Elle King

One Liner: The Ex's and Oh's lady has more scratchy-voiced, country-spiked pop. 

Wikipedia Genre: Americana, blues rock, alternative country, rock
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 12
Day: Sunday at 3:00
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  Brought this one up with no idea it was going to be the Ex's and Oh's girl.  That song annoys the shit out of me.  It is hard to remember the first time I heard it, since it has been overplayed to death by the radio since then, but maybe I kinda dug it when I first heard it?  Now it just grates my nerves.  Obviously, that is her top track, with 223.7 million streams.

Kind of a cool sound, the rockabilly thump of the music and her rough voice soaring over the top.  But once you've heard it 387 times, it looses some luster.  That being said, her second most streamed tune is infinitely worse.  "America's Sweetheart" is country in the way that Avicii made that half electro-half banjo hit a few years back.  26.9 million streams.

Is that an ad for freaking Lyft?  Or even for Beats by Dre?  Something about the beats + banjos, combined with all of the lyrical ATTITUDE and BOSS BABENESS gets deep under my skin immediately.  Feels like a soulless perfect hit written by a team of guys on Music Row and then handed to King to conquer the charts.  She really belts the shit out of the chorus too.  Also, what up with that odd Irish flute firing in for a random second at like 2:13?  She kind of reminds me of a Drew Barrymore doing a bit - Charlie's Angels - Banjo Fever!

Her real name is Tanner Elle Schneider, and she just turned 29.  She actually plays the banjo, so all of the banjo in these songs is the real deal, not like some schtick that she planned to add into her songs.  Wait, holy shit, she is the daughter of Rob Schneider.  Duece Bigalow!  She was actually in that movie!

Oh man.  I don't think I ever watched that movie, but it looks truly godawful.

Only one album (2015's Love Stuff), and then an early EP from 2012 (with an extremely racy live version of "My Neck, My Back").  Her early sound is less rough voiced, and more of that annoying sound that is very current today where the singer almost creates a nasal tone with a forced torchiness.  My daughter emulates this when singing and it bugs.  Dang, so Ex's and Oh's came out in 2014?  And its still on the radio all the time?  Actually impressive.

Oh, wow.  The first track on her album was actually produced by Avicii.  Maybe working with King is what inspired him to do his "Wake Me Up" song?  Both were done in 2013, so it could be.  Weird.

Anyhoo, reading back through this review, I'm pretty much 100% negative.  But to be honest, her album is pretty good.  "Ex's" has been overplayed to death, and I don't like "Sweetheart," but some of these songs dial down the brassiness and sound cool.  Like "Under the Influence," which is more like an Amy Winehouse track with a good groove.  And the Joan Jett-esque rasp on "Last Damn Night."  "Kocaine Karolina" is like a chilled Mumford track, and "Make You Smile" makes me think of Mumford too - thumping and slightly cheesy.  "Ain't Gonna Drown" is a little gospel, a little Winehouse, dark and nuanced.  When she stops trying so hard, this can be good.

But would I go see her do it live?  Conflicted about it, but I guess if the band up against her isn't strong, then sure.

Wallows

One Liner: B-list movie star band with great indie rock chops.

Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, post-punk
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 21
Day: Saturday at 12:45
Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts: Pretty good stuff.  I sometimes clown on bands that love the 80's new wave sound so hard, but this one works for me.  Just one EP in their collection, 2018's Spring, full of guitars that sound like they spent a lot of time listening to the Cure.  The top popular track showcases that sound, this is "Pictures of Girls," with 3.5 million streams.

The lead singer looks like an actor from one of the YA-novel-adapted movies I've seen recently.  Huh.  He is an actor, named Braeden Lemasters, but none of the movies and shows listed in his bio match up to anything I have seen recently (except for the Stephen King adaptation to 11.22.63).  He looks like someone else, man.

Oh no wait!  There are two lead singers.  The other one is Dylan Minnette, who I saw in the video and who looks like someone famous, because he's always staring at me from my Netflix suggested videos.  He stars in the 13 Reasons Why show, and was in Lost, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and the Goosebumps movie.  That is why I know his pretty little face.  I haven't actually watched the 13 Reasons Why show, I'm just not so sure about teenage suicide being my entertainment these days, with my oldest only a few months shy of being a teen.

Anyway, they put out a few 2017 singles, and I actually think some of those songs are their best.  "Sun Tan" is chilled rock and "Pulling Leaves off Trees" is very good.  But the new EP definitely sticks to the new 80's formula.  They do a weird detour for "1980's Horror Film," which sounds very much like a Smiths/Morrisey track that was just barely left off of the Ferris Bueller soundtrack.  

The band came together as children in Southern California, and apparently played the Warped Tour in 2011 (when the members would have been 14?).  But their first single as Wallows was "Pleaser," which is their most streamed track by a large chunk at 7.2 million streams.

I'm a fan.  This music is fun and feels like it will make for a good show of loud rock and roll in the Fall.  Let's do it.

Sailor Poon

One Liner: Raw lyrics over raw rock, if their name didn't rule they'd still be in their garage

Wikipedia Genre: None.  Retro/surf/punk rock
Home: Austin

Poster Position: 24
Day: Sunday at 11:30
Weekend One Only.

Thoughts:  I wrote a very short review of these weirdos a few years ago when they were coming to Sound on Sound Fest.  At that time, they had nothing available on Spotify, luckily for all of us, since then, they've joined the modern age and you can now hear the glories of "Leather daddy" anytime.

