Quick Hits, Vol. 263 (The Secret Sisters, Squirrel Flower, Cornershop, Stephen Malkmus)

The Secret Sisters - Saturn Return.  I think Rolling Stone had talked these ladies up, but this is a damn pretty album.  If you are a fan of those harmonic bits of First Aid Kit, then this one will hook you right in the same spot.  "Cabin" strikes me each time I start it up, just the rockin' tune and the repeated threats to "burn this cabin down" make me look up from my work to see what is going on.  Overall, this one departs from the FAK sound by being more rockin', more traditional country, where those ladies aim more for the Laurel Canyon Americana soft stuff.  Interesting factoid I would never have known, and which seems really odd, they contributed a song to the Hunger Games soundtrack.  "Hold You Dear" is near the end of the album, and yet boasts the most streams by a good bit - 637k on Spotify.

That one kind of reminds me of Brandi Carlisle.  Pretty, heartfelt, solid.  They also did a Tiny Desk show - although it was four years ago, so it has nothing to do with this new album.  This is a good album - I don't love the entirety of it, but it is chock full of pretty harmonies and a pleasant listen in the background.

Squirrel Flower - I Was Born Swimming.  This feels like a made up band name and made up album name, like I just decided to screw with you and come up with something outlandish to see if you would buy it.  But nope!  This has a real Mitski vibe to me, a touch harder than Soccer Mommy, but still an indie rock thing.  "Eight Hours" struck me for its beauty, but its also kinda boring.  "Red Shoulder" is my favorite of the tracks, even though it is second place in streams to "Headlights," so I'll give you that one.

I dig the guitar tone at the start - it seems pissed.  And then it seems like the chorus is really just that guitar riffage that keeps coming back, because there aren't words repeated in a traditional chorus style.  That being said, I dig that guitar riffage, makes me think I would enjoy to get slightly inebriated and let my limbs dangle loosely while I shuffle and shake to those sounds.  But a lot of this album just fades off into the background, like pretty vocals, similar guitar strums, nothing much else going on.  Except the annoying jingle of "Honey, Oh Honey!" which should go away now.  But for the last half of the album, it just slips away into anonymity like she wanted this to be longer than an EP but didn't have the materials.  I actually hate to make it sound bad, its truly not, but I've lost interest after just a few runs through the disc.

Cornershop - England is a Garden.  I remember recalling some of their older stuff, had a kind of 60's Brit-pop feel along with an Indian/Pakistani influence.  They had a minor hit in the nineties called "Brimful of Asha," where the chorus just repeatedly said "brimful of asha on the, 45" and then a bridge repeatedly said "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow!"  I know I recall it, maybe you do to.  This one stays in that sort of classic Brit feel, feels like something a modern Austin Powers were still boogie to when he wanted to feel nostalgic for the good old days.  I'm not in love with it, and it would appear that the rest of the world is not either.  The first song is the only one to top 100k streams, and two of the tracks have less than 1,000.  Here is that first track, to give you the flavor, "St Marie Under Canon," with 174k streams.

Yeah, that's alright.  I've been through it several times by now, the album kept coming on after other stuff I wanted to hear, and it just bops along under my brain's radar for a long time until I realize something else is playing.  I'm good without this one.

Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques.  Now, I know we are all supposed to drop to our knees and worship Malkmus, if we like indie rock at all, because he brought Pavement to the world and thus must be on the short list of any Pitchfork writer's favorites.  This is not like Pavement at all, its more like one of Beck's acoustic, semi-depressing albums.  I guess you might call it psych indie?  or folk?  Has a lot of middle Eastern sounds in it.  Actually, the opening track ("ACC Kitten") sounded enough like Cornershop that I kept thinking that album was still farting along when this disc started playing.  Which is weird.  Anyway, I suppose that it is actually quite lovely.  Lots of nice harmonies in the acoustic guitars and sitars and whatnot.  Or like, "What Kind of Person" involves one of those flutes I associate with either a massage spa playlist or shopping in a new age-y store in New Mexico.  Drums are either non-existent or very muted, when they are used. Seems like something nice to be stoned to.  His voice frequently evoked Lou Reed's droll deadpan.  And yet, I'm not sure that I really like it.  "Xian Man" at 336k streams has the lead right now - nothing else breaks the 200k barrier.

The lyrics are almost like a rap - "I'm Miles Davis better than you" sounds like a rapper brag.  The album isn't bad, I just don't much notice it as it bops along while I work.  Nothing terribly interesting to me, so I'll let it go.