The Official ACL Blog for like Eight People!
If you want the daily schedule post, look below at those tabs or down and to the right at the September posts. Have fun!
Plains - I Walked With You A Ways. I think Katie Crutchfield's voice is just too distinctive for this to sound like anything other than a Waxahatchee album. This is her with someone named Jess Williamson, who I am not familiar with, but they sound fantastic together. An indie country Americana slice of pie slathered in top tier harmonies. Sometimes it makes me think of the Highwomen, although really it just sounds like Waxahatchee. Which is a good thing! "Problem With It" is the top track with 6.5 million streams.
Huh. Just realized this album was from 2022. I guess I found it sooner or later. Pretty dang sure that landscape they are driving through at the start is the road between Marfa and Alpine out in West Texas. Beautiful patch of the world. Also, I freaking love the banjo in that tune - just the perfect level of pluck weaving in around behind their harmonies. Damn, I would love to be on the rim at Big Bend, drinking a cold beer and listening to Crutchfield sing right now. Sounds like a perfect evening. Definitely an enjoyable disc.
Blu & Evidence - Los Angeles. No recollection of where this one came from, but I kind of dig it. There are multiple songs on here that call back to Cypress Hill, and I am extremely here for that. "The Land" uses a piece of that guitar hit from "How I Could Just Kill a Man," and also contains some little snippet of someone talking about making that song. Not sure if either of these guys somehow had a hand in making that original track, but I like the laid back throwback this one is. Cool as the other side of the pillow. "The Cold" is similar, and sounds like the Cypress track "Illusions." Really enjoy the chill of it. The top track is the second-to-last one on here, "Wild Wild West." Only 139k streams.
Lot of L.A. references throughout the disc - LA Traffic, LA Tourists, neighborhoods, crime, all of it. Good disc of new rap that sounds classic and timeless to me.
Mac Miller - Balloonerism. I have talked before some about how weird it is to get a posthumous release from artists. Is this really what he wanted to release? Did he like these tracks? Is someone just throwing this out there to make money despite the fact that he didn't finish these or intend for them to be a part of his legacy? Feels kind of gross. And this is his second release after death, which makes it even less likely that this one was something he wanted out there. According to the Internet, this was apparently an album that he put together in 2015, but shelved in favor of his more upbeat major-label debut. It's a jazzy, low-key, kind of depressing sound in here - "Mrs. Deborah Downer" being a prime example, but several of these stick to that formula. There are no party raps in here. But that doesn't mean it is bad or anything, it's just very much a vibe album. There are no cool samples, there is no booming bass, it's more like he made a Tiny Desk concert out of his B-Sides, with Thundercat and a jazz synth player in tow. Lyrics like "how long has it been since you smiled?" or "look around and all I see if gray skies, there's help inside that medicine cabinet." "5 Dollar Pony Rides" is the top track with 22.9 million streams.
Can't you just see this happening in the Tiny Desk space? It is a nice little vibe, and it sticks through the whole album. Nothing so special that I really need to hold on to it forever, but a nice relaxing detour into bummerville.
High Vis - Guided Tour. This one came to me from trying to find other things that sound like Turnstile. To me, this is not as good, not as catchy or melodic, but it still scratches the itch of loud, angry dudes blasting some post-punk rock into my earholes. "Mind's a Lie" is interesting each time it pops up, because of the little sample loop they added into it. Doesn't fit at all with the rest of these tunes at first, and then it super does. Because while some of this is skuzzy yell-along hardcore, it can also sound like an 80's pop rock band throwing anthemic guitar chords to the sky. "Feeling Bless" is a great example of that. I don't know what to compare those guitars to - The Psychedelic Furs? Early U2? Teenage Bandwagon? Dunno. But I like it. As usual for me, some of the yelling starts to ache after a while, I wish he did a little less of that. But overall, the disc makes me bob my head and bop along. Like, the underlying, chugging tune of "Mob DLA" jams for sure, but the verses tire me out. Top track is that "Mind's a Lie" one. 1.1 million streams.
Seriously, each time this song starts my mind thinks that we must have started a new album. That skinhead guy seems real mad and stuff. There is one guitar strum they do in there a few times that, again, makes me think of some classic 80's song that I can't place. The version of London shown in that video is depressing as all hell.
Killer Mike - Michael & The Mighty Midnight Revival, Songs for Sinners and Saints. Quite an album title. There is a line in a Run the Jewels track that goes "Producer gave me a beat, said it's the beat of the year / I said "El-P didn't do it, so get the fuck outta here!"" I think about that as I listen to this solo album for half of the RTJ crew. Because some of these songs very much sound like they are rehashes of songs from his last album Michael - I'm not sure of that, but it feels like some of them have the same beats or lyrics or something. Just give me more RTJ, big fella. This feeling gets especially true when the back half of the album veers off into just straight R&B/gospel/spoken word action that I don't need at all. The first four songs and the last song are fine. I will absolutely admit that the name of one of the guys on "LORD PREPARE ME" is amazing, even if I don't care for the tune - Belly Gang Kushington is a legit name. Low streaming album for sure, the top track is the last song, "STILL TALK'N THAT SHIT" with 2.9 million streams.
