Radiohead [updated again]

After making my way through about 20 of the lower-tier artists, its time to break off one of these big guys that is going to take me a while.  We'll dive in with the biggest fish of the whole 'fest, Radiohead.  A jillion words have already been written about them, as they are one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, but I'll give it a go anyway because this is what I do.

I'll start this out by saying right here and now that I am extremely excited to have them coming to ACL.  I can't wait to see them play.  I'm a little nervous about the setlist and their need to veer far away from what is expected from fair weather fans like me, but I'm hopeful. They came to the Erwin Center a few years ago and I was kind of mad at myself for not ponying up to go see what they do in a live setting. From what I've heard, they are amazing to see live.  And this is a band that should be the top headliner of the big festival - they are the kind of group that could sell out an arena in 30 seconds and tour the entire world with name recognition and fan bases.  This is a great get.

So, what is my problem?  They changed their style of music, and I think their older stuff is significantly better.  I think the old stuff is more focused.  I didn't buy in to their music until about the time of Kid A, which lead me back to their first three albums. And to me, that is where the heart of the band lies, Pablo Honey, The Bends, and OK Computer, not in this new experimental stuff that is almost intentionally difficult to listen to.  So my hope is that they copy old concerts and play the good stuff and only infrequently wander out into the woods of "Like Spinning Plates."

Luckily for me (and you), Thom Yorke's public animus towards Spotify hasn't carried over to removing all of the Radiohead tunes from the platform.  So, other than the new album and In Rainbows, you can stream all of their tunes right now. [updated: In Rainbows is now available as of 6/10/16, and A Moon Shaped Pool is now available as of 6/17/16. Sweet!]

Like I did with the Foos last year, I'll go through the entire catalog in order of my preference. Down below we'll get into the guessing of the setlist:

1.  The Bends.  1995.  This was their second album, and I think it took the slightly trippy, paranoid sound of the first album and stretched it out into a better rock album.  You'll still hear some echos of grunge in this music, as it isn't too terribly far behind the Nirvana-based revolution in rock, but it has its own spin on that sound.  The album spun off several hit singles, hit platinum status in the U.S. (and 4x platinum under the BPI), but only made it to #88 on the U.S. charts.  This is the real rock and roll phase of the band - no electronics, no brit pop sounds, just real deal rock and roll.  My favorite track is the fantastic "Fake Plastic Trees."

This one cracks the top five of popularity on Spotify, so I'm not alone with 24.8 million people also streaming this one.  The sadness in that "it wears you out" bit, hell, the sadness and dejection in the whole thing, it just so good.  "Used to do surgery, for girls in the 80's, but gravity always wins."  I've always loved that line, imagining girls from a Shasta commercial getting a lift from a Michael J. Fox doctor but then getting saggy over time.  This album also created hits in "The Bends" and "High and Dry," both of which are great.  BTW, how funny does Thom Yorke look in that video, all extremely soccer hooligan dyed and scrawny.  "Just" is a rockin' jam out, and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" is also a beaut.  I pretty well like this whole album from start to finish.

2.  OK Computer.  1997.  By far their most acclaimed album.  #3 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the 90's, #20 of NME's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, #2 in Q Magazine's 100 Greatest British Albums Ever, #111 or Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Top 200 Albums, #1 in Pitchfork's top 100 albums of the 90's.  And many more that aren't worth all listing here. Also won the 1998 Best Alternative Musical Performance Grammy.  And while I generally agree, it has some great songs and is wonderful, it ain't the number one album of all time.  It also is the gateway album for the weird sonic electronic stuff that leaked out after this album.
A few years after this album came out, I discovered and loved Travis.  They absolutely ripoff the sound of "Paranoid Android" and "No Surprises."  It doesn't even bother me that they were copiers, I still remember loving them so very much.
Of course, "Karma Police" was the big hit here, and it remains the second most listened-to track on Spotify for the band, at 51.6 million.

This one remains on rock and alternative radio to this day for good reason.  Really cool and original sound.  "Paranoid Android," with its rock freakout, is also awesome, as is "Subterranean Homesick Alien."  But the best other song on here is "No Surprises," which is depressing as all living hell, and also happens to have a great video.

34 million views for that video, and although I've seen it several times I still just watched the whole thing to see it happen all over again.  That left eye is so weird.  A taste of the lyrics, in case you don't know them or can't read them:

"A heart that's full up like a landfill
A job that slowly kills you
Bruises that won't heal
You look so tired, unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't, they don't speak for us
I'll take a quiet life
A handshake of carbon monoxide
With no alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises
Silent, silent"

Man.  "A job that slowly kills you" and "handshake of carbon monoxide" are just brutal, especially in that gentle delivery.  Hell of a song, and part of the reason why I think this album is so solid.

3.  Pablo Honey.  1993.  The first album, the opening shot.  In my mind I liked it better than I remembered, but on re-listening, it barely beat out some of the weird electro stuff.  It is much more in tune with the Brit Pop movement of the early nineties, not so far as Blur ("There's No Other Way") or Oasis ("Supersonic") because its just all a little bit darker than those, but it still has a great sound and some danceable jams.  One of my favorites of those is "Anyone Can Play Guitar," but if I'm talking about this album, you have to listen to the monster hit, the one track of Radiohead's that fires up more than 100 million listens on Spotify.  "Creep."

Iconic guitar parts, great lyrics, gets continued radioplay for a good reason.  Fun aside, someone on Facebook the other day posed the question of the best pair of songs by two different artists that share the same name.  His entry was Creep by Radiohead and Stone Temple Pilots.  After some thought, my initial entry was "Crazy" by Patsy Cline and Gnarls Barkley, but then I came up with the easy winner, "One" by Metallica and U2.  I win. Anyway, I think this album is best when it rocks out in songs like "Ripcord."

4. Hail to the Thief.  2003.  I have a special place in my memory for this album, as I bought it on CD just before I moved down to Corpus Christi for half of a summer of living with a friend and his wife and a summer clerkship.  Either this disc or an old Pete Yorn disc are the mental touchstone soundtrack of that summer.  Although the first thing it always brings to mind is my friend and I mocking the portion of "Sit Down, Stand Up" when the electro freakout kicks in and Yorke starts muttering "the raindrops" over and over and over and over.  The good tracks on here leave the electro garbage in the background, like "Go to Sleep," which goes back and finds some acoustic guitars gathering dust in the back of the Radiohead studio space and grooves them out.  But the "hit" off of this album (I use quotes because it didn't even chart in the U.S.) is "There, There," which has about 8.2 million listens on Spotify.

