Quick Hits, Vol. 365 (Plains, Blu/Evidence, Mac Miller, High Vis)

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.

Quick Hits, Vol. 364 (Killer Mike, White Denim, Larry June, U2)

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.