"WIPE MY ASS WITH YOUR [SOMETHING] LEATHER JACKET! ...  EAT ME OUT!  BUY ME SHOES!  MAKE ME CUM!  AND THEN PLEASE LEAVE!"  I mean, hell yeah.  Not something I can play for the kids or anything, but if you want some 50's surf rock vibe with filthy lyrics, you've come to the right place.  Only 9,184 streams on Spotify, so the world has yet to catch up to that particular place to be.  No other song has more than half of that.

The music is a little like a garage band trying to recreate the Monkees tunes with filthy new lyrics through a shredded amp.  The lyrics seem to involve sexual byproducts pretty frequently - the above-referenced cum, "YDC" chorus about being "young, dumb, and full of cum," or "White Male Meltdown"'s repeated chanting of "its coming!" as they drone the song title.  They also have a song that just says different names for breasts.  The entirety of the lyrics is "boobies, knockers, mounds, and tits!" repeated.  And a song simply called "Gimme That Sex."  Or one about the "FUPA" and getting down with it.

After the shock value and humor of the ridiculously filthy and weird lyrics, this is pretty crappy music.  May be fun to see live, just because they seem fully raw and here to have fun.  I don't know.  Here's one more, just in case you need some more.  Here is "Butts."

I mean, the whole thing may just be a big joke?  Right?  Like they jokingly made a band and said they'd be as bad and weird as possible and see if people still came to shows, and then when that happened, they were as surprised as anyone and went with it?  In this interview though, they explain that they are very serious.  I don't think I'll be at this show.

Harry Paradise

One Liner: Forgettable electronic guy from Austin that even ACL doesn't seem to care about.

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia.  Electronic.
Home: Austin

Poster Position: 24
Day: Saturday at 12:45
Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts:  Amazing name.  I mean, I know its spelled like the first name, but if you say this name and don't immediately think of a massive 70's afro-mega-bush, then you have somehow grown up while still finding a reason to read my writing.    That Venn diagram touches so very slightly you would almost imagine no one could survive in there.  Congratulations.  NOW TAKE ME TO HARRY PARADISE, BABY!

If you ever start to think that the ACL people don't have a sense of humor, just remember they put Harry Paradise on the same poster line as Sailor Poon.  (and Naked Giant on the same line as The Nude Party.)  These guys know all about the vagina jokes, man.  I'm gonna eat a bunch of drugs and just run around the stage for Hairy Poonman in Paradise screaming my own version of Soundgarden's "Spoonman" mashed with GNR's "Paradise City" until security is forced to realize my brilliance and give me the 10:45 slot on Sunday morning.

Anyhoo, I digress.  And truth be told I will not go see this guy do his musical stylings.  And I kind of doubt anyone will.  He has 4 total songs on Spotify, and one has less than a thousand streams.  The Kiddie Limits guys do better numbers.  Even the ACL folks don't give a shit about this guy - look at his bio available on their website.  This musician makes music.  Gee!  Thanks!

His most streamed song is called "Joan," and maxes out at a robust 3,390 streams.

I mean, good for this guy, he's going to take the stage at freaking ACL, and I'm just some keyboard cowboy pud sitting here talking about music, but this is super forgettable stuff.  Sounds like a movie star tried to make music on the side.  Like this is a song that Ryan Gosling wrote while in character for his role in Song to Song, and then he went ahead and cut the track after filming the movie.  I'm not making any sense, but try the song and see for yourself.

253 views of that video on YouTube, and no other videos to be seen.  You get the idea.  If you need a comfortable stage for a nap while at ACL, there will be a significant amount of grass available in front of this show.

Sasha Sloan

One Liner: Sad electronic indie you can relate to. 

Wikipedia Genre: Rock, pop (I call BS on the rock one).
Home: Boston

Poster Position: 24
Day: Friday at 2:45
Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts:  I've thought of loads of comparisons at times while listening to these songs.  Tove Lo.  Lana Del Rey.  Justin Beiber.  None are really things I want to hear.  I can't search for this up here at work, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I feel like this is a pornstar's name.

The entirety of her Wikipedia entry is: "Sasha Sloan is an American singer-songwriter."  Oh man, thanks for the in depth insight!!!  She's been the generic female voice for songs from Kygo, Odesza, and Kaskade (all of whom are indistinguishably similar electronic artists).  One EP, named sad girl, which definitely piles on the melancholy style to live up to its title.  No full albums.  The top track from that EP is "Normal," with 15.9 million streams.

Lyrically, solid.  Really puts you in the shoes, that I would guess everyone has been in, of someone who just wants to be liked and feel normal for just a little bit (even if they know it won't last).  Very relateable, and real.  Who hasn't done that?  You go out to the shitty bar in college and sing along to a garbage song you don't actually like (Brooks & Dunn, anyone?) and dance with people you don't want to, just to get along with the group and believe you are having fun.  Brutal.  Thanks for bringing that wreckage back up to the surface, Sasha!  Still don't much care for the song, its just a forgettable beat under those good lyrics.  But she keeps it real with making sad stuff - her twitter and insta handles are both sadgirlsloan.

She has a couple other songs in the 13 to 14 million stream range, as well as a cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (with two other ladies who I don't recognize), but most of her songs are in the low seven figures for streams.  Her first single, which came out in 2017 and then was included on her EP, is called "Ready Yet," and has 14.3 million streams (and a San Holo remix).

