Cage the Elephant

One Liner: Great, straight-forward rock and roll with some pop cross-over success

Poster Level: 3

Thoughts:  Prior to their most recent album (which I reviewed here), I had never given them much credit.  Like everyone else, I'd heard their hits on the radio ("Ain't No Rest of the Wicked," "Shake Me Down," "Come a Little Closer," or "Cigarette Daydreams.") but none of that really made me want to go out and buy and album or even give them a chance on Spotify.  But they had a great write-up in Rolling Stone a few months ago that made me want to root for them, and so I went and gave the newest album a listen.  That album, 2015's Tell Me I'm Pretty, is great.  The best tune on there, which by now has become the hit on the album, is called "Mess Around," and it is a sincerely fun jam.

That song just makes you want to absolutely jam out and dance.  Good stuff.  As of May 3, that tune has 8.5 million Spotify streams.  Per YouTube, for whatever reason, their most popular city for streams is Sao Paulo, Brazil, with L.A., New York, and Chicago right behind.  Austin is way down at #32 behind Calgary.  This new album also has the advantage of having been produced by Dan Auerbach, and you can hear some of the soul-rock and psych tweaks that he would normally bring to a rock band.
Prior to the well-done new album, they had three older albums starting in 2009 (Cage the Elephant) that all sound pretty damn good.  Those four hits I noted up above all crack the 27 million plays mark, but the biggest hit of the four is still "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked," with 52.7 million plays on Spotify.

I hear a Jack White influence or homage in there every time.  Have no clue if that was intentional or not, but it is definitely in there.  This is a great band with a bunch of fun songs, I think I'd like to see them play at the 'Fest.