Oh weird. As I started to write about it and the opening lines, it dawned on me that this track was on the Michael album. WTF. Why is he just re-releasing the same song? Here is what I said when I reviewed the Michael album: "It is interesting to consider whether Killer Mike is cool or if he is an ass. I love Run the Jewels, and so my normal response to that question would aim for the cool side of the equation, but then I hear him rap something like "N****s talk to me about that woke-ass shit (Yeah) / Same n****s walkin' on some broke-ass shit / You see, your words ain't worth no money, I ain't spoke back, bitch / All of you n****s hang together on some Brokeback shit." I'm not saying that being annoyed with people talking about "woke" issues is off limits, he can complain about people being woke all they want. But to call people who espouse woke ideals to be both broke and gay is just really weird. Like, some Junior High level joke crap. Just catches me off guard as gross when so much of his RTJ stuff mixes killer bars with smart ideas ready to fight the power. Which is too bad, because that track - "TALK'N THAT SHIT!" is otherwise a cool beat and sound." Why can't you come up with new songs, Mike? What are we doing here?
White Denim - 12. What a weird detour. You know how the Arctic Monkeys just randomly decided to make bad lounge music instead of rad rock stuff a few years back? Well, that is what you get here. The first couple songs almost have a jam-band sound going on, but overall this is like they just pulled the fangs right out of the snake and it decided to cuddle you instead of strike. The listeners have spoken as well, as this has negligible streams. Top track is the first one, I suspect because people turned it off when that was done. "Light On" has 123k.
Couldn't you mistake that for something by like, Phish? When you are expecting the blaring goodness of Stuff or Corsicana Lemonade, but this is what lands? Hard nope. I'm sure it is making some people out there happy to have a jazzy wiggle during this tune, but not for me.
Larry June - Doing it for Me. June was an ACL artist a few years ago who I have stuck to. He has a sound that I find to be very pleasing, a low-key, laid back, rolling flow that feels pleasantly chill at all times. His beats match that to, just a constant parade of chilled out samples and smooth horns wandering through the forest of bass. Dig it. He is prolific, with pretty much an album a year (or more) since 2015. This one just kind of wanders along - I don't know that anything on it really grabs you like it is the new hit single, but it all sounds seductively chill. Top track is called "Imported Couches," which is a great title for a rap song because it gets me immediately curious. 3.3 million streams.
Woah. That yellow couch is insane. Also, I would very much like to have it in my house immediately. Fells like it might hurt your back after a while. But, you hear that smooth ass stuff? The beat, the flow, the whole damn thing is just sooooo chilllll. I want to hang on an imported couch getting blazed. Damn!
U2 - How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb. An album of outtakes from the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions, and honestly if you told me that these songs had made that album I would not doubt your statement. These very much sound like current U2 to me. I can't remember if I ever talked about that most recent single they did to celebrate their Sphere residency. The one that ripped off "Call Me" in a very blatant and major way? Well, all of the songs on this little disc are significantly better than that one. I mean, it just sounds like U2. The opening track "Picture of You (X+W)" has some jittery Edge guitars and Bono lyrics about saving him from himself that soar over harmonies. Totally sounds like what we all signed up for each time. "Treason" is a little annoying, involves a yelling bit in the middle and some faux Middle Eastern vibes throughout. I did not know that they made the "Theme to The Batman," although the guitars in it absolutely sound like the Edge (and a little like Mission Impossible's theme mixed with the Psycho music). But overall, this doesn't feel like a B-sides collection to me, these feel like legit tunes that U2 made. I'm also a homer for them. Fascinatingly, I am in the minority. No one is streaming these songs. "Country Mile" has the most with a paltry 2.1 million.
I mean, if that had been on the Atomic Bomb album, would anyone have batted an eye? Sounds like the other tunes on there for sure. And I would love to go walk for a mile in the country with you, Bono. let's do this. Nice harmonies, great guitar sounds. Good stuff.
Charlie XCX - BRAT. I am well aware that I am extremely late to this party, as this was the big album of last summer and the Kamala campaign and Saturday Night Live and everything else. But my ACL listening needs really interfere with my other listening action, and to be quite honest every time this album has popped up I have found something else to listen to. I got in to this a little with my Sabrina Carpenter review the other day, but I just can't get on board with the poptimism movement and the world declaring that this sort of thing is important music. I can't stand it. Sadly, this likely means that she will almost certainly be on the ACL lineup and I will be forced to dive more deeply into this stuff, but I have made my way through this album a handful of times and I hate the vocal effects and the generically uninteresting beats and the repetitiveness of it all. And I am for sure biased, because I wouldn't think a thing of it if the Black Keys had a generic and repetitive riff. But this is just not giving me any pleasure at all. The playcount is interesting to me, in that several of these songs, on the supposedly biggest album of 2024, have less than 40 million streams, while only four have more than a hundred million. Makes it seem to me like this wasn't as big a deal as the critics and media tried to make it seem. The top track by a ways is the album opener, "360." 334.9 million streams.
