Quick Hits, Vol. 26 (Jose Gonzalez, Moon Taxi, Curtis McMurtry, Two Gallants)

Jose Gonzalez - Vestiges & Claws.  I think my friend Noah turned me on to this dude through his side project Junip when Junip was playing ACL in 2013.  This album keeps the same gentle trajectory as his past albums, beautiful soft-focus folky tunes that should all be selected for soundtracks of movies where a young middle American searches for something - love, happiness, his father, purpose.  I could listen to this thing all day long.  I want to make big fluffy buttermilk pancakes with this in the background while my dog snores comfortably in a patch of sunshine near the stove.  I want to play this while I drive across West Texas and watch the giant windmills lazily cut the clouds.  I want to lay in a hammock under ancient oak trees and have Jose himself sing me to sleep while pushing me back and forth.  Except, who am I kidding, I will instead do super boring work with this playing in the background for the next few days.  But someday, someday I'll go on an adventure with my wife to hunt down her birth grandmother in rural Louisiana and this will play as we pole a flat-bottom boat through hanging Spanish moss on the bayou.  Somehow, Gonzalez hails from Sweden, which means he should make the greatest music of all time with the First Aid Kit sisters.

The most popular song, with over 2 million spins in the week this thing has been released, is "Every Age"

That video is supremely cool - a wide angle camera is launched from the ground on balloons and rises up above a green field, seeming to show the entire earth as a small ball below.  Soon the camera is in space (or maybe just the outer reaches of the atmosphere) and still recording the earth down below, until the balloons pop and the camera starts falling back to earth.  No clue how they did they, or even if it was real and not computer generated, but neat-o anyway.

Moon Taxi - Acoustic on West 56th.  I really, really dig these dudes.  I saw them at one of the official ACL aftershows two years ago at the Parish, when Jason and I were going to go watch the Revivalists.  Moon Taxi opened for them and blew the damn doors off of that little venue - super high energy rock and roll.  I was a little surprised, as the college-aged crowd sang along with every lyric and bounced off the walls like they were watching their favorite band in the world.  Great show.  Well this is a "Live & Unplugged" album of their tunes, which sadly doesn't include "Mercury," which is my favorite of their tunes.  But it is still a really solid six song collection of their tunes.  They've got a laid back rock and roll vibe, kind of jammy, kind of southern, a little like an early My Morning Jacket to me.  Check out their Mountains Beaches Cities album sometime.

Curtis McMurtry - Respectable Enemy.  Grandson of Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, one of the best ever) and son of James McMurtry (one of the best songwriters I can think of) makes pretty dang good songwriting and music of his own.  However, his voice got my mind racing - who does this guy sound like? - until I think I figured it out.  Put the following three voices together into one in your brain, and see what you think.

#1 - His old man.

#2 - Mike Myers, doing Marilyn Monroe

#3 - Morrissey.

If you don't have the brain power to meld those three voice patterns into one, then listen to Curtis sing this first tune off of the album (although this is a relatively bad version from a live show, he's got no professionally done videos that I found).

It is good music.  Mostly spare arrangements like his dad or old Robert Earl Keen or Slaid Cleaves or other Texas singer songwriter types.  But his voice mannerisms are distracting to me - its that Mike Myers parody I keep thinking of - an intentional vamping, deepening of the voice to sound like a raspy-voiced female being sexy.  Or a dude wearing a bra and groping himself.  While I enjoy the music in general, I can't get over the fact that it sounds like he is joking with his sexy-time voice.

Two Gallants - We Are Undone.  No recollection where I found this band, but if I told you this was a set of early demos from Nirvana, I bet you would believe me.  Has a little Paul Westerberg/Replacements sound at times (check vocals in "Some Trouble" or the whole sound in "My Man Go"), and a Killers bent (Invitation to the Funeral) in there as well.  But I keep coming back to Nirvana.  Seriously, go listen to "We Are Undone" and "Murder the Season/The Age Nocturne" and tell me the band and vocals don't remind you of Bleach-era Nirvana.  I'm not saying it is an exact Cobain vocal, he was his own amazing thing, but it sounds damn close at times to me.

Anyway, beside all of the comparisons (I apparently must compare each artist to a lot of people in this post), this album jams.  Wikipedia says they are a "folk-rock duo" from San Francisco, which is not the genre I would have picked after a few listens - some of the album is kind of chilled and maybe folky, but other parts are straight rock and roll.  Here is "Murder the Season/The Age Nocturne" - Wait for it - at about 1:52 the rock stomps in looking for his girlfriend.

Cool disc.  I'm going to keep this one around and pick it apart some more to see what else I find.

