Quick Hits, Vol. 181 (Tyler Childers, Logic, David Byrne, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats)

Tyler Childers - Purgatory.  A Kentucky Americana guy with a new album produced by Sturgill Simpson?  Yeah, I'm in for that.  I give you that nugget of fact, but know that if you are looking for the next Sturgill, you'll likely be let down.  He has some great turns of phrase and very strong lyrics, and some of these tunes are good, but nothing on here is so genre-bending and powerful as what Sturgill brings to the table.  This is pretty straight-forward country/Americana.  Funny thing, I was sure that I had pegged his top song with the reverb-filled "Universal Sound," but instead it is "Feathered Indians" by a mile - 3.3 million streams versus only 1.2.

Look at that opening couplet, man:

"Well my buckle makes impressions
On the inside of her thigh
There are little feathered Indians
Where we tussled through the night"

Freaking fantastic love song - well told tale of finding something to finally live for in the Appalachian hills.  This guy reminds me more of a Chris Knight or Slaid Cleaves, relatively simple tunes anchored by very good lyrics.  Which, I mean, I love both of those dudes.  While I don't know squat about a banded clovis arrowhead, the story of "Banded Clovis," in which a desperate digger murders his buddy for a great arrowhead, is a banjo-fueled fine tale.  This is a good album.  I need to print out the lyrics and read it like I'm 10 all over again.  I heard he came to SXSW, and now I see him on the Lollapalooza poster, so I'm guessing I'll get a chance to see him play live in a few months.

Logic - Bobby Tarantino II.  Logic is cool - he just has a sweet flow that goes from quick to measured but generally stays pretty interesting for me.  He had a couple albums (or maybe mixtapes) that I liked a few years ago - Under Pressure and The Incredible True Story - and then enjoyed a truly massive hit with his anti-suicide track last year "1-800-273-8255."  More than 566 million streams for that one.  Nothing on here smells like a massive hit - there are lots of likeable tracks on this mixtape, but none of them scream immediate hit.  I guess the current top one has some of those hallmarks, because Marshmello is the collaborator and he has popular EDM crap out right now, so maybe that one will end up going large.  45.9 million streams so far right now.

Meh.  The chorus sticks in my head (of course), but the lyrics are pretty bland and the beat is mediocre EDM stuff.  I like "44 More," "Overnight," and "Wassup" much more than this track.  And although I'm not a Wiz Khalifa fan, I like the chilled out vibe of "Indica Badu."  None of these are deep thinkers like his hit about suicide, but they are certainly fun.  I'll keep some and let the rest go.

David Byrne - American Utopia.  I've always enjoyed the great Talking Heads tunes, but then been baffled by some of the less popular tracks.  A few years ago, I went and bought Speaking in Tongues and Remain in Light to try to decode the band, and I still feel the same about them.  In spurts, they are funky and groovy and fantastic.  In other sections, just weird and confusing and so experimental I just don't know which side is up.  Byrne is, of course, the lead singer, who has been out there making his solo albums since the band broke up in the late 80's.  Like his band, some of these things are fun and funky, and some more like verbose strings of poetic ramblings that happen to have music playing in the background.  But overall, fun stuff.  I'm very pleased that one of my favorites happens to be the most streamed - here is the LCD Soundsystem-esque "Everybody's Coming to My House."

Which, I guess, if I really think about it, LCD probably ripped off this sound in the first place, with funky basslines and cowbells and agitated synths, so I shouldn't give that dude credit for inspiring the O.G. in groovy freakouts with cowbell.  Suck it, LCD.  "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets" and "Every Day is a Miracle" are also fun.  "I Dance Like This" gets on my nerves, with the robotic chorus and more stressful interlude of synths, but then it ends up stuck in my head as I want to walk around the house saying it in a robot voice all over again.  "Bullet" also stops my train of thought, as I listen to the album, because its such a lovely-sounding song about a non-pretty subject.  "The bullet went into him, his skin did part in two, skin that women had touched, the bullet passed on through.  The bullet went into him, it went its merry way, like an old grey dog, on a fox's trail..."  "Here" makes me think of old (good) Peter Gabriel.  I like this album.  I'm suddenly hopeful that Byrne will come to ACL.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - Tearing at the Seams.  I'm such a sucker for this dude.  Saw him at ACL two years ago, saw his Austin City Limits taping as well, and now I just fall in line for whatever he hands out.  Gimme some mo.  This album is a more chilled out vibe - none of these songs bring the raw thunder like "SOB" or "I Need Never Get Old."  But that isn't necessarily a bad thing, you get sweet mellowed vibes like "Coolin' Out" and "Hey Mama" instead.  Which each make me want to bite my lower lip and thrust my face forward repeatedly to the beat.  "Intro" is a little more excited, but literally sounds like the song a band plays when they are opening up a concert and just getting the crowd hyped up before kicking into the real music.  Doesn't hold a candle to the hype hits of the last album.  The top track is one that attempts a little more of that excitement, but honestly still holds back a little bit on fully going for it - "You Worry Me."

Things that rule in this song - the voice, the bassline, the subtle horns/sax that mimic the guitar, the lyrics, the soft lilt in the vocals during the breakdown about 2/3 of the way through the song.  "Everybody wants the same thing..."  Good tune, good album.  Not great, but good enough for me to keep enjoying it for a while.