The start of that being a Google ad was deeply annoying to me as well, as, for sure, was the skit at the start. I hate it even more than the song itself. I'm sure its some meta commentary that an old white guy would not like that portion or the song, but at the end of the day I am what I am and this is not good. It just really feels like people felt like they needed to get on board with this in order to be cool or relevant or whatever despite its actual value. It sort of reminds me of the flow of Iggy Izalea. I will absolutely not be saving this album for later listens.
Soccer Mommy - Evergreen. Ahhhhhh, a balm to my soul after that schlock. She uses real instruments, and allows her voice to shine in all of its close-to-perfect glory. I also really like how the songs vary between slower indie rock burners and low-key rockers. My disappointment is that the disc is so darned short. 41 minutes feels like it slips by way too quickly. The most rock of all of the songs is the top streamer, with "Driver" and 1.6 million streams.
Dig that fuzzy guitar crunch at the start, and the break for the chorus. And I think the lyrics are sort of funny as well, with her saying she'd be the driver but is making no promises about staying on route. Also, it looks really annoying to ride in a convertible with long hair. Either way, I think her music is really a nice way to spend my time. She's not breaking any barriers or creating a Rushmore album, but it sounds wonderful to me.
Laura Marling - Patterns in Repeat. Another gem. Truly a joy to hear. However, despite that true praise, I am going to say that this wonderfully lovely collection of folky little beauties can be boring to me a little bit. Which is terribly rude, because it is really pretty. Sometimes you'd just rather have A$AP Ferg yell at you though. "Child of Mine" sounds like Aimee Mann giving me a hug while wearing a floor length chinchilla coat. "Interlude" keeps making me think that The Smile album has come back and I'm about to hear Thom Yorke sing about something weird. Lyrically, "Caroline" has an amazingly subtle storyline that sticks among the slightly annoying lalalalalalalala bits. I love the way she rends a tale of a lost love who still pops up in memory. Top track by a large margin is "Patterns" with 5.2 million.
Huh. She's so much younger than I expected. I don't know why I figured her for a 70 year old. Like I said, very lovely track - that fingerpicking is so nice. Now it's time for Ferg to yell at us a lil.
A$AP Ferg - DAROLD. One of my favorite memories of having my kids with me at ACL was sending them into the Austin Kiddie Limits area while I went to go watch Ferg's set. Afterwards, we grabbed a snow cone or something, sitting in the grass, and middle kid was like "Dad, did you hear how naughty the guy was who was playing outside of the face paint area? He used all the bad words!" Yes, yes, he did my sweet. Nothing on here is as good as "Shabba," "Plain Jane," or "New Level," but it can still be very fun to just go dumb with these sorts of brawny things. Although, I will admit that the album loses its way by pretty much turning into an R&B disc on the back half. Don't care for those tracks. But the front half that features guys like Denzel Curry and Future, those work. Top track is a solo one - "Thought I Was Dead." 2.6 million streams (which is crazy low - no one listens to Ferg?)
(1) I hate when the advertisement before a music video is a music video - did I click on the wrong thing? Who is this dork with a guitar in the A$AP video? (2) horns in a rap track always excite me (3) I've found myself walking around the house saying "hold up wait a minute let me talk my shit!" (4) anytime you get a crowd of kids jumping around and yelling a rap lyric, I am a big fan. I am surprised that the Future track wasn't the top one, but maybe he is falling off now too? And while I complained about the R&B back half, I actually find "French Tips" to be a pretty mellow LL Cool J-ish jam. I kind of like that sort of "here is how I'm going to take of my girl in extravagant ways" type rap. he even shouts out Biggie in here, and that matches as well. Dig it. Anyway, I wish I had more bangers and less pretty ones. Can't always get what you want...
It's time, y'all! Should be a really fun opening day for the Festival. I am hoping for better weather than last year's Saturday experience!
This format will be like I have done in the past for ACL lineups - the links will take you to my more complete review of the artist at issue, and the bit next to the link will be my short one-liner about the band or artist. Hope it is helpful!
Hell yeah. Imma get a Cowboys jersey, some shredded jeans, and a straw to rock the Alan look all day.
Noeline Hofmann: Beautiful and basic country music with great lyrics and a Zach Bryan co-sign
Showdeo (1:30)
Hudson Westbrook: Solid young country fella, reminds me of Wyatt Flores
I think the youth vote is going to go hard for Westbrook - I keep hearing my girls talk about him - but I might do a half set from both of the ladies instead. I saw a few Westbrook songs at ACL and was underwhelmed.