More well-written, but depressing lyrics, with a pretty voice and forgettable tunes.  Feels like something I would really enjoy and engage with if it was accompanied by acoustic guitars or, like mandolin, or something, but it just doesn't work for me over slow dance beats.  Turn this into Sasha Unplugged at the Cactus, and I bet I'd be crying along to each song.  But I won't go see her at the Fest.

A R I Z O N A

One Liner: Generic electro-rock tunes of platitude lyrics but a genius band name.

Wikipedia Genre: Rock, electropop
Home: New Jersey

Poster Position: 13
Day: Sunday at 2:00
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  Immediately, they are both annoying and genius for making their name have spaces between every letter.  Annoying because who the hell puts spaces between every letter of their name?  An annoying person.  Genius because my eyes are pulled directly to their name on the poster, over and over, because it takes up a wider swath of the poster with an otherwise short-ish name, and so it stands out.

Then, the music.  Relatively generic electronic music.  Well, no, not like the EDM type stuff that I've been reviewing recently, these beats are more rock-based, just made with synths and machines.  This isn't the generic EDM beat climbing up to a drop.  But despite having rock angles to the beats, it still rings the same bells in the end as the generic EDM.  

Three dudes who met in Boston while in college and then ended up back home in Jersey to join up and start making electronic rock tunes.  Sorry, I'm very distracted right now, a construction worker is wearing out a whistle about 80 feet from my office window.  Although honestly, I think I'm OK without looking up any more factoids about these dudes.

Their current most popular track is like many of the others I've reviewed recently - sunny electronic beat with an unknown female singing generic platitudes about how we'll spend our lifetimes looking for something we might not find.  But most of the others don't have the female cameo, they involve one of the three dudes from the band doing the singing.  Here is their top track, found on their only album, 2017's Gallery, "Oceans Away."

145.5 million streams.  I don't want to wait!  I don't wanna miss this!  I tell myself its alright, as the tears roll by!  I clown it, but its fine.  Relatively uninteresting and generic, but just fine.  
The second most popular track ("I Was Wrong") is also on that 2017 album, but the copy of the track that has 103.7 million streams is a remix by someone named Robin Schulz.  Which is not the same as the one on the album, which is in this video.  The world of remixes is very weird to me, especially where the changes to the song are very minimal.  I tried listening to both, and there may be, like, less hand clap sounds in one?

The singer's voice is good.  The lyrics are plain (Set me free!  Where I wanna be!).  The beats are plain.  This obviously passes me by, but they made it to the top half of the poster.  Good for them.  None for me.

NAM

One Liner: Glitchy beats for electronic pop with a good vocalist.

Wikipedia Genre: None.  I'll say electronic indie or electronic pop.
Home: Austin.

Poster Position: 26
Day: Friday at 11:15 am
Weekend One Only

Thoughts:  The "A" in the name has an umlaut over it, which makes it seem like these guys are either Swedish or obnoxious.  Since the band is from Austin, I guess I have to go with the latter.  This is a duo, a female singer (Nora Luders) with a male beatmaker (Sam Simmons).  Their Spotify bio says they sent recordings and beats back and forth from Germany to Tennessee and then met up here in Austin to make it all happen.  Pretty cool story.

No full albums, just two EPs - 2016's Umlaut and 2017's Body Lotion. Surprisingly large number of streams for several of these songs, with 6 of them over the 150k mark and two over 350k.  From that early EP, their most streamed song is "Shaken Tight," with 352k streams.

I like her voice.  Kind of vulnerable, but strong and longing at the same time.  Beat is a little weird, but fun and funky too.  From the comments on YouTube, it looks like Spotify has featured this song on playlists (thus the high playcount for some of these tunes).  The top streamed track for the band is called "Face," which is on the new EP and has 583k streams.

Was going to say that the beat didn't do it for me, but I full on got caught up in it.  I like that the beats aren't normal or straight-forward.  They're all a little glitchy and different, keeps my interest and makes a nice area for her voice to land.  Huh.  Expected to not like this after the first few songs, now I think I dig it.  Some are a little more generic ("Jam Time" for example) and so I think I like the big ones much better than the remainder of these EPs.  A little uneven.  But the good ones are very good.

OF COURSE I'M LIKING THIS, BECAUSE ITS FREAKING WEEKEND ONE!!!

B.A.G. (Blimes x Gifted Gab)

One Liner: Kick ass (for their single song, at least) women rappers

Wikipedia Genre: None, but this is hip hop/ rap.
Home: San Francisco and Seattle

Poster Position: 26
Day: Sunday at 3:00
Weekend Two Only

Thoughts:  This seems like some sort of one-off collaboration type thing, as you can't find this band name on Spotify, but you can find each individual artist doing their own thing.  But, when you look up Blimes, you can hear one song that is a collabo between these two artists.  And its pretty damn good.

Hold the fucking phone.  Chill as hell, old school, sampled, boom-bap beat?  I'm in for life.  Then lyrically interesting flows that you can understand and say something both funny and smart?  Is this real?  I am super on board with that sound right there.  Almost 800k streams on Spotify.  Almost a million streams to the video (apparently a Facebook version is at 10 million streams).  My only beef with it is that the track is short.  Add in a good hook/chorus in there, and you'd have a legit radio song.  I also dig the fact that they just freaking rap.  They don't roll around the floor in a g-string, or try to sing a hook, they just throw down and do it well.

Apparently they found each other through some common friends and collaborators, met in Seattle, and maybe got into a fight with someone else and then were jointly impressed with the other's conduct during said scrap?  I found a bit of video where they talk about that, but I can't find any written discussion.

