Quick Hits, Vol. 101 (Highly Suspect, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, All Them Witches, Richard Hell and the Voidoids)

Highly Suspect - The Boy Who Died Wolf.  These guys came onto my radar last year when they were up for a Grammy and yet I had never heard of them before.  They are pretty damn awesome alt-rock purists.  And this album also jams, although I've noticed some pretty blatant aping on this thing - the Lenny Kravitz voice on "Little One," "For Billy" makes me think of Eddie Money, and the Queens of the Stone Age riffs and piano hammering on "Postres."  But honestly, who gives a damn. I'm going to blare this stuff from my car this weekend and no one can stop me.

I thought that the most popular track would be "Serotonia," but I was an incorrect mofo. Instead, the album opener, "My Name is Human" is the top track, with 4.5 million streams on Spotify.  But, "Serotonia" is the one with an official music video, so you get that one despite what the play count says.

Woah.  That neck tattoo is the real deal.  A slow burn of a song, that really doesn't get to take off until about 5 minutes in, but still stays kind of slinky and mysterious sounding even then.  Science lesson! Serotonin is the chemical in your body that is understood to make you feel happy and well. According to Wikipedia, almost all of your serotonin is located in your GI tract.  In my super sciency mind, this obviously is why you feel awesome when you drop a kick ass bomb.

The whole album would be great, except for when they also cover "Send Me an Angel," an 80's song I remember but wouldn't seek out to ever hear again. And this cover version does it no favors, all plodding and sappy.  But, one bad track (that I can just delete from the Spotify playlist including this album) can't hold me back.  Going to keep mainlining this 90's nostalgia rock and freaking roll.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise - RKS.  An early leader in the clubhouse for worst band name to mention to a friend as something they should listen to.  Unless that friend is an eight year old girl, in which case, she is probably instantly a big fan.  Until she hears the music and realizes it is a Kings of Leon-esque blues rock band (only thinking the first two KOL albums here) and not a Katy Perry-fronted band of My Little Pony cartoons.  Weak name aside, the music behind that weak name is great.  If you were a fan of the early Kings of Leon, you could very easily get confused after a few songs into believing that you are listening to an unheard, old KOL album.  The vocals match, the underlying tunes match (especially the guitar part), it really clicks to that comparison.

Amazingly, if you had found these guys before now, you could have potentially spent $300 to back their new album on Kickstarter and then received an in home concert in exchange.  I mean, how amazing would that be?  I know these guys aren't Springsteen or anything, but I sold my Dixie Chicks tickets from this year's show for almost $300 a piece.  To get a show in house with all of your friends for only $300?  Would have been pretty rad.

Their most popular tune from this album is "Cocaine Jesus," with 1.7 million streams.  Here is a live (not quite acoustic, but stripped down) version.

That lead singer has got more beard and chest hair than I could grow in a month of Sundays.  Real talk.  He could braid those two suckers together and, well, uh, like severely hurt his neck because he was always looking down and stuff.  Whatever, Richard.  Anyway, this is a good album that I like and will continue to play with.

All Them Witches - Lightning at the Door.  This is a 2016 album from some sludgy badass rockers from Nashville.  I am loving every second of this album.  If you dig some Led Zeppelin and Queens of the Stone Age, then you'll be on board here.  They played to some acclaim at SXSW in 2015, although I did not get to see them, but I think seeing this live would be intensely awesome.  The big tune is the second from this album, at 2.1 million streams, and it is so very heavy and jammy and rad. Hold on to your ass, Fred.

That version is live, so it is a little raw in comparison to the studio version, but it doesn't change the general intensity of the track to hear the hiss of the snares a little bit more.  Not sure what the deal is with the album and the rest of the song names, but you've got tracks such as "Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird," "The Marriage of Coyote Woman," and "The Death of Coyote Woman," so there is something weird and mystic going on here.  Good stuff right here.  Enjoy.

Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation.  Wikipedia says that "Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins."  Well, let's get him a Nobel Prize.  Safety pin fashion is highly underrated.  Highly.  This is a 1977 album of punk skuzz.  This has been kicking around in my queue for a few months now, but I'm finally writing a blurb about it just so I can delete and move on.  I would not recommend that you go back to this one.  Here is the most popular track, with 1.9 million streams, the title track from this album.