2:15/2:45/3:00
Big River (3:00)
Ernest: Buddy to Morgan Wallen making some cheesy but solid bro country
Pony Up (2:15)
William Beckmann: Honey-voiced classic country action from a newcomer
Showdeo (2:45)
Diamond Rio: 90's Nashville country, power harmonies, supreme mullets, and that "Meet in the Middle" tune
I may do the same here, since these times are so staggered, and watch half of Beckmann and then the Diamond Rio action. If I had to actually choose, I think I'd go with Beckmann. He's great.
Tracy Byrd: High Cheese rating 90's Nashville country and a DWI PSA
Torn on this one between Flatland and Byrd. I think I will lean towards seeing something new and good in Flatland, rather than the nostalgia points, but Byrd has at least four top tier 90's Nashville bangers that would be fun to sing along to with the crowd.
5:30
Pony Up
Priscilla Block: Country pop that veers between sad, confessional tunes and funny, self-deprecating tunes
Showdeo
Randall King: Pure country in a classic sense but from a new guy
It feels to me like these guys got mistakenly moved up the schedule. Are they really bigger or better than Flatland, Rio, or Byrd? I'm going to say absolutely not from my perspective. But I'll do King here (or more likely go find a dinner to snarf down).
6:30
Big River Stage: Miranda Lambert: One of the Queens of country music
Sort of sucks, since everyone will go to this stage as she is the only thing playing during this hour. But at least it makes the choice of what to see really easy! I just expect this means I will not be anywhere near the stage!
7:30
Pony Up
DIPLO: Electronic kingpin with generally uninteresting songs BUT now he is angling for that sweet country bumpkin cash as well.
Showdeo
Gavin Adcock: Raw young country guy from Georgia giving me nothing
I'm well aware of how this is going to work. I am going to skip both of these because I dislike them both very much, and later someone is going to tell me that the Adcock set was the best thing of all time and I'll feel a tinge of FOMO. But I'm thinking this hour sets me up to try to get closer for Alan. I hope my wife is on board and doesn't want to stay nine miles from the stage.
HEADLINER (8:30):
Big River Stage: Alan Jackson: One of the greatest country artists ever.
I am excited for this show. I hope he's still got his fastball, but either way, I bet the crowd is going to give him a heavy assist with the lyrics!
Well, this really ought to be a good time. I am really looking forward to Alan Jackson, I am just so very hopeful that he is able to really do a show and isn't going to struggle! This format will be like I have done in the past for ACL lineups - the links will take you to my more complete review of the artist at issue, and the bit next to the link will be my short one-liner about the band or artist. Hope it is helpful!
12:00/12:15
Big River
Maggie Antone: Varied selection of cover tunes turned into a nice little country set
Pony Up
The Droptines: Alt-country and good lyrics are still alive and well
Showdeo
Waylon Wyatt: Acoustic and a holler from an Arkansas kid who looks up to Zach Bryan
I generally liked all three of these, but I think if forced to choose, I'd go see the pride of the Frio River valley and check out The Droptines.
1:00/1:30/1:40
Big River (1:30)
Tanner Usrey: Really great, low-key Americana guy in the vein of Zach Bryan
Pony Up (1:00)
Vincent Mason: Another newcomer making country with rock edges
Showdeo (1:40)
Willow Avalon: Cutesy country with too much tremolo affectation for my tastes
Actually a tough hour. All three of these have things about them that I like and would enjoy seeing. I guess I'd angle to The Panhandlers, but could see choosing either of the other two as well. I guess really, with their staggered times, I could see two of them...
4:00/4:30
Big River (4:30)
Nelly: THE St. Louis Rapper, as far as I'm concerned, with loads of hits you know (and a new country angle that is depressing)
Sammy Kershaw: "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" plus some other classics from the 90's
Kershaw all the way for me. If you could guarantee me that Nelly was only going to play the best hits and not veer into his new trash? Maybe. But I feel like I am at this festival to see the cheese from the 90's back on stage. Although, now that I think about this day, there are really only two classic country artists on this whole day. That is sort of a bummer - maybe they used them all up in the last two years!
5:30
Pony Up
Braxton Keith: Young guy doing classic-sounding Nashville country
Yeah, I think I'll see Shane Smith here. Keith has some good tunes, but I'd lean towards a Texas-centric show any day over Nashville sound.
6:30
Big River Stage: Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen. Rough-edged voice in between Steve Earle and Paul Westerberg making great rock-tinged Americana
I guess after they shafted the entire world last year by cancelling his show entirely during the rainstorm, they decided to make it especially difficult to see him this year since everyone will go to this stage as he is the only thing playing during this hour. Cool Cool Cool.
