One Liner: New Zealand's answer to throwback-style country Poster Position: 16 Thoughts: Weird name, made me think he was a Wayans brother for some reason. But, pretty cool sound on this dude. Two 2014 albums of laid-back country classic sound with someone called Delaney Davidson, and then one album (2016's Marlon Williams) that is similarly chilled but hits more indie music notes among the country sounds. Definitely country/bluegrass influenced, makes me think of a quiet Lord Huron who listened to Jimmy Dale Gilmour and the Old 97's as a kid. And "When I Was a Young Girl" sounds like a Jeff Buckley cover. It is a pretty solid sound, with a nice voice. The most listened to track is from that new album. The track is called "Dark Child" with 520k streams.
That video is disturbing and weird. Is it a commentary on how many peoples' kids die? Then I'm not sure why one mom happily gets tossed in the pile of bodies? So confused. But the song is a beaut. The end makes me think of noises Smashing Pumpkins made on Siamese Dream. His second most listened to track goes for a more high and lonesome, propulsive sound. This is "Hello Miss Lonesome," with 347k listens.
Fight club for lovers, including an odd rubber baldhead thing and some nudity action from this singer. Okey doke! Also I think he looks like Miles Teller from Whiplash. Cool song, another flippin' weird video. Back on the two country discs (Sad But True and then Sad But True Vol. 3, no evidence of a Vol. 2 on Spotify), there is one song that I loved, called "First There Was a Demon." Like one of those Johnny Cash or Robert Earl Keen laments about being bad and doing bad things and then paying for it.
This one isn't in his top ten of popularity and only has 7,601 streams on Spotify, but I love it. Great sound and imagery. "Let me hang up there a while" and "If you don't respect me, fucka, death's the price you pay!" I really like this guy. The more I listen to it, the more I dig it. His voice is lovely, kind of a throw back to Elvis or Chris Isaak or Don Edwards, just pure sounding and nice. I could go check him out live for sure.
One Liner: Chameleonic "country" with one great song called "My Church" Poster Position: 19 Thoughts: She's a Dallas girl with a few self-released albums and some songwriting credits under her belt, but only one album available on Spotify right now, 2016's HERO. Her current most popular song, "80s Mercedes," is a poppy, auto-tuned thing that, despite myself, I just found myself kind of toe tapping along with. But her big hit, with over 20.4 million streams, is a pretty darned good track tying church to listening to music in your car. I like this one, called "My Church."
Excellent song. I like the sound, the imagery, the tunefulness, and her voice a lot. However, I'll admit that the rest of the album leaves me less excited. The tunes span too wide of a sound, leaving me unsure if I'm listening to Rhianna ("Sugar" or "How It's Done"), Jessica Simpson ("80s Mercedes"), Sheryl Crow ("I Wish I Was"), Kelly Clarkson ("Second Wind") or Kacey Musgraves ("My Church") at any given time. And then there's "Rich," which reminds me of Lorde, except it ain't funny like "Royals" was. I can't say I care for the rest of the album as much as I do the hit. But here is that "80s Mercedes" track for your edification.
Catchy, even if the sound is what I dislike about the new-school world of Nashville. I doubt I'd go see her in the fall, but I like "My Church" enough to consider it. And I doubt she'll bring drum machines and auto-tuners when she's here for the big show, so maybe you'll get to see a more real and stripped down version of these tunes.
One Liner: Sunny pop rock purveyors who created "My Type" Poster Position: 11 (why do I feel like I've put "11" in this slot 40 times?) Thoughts: This is who I was thinking of when I played St. Lucia. <Billy Crystal voice> Ah HA! So, these dudes made one of my favorite tunes of 2014, the buoyantly fun and shiny "My Type." I think I found that track because of Keith Law's great playlists and musical tastes, so I'll shout out to him. This track is, by far, their most popular tune (45.8 M spins), and for good reason.
So much funky sax. So much cowbell. So much funky bassline. You need to strip off your long and flowy coverup dress thing that looks like the colors of the ocean and then groove in your hip huggers until you must knock over pineapples and cavort on a coffee table. These things are biological and cannot be stopped. This makes me think of the Shut Up and Dance With Me people from last year who had one kick ass song that had to be enjoyed. They've got one album, maybe two, with a 6-song offering from 2009 (ForPlay) and the 2012's Voyeur. Interestingly, the 2009 album/EP is more straight-forward rock/alternative, as opposed to what you are hearing on the 2012 album or the 2014 My Type EP. Kind of reminds me of Cage the Elephant now that I have been listening to them a bunch. Here is a track from that early album, "Butch."
I like that song quite a bit too, even though it it nothing like the "My Type" action. The 2012 album is a little less rocking, and starts to feel a little more like the rollicking goodness of the new single. Well, not new, I figure these guys are going to put out new music before the 'fest since their newest stuff is 2014. But here is a good song to bridge the gap between "Butch" and "My Type," called "Puzzle Pieces."
Another nice pop rock tune that is enough to want me to get moving. I keep hearing Morrissey in the vocal tone of the singer. I'd go see these guys do their thing, and am curious to hear what else they get going before the fall.