Quick Hits, Vol. 24 (Mitski, Marilyn Manson, The Lone Bellow, Dr. Dog, SpaceghostPurrp)

Mitski - Bury Me at Makeout Creek.  Rolling Stone had this one as a highly rated album from last year, and I have given it a number of listens over the past few months.  I think it rewards multiple listens, because I didn't much care for it after the first few listens.  But as it stuck around and gave me a few more spins, I've come to enjoy it.  The music is kind of fuzzy-90's-alternative with wordy lyrics.  Here is a prime example, the second track on the album, "Townie."

A love that falls as fast as a body from the balcony.  The whole album has somber lyrics, but the final tune is a sad beauty called "Last Words of a Shooting Star," which sounds like a suicide note where the singer is worried about her room being clean when someone finds her. Mesmerizing track.  If you want to sit down and concentrate on an album, check this one out, because I think you'll enjoy it.  If you just want background music, I don't think this one is for you.

Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor.  You know what?  This isn't awful.  Figured it would be - this guy just comes off as a clown looking for the cameras at every opportunity.  I read a recent article about him and I can't help but think that he is just being a character at all times so he can sell more mediocre records.  But the music here is a pretty good, if not generic, alt-rock crunch.  The problem is that I still think he is playing his scary monster role the whole time, singing about how he's got guns and is killing strangers or calling himself the Mephistopheles of Los Angeles.  Blah blah demons and death and bullets and evil...  I mean, I know that is his schtick, but I don't need to go there with him.

The Lone Bellow - Then Came the Morning.  Grandiose americana folk with soulful singing. Really lovely sound with soaring vocals over well-done tunes.  Here is "Fake Roses," which must be getting some play somewhere, because it has over 900k listens on Spotify while most of the rest of the album has less than 100k per song.

Harmony and great instrumentation, even if the song is sad.  So nice.  Later in the album, "Call to War" features the lady mandolin player's (Kanene Pipkin, no clue how to say that first name) vocals, which are silky-smooth finery.  This one evokes that same sense of comfort for me as the Fleet Foxes, just beautiful.

Dr. Dog - Live at a Flamingo Hotel.  While the title is odd (which one?), this album is great fun.  I'm not generally a huge jam band kind of guy, but this album catches a band sounding like they are having a great time doing their thing.  Touch of the Allmans on "Worst Trip," some Avett sounding action on "Jackie Wants a Black Eye" (which I liked a lot), and some country-fied shamble on "Shame, Shame."  I also dig "Shadow People," big fat harmonies and a sprawling tune that goes from a frenzy into a soft comedown.  I don't know Dr. Dog's music that well to know if these are faithful renditions of their old stuff, or new tunes, or what is going on here.  But even without that historical knowledge, I think this is cool stuff that I'll keep around for a while.  For whatever reason, while most of the songs on here have 20k or so listens, one (How Long Must I Wait) has over 2 million.  Must have been featured in a playlist or something...

SpaceghostPurrp - Mysterious Phonk.  I know, why go back to this guy when his more recent album was crap?  I don't know, but if you think about other rappers, going back to the original stuff is always going to be better than listening to the new joint.  Ice Cube, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Kanye, and Nas all pop to mind as dudes who were way better earlier.  Anyway, that rubric does not work here.  The beats are actually still pretty solid - laconic, fuzzy, trippy, out there - but again, his rhyming style generally consists of finding one phrase ("ride witcha boy" or "get ya head bust") and just saying it 78 times until the song is over.  The one that actually seems like he might have written a rap (albeit generic) is "Grind on Me."

Eh.  Could take it or leave it.

Quick Hits, Vol. 25 (Father John Misty, Viet Cong, Drake, Action Bronson)

BTW, interesting article about James McMurtry, song of Larry and father to Curtis (who knew about the kid?!).  Unfortunately, the new James album (Complicated Game) ain't available on Spotify, so I'm not able to go check it out, but "Walk Between the Raindrops" might need some Classics treatment sometime soon.  Such a great songwriter.

Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear.  Calming but wry tunes from the ex-Fleet Foxes drummer.  I just read a short interview with him where he talked about not wanting to be a "hired gun" within the Fleet Foxes.  Which is a weird term and sheds a little of the misty-eyed mystique about being in a kick ass band.  I would think that drumming in a successful band is the end game for most players, but not ol' Father John.
Anyway, this is a lovely album.  It is odd (the song "When You're Smiling and Astride Me"), brutally real ("Bored in the USA"), and generally really pretty sounding.  The last three tracks stood out to me over repeated listens.  "I Went to the Store One Day" is a achingly poignant, and yet sarcastic, look at finding love(?) by chance, set over the most basic of strings and picked acoustic guitar.  "Holy Sh*t" reminds me of "It's the End of the World as We Know It" or "We Didn't Start the Fire," except those two are pretty frenetic, and this one is more of a sleepy recitation of current ideas and commentary. "Bohemia nightmare, dustbowl chic, This documentary's lost on me, satirical news, free energy, mobile lifestyle, loveless sex."  Weird, but kind of sticky in my head.
Then, more than any other tune on here, "Bored in the U.S.A.