7:30
Pony Up
Ole 60: Unpolished southern rock with a country tilt
Showdeo
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Southern rock kings (or at least their name)
Sorry, Ole 60. You drew the short straw here for sure, as I plan to yell along with all of the best hits from Skynyrd.
Kendrick Lamar - GNX. Before I get to this album, I wanted to talk a little about the Super Bowl performance. It is a sort of fraught subject, in that most of the talking heads who had major problems with it based that critique on political issues or racism or some odd pearl-clutching worry about Drake's feelings. I also did not enjoy the show, but it was for one new reason and then for the same reason that I really have not enjoyed his multiple live shows I've seen. The new reason is that he mainly played music from this new album. Which was a huge disappointment to me. I wanted him to take a victory lap in front of the biggest audience he's ever had - show people how much fun his music can be and why he is vitally important to the rap world. Instead, we got five songs from this new album, a few recent loosies, and "Humble." No "King Kunta," no "Swimming Pools," no "Money Trees," no "Alright." That was a disappointment. To me, having the whole world bounce along to "Alright" or yell YAK YAK YAK YAK! would have been very cool.
But the deeper issue with the show, for me, is that this is not easily digestible, fast food, compilation type music. It is like the time I saw Hamilton, and had zero clue who the hell was on stage, why, or what they wanted. You can't just listen to "tv off" for the first time, as part of a collection of disparate other raps, and have any understanding of what is being presented to you. Lamar's lyrics have won a damn Pulitzer. He's not making party rock anthems like "OPP" or "Hey Ya!" where people listening know immediately what is being presented to them. Instead, still taking "tv off" as an example, I just went and pulled up the Genius notes about the lyrics. The notes for the first verse say he playfully alludes to Revelation 22:13, and then hints at his 2024 rap battle with Drake, before claiming that the final line does the following: "Figuratively, Lamar is offering a larger and broader critique regarding the commercialization of hip-hop as a whole, pointing the dangers of placing yourself in the “hands” of people interested in profiting off the exploitation of others rather than working to uplift the community and create real, meaningful change." The line at issue there is: "Don't put your life in these weird niggas' hands, baby (Woah)." Suuuuure. That is exactly what the whole world understood from that line as he danced around the Super Bowl field.
So, for me, trying to parse the extremely complicated meanings of all of the rapid-fire words, during a televised dance party, while in my backyard with people asking what was going on and what was Sam Jackson going on about? Not the right Super Bowl halftime show in my opinion. Kendrick should be doing 3 hour Tiny Desk shows with interviews between the tracks to explain his mindset. And the Super Bowl should be, like, Miley Cyrus with the Aerosmith band, Snoop Dogg with the Rage Against the Machine Band, and Adele fronting the Nirvana band, as all three "groups" play the greatest hits of Tom Petty.
So, sorry for the long detour there, but just something I had on my mind. The weird thing about this disc was that, before I had ever turned it on, I had read someone on the Internet saying this was his party album to celebrate his victory over Drake. Not sure I can hear that as a whole unit. Again, the man's rhymes are so dense that it really needs a close listen to see if I can find those ideas in here. Because, without "Not Like Us" on here to hype things up, the party comes and goes. "good kid" is one of the best rap albums of all time, in my opinion, and this is miles better than the Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers album he made last time, but only a handful of the songs on here sound like they were intended to have people dance. And they sort of crib the vibe from "Not Like Us," like on both "tv off" and "squabble up." I don't know, maybe this is just what happens when you are a SERIOUS rapper but also want to grab the POP STAR and SUCCESS title as well. I think maybe I just wish that this really was a party anthem album. Like, stop with the seriousness and lyrical depth and just make a G-Funk banger about cruising through Compton in your ride, or something. I'm probably just missing the entire point, and his evolution into this stage is very much on purpose and appreciated by the wider world. Dunno. I will definitely say that several songs hit - the aforementioned "tv off" and "squabble up," "peekaboo" gets me wiggling, and "wacced out murals" has a dark grind to it that I like. I keep finding myself thinking of some bits of this after another listen, so there is something here. Very surprisingly, at least to me personally, the top track on here is not one of the bangers, but is the slow jam "Luther" with SZA on board. 529.2 million streams.
This speaks to my issue outlined above. What does "roman numeral seven, bae, drop it like its hot" mean? If you're bumping this and enjoying the groove, you'd like to understand what is going on. Genius gives us a tortured reading of it, claiming this is because God rested on the seventh day so this is Kendrick saying that his lady completes him and embodies a sense of wholeness for him. WTF. That makes no sense at all. So then, I get all caught up, wondering what he really means by this very clear delivery of "roman numeral seven." Who knows, maybe it really is all about God. I'm going to leave this disc in my new music list for a while and just hear it a handful more times to see if anything ever really gets me.