Holy crap, dude. I just counted up that I've reviewed 51 of the artists coming to weekend 1. I'm getting there! A few great artists, a bunch of good ones, and a few clunkers that I don't care for, but overall I'm liking this year's lineup the more that I do. The sucky part of doing all of this is that I'm ignoring the new releases by some of my favorite artists - I still haven't heard the new Red Hot Chili Peppers or Paul Simon, nor have I tried the new Drake (which is apparently smashing records for most listened to album ever, UGH) or Chance the Rapper or The Monkees or Fitz & the Tantrums or Mudcrutch or the cool sounding Dead tribute Day of the Dead. SO MUCH TO HEAR!!! I know this was like two weeks ago, but I was on vacation and have been busy ever since, but the day by day lineup has been announced. I care less about that announcement than I do about the actual schedule when you can get pissed off about conflicts and then deal with it and plan your day. I can already tell that I'm annoyed about Sunday night, as Mumford, Chris Stapleton, Haim, Local Natives, and Nathaniel Rateliff all appear to be at the end of the day, which sucks. Also of note, I hadn't thought about this or noticed it yet, but it appears that there is no more Austin Kiddie Limits at the Festival. All of the bottom-of-the-poster people are gospel now, with none being the godawful Q Brothers or the kinda fun Big Don or the kick ass Residual Kid. I wonder what happened there? I actually walked in there last year to hear Residual Kid, and it was kind of a cool area. The new replacement for Fun Fun Fun Fest, Sound on Sound, released their lineup today, and I am a little underwhelmed. I mean, I know they aren't trying to compete with ACL or anything, but last year their lineup had some absolutely badass stuff, with Lauren Hill, Wu Tang Clan, Jane's Addiction, Chvrches, L7, Schoolboy Q, and some other cool stuff. The lineup this year isn't bad, but it just doesn't come close to last year with Beach House, Explosions in the Sky, and Phantogram as the top three artists. Courtney Barnett is cool, as are Big Boi, Run the Jewels, Purity Ring, Bob Mould, and Baroness. Oh wait, Diarrhea Planet is playing! They are awesome. As is Monkeywrench (at least what I recall of them from 20-something years ago when I bought their album). More importantly than the lineup, the festival is in Bastrop at the freaking Renaissance Fair place. So they could have jousting and Game of Thrones cosplay and wenches with titties and stuff. This could be awesome. I need to convince my wife that she'd like it and then just go out there and tear it up. To follow up on my posts about Prince, Guy Clark, and Bowie, up yours, 2016. Now Ralph Stanley is gone. The O.G. bluegrass guy. Such a stud. His contributions to the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack were the best. OK, back to the action, I've got another crappy electro band to review!
One Liner: Atmospheric electro and dance Poster Position: 3 Thoughts: This was one of the lock down artist guesses I had for this year's festival, as this guy is playing anywhere and everywhere this summer. I heard great things about their concert a few months ago at Stubb's, but I have to say that the new album left me less than impressed. Despite that, I have a great memory of a Girl Talk show a few years ago, where he mixed in "Midnight City" as the fruition of a build up and drop, and it worked so freaking well I levitated. You know "Midnight City," it is far and away the biggest hit from this dude.
Creepy ass video. But the song has 187.5 million streams on Spotify and then 7 million views on YouTube, so it is up there in the streaming stratosphere. The band is a French guy named Anthony Gonzalez (and used to also include another French guy named Nicolas Fromageau, who has the best French last name I've heard in the last ten minutes. That name sounds like a beret-wearing stinky-cheese salesman if I've ever heard one.) That song is from 2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, which is pretty cool for being kind of dreamy atmospheric synth pop mixed with dance tracks. It is a kind of schizo album, in that many tracks are super chill and relaxing ("Splendor," for example) and then others get you all hyped up to jam out ("Ok Pal," for example). It is a double-disc, for some reason, and so he could have left a song or three off of it, but it has a cool sound. The other hit from the album, and his second most listened-to track on Spotify, is "Wait," which was used to high comedy in some commercial I saw where two kids were about to kiss. Ah yes, this one.
I like that commercial. Like most, I'd never heard of the band until this 2011 album, but it looks like they've been making music for a while. 2008's Saturdays = Youth, 2007's Digital Shades Vol. 1, 2005's Before the Dawn Heals Us, 2003's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, and 2001's M83. Wikipedia shows that Saturdays = Youth was a breakout album for them, but I'm not feeling it much either. It isn't bad, just kind of sounds like Cure b-sides covered by a stinky cheese purveyor. After those, 2014's You and the Night is an instrumental album that was apparently the soundtrack for a movie called Les Rencontres d'après minuit, which has the following plot, according to Wikipedia. "Around midnight, a young couple and their transvestite maid prepare for an orgy. Their guests will be The Slut, The Teen, The Stud and The Star. As each guest arrives they tell their story, most of them too fantastical to believe. Once the guests have shared their stories the hosts tell their story of immortality and a love that crosses death. As the orgy begins fantasy and reality combine until the group is both watcher of and participant in their own liaisons." Mmmmkay. The soundtrack is fine, just atmospheric synth twiddling. The new album, 2016's Junk, just does very little for me (as you can see from my review link above). Super 80's referential, with kind of a winking lean on outdated sounds in the midst of the synths and machine noises. I just don't care for it. I played "Do it, Try It" when I reviewed the album, so here is the other popular tune from this album, called "Go! (feat. Mai Lan)"
Pretty snappy little tune and all, I just still don't care about hearing it anymore. So then where do I stand on seeing this one play live? Hearing good things from people I trust about music makes me think that I should see the live show and experience the action in person. Even if I know I won't listen to this music otherwise at home, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and go jam out in the crowd. We'll see how the schedule shakes out.
One Liner: Wu Tang meets Interpol for a pretty cool mash
Poster Position: 9
Thoughts: So this is a group that was not originally on the poster for the fest, but was more recently added to the lineup. Unfortunately, their album doesn't come out until August, so all Spotify gives me is two singles, "Giant" and "Love and War (ft. Ghostface Killah)." "Giant" is the most recent release (June 10) and yet already has 219k listens in just a few weeks.
Kind of a cool thing, taking an upbeat rock track and then sticking RZA over the top with some rhymes. I won't say that RZA is my favorite Wu Tang guy, but he's pretty cool sounding here. Anytime I hear a rock and rap collaboration it brings the Judgment Night Soundtrack to mind, which was super awesome. This one reminds me of the Mudhoney and Sir Mix-a-lot track "Freak Momma."
The other track features Ghostface, who is my favorite of the Wu rappers, so I'm on board with that immediately. 312k listens on Spotify.
Glenn from Walking Dead! Getting bitch slapped with a kilo of brown horse! This backing track is less exciting, but the rapping is solid. Pretty good. I'll have to reserve a further judgment until the full album comes out, but just based on these two tracks, I'm liking the project.
One Liner: Smooth ass soul and R&B Poster Position: 10 Thoughts: You've probably heard her fantastic, breezy hit from 2006, "Put Your Records On," which lyrically checks Bob Marley and then flows like a smooth Sunday afternoon spent with Norah Jones and Jill Scott. Definitely her most popular and most listened to track, with 50.5 million streams.
That video matches the tune just right - sun-kissed and carefree. Great tune. Speaking of Marley, she does an absolutely mesmerizing cover of "Is This Love" that is straight-up slinky love-making music.
