My initial reaction was that this chick is super weird. I'm probably not wrong, some of this is like the off kilter bits of Tori Amos, or maybe an American Bjork? It is truly adventurous and interesting (although the video below shows a live version of this song that sounds significantly more normal. You should go hear the studio songs on Spotify to see just how odd sounding she is in some of her songs). This is her most popular song on Spotify, I Have Never Loved Someone:
That is actually fantastic. If she played that style of music, at the Cactus Cafe of something, I think I'd love to go see her break it down. This next video is a little more like what I was hearing in the studio stuff.
Hell of a voice. This next one is where she gets all minimalist Bjork on that ass. We trippy, mane.
It took a few songs, but I've talked myself into liking this one. She's an odd bird, but a beautiful voice and some really interesting arrangements. And while Bjork is doing freaky multimedia projects about the connectedness of chlorophyll and the heart, or whatever Biophilia was all about, maybe this gal is the next best thing.
One Hit Wonder: def.: a person or act known mainly for only a single success. Looking at these dudes' Spotify tracks is revealing. Safe and Sound, the track that you have likely heard (unless you have that blissful existence without small children who listen to crap pop radio), has 77 million listens. Next most popular song has 5 million, and none of the rest break 3 million.
Extra points to these two guys for embracing their goofiness and making that video slightly humorous. But unfortunately for them, it still doesn't make me enjoy their song. I mean, bully for them for making a massive hit and probably getting paid $43 or so for the Spotify and YouTube royalties from that song, but blah.
This next one has Andre 3000 in it, so it's bound to be better, right? Er, no. Any song that hashtags something is jenky. While the WASPy portion of me wants to like it because they use the NPR voice, nope. I also want to like it because its silly, but instead I don't ever want to hear that song again.
So, this is EDM for the middle eastern set? Do any of you remember Bend it Like Beckham? We liked that movie around the house because the Mrs. played herself some serious soccer action. So, we also somehow ended up with that soundtrack, which had some good tunes on it here and there, some terrible Spice Girls solo songs, and then some Punjabi MC. This stuff right here makes me think of Punjabi MC - an americanized version of EDM instead of rap. They also make super freaking weird videos - this one has horsehead guy checking out the show inside a lady's tummy, who then re-animates and gets her belly dance on in a major way.
This next video is some weird, trippy shit with sheep lobster guys wanting to go to space in their DIY, Rube Goldberg machine with lots of keys. Or maybe they are watching videos of circuses and atomic bombs and music monkeys through their machine? I'm so intrigued I forgot to listen to the music. And they have one key left. Woah, heavy.
I do not like this music. Feels like someone wanted to hit a marketing demographic so they combined EDM (co current! so hip!) with middle eastern sounds (think of the huge market out there!). Maybe I'm wrong and these guys are legitimately into this music meld. But, I'm out.
Really beautiful, ultra chilled indie music. Rolling Stone gave a good review to their new album a few months ago and I thought it was the same thing as Sunny Day Real Estate, which I was not enamoured with. But once I tried out the new disc (Atlas), I have been loving it ever since. It has joined a great little rotation with the new Beck as my go-to gentle background music. Their 2011 album (Days) is right in the same wheelhouse and are great. This is It's Real from that album - fun video apparently about loving on your big shaggy dog.
The most listened to tune on Spotify is Talking Backwards from their new disc:
Another good one from the new album (skip to 2:37 if you want to go past the kinda funny setup before the video starts):
Tell me that isn't beautiful. Go ahead. If you just took that opportunity, then you suck. Makes me want to be a better person and hug the elderly. Love this music. Totally up for seeing them play.
In slightly unrelated dumb computers hilarity, if you are going to play them on Spotify, check the "Appears On" portion of their page. Apparently, these dudes get down on Ganksta Lucky Lucci's album Original Ghetto Vet, on Toe Down's Possession Wit Intent to Sell, on Mellow Man Ace's La Familia Vol. I, and on The Don Bishop Agallah's You Already Know. While I am slightly surprised by their foray into the world of awesome D-list rappers, if the Judgment Night soundtrack taught me anything, it is that if Teenage Fanclub and De La Soul, or Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill, can make beautiful music together, then so could Real Estate and Toe Down.