Chalk Dinosaur - Stuck in Between. I know, I know. Some of you hate jam band music. I've heard. But after a particularly pleasing Eggy set at ACL last year, I have decided that I dig it. Not all of it. I have tried going back to some classic Phish albums and I am just not able to get my head around it, but some of these noodly, anthemic, happy tunes just hit my pleasure center. Several of these tunes have no lyrics, they just boogie their way off into the sunset with a jazzy kick of the heels. My brother-in-law actually put me on this, and its good times. "Bardo" has a section that sounds very much like it was cribbed directly from that Level 42 song from the mid-80's ("that there is something about you, baby, so riiiiiiiight!"). That song is greatness (the old ass Level 42 song). The album opener is the top streamer, "Legend Sunrise." 552k streams.
I dig the fact that it sort of comes on like a sunrise, slowing blooming with more and more sound until the light pops up over the horizon and the sun begins to soar around. I very much feel like this song should be used as the intro music for a Colorado public access television station's snow report. By the way, their Spotify bio lists "key" albums in their discography, which I find to be a very odd way of promoting your project. But they apparently have four key electronic albums, eight key solo albums, and five key albums with the band. This is a key album with the band, of course. Dig it!
Freddie Gibbs - You Only Die 1nce. To me, this fella is one of the top rappers out there right now. No mumbles, great beats, dexterous flow. This disc also has some skit pieces that make me smile each time - he has the Devil speak up every once in a while on it, and in one piece, he's using a scary voice and then starts coughing and, in a very normal voice is like "ahhh, I can't keep talking like that." Makes me grin. Also, later the Devil does some coke and is yelling about it and I smile again. In a very weird slice of how the world works these days, one of the songs on the album is now grayed out. "It's Your Anniversary" is off limits for Spotify users apparently. That is freaking weird, right? Like, if I bought the CD, then I still get all of the songs, but if I'm streaming they can just change the setlist? I don't like it. It got to 1.7 million streams before they stole it from us. I can still hear it on YouTube, but I guess the sample of Tony! Toni! Tone! wasn't cleared. Which is really too bad, because it is a good track. Just offer those Tony's some royalties, man! I had some sort of compilation album - my brain is saying it was Jock Jams, but that can't be right since that is not a hype party song - with that old TTT song on it. But who knows. Anyway, the top track on here is the second song, "Cosmo Freestyle." 3.6 million.
Ahh, man. They didn't keep the Devil's coke snort bit at the end! Jerks. I love that chill ass beat, and I think the pace, punctuation, and pronunciation of his flow just makes me feel good. Just a pile of bragging bars. And that lady winning on the slot machine at the very end is amazing. I will say, the "Nobody Like You" interlude skit is overly long, even if the first time it was kind of funny. But once you've heard the lady complain about his crusty toes more than once it loses its luster. Good stuff though.
The Smile - Cutouts. I forgot about this band the other day when I was talking about how weird it is for certain lead singers to go out and do solo stuff, when it ends up sounding just like their band's music. Eddie Vedder, Jim James, Marcus Mumford - the solo stuff is just too close to the band's tunes. And here is another, and to my mind even weirder, one. You have Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, making Radiohead-ish songs with a different drummer. Poor Philip Selway, the Radiohead drummer, had to come out saying "oh yeah, it's great and very healthy for me to get left behind while y'all make money and that dude plays the drums just like I could, cool cool cool." Totally real quote as well. Do you think part of the requirement for being in Radiohead was to have your name spelled incorrectly? Thom, Jonny, and Philip out here just dropping and adding letters willy-nilly. If you are in to the newer version of Radiohead where there is a lot of arty rock and ambient weirdness and synths, then this is going to do you right up. In general, I find myself disappointed with that angle of their discography, but then I listen to this disc again and I find myself really enjoying it. "Eyes and Mouth" has a jazzy flow to it. "Zero Sum" has an insistent freakout to it. I definitely like the more energetic tracks to the more chill stuff, but I enjoy the feel of the whole thing. Top track is that freakout - "Zero Sum" - with only 4.1 million streams.
My very first thought when it starts is The Revivalists, but that launches out the window about 5 seconds in. My guitar-playing life made it to about 4 chords, but I have a feeling that the frenetic pace of this tune would absolutely blow my fingertips to chunky smithereens. But the underlying funky and cowbell is what really keeps me in the curl. Surprised to want to save it, but yeah, I'm adding it to Keepers.
I read a very good post from Ryan Holiday titled How I'm Preparing for the Next Four Years. If you don't know Ryan Holiday, he is an interesting dude who bought a small bookstore in Bastrop, practices Stoicism, and had a good writeup in Texas Monthly a little while back. Anyway, I won't go in to all of his points, because I honestly can't wrap my head around at least one of them, but the first one is a fantastic reminder that I want to hold on to and allow to roll around in between my ears:
I’m focusing on what I can control. Epictetus described this as our “chief task in life.” We have to get real clear about what’s up to us and what isn’t. What Putin does? Inflation? Tariffs? My mother’s health? The weather? Not up to me. My attitude? My emotions? My wants? My desire? My focus? My response to these things? That is up to me. Who I am is up to me. So that’s what I am focusing on.