Hot Damn. If that right there doesn't make you want to slowly strip off all of your clothing and get all kinds of sweaty with your love then you need to make a doctor's appointment right now. Do it. I'll wait. That song, in addition to being unequivocally bad ass, won a Grammy in 2012. Smokin'. She has four albums and a handful of singles and EPs, but I think the best of them is definitely that original 2006 album named Corinne Bailey Rae. It has that large single, as well as the album opener, "Like a Star," which is pretty good. The newest disc, 2016's The Heart Speaks in Whispers, makes me think of a Prince album. Still soulful, but kinda danceable, kinda rockin', not too terribly serious. Also flirts with an EDM sound at times. The top track from that is "Green Aphrodisiac," with 1.8 million listens.
More of her old school sound on that one. Just fine, nothing I'd look to hear more of. I have to note that this isn't really a style of tunes I'd listen to much on purpose. Its like how I bought a few Norah Jones albums when those were the thing to buy, and I haven't even considered listening to one of those again in years. Her voice is gorgeous, and I generally enjoy the arrangements, but realistically this isn't my type of tunes. I can't imagine that she'll pull a huge crowd at the festival, but who the hell knows?
One Liner: Swedish electro pop indie with one too many vowels Poster Position: 6 Thoughts: Interesting factoid that you may already know but I did not, is that two of these three dudes used to be the Grammy-winning production team Bloodshy & Avant, who made hits like Britney Spears' "Toxic" and others for Madonna, Katy Perry, David Guetta, Rob Thomas, and J. Lo. Why do I hate Rob Thomas so much? I think it is all because of that Santana collabo. Man, I hate that song. Anyway, these dudes are Swedish. Well, they don't leave behind that pop hook production mindset in this other band, as these songs are similarly poppy and nothing at all what I thought they would sound like when I first started listening. I thought this would be straight indie music. The biggest streams for the group is "Animal," which was on their 2009 debut album called Miike Snow. At 53.4 million streams, it just about doubles up the next closest track.
That video looks like something on access TV that some high school kids made for $38 during 4th period. Song really doesn't do much for me either. Their second most listened-to track is from their new album, 2016's iii, which has 27 million streams and hit #6 on the U.S. Alternative charts.
Love that video, pretty awesome dance between the bad guy and the Bond guy. I guess Genghis Khan was a jealous dude? Or he was gay and a great dancer? Not sure. Still liked the video though. Some of this music reminds me of Adam Levine, and for me that is not an especially good thing. Some reminds me of Vampire Weekend ("Vase," for one), which is a better thing. But I think the main problem are the songs like "Pretender" or "Paddling Out," where the music is just a generic sounding Moby beat from 1997 that is just uninteresting. Maybe they are epic to see live? Seems lame to me. They are up there on the sixth row of the poster, so you'd think they are pretty big, but I'm just not feeling it after several runs through their top songs and then a listen to each of the three albums.
One Liner: "Next Big Thing" sounds like last year's soul electro Poster Position: 11 Thoughts: I first heard of this dude because of a post I did about articles that had worked out how to predict the next big thing in music for 2016. This was the guy who was repeatedly predicted to be the Next Big Thing. Which, of course, makes me a skeptic about him actually being worth a crap. And then later on in the year, his album came out and I listened to it a bunch to work out how amazing it must be. Not so much for me. It isn't bad, but except for a song or two, I don't get a lot out of it. He's only got the one album, 2016's Phase, which is all electro synth and his very nice voice over the top. I have to admit, the other day I was listening to KUTX and a song came on that I really was feeling. Sounded familiar, and when it kicked in I whipped out my phone to Shazam it because I was about ready to jump out of my car and fly up into the clouds. When I realized it was Garratt I was kind of surprised, but the song really does have a great sound. Here is "Surprise Yourself,"
Well shit. Now I've teared up and giggled at the same time while at my office desk, and I'm sure my assistant thinks I'm a psychopath. That video is great, matches the song so well, and a cool set of imagery. Go watch it for real. Although I'm a little confused why that one girl didn't like pinwheels? This seems like a made up fear so that she could appear in a music video. "Hey, Denise, do you have any fears that would be really pretty on screen?" "Uh, yeah, like I totally hate hanging out onstage with Taylor Swift in her hashtag squad!" "Well, that sounds expensive, but we have some old pinwheels and a fan. Can you be scared of that?" "Sure, the Pinwheel (PINWHEEL, SPINNING AROUND!) song is kinda weird. Let's do it!" Anyway, that is a good song, with fine (if not a little platitude-y) lyrics ("Speak and open up your mind, It's something you should do all the time, Keep exploring, seek and find, You know you might surprise yourself") and a cool sounding beat and build. For a guy who was touted as the Next Big Thing, he really doesn't have much buzz in the streams department. When I reviewed him in mid-April, "Worry" had about 23 million streams, and now two months later it is at 29.5 million. He has two other tunes that break ten million streams ("Weathered," which reminds me of that "Once I was Seven Years Old" song and "The Love You're Given"). Other than "Surprise Yourself," I think my favorite track on the album is "Breathe Life," which has 8.9 million streams.
It starts pretty chilly, then a little beat kicks, but then the big beat hits and it is pretty fun. Makes me think again of Disclosure with Sam Smith. I don't know, I like some of this stuff, but if you listen to the entire album, the similarity of it all smears together and you lose track. At 19 songs and an hour and 20 minutes, it just feels a bit long and same. But, that being said, I might just go find him at the festival so I can hear "Surprise Yourself" and quietly leak tears about my fear of things that bite from under the water's surface.
One Liner: Cool beats and guest verses with guy from Odd Future. Poster Position: 16 Thoughts: I'd never heard of this guy before, but he is part of the Odd Future rap collective, which includes dudes like Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, and Earl Sweatshirt. I've tried to get on board with those guys and have never been able to get into it. But this music is actually really good - I've enjoyed listening to this album and just keep going back to it despite the fact that I should move on to the next band. Just one disc, 2016's Genesis, and he has a pretty good second-tier guest list. No Kanye or Rosay or Jay Z, but he scored Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J, Mac Miller, and Anderson Paak, who make really good guest verses on here. The music is a little more Chicago-sounding than L.A. for a large portion, that jazzy orchestral sound like Chance the Rapper uses. The most popular track is the one with Anderson Paak, called "Dapper," with 3.4 million streams.