That video is some freaky deaky, yo.  And what a surprise that the two most popular tracks on their album are the more traditional rock songs that don't do devolve into bleeps and blorps.  I've always kind of enjoyed "A Punch Up at a Wedding" near the end of this disc as well, and the groove on "Myxomatosis" is super tight as well.  Interestingly, the band is quoted on Wikipedia as saying they now wish they would have deleted a few songs from the album to keep it more coherent.  Agreed.
Fun fact: The album was apparently named after the phrase used by protesters against George W. Bush after the 2000 election mess, with the Yorke saying the album title was partly chosen to "state the bleeding obvious ... that the most powerful country on earth is run by somebody who stole an election."  Interesting to me that he would care that much about Bush v. Gore.

5.  Kid A.  2000.  Electronic-fest.  Although, I've always really liked "Everything in its Right Place," I think mainly because of the excellent Vanilla Sky soundtrack and my memory of that song in that movie (also why I first loved Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye"). Thought it worked really well.  And I like the way it builds up and then releases in a very pleasing way. There is a lot of dissonance on this album, which makes it really challenging unless you are a fancy rock critic who comes to climax in those moments.

The moment I recall best about this album was, not long after it came out, I was married and moved in with my wife.  I've got to admit that a shared love for similar music has never been the thing that drew us together, she could honestly care less about what she is listening to half the time, and I apparently obsess a bit about music.  So I bring this disc home to our apartment and throw it into my stereo to jam as we are puttering around the house, fully expecting that she would appreciate my trendy choice of the new number one album from the cool kids who brought us "Creep" and "Karma Police."  Nope.  Hell nope.  I was kind of feeling the groove of "The National Anthem" when she finally looked over at me for a conversation approximating the following:

• "what the hell is this garbage, Jack?  Do you actually like this?"
• "Errrr, uh, yeah, this is the new Radiohead, babe.  They're awesome, right?"
• "no, this sounds like shit.  I think a cat just got killed."
• "oh, well, yeah, you know, this is like 'Day in the Life' style stuff, babe, you have to get a little off the rails so that getting back in tune feels good.  These guys made 'Karma Police.'"
• "<2 minute long sigh> I should have married that guy from high school who loved Garth Brooks."
• <Jack takes disc out of CD player and hides in car>

In typically weird Radiohead fashion, they released no singles for the album.  "Radiohead refused to release singles or music videos to promote Kid A; instead, 30-second animated "blips" were set to its music based on the artwork Stanley Donwood and Yorke designed for the album's packaging."  mmmmmkay. Lets see 'em:

Well, alrighty then.  Way better than just making a video and playing your music. "Everything in its Right Place" is the leader in streams at 16.2 million, with "Idioteque" right behind it at 10.2.  Here is "Everything," via a live clip.

Of particular note for this album, Wikipedia says "Yorke wrote many of Kid A's lyrics by cutting up words and phrases and assembling them at random."  Which sounds about right. And it makes it seem even weirder that the critics absolutely loved this album.  If a band can write entirely random lyrics that mean nothing and entirely change their musical sound, you'd think that this album would have tanked, but critics are weird.  In a consistent theme with the other music discussed here, my other favorite song is the one that sounds like guitar-based rock instead of a bad Bjork b-side, "Optimistic."

6.  In Rainbows.  2007.  This was the big "pay as you wish" experiment after they exited their record label, where they posted the album on their website (I still get random e-mails from WASTE) and allowed you to pay whatever you wanted to download the album.  I can't recall what I paid, but I'd be surprised if it was very much.  At the time, people were very excited about the implications for the record industry, how this was the death knell for the traditional label structure and Radiohead had blown up everything.  Or not, and we still get most of our music through the labels.
This album won two Grammys in 2009, one for Best Alternative Music Album, and is #336 on Rolling Stone's best 500 albums of all time.  Sadly, you can't listen to it on Spotify [updated, now you can, as of 6/10/16], I guess because it was available without a label who could license it.  Which is annoying. But it is a pretty good album anyway, with some electro action but a lot of good rock and groove. That is the best part of the "new" Radiohead to me, when the bassist Colin Greenwood just locks into a tight groove and you can jam along. Like "15 Step" from this album, great bass line.  Here is one way to listen to some of the songs from this album, a cool basement concert thing:

The first four songs are all from In Rainbows, then seventh, tenth, and eleventh are also from the album.  "Bodysnatchers" is a good one, but I could do without the meandering "Nude."

[updated] Now that this is available on Spotify, and I don't have to go through the huge hassle of figuring out which hard drive at home has this album on it.  My guess is that most of you out there are like me and try to avoid using iTunes EVER if at all possible because it is the slowest program of all time.  I've got a buttload of songs in it, and so when I open the program it takes minutes to even figure out if it is going to work for the day.  ANYWAY, I am relistening to the album now and it is even better than I remembered.  "All I Need" and "Reckoner" are pretty cool.  It might have jumped up to #4 if I had taken the time to relisten to the whole thing instead of just listening to that basement tape thing up above.

The dorky statistics part of me is enjoying the fact that, as I listen to this album, there are less than 1,000 streams on all of the songs on this album as of right now.  The rest of the world will wake up to the fact they can stream it today, but for now it feels fun to be a pioneer in this streaming pool.

7.  The King of Limbs.  2011.  You know what?  Listen to this album again.  In my mind, I recalled it as truly terrible, something where they were actively trying to turn me off.  But really, its just kind of a boring album.  It is very pretty, all falsettos and layered sounds, but you literally wouldn't remember a single thing that came from it, twenty minutes after you finished listening to it.  The most popular track on the album, likely more for the freaky ass video than the song, is "Lotus Flower," which has 14.7 million streams on Spotify, but 37.1 million views on YouTube.

Super seizure dance fest.  But this song describes my thought about this album.  Its not bad, it even has a kind of cool groove in that bass line that runs through the whole song, but that doesn't save it from being forgettable.  Only sincere Radiohead nerds are going to recall and talk about this album, with no real singles or approachable tunes.