Go to the 10:50 mark, and you'll hear their discussion.  Rooftop party with Macklemore (!?!), but then outside is a massive street fight, and then they leave without fighting.  But then they ended up getting into some random battle with some lady/boyfriend who got mad at them while illegally crossing the street.  Like a literal street brawl with car-head-body slams and people getting knocked out.   And that freestyle?  Gifted Gab is for sure the one with the cleanest rhymes, but they're both good.

As far as I can tell, only that one song available by the two of them.  They have a handful of solo tunes on Spotify - Blimes has a track with Method Man that is solid - Gab has a 2018 EP called Queen La'Chiefah (!?!).  They're pretty good on their own (see Gab's "Orange Skyline" and Blimes' "Hot Damn"), but not as good as that above track.  Some of their solo stuff has weak beats and their rhymes can get uninteresting with trite lyrics.  But if they put out more of that old school hip hop shit, then they should be the Queens of the Festival.

Davie

One Liner: Alternative R&B guy with a nice voice but boring songs.

Wikipedia Genre: None.  Alternative R&B seems to fit.
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 22
Day: Sunday at 11:30
Weekend Two Only

Thoughts:  Davie is a town in Florida, a county in North Carolina, and a street in Vancouver.  Its too bad that I just listened to another alternative R&B group - that is not my happy place for music, so its a little bothersome to go through two in a row (and this guy is already behind the eight-ball when starting the review, because I'm sick of this style of music).  The guy's real name is James David Treadwell.  Apparently traveled the world with a family gospel band, then settled in L.A. to sing backup for a lot of famous folks before striking out on his own.

The weird thing is that, as I listen through these songs, I'm reminded of the Fall Out Boy singer.  Not Pete Wentz, who is the singer?  Patrick Stump.  He has that kind of effortlessly nice, soulful voice that can also speak/rap lines well.  Which just feels like a weird thing to say about a black R&B singer.  But whatever.  Go listen to "Handle My Business" and tell me the vocals don't sound a little like the FOB vocals.  

Super basic tune.  OK.  Nothing all that special.  Which is how I am realizing all of these songs seem.  His voice is nice.  The tunes are boring.  "MVP" is like a weak John Legend tune.  "Roll With Me," which is the line used repeatedly in "MVP" but is also a song name for a different tune, is the most basic of guitar strums plus chilled vocals (and then a little bit of gospel/hand-clap/tambourine).

I'm pretty sure his most listened to track, "Testify," was used in a commercial or something.  Like an iPhone commercial.  753k streams.

Better tune in that one, got some funkiness and bounce to it.  But lyrically nothing to it.  I'm good without doing this one in the Fall.

The Blancos

One Liner: Brooklyn dudes singing platitudes over hip hop beats.

Wikipedia Genre: No wikipedia.  Uh, like hip-hop-indie-R&B?  Alternative R&B?  Their terrible Spotify bio says the best way to describe their music is "sex, drugs, and 808s."  Appreciate the oxford comma, hate the rest.
Home: NYC

Poster Position: 26
Day: Sunday at 11:15am
Weekend Two Only

Thoughts: Their currently most popular song is one of those extremely tired-sounding tunes of brash braggadocio over a generic beat.  "Know My Name" is, not surprisingly, about how you are going to know his name by the time he is done.  78k streams, somehow.

I fully expect for this song to get an exclusive deal from the NBA to be played before every commercial break during the next Rookie exhibition game (or whatever they do, I don't really follow the basketballs until the playoffs), over some slo-mo shots of the new kids slamming down dunks and pounding their chests.

After continuing down their songs, I guess this is rap/hip hop?  Alt-R&B?  One of the guys has a John Stamos-just-got-out-of-prison vibe, complete with face tattoo, but the other guy looks more like he plays in a Phish cover band in Burlington.  I searched Wikipedia for these guys, and unless they are a Venezuelan sextet, then the closest mention to their name is "Blanco" (song), the lead single off the Fast and Furious soundtrack by rapper Pitbull.  MISTER WORLDWIDE!!!

This article, from 2 years ago, says there is not much written about these two guys, but then doesn't write much about them either.  Their website is pretty much useless.  This bio is completely useless and stupid, unless you want vacuous non-information about how genre-defying and singular they are.  Meanwhile the song I'm hearing right now reminds me of the bad Imagine Dragons thing where they kid of rap.  Really challenging genres there.  Can't find interviews or other information on them.  The Spotify bio says they got their name "from a homie of theirs during the months spent recording at a Brownsville studio in Brooklyn. They rolled up as literally, "The Blancos," but could hang nonetheless."  Yuck.  So we'll just judge based on the tunes.

Definitely a rap vibe.  Kind of a soul vibe as well, like this music would be used for a show about hillbilly gangsters.  Justified or a modern Dukes of Hazzard where Bo is played by Ludacris.  "Radio Lust"starts out with a Metallica vibing-guitar like, then the beats kick in with the lines like "keep your panties on the floor."  You'll hear a lot of those kinds of dumb platitudes in these tunes - "Rise" is chock full of them with bits like "I'mma tell the truth till I die, I'mma keep my head to the sky, you'll never hear the truth in a lie, gotta lotta reasons but no reasons why."  Deep, bro.  "Fool For You" is heavy on the reverb-laden guitar.  The most streamed tune in their catalog is a confused millennial anthem about being confused and broken, "BKCBD" (which stands for broken kids chasing broken dreams).  563k streams.