Trippy business. Prominent guitar with kind of odd inflection, super chilled sounding singing, psychedelic arrangements. He apparently used to call himself Makeout Videotape, which is an excellent band name. Way cooler than Mac Demarco. C'mon, man. Top song on Spotify is the lead track from his new album, Salad Days:
An NPR article about the dude that popped up while trying to hunt down some YouTube footage says that he calls his style of music "jizz jazz." I have no clue what that means or how it applies, but that should have been the name of his album. So awesome. Not so sure about that as an apt description of his music, more like qualude psych.
I like this one - funny lyrical wordplay. Sound kind of reminds me of those John Lennon solo albums from the mid-70's. Pretty good music to play at the desk, but I don't think I'll go out of my way to see him play live.
This dude is awesome. Blues rock with a really strong voice. One of his songs has over 4 million listens on Spotify, and judging from the comments on this YouTube video this is a controversial video because it depicts some a-hole Russians hating on/ maybe killing some gay dudes.
It's a great song; highly disturbing video. Otherwise, most of his seven total songs have less than a million listens. I like the music quite a bit. The Take Me to Church EP is a pretty great four pack of songs. Like Real People Do is more of a lilting little love song, then Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene kicks in a little chugging choo choo of a beat and some hand clapping action. Yessir. If the timing is right, I'd probably go see him to see what else he has in his bag of tricks.
Tuneful little folky country music. Very spare arrangements, most of this is quiet with some pretty good storytelling lyrics. He's got two albums available on Spotify. The first, Photographs is pretty straight-forward folk country. Pretty voice, lightly used over acoustic guitar and a little bit of slide.
Live version from some sort of Dickie promotional thing. Poignant song about being separated from your best friend and them growing up and changing. Total mix tape classic to send to all your frat bros 25 years later, yo! Bros foreva! The second album, The Lights from the Chemical Plant (love that title) is a little more filled out. Feels darker, a little less folkie, but it is hard to categorize the whole album. Some makes me think of Jamey Johnson, while other sounds like a Depeche Mode torch song sung by a Texan. The title song from that album is a really good story/imagery song:
Steady as the Rising Sun is some James Taylor/Wilco Sky Blue Sky stuff:
The more I listen to this disc the more I want to compare it to Sky Blue Sky. But then he'll throw a bluegrass curveball down and make it hard to stick this thing into a box. Going to see him depends on the schedule. But if he played an afternoon slot like Dawes last year, it would be pretty nice chillin' in the sun music. I'm going to keep listening to him anyway - great music for the office.
Spoon are
excellent.I may have an Austin bias –
radio here has been playing them for years and so I’m pretty well versed in
what they do, but I think their hits are all validly fine songs, and
their string of discs are generally solid front-to-back albums of pretty, relaxed rock.Nothing too shiny or overproduced, rarely
loud and intense, just timeless rock. Transferrence, their most recent album, is a little darker sounding, but still has some rockin' moments. Girls Can Tell is more raw, but still a good
indication of what is coming along down the pike.Is that right?Pike sounds funny.But I don’t think it’s pipe.According to the internets, it is pike, as in
short for turnpike.Weird, sorry, back
to Spoon.Gimme Fiction is also a solid
album – I Turn my Camera On is their most listened to song on Spotify, and for
good reason:
After pulling them up on Spotify, I actually just spent the last two days listening to their catalog front to back. Very good, and hard to turn off in order to listen to anything else. I should probably go see these dudes jam.
Another one, because I don't think you've had enough:
Bummed that Spotify
doesn’t have their newer album.Come on,
folks. It is pure and simple communism to refuse to give me all music at all times for completely free.
