Quick Hits, Vol. 325 (Ab-Soul, Paramore, Daisy Jones and the Six, The Stacks)

Ab-Soul - HERBERT.  Ab-Soul is one of those dudes who has popped up on other people's records for years - Kendrick lamar, Schoolboy Q, as examples - but I think this is the first time I've tried out his solo music.  He's good.  Has a nice style that flows really smoothly over these beats.  Beats are good too - they have that more classic feel than some of the other digital beat guys, and some of the tracks do fire up cool soul samples that I like - like half-way through "Hollandaise."  Or the sample in "Goodman," which was also used by Ghostface Killah a while back.  The top streamer is one with Zacari, "DO BETTER," with 6.4 million streams.

Really nice combo of sample with vocals, like a warm embrace from someone trying to encourage me to do better.  "there's nothing I can do that I can't do better" is a great line.  He really coasts on that beat.  So nice to hear someone rap with skill again.

Paramore - This is Why.  The title song has been a little oversaturated recently on the radio, which makes it a little tiresome, but I really like the way it sneaks in.  Sounds like some light-footed lounge singer song at first, and then erupts into a danceable rock boogie.  And that is when this album is its best to me - when they get danceable.  There is a lot of morose stuff on here that is less interesting to me, it kind of disappears from my ear holes as the songs blandly shuffle along.  But when "Running Out of Time" does its chorus, the song is fun for just a little chunk.  "C'est Comme Ca" is fun just because I took French in junior high and high school and so I remember the proper pronunciation of "comme ci, comme ca," or "so-so."  I loved that phrase.  This one means "it is what it is."  And this song is a fun groove as well, even though it sounds like she is saying "safe and saw, nanananananananana!"  The title track is the top one, by more than double, with 53.4 million streams.

Definitely the best song on the album, the one that sounds most like their old, lively stuff that made their ACL set so fun.  I really wanted to love the album, as listening to them for ACL and then since has been more enjoyable than I expected.  But I just don't love it.  Okay album, but not something that I could see joining the lifetime rotation.

Daisy Jones and the Six - AURORA.  I really enjoyed this book, the wife and I listened to it on a road trip one time and it made the miles roll by.  Cool story of a Fleetwood Mac-ish rock and roll band becoming the biggest band in the world and then imploding.  We tried the first episode of the show - its on Prime - and I don't plan on watching the rest.  Kind of an annoying style of telling the story with both interviews detailing the events and then actually seeing the events.  This album is pretty light of power too, again, what I keep thinking of is that this is a weak facsimile of an old Fleetwood album.  The top track is "Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)" with 19 million streams.  I'm actually surprised by that number!

I think it is the tune itself that gets me.  The lyrics are fine, but that "rockin" solo in there just literally sounds like a kid who learned one little riff/lick on his guitar by listening to Freebird and tried to turn it into a song.  This is probably better than should be expected for a made-for-TV album, but I don't need it.

The Stacks - Lay Me Down to Rest.  Local Austin band, who rose up from the very excellent Good Looks band who was named ot the ACL poster last year.  According to a KUTX article, Good Looks is “Tyler’s” band (the lead singer Tyler Jordan) and Stacks is “Jake’s” band (Jake Ames, the guitarist).  Jake was the guy who got hit by a car right after their record release concert, which put a pause on both of these projects for a while.

I loved the Good Looks sound, and this album is not too far off from that vibe, just a little more reverb-y and psych-y, but otherwise a lot of good, straight-forward rock action.  I really dig the sound, good harmonies that weave in and out during both the upbeat jams and the quiet ballads.  They've got a flute on here at one point!  Not many streams, this band hasn't quite broken into the National consciousness yet, but they should!  Top song is the mysteriously named "Chicon," which I've heard on the radio a few times.  13k streams.

FUCKIN' DART BOWL!!!  Ahhhhhhh.  That makes me so nostalgic and sad.  Stupid progress, tearing down the monuments to my childhood!  He’s got the look of a dude who brews beer for a living.  Lamme’s!  Planet K!  Cisco’s!  He’s out there boogie-ing all over town, while the band picks along a nice little batch of riffage.  A touch of rockabilly/surf action in it, a good nugget of clapalong pleasure.  “This City might be fucked, but who am I to cry!”  Apparently that was filmed in 2020 when the world was shut down!  The start of “Dope Demise” is cool too, throwback to something I can’t put my finger on.  Album closer "The Garden" is great.  Yeah, I’m in on this one.  I’d like to find them out and about and see a live show!