Wikipedia Genre: Pop, electropop, indie pop. Home: L.A. Poster Position: 1 Both Weekends.
Thoughts: Major "pop" star, but with pop music that tends towards the dark, moody, emotional end of the spectrum instead of the "California Gurls" end of the performance world. The first few times that I ever heard a song by her, I had no clue that it was a new artist, I thought "you should see me in a crown" was Lorde.
Even just the start of the track is cool, with that sliding sharpening of a knife sound. AND THEN YOU SEE THE VIDEO AND YOU HATE EVERYTHING BECAUSE SPIDERS!!! YUCK-O-RAMA. That track has 185.9 million streams, which means it isn't even in her top five tracks overall on Spotify. This article calls her a "generational icon," which I suppose is probably true. She does this stuff semi-DIY, with her brother the only other listed collaborator on her whole album, which seems like a very Millennial way to do things, to eschew the hit producer and do your own badass thing. And then seem totally surprised when its a big deal. Her first hit single was "ocean eyes," which I have heard more times than I can count because my youngest daughter loves that song and wants to hear it all the time. 269 million streams on Spotify.
So, she was freaking 14 when she made and uploaded that song. Which is absolutely wild. If you would have just played me the song without naming the artist, I would have guessed it was Lana Del Rey. Has that same breathy, torchy singing style. She put out an initial EP back in 2017, but finally released a full album a few months ago in 2019. I reviewed it and was surprised that it is actually better than I expected. When all I had to go on was that EP (which I don't much like, other than "crown") I figured it would be more pretty poppy love song stuff like "ocean eyes," but I was very wrong. Here is my review of the album.
Its a very weird album - you get bangers like "crown," then you get tender suicide balladry like "listen before i go," then you get kinda funny dance pop like "bad guy" (which shifts tempo near the end to become a totally different track made of trap beats), then you get weirdly funny stuff like "wish you were gay." I have no clue how to actually pigeonhole this album or tell you what to expect. I guess the thing to expect is something different from any other current pop album, and a lot of dark lyrics that can be a bummer, even while they sound lovely. Wikipedia says her real name is "Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell," which I can't say I entirely believe. But then this interview with her from the BBC agrees with the same, so I guess that is the word on the street. Also, her brother Finneas, who wrote "ocean eyes" and produced her album, was an actor on Glee and I really wish I could remember who Alistar was on the show. Nope - just went and watched some clips on YouTube, I definitely stopped watching Glee by the time those other new people came onto the show. Did it keep going after everyone left for New York or whatever? I guess so. I, however, did not. Her most streamed track is one with Khalid, so I'm going to provide you one more by herself, her second most streamed track, "when the party's over," with 364.1 million streams.
It is apparently a thing with her to make her videos awful and horrible and disgusting. Very pretty song, but that video is disturbing. I know I said only one more, but let's do one more. This is "bury a friend," which has 252.7 million streams.
I was going to say - oh good, she isn't putting something foul in her mouth! A real video! But no, she's still getting shoved and prodded and messed with and injected with 15 needles... Radio has been playing this one, and it is truly a weird song to hear on the radio tucked next to The Black Keys and Imagine Dragons... As far as the live show experience goes, I have to admit to being curious what that would be like. She ought to have a huge crowd - her streaming numbers are through the roof, so the youth will be there in droves. But will it be a big dance party? Will it be a somber ballad fest? She just played Coachella, lets take a look.
Terrible sound on that video, but it certainly looks like she is there it have a good time and pump the crowd up. I have to assume she is going to go up against some of the other major bands for the weekend, and I'll almost certainly choose them over her, so I am going to assume I will not see this show. Let's also throw this out there - Rainn Wilson, from the Office, doing a trivia interview with Billie Eilish. Kind of funny (and she has a DEEP Office memory).
