Quick Hits, Vol. 335 (Taylor Swift, Flatland Cavalry, Black Pumas, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard)

Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version).  I went back and forth about whether to really review this - it's not like there is anything really new to say about this disc - but I decided that I'd go ahead and dive in just to note a few things I have noticed.  First, "Welcome to New York" is not great.  Really feels like a cash grab where she wanted to try to make sure that all New York sports teams and television stations and whatever would license this song and she could make some cash.  The vaguely Asian sound in there also never worked for me.  But then this disc has three of her biggest hits of all time - "Blank Space" "Shake It Off" and "Bad Blood," and all three of those are good for a reason.  "Shake It Off" is for sure my top track on the disc.  When this album came out, originally, we had this exceedingly sweet babysitter at the time who bought my middle daughter a copy of this CD for some reason.  She loved it.  But I never gave it all that much love beyond the hits, which has led me to only now realize how freaking fun "New Romantics" is.  That song freaking jams.  Strangely, at least to me, the biggest song on this version of the album is "Wildest Dreams."  Unexpected.  The original version of this disc has these stream numbers: Blank - 1.7 Billion, Shake - 1.3 Billion, Style - 1.1 Billion, Wildest - 917 Million, Blood - 571 Million.  Fascinating and not what I figured.  Anyway, Wildest has 650 million streams here.

Not like it is a bad song or anything, I just didn't expect it to be the biggest.  I'll definitely note that it bothered me for a while to hear my daughters sing the line "handsome as hell" in their cute little girl voices.  The five new tracks - "From the Vault" - are fine.  Nothing all that exciting.

Flatland Cavalry - Wandering Star.  I don't think I've ever heard a single song from these guys, but I've heard them mentioned with the sorts of bands like Turnpike Troubadours for years.  This is their new 2023 album, and it is really solid southern rock/Americana stuff.  The album keeps starting over in the playlist and I really enjoy the sound.  Like, "The Best Days" is just a really lovely little violin-infused rocker that makes me happy.  "New American Dream" has some good one liners about how we're all going to hell while staring at 5 inch screens.  "Last American Summer" is a wonderful capture of nostalgia for some awkward moments from adolescence.  The top track is "Mornings With You," which features Kaitlin Butts (who is married to the lead singer of the band).  Just over 3 million streams.

Why does YouTube call these "Official Visualizer"?  It's a music video.  Visualizer makes it sound like it's just going to be random light show graphics or something, not a nice little short movie about being in love.  And a nice tune about trading in the long night party time for a relaxed morning with a love.  "The Best Days" reaches out for really being a rock and roll tune, but with a pile of fiddle as well.  “The stars go on forever, like a billion fireflies, we’re glowing dust just burning out, lucky to be alive.”  I dig it.

Black Pumas - Chronicles of a Diamond.  In all honesty, I wasn't too terribly excited about a new Pumas record.  They're good, but not like my favorite thing in the world.  But this album freaking whips ass.  So great.  Super soulful and funky and original.  Sometimes it feels like you are just listening to straight soul, and then a bit later you are wiggling around in some psych rock crunch.  Burton's voice is magical and full of depth and reach, while Quesada is grooving his ass off in the background.  The top track is the album opener, "More Than a Love Song."  6.2 million streams.

Comes on like some Marvin Gaye funk.  The deep-background tinkling ice cream truck song in the background of "Ice Cream (Pay Phone)" is such a cool little touch.  Every time "Hello" starts, I think a different album just started in my queue.  But, this disc is worthy of being the representative of Austin out there in the world.  Very good.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - The Silver Cord.  Freaking weird shit.  These guys are best known for their prolific releases of sludgey psych rock metal stuff.  Some of which is very good, some of which is meh.  But this is some sort of weird-ass, synth-pop, 90's dance electronica, Krautrock thing that makes no sense at all.  I do not enjoy it.  Pretty sure I've never made it past the terrible rap part of the third song.  Every time I start to hear that part, I just turn this off and do something else.  Of course, that is the to song other than the album opener, which you know only has high streams because people want to check this out and then go ewwwwwww and turn it off.  "Set" has just over a million streams.  Just wait for that rap thing.

And just in case, the back half of the album is all 10-20 minute versions of the first half of the album.  DEATH.