Fun tune, just sunny and good vibe. And who doesn't like a fun ass roller skating video!?! Although, that roller rink is weird as hell, with those train tracks on the floor and a vibrating Lazy Boy and snowmobile driving around? Seems dangerous for the kids. Paak's verse about swimming until his fingers prune is a little funky but good. And the next most popular track from the album is "Go (Gas)," an ominous sounding track with Wiz, Tyler, and Juicy J, but I prefer the bouncy "Coming Back," which has Mac Miller.
I never can decide if I like Mac Miller or not, but this is a good one. Overall, this is a good album. Its no instant classic or anything, but in this age of supremely disappointing rap, it is refreshing to actually enjoy a new rap album. I'd go check him out if the schedule aligned.
One Liner: Chilly electro that sure seems out of place at ACL Poster Position: 10 Thoughts: Two dudes, based in Brooklyn, but both from the same Vancouver high school. The group is named after the urban planner who designed modern New York City (which is a cool factoid). The music is super chilled electronic stuff - the Spotify bio calls it "post club," which is a weird term, but I guess means the music you go home and smoke the dopes to after you leave the tight club party. The tunes themselves kind of remind me of a Coldplay dub remix you would hear on 101X on Sunday morning's Chillville show. This is all very outside of my musical zone - I've never even heard of the ten "Related Artists" on Spotify for this group. They've got two albums (2015's Days Gone By and 2015's All in All), and then some singles. The most popular track is from Days Gone By, "Tearing Me Up," which has 3.5 million listens in its original form, and then 818k for the radio edit and 768k for an RAC remix. Those tracks are the number 1, 4, and 5 songs in their most popular listing. Here is the radio edit.
Catchy tune, pretty relaxing, although I really can't imagine the vibe of watching this music in a live environment. Seems like it would be good while you are waiting in line at the W to go to the bathroom, but in a huge crowd on a hot September afternoon? Seems weird. Here is the most listened-to track on Spotify, also from Days Gone By, called "Too Much is Never Enough."
4.8 million listens. So these guys are not some nobody band no one has ever heard of who somehow made it to the 10th line of the poster, and their music is nice enough, but I don't get it as a big festival draw. Here is one more track, just because I liked the sound of this one enough to look up from my work and bob my head a little. This is "Talk," also from that same album.
One Liner: Solid blues rock with a bucket of covers
Poster Position: 26 Thoughts: With multiple covers, including the thrillingly, imaginatively titled Covers EP, comprising their most listened to songs on Spotify, you'd think that these guys were just a bar band making other people's music. However, their lone full album available to stream is really good as well, a swaggering, meaty blues rock sound. So, who do they cover? Their most popular track right now is an INXS song ("Need You Tonight") and their most listened to track on Spotify is a Sam and Dave classic ("Hold On, I'm Coming"). They also dip into Roy Orbison, Golden Earring, and Bobby "Blue" Bland (as well as others in an apparent quest to remake a lost third disc to the Forrest Gump soundtrack). But their self-titled album, from 2015, is some tasty rock and roll action. The most listened to track off of that album is "Never Meant to Be," which has 156k listens.
Live version, as I can't find a studio version or official video for the song, but you get the idea. We're not breaking any new ground on this sound, but it is solidly done. "We Move Easy" and "Love in a Minor Key" are both hard hitting nuggets. And their most recent song, "Legendary," which has only 24k streams as of right now, sounds like something that should be used for a NFL 2016 ad campaign, or some other movie/TV show ad campaign.
Coming this fall! CBS presents all the scientific drama you love, except with nothing actually happening! CSI: La Grange! Legendary! Just wait, ESPN is going to find this song and play it so much during their March Madness promos that you are going to actually contemplate suicide.
Huh, I also found a YouTube video of their Sam & Dave cover, which was apparently the "official soundtrack" of the Hateful Eight's trailer. This shows why it is their most listened-to track.
Its a pretty bad ass cover. These dudes are from Cleveland, Ohio, but I can't find just a ton written about them on the web. Their own website has a little, but Spotify doesn't have a bio and Wikipedia has nothing. I mainly just wanted to find out what their band name is all about. Sounds like a hotel name from jolly old England. I like this music pretty well and would consider catching them if the schedule lines up right.
One Liner: Indie pop with enough reggae tinge to be cool. Poster Position: 14 Thoughts: Kind of a weird mix of music. Some tunes are more straightforward indie pop, then others have a legit reggae beat, which is pretty damn groovy, but then they also sound like indie tunes you'd hear in an Urban Outfitters. Their most popular song (that isn't a Major Lazer song featuring them) is "Keep You," from 2013's Isles, at 9.7 million streams.
Poor girl, she just wants to stalk you, little man. And the rest of their top five songs all have this kind of vibe too, some are less overtly reggae, and maybe just have that kind of flavor under the beat. That "Keep You" song is from their older album, but their new album's most popular song (which lyrically checks some old Eazy E and therefore is kinda tight) is "Throw Down Your Guns," which has 2.1 million streams.
The 10 year old Jack would have loved this tune and gotten all riled up about how we should totally have gun control because a pop song told me so. Same way I thought the aborigines got a raw deal because of Midnight Oil. Although I will say it looked pretty cool when they dumped all those used shell casings. But hold on. You're telling me you took all those bad ass looking uzis and shit and turned them into some music bowls? This is garbage. We should sell those guns to Nic Cage to see what he can get for them on the open market. I like both of those songs that I've linked to up above, and in talking to a teen last week, I've learned that this band is bitchin' cool and plays a good live show. Of the two albums, I generally liked the 2013 one more than the 2016 one, but "Throw Down Your Guns" is pretty tight. I dunno. But maybe I'll give them a shot.
Poster Position: 18 Thoughts: Woah, this was entirely unexpected. I'd been mired in digital music hell for the past several artists, and here is a real deal analog groove master making it happen. This is full-on, old school soul music played with real instruments and soaked in the bad ass sounds of the originals. He's got two albums on Spotify, but it sounds like there are older albums out there that don't make the cut here. The surprising thing is that none of these songs appear to be covers. You'd expect that a band like this would have a killer Smokey Robinson or Sam Cooke cover among their repertoire (although maybe they do that live, I dunno). Soul revival, baby!