IT'S HERE! Guns n' freaking Roses! Holy crap! I'm so pumped, just please don't let Axl have another freakout and cancel or something! But, let's go back and take a look at how I did on predictions: Hard Lock Groups I Feel Confident About:
Childish Gambino. Yep
Kacey Musgraves. Yeee-haw!
Cardi B. Okkkuuuurrrr.
Tame Impala. Righteous.
The Raconteurs. Hell yes.
Billie Eilish. Like a spider crawling out of a teenager's mouth.
Gary Clark Jr. For sure.
Wilco. NOPE. KUTX just love them some Wilco, man.
Lizzo. Dude. YES!
Courtney Barnett. NOOOOOOOO. Sadness.
Tierra Whack. Truth.
Dean Lewis. Nope - thanks alot ACL!
Lauren Daigle. Yessir.
Judah and the Lion. Uh huh.
Sigrid. Word up!
Devon Gilfillian. Negative Ghostrider. Pattern is full.
Haelos. Nope, I'm an idiot (and/or the recent radio uptick means jack shit).
Ryan Bingham. NOPE
Puts me at 12 right, 6 wrong. 66% seems pretty solid. I'll take it. Medium Level Fire:
The Strokes. NO, HOORAY!
Post Malone. NO, and and EVEN BIGGER HOORAY!!!!
Swedish House Mafia. Nope - the EDM kiddies are having a bad year (which, hooray!)
Sheck Wes. Damn, nope.
That's an impressive zero for four! Batting Chris Davis percent there! But hey, look, I didn't move them up into the lock category!
I Have No Clue (These are the bands I looked at and have no good reason to say either yes or no, but I can't count them out):
Flume. Nope.
The Cure. Holy shit, yes? I mean, let's get weird with some old Cure shit! Figured this wouldn't happen, but kept the possibility alive.
KISS. Nope.
Queen & Adam Lambert. Nope.
Madonna. Le sigh... Nope.
Mumford & Sons. Huh, well, welcome back to the folky rockers!
Nope Groups (These Bands are otherwise occupied or I otherwise say no for sure):
Dead & Co. Correct.
Muse. Correct.
Fleetwood Mac. Correct.
Foo Fighters. Correct.
Mitski. Correct.
Soccer Mommy. Correct.
Jade Bird. Correct.
I mean, not perfect by any means, but 66% of the ones I put on lock is pretty solid! And other than Robyn and Guns n Roses, I at least semi-sorta guessed all of the top twelve! Ten of twelve from the top two lines? (sure, I couldn't say yeah or nah on Mumford or Cure, but whatever, no one can even remember that, bro). Excited about this lineup. Already really liking some of the bands I'm hearing - Sam Fender is very good.
Holy shit. That wasn't even anywhere on my radar at all. But a kick ass surprise to have them as the top billed headliner. never seen them, have loved them for many years. The Cure is also a surprise, as I had predicted them as a possibility, but since they have nothing in the US, seemed like they wouldn't be picked for Austin as their sole show. But, that is pretty dope, because no one else in the US is getting them. They are OURS! Mumford? Yeah, their show a few years back was really good, but back again? I guess, even with their last album being mediocre, I'm still excited to see them again. Childish is weak. Way overrated. Tame Impala is amazing and I can't wait - which of course means that I am going to miss a lot of things that are at the top of this schedule - I can't go see them all. Which sucks. Billie Eilish and Cardi B are interesting - I'm not a major in to them, but I'd be willing to check out the spectacle. Robyn is a popular gal, but I wouldn't go out of my way for that show. And then you get to the "second row", which includes some of the coolest stuff on here - Kacey Musgraves, The Raconteurs, Gary Clark, Jr., Lizzo! All four of those are things I would pay money to see, separately of ACL. Super cool. I have no clue what Thom Yorke's Tomorrow's Modern Boxes is about, but I guess he made yet another band. We shall see. Third Eye Blind. Hahahahaha! Bruce Hornsby baby! He's still out there! Tyler Childers is good. Fidlar rocks. Joseph is great. SPRINGSTEEN! Sure, its not Bruce, but I bet Palm Springsteen is totally the same thing... Loads of new stuff to dig in to. Woohoo! This is a big lineup - lots of stuff on here that no one else is getting, and a big mix of stuff. Although I say that, and there is no big EDM artist on here (or I don't recognize their name) until Griz on line 6. Oh well, screw EDM anyways! Long live ACL!