All they have is the 2010 album
(Broken Bells), which is good.This is a
great mix of two awesome things – Danger Mouse doing the production/music (who
did two excellent projects in Beck’s Modern Guilt and the Grey Album mash-up of
the Beatles’ White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album) and James Mercer, the lead
singer from the Shins.I love the Shins
– I think anyone who ever watched Garden State ought to have a fond attachment
to them:
(although watching this scene again makes me think how creepy it is to hand
someone your headphones and then watch them listen to your favorite song that
will purportedly change their life). I loved that soundtrack more than most because that
soundtrack was the only disc I had in my home player when we moved back to
Austin, so I have a lot of great memories of listening to Caring is
Creepy and New Slang while painting our first nursery or putting together
furniture for our first house.I also
loved their cover of The Postal Service’s Such Great Heights – such a great
song.Anyway, that is not this
band. I am talking too much about not this band. This band has much more
electronics and tight little beats than the Shins, although Mercer is still
excellent.Top tracks are The Ghost
Inside:
and the High Road:
If you listen to KUTX, then you will
have heard these songs repeatedly.The
album has just enough groove to be danceable/funky, but with the same kind of
confessional lyrics that make the Shins interesting.I like this album.Now, whether or not to devote time to see
them at ACL?Not entirely sold, but
yeah, I think I would give them a shot.
Time to give someone
from the top of the bill a shot instead of these small guys with no press.She came to fame via YouTube and has
apparently put out two albums since discovery in 2011.I don’t recall seeing it (because I am way too cool to be watching SNL - my Saturday nights are all Rock and ROLL!! Or more likely I am asleep every Saturday before 11), but my recollection
is that she did an SNL spot that was roundly crapped on by the world. http://gawker.com/5876449/lana-del-reys-infamous-snl-performance. OK, after watching that, I see
why she was crapped on.I get that she’s
going for a certain contrived persona, but maybe she should realize that most
people dislike super dramatic, contrived people. Other than watching reality TV for a trainwreck, no one really liked those people. That persona is suckage. Her album, Born to Die, was the fifth best
selling album of 2012, so she’s got some star power despite the fact that I
couldn’t identify any of her music before listening.According to the internet, she has called her
musical sound “Hollywood sadcore.”That
is awful.Please don’t make up stuff
like that.The music is very dramatic –
lots of strings and swells in volume and whispery little lyrics.But her main voice is kind of a rap-ish
monotone, with sung hooks in between.She is taking older musical sounds and then sticking more current lyrics and
thoughts over it.For example, she just
said “Drop it like it’s hot in the pale moonlight.”Yuck, dude.Another song on her new album mentions “looking to get f’ed hard.”All edgy up in this.I feel like I’m listening to a desperate,
retro-loungy comeback attempt by Annie Lennox or Sting’s wife or
Amy Winehouse's neice or something.It is not especially catchy
or memorable – none of the songs on her new album (Paradise) stuck in my head
at all.And then her first album is full
of some cringe inducing bits.She has a
song called Diet Mountain Dew that repeatedly says You’re No Good for Me.Ugh.Lots of really crappy lyrics – this one about being your National Anthem
and “red white blues in the sky, summers in the air and heaven’s in your
eyes.”Oh man.Maybe the best of the bunch is Summertime
Sadness:
But that’s like saying my favorite Mad Men
episode was that one when mean and awful people did mean and awful things to
each other and then it was over.Her
most popular on Spotify is Born to Die:
I hope they put her as the headliner for
Sunday night so everyone can just go home like last year.
Do any of you
remember playing that game where you made your band name on Facebook by
grabbing the first image that popped up on Flickr’s last few days and then tell
Wikipedia to provide you with a random article?The image was your album cover and the title of the Wikipedia article
was your band name.I can’t recall what
mine was, but I feel like it might have been similar to this band name.It was something like Irish Potato Famine of
1845.Which would have been a kick ass
band, let me tell you what. Anyway, it’s
a little formulaic electronic pop – sounds kind of like an M83 song or maybe
Passion Pit – lots of woah woahs for people to sing along to when they’ve heard
the song for the first time or for a soccer stadium to chant along to.
They’ve only got one 5 song EP out, so I
guess their set will be these five songs and then some covers.I’m going to pick them to cover Everybody
Wants to Rule the World and Royals.Regardless of how current their sound is on that song, it’s actually
dang catchy.The rest of the EP is not
as good, more arena ready anthem electro rock, but they do it well.I’d say less than 50% chance I seek these
folks out.