All ten of their most popular tracks on Spotify are from the 2016 album Hold On!, although only one of those breaks the 100k mark. That track "(Baby) Hold On" has 117k and is tight.
A little rhumba action to start the day. Or maybe that is a samba. I am not the world's foremost expert on latin rhythm names to attach to old school tunes. Whatever, it is fun stuff. Here is a slow ditty, "Something's Calling," which clocks in at 53k listens right now.
Homeboy is from England, and apparently has sung backup for the man, Van Morrison. The best part of these two albums is the tight arrangements, the horns, the sax, the drums and organ. It's classic and authentic and sounds super cool. Go jam the instrumental "Satchelfoot" and feel it.
Can't you see Austin Powers dancing to that song, tragic teeth flying and weird thriller hands splayed out? Yeah baby! Groovy. Fun music, we'll see if I end up seeing them, with Nathaniel Rateliff, St. Paul, and who knows who else doing the retro action at this year's festival.
Thoughts: I'm becoming cranky about this music way too early in this process. I think doing the Chainsmokers and then hitting on this one was a bad combination. I need to listen to some Metallica this afternoon to reset my brain.
This band has one 2015 EP and then a few other singles. For a band with that few songs out there (8), they have gotten a good amount of play on Spotify, with two tracks over a million and all but the newest one with more than a hundred thousand. There isn't much available on them via my normal unimpeachable sources (Wikipedia, Spotify bio), but their website says "Prinze George is Kenny Grimm (production / instrumental), Naomi Almquist (vocals) and Isabelle De Leon (drums), who are based in Maryland." Just based on that alone, I know I'm likely not going to like their music very much. If you don't have a full time glockenspiel player, then don't bring your weak ass shit to me.
Their most listened to track, apparently "selected for the movie soundtrack of Warner Bros.' biggest European release in 2014, "Honig Im Kopf," a film directed by Til Schweiger," is called "Victor," and has 1.2 million streams.
Its fine, just kind of forgettable. I literally just had to listen to it three times so that I could try to write something about it. Pretty vocals, spare production, its just fine. Then their second most listened to track is this one, called "Upswing," which has 1.1 million listens.
Again, that is just fine. Just kind of generic music with pretty good lyrics. I don't hate it, but I sincerely doubt I'd make time to go see them play.
One Liner: EDM, just like you've heard so many times before. Poster Position: 2 Thoughts: In my epic wisdom, during my earliest notes about who might come to ACL, I did correctly guess that they would be here, but I stated that they would "make the small type portion of the poster." Doh. Instead, they are a line two, top 7 artist for the festival. Of course. So shows you what I know. A few weeks ago, a commenter I don't know (always so exciting when a stranger comments on the blog!) linked this performance from Ultra, saying that "After this you will understand why they are a big get."
It's a whole hour, so gird your loins if you plan to actually observe. Four observations from the first three minutes: (1) this is Skrillex except with two J. Crew models hired to act like they are "making" the music; (2) the crowd shots of that Festival make me want to die and take anyone younger than 25 with me; (3) do not go watch Chainsmokers live if you have epilepsy; and (4) they really should invest in small stepladders if they are going to each crawl up on their console every 30 seconds so that they can scream "FUCK YEAH MIAMI!!!" and throw their hands in the air before climbing back down to twiddle a knob. Their backs really will thank them later. Two things about that are the worst. One, that these dudes can't say anything to the crowd without including a "FUCK" or "FUCKING" in the sentence. Come on, man. Two, the children in the crowd spend the entire time waiting for the camera to be on them so they can incorrectly lipsync the lyrics and throw their hands up in fake gang signs. With that in mind, and after listening to the rest of the concert and watching portions of it, I think I get it. This music would (and does) annoy the living hell out of me if I just sat here and listened to it for any extended period of time. It is derivative and predictable and annoying. However, like the Griz show I loved last year at ACL, it looks like they just steal the best bits from other people's tracks ("Under the Bridge," "Antidote," or "Shut Up and Dance With Me," they are equal opportunity gankers) and make it into a huge, really fun dance party of drop after drop after drop. You just need to go there and let it all out. For example, I'd never purposefully listen to a generic techno remix of Blink 182's "Miss You," but when its among 10,000 sweaty, drug-addled teenagers, you'll just want to let go and party along. Some of works: the drop at 1:56 (or 49:56 or 51:50) would send you into shakes and shivers while you jump as hard as humanly possible; then some of it craps the bed: the drop at 13:29 to end "Panda" is terrible. He did tell people not to support Donald Trump, so he might be smarter than I thought. I'm also genuinely curious about what the two bros are doing up there. Other than screaming "FUCK!" and climibing onto the console over and over. They both touch knobs and little sliders repeatedly as thought that is changing the music. They have like 8 little fake turntable things up there that I don't recall them touching. They both repeatedly put on and then almost immediately take off big earphones around their necks. Do they actually need to be there? I think not. How about just the studio tunes? Pretty generic. I definitely think the live tunes you can hear up there are significantly better than the stuff they have available to hear on Spotify. No real albums, just a bunch of singles and remixes of those singles. By the way, they have a song called "#SELFIE." I think they should legally be required to light themselves on fire for creating that track. Here is their most popular track (with a mind-boggling 342.2 million streams on Spotify) called "Roses."
I like that girl's voice, but the song is a yawner. They have another song with 238.3 million streams ("Don't Let Me Down"), then one with 46.1 million ("Kanye") but then everything else is down lower in number of streams. Still though, that is a crapton of streams, showing that they are insanely popular with the kids who stream things. And just so you have to suffer through this same thing, here is #SELFIE:
Death to Smoochie. So, then the question is, would I go see them play live. I think the answer is probably yes. Their live show looks like a lot of fun. I still don't see them as a big "get," as I think any number of similar artists could create that same vibe of a show, but if I learned anything from last year's ACL, it is that despite not understanding EDM music or its popularity, if you just go in the middle of the kids and jump around and have some fun, it is contagiously awesome. Now, I'm not going to skip most other headliners to go watch this, but if they are up against Kygo or LCD, I may go fire it up.