8.  Amnesiac.  2001.  OK, this is where stuff truly went off the rails.  I still don't hate this album, but I really don't see how listening to "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" makes any sense at all.  Just annoying.  This feels more like going to a poetry reading in a bar where a nearby broken jukebox is playing snippets of songs and croaking out weird sounds that are distracting you from listening to the poem.  Somehow, "Pyramid Song" was the first single from the album, and its strings/synths/laptop depression vibe apparently did so well that it did not chart in America at all.  However, it is, of course, the top song off of the album as far as Spotify streams go, with 8.9 million listens.  But I want to pimp the vastly better track from the album, "I Might Be Wrong," which sounds like rock and roll again.

If you just take the songs I've linked to on this blog post and make an album out of those, you get a pretty good and coherent picture of a rock band that dabbles some in electronics, instead of one bloated and full of tracks that could be forgotten and left in the digital graveyard.  Because "I Might Be Wrong" and "Knives Out" are literally the only songs that I want to hear from this album.

9.  A Moon Shaped Pool.  2016.  Ranked here simply because I couldn't hear the damn thing without paying for it or opening my computer up to scary Armenian hacker hub listening stations, until just recently when it became available on Spotify.  Well, that isn't entirely true, I did listen to a live-streaming BBC radio podcast-y kind of thing to hear it once, and it was kind of amazing the level of breathless hyperbole heaped on the album in between each song.  The host of the radio program read people's tweets as they listened to the album with him, and the praise could not have been piled any higher.  "Greatest band of all time!  The hits keep coming!  Crown them king for the most amazing songs ever!  I just cured cancer because you played Identikit!  Their lyrics are untouchable in all of human history!"

After a few listens of the entire album, they seem to trade in a lot of the electronic noise in favor of strings and piano, this one has an orchestral sound that has been hinted at before, but this one goes all in on it.  The top single from the new album is "Burn the Witch," which has 7.5 million streams so far (9.8 two weeks later).

That video is some weird Bob the Builder gone to creepy-ville stuff.  But I like the song well enough, nothing mind-boggling or even all that catchy so that I sing it to myself later, but pretty good.  The other two you could stream before the whole album were "Daydreaming" and "Spectre," and I like "Burn the Witch" the best out of those three.  I think my main issue with this album is that it feels like I've heard these songs before.  "Ful Stop" could easily have been a b-side from another recent album.  I guess the album is fine, just nothing that I'll likely remember or want to go back to later.

Setlist:
So then, out of all of that, what are we likely to hear played in October?  One good indicator - what kind of show did they play at ACL in 2012?

Yes, that is the full hour episode (with really low sound), and shows that despite it being a taping for ACL, they still do what they want and play their weird new stuff instead of the hits. Playlist was Bloom, Daily Mail, Myxomatosis, Morning Mr. Magpie, The Amazing Sounds of Orgy, Staircase, Identikit, There There, Feral, Idioteque, and Paranoid Android.  Three tracks from King of Limbs (the new album at this taping), two from Hail to the Thief, one from Kid A, one from OK Computer.  Three of those were unreleased.  Hell, "Identikit" is on Moon Shaped Pool, so they time-traveled to play that track in 2012.  But none of the hits other than "Paranoid Android."

I was talking to someone the other day who said that their European setlists are going to be very different from their American ones, so I'll need to look at their setlists once they have played through the summer, but analyzing their first four concerts of this tour (all in Europe), there are definite patterns:

1. The first five songs, all four nights, have been songs from the new Moon Shaped Pool album, in the same order (Burn the Witch, Daydreaming, Decks Dark, Desert Island Disk, and Ful Stop).
2. All four shows have had exactly 24 songs.
3. In each, the eleventh song has been "Identikit" from the new album, followed by "The Numbers" from the new album.  In between and after those tracks, the setlist is very mixed, but "Present Tense" from the new album also makes each night.  "Glass Eyes" is the only song from the new disc to not be played on any of the four nights.
4. "Creep" only happened one night out of four, same with "No Surprises," while "Karma Police" only got played two of the four nights.  "Fake Plastic Trees" isn't played AT ALL, which is some BS.  "High and Dry" is likewise missing.
5. Certain songs (other than those mentioned above from the new album) make every show: "Bloom," "Bodysnatchers," "Everything in its Right Place," "Idioteque," and "Lotus Flower." 

So, 14 songs repeat every night, and almost every song from the new album will make an appearance. Many of the hits aren't played on any given night, if at all.  My hope, and if we take a look at other festivals they are going to play this summer we should learn more, is that they'll make this show less about the new album and more about the greatest hits, but we shall see.  I'll update this once they have played a festival or two this summer.

[UPDATE]
As discussed up above, I thought I'd check out the playlist once they came to America and did a fest or two, to see what kind of tunes we could expect in Zilker Park.  Here is their Lolla playlist, with some comments:

• Burn the Witch.
• Opening track from A Moon Shaped Pool, most popular track from that album by far with over 18 million streams.  
• Daydreaming.
• Second track on AMSP, but falls off to 8.3 million streams.
• Ful Stop.
• Fifth track on AMSP, only 2.7 million streams.  Kind of an annoying track.
• 2 + 2 = 5.
• Opener for Hail to the Thief, kinda rad.
• Myxomatosis
• 12th track on Hail to the Thief, also a great rocker made of electronic limbs.
• My Iron Lung
• A track from The Bends!  Victory for me!  Too bad its not Fake Plastic Trees though...  This is back when they had guitars featured prominently, so maybe they will have a half hour stage set change here to get those out of mothballs.
• Climbing Up the Walls.
• OK Computer.  I feel like we are going to spend the entirety of this concert jamming out to their rocking songs, and then taking cat naps when they go slow.
• No Surprises
• Another OK Computer song!  Hooray!  And this song is beautiful, I hope they do it at ACL.
• Pyramid Song.
• The only Amnesiac track in the set.  As noted above, by far the most popular on this misfit album.  Slow and sad.  Not a track I'd expect them to play at a huge festival concert, but then again, these guys don't care what I think.
• Bloom.
• The lone track from The King of Limbs.  Freaking weird, and no clue why it would make sense for this to be in their set.  The very limited lyrics, sung as though Thom Yorke's mouth was just deadened for a root canal, include the powerful closing couplet of "A giant turtle's eyes, Jellyfish swim by."
• Identikit.
• Another AMSP track, although as noted above this one has been around before.
• The Numbers.
• AMSP
• The Gloaming.
• Hail to the Thief. Tangled sounding electro, another odd choice for a festival set.
• Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.
• In Rainbows.
• Everything in Its Right Place.
• From Kid A, this song is great.
• Idioteque.
• Also from Kid A, this must be the Kid A portion of their show.
• There There.
• Hail to the Thief.

Encore:

• Let Down.
• A third OK Computer track!  This is INSANE!
• Present Tense.
• AMSP
• Paranoid Android.
• A fourth OK Computer song!  Woohoo!  Although, I've become jaded over this song because any hack journalist who is ever writing anything about robots uses the title of the track at least three times in their title and or article.  I just saw a Rolling Stone blurb about the new show Westworld that used it both in the title and in the body of the article, and it makes me cringe.  But the track itself is still bad ass.
• Nude.
• From In Rainbows.  I always forget how good the In Rainbows songs are, although this one is very slow, kinda groovy and quiet.  Another kind of strange pick for the encore.
• Bodysnatchers.
• From In Rainbows.  Good track.

Encore 2:

• Street Spirit (Fade Out)
• The Bends.  This is a great song too.
• Karma Police
• a fifth OK Computer song, and the biggest hit of the show, for the grand finale.  Seems like this moment will be cool, to sing along to this track with the entirety of the festival.

Albums Scorecard: AMSP: 6, OK Computer: 5, Hail to the Thief: 4, In Rainbows: 3, The Bends: 2, Kid A: 2, Amnesiac: 1, King of Limbs: 1.  Makes sense, the new album gets considerable love and then their most popular album gets second most.

24 total tracks.  Karma Police, No Surprises, Burn the Witch, Daydreaming - those are the four tracks on this list that are also currently in the top ten most popular tracks on Spotify.  Bummer that "Creep," "Fake Plastic Trees," and "High and Dry" don't make this set list, but at least they lean heavily on OK Computer.

I also went and ran through their Outside Lands Festival playlist, as that is their other big American festival stop, and it is very similar.  The first four tracks are exactly the same, then they switch the order of things for a few songs, but then when they get to "Pyramid Song," they go on an identical run through the next seven songs.  Only one encore, and it is just like the first encore at Lolla, except that "Karma Police" steps in for Bodysnatchers, which happened earlier in the set.  Outside Lands didn't get "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," "Myxomatosis," "No Surprises," or "My Iron Lung," so they missed out on both tracks from The Bends, which hurts me.

Here's to hoping they generally stick to this list but add in some more from the Bends!

The Front Bottoms

One Liner: Emo lo-fi confessional punk

Poster Position: 11

Thoughts:  I mean, they win the band name war right here and now.  Give them the trophy and move along.  As for the actual music, its kind of lo-fi punk music that sounds very much like the emo bands of 10 years ago - I'm hearing Dashboard Confessional because of the talking/singing style of vocals. I also hear Modest Mouse sometimes.  But this exudes that slacker indie punk feel.  It also has a pretty great lyrical content, with stories and vivid descriptions galore.

They've got three full-length albums (2011's Front Bottoms, 2013's Talon of the Hawk, and 2015's Back on Top) and one EP (2014's Rose, which is apparently named after one of their grandmothers). Five of their most popular come from that new album, but their top song (by far) comes from the 2013 album.  This is "Twin Size Mattress," which checks in at 8 million streams (and was at 7.7 two weeks ago when I wrote most of this post, for what that's worth).

The most listened-to from the new album, "HELP," has a really fun, poppy sound, along with a very well-pronounced F bomb.  2.9 million streams.

That video is kind of funny and weird too.  Then, just because I love these Tiny Desk Concerts from NPR, here is one with these dudes.

Pretty good.  I kinda like it, but the more I listened to the multiple albums over the last day, the less I want to hear any more of this.  I think its the vocal tone, it has just started to grate on my nerves after a long time.  I generally like the music, especially individual singles of the music, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to see these guys.

Two Door Cinema Club

One Liner: Crazy fun Irish dance pop with guitars involved

Poster Position: 4

Thoughts:  Not at all what I expected, I thought this was an older indie band.  Not sure who I was thinking of, but this has a totally different sound that I thought, kind of Passion Pit and Postal Service (check the vocals and synth in "I Can Talk") mixed with a new take on the Cure (check the guitar in "Next Year").  They also remind me of the Bright Light Social Hour at times. Super surprised that they are on the fourth line of the poster, but they are apparently bigger than my musical knowledge.

Two albums, 2012's Beacon and 2010's Tourist History.  You have to imagine that they are putting out a new album this year, otherwise it is even weirder that a band I've never heard of, who hasn't made music in three years, and who doesn't appear to have much radio play on their tracks in the States, would be named as a top 14 band at ACL.  I say that, but their tunes have a bunch of plays, with a top five that are all over 20 million a piece.  The top track is creeping up on 100 million streams, at 95.4 right now, called "What You Know."

That guitar riff is where I hear Bright Light Social Hour's "Back and Forth."  Super hooky, really a fun song.  Hard to imagine hearing that at the festival and somehow just standing still and listening.  I think you'd be required, by the laws of physics and biology, to jam loose and wriggle all over the people around you.  Sounds fun.  That track is off of the 2010 album, as are the other songs in their top three most popular on Spotify.

Interesting aside, where do you think these guys might be their most popular on YouTube? Dublin? London?  Brooklyn?  Nope, somehow they are overwhelmingly their most popular in Bangkok, Thailand.  Over 10.4 million views in Bangkok, with the next closest city being Mexico City at 3.6 million.  What is up with that?  Austin doesn't even crack their top 100 cities.  Is there a paid spambot in Thailand just racking up views for their label?  Do their English lyrics translate into funny words in Thai?  There has to be a reason for this.

The most popular track off of that newer album is called "Sun," which clocks in at 29 million streams.

Man, their lead singer looks like he's nine years old.  But this is another sunny, fun-ass dance track. How fun are these guys?  I was not feeling them when I started this blog post, but as I've listened to the music, I just can't not like the groove, the sunshine, the light-touch riffs, the whole package.  I can imagine these guys being really fun to see play this stuff live, a massive dance party festival.  We'll see how the timing works out, but I like it.