This rendition isn't terribly far off from the studio version.  Although his twitchy restlessness in that video is even more off-putting, especially when he climbs on the piano.  The thing that you might not get, which is highly disturbingly effective, is that the canned laughter is actually in the track (not just the audience being jerks). Reminds me of a Pink Floyd bit, but it is just perfect in this song.  I bet that audience had no freaking clue what to do with that song during a Letterman joke-fest.

The lyrics sing about spending mindless days obsessively accruing junk so that we can live in debt, or sadly growing older and seeing ourselves deteriorate.  And when that laugh track kicks in, he is lamenting the fact that he got a useless education, a sub-prime loan on a Craftsman home, and prescriptions that help him deal but mean he can't get off.  Brutal, haunting, and terribly sad indictment of the American Dream.  "Save me President Jesus!"  While a crowd laughs uproariously.  Wow.  I'm going to listen to this album more, I feel like there is even more to unpack here.

Viet Cong - Viet Cong.  Pummeling low-fi rock and roll that fires out synths and effects every once in a while in a surprising way.  Reminds me of the way the Killers combined alternative rock with new wave, this is kind of new wave indie punk stuff.  Their most played track at around 400k, is "Continental Shelf," but I think you should check out "Sillhouettes."

Boom!  I need for a big ass rock band to put out something killer - I feel like most of the rock I am hearing right now is pretty good but not absolutely top shelf.  But this stuff is pretty good.

Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late.  Drake dropped a surprise album last week, just before Valentines Day.  After a number of listens, I can't find the gem on here.  Nothing strikes me nearly so hard as some of his recent cameo work on other peoples' tracks.  I think my favorite moment is when Lil Wayne mentions Debo, because having mind control over Debo will never not be funny.  Maybe "No Tellin'," "Energy" and "6 Man" for the best ones?  Meh?  Hard to tell if this is a proper album or just a mixtape, but the quality seems to me more like it is a mixtape of rhymes that weren't strong enough to make it on an official album.

Action Bronson - Actin' Crazy single.  I dig Action Bronson.  Sounds like Ghostface with a fetish for fancy food.  I mean, you seriously can't get through a single song without him mentioning some weird foodie thing ("Melon and Pro-jute").  Makes me think of my buddy Chad.  I don't think that Bronson has ever even put out a true album, just a bunch of mixtapes and singles.  One of those mixtapes (Rare Chandeliers) is pimp as hell, even though you can't hear it on Spotify and have to go download it somewhere like DatPiff.  This single has a woozy, smeared beat with a couple deep bass kicks underneath Bronson's lyrics about actin' crazy.  Hope the new album is good!

Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne - Truffle Butter single.  I think the beat is what makes this Drake superior to the Drake presented on that mix tape above.  Beat bounces like a cartoon tiptoe, with Drake tossing off a goof rhyme with a smooth ass delivery before Minaj takes the cake for this song.

Quick Hits, Vol. 24 (SpaceghostPurrp, Kid Ink, Ol' Dirty Bastard, One Direction, Sleater-Kinney)

Ol' Dirty Bastard - N***A Please.  Wow.  I don't like this album at all.  I generally like the Wu, and definitely have enjoyed some of the solo stuff from members, but this is a crazy, barking mess over some less-than-classic-Wu beats.  And, by the way, Kanye is ripping off ODB's Grammy style.

Wu Tang is for the children.  Poor Shawn Colvin, her moment in the sun ruined by crazy.

Spaceghostpurrp - NASA Gang.  Dang.  Two clunkers in a row.  Spaceghostpurrp shows up on a few A$AP Rocky tracks, so I had high hopes for his own stuff, but this is weak.  Uninteresting, boring lyrics are sort of saved by the trippy, fuzzed-out beats.  I also don't understand how Hanna Barbera hasn't gone after this dude.  Whatever.

Kid Ink - Full Speed.  Yikes.  Maybe I need to stop listening to rap for a bit, because this one sounds like crap too. The hit has Usher on it ("Body Language"), and the commensurate 20 million listens, but it is entirely generic words over a blah tune.

I need something to save me from my rap malaise!