One Liner: Electro indie that I won't remember in 3 minutes. Poster Position: 19 Thoughts: This is the kind of music that is ruining Discover Weekly for me. I wish there was a way for me to tell Spotify to ignore certain bands that I listen to for this blog, so that it wouldn't think that I really want to listen to twee electronic indie by guys with face-spanning mustaches. But because I've listened to eight of these kinds of bands recently for this blog, now I'm going to get a bunch of this kind of music - Spotify called his music "textured art songs," uuuuugggggghhhh. He's apparently from Spring, Texas, so hopefully his parents are currently swimming in their living room. His top two songs for streaming are, confusingly, the same song, with "Spectrolite" (with a purple cover) at 349k streams and "Spectrolite" (with a white cover) at 243k. That is either the influence of Prince's death, racism, or the fault of colorblind hipsters. BTW, this video has 8040 (now 8041) views total. So the guy isn't burning it up outside of Spotify.
However, if you read the YouTube comments about this song, this is "amazing," "incredible," "holy jesus fuck this is incredible," "my favorite song this month," and "bad ass!!!" So I must be missing the boat on the unimpeachable amazing virtues of this music. I feel so alone. His Spotify bio says that he built an established fan base in Austin, Texas with his live shows, although Austin is not in his top five for Spotify streams (and he doesn't show up on a YouTube artist insight search). Who knows, maybe there is a rabid group of Austinites who are PSYCHED about him coming to ACL. He's got one album - 2016's Primitives, and his second most listened to track on Spotify is from that album, called "Waves."
70k listens on Spotify. 9,777 views on YouTube. Whatever. This guy is not in my wheelhouse for tunes, I can get how this might be enjoyable to listen to but I'm not feeling it and likely won't go see him play live.
One Liner: Genre-hopping folkie guitarist rapper bounces all over the map. Poster Position: 14 Thoughts: I have no clue what I am listening to with this guy at any given time. One song may be an earnest sounding indie folk song, the next is an electronic-laced soul song, the next starts as a folk number but then turns into a rap and then goes back to folk. Raury is from Georgia, and apparently threw himself an 18th birthday musical festival before starting out to create his own musical genre. Wikipedia says "He has stated that he is influenced by Andre 3000, Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Bon Iver, Queen, Fleet Foxes, Marvin Gaye, and The Keyz." Well, alrighty. He's got an early mixtape (2015's Indigo Child) and then one true album (2015's All We Need), and that new album has some cool musical guests like RZA, Big K.R.I.T., and Tom Morello. I really feel like I have heard the Morello track ("Friends") before, but I don't know where. His most listened-to track is from that new album, with 8.5 million, this is "Devil's Whisper."
Starts out like a gospel/blues track you would have heard on Justified or Walking Dead during a montage as characters tried to escape death. Then a Kanye beat drops in and it turns into a pretty solid rap. Right? Pretty sweet track. Taking off from that same point in the video (lying on the roof with a weird flag), here is the most popular track on that earlier mixtape. This is "God's Whisper," which has 5 million streams. See what he did there? God whispered to him, then the Devil did?
Right on. We are the saviors. Well, buddy, the saviors aren't going to make it long enough to save much if you keep lighting fireworks sideways and then throwing them. Professor Safety explicitly disavows those actions. One other track, just because I think it is really interesting, called "Trap Tears," really shows the juxtaposition of folky rhythms and rap beats.
The opening guitar picking sounds like one thing, then the chorus sounds like a Young Thug song broke out. Then it goes back to the finger-picking guitar. I generally like this music, even though its all over the place. Which just makes me confused. Do I like it? Is it too weird? I wish some songs would just stick to the genre they start out in instead of morphing. I definitely think that the new album is better than the old EP. May be interesting to go check out at the 'fest, although who the hell knows what to expect to hear in person?
Thoughts: Criminy, man, this guy has put out a buttload of albums. Spotify offers up 19, starting with 1996's Music of Hair and ending with 2016's Are You Serious. In the midst of those is a live album from his performance at the 2007 ACL Festival. His sound is warm, very comforting, kind of in the vein of the good M. Ward songs, except that he usually has a violin involved somehow because that is what the guy does (go check the old albums for sure). Oh, and whistling. The dude digs a good whistle. The new album is really pretty great. It all sticks to a nice, indie sound that is really fun and pleasant. He's got a Rhythm of the Saints-esque tune in "The New Saint Jude" that is a really fun groove. "Chemical Switches" sounds like a Fleet Foxes tune with whistling. But if you go back to other albums, know that you will be taking an adventure out of that comfortable yard and into the twisting streets of oddness on some of these albums. 2015's Echolocations: Canyon is more like a modern classical album of orchestral instrumentals and ambient pieces, same with most of 2013's I Want to See Pulaski at Night. But 2014's Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of goes back to the lovely sound of the indie troubadour making warm tracks with intricate lyrics. Then, if you go all the way back to that first album, it is a bluegrass fiddle album. Nothing like his current music. His most popular track is his most-listened to by a bunch, and is called "Pulaski at Night," from the 2013 album I Want to See Pulaski at Night. If you google "what is Pulaski," the definition of that word is: Pu·las·ki
pəˈlaskē/
noun
a tool with a head that has an ax blade on one side and an adze on the other.
But from reading further, it sounds like there is a Chicago holiday known as Casimir Pulaski Day, which celebrates a Polish dude for being the father of the American cavalry and a Revolutionary War hero. The event apparently happens early in March and is observed by Polish communities in Illinois in general. They even close the public schools statewide, according to Wikipedia. So maybe everyone in Illinois jams this song on Pulaski Day, because its got 9.3 million listens while the next best is at 4.3 million in his Spotify catalog.
More orchestral plucking, and a vaguely asian sounding violin riff, to go with a sad set of lyrics about wishing someone would come back to Chicago to enjoy his half empty horn of plenty. People in Illinois apparently love the guy, because his second most listened-to track is called "Giant of Illinois." But I don't want to pimp that, I want to play one of the tracks off this excellent new disc. The three with the most listens are "Left Handed Kisses," "Roma Fade," and "Capsized." Although it is the least listened-to of those three, and "Left Handed Kisses" features the excellent Fiona Apple, I'm stepping to you with "Roma Fade" because I dig it.
Whistles! And then a great chugging groove! Cool, right? This guy's music is great, I feel like I could listen to this all week. And that new album is really excellent. That being said, I'm not entirely sure about this as festival fare. I've tried out the ACL Fest live album from 2007, and it is surprisingly rockin' in comparison to the tunes on the albums, so maybe he'll bring the thunder in person. I'm feeling like this may be comparable to the amazing Lord Huron sets I got to watch last year. Sign me up if so.