Flying Lotus

One Liner:  Outlandishly weird beats

Poster Position: 8

Thoughts: I guess the C3 folks just wanted to group all of the offbeat rap-ish stuff onto one line in their poster, so they signed up Tory Lanez, this guy, Anderson.Paak, and MUZZYONNABEEHO! to star on the 8th line.  Right on.  This is a guy named Steven Ellison, who makes trippy electronic beats.  I remember listening to his album from last year, called You're Dead!, but I apparently never reviewed it for this blog.

He has a bunch of albums available on Spotify, some of which might just be long EPs, but it appears that his full albums are Los Angeles (2008), Cosmogramma (2010), Until the Quiet Comes (2012), and You're Dead (2015).  For the most part, these are instrumental freakouts, although some of them have a cameo appearance by a singer or rapper.

I have no clue who the target audience is for this music, but I can tell you right now that it ain't me.  It is kind of aggressively atypical, the kind of thing where you start to feel a groove and then it purposefully devolves and goes a completely different way into a different time signature or set of sounds.  Like a modern jazz artists who is using samples and beats rather than a trumpet.  The most popular tracks are those that either feature famous cameos (Kendrick Lamar or Snoop) or actually sound like tight ass beats that should be rapped over.  #1 is the Kendrick Lamar track, called "Never Catch Me," which has 8.5 million listens.

This even sounds like something that would have been on To Pimp a Butterfly, with that odd time signature and piano riff that never quite matches up perfectly to the beat.  And then the second most popular track (7.4 million) is a good beat, that comes from the Cosmogramma album, called "Zodiac Shit."

I bet that video makes you want to die if you have taken drugs.  Good lord, man.  But that is kind of a tight beat that would work really well if a rapper wanted to take it over and jam it out.  But after listening to the rest of these albums, I'll say that I don't care to hear this music anymore.

And then, just because its there, here is a short film called FUCKKKYOUUU that features Flying Lotus.

Terrifying.  And sexual.  And weird as hell.  With no appreciable attempt at making music involved (unless screaming is your style of music).  I do not plan on seeing this guy's show.

Oh Wonder

One Liner: Lovely but kind of boring little indie duets

Poster Position: 10

Thoughts:  Meh.  Well, hold on.  It is really quite lovely music, with male and female vocalist who sing just about everything together (not really in harmony, just in unison), over pretty basic little indie pop synth tracks.  Kind of surprised they would be as high as the tenth row.  Not bad music, just kind of boring to me.  They have one album, 2015's Oh Wonder, and the top song from that album is "Technicolour Beat," which has gathered 26.8 million listens on Spotify.

Like I said, not bad, but just not all that interesting.  According to Wikipedia, they did this album DIY by releasing one track a month for a year that resulted in this album.  I don't know why they became a viral sensation, but I'm not feeling it.  Here is the second most listened-to track on Spotify, "Drive" with 22.6 million.

Another pretty little tune, but I'm just not that into it.  I sincerely doubt that I will have any interested in seeing them play live.

Lewis Del Mar

One Liner: Electro acoustic as though Jose Gonzalez found a drum machine

Poster Position: 15

Thoughts:  I don't know about you, but I was hoping for some Spanish pirate-themed flamenco music when I first found this artist name on the poster.  Sadly, no nautical references that I noticed in the actual tunes, other than some skinny-dipping at the beach in the laid back "Wave(s)." This is more straight-forward electronic beats and acoustic guitars. Although the band seems like it is just one dude (from the name), it is apparently two dudes who have known each other since they were nine.  They've just got one EP out there so far, but it is a pretty good little quartet of tunes.

The most listened to track is the first tune on their originally named EP, which is called EP. That song, Loud(y), makes an odd use of parentheses, but make short work of any question you might have about the need for a parental advisory sticker on this EP named EP.  It currently has 3.2 million streams.

"Born to a time when the quiet ended."  That is a cool track.  The second most popular track on the EP is the aforementioned "Wave(s)," which has more of a Ben Harper-chill vibe going on.

That glitchy, complex drumming is interesting, kinda makes me want to groove.  "Memories" has a nice groove too (with one line, saying "listen to Madonna," that makes me think of Seal every time). I'd be interested to hear more from them, although I kind of doubt I'll make them a priority to see at the festival.

Nothing But Thieves

One Liner:  Groove-based, Muse-esque rock and roll

Poster Position: 15

Thoughts:  Their hit is on the radio or something, because I've heard it a few times before.  Good, danceable song, even if I did think that it might be a new Muse song.  Here is "Trip Switch," which has 10.4 million streams.

Pretty great rock and roll tune right there.  Really nice groove.  The band is English, and seriously sounds a lot like Muse.  Some of their songs also remind me of Radiohead.  They've just got the one, eponymous album, released in 2015, and then an EP or two from 2014.  The rest of the album is like that one above, driving rock with a good bassline and a danceable groove.  Except for the Jeff Buckley-homage track "Love, Please Stay," which is also still good.  This is really pretty dang good music.

Wikipedia shows that their song "Itch" (3.5 million streams) got some acclaim when it first came out, but the second-most popular track on Spotify these days is "Wake Up Call," with 6.3 million listens.

However, the track that I keep clicking with when I listen to this album is "Graveyard Whistling," which clocks in at 3.9 million.

Not quite so rockin' and groovy, but really nice.  "Cause if you don't believe, it can't hurt you."  I feel like they snuck that track up on me - like I was rockin' along and enjoying some good rock and roll tunes and then they made me feel and jam along with a more quiet, tender track.  Trickery! Tender trickery!  Whatever, I'm really liking this band.  I'd go see them at the fest.

The Gills

One Liner:  Fun punk-ish rock out of Nashville with a Brit bent

Poster Position: 26

Thoughts:  This is fun stuff.  Bratty-sounding Brit rock and roll, kind of like the brassy parts of some old Oasis songs.