Not at all looking forward to a crowd of disaffected 22 year olds yelling along to this song about how they have pretty eyes and they're just broken kids chasing broken dreams.  Don't get me wrong, there are folks out there with broken dreams who may still be trying to make it in life, but the crowd of kids smoking designer pot and wearing $500 distressed denim at an expensive urban music festival are not striking me as truly in that category.  

Some of these songs are nice, I sound like I dislike them all, which is not true.  But something about the vibe - confident, mysterious, and yet full of platitudes - grosses me out.

Naked Giants

One Liner: Highly fun pop punk rock bounce from Seattle.

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, going with pop punk, alternative rock, indie rock.
Home: Seattle

Poster Position: 27
Day: Saturday at 1:30
Weekend One Only

Thoughts: I appreciate their bio, which simply says "Listen to Naked Giants today."  I respect the lack of exclamation point.  They are a three-piece from Seattle, and Rolling Stone gave them props last year for a SXSW appearance.  

One album 2018's SLUFF and a 2016 EP called R.I.P.  Their label bio (quite a bit more verbose than the Spotify one referenced above) says that the SLUFF album title: "is either slang for the black gunk that comes off your shoes when it snows in the winter, an acronym that stands for South Lake Union Fuck Face (a reference to the tech bros who have infiltrated Seattle in recent years) or what a snake does when it sheds its skin."  Well, allrighty then.  That bio also notes that they have been serving as Car Seat Headrest's backing band, and since I love that band, then this is going to be up my alley.

Early singles bounce around in style.  "Easy Eating" from 2016, has a pogo-ing surf rock punk vibe.  "Pyraminds," also from 2016, is more post-punk and blazing rock.  The most streamed tune is from the 2016 EP, called "Twist," with 206k streams.

Live in studio version, but you'll get the power and energy.  Dig that stuff - all three instruments do something sweet during the breakdown, and it makes me want to bounce off other people and shimmy around.  
The new album generally keeps in the same lane, brash rock and roll.  The most streamed so far is called "Everybody Thinks They Know (But No One Really Knows)."  73k streams.

This one adds a little pop bubblegum and surf strumming to the mix.  Makes me think of FIDLAR.  Another standout from this album is "TV," a 6:30 long freakout fest, and "SLUFF," a grunge-tinged holler-along.

Hey man, this is fun stuff.  Not going to cure cancer or anything, but I can see going early to see these guys shred a stage at noon on Friday.

Smashing Pumpkins: Erwin Center: July 16, 2018

Oh man.  There are very few bands who could better recapture a significant amount of my feelings from high school.  In fact, trying to come up with one right now, I'm not sure I can.  Maybe R.E.M.  They are probably the closest.  But so many of the songs on Gish and Siamese Dream were the soundtrack to my world at a time when I was trying to figure out who I was, and therefore truly feeling those lyrics of confusion and misunderstanding.  I mean, everyone listened to "Today" on a loop later on, but it was the songs like "Mayonnaise" and "Hummer" and "Soma" that gutted me.  Oh, and "Drown" from the Singles soundtrack.  Siamese Dream may be my favorite album ever.  Still holds up well for me.

They played all of those tracks, plus excellent renditions of "Cherub Rock" and "Landslide" and "Rhinoceros" and "Siva" and "Zero" and "Porcelina."  

The band had released something saying that they would only be doing tunes from their first five albums.  Which was very appealing to me.  Unfortunately, we didn't get "Geek U.S.A." or "Window Paine," two of my favorites, but we got a bunch of great tunes anyway.  As well as some weird covers - "Stairway to Heaven" was pretty good, "Space Oddity" sent me to look for another beer.  They also did the bad song from the Batman soundtrack, and a few mediocre songs from Adore, as well as some really weird video interlude speeches from the lead singer for Smashmouth (or Sugar Ray?  Not sure, he definitely looked familiar).  So it wasn't a perfect show by any means, but I caught all the feels during some of my favorite songs.  Being able to belt out "I JUST WANT TO BEEEEEEEEE ME!  WHEN I CAN." and "I'M ALL BY MYSELF, AS I'VE ALWAYS FELT!" with a big crowd of like-minded fans was extremely satisfying.

This was the fourth time I had seen SP live.  It's honestly hard to remember if the other times were better, back in 1991 and 1993 and 1994, but this was still just as satisfying to my old man heart.  I'll fully admit multiple instances of goosebumps and a few bits where singing became hard because my throat wanted to shut down for some tears.  Great show.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Stubb's: July 13, 2018

Strange how sometimes in the music sphere I can get so up my own butthole with music that I have no clue what other people are in to.  I swear I told about 20 different people what we were going to see on Friday night, and every single one of them gave me a confused look and a shrug.  Part of it was because I have trouble quickly saying the name of the band, my tongue gets tied up by the time I get to the second syllable of "mortal," but the main reason is because no one I hang out with has any clue who the hell Unknown Mortal Orchestra is.  Which is fine, but I was PUMPED about this show, and so it just feels odd to be so outside the mainstream for a show.

That being said, the show was packed.  Its not like I'm some special flower who is the only one who knows about the band.  Instead, as my wife remarked to me (with some derision in her voice) we were easily the oldest people we could see around us.  And likely the only ones with solely agave distillates and fermented grain byproducts getting us excited for the show.  But loads of other folks there who knew the songs well.