One Liner: New Zealand electronic indie pop I thought was MGMT Poster Position: 7 Thoughts: I thought this band was MGMT forever. You've heard their hit on the radio, but over the years, I always just thought this was another track from MGMT. I first actually listened to them while looking at predictions for this year's ACL, because they were picked as one of the big bands for the Auckland City Limits. However, I predicted they wouldn't be here, mainly because their last album was in 2013, and from looking at Spotify numbers, it wasn't nearly as popular as their 2010 debut album. Wrong one for me, as here they are, somehow on the 7th line of the poster. I won't say I care for this music all that much. A little Passion Pit, a little MGMT, a little bit of annoying sameness between the songs. The big hit you've heard before is "Young Blood," which racked up 70.2 million streams on Spotify.
Synths and drum machines and vaguely whiny, but it still gets me bobbing my head along with the tune. I guess I get it. Their second most popular track ("Punching in a Dream") has 41.7 million streams on Spotify, and a very similar sound. Instead of bringing you that one to sample, here is the most popular track off of their most recent album, 2013's In Rolling Waves, "Hearts Like Ours," which has 15.3 streams.
I like that one better, sounds a bit more like Chvrches to me now. A little guitar forward, less whiny sounding. But after bouncing along through both of their albums, I still don't think I'd go see them, still not my thing.
One Liner: Gentle ginger with some chilled tuneage Poster Position: 12 Thoughts: A friend of mine loves this dude, for reasons I've never quite understood, because otherwise that guy loves rap, rap, and more rap. I've got nothing against this brand of laid back indie folky rock stuff, but my buddy's devotion is a little odd. Based on his rec, I went and listened to the 2008 disc Hope for the Hopeless a few years ago and liked it well enough. Kind of Jason Mraz or Jack Johnson style stuff. But the two older albums definitely weren't doing it for me. I forgot about Dennen and moved on to other tunes, but now, listening to his new album, he's actually pretty solid. That new disc, 2016's Por Favor, has a old school Paul Simon flavor that I like quite a bit. The most popular track from that album also throws a little Dead vibe on there in my ears, and its pretty good. "Cassidy" has just under a million streams on Spotify.
Just kind of sounds like a jaunty stroll down the beach with your girl on your arm. Sweet little love song. The more I listen to this album, the more I like it a lot. "Where We Left Off" is a beauty, and "Bonfire" is a good one as well. This is a good album of relaxed tunes. I'm actually going to save it to listen to more after this ACL fest is over. Dennen's 2013 album, Smoke and Mirrors, is a little more slickly produced and I don't enjoy it quite as much. His most popular track is from 2006's So Much More, and is called "Ain't No Reason," which has racked up 22.1 million listens.
So earnest. Like a modern "We Didn't Start the Fire" with just true pronouncements and observations about how crappy we all are because we don't take care of everyone else. WAY TO MAKE ME FEEL BAD, BRETT! Sounds like Ben Harper here to me. For some reason, I guess it is the pictures on his album covers, I thought he was going to be one of those dudes who released his first album when he was 12 or something, but no, his first one came out in 2004 when he was apparently 24 or 25. He still looks pretty dang young in photos. Before his two most recent albums, he's got a Definitive Collection album from 2013 - the Greatest Hits album is not dead! - but after listening to that, 2011's Loverboy, 2008's Hope for the Hopeless, and 2005's Brett Dennen, I can very easily say that his new album is significantly superior to those older tracks. They aren't bad by any means, just more soft-spoken folky music that I'm never really drawn to. I doubt I'll go see him, but I bet if I did it would be a pleasant way to spend an hour.
One Liner: Annoying shock rap from South African weirdos Poster Position: 5 Thoughts: I'm a little surprised that they would be on the fifth line of the poster, but as has been demonstrated on many occasions, my musical tastes don't entirely match up to the youth of today. This is a South African rap duo who make weird stuff that is kind of intentionally out there, conceptual shock art that is intended to disrupt. Did you ever see Chappie, the 2015 movie from Neil Blomkamp (the guy who did District 9)? I generally liked the movie, but thought that the parts played by the members of this group were actually one of the bright spots in the movie. Their roles were gangsta criminals, and their look definitely helped pull that off, but I also thought it was funny that they just went ahead and wore their band gear in the movie as though their characters were big fans of their own band. Bending that fourth wall, and I liked it. If you haven't seen the movie, and want to, then don't watch this next clip, which is a five minute chunk of the movie that features Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones, the dude in the clip splash page you can see below) and the other half of the band, Yo-Landi ViSSer.
The later scenes where Ninja is training Chappie to be gangsta are also pretty funny. Anyway, music. Their original single/hit was "Enter the Ninja," which became a big viral hit back in 2010 when it first came out. I think that was mainly because it was so weird, and not because it is a good song. More like William Hung or something you send to your friend with a laughing so hard I'm crying emoji.
That track has 45.2 million views on YouTube. Their most popular track on Spotify only has 14.3 million. They have 4 albums available on Spotify (none include that lovely opening salvo to their canon) including 2010's $O$, 2012's Ten$ion, 2014's Donker Mag, and 2016's SUCK ON THIS (MIXTAPE). This music is terrible. It is kind of funny for a second, but then you are listening to the fourth song and wish it would just stop. This feels like a SNL skit or Lonely Island album gone wrong. Super basic beats, shocker lyrics about sexy time, annoying high pitched singing. I don't like anything about this stuff, except maybe for the funny song titles, such as "WHERE'S MY FUKN CUP CAKE?" or "Raging Zef Boner." Just so you'll get to experience another track, here is the second most popular one right now on Spotify, from the 2014 album, called "Cookie Thumper!"
I do not plan on going to see this live. Any of the other bands on the 5th line is a million times better than this.
