Quick Hits, Vol. 169 (Margo Price, Yo Gotti, Jeezy, Real Estate)

I know this is childish, but I can't help but giggle at the Internet comparing President Trump's purported measurements to those of famous athletes.  I mean, Tim Tebow and Kam Chancellor, or and the Kiko Alonso one.  I mean, GTFOH.  Either Kiko Alonso is lying through his teeth about his size, or the President's doctor has lost his damn mind.  I know muscle weighs more than fat and all of that, but still...  Trump's jawline is in the way for his nipple piercings.

Margo Price - All American Made.  When she came to ACL a year or two ago, I loved the brash realism of her take on an old school style of country.  Her voice is very classic, a little brassy at times, a little soothing at times, like many of her Nashville ancestors.  And she also does great work lyrically, firing up tunes like "Pay Gap" about the bullshit women have to put up with in receiving less for working the same task as men.  And she goes hard on that song, comparing women to slaves and dogs owned by rich white men.  She is not mincing words, even if the tune itself sounds kind of like a fun Mexican-influenced ditty.  Then there is a nice duet with Willie, and the title track, which is another nice one full of longing and a vague sense of sadness.  But the top track per listens is "A Little Pain," with just over 326k streams.

Has the sound of the Dan Aeurbach production machine that is taking hold in Nashville right now, easing off the classic country sound in favor of some old school soul sound, but keeping the slide guitar in there to add a country flair.  It was actually released on Third Man Records, the Jack White label in Nashville, so likely no Auerbach assistance.  Pretty solid album.

Yo Gotti - I Still Am.  A few weeks back, I had to drive up to Dallas for a meeting, and on the way I did my usual maneuver of trying to make my phone play Spotify through an FM modulator thingie, because my old ass car doesn't have bluetooth or a connection I can use to hook the phone up directly.  Well, that works until about Waco before the station I use here in Austin starts to fuzz out with blasts of Tejano.  I tried to find other blanks spaces on the dial, but it is just about impossible to find good blank space, especially once in range of Dallas.  So I went back to the well on the old radio stations I used to love in big D, including K104, the "rap" station that now plays way more garbage R&B than real rap.  Long story short, they played "Juice" from this album, which I had to Shazam to figure out what it was, because its a fun track.

Total popcorn rap.  Nothing in there lyrically that makes a dent in the slightest, but screw it, the beat is fun and his flow sounds good.  The Nicki Minaj-assisted track is a good one, but then there is a Chris Brown track and DEAR GOD I HATE CHRIS BROWN SO MUCH.  Why does every rapper feel the need to add him to a track to sing his hooks?  His voice is annoying and dumb and DIE ASSFACE!!!  Excuse me.  OK.  Sorry.  The next best tune is the French Montana-assisted "Oh Yeah," which has some of that old Miami bass/clap sound and is just fun.  Not a great album from start to finish, but I'll save a few tracks.

Jeezy - Pressure.  Now that is an interesting question.  Among garbage male rap-song-hook-singers, do I hate Tory Lanez more than Chris Brown?  How can one world contain this much hatred?  I think Brown still takes the cake, but Lanez is awful and horrible and blood-pressure-creating as well.  And his name is stupid.  This album ALSO gets a hook song from Trey Songz.  This is America in 2018.  Kill us all.  
I'd say that some of the tracks on this album have a good general feel - good beat, nice flow over the top, rough and rugged.  But then a lot are pretty mediocre and weak (first and foremost, the ones with the crappy R&B hooks).  The top track is "American Dream," which features both J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, so I'm not so sure that Jeezy is responsible for those 7 million streams, or if this isn't a product of Kendrick's name being associated.

Good track.  Jeezy's verse is good, J. Cole actually sounds pretty good, but Kendrick's sounds kind of like a throw away.  Like this: "These streets made for ballin' (yeah yuh), Ten toes ain't for fallin' (yeah yuh), I hear the world callin', Tell me if ya all in (tell me if ya all in)."  Nope, pretty weak.  The album closer ("Snow Season") has a nice swagger to it, and "Cold Summer" is pretty cool sounding.  But all of these, lyrically, are pretty plain.  I'll let this one go.

Real Estate - In Mind.  Similarly to Jack Johnson, Real Estate just keeps plugging along, making sunwashed, harmony-laden indie rock.  I fell for this sound back when they came to ACL a few years ago, and loved their set.  I fully understand that many of my friends find this music to be as bland as it comes, but it strikes a chord in me like a good Wes Anderson movie soundtrack.  Just pretty stuff.  But I hear your complaints - if you thought their old music was boring, then you will also not like this one.  The top song is the first song on the album, usually a bad sign, but in this case that first song is so much more popular than the rest of the album, I think it is because it is a legitimate hit and not just people trying out the album and then running for cover.  Here is "Darling," with 17.1 million streams (even more than the excellent "Talking Backwards" from 2014's Atlas).

A little more rock-forward than many of their tunes, but you can still hear the tunefulness and harmonies that they lean on throughout their tunes.  Some of that tenderness on this album reminds me of Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque.  Check "Two Arrows" and see if you don't hear it in the meandering walkabout tempo and harmonies.  This is a good album and I'll keep it around.