That is the top song on Spotify right now, with only 3,148 listens, but their most popular as of today. I dig it.  Uh, at least that was my initial observation after listening, now that I read about the band, they are somehow from Nashville   Interestingly though, the top place for people to listen to this band on Spotify?  Austin, Texas, with 50 listeners.  I wonder if this is all C3 people and now people checking them out for the festival.  But then the next entrants are Nashville, Houston, and Dallas.  Freaking weird.  I'm so confused.  Literally, listen to their music and see if you would have guessed these dudes are Nashville.  Here is their currently second place song on Spotify, "Rubberband," with 3424 listens:

Also good.  Kind of punk, kind of just hammering garage rock.  They've only got two albums (2012's Motor Running and 2009's Forget What You See), and that song is not on either.  From Spotify, it looks like they've got three new singles that will likely be on the next album.  First, "Rubberband" up above.  Second, their most popular track right now, "Gimme Gimme," which is a blast of that frothy Brit rock sound I was talking about.  Finally, "Lemonade," which is also a fuzzy blast of rock and harmonies.

That 2012 album is so short I'm guessing it was just an EP, but it definitely has a little bit cleaner, produced sound than those new tracks.  I'm liking the new tracks better, although "Let's Get Together" from the 2012 album kind of reminds me of Moon Taxi, who I like.  Here is a relatively bad recording of that track:

So damn loud, which is awesome, but the poor mic on this dude's phone can't handle the thunder.  Also on that album, "Swonderment" is kind of a jam.  The older album is a little weirder, a little jammy, even more lo-fi, but "Hippos" sounds just like old Oasis again.  I've spent way too long listening to these guys, but they are really pretty great.  Especially for being a 26th liner.  I'd be interested to check these guys out, although I suspect they are going to get the noon on Friday treatment and I may not make it out quite that early.

Flume

One Liner: Electronic

Poster Position: 2

Thoughts:  For some reason, I thought this was going to be jam band music.  Not so much.  This is electronic music, not the new EDM sound, but the more traditional dance electronic music that was the proper electro sound before the BASS-DROP-BROS-4-EVA movement came into vogue.  As you can tell from that last sentence, I know squat-all about electronic music and the actual name for this type of music.  Spotify tells me he was "inspired by house and U.K. garage."  Mmmkay.  This is one dude, named Harley Edward Sterten, who seems to use a lot of guest singers to so their thing over the top of his computer sounds. Reminds me a little of Disclosure, except I think they do it better.

He's got one album (2012's Flume) and then a handful of remixes and singles and whatnot. Craploads of people listen to his tunes, with nine of his top ten most popular over eight figures of listens.  The top song is "Never Be Like You," which features someone named Kai.

My first listen of the song was not impressed, but the more I've listened to this song and his other top tracks, the more that I'm actually kind of enjoying the glitchy, weird sound going on in here.  Caught myself bobbing my head all up in here.  68.4 million streams for that track.

His second most listened-to track is "Drop the Game," with Chet Faker, at 65.6 million streams, but the song that I like best out of the rest of his catalog is the third place track, "Holdin' On," which clocks in at 41.5 million.

Funky shit.  And now, watching that video, I kinda like the guy even more.  He looks like a damn kid, pimples and all, but is having a bad ass time, rocking big crowds and making it happen.  Pretty awesome.  And that song is dope too.  None of his other tracks on that album are as good as that one, in my opinion, but he does have a remix album (listed as the second disc to a deluxe edition on Spotify) with a bunch of American rappers doing cool stuff over his tunes.  I'm a sucker for Ghostface and Killer Mike, so those two are pretty sweet, and the "Warm Thoughts" version, with someone named GrandeMarshall and Goldie Glo is cool.  However, the plain remixes on this deluxe disc, without new rappers spicing things up, are super boring.

Surprisingly OK with this guy.  Kind of doubt I'll go see him unless he's somehow up against someone else on the second line, but kind of fun tunes.

Tory Lanez [updated]

One Liner: Sing-song, brain-dead rap

Poster Position: 8

Thoughts:  Really?  This is the best ACL could do on the rap scene?  I mean, I'm getting some good stuff in Kendrick, LL, and Schoolboy, but this is some weak sauce stuff right here.  Kind of Drake-ish, in that he half-sings/half-raps, and some of these tracks have good beats, but the top few tracks on Spotify are all lame singing rap things with zero lyricism. For example, his most popular track (by a massive landslide) is "Say It," with 62.2 million streams.

Pretty liberal sampling of Brownstone's "Say It" from 20-something years ago, and he just Auto-tune sings boring platitudes over the top.  Seriously, I just read the lyrics, and I am absolutely dumber for having gone through that exercise.  Tuurrrrible.  I'm just going to give you the hook and first verse:  "And you know, you know, And you know, in this foreign car let it go, And you know, you know, And you know, in this foreign car let you know, But I'm not sure that you want me, But I now know, You know I know that this ain't right, Cause you want me cause I got dough, Ever since you walked in inside my foreign, slam my door, You know I know that you been on it, But I been on it, on the low."  Holy hannah that sucks.  If this was an improv freestyle, I would expect that a professional rapper would come up with better lyrics than that.  (although maybe 8 Mile has spoiled me for what is possible in a freestyle rap battle).

He has no full-length albums, just a bunch of singles available on Spotify.  His second-most listened-to track is called LA Confidential, but it is also jenky.  With that in mind, I give you the #3 placing track (10 million streams), because it sounds way cooler, called "B.L.O.W."

At least the beat is pretty cool sounding?  Lyrically, not cool.  Here is the hook of the song, just so that you can revel in the intricacies of the wordplay: "I don't be stressin' these hoes, I just pour liquor for n***as that's it, I don't fuck wit you though, You shitted on me, I can't wait to blow on you, I can't wait to blow on you, I can't wait to blow, I can't wait to blow on you, I can't wait to blow on you, I can't wait to blow"  Finis.  When the aliens land on Earth someday, I hope we play that for them and they are so confused that their heads explode like a gremlin in a microwave.

Maybe "Diego" was the hit I wanted to play?  Er, no, probably not.  I'll give you one guess of the movie character name he repeatedly recites in that song?  If you guessed Tony Montana, then you win a lollipop.  I've got nothing here.  There is no reason to listen to this music or go see his live show.

[updated 6/10/16] Spotify added a new single by this dude ("LUV") sometime recently, and so I figured I needed to check it out and see if he had made a change for the better that would change my opinion here.  Nope, more bad autotune singy junk.  