The Cult?No, after listening to a full album, they are
good 90’s alternative with some wooooahh wooooaaaah current rock singalong moments thrown
in for good measure.None of their songs
have more than 50k listens on Spotify, so they are still up and coming, but
they were apparently up for the front cover of Rolling Stone until they didn’t
win and had to go cry at home.They
don’t have much available on YouTube, but here is a pretty slick little promo
video done for SXSW:
That song is from their new album, which has
more of a pop punk sound like this, I think I’m sticking with The Fray as my
best comparison.Or maybe one of those
other bands I associate with Grey’s Anatomy.Whatever, I like it well enough.Harder than I recall the Fray being.Garage Hymns is the new disc.Lots better than their earlier one (Bang), which is weaker, more like a
bad Killers facsimile. I'd probably give these dudes a shot.
More Kiddie Limits
stuff.Way better than Q Brothers, but
the same kind of painful as reading books to your kid at night.Their top song on Spotify has a chorus of
“Boats and Ships and Ships and Boats, I like to watch the way they float.”
This is perfectly acceptable, for what it is,
but I have to think that these dudes end up doing violent fetish porn in 3
years when singing this stuff breaks their brain.They have made 6 albums.Hooray for America. Here's the thing, if your kid is young enough to think this music is a good time, then it is going to suck ass to take them into ACL. There is no way you'll get to go see Rebelution and smoke a pound of dope. You'll end up dropping $200 on a pass so that you can spend hours jamming to this auditory death. And if your kids are old enough to go in here by themselves, then no way they want to hear this music. Rant over. For now.
I forgot that even
the Austin Kiddie Limits people would be on this poster.These two dudes apparently rap about
Shakespeare?
I have no words to describe how sad this
should make DJ Willie Bardspeare and all rappers who have ever rapped. Oy.
Oh God, there's more.
Here’s the thing, they can actually beat box
really well.But the rest of this is so
tragic and crap and sad and Internet-y.I feel like my kids would be irreparably scarred if they sat through
this crap.
Nice rock and
roll.Female singer on most of their
songs, a little bit of harmony and some good tuneful rock.I’ve heard one of their songs on the radio a
few times and it is their top song on Spotify:
Simple but catchy and happy.I dig it.Looks like they only have two EPs out, no full length albums yet, but
the rest of their stuff has a kind of retro feel, 70’s pop rock – maybe
Fleetwood Mac or Velvet Underground? <someone who really knows 70's music just slammed their head into their keyboard over those two bands being linked as good comparisons>But
other than Is This How You Feel, the other songs are pretty goopy (great
descriptor!) and kind of blah.If they
can fire up some more tight little jams like their one hit, they could be
pretty successful.Doubt I’ll give them
a shot at ACL.
In the same vein as
Chromeo – 70’s/80’s funk derivative heavy on the funky bass and synthesizers.Good, not great. You really
should go check out the covers they used for 4 singles in 2013 – Can’t Fool Me,
Doin’ It, Fall in Love, and We Can Roll.
Spotify has them if you are on there - I fear that if you do a search otherwise you might get banned from the Internet. Can’t Fool Me is so disturbing.http://www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/review/bad-rabbits-cant-fool-me.The moustache on that set of glasses.I can’t stop worrying about how it feels
about being treated this way.Poor
little guy.Let’s just say these guys
might like da booty.This one is my
favorite of the ones I listened to:
Some of their older stuff sounds more like
old Prince.I don’t think I’ll go out of
my way to see these guys, although I can see them putting on a grand funky
sweaty throw-down. My fear is that they would be on at 3, and while listening I would be overcome by funkiness, and not able to complete the rest of a long day. Be careful out there.
R&B singer
guy.John Legend with less piano and
more drums.D’Angelo with no sexual
innuendo.Bruno Mars with less pipes and
kind of boring music.Sounds like
something from the How Stella Got Her Groove Back soundtrack.I can’t bring myself to listen to more than 4
songs or write more about it.I really
don’t think you want to hear this, but find your own damn link if you do.
Update: I'm feeling bad about that original opinion. My opinion hasn't necessarily changed about the music, but here are some links so that you can judge for yourself. I may be an asshole.
(the “O” is actually like a
computer zero with the slash through the middle, but I can’t use fonts well
enough to make that happen):
Electro pop, Danish chick. After making it through 5 songs so far,
this is Lorde. I think Lorde just changed her name to make a new album
for reasons I don’t know. Listen to this one with your eyes closed and if
you don’t think it’s Lorde then you are cray cray.
