Quick Hits, Vol. 227 (Catfish & the Bottlemen, Injury Reserve, Halfway, Anderson.Paak)

I know that  one of the lamest things possible is for someone to talk about their fantasy football league, but I just mainly want to gripe about the fact that I am currently in four leagues.  Which is so terrifically stupid.  I own just about every player on one team or another, and end up cheering for myself against myself every weekend.  It's making me burn out on the whole endeavor - I just can't keep track of it all or worry about breaking news and players like I might have in the past.  Which is probably a good thing that will lead to me dropping out of all four leagues next year.  Then I can redirect the dumb time I spend reading about the potential of the Steelers' fourth string running back and start concentrating that energy on dumb things like researching whether Bushwick Bill was a better rapper with one eye or two eyes (unquestionably the latter).  Time will tell. 

Catfish & the Bottlemen - The Balance.  These guys rule.  I've already espoused my pleasure in their rock and roll goodness, and then the first single from this album came out, was picked up by the radio, and I thought they were ready to take on the world.  "Longshot," with 35.1 million streams.

Yes!  That is the good stuff.  Great catchy pop rock stuff, and a great sing-a-long chorus.  "every once in a while, the little things make me smile, as if one of my long shots paid off."  I will say that their band name could use some help, its just a little too much of a mouthful.  Also, "2all" is another pretty good one - chuggin guitar and catchy tune.  The final tune is a little weird, "Overlap," in that is just ends in mid-jam, like mid-line.  Very good album.

Injury Reserve - Injury Reserve.  These guys were one of my favorite finds on last year's ACL poster, and they brought it hard in person.  Very fun, raucous show.  This is their brand new album, and it ain't great.  They're at their best when they use a catchy, hard beat and then spray fun lyrics over the top.  This finds them trying to be very odd, with glitchy, uneven beats and way too much repetition with the lyrics.  Like, I could barely finish listening to "GTFU."  Not horrible, but just nothing nearly so catchy as their best stuff from earlier albums.  The top streamer is one called "Jailbreak the Tesla," with someone named Anime.  3.5 million streams.

Yeah, saying "how to hack a Tesla car" 80 times in a row, and "fuck it, jailbreak the Tesla" another 30 times in a row?  I don't need it.  I kind of like the verse about his childhood iPod though.  "Gravy n' Biscuits" is OK.  "Rap Song Tutorial" made me grin, even if it shouldn't be on an actual album.

Halfway - Rainlover.  Not sure how this album from a Brisbane, Australia eight piece ended up in my Q, but its pretty nice stuff.  Kind of in the same vein as the gentle side of Strand of Oaks or the harder side of David Grey.  Or like the soft stuff from Manchester Orchestra?  Whatever.  Indie rock, right?  Tuneful rock and roll that angles towards Americana at times, especially when the pedal steel is mournfully speaking up.  Even more weird, none of the songs has more than 10,000 streams, so I have no idea where I found this thing.  The top track, with all of 7k streams (and 855 views for this official video) is "Swinburne Ashes."

That video truly sucks ass.  Like, way worse than something my 9 year old could shoot with my iPhone.  But I really like the tune.  Overall, I like the album, but I probably wouldn't say that it should be a must listen for anyone else.

Anderson.Paak - Ventura.  The dude throws down with an Andre 3000 verse on the first song.  How you gonna give us the goods in the very first one?  This guy makes very chilled, cool, jazzy half-rap/half-R&B that sounds so organically smooth that I don't hate it.  If you read my thoughts frequently, then you know I can generally do without all of the R&B clogging up my rap these days, but this feels more genuine and leans towards funk more than generic R&B platitudes.  Also, he adds Smokey Robinson, Brandy, and Nate Dogg as guests on top of 3K, which shows that he has good taste and a very powerful agent.  "King James" was the initial single (and is funky goodness), and it still works pretty well, but the Smokey Robinson track, with its sweet, cool, smooth flow, is the stream winner.  "Make It Better" with 25.7 million streams.

So sweet!  And then the video makes me think its maybe about couples wanting to murder each other.  And now that I give it a critical listen, it isn't about improving a great relationship, its about making new memories to make a relationship better, ostensibly because the old memories are of them screaming at each other and using their hands too much to emphasize those screams.  It's a nice album - a good change of pace from what I normally do.  I like it.