Blue October

One Liner:  Emotional post-grunge rock with a devoted following

Poster Position: 7

Thoughts:  I've never understood the fascination some people have with this band.  I think there is a cross-section of people who heard it at a vulnerable time in their lives, and the lyrics stuck with them to make the music way more important to them than it should be. Because literally, you know who Spotify lists as their peers in the "Related Artists" section? Fuel, Daughtry, Creed, Hoobastank, Our Lady Peace, and Lifehouse.  Bruuuuuuuutal.  And yet, I know several people who really like this band and have somewhat recently gone to see them play live.  So I guess there is a draw for some folks to see these dudes.  And then my friend Jason, my wingman for ACL every year, just mentioned them in a text of music he wants to see.  So maybe I'll get to see them live despite my reservations!

Spotify calls them a Houston band, but my recollection was that they were formed in San Marcos and that was part of the reason for their local popularity.  Ah, yes, Wikipedia shows that they were in Houston, then moved to Austin after their first album and recorded in San Marcos.  They formed in the late 90's in the post-grunge world of Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, and Creed, but they've got a kind of angsty emo lyrical deal going on that differentiates them from some of those other alt-rock dudes. Seriously, just seeing Daughtry on that list keeps cracking me up. They've released a bunch of albums (1998's The Answers, 2000's Consent to Treatment, 2003's History for Sale, 2006's Foiled, 2007's Foiled for the Last Time, 2009's Approaching Normal, 2011's Arguing With a Tree, 2011's Ugly Side, 2011's Any Man in America, 2013's Sway, and then 2015's live album Things We Do at Night).  Some of their stuff reminds me of Dave Matthews Band - "Ugly Side" from History for Sale, in particular.

The big hit album was Foiled, which went platinum and made it to #29 on the Billboard charts.  That album spawned their two big hits, both of which also went platinum, "Hate Me" and "Into the Ocean."  The latter is their top song on Spotify for streams, with 8.6 million.

So much eye makeup.  And a perfectly pleasant song, kind of more synth pop than rock music.  Here is the other big hit, "Hate Me," which clocks in at 7.9 million streams.

Hoobastank.  I'm still giggling at that list of comparison bands.  That shit is funny.  This song even sounds kind of like Hoobastank's "The Reason."  Anyway, how about their recent tunes?  The most recent album has a few tracks in the top ten on Spotify, and the most popular is called "Bleed Out."

This song almost sounds like a Christian-radio tune.  Why does every video from them have the lead singer's huge face front and center as the splash page? Freaking me out.  But you should seriously go read the comments to this video.  People are literally in love with this band and the lead singer, Justin.  People are talking about how this music SAVED them and how Justin SPEAKS to them.  I honestly wish it did, I want to be in on the fervor, but nothing in these tunes does anything for me.  I may have to go see them to be a good friend, but I think I'd pass if it were my choice.

R.I.P. Guy Clark

UP YOURS, 2016!!!

Guy Clark, man.  Amazing poet who I've always equated with Townes Van Zandt and John Prine. Classic old Texas songwriter.   I got to see him play at Poor Davids Pub in Dallas many moons ago, and heard Dublin Blues for the first time there, live.  Such an great song. I've been adding it to mix tapes for decades and actually put it on a playlist just yesterday for use at a big firm event.

And he wrote a pile of songs that other people made famous, like the amazing "Desperados Waiting For a Train" or "A Coat from the Cold" of "L.A. Freeway."  Damn, man.  I'm actually physically sad over this one.  I'm going to the Texas Chili Parlor soon and drinking Mad Dog margaritas.  "Homegrown Tomatoes" is also a good one, made me wish I liked tomatoes.

One other favorite was "Texas 1947," I just love the image of him running up to the track to get his nickel down before the raging steam train barrels through the town.

"Let Him Roll" is a beauty too - such a sad damn song.  Man, Guy Clark was so bad ass.  What a shitty way to start the day.

I've been listening to him all day, and just came across "Randall Knife" again.  What an absolute beauty.  The only album I own of Clark's was the Essential Guy Clark compilation, and for some idiot reason, "Randall Knife" didn't make it on there.  The tune to the song is a cousin of "Let it Roll," but instead of a homeless guy loving a whore, its a haunting memory of his dad, a hunting knife, and a final tear for the dead.  Seriously amazing.  Made me go right out and look up buying a Randall Knife, until I realized there is a FOUR YEAR waiting list for a Randall, and they are $400+.  No wonder Guy wanted the knife.

VHS Collection

One Liner:  Electronic synth pop

Poster Position: 24

Thoughts:  Oh, those hip millenials, laughing at the over 30 crowd who actually owned VHS tapes. Like me!  I owned Backdraft on VHS!  That's right!  I said it!
Only three songs on an EP available on Spotify, so there isn't a ton to go off of in listening to this band, but I think I get it.  Kind of a Passion Pit thing, danceable synth pop.  And when you google their band name, you get a good look at a lot of weirdos out there who proudly flaunt their collections of old VHS tapes to the world.  Which is entertaining in its own right.

Something about this video is freaking terrifying.  Adult man, huge collection of children's movies on VHS, concrete floors that are easily hosed off.  I wish I hadn't clicked on this.  Was there a "Silence of the Lambs 2: Bill's Havin' a Baby!" that I missed?  But then the first comment is gold - "you're moving the camera too fast and jostling it too much. can't see anything in this video at all"  You tell 'em, MrWolfSnack!

Anyway, back to this actual band, here is one of their three songs, called "Lean."

That track has 2,738 views on YouTube, but over 268k spins on Spotify, so its not entirely unknown. My guess is that Spotify is sticking this into people's Weekly Discovery playlist or something.  I like the chorus, I can dig leaning on your friends and all that.  It isn't bad music, but it definitely is not in my comfort zone of music I'd like to go see play live.

NF

One Liner:  Confessional lyrics from an Eminem-esque Christian rapper.

Poster Position: 15

Thoughts:  Interesting stuff.  You listen to the most popular tracks from this guy (Nate Feuerstein), and I found the Eminem comparison glaring.  Not based on the intricate wordplay or shock value like Eminem, but based on the angry vocal tone.  And good Lord, man, from one line of his Spotify bio, it sure sounds like he has some reason to be angry: "a hardship-filled childhood in which his parents divorced, his mother's boyfriend physically abused him, and his mother eventually killed herself." But as I listen more to this, the more I like it.

