ripping through her vocals.  "Black Widow" is cool too.  I don't see this as country at all, sounds more like classic rock to me.  Top track is that first song, with just over 2 million streams.

Bass line is a winner, and the devil-may-care power of the lyrics and vocals freaking rules.  Gotta bob the head and prepare to punch the sky.  Freaking great.  The whole disc is tasty.