Quick Hits, Vol. 343 (Tierra Whack, The Black Crowes, Pinegrove, Future and Metro Boomin')

Tierra Whack - WORLD WIDE WHACK.  Man, I didn't expect to prefer her tiny little 30 second tracks, but this album gets really old to me really quickly.  It is her singing that does it - she seems to repeat the same sound and cadence every time she sings, so it just seems to sound the same.  I can't quite describe what I am hearing, but it just wears on my ears over the course of this huge album.  Sort of like she is singing the theme to a nursery rhyme in each song?  And then the lyrics are just not very fun either - suicide and mood swings and depression and cutting - set against this childish sounding singing.  Which, sure, it is good to talk about those sorts of things, but it sure makes a 15 song album feel like a slog to have that stuff nailing you in every tune.  "Chanel Pit," with its weird way of calling herself the shit, and a lighter subject matter, is the top streamer with 1.5 million streams.

"9, 10, 11, fuck 12" sounds good, but the whole "mosh pit smells like Chanel" is weird, and "Microsoft I'm an excel" is clunky as hell.  I don't hate the album, but I definitely prefer hearing her have fun than wallowing in her issues.

The Black Crowes - Happiness Bastards.  I read a short review of this album the other day.  I generally try to avoid reading stuff before I've formulated my own opinions, just so I won't be influenced by someone else.  But the line in that review that was super good said something to the effect of "nothing on this album marks it as a 2024 album."  I love that, and completely agree.  This is just right back into the usual shaggy blues rock stuff that they were making in the 90's.  Which is a great thing!  I mean, no, it is not as good as Southern Harmony or Shake Your Moneymaker, but it is groovy and rockin' and funky and very enjoyable!  The opener, "Bedside Manners" even has Chris Robinson doing some of the old school ad lib goofiness that he did in the past, and it's fun.  The top track is "Wanting and Waiting," with 1.7 million streams.

Good old slow moving classic rock jams, baby.  I love how ratty Chris looks - he's still doing those same little poses and moves as 30 years ago, but looks like a homeless dude trying those moves on for size.  The last time I saw them live, it was one of those shows where they played the entirety of Shake Your Money Maker from start to finish, and it super ruled.  I love that album, and hearing the deep cuts was deeply pleasing.  Again, this isn't getting into that absolute classic territory, but it is solid.

Pinegrove - Cardinal.  I went from having never heard of these dudes, to reading about someone coming to Two Step Inn who admires them, to digging deeper and deeper into their catalog.  This is a 2016 album they made before the implosion of the band, and it is more deliciously good Death Cab x Band of Horses x Decemberists indie rock action.  Three of the tracks top 10 million, making me think they must be the hits for the band.  The top one without a doubt is the album opener with "Old Friends" at 41.5 million streams.  A live version, but you'll get the idea.

The way they look at each other and nod is unnerving.  But a lovely little tune with a killer lyrical bit that should make you feel like a bad kid every time you hear it.  "Walking out in the night-time springtime / Needling my way home / I saw Leah on the bus a few months ago / I saw some old friends at her funeral / My steps keep splitting my grief / Through these solipsistic moods / I should call my parents when I think of them / Should tell my friends when I love them."

I went to a short wake for a friend's dad yesterday, and I very literally left there thinking I really should have told him that I loved him when I hugged him goodbye.  Dope.  Anyway, pleasing album of really nice tunes.

Future & Metro Boomin' - We Don't Trust You.  Weird to see the guy making the beats get top line billing with the rapper on an album.  I guess Timbaland got that sort of treatment back in the day, but still mostly they just get announced by those annoying producer tags without being on the name of the album.  In this one, it's Future saying the mangled sounding words: "If Young Metro don't trust you I'm gon' shoot you" which is not fun to hear over and over at all.  A few tracks on here are super solid - the Kendrick Lamar one "Like That," the other collab on "Type Shit," and it totally has to do with the beats - brawny, thumping, intimidating.  Pretty good.  But the Kendrick track is for sure the standout, and the streams prove that up with 148.9 million streams.

I hear the sniped sample from that old Eazy E joint, "Eazy Duz It," but those bells sound familiar too.  I will tell you, when this song came on in the car the other day, after I'd been listening to some gentle track mixed in, the bass was like a thunderous herd.  Lyrically, it feels like the other Future features where nothing interesting is happening at all, but it sure sounds cool.  The Kendrick verse is good tho. Nothing here is as good as "Mask Off" or "Thought it was a Drought" or "I Serve the Bass," but it isn't awful either.  Normally, I would not be on board with "Slimed In," but the vibe of the track is cool, even if the actual rap is uninteresting.  Yeah, that is my review here.  Great beats, underwhelming rhymes, definitely enjoyable vibe.