One Direction - Four.  And there it is.  A heavy duty dose of turbo-charged-pop is all I needed to get right.  I have to give respect to whoever the people are behind this group who craft this stuff.  I mean, this music is so formulaic but perfectly crafted, I can't help but grudgingly acknowledge that it is good.  I don't want to hear it anymore, but it exactly walks the line between rock (with driving drums, generic guitar licks), bubblegum (five boys making harmony about love and fun with dance-able beats), and schmaltz ("nobody loves you, baby, the waaaaaay I do!").  And its almost all huge - you feel like the music videos for most of the songs will have them singing on a cloud in loose, open shirts that show their abs and chains, raising their arms to the horizon and clenching their open palms to show the depth of their love for you.  Also, for some reason, I got a whiff of the Eagles in the middle of my third or fourth listen to the album.  "Change Your Ticket" is the one that I think I like the most:

Dance-able thump, simple/generic guitar riff, some tambourine, and the boys imploring you to just stay with them a little bit longer.  No one can resist.  No one.

Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love.  I heard one of these tracks the other day on KUTX, and liked it.  However, an entire album of this lead singer yelping is more than I can handle.  Individually, the songs are good, but each time I have listened to this album I feel fatigued within a couple songs.  In case you are not living in the ultra-hip world that I inhabit, maybe you don't know that this band features Carrie Brownstein, the gal half of the duo who makes Portlandia.  I think the band gets some extra buzz because of that tie-in, but they were large (and critically acclaimed) before Portlandia ever existed.  For me, the music underneath is great - powerful, driving punkish rock - but the strained singing is not for me.

ACL 2015 Predictions

My updated thoughts available here.

Now look, I have no freaking clue more than any of you, but I feel like the ACL lineup usually includes artists who meet a few different attributes:

• Groups who are doing the festival circuit this year (i.e. Outkast in 2014)
• The bands who are playing Lolla
• In 2014, Eminem, Outkast, Calvin Harris, Skrillex, Foster the People, Avett Brothers, and Lorde overlapped between Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Fest, which is 7/9ths of the top three rows of the Lolla concert poster.
• Maybe also those playing other C3 festivals like Big Day Out in Australia (welp, except it got cancelled for 2015) or Orion Music Festival in New Jersey/Detroit (doh!  Also not happening again).  Counterpoint is also booked by C3, but their 2015 lineup is not nearly as big time as I would expect from ACL.
• Those with new music out that they want to pimp with some appearances
• Bands that C3 books/manages for their other venues

With that in mind, here is my entirely uninformed guess list.

1. Madonna.  Now that LiveNation has purchased a controlling interest in C3, I think that we will get some additional access to the big artists tied up by the LiveNation behemoth.  Madonna, Jay-Z, Shakira, Nickelback (?!) and U2 each have the big 360 degree deals with LiveNation, so any of them could fall into this category, but Madonna has a new album coming out this year (once she leaks each individual track out to the world over the first few months of the year), just appeared on the Grammys, and would absolutely sell tickets.  A hits-filled Madonna show would be bad ass.
2. Prince.  I know it is not likely that they would do two classic pop acts in the same year, but bear with me.  They kind of did that two years ago with the 80's Depeche Mode/Cure fest.  The big Symbol just put out two new albums he likely wants to pimp, he just appeared on the Grammys with a sweet afro, I saw that he played an after-show for the NBA all-star game, and I just have a feeling.  Can you imagine how freaking cool a double bill like this would be?  Would destroy the Depeche Mode/Cure year.  Prince played SXSW a few years back and I remember people being blown away.  However, I just checked his touring schedule and he's not slated to do anything in the States in 2015.  Maybe not...
3. AC/DC.  New album, Grammy headliner, named as a headliner for Coachella 2015, and still have a large following.  I think it will happen.  They feel like the Outkast of last year.
4. Drake.  The ACL folks have shown a recent bent towards the hip music of the year for the big guns, not just nostalgia acts like the three above.  Drake is huge right now, just put out a new surprise album, is a headliner for Coachella, and would definitely add young butts in seats.
5. I had been planning on guessing Dave Matthews, but they are playing two shows in Austin this Spring, so I doubt they'll be back right away for the festival.
6. Jack White is playing all three of the Lollapalooza South America dates in March, so he may be a good bet.  I know he played ACL a few years ago and just did two nights in Austin, but if not him, then another big alternative rock act like Foo Fighters (although they just came) or Queens of the Stone Age (ditto).  Dear God don't let Muse come again.  Following up on the Foo Fighters thought, it looks like they are playing a tour that will be in the south right around early October, however, they are slated to play Atlanta on the final night of weekend one (10/4).  I expect that the Foos would get top billing, meaning Sunday night show, so either they can't do it this year or they will take a different night slot to fit around their other concerts.
7. Florence and the Machine.  Dr. Dog.  Purity Ring.  Bad Religion.  Jungle.  Either playing Coachella, Emo's, Stubb's, or I just have a feeling.
8. Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters.  Also playing all three of the Lolla South America dates.  He last came to ACL with Allison Krauss a few years ago, he lives (or used to) in Austin, and he would be a huge name to draw folks in.
9. Maybe Metallica will play since they are apparently cancelling their own festival?  No new music that I know of, but they've never played ACL.  Might be time.
10. Uhhh, Asleep at the Wheel.  Since they play every single year, I'm not going out on the huge limb here.  BUt I'm certain to get one prediction right!
11. Tweedy.  Like Asleep at the Wheel, I think Wilco have played ACL Fest about 278 times.  I can see Tweedy stealing that slot.
12. Lotus.  New album out at the end of last year, playing Stubb's soon.  I dunno, feels right.
13. Sturgill Simpson.  Playing Stubb's soon, highly popular right now, and would draw country-fied Texas frat-bros who drink lots of beers.  Count it.
14. Father John Misty.  Playing Stubb's soon, new album out.  Also feels right.
15. Hozier.  Playing Coachella, and needs to make up for missing the festival last year.
16. Maybe the Roots or Widespread Panic because they are playing Counterpoint?  I feel like the Roots were just here though.
17. Lenny Kravitz. Super Bowl high, new album out, if he plays Mama Said from start to finish I'll go nuts. 
18. Shakey Graves. New album, blowing up right now, and from Austin. Right?
19. What about Taylor Swift?  She is playing Dallas on October 17 and Houston on October 13.  I know that she would be outside of the normal genres that ACL generally aims for, but I would also say that Calvin Harris or Lana Del Rey also come from pop radio and not ACL-esque genres.  Like U2, she likely doesn't need a festival to make a jillion dollars at every show, but I can also see her wanting the cool-ness factor of playing a festival.  Maybe she'll bring Haim along with her?  She really doesn't fall within the other categories I noted up above, but I'm just looking at her schedule and imagining...