That is so good. It's by no means rocket science, but it makes so much sense. My thoughts about it were not as succinct, but I have nibbled around the edge of this thought for years about my in-laws. They are big watchers of cable news, and therefore get very uptight about the many daily grievances that get loaded into their minds each day. So, the next time they ask me what I think about the new fear bomb that has been foisted upon them, this is the perfect model of a rational response.
Leon Bridges - Leon. I'm feeling bad about this, but I just find this album boring. It is lovely, and lush, and calming in a wonderful way. But I fired it up while the wife and I were stuck in the car waiting on a lightning delay for kid sports, and after about half an hour she was like "WTF is this muzak stuff?" Which all makes me feel bad, because his voice is beautiful and I really want to support the Texas guy making wonderful sounds, but the accompaniment just never ramps up out of Norah-Jones-Taking-A-Nap range. That is not entirely true, but even when he ramps up the pace a little, the songs still feel like he is just whispering them from somewhere far away. Not surprisingly, the most happening song on the album is the most streamed - "Peaceful Place" has 9.2 million streams.
Comes on like a Paul Simon song off of Graceland. Yeah, okay, that groove is really enjoyable. I wish the rest of the album kept that same energy. Because the next song on the disc is another soft and slow burner. Hell, just give me 10 versions of the "Texas Sun" track with Khruangbin and I'd be entirely satisfied. Sadly, I'll let this disc go back to the sea. Sorry I let you down, Leon.
Silverbacks - Easy Being a Winner. I am guessing that my friend Marshall suggested this one, because I can't recall it on my own and it is in a group of similar albums that I likewise don't recall. But this one is really fun. Kind of like that band Parquet Courts, except Irish. Pretty much tell me that something is Irish and I'm in. Kerrygold butter is the freaking bomb, man. It's one of those bands that very much sounds like a catchy little indie music thing, except that the guitars are frequently very insistently piercing. Huh. And now that I look at the stream count, this band is not making things happen. Fascinating. Top streamer that isn't the first song is "Something I Know." 37k streams.
Weird ass TikTok dance video... "Gallic Horns" is an amazing sign while lyrics are still going on. Also, that is not how I would have spelled that word. Interesting. But, you get the great groove in that track, but you really never get the guitar attack that I mentioned above. Also, it is usually a guy singing. But, I dig the catchy groove of these tunes, this is pretty solid. Some tunes actually remind me a little of old school R.E.M., which of course turns me on to no end, and then some make me think of the Velvet Underground. The changing of lead singers makes the album interesting, like a mixtape instead of a cohesive unit. I like it.
Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness. "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)" is the track that caught me in the Sniffers' net a few years back, and while nothing on here is as viscerally, ridiculously amazing for me, it is another patch of skuzzy punky rock bashing. The album opener, which I somehow actually heard on terrestrial radio the other day, is just so amazingly rude and weird, I need to tell you the lyrics.
You're a dumb cunt, you're an asshole
Every time you talk, you mumble, grumbles
Need to wipe your mouth after you speak
'Cause it's an asshole, bum hole, dumb cunt
You are ugly all day, I am hot always
You are just a critic and you want to hit it
You are fucking spiders, I am drinking riders
Don't wanna be stuck in that negativity
Keep jerkin' on your squirter
You will never get with me
I don't wanna be stuck inside that negativity
Keep jerkin' on your squirter
You will never get with me, yeah
I have to say, the lyric "keep jerkin' on your squirter" is really going to stick with me for a long time. But as soon as that one is over, "Chewing Gum" has a super-catchy set of lyrics bopping over the top of a nice little Madchester-ish rock track. Super fun. Sadly, I don't get to show you the "Jerkin'" video, which is something (especially if you hunt down the uncensored version), because "U Should Not Be Doing That" is winning the stream wars with 10.2 million.
Her dance moves crack me up. It's like an almost TikTok-ian rapper vibe, but while she's spouting these angry lyrics. But again, I find the tune itself to be very catchy and groovy. That bassline gets me moving. Same with the breakneck chorus portion of "Do It Do It." This stuff is fun and ridiculous. Give it all to me.
EARTHGANG/Spillage Village - PERFECT FANTASY. Kind of bummed about this, because EARTHGANG has some really excellent rap tracks in their older albums. This ain't that though. More of a spacey R&B thing, like something Andre 3000 would have created and then realized he should probably shelve until 2054. Lots of popular help on here - Damon Albarn, Pharrell, T-Pain, Snoop Dogg - but mostly low stream counts and nothing special to me. The Snoop track doesn't even have half a million streams. At least some of them get back to the rap side of the equation - like the top track, which is named after the iconic Adam Sandler character from Waterboy. "Bobby Boucher" has 9.1 million streams.
