See? Really pretty, ethereal stuff, and yet called Skullcrusher. I looked it up, and this is the backstory: "Specifically the name comes from one of my best friends who got me into a lot of techno music. We used to go to some techno shows together and we had these pairs of shoes that we would wear that were very intense looking and we would call them our “skull crusher” shoes. And kind of laugh about that." Not sure how they both wore that pair of shoes. Is this a Tyler Durden thing? I like the banjo added in to that track, adds a grounding component to the floatiness of the rest of the instrumentation. Pretty album. Not my normal thing, but a nice background album.
Mac DeMarco - Five Easy Hot Dogs. Dunno what the deal is with this album, but it's all instrumentals. And really, just multiple versions of five instrumental songs that all hew to the normal DeMarco skuzzy, off-key funk walk smears. Fine, I guess, but you probably don't need to hear them.
White Reaper - Asking for a Ride. I've gotten to really like their old stuff, and I've seen them rip it up on stage twice. But this album leaves me wanting. Leaves behind some of the tuneful, playful rock and amps it up to more of a sneering punk-laced thing. The first song makes me think of when Sum 41 would blast out a silly freakout as a joke. But these guys seem to be serious. That being said, the tight ass, bashing groove of "Funny Farm" freaking rules. I want to mash my face into a crowd of Doc Martens while that song is blasting. "Crawlspace" and "Thorn" also go back to the more melodic side of their catalog. In fact, now that I think about it, I think this album mellows out as it goes along. Which makes it no surprise that the last song on the disc is the most popular one. "Pages" has 3.6 million streams.
Just like their other best songs from the past albums, this one combines some hard edges with a melodic and harmonic style. Nothing ground-breaking - those drums sound like some 60's rock and roll stuff from That Thing You Do - but it is imminently catchy and makes me want to nod my head along. Overall, the album isn't great, but the last few songs are worth your time.
The Arcs - Electrophonic Chronic. This is that side band for Dan Aeurbach of the Black Keys, which apparently came out of an attempt at making a solo album that ended up feeling good enough to make a whole new band. Their first disc was pretty solid - although I'd mentioned before that any side band that has the same lead singer as the original band pretty much just sounds like the original band. There are probably some exceptions, but for the most part if Eddie Vedder is singing, then it sounds like Pearl Jam. "Heaven in a Place" sounds like one of those recent Gary Clark Jr. songs where he fires some slick guitar over a dreamy blues rock track. It is pretty good, although its also pretty soft. I would have liked a little more fire. "Eyez" is the second-most streamed tune on the disc, also the second song on the disc, but the currently most popular track for the band. 1.8 million streams.
Pretty solid. The whole album is a little shaggy, a little loose, a little too reverb-y to sound like it belongs in today. Pretty solid, although it's not lighting me up in any appreciable way.
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