And how about a wish list too?

• Paul Simon.  A friend and I were talking about this the other day, and he brought up the thought of Paul Simon playing the festival, which would be super cool.  I don't know that Simon even tours any more, but I would freaking love to hear him go back to Graceland and Rhythm.
• Decemberists.  That new album is kick ass.  They should come to Austin and sing it to me.
• Ghostface Killah.  Heck, maybe the Wu Tang Clan will reunite for the festival to pimp their new (not very good) album.
• Pearl Jam.  Seriously.  I'd go back for both weekends if this happened again.
• Green Day.  Fresh off their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, I think they are due.
• U2.  I mean, that would be amazing.  I just can't see them taking festival money when they can easily book the biggest venues on the planet at any time.  Although I'm not so sure about Bono's health after that accident.  he might not yet be up for 100 degree Texas fun.
• Springsteen.  Zeppelin.  Jimi Hendrix.  I mean, if we're wishing, right?

As I keep thinking about this stuff, I'll keep updating.  Anyone out there have their own ideas?

Quick Hits, Vol. 23 (Pusha T, Ghostface, Jessie Ware, Ed Sheeran)

I feel like I am running across more and more things that are not on Spotify, which makes me sad.  No AC/DC or old school Def Leppard.  No new Dylan, Bjork, Jose Gonzalez, or Steve Earle.  No Taylor Swift or the new Black Keys.  C'mon internet.  Help me out here.

Pusha T - Lunch Money single.   I don't know if you ever listened to the old Clipse albums, but they had crunchy awesome beats with Pusha T firing off grimy stories of cooking rocks and winning the game.  Crazy future beat here.  This is a brag-fest about how rich he is, over a strangely-paced, bubbling, ringing, clicking beat that morphs into the Jean-Jacques Perrey/Fatboy Slim sample from those mid-00's Mastercard commercials for a bit before zoning back out into space.  Money!

And because the original (er, remixed) tune is pretty dang fun:

Ghostface Killah and Badbadnotgood feat. DOOM - Ray Gun. This beat is freaking sickness.  Slick 70's funk guitar and scat drum for the first half, and then some ominous horns and strings jump in to make a solidly bad ass gangsta funkified Bond theme track.  Sadly, they just leave that part instrumental, but if Ghost would have written two more minutes of lyrics, this would be a killer track.

After looking up Badbadnotgood, thinking that might be the other rapper who is on this track, I found out that they are actually a jazz trio from Canada who must have actually made the track for this song as live instrumentation, not samples.  Even better!  I tried a few of their other songs and they are chill-ville fodder that would actually work pretty well with rap.  This new Ghost/Badbad collaboration that is coming out soon may be pretty cool!

Random Link to a Funny Story. All about how heavy rappers lose their abilities once they slim down.  Rick Ross is a great example, and holy hannah loogit him and Paul Wall.  Totally different people!

Jessie Ware - Tough Love.  Another falsetto-draped singer over electronic music.  Not sure how I've found the treasure trove of these ladies recently, but I feel like I'm losing a connection on which one is Tove Lo, FKA Twigs, Banks, and this gal.  That being said, I like the majority of this album. "Keep on Lying" sounds like I made it on my Casio 2000 in 7th grade, but "Tough Love" starts out like "When Doves Cry" and then goes through a solidly sad love song.  "Cruel" brings a dance-able beat and more clever lyrics about love and relationships.  And "Say You Love Me" turns off the falsetto to showcase a really fine voice.  This is a nice album, but its just outside of my zone.  I doubt I'll keep it around.

Ed Sheeran - X.  Holy crap.  I knew this guy was one of the most popular artists around in the past few years (he literally has four songs on his 2014 album with more than a hundred million listens on Spotify - one has over two hundred freaking million listens), but I had never actually sat down and listened to his music.  This whole time, I would have bet a million bucks that these songs were by that little Jason Mraz dude!  Seriously, I had heard a few of these songs on the radio and just though they were more blandly nice pop songs with occasional spoken-rap moments from the big Mraz-ster! Seriously, how is this guy so insanely popular when his schtick got really old on adult alternative radio years ago?  However, after a few listens, I realize that he's got some good songs on here, even if they are Mraz-esque.  "Sing" and "Don't" are both pretty sticky pop earworms - I kept singing "Don't" in my head all afternoon yesterday.

A few other songs are good enough to stick around, but the majority of the rest of the album is pretty damn bland acoustic pop or quasi-rap or super-recycled beats ("Shirtsleeves" seriously still using the funky drummer?).  Amazing for him that he has become a top tier star, but I don't see it.

Quick Hits, Vol. 22 (The New Basement Tapes, Fall Out Boy, Belle & Sebastian, Tove Lo)

I have never really listened to Ed Sheeran, but he apparently killed it on the Grammy Award show, so maybe I need to go give him a look.  In addition, this tune right here is a freaking killer jam mashup example of why music in the internet age is awesome.

The New Basement Tapes - Lost on the River.  A super-group of sorts - Elvis Costello, Jim James (from My Morning Jacket), Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), and Rhiannon Giddens (apparently in a band called Carolina Chocolate Drops) - making music with long-lost Bob Dylan lyrics from the 60's.  "Down on the Bottom," the album opener, is a beauty of a Jim James vocal.  I love me some MMJ, so his tender voice makes this song a keeper for me.  I also love the dude from Dawes - his voice is fantastic and he makes the very strange "Card Shark" into a cool goof and "Liberty Street" into a tender meditation.  "Florida Key" is also a simple little beauty.  Not sure why Kansas City is such a touchstone for Dylan in these lyrics, but there are three songs on here ("Kansas City," "Six Months in Kansas City," and "Liberty Street") that all heavily reference KC. Weird, but I'm sure one of the many Dylan obsessives out there has written a seven volume reference set all about Kansas themes in Dylan's music.  I'll just have to miss out.  Here is Down on the Bottom:

Anyway, this disc is a good one.  The one I didn't like was "Duncan and Jimmy," kind of a brassy ho-down.  T Bone Burnett is really a pretty amazing dude, who can just take this random group of artists and set them loose on a stack of unfinished lyrics to turn out a cohesive project.  Cool stuff.

Fall Out Boy - American Beauty/ American Psycho.  These guys were a big fat guilty pleasure for me.  Actually, their From Under the Cork Tree album still is.  After moving back to Austin and finding that album, I used to listen to it a ton while mowing the yard and on my extremely infrequent jogs through the neighborhood.  Their need to ridiculously name songs was annoying, but they were really good at pop-rock hooks, heavy riffage, and great sing-along choruses.  However, I think they missed the mark on this album.  The majority of the song titles are one or two words, with no cheeky clever word play right there in the title.  C'mon guys.  "Centuries" is catchy, but nothing nearly as good as their older work, even while stealing from "Tom's Diner."  "Fourth of July" was actually stuck in my head for a day or two - good beat and catchy chorus.  But then "Uma Thurman," which samples the Munsters theme (for reasons I can't comprehend) and keeps talking about his girl wanting to dance like Uma Thurman (presumably in her Pulp Fiction role?) is cheesy and lame.  Not going to hold on to this album.  I'll stick with the old albums.

Belle & Sebastian - Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance.  Well, hell.  I crapped on B&S back when reviewing them for ACL 2014.  I find their music to be pretty reliably boring and uninteresting. BUT, parts of this album are totally different - instead of twee little indie-coustic, extra-wordy tunes, you get a dance party.  Check out "Party Line," which makes me think of LCD Soundsystem:

Heavy-duty disco hand-clap dance party fest, all up in there.  That jam is anything but boring.  I'm sure loads of people hear this song and are mad that B&S has changed their sound and isn't doing sleepy coffee house snoozers anymore, but I think this new direction is actually fun.  Get 'em.  But then, just to make sure no one mistakes them for something awesome, B&S makes sure to follow that song up with a few nice bland tracks like "The Cat with the Cream."  I'll save "Party Line," but the rest of the album can go.

