Quick Hits, Vol. 28 (The Sidekicks, Grouper, Mike Will Made It, Skrillex and Diplo, Suicidal Tendencies)

The Sidekicks - Runners in the Nerved World.  I am not familiar with these guys, but I swear that this is Band of Horses.  Vocal and music both sounds really similar to the older Band of Horses albums I have dug in the past.  Weird, because according to the Spotify bio on them, they are a punk band from Cleveland signed to the Epitaph Records label.  I would not categorize this as punk by any means.  "The Kid Who Broke His Wrist":

Maybe this one is a little punk-ish, in the Blink 182 meets Band of Horses vein?  "Everything in Twos":

Anyway, this is a really good album.  I like the sound a lot and regardless of what they should or don't sound like, it is a pretty great group of songs.

Grouper - Ruins.  Ambient chill without much in the way of lyrics.  Perfect nap music.  Not my thing.

Mike Will Made It - Ransom.  Mike Will is the super-producer behind a huge boatload of rap hits from the past few years.  You know it is his song because every one has that stupid "Mike Will Made It" voice-over thing near the beginning to ID his song.  Move That Dope was the best one of last year for me.  So this is an album of his beats plus collaborations with all of the hot rappers of right now - Lil Wayne, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Future, Chief Keef, Kendrick Lamar, Young Thug, Migos, etc.  My take after a few listens is kinda lukewarm.  The most played track on Spotify is the one with Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne, likely just because of their names, but listen for yourself:

Beat is mediocre (sounds like old Timbaland), Wayne's verse is a throwaway (seriously, how can you just rhyme the same word with itself for three lines and think you are doing anything worthwhile?), hell, even Kendrick's verse isn't very interesting.  Likely won't keep this one around.

Skrillex and Diplo present Jack U.  Kingpin EDM stuff, with some of these tunes bringing the pain while others are kind of bland.  Best ones are the "Take U There" remix with Missy Elliott, "Beats Knockin'," (this is what I wanted his concert to sound like, instead of lame-o-rama), and "Febreze."  The weakest one has Justin Beiber, which is not alone a reason for disliking it, but its just a boring crooner song.  And after the initial charge of the first few songs, the majority of the album kind of fades into the background and is less interesting.  But check out Missy Misdemeanor, fresh off her Super Bowl renaissance:

Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies.  I can almost guarantee that you've never listened to Infectious Grooves, because it was a short-lived band made up of Suicidal Tendencies' singer and bassist and the Jane's Addiction drummer.  But their album, The Plague that Makes Your Booty Move, somehow ended up in my hands in the early nineties, and I freaking loved it.  Super funky metal with a heavy serving of goofy.  Songs such as "You Lie, and Yo Breath Stank" tell you all you need to know about the goofiness, but the main silly portion were the spoken interludes.  Anyway, cool album, not available on Spotify, but if you can find some of it, make it happen.

This album is the ST's debut from 1983, and it is hardcore punk thrash.  The hit that you may have heard of (or you may just remember the cribbed line "All I wanted was a Pepsi!") is Institutionalized:

I understand that this was pioneering music at one time, but not doing it for me today.