Apologies for the use of cray cray - I have been told by the wifey that cray cray and totes are unacceptable for a man of my age. Whatevs, yo! It’s pretty, and pretty good, here is her most
popular song
, which is less good to me. Maybe Lorde and this
girl are going to do a sweet mashup called MoLorde during the second weekend
and create a massive blackhole in the space-time continuum and Zilker Park will
swallow the whole universe. All because these two sound vaguely
similar. Yes. As for going to watch her, dunno. Not excited
about it right now, but not ruling it out either. Just in case she is really
Lorde.
Is that Freedom Rock?! Well, turn it up!!! Big grin on my
face after the first stanza of the first song – six pack of Shiner Bock, Ray
Wylie Hubbard’s Red Neck Mother, and takin’ some chicks down to the lake for
some skinnydippin’. Oh yeah.
This song demands to be played from your truck while you leave town for a weekend at the lake. Like horse-head-in-bed-offer-you-can't-refuse demands. Large beards, trucker hats, long hair, serious
guitar licks (sounds like two guitars). I think you just have to give in,
jam some air guitar and go with it. My first thought was Allman Brothers
or Skynyrd, but they’ve got some jam band and some Toby Keith-style new country
mixed in there as well. Damn fine party music. Maybe Black Crowes
is a good reference?
I bet these guys put on a fun live show – good
time to get hammered and sing along and do a dipshit loose-limbed dance to
impress the girls in the daisy dukes. Their new album is really pretty
solid from front to back – I really think you could convince yourself it was
the Black Crowes if Chris Robinson was the one singing. It’s the Black
Browes! I love the Black Crowes. I’m in. Even more awesome the
more I listen to these albums. If you don’t nod your head and say hell
yeah every once in a while when listening to these dudes, then you are: (1) not
from ‘round here; (2) some dirty carpetbagger sumbitch who probably loves Belle
& Sebastian; or (3) a total wuss who is scared of awesomeness. Boom,
takedown!
Awesome fist pumper rock and roll. Rolling Stone always talks
about how these dudes are the new Springsteen. I think that’s going a
little far, but they are great at making straight-forward, driving, punk-ish
rock. Kind of melodic too. Anyway, I have been listening to them
for a while, their newer album (Unwritten) has one of my favorite songs from
last year on it – ‘45’
Turn that thing up and imagine yelling that
hook/chorus at top volume with 8,000 of your new best friends – I think their
show is going to be great. Woooaaaaaaoooooooohhhhhh, turn the record over!!! I plan on throwing Pearly into the air to crowd
surf her way to the front like the dudes in this video. Do they still
make Doc Martens? I need to get some just for this show. Their
first album kicked off with this single:
, which is also well done. Their excellent album
also includes two fun covers – Nirvana’s Sliver and Tom Petty’s You Got Lucky. Anyone else used to sing You Got Lucky in the halls with their nerd high school band mates? No? Weird. Thought that was pretty universal.
This dude is a producer of note called Diplo. He is relatively
well-known under that name, making beats and music for M.I.A. and some
rappers. This persona is like a reggae/dancehall/electro rap thing –
watch this video more for the dancing skillz than the music:
That song has 31 million plays on Spotify, so
it’s a hot song even without those sweet dance moves. He also has a song
called Bubble Butt which instructs the ladies on how to best present their best
ass-et. Very little subtlety going on here. Second most popular
track on Spotify is called Get Free:
, which is significantly more chilled but also features
some pretty serious dance moves in the video. I think those people might
be listening to a different song. Like Lil Jon or something. Eh, don’t believe the hype.
So indie he’s not even available on Spotify. I heard him first,
bro! I found a YouTube clip:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUGFDQo-67M (another where blogger dos not want me to inbed this thing. Not sure why, maybe this guy is so indie that he requires his YouTube videos to be link-only). Pretty good little piano player guy. Looks
young, and it sounds like he had about 7 people at his show. Up and
comer! As pretty as he is, I doubt I’m going to go see this dude.
I’ll be kicking myself someday when he’s touring with Harry Connick and Billy
Joel, but whatevs.