Tove Lo - Queen of the Clouds.  Swedish gal with electro backing tracks.  Some of these songs, like the hit "Habits" or "This Time Around" have pretty dark lyrics, but others are just dumb bouncy pop things, like "Like Em Young" or "Talking Body."  "Habits" is kind of disturbing - its a song about getting high all the time to keep from missing her honey, she's generally singing about doing sad and gross things because she's alone, including: "Pick up daddies at the playground, how I spend my day time, loosen up their frown, make 'em feel alive, make it fast and greasy, I'm numb and way too easy, you're gone and I got to stay High, all the time, to keep you off my mind."  Wow.  And the video is also a super depressing trip through her sad party time life.

That does not look like a fun time!  But the beat and feel of the song is pretty dang cool, even if it should be depressing and terrible if you listen to the lyrics.  Overall, the album is pretty forgettable.

Grammys 2015

Welp, I had every intention of trying to watch the Grammy Award show whenever it came on, so that I could make snappy, witty comments about the performances and award choices and blather on about how I knew all about that sketchy reggae group before you did.  Buuuut I totally missed any announcement that they would be on last night and have been trying to not waste my time on Facebook recently, so I just spaced it.  Oh well.  Nothing stops me now from looking back on it as a historical artifact I can discuss.

I just read a relatively funny Grantland piece of two people writing their comments as the show unfolded.  My favorite quote was when they were talking about Kanye going up on stage after Beck won for Album of the Year, while a fully-fro'ed Prince stared benevolently on: "I think Prince just telepathically sent Kanye a message like, “No, my child, don’t do it. U R 2 funky 4 this world.” And Kanye actually listened because it came from Prince?"  That is awesome.  Some idiot like RiffRaff needs to start just running up on the stage for every single award to say that Weird Al should have won.  That is the appropriate future of Kanye's legacy.

Anyway, the big winner of the night was Sam Smith, who absolutely deserves all of the accolades. His voice is damn ridiculous.  I'm sure other people have been able to transition so effortlessly between falsetto and full voice, but I can't think of someone who sounds as amazing as Smith while doing it.  "Stay With Me" is a lovely song, even if I was not entirely on board when he was coming to town for ACL 2014.  However, I stand by my prior opinion - his voice is truly revelatory, but it doesn't mean I actually like the music.  Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey had kick ass voices, but I still don't want to break out there old albums today.  I hope Smith keeps making great music and the world adores him for all time, but I don't believe that will actually happen.

Beck's win for Album of the Year obviously makes good sense to me.  Excellent album of beautiful tunes.  A cohesive thing instead of just a good track or two surrounded by filler.  After seeing that he had won, I realized that none of the big year-end reviews had mentioned his album at all.  In the Rock Critic Hive Mind article, it ended up the 32nd best album, and only showed up on 11 lists of the 35 lists he reviewed.  Rolling Stone didn't even mention it.  His album was also significantly less popular than the other four up for this - I think everyone (Kanye included) thought Beyonce would win. Rolling Stone agreed with the Vegas odds last month to say Beyoncé should have won.  Pretty wild for Beck to end up taking the biggest award of the night.  But I'm glad for him.  Love the album.

Other thoughts:

• I have to say I'm glad to see Iggy Azalea get shut out for a Grammy.  "Fancy" was a fun lark of a song, but overall her album was pretty jenky.  Eminem and Kendrick holding down the rap category feels right.
• When will the Grammy people realize that "Record," "Album," and "Song" are weird differentiators in modern times?  No one other than you nerds understands the difference between Record and Album.  
• Then there is an award for "Best Rock Performance," which was awarded to the Jack White album or song Lazaretto.  But Ryan Adams won Best Rock Album of the Year and Paramore's pop "Ain't it Fun" won Rock Song of the Year?  None of that makes sense.  (Also interesting for Ryan Adams to take that award over Black Keys, Beck, and U2).
• Does it seem like "Happy" has been around for years and years and years?  I can't believe that song just came out in 2014.  My brain has been forever altered by having to listen to that chorus so many times.
• Uh, did anyone notice that Tenacious D won the Best Metal Performance?  Do the Grammy people realize that Tenacious D is a joke band created by Jack Black to be silly?  Sadly, I'm less excited now that Beck won a Grammy. Metal must be having a bad year for Spinal Tap's descendant to take the category.
• Old Crow Medicine Show and Chris Thile each took a Grammy, which is cool.
• Do you think Ziggy Marley is kind of tired of winning all of the reggae awards because the voter people have never heard of any other reggae artists?  Does Zig have a Game of Thrones-style Iron Throne made of Grammys in his living room?

Quick Hits, Vol. 21 (Tweedy, Nehruviandoom, Aretha Franklin, Angaleena Presley)

My spell-check does not condone any of the band names (or two of the album names) in this posting.