One Liner: Jazzy piano beat-focused instrumentals (is a phrase I never knew I'd write)
Wikipedia Genre: Jazz, Electronica, trip hop Home: Manchester, England Poster Position: ? (early announcement) Day: ? Both Weekends.
Thoughts: What in the world is this one? I mean, three songs into their top ten, its actually pretty dope stuff. Like someone kidnapped George Winston, made him smoke a bunch of weed, and then got him to jam out over a drummer playing live break beats intended for a rapper. You honestly have to hear this to understand. Here is their top track, "Hopopono," with 7.1 million streams.
Reminds me a little of those Bad Bad Not Good guys from a few years ago - I need Ghostface Killah to jump in and start freestyling over the top of this about getting a BJ in a mountain of coke while eating a hoagie. It's really good. (and I start to hear the Peanuts theme in there after a little while). TINY DESK MOFOS!!!
The piano players facial hair is a crime against humanity. Like, come on, man. Tiny Desk is forever, bro. Again, though, this is damn pretty stuff - very technical and dense action that draws me in and I want to complete. A lot of repetition, like they get into a groove where the piano keeps repeating the same phrase, and the other two just hold the groove steady, and you get to just slide along in that groove for a minute before they shift into something else. Cool stuff. I gotta say that the name threw me off though - was definitely expecting something different than modern jazz with a name like GoGo Penguin. This is how they describe the origin: "Me and my mate Pete got drunk at the rag-week auction at the RNCM and Pete bought this weird looking stuffed penguin for £60. His girlfriend was terrified of it and wouldn’t have it in the house, so I put it up in mine. We got our first gig at Sandbar in Manchester and desperately needed a name, so we started throwing ideas about and the penguin telepathically gave us the solution. Hence ‘Penguin’, ‘Go Penguin’ and eventually ‘Gogo Penguin’." So many things to unpack in that response. WTF is a rag-week auction? And isn't sixty pounds like $100? That seems like a lot to spend on a terrifying penguin. They name a bunch of very odd influences (although who am I to say they are odd, if they had listened to a bunch of REM and Zeppelin and Beasties, they wouldn't be making this cool music today): Aphex Twin, Mu-Ziq, Four Tet, Ustad Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Bonobo, Acoustic Ladyland, Radiohead, Polar Bear, Portishead, Lamb, Scuba, Burial, and Björk. I've heard of four of those before. But they turn it into something wildly expressive and interesting. Four albums, and you can use them to hear an evolution from a more straight-forward jazz sound to their more experimental edge now. The debut, 2012's Fanfares, has one track with more than 400k streams, "Last Words," with 439k.
God, I bet making that video took 9 years. Lovely track though - hard to find fault with any of these songs - these guys are really great with their instruments. But you can tell on there that, while they are using drums to make some fast-paced beats under all the piano, they aren't making a quasi hip hop track like now. v2.0, their 2014 album has some crazy jams on it, like that first video I posted above, and then "Garden Dog Barbeque." I mean, I can dig it. I'm not at all sure what a live show from these guys would look like, in a festival setting, but depending on the schedule, I'd be willing to check it out. Someone pass the mushrooms and lets groooooooooove.
One Liner: World music chameleons that seem perfectly fine
Wikipedia Genre: Afro-Colombian sound that mixes Latin and European flavors Home: Bogota, Columbia Poster Position: ? (early announcement) Day: ? Both Weekends.
Thoughts: Wikipedia says their singer uses Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese. If they are using English in any of these, I'm missing it - their whole 2018 album sure sounds to be in Spanish. I feel like a fraud whenever I review music like this. Without knowