Quick Hits, Vol. 129 (Protomartyr, Sting, Sleigh Bells, Kodak Black)

Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect.  This is a 2015 album that snuck into my queue after I was listening to bands who were going to play Sound on Sound Fest.  I'm not feeling especially inspired by this album, despite it being a critical darling and everyone wanting to write about how these guys are going to revitalize the Detroit punk/post-punk scene.  The most listened to track from this album is "Dope Cloud," with 589k streams.  Just about everything from the album has more than 200k listens, so these guys are maintaining a respectable level of popularity.

Jeez, that video is a little stressful for the kid in the phone booth, right?  That brings back not-so-happy childhood memories of being hassled by older kids.  Pretty good song and all, but the album just never gets my interest.  I won't keep it around.

Sting - 57th and 9th.  Old Sting is the good stuff in my book.  I loves Soul Cages and Ten Summoner's Tales and even Mercury Falling (which was less well received by the majority of folks, but has "I Hung My Head" (excellent) and "I Was Brought to My Senses," which is also great).  The last couple things he's put out have been weirder stuff, less classic Sting rock and more symphonic or tied to his musical.  So this one was his great return to rock and roll, although for the most part it falls flat for me.  I don't know if this is a real thing, but I feel like he has several songs on here where he (as the bassist) just finds one note and plays that same note for the entire 3 minutes of the tune in a driving Chinese water torture.  "Petrol Head" certainly works that way.  Thrum thrum thrum thrum thrum thrum.  The popular tune on the album is the opener, " I Can't Stop Thinking About You," with 4.8 million streams.

Perfectly fine pop rock tune.  The song that I keep enjoying much more is the acoustic beauty of "Heading South on the Great North Road."  Like a beautiful song from Ye Olde England or Game of Thrones or something, but I like it.  Otherwise, this album isn't going to stick with me.

Sleigh Bells - Jessica Rabbit.  I actually found Who Framed Roger Rabbit the other day and sat down to watch it with my oldest kid.  That movie is actually pretty funny, and although in my mind it was pretty racy, it actually isn't all that explicitly sexualized (I mean, other than the Jessica Rabbit character's body shape).  Anyway, you might remember these dudes (or maybe not) from their 2011 album Treats, which was this excellently odd mashup of brutal rock/electronic beats and a pop singer's hooks.  I still use "Kids" from that album as a running track (to the extent I ever run anymore), and "Infinity Guitars" was also cool.  "Rill Rill," also from that album, is their most popular track by a bunch with 20 million streams (although its not the one I think should get the most plays).  But it feels like the shock and excitement of those tunes is just getting re-tread here without any new-ness or the same powerful hooks.  You just get loud beats banging in your ears with a pretty voice laying stuff down over the top without much of interest.  Here is "It's Just Us Now," the top track from this album with 571k streams.

Hot guitar licks!  Thumping bass!  Skittering beats!  Bikinis!  Sultry songstress vocals!  It's all there, but I can't say I care all that much anymore.

Kodak Black - Lil BIG Pac.  Interesting homage paid to three of the biggest rappers ever.  I'd say that I hear the Lil Wayne sound, but I wouldn't say that I'm hearing much in the way of the two dead kingpins of rap.  I'd say that "Can I" sounded like the hit to me on here, with a laid back trapp-ish beat and lyrics about just trying to get by, but instead it is the half rap/half R&B sound of "Too Many Years" that has 63 million streams (and sounds like that Post Malone junk I reviewed a few weeks ago).

Yeah, nah.  But this is the stuff that sounds like Lil Wayne too, so you can check that out.  This guy apparently just put out another full album, so maybe I'll go check that one out and see if it gets better, but I don't need to hear this one again.