Quick Hits, Vol. 81 (Car Seat Headrest, ILoveMakonnen, Aubrie Sellers, Elton John)

I read an article the other day about how the RIAA has revised their methodology for awarding gold and platinum record status to albums and singles.  Very interesting.  The new Album Award formula is 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams = 10 track sales = 1 album sale.  Gold = 500,000 album sales and Platinum = 1,000,000.  At first, because I suck at the maths, this sounded like a crappy plan, as a ton of artists are going to be able to make that threshold easily.  And then I broke out a calculator.  750,000,000 streams to get to gold. 1.5 billion to get to platinum.  That is a BUNCH of streams.  Rhianna's "Work" is the number one worldwide track on Spotify right now, with 215 million streams and daily plays of 3.5 million.  Although, apparently, that album was certified Platinum by the RIAA within a day of its release, mainly because of Tidal downloads and streams.  Its a brave new world, kids.

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style.  You have to love a good backstory to a band name, and this guy apparently found that the best place he could record was in the back seat of his car, so he named the band after the item right in front of his face.  This album apparently collects some of the tunes on his prolific, older, self-released albums, but it is a pretty cool dip into indie rock.  My main beef with the tunes is that the vocals are all kind of smothered/deadened and I'd rather really hear them fully. The top song on Spotify right now is "Something Soon" with about 469k listens.

Is that McLovin'?  And a weird video for sure.  But the melody and the lyrics are tight.  I just wish there were so many effects on the voice.  And the rest of the album is similar with really great tuneful melodies but mounds of effects on the vocals.  I've given it many spins by now, and while I generally enjoy it, I don't think I plan to keep it around for additional listens.

ILoveMakonnen - Drink More Water 6.  Terrible new rap album from the guy who was marginally entertaining with his hit from a few years ago called "Tuesday."  The most popular track off this album is "Solo," which somehow manages to have 622k freaking listens on Spotify.  What is wrong with people?

It must have been on a Spotify compilation mix or something.  There is no way this ode to how well the guy could do without collaborators should be that popular.  Most of his tunes are like this, soft-spoken and kind of boring.  On the other hand, some of his stuff reminds me of Ice Cube's line in "No Vaseline," "Tryin' ta sound like America Most, you can yell all day but you don't come close."  As an example, check out "Live For Real," and while you are at it, enjoy some of the crazy-deep lyrics from that song.

[Hook]
So watch me live, hey
I live for real, hey
So watch me live, hey
I live for real, hey
So watch me live, hey
I live for real, hey
So watch me live, hey
I live for real, hey

LOVE WHEN THESE GUYS FIGURE OUT THAT A WORD RHYMES WITH ITSELF.  SO AMAZING.  THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF RAP MUSIC AND HOW IT RHYMES. I think I recall this from my high school English class.  Was it Whitman or Dickinson who wrote every line to end in "hey?"

or 
"Closing plenty deals, My friend got beach houses, on fucking hills, hey
We trip for real, This shit is serious, Ain't got no time for a motherfucker serious, hey
So watch me live
Dish and dive, I do the rib, ay
When we at the fucking diner, hey
In real life all my friends is designers"

WOW!  I mean, that is some deep stuff right there.  I, too, (hey) don't have time for a (hey) serious. (hey)  As such, (hey) I am never (hey) going to listen to this (hey) album again. (hey)

(hey)
Aubrie Sellers - New City Blues.  These days, make a psych rock record or a country album that doesn't sound like Avicii, and I'm probably all over it.  This is Lee Ann Womack's daughter, and she definitely inherited the pipes to sing these songs.  Her voice is excellent. And this is the kind of sound that Kasey Musgraves has recently perfected - kind of bluesy rock, kind of country, with some fine lyrics and wordplay.  The hit off the album, at least as far as Spotify listens goes, is "Losing Ground." It has over 380k spins, while the second entry on her list of popular tracks has only 77k.

If it weren't for the slide guitar, it could just be a simple indie tune.  "Something Special" has a great beauty and simplicity while telling a story.  Cool album and I'm going to keep listening.

Elton John - Wonderful Crazy Night.  From the cover of the album (a spatter paint of bright colors with Elton's gap-toothed grin shining out in the middle) to the exuberantly happy gospel sounds of the opening song, this album just seems happy.  That tune, also the title track of the album, has the most plays on Spotify at about 536k.  Here is a live version:

I mean, that is a pretty fun song.  He's got more on the album as well (check the hand-clap-happy "Guilty Pleasure"), but there are also a lot of kind of slow, lovely, orchestral-ish numbers that make me want to nap.  Looking at you, "Blue Wonderful" and "A Good Heart." I won't keep this album, but it was kind of fun to go back to the Elton John well and remember how fun some of his music can be.