He has two full-length albums (2015's Mansion and 2016's Therapy Session) and one EP (2014's NF), and according to Wikipedia his music has been used in a lot of other media, including Madden NFL 16, ESPN, VH1, Showtime, NBC's Chicago P.D., Grimm, Shades of Blue and also featured in the season finale trailer of Fox's Empire. It sounds like the song that has been featured most in that way is "Intro," from Mansion.  That track is not in his top ten most popular on Spotify (despite 3.4 million Spotify streams and 3.2 million YouTube views), but we'll give it a spin here anyway.

Holy crap, dude.  Where did that come from?  I just straight up got goosebumps watching that jenky ass video filmed for $8 in middle-of-nowhere Michigan.  That stuff is awesome.

If this is considered Christian rap, I'd have to say that it seems pretty concealed.  Well, not necessarily concealed, but he's not preaching or proselytizing all that much.  Even more to that point, a song like "Oh Lord," where he is questioning God and asking if he even sees us down here.  Meanwhile, both of these albums went to number 1 on the Billboard Christian albums charts.  Therapy Session also made it to number one on the Billboard rap chart.  Sneaky, man, I've never heard of this.

Back to that confessional sound I alluded to in the intro, here is his most popular track, the title track from 2015's Mansion, with 4.7 million streams.

Hear that Eminem comparison now?  When he's not doing the yelling thing, his tone reminds me a little of Kevin Gates too.  But seriously, this guy is finding some therapy in letting people inside via his music.  His second most popular track on Spotify is the title track from his new album, with only 546k streams so far, but obviously trending up.

He notes that he is writing about things that are real to him, and notes that he doesn't write uplifting, funny, songs, but just uses this for therapy.  If you want to hear that, front and center, listen to "How Could You Leave Us" for another brutal one - talking to his mom about her drug use and dying and leaving him behind.  Its like the opposite of Eminem - he'd be encouraging his mom to eat everything in those pill bottles and die, while NF is so very sad that his mom did just that.  Powerful, especially at the end when he's crying and talking straight to her.  Damn.

This is good stuff.  Some of the new album gets a little too sing-y for me, I'd rather he just raps, but still, I think this is good new music.  I might just go find out what he sounds like in person.

Catfish and the Bottlemen

One Liner: Badass rock and roll.

Poster Position: 7

Thoughts:  I have been listening to their new single for the past few weeks, and I'm smitten. This is "Soundcheck," with 5.3 million listens.

F YES!  That is some kick ass crunchy rock and damn roll.  These dudes are Welsh, and you can just barely hear an accent in the vocals, but the music itself is alternative/ garage/ rock that jams.  I know its just one single, but I am all in.  A new album is apparently coming out soon, to be called The Ride.

Before this new song, they had one other album, 2014's The Balcony.  I don't love it with the same burning fury as I do "Soundcheck," but it is also really good.  Kind of reminds me of the Arctic Monkeys.  I have to say that the band name just doesn't make me think of future stardom.  Seems like they need the shorter name to really explode.  But what do I know?  A few of the tracks off of that older album have over ten million listens, with none of them coming in at less than 4.2, so they have a pretty solid audience.  The top song from that album is called "Kathleen," and it has 22.6 million spins.

Also good from this album, "Pacifier" is pretty kick ass, "Cocoon" sounds good - especially the chorus, and I dig "Homesick."  Of additional entertainment value, you should look at the album cover for The Balcony.  I have no clue what is going on there with headless people reaching for action, but it made me grin anyway.

Anyway, I'm a fan.  This is fun music that is right up my alley and I'd love to see them do it all live. Let's do this.

Paul Simon: Moody Theatre: May 12, 2016

I try relatively hard to keep profanity off of this blog.  Not because I'm some holier-than-thou puritan or something, but just because I generally believe that there are almost always words that will better describe what has happened or a level of excitement without resorting to potentially offensive words. But, HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!  I finally got to see Paul Simon and it was even better than I thought it would be.

The mother of one of my best friends growing up first played Paul Simon for me.  She was kind of an awesome musical teacher, in that she didn't care about what was appropriate, or what was current, and so she is the one who first introduced me to the White Album, the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, and Paul Simon's Graceland.  I know Graceland has become a touchstone for hipsters everywhere since Vampire Weekend co-opted the sound a few years back, but it is seriously one of my favorite albums ever.  We spent many a road trip hour in my friend's suburban jamming along to Graceland, and later Rhythm of the Saints.  For a kid growing up on the mean streets of Austin, both gave me a sweet taste of the flavors of cajun, zydeco, and African music.

So, I heard about Simon coming to do a taping and had put out feelers to every single hookup I could think of, but I think this was a pretty hot ticket, and I couldn't get a sniff anywhere.  I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to miss out on the taping, when a friend came to me yesterday afternoon with an extra ticket.  Hallelujah!

The show did not disappoint.  First off, his band is absolutely amazing.  They had about 397 drums on stage to go with about 48 other instruments, and they played the living hell out of them.  Funky, soulful, energetic - the drummer who donned a washboard thing for "That Was Your Mother" was shredding his chest like a crazy man.  More importantly, Simon's voice is still absolutely beautiful. He didn't all hit the high notes that he used to make, but his voice still has that smooth, warm, gentleness that has made it classic for 50 years.

The highlights of the show, for me, were "Obvious Child" and "Sounds of Silence."  "Obvious Child" is one of my favorite songs anyway, I've always found the middle section about Sonny and his high school yearbook to be terrifically sad, but they absolutely killed the performance.  The huge drum break in the middle was awesome, and the whole place was just grooving right along.  And "Sounds of Silence" was like the 3rd encore song, and he did it all by himself on the stage.  You seriously could have heard a pin drop in there as people stopped everything to hear every note.  So amazing.

Other good songs, "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," "That Was Your Mother," "Graceland," "You Can Call me Al," the instrumental section of "Gumboots." And I didn't know the third song [edit, it is that video above, "Dazzling Blue," from So Beautiful, So What], but it was flipping gorgeous.  I wish he would have played "Only Living Boy in New York," "Cecilia," and "America," but I'll let it slide.

I just can't get over how great that show was.  I woke up happy and satisfied feeling this morning, and it is a rare occurrence for a concert to stick with me that way so that I'm still feeling it hours later. When this taping shows on PBS, you should definitely watch it.  I'd go watch it again immediately if I could.