Quick Hits, Vol. 332 (Black Belt Eagle Scout, Model/Actriz, Wilco, Lil Wayne)

Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, The Water, The Sky.  Love the band name, with I liked the music more.  I just started writing this up because I literally just looked up from the e-mail I was reading with the thought of putting on some music, even though this album was currently playing.  That is not a good sign.  And I feel a little bad about it, because I actually think that this sort of reverby, shoegazey, alternative rock is up my alley, but for whatever reason this isn't hitting for me.  Kind of a Cowboy Junkies vibe at times, but with a more modern sheen like a Mitski jam. Top track is "Nobody," with 335k streams.

Yeah, that is a really pretty song.  Annoys me not to be enamored with this, but I'm just not.  Feels like she is for sure going to come to ACL now that I said that.

Model/Actriz - Dogsbody.  I read an article in Rolling Stone talking this band up like they were the saviors of rock and roll, but I find this way too abrasive and unpleasant to be something I'd ever want to hear again.  I was kind of digging the bass on "Slate," but "Amaranth" just made me grimace and look out the window.  Sort of a Nine Inch Nails vibe of soft/loud transitions and dance drums with distortion and gnashing of teeth happening over the top.  Absolutely not for me.  "Crossing Guard" is the top track with 970k.

Not my thing, and no thank you.

Wilco - Cousin.  Wilco is a band that I have longed to love, but just have never fully been able to fall for.  They have some good songs back in the day, but the unwavering critical humping of that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album always confused me.  It was fine, but not like top album of all time to every Pitchfork (RIP) writer.  This one just keeps up the same shaggy, pleasant indie rock thing - beautifully and quietly meandering through 10 songs that generally bleed into one another.  The one that keeps making me look up has a really weird parallel in my mind, not sure if anyone else will hear it, but "Evicted" has the cadence in the beginning of it that makes me think of "Raspberry Beret."  I feel like I could easily fit in "I was working part time at the five and dime, My boss was Mr. Mcgee, He told me several times that he didn't like my kind, 'cause I was a bit too leisurely."  It's the top song here, so you can tell for yourself.  2.2 million streams.

Also, those are Jeff Lynne's guitar licks and you need to give them back.  I don't hate this album by any means, but it is just another entry in a long line of albums by Wilco that I have really tried to dig and then left feeling underwhelmed.

Lil Wayne - Tha Fix Before Tha VI.  Speaking of an artists who's best days are long behind them - Lil Wayne hasn't released anything essential in like 15 years.  He definitely keeps at it, you can't fault him for trying, but there is just nothing on this album that sticks in the slightest.  At least five repeats in, and I couldn't tell you a single good hook or especially interesting beat on here.  The top track is "Kat Food" with 13.8 million streams.

Just a completely generic set of boring bars.  There is just no way that I will remember anything about that song in five minutes.  That beat could have been used so much better by someone else.  This is a hard no for me.