Tweedy - Sukierae.  Man, if it wasn't obvious before that Jeff Tweedy is the reason for Wilco being good, this album spells it out in black and white.  In usual low-key fashion, these are Wilco-esque gentle rockers based on Tweedy's great voice, basic drums, and a simple guitar/bass line or two.  The "group" is Tweedy and his son on drums - from the Rolling Stone article I read a few months ago, that's the whole band.  But this totally sounds like a chilled Wilco album, and its a fine disc to enjoy in the background of a day.

Nehruviandoom - NehruvianDOOM.  MF Doom is badass.  I've been listening to his weird, offkilter beats and raps since he did Madvillainy with Madlib in 2004.  That album is cool as hell, using clips from movies and completely original sounds to weave a consistently great sound.

This new album is a collaboration with teenager rapper Bishop Nehru - which opens with a mish-mash of sounds and samples, including one clever sample of the scene in Aliens when Bishop (the android) plays his knife point game with Bill Paxton:

This album is freaking fantastic.  Cool, original beats built from samples, sounds, and thump, with Nehru's laid back flow over the top.  I've never heard of Nuhru, but am going to hunt down his other work to listen to later.  In usual DOOM style, there are strange interludes here and there with some kind of 70's soul sounding instrumental under some movie/show clip of a dude talking about something random.  "Mean the Most" delivers a minutes long dialogue at the end.  Weird, but I like it.  I think my favorite track on the album is "Om."

Cool, right?  This project is the good stuff.  Keeping this thing around for a while.

Aretha Franklin - Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics.  I get that any self-respecting music nerd is supposed to respect the greats.  I should gush over the fact that Aretha is still out there blaring her killer voice for the world to hear.  Adele and Sinead (diva classic?) are cool, but these versions are weaker for sure than the original.  I mean, good for her that she is still making that dough and doing her thing.  But none for me, thanks.

Angaleena Presley - American Middle Class.  Reminds me of the excellent album from Kacey Musgraves a few years ago.  A little Sheryl Crow too.  Country (kinda bluesy as well) in sound and tone, but with modern subjects and lyrics.  She still mentions things like Jesus and hard times and gettin' knocked up, but she also talks about weed and "meth-whores."  I like "Grocery Store," a song going through the other patrons on a Tuesday night at the local grocery. Paints a real picture of people in regular world.  I also liked "Dry County Blues," a tale of the crap-world of living somewhere that doesn't sell booze.  She is a third of the group called Pistol Annies (with Miranda Lambert), but I've never heard their music.  Her solo stuff is solid - a fine take on modern country that isn't painfully cheesy, bro-fest rock-country.

Quick Hits, Vol. 20 (Justin Townes Earle, Banks, Ought, FKA Twigs)

Justin Townes Earle - Absent Fathers.  I dig Steve Earle.  I dig Townes Van Zandt.  Thus, I'm predisposed to enjoy this album.  Its not a disappointment, slightly better voice tone than dad, but he has the same kind of tossed-off cadence and accent.  Kind of a bluesy folk sound - basic but well executed.  I definitely dig the rockers more than the slow ones - "Round the Bend" is a little barroom jam with a rockabilly breakdown in the middle that sounds damn fine.  The album ends on "Looking for a Place to Land," which is a great Townes homage.  Pleasant album that I'll keep around for a bit.

Banks - Goddess.  Brooding electronic dance lady.  I'd expect that this is not something I would normally like (see Del Rey, Lana), but she's not all mopey and sad and stupid.  The title track is a really great tune that drew me in to the whole thing, and now I like the rest pretty well also.

Walks the line between rap and R&B, but over glitchy, clicking, dark beats.  Really nice chilled out tune to bump.  And the rest of the album has the same kind of vibe - relaxed music that still has enough edge to not be boring.  Check "This is What it Feels Like" or the Fiona Apple-esque "You Should Know Where I'm Coming From."  "Beggin' for Thread" is the most listened to, with over 31 million spins on Spotify.  Pretty good song - dark dance.

Ought - More than Any Other Day.  Low wattage, punky indie.  I think my favorite of the songs is the "Weather Song," which is a loose, jangly shouter of a track.  OK album, doesn't really grab me.

FKA twigs - LP1.  People went crazy for this album last year.  The Hive Mind article found that it won the album of the year designation using their algorithm and methodology.  It will be odd for me to like Banks but not dig this, because they are similar electro R&B minimalist ladies, but I'm just not really feeling this.  Falsetto soprano, whispery vocals, over clicks and bumps with a couple swells of additional instrumentation, but never really turning into dance or anything steady.

Its definitely different from most of the music that I ever listen to, but nope.  Not my thing. Electronica Mariah Carey.  My apologies to every music critic on the planet.