One Liner: Don't Call It a Comeback! I Been Here for Years! Poster Position: 4 Thoughts: LL Cool J, baby! Ladies Love Cool James! Old bad ass right here. Before all the acting, this guy was one of the original rappers who tried to turn the genre into a popular thing, doing real rap but then also doing some love songs and tender stuff. Surprisingly, he's only 48, but has been rapping since childhood. According to Wikipedia, he was the first hip hop act to go on American Bandstand. He is also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was one of the first artists ever signed to Def Jam, and his first album (1985's Radio) is a classic. Which means he would have been 17 when that came out, which is insane. It has those old school beats that are pretty spare, lot of drum machine, without much in the way of samples. This was one of Rick Rubin's first production jobs (along with the Beastie's License to Ill and Run DMC's Raisin' Hell, pretty awesome resume starter). The hot singles from this first album were "I Need a Beat," "I Can't Live Without My Radio," and the biggest one, "Rock the Bells."
This one had a lot more production on it than the other tracks, and I think that added to its popularity. That intro is the best part. If you don't kind of want to punch the air sideways and yell along with it, then you are missing out. Literally, the first review I did on this site was the Kings of the Mic Tour, which was freaking BAD ASS! But as you can see from that review, I thought LL spent a little too much time macking on the ladies instead of just rocking the mic and bringing the heat. But he still sounds good and looks good. As popular as Radio was, his next album Bigger and Deffer (1987) is his best selling one, which spawned hits with songs like "I'm Bad," and the love ballad/rap hybrid "I Need Love."
However, because the world of streaming music is still sometimes a big fat pile of elephant turd, this album (and his next big hit album) is not available to stream on Spotify. Why? I don't know. Someone at his old label is an a-hole. But this album sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S. Big hit. The next album was Walking with a Panther (1989), which had "Goin' Back to Cali," which is still one of his best tracks of all time.
That intro! So freaking money! That bass! That video of him driving around in his convertible! Those girls dancing! Man I wanted to see up their skirts when I was 13! "I wanna do this Brutus but I don't wanna pay!" Classic. Again, this album not available to jam on Spotify, which ought to be an act of war by the Swedes or Smurfs or whoever owns that company. Then, at album number 4, the one that broke it all wide open. Your mom freaking knows a song from that album, it was (and still is) everywhere. This was 1990's Mama Said Knock You Out, which sold over 2 million copies and won LL a Grammy. The album is full of classics - "Boomin' System," "Around the Way Girl," "Farmers Blvd," and, or course, the title track that everybody knows.
Just one of the most perfect rap packages. Great beat ("take the funky drummer and give it back to James!"), catchy and memorable chorus, excellent video, solid beef/diss. Wikipedia says he got the idea for the song from his grandma: "LL Cool J said in his autobiography that the idea for the song came from a discussion with his grandmother. He had said to his grandmother that he felt that he couldn't survive as a rapper now that gangsta rap was popular and he was being dissed by several up-and-coming rappers. She responded, 'Oh baby, just knock them out!'" That is great. His next album has one of the weirdest metaphors for sex that I've ever heard, but I bought this CD in college and would blare it in my dorm room, because the beat and offset delivery is so freaking dope. This is "Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings."
Soak up that salty ass beat, just deep and smooth as hell. The rest of this album is pretty forgettable, with "How I'm Comin'" and "Back Seat" ("back seat of my jeep, a swingin' episode!") the other best singles, but no one is really going to remember 14 Shots to the Dome (1993). Pretty much just repeated that same song until my roommate told me to can it. The next album was my LL Cool J album of choice for years, I guess it still might be. You've likely never heard of it, but it came out my sophomore year of college, when I was still living in the dorm, and we played this disc eight trillion times. Seriously, my memory is waking up to this disc, mixing my first vodka sprite to this disc, playing NHL '94 to this disc, and then finally turning it off so that we could go out. The two big hits from this album showcase the smooth side of LL, "Doin' It" and "Loungin." Here is the latter, which I bought as a remixed single as well because people used to actually buy physical singles a million years ago and I thought it would get the sorority girls dancing. P.S. truth. This is that remix.
The original was tight as crap too, with a super cool beat, this spectral echo dancing on the clouds while the bass bounced down low. Here is that original version, if you want to compare the two.
Album also had ""I Shot Ya," "Mr. Smith," "Hollis to Hollywood," so many good memories tied up in hearing these songs again. This disc went 2x platinum, so I guess it was actually more popular than I thought. Then, I just stopped listening to the guy. From looking over the next albums, the only songs I recall are "Phenomenon" and (the actually solid) "4,3,2,1" from 1997's Phenomenon, "Imagine That" from 2000's G.O.A.T., "Luv U Better" from 2002's 10, "Headsprung" from 2004's The DEFinition, nothing from 2006's Todd Smith, nothing from 2008's Exit 13, and nothing from 2013's Authentic. I just tried listening to Authentic and it is bad stuff. A bunch of collaborations with odd people (Fitz and the Tantrums, Travis Barker, Tom Morello, Brad Paisley, Eddie Van Halen) can't save this from the used CD bin. Er, I guess since it came out in 2013, then the deleted items folder on your hard drive.
Funny thing is, I just read an interview of Lin-Manuel Miranda where he talked about meeting LL after one of his shows, and I found it pretty cool (even if it flies in the face of my experience listening to this stuff). He said: "LL Cool J was a real interesting one. I'd met LL before he came, because I had a friend who was on that NCIS show. I remember asking him at the time, 'Are you going to make any new music?' And he said to me – this is a great quote and it's always sort of stayed with me – 'I don't want to make something that isn't a classic.' But the way he said it was, 'I want to work in marble.' That really stuck with me. So when he came to the show, I said, 'I tried to work in marble, sir.'" To the extent that story is true, I think it is cool that Miranda remembered their earlier meeting enough to say that. Pretty boss move. However, I don't think that anything LL has made since 1995 could be considered classic. That being said, I'd absolutely go back and watch him play this stuff again. He's a master, and unless there is a serious conflict, I can't pass up another chance to see him in action. Although, just before I published this, I went back to the ACL poster to see if any new bands have been added to the lineup (answer: yes!) and when I checked, I see that now LL is listed as being "feat. DJ Z-Trip," which sounds like some bullshit. I don't want some new DJ trying to mix things up when I want to hear classic Cool J. However, to potentially assuage my reluctance, Wikipedia tells me that "As of 2012, he has also been featured as hip-hop legend LL Cool J's touring DJ in shows that have been described as so exemplary that the "crowd can barely handle the greatness,"" so maybe this will be amazing.
