Quick Hits, Vol. 279 (Demob Happy, Dogleg, Lana Del Rey, Kevin Gates)

Demob Happy - Holy Doom.  Actually an older album, this is from 2018.  Brits doing a passable Queens of the Stone Age thing.  The key evidence of that is "Spinning Out," where the guitar riffage absolutely sounds lifted from something on Rated R or Songs for the Deaf.  And then "God's I've Seen" comes along with more "Sick Sick Sick" riffage and vocal harmonies that sound like something from Vampires.  Or "Loosen It" with the pure QOTSA riffage living right there in its belfrey.  That is the most streamed tune and it rules.

C'mon, that falsetto voice, those crunchy riffs, you're feeling it, right?  But then some of these tracks have more of a Brit-psych-rock thing and less of the stoner rock vibe.  "Be Your Man" is like that for me, the harmonies in the singing especially.  It's all certainly more gleaming and glammy than run of the mill Queens.  According to the Internets, the band name means being elated that you are leaving a stressful job situation - like if your army unit is being demobilized from a war zone so you are pumped.  Interesting.  I really like this one.

Dogleg - Melee.  A loud ass train of rock barreling off the track.  Every one of these songs is rough edged and blaring in a way that was appealing at first, and then starts to wear thin.  Punk has never been my first choice for hard rock, I'd rather have less of the raw yelling and more of the nice vocals carried along by harsh instruments.  This one, at times, reminds me of that Refused album The Shape of Punk to Come, where the singer is just barking raw vocal pain into your ears.  And then the backing vocal soar around like its the Gaslight Anthem.  I'd blame the low grade headache this is giving me on the COVID shot I got yesterday, but this one has been a hard listen the entire time I've been working with it for the past two or three weeks.  The opening track has the most streams with 940k - this is "Kawasaki Backflip."

Yeah, that one jams.  I just wish he relaxed the vocals just a tad.  And yes, I know that makes me an old man and super lame.  But I'd love to smash up a bunch of old vases with those dudes as they rocked my face off.  That part sounds great!

Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails over the Country Club.  The first song on this album just makes me want to run away so far and fast.  Half whispered, half squeaked, I just want it to stop each time it comes back on.  I wrote the other day about not much caring for the lead single of this one either.  It's too bad really, as I though Norman Fucking Rockwell had some bright spots that I still like, but this one is a dud.  Too much whispy, lovely, blah stuff.  Interestingly, the vast majority of the songs on here have around 2 million streams, and then just two of them have large counts - title track with 35.7 million and then "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" with 29.5 million.

Those opening lines are really nice, but the overall feel of the song is just too treacly.  "Let me hold you like a baby" and the soft piano bits and sighing delivery all grate my brain.  Nopedy nope nope.  "Dance Til We Die" has a funky little interlude in it, but it still generally sounds like the rest of this smooth jazz dreck and I don't want it.

Kevin Gates - Only The Generals, Part II.  Gates has a great flow and a good beat selection, but his immense output makes it harder for me to appreciate individual tracks that start to bleed together after a while.  Just mixtape after mixtape from the dude.  The opening track is solid, even though the lisp that he adds to the way he says "Yes Lawd" over and over is a little offputting, like he's trying to do some sort of homophobic joke, but I have no reason to suspect he actually is.  I thought that would be the top track, but I was very wrong.  The strangely named "Plug Daughter 2" is the big one, with 4.5 million streams.

Do I take that to mean that he is having sexual relations with the daughter of his drug source?  Yes, yes I do.  Brave man.  That is a pretty solid track - love the explainer for how to better run drugs across international lines.  I also have to discuss "Send That Load," where he at one point notes that his connection with his lady friend is more than physical, it's spiritual, but then later he's talking about licking her butthole and she's squirting in his face as he's doing it.  Which certainly comes across as a distinctly physical moment.  Like the last few albums of his that I've listened to, I generally enjoy the listen, but nothing on here really pokes out as a special hit or something I must retain.