Wednesday, September 21, 2016

ACL 2016: Friday Thoughts

After all of that listening and writing and forgetting and then re-reading and re-listening, I'm finally ready to quantify this stuff into what you should go hear.  However, unlike prior years, I'm not going to list out all of the bands in ranked format to show who I think is the best band or the 73rd best band coming to the weekend.  I don't feel like that is actually useful to anyone.  It was always kind of fun to trash some of the terrible stuff, but otherwise who cares if I think Kasey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton are in my top ten.  It is more important to figure out - would I rather see Haim or Young the Giant - in their conflicting slot.

Instead, I'm just going to show you a day by day listing of the time slots and who is playing, with my suggestion for who to see, and any comments I might have.  Hopefully this will be helpful to you, although I know it will be good for me to do to get my schedule all set. A few prelude thoughts:
  • The comments for each band are those "One Liner" things that I tried adding in this year to my reviews.  It helps me to remember who they are (sometimes) and provides some detail on the kind of music they play.
  • I've made each band name a link so that you can go read the full review and listen to some tunes if you are unswayed by the One Liner.
  • The first column in each box is the stage where the band is playing (in case you thought I was just playing a weird word association game).
  • Overall, I'd say this is a pretty weak day for the weekend.  Other than Radiohead and Band of Horses, and maybe Foals and Strumbellas, nothing on this list is very MUST SEE to me. Maybe someone will knock me out with a rad live show. 
Here is a playlist of my suggested tunes.




11:30
Miller Lite
BayoneElectro indie that I won't remember in 3 minutes.
Cirrus
Corbu: Pleasant indie rock with terrible remixes
HomeAway
VHS Collection: Electronic synth pop



Looks like I don't need to get there first thing on Friday morning.  If I happen to make it there for the opening bell, I'd go see Corbu out of those.

12:15
Honda
Asleep at the Wheel: ACL mainstay back again for another year of Texas Swing
Tito's Tent
Los Coast: YouTube only, some raw funky live shows
BMI
Liza Anne: Acoustic indie folk
Samsung
Eliot Sumner: Pop-flavored synth rock from Sting's daughter

I guess I'll pick Liza Ann, as she has two really pretty songs that I liked a lot.  I'd do Sumner as well, if my friend has an opinion.  I just re-listened to the Liza Anne song "Lost," and it is just about as damn beautiful as anything in the whole world.  Just made me stop what I was doing to feel longing and sadness and then come add on to this preview.

1:00
 Miller Lite
Frightened Rabbit: Tuneful indie brooding from Scottish dudes who remind me of the National
 Cirrus
Jess Glynne: Strong, soulful voiced Brit singer over dance beats
 Tito's
Ron Gallo (actually 1:15): Raw sounding guitar rocker
 HomeAway
Raury: Genre-hopping folkie guitarist rapper bounces all over the map

Man, these first few hours are not lighting me on fire here.  I think I lean towards Gallo, although I'd go try out Frightened Rabbit too.

2:00



 Honda
The Front Bottoms: Emo lo-fi confessional punk
 Tito's
Prinze George (actually at 2:15): Forgettable electronic indie
 BMI
Welshly Arms: Solid blues rock with a bucket of covers
 Samsung
Banks & Steelz: Wu Tang meets Interpol for a pretty cool mash

Just because of pure curiosity, I guess I'll go watch the Banks & Steelz thing and see how that works? If not that, then I'll go see how Welshly Arms sounds live - they sound pretty solid on record.

3:00


 Miller Lite
The Strumbellas: Poppy alternative folk with that one hit about spirits in my head and guns that rattle, or something
 Cirrus
Chairlift: Basic synth pop with almost Sarah Mclachlan
 HomeAway
Flight Facilities: Lord have mercy.  Didn't I already listen to the generic electro band for this year?  Why do they have so many streams on Spotify?  When did I get so old?

Easy choice here for me, I think the Strumbellas will be a fun show.  I apparently did not enjoy Flight Facilities.

3:30
 Tito's
 Bombino: Nigerian guitar badass

4:00
 Honda
Blue October: Emotional post-grunge rock with a devoted following
 BMI
Maren Morris: Chameleonic "country" with one great song called "My Church"
 Samsung
Foals: Great rock with enough funk to make it danceable



I really like Foals, and would like to go see them during this slot, but I have a feeling that everyone I know is going to want to go see Blue October.  Being that I don't hate Blue October, I'll likely go join them, but I really think I'd rather go see Foals do their thing. Maybe I'll split up for a bit, since we'll have plenty of time to meet back up after this.

5:00


 Tito's (actually 4:45)
Gina Chavez: Local Spanish music
 Miller Lite
St. Lucia: 80's synth pop renaissance with a few good songs and then <sound of Pac Man dying>
 Cirrus
Cold War Kids: Good music, annoying singer
 HomeAway
Tory Lanez: Sing-song, brain-dead rap

This slot is likely going to be dinnertime for me, but if I needed to chose one of these four to go see, I'd choose to go back to the Cold War Kids again.  But I really think I'd rather just eat some tacos. Tory Lanez might be the one thing at the festival this year I liked the least.

6:00


 Honda
Die Antwoord: Annoying shock rap from South African weirdos
 Tito's
Corinne Bailey Rae: Smooth ass soul and R&B
 BMI
Julien Baker:  Beautiful acoustic folky emo
 Samsung
Flying Lotus: Outlandishly weird beats

And if getting that dinner takes a long time, I'm going to be all right, because nothing during the 6 o'clock hour is just lighting me up here.  Of this group, Julien Baker is the best music for sure, but if it were up to me, she'd be in one of those lazy afternoon Sunday slots and not in the Happy Hour slot before the biggest bands.  I need to be getting hyped up here! Maybe just go to Die Antwoord to revel in the spectacle of idiocy?

Just for kicks, I went back to the Die Antwoord well, and had to laugh out loud at the weird, disturbing section of their new album with Lil Tommy Terror, a foulmouthed little kid.

7:00


 Miller Lite
Band of Horses: Laid back rock forever
 Cirrus
M83: Atmospheric electro and dance
 HomeAway
Flume: Electronic [ed. note: super descriptive, Jack!  good work here]

Band of Horses gets the easy win for me, although a part of me would like to go check out M83.  I've heard good things about the M83 live show, but I still doubt I'll go do that over Band of Horses.  Hell, honestly, I doubt I'll do any of these bands just so that we can squeeze up a little bit closer for Radiohead at the next stage.

8:00


 Honda
Major Lazer: Dancehall EDM from Diplo and many friends
 Samsung
Radiohead: It is freaking Radiohead, dude

Very simple choice here.  I almost wish that it was LCD Soundsystem that was up against Radiohead here, so that more of the cool kids would siphon off and go to that stage instead of crowding mine.  Who knows, maybe Major Lazer is more popular than I think, but I think you'd be nuts to skip Radiohead.  That being said, please do.

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