Anyhoo, the music.  The opening band was freaking weird as hell.  Shamir was the name on the website, which I now realize is the name of a male performer, and not: (1) a full band; or (2) a woman, which my wife and I thought this guy was throughout the show.  The music was extremely quiet, but even if it had been loud, it wouldn't have been in my wheelhouse.  Going back to check it out again right now, I recall listening to this guy before.

But then UMO was freaking awesome as hell.  They very rarely get out of a super chilled groove, and I very much enjoyed everything they brought to the table.  My wife enjoyed the music, but I'm pretty sure she'll never do another show at Stubb's again.  Which stinks, because I love that venue.  Not a bad spot in the house for me.  But for her, all she sees are the shoulders of the dudes in front of us.  And she's not super short - like 5'6" - but while I can see everything and hear everything well, she's down in this little human valley where all she sees are the way the lights look on the top of the stage and what she hears is muffled by all the humanity.  I actually ducked down and tried it from her perspective for a bit, and it was lame for sure.  (although, hopefully she'll rethink that because I bought Stubb's tickets 18 minutes ago for a show in 2019).

Great show - highly recommend it.  I've been singing their tunes ever since.

Arctic Monkeys

One Liner: Fabulous rock and rollers with a recent lounge act bomb

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, garage rock, post-punk revival
Home: Sheffield, England

Poster Position: 1
Day: Sunday at 8:00
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: Man.  I mean. come on, man.  I've been excited about these dudes coming to ACL ever since I figured out that they might be coming in my earlier predictions.  If you've been reading me for a while, then you know I loved 2013's AM and in general enjoy these guys quite a bit.  And then they had to go indulge some weird lounge-act fantasy/fetish thing and drop a super weird new album that entirely leaves behind the reasons I love them and leave a foul taste in my mouth for this show.

I've been turning this over in my head for a while now, trying to figure out how unprecedented it is for a headliner act to take a big fat dump on the charts just before they headline a major festival.  I mean, these guys are the number 4 band on the lineup.  And they're on top of several other lineups this summer.  This should be a very exciting get for the festival and a big show, but it feels less so now.  And after worrying it in my brain for a while, I realized that it happened just recently for ACL.  Mumford & Sons.  Mumford's first two albums were classics, igniting a wave of other banjo-toting, earnest Americana lovers to make albums in their wake.  Then they put out that rock-tinged turd Wilder Mind and fell from grace like an empty topo chico bottle knocked from a hipster's grip.  Then they came and played ACL.  To some extent, the same could be said for The Killers and Jay-Z last year as well, being that their albums released just before ACL were some of their weakest after years of good music.  So I guess this is a semi-normal thing, where bands release albums as usual and maybe happen to drop a dud right before a big appearance is scheduled.

I've run through the new album 8 times today, just punishing myself with it.  I just want to see if there is some redeeming quality that pops out after really really really giving it a fair shake.  The answer for me is a resounding no.  I'm all for bands exploring new sounds and all that, but if they've made their living based on a particular thing, then I want them to continue it.  Maybe I'm in the wrong, but a guitar band should keep using their guitars.  And its not like they haven't explored other sounds on their old albums - a single song interlude of chilled lounge music would be fine.  But a whole album?

Let's take a look at some magazine review excerpts:

• Pitchfork: "Arctic Monkeys’ daring sixth album is a left-turn if ever there was one, but the way Alex Turner swaps witty sleaze for absurdist suave makes it a totally bemusing and fascinating listen."  8.1 out of 10.
• SPIN: "There’s little to be found here with the immediacy of yore, but this ends up working in the album’s favor: the more you give in to these vibes, the more the vibes give back." 4 out of 5 stars.  [vomit - the "vibes give back" - puke...]
• Consequence of Sound: "Easily the weirdest record in the band’s catalog, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is a fun, flawed aberration (at least, for now). Even in failure, there’s enough to explore within Turner’s thicket of lyrics and the haze of this inviting, yet not quite fully realized sonic setting to warrant a few active listens. Getting chemically altered and listening to this in some headphone on a very dark night might be a solid way to pass the time. Just don’t expect to be humming anything you heard later on." B-
• Rolling Stone: "But the meandering LP can’t bear the weight of the man at the piano’s indulgences ... So even a nice classic-feeling pop melody like the one for “Golden Trunk” devolves into a lurching drag. After a whole record in his wee small hours, you might want to hop the next space shuttle back to Earth."  2 out of 5 stars.

I'm with the RS fuddy duddies on this one.  Not surprisingly, the playcount on this new album runs directly downward almost throughout the playlist.  About 14 million for the first song, 13 million for the second, 10 million for the third, down to about 7 million for the last few.  The one aberration is the single "Four out of Five," with 21.3 million streams.

I guess it at least has guitar in it?  Even if they are entirely understated guitars without any balls?  The whole album just feels like a lark that got taken too seriously and now is an actual part of their musical canon.  Which is a bummer.  If I have to pick a favorite from the album, I think I'd go with "Science Fiction."

BUT!  There are five old albums in their catalog, none of which sound like this pompous crap!  So, maybe they'll be playing the old stuff and just break out the moon-pop-sleaze a few times?  Per this recent setlist, it looks like we'll get five or so songs from the new album, well spaced out so that we can talk to our friends at random intervals during the set.

