Quick Hits, Vol. 137 (Brandy Clark, Camp Lo, Dr. Dog, Shihad)

Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town.  I've read about Clark before, with people comparing her to the new wave of lady country stars like Kacey Musgraves or Maren Morris. I don't know if I buy it.  Her sound is pretty proto-typical country starlet, although not the new ones that depend on rawk guitar fills to amp up their radditude.  But the best thing she has going for her is like Musgraves or Aubrie Sellers, in that her storytelling is pretty good.  Tales of living in the small town and the rumor mill and the soap opera of living the country lifestyle.  The top track at 5.4 million streams is "Love Can Go to Hell."

Yeah, you go to hell, love!  But then stuff like "Girl Next Door" hews way too close to the - tough girl, country "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" and I'll slash your tires and fight you if you cross me, boy - thing that Nashville has been putting out for a while.  Makes me not want to like any of this.  And "Broke" starts to feel like a country rap, which is less attractive. But I will say that some of these tunes are really nice, like "Homecoming Queen" or "Three Kids No Husband."  Well, they are sad, but they strike as true and are well-crafted.  Little lines about having a smoke while trying not to pick the polish off her nails, while daydreaming about a guy who is a regular at her job, just sound perfect.  I don't think I'll keep this album, but I enjoyed parts of it quite a bit.

Camp Lo - On the Way Up Town.  Rap group from the Bronx, with two members, who go by the amazing names Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede.  If those don't sound like joke names from CB4, I don't know what does.  They were popular back in the mid-90's with a hit single that I don't recall at all called "Coolie High."  Well this album is apparently a collection of demos and previously unreleased songs from the mid-90's that they just released in early 2017.  How in the hell did I find this album?  Nothing special, although I did get excited when I heard the beat for LL's "Hey Lover" come on.  Here's that track, "Coolie High is Life," the most listened to from this album with 112k streams.

Nope, this can go back to its previously unreleased status.  17 tracks and an hour of my life, fired through a few times.  I'm good.

Dr. Dog - Abandoned Mansion.  Nothing shocking here, this album is yet another lovable, shaggy collection from these guys.  The tunes meander through an old school Neil Young meets Dead vibe, complete with harmonica flourishes and frequent organ, a jammy complement to years of chilled folky rock.  I liked both Fate and Shame from their back catalog, and this one treads the exact same ground in a pleasing shamble.  The track with the most listens is also named the least intelligently, so I give you "Ladada" with 315k streams.

Shocker about what the chorus said, right?  But, pretty nice tune.  That is this whole album, a nice sleepwalk through some chilled out rock.  I'll keep listening.  I feel like this will be good around the pool this summer.

Shihad - FVEY.  The way that they write their band name on the cover of this album, you can't help but come to the realization that the purpose of this band name is actually to make you think of the word "shithead."  Or maybe its just me, but that is definitely what I think every time I see this album cover.  This band absolutely reminds me of the "Hey Man Nice Shot" guys, who was that band?  Filter!  There we go.  The remix of that song was vastly better than the original, FYI.  This band's bio calls them a New Zealand-based speed metal band, and then mentions that they delved into industrial tunes influenced by Skinny Puppy, but that is not at all what I am hearing on this album.  Way more of a alt rock sound.  Their bio also says that their name it not derived from the word shithead, but instead was derived from the islamic "jihad."  Which was apparently not well received after 9/11, so they changed their name to Pacifier for an album before going back.  Weird.  Anyways, here is their top song, the album opener, "Think You're So Free," with 631k listens on Spotify.

Yeah!  Mid-90's nostalgia rock!  Normally I'm more into that kind of a trip, but I'm good on this one.