Quick Hits, Vol. 370 (Turnpike Troubadours, Valerie June, Perfume Genius, )

One last Quick Hits before the ACL onslaught.  I couldn't quite give the new Goose enough time to really write about it, so it will just have to wait!

Turnpike Troubadours - The Price of Admission.  I have come around to really liking these dudes.  Nothing especially flashy on this album, but if you like country music, it would be hard to find a more pleasant combination of lyrics, instrumental skill (I especially think the banjo player is great), and twang.  Not in a cheesy Nashvillian package, but this sounds like a group of friends having a really good time making tunes together.  I am honestly surprised at the stream counts for this disc, after seeing the rabidly large crowd at 2024's Two Step Inn for these dudes.  I thought this was going to be a coming out party here, but the stream count is definitely low.  Opening track "On the Red River" is the top streamer with 2.2 million.

"Death doesn't leave with the best part of you" is a great, simple line.  Like I said, nothing flashy or new, but as far as a classic country sound checking all the right boxes for a nice album to listen to, this thing is right on.  I was reading something the other day that asked the question or what actually defines country music as country music.  I have no clue anymore, because to say it needs to have fiddle and banjo would leave out a large swatch of current artists, but however you define it with words, this is what it actually sounds like.

Valerie June - Owls, Omens, & Oracles.  I can't remember why this one came into my queue, but I'm glad it did.  This album is fun.  Her voice is odd, a little quirky and different, and I just love the pure happiness I hear in the opening track, fittingly called "Joy, Joy!"  Comes on like one of those Dan Auerbach creations trying to help some artist find some classic rock funkiness, and then she just rips it up.  Lot of that feeling on here, where the tunes are just fun and she sounds great over the top of them.  Sort of throwback bluesy rock thing.  Unsurprisingly, the stream count for this is very low - these are not terrible pop songs created by Max Martin or mumbly rap songs - so the top track is that album opener with 364k.  Only two other tunes crack 100k.

I don't know quite how to name the oddity about her voice - it's not really nasal, it's definitely not monotone, but both of those pop into my head.  Just has a different tone that is all her own.  Some of the tunes are a little more spare, almost like spirituals or something, but they still bring a neat contrast to the narrative of the album.  A disc with some bright spots and some forgettable bits, at the end of the day.  But I really like the highs!

Perfume Genius - Glory.  I read a blurb about this album in this annoying little magazine that my father subscribed me to at Christmas.  It is called The Week, and I think 20 years ago it probably would have been indispensable because it coherently collects all of the most important news stories and bits and pieces into one quick to read package.  The problem now is that most of the news in there is old and crusty by the time I read it, because there is an Internet now.  But I still flip through it because they also collect other fun things like music reviews, show reviews, fun facts, and some strange real estate spread like last week's secluded prepper cabin spread.  Anywhoo, they mentioned R.E.M. guitars in their review blub about this album, and so I was absolutely forced to add it to my list.  I still have yet to find that moment in here, but it is an enjoyable little indie rock record anyway.  Maybe when the rock kicks in on "No Front Teeth," but even those bring someone like Matthew Sweet to my mind before Peter Buck and friends.  Funny that every album so far in this post seems to be something that people have come to check out, and then immediately given up on.  Yet again, the first song on the album has the most streams.  "It's a Mirror" with 2.5 million.

I red head!  My man!  I did not enjoy whatever they were doing to him in that bed, so it made me really like the alien blast and subsequent motorcycle ride.  But then with the gasoline, my skin was crawling again.  Well done with the discomfort levers! Lovely tune though!  "Me & Angel" has a Jet-Trying-to-Sound-Like-The-Beatles vibe to it.  "Dion" sounds like a Manchester Orchestra song that removed the build up and release that usually comes in those.  I think my overall vibe though, after a few more listens, is unfortunately disinterest.  I think the first three songs create a vibe I'm ready to relish, and then the tracks become less and less engaging as the disc rolls along.  They can get loud for a sec, but they seem less likely to keep my attention.  I'll let it go.