SO MUCH BETTER than the slow jam R&B crapola! Bouncy little beat with some creepy undercurrents, plus a solid flow over the top. But then, the next rap-centered song on here is not nearly so good. "DIE TODAY" was the first single I heard, and it just bugs me. Like I said, definitely disappointed.
Drug Church - PRUDE. The backing music for this band is the pummeling pleasure-center tweaking action I need most days. The drawback is the yelling - sometimes I like it, but a lot of the vocals are just straight screaming, which gets hard to enjoy over the course of the entire album. But the tunes themselves can be tuneful and harmonic, even as the drums want to grind your brain into paste. I think that was part of why Turnstile was so appealing to me a year or two ago, was that they brought the thunder on the music but also had a singer who I could enjoy the whole time. But on a track like "The Bitters," it works - he sings part of it and then gets yell-y when it makes sense to do so. And there are some kick ass little lyrical ideas in here too if you listen in - "Slide 2 Me" has this great one - "ran in the liquor store / yelled 'get on the goddamn floor' / man at the counter smiles wide / he's been waiting his whole life" and then goes on to tell the rest of the story of him being shot, running from the cops, and bleeding out in a stranger's backyard. And in the end, he just repeats that he had fun. It's funny and clever and loud. "Myopic" is the top streamer with 2.2 million streams.
The way that one starts just seems tailor made for a skateboarding video game. And I don't think I have ever played a skateboarding video game. You can definitely hear what I meant before - some nice singing during the verses where he sings about some old mistakes, and then he barrels in with the screaming for the chorus. And as I jam these songs more, I'm liking the tenor of the yelling more and more. Maybe I just want to yell "WISHING FAILURE / ON A STRANGER / EATING SHIT UNTIL YOU CHOKE" like this guy gets to. Dunno.
Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene. At the risk of sounding overly repetitive about every album of his that I review, this thing is too damn long. 19 songs on an album is just overkill. Pick the ten best and shelve the rest for the next disc in a few months! I find it frustrating, mainly because I really enjoy the tunes overall, but when listening to the album having the same thing flowing for so long gets tiring. It's like I said about Logic's staccato flow the other day. But this dude's lyricism will keep him in the discussion of greats no matter how bloated his discs are. Just little throwaway lines in the middle of a song about playing baseball with a worn glove and how the leaves might change but the roots stuck. He really can write a hell of a tune. The title song is great, and although Springsteen sounds old and warbly, their duet is good. John Mayer's guitar is unmistakable, but it is weird that he doesn't take over the singing duties in their tune together. "Purple Gas" with Noeline Hofmann is lovely as well. "28" is the runaway hit on here though, with 195 million streams.
That chorus just gave me goosebumps - this is a raw live version, compared to the album cut (and it is fascinating that he can't whistle for shit!) but you get the idea. Funny that he biffs the camera down and just keeps on rolling. Really good song. I like the album, just wish it was tighter!
Coldplay - Moon Music. I really want to like this, because I really love me some old Coldplay. But this is not the same band. This is a techno group featuring Chris Martin. It feels like many of these songs would be absolutely transcendent to hear live in a huge crowd of people going crazy for them - "feelslikeimfallinginlove" for example, or "Good Feelings" or "AETERNA" - like during the ALALALALOBEELOOOOH chant-along bit for sure. But nothing on here can touch the beauty and perfection of "Yellow" or "Clocks" or "Fix You." By the way, I pulled their main page up to make sure I was identifying those songs correctly, and EVERY song in their Spotify top ten most popular list has over a BILLION streams. Good freaking Lord.
Also, there is a song on here named by using just the rainbow emoji and that level of annoying pretentiousness has never been sniffed by any prior band. While I could see some of these tunes being fun in person, I just can't get the album to work for me. I feel disappointment when it comes on, and that isn't what you are shooting for here...
Momma - Household Name. This band popped onto my radar a while back because the single "Medicine" was getting radio play here in Austin and I thought it jammed. 2022 album, so this is not fresh off the presses. They throw off Soccer Mommy, Bully, beabadoobee, Snail Mail, Japanese Breakfast vibes. And I dig it. Lady singer and some frequently heavy, fuzzy, grungy rock accompaniment. Like, "Rip Off," the first track on the disc, pleasantly roils so that by the end it is just a head-nodding jam. Very nice. Fascinating, at least to me, is that the song I knew beforehand is actually not the top streamer, that would be "Speeding 72," by less than 100k streams. So I am giving you "Medicine" anyway, just because I think that song is so cool. 4.8 million streams.
I like the foreboding low end when it starts, that then launches into a sparklier joy at the chorus. This is some pure 90's 120 Minutes tastiness and I am very here for it. More Breeders than Hole, and it makes me happy. This whole disc is totally worth your time if you are into 90's era rock and roll.