Let's go old school.  But first, let's talk about who these dudes are.  Four guys from Sheffield, with Alex Turner being the front-man and heart-throb.  "Their debut album is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in UK chart history, and in 2013, Rolling Stone ranked it the 30th-greatest debut album.  The band has won seven Brit Awards – winning both Best British Group and Best British Album three times, and have been nominated for three Grammy Awards. They also won the Mercury Prize in 2006 for their debut album, in addition to receiving nominations in 2007 and 2013."  They even know that the new album is a curveball, with the guitarist saying “I was blown away by the direction Alex had gone in,” Cook says. “It took a few listens to even begin to, like…” he trails off, smiling. “It was just, like, ‘Shit. What do we do with this?’”

2013's AM is their best album.  I feel like it was my favorite album of that year, because I actually went out and bought the CD.  When I only buy a handful of CDs a year anymore, that means something.  AM has multiple songs that, five years after release, still get a ton of radio play.  Although I know this is going to make this blog post irrationally long, lets get into those tunes.

First, the biggest hit, "Do I Wanna Know?" with 502.8 million streams and continuous radio play on rock and alternative stations.

Kind of sly, a creeping dread that matches well with the lyrics of worrisome hopefulness.  Trippy video too.  Next, the second most streamed tune is the rock-forward "R U Mine?" which jams way harder (and therefore I like even more).  241.0 million streams.

Rock and roll, baby.  The still for the video up above makes it look like they are going to sink their car in water and keep singing, so I watched the whole video waiting for that moment, and now I know it was just a bad video camera or effect.  Anyway, that one jams.  The third most streamed single is "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" (yet another song title ending in a question mark?  What does that MEAN?).  235.8 million streams.

But then my favorite of the singles from this album, the most rockingest of these four I'm presenting you, is "Arabella."  143.3 million streams.

Hello, boobies!  Great tune, I love the build up they do that releases in a rock squawk.  More of that please, without the lounge act crap.  Thanks.

Prior to the excellent AM, there were a bunch of other albums, and I have to admit that I never listened to 2011's Suck It and See until just now.  Good stuff, although the earlier three albums are better.  I'll take you back to their initial hit, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," from 2006's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.  105 million streams.

Big difference from then to now.  Their look is so scruffy and unassuming (compared to their slick, manufactured cool now), and the sound is very scruffy as well, raw and messy, insistent and urgent.  And heavily accented - you know these dudes are brits.  We will almost certain be treated to that tune in the Fall, but only one other song from that original album ("The View from the Afternoon") is making their current setlists.  Other count, FYI:

• Tranquility Base - 5 songs
• AM - 5 songs
• Suck It - 1 song
• Humbug - 3 songs
• Favourite Worst Nightmare - 4 songs
• Whatever - 2 songs.

So it looks like I'm not off base by not knowing their 4th album, they don't much like it themselves...  We'll do one more tune, this one is the most listened to other than the ones from AM.  "Fluorescent Adolescent," with 191.2 million streams.

CLOWN WAR!  Oh yeah, I remember that one.  Good tune.  Cleans up their sound for that second album, aims a little closer to the newer sound, but the brit accent is still thick.  This album (Favourite Worst Nightmare) is probably my second favorite of their albums.  Highly fun rock and roll.

I'm gonna go watch this show.  I mean, unless they are up against Metallica or McCartney, I'm gonna go check this out.  Even though they'll try to play lounge act garbage for a part of the show, I need to go check this out.

Curtis Harding

One Liner: O.G.-sounding soul man.

Wikipedia Genre: Soul (pretty rare these days to get one that simple.  Usually they give a guy like 9 genres these days).
Home: Atlanta

Poster Position: 17
Day: Saturday at 2:45
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: I'm a fan of this southern soul renaissance thing.  Leon Bridges, St. Paul, Robert Finley, the Black Keys and Dan Auerbach stuff.  This dude was born in 1979, so while he's not a child doing this stuff, he also wasn't alive when this type of slinky, sexy, exuberant soul music was hot in the first place.  But his album covers go ahead and depict him as a 70's soul star, complete with a bushy ass mustache.

But here's the million dollar question, Jack.  Do you actually listen to the original soul music?  Do you have any clue what the renaissance should sound like?  Uh, yeah, man.  I literally woke up from sleep the other day with Sam Cooke in my brain (after a very weird dream where I had been bathing in a large sink, trying to impress someone who was watching me bathe, by singing Sam Cooke's "Bring it on Home to Me" whilst keeping my whole head under the bathwater in this large sink, so yeah, I'm big into classic soul).  My guess is that if I ask Spotify for a playlist of "Soul" I'm going to get like 9 Drake songs and one Al Green tune.  Look man, I bought the Dead President's Soundtrack.  I've grooved to the In Yo Face compilations.  I know some soul stuff, brah. (but no, I'm well aware that I am not a deep and wide soul man).  And this is good shizz.

How is this for a start: "In Atlanta in the early 2000s, Harding was part of the hip-hop group Proseed. He met singer CeeLo Green ... and he rapped on some songs off Green's 2002 album Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections along with several Proseed members. He toured with Green as a backing singer on the 2002 Smokin' Grooves Tour alongside Outkast, Cypress Hill, Lauryn Hill, and The Roots. He also sang on Green's 2010 album The Lady Killer, including co-writing the bonus track "Grand Canyon.""  Not bad to get in with a guy like CeeLo.  Which would also explain how it is that this guy had his most recent album produced by Danger Mouse (who was half of Gnarls Barkley with CeeLo).

Two albums in his catalog, 2014's Soul Power and 2017's Face Your Fear.  His most streamed track from that new album, "On and On," has 3.6 million streams.  Live version, but you'll get the gist.

Dig that groove for real.  His voice gets a little thin here and there on that take, but his album sounds much stronger on the voice.  Another note about weird sound things, several of his studio songs ("Need Your Love" in particular) have a weird mix on them, so that little things pop up oddly in the sound, like too much maraca coming out of the left speaker, or too much organ in another song.  
His song with the most streams comes from that first album, "Next Time" has 3.9 million streams.

See that cover?  That is some old school soul man shit right there.  I think the second album has a cleaner sound from his band, but his voice slays on either one.  Super solid track though.  "Wednesday Morning Atonement" is also super dope - very chilled strut supported by flutes and a swaggering beat.  "Go As You Are" is also very good.  The new album is better than the old, for sure.

I have been sticking to these two albums for two days now - hard to move on, because he's damn good.

Amen Dunes

One Liner: Great indie rock tunes by a weirdo who doesn't listen to music.

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, experimental rock, psychedelic rock, indie folk
Home: NYC

Poster Position: 17
Day: Sunday at 1:00
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: At times, this is like Mac Demarco, lackadaisical musings over chilled indie rock.  Or David Grey style soft rock (see "Miki Dora").  Other times, I feel My Morning Jacket creeping out (see "Skipping School").  The band is helmed by a guy named Damon McMahon, who used to be the man in a band called Inouk, that apparently imploded after one EP.  In a strange revelation during this interview, he admits that he doesn't listen to music.  He says that even when on tour, they just drive in silence.  The interviewer is obviously incredulous: "I can’t think of another musician who doesn’t like to listen to music."  But McMahon just doubles down: "I don’t like it. I listen to like—I don’t know, not much at all really."  I was going to say that I really liked this music, but now that I know this dude is a serial killer non-music-listening psychopath who probably hurts babies or something, there is no way I can recommend him.  He works for the enemy.  (just kidding.  Sort of.)

Three albums are available on Spotify, and then a few EPs.  The new album is freaking good.  2018's Freedom, which is extensively discussed in that interview up above, also got a Best New Music badge from Pitchfork and it pretty buzzed over.  But despite that critical love, I even like it too.  The top track from the album is "Blue Rose," with 1.2 million streams.

That bassline is funky, and the synths give it kind of a chilled out hum in the background.  But the voice still sounds like David Grey.  It is a nice voice.  The rest of that album is very good.

The album that preceeds that one, 2014's Love, is also pretty good.  The top track from that album is also their most listened-to track overall, with 1.4 million streams.  This is "Lonely Richard."

Nice.  Kind of sad and longing, with those fuzzy slide-guitar-ish tones in the background.  A little Iron & Wine vibe in there too.  Before either of those two good albums, there was 2011's Through Donkey Jaw.  I would not recommend that one.  Much more psych rock-esque, but raw and not nearly as tuneful.  And some songs, such as "Jill," are straight up unpleasant.  

I'd check this guy out.

Lemaitre

One Liner: Electronic happy tunes in the neighborhood of Justice

Wikipedia Genre: Electro house, French house, electronic rock, indietronica, nu-disco
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 19
Day: Sunday at 11:30
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: Happy internationally confusing band day!  Say the band name out loud, and you get one guess where the band is from.  Did you guess France, like I did?
Well, Lemaitre is a French surname, derived from the Latin word magister, which translates to the master.  But, the group is actually two dudes from Norway, Ketil Jansen and Ulrik Denizou Lund. And, they actually live and make their electronic tunes in L.A.  So unless you cheated, I suspect you failed my quiz.  You owe me $20.

The group has stated that the band name came from Georges Lemaître, a Belgian priest who first proposed the Big Bang Theory and derived the physics concept now referred to as Hubble's Law.  I was going to try to explain Hubble's Law, but if you are interested, just go read this.  My head started to hurt about eight seconds into reading that thing.  Feels like someone trying to explain the science behind the Force.  I wish I knew why these guys wanted to name their group after this scientist.  Are they big celestial velocity fans?

These two dudes got together in 2010, and started releasing EPs and singles almost right away.  Their major output was in 2012-2013, when they released Relativity 1, Relativity 2, Relativity 3, and then Relativity By Nite.  But after a few more EPs and singles in 2014, 2016, and 2017, they finally released a full album in 2017 called Chapter One.  The first EP has kind of a Justice/Daft Punk vibe - very danceable, a little retro/atmospheric/chilled.  I can see why nu-disco is chosen as one of their genres (even if I have no clue what that means).  The top song from those early EPs is "Cut to Black," from Relativity 3.  I'll showcase that one for you, even if the piano-driven style in it is pretty different from their other tunes.

Kinda funky, kinda fun.  I guess maybe I like "house" music?  9.7 million streams for that one.  Oh, and also that is the opening track off their full-length album, so more than likely that is why it has more listens than their other older stuff.  Sorry, I'm an idiot.  Their top track overall, by a BUNCH, is called "Closer," and is also on the new album.  59.6 million streams.

OK, that video actually made me chuckle out loud a few times.  The song isn't as good as some of the others by these guys, but the video is slightly funny.  Interesting that it is so popular - almost 60 million streams is a buttload.  One reason may be that the song was used in a video for the Google Pixel phone whenever it launched?

The things I do not enjoy from this group?  The remixes.  They have a lot of remixes, and I think they muddle the clean joyfulness of the house style by adding in too much other electronica.

Their most recent single is even more like Justice/Daft Punk, all electro-robot buzz.  Here is "Rocket Girl."

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not signing up for the fan club just yet or anything, but this is pretty entertaining electronic music.  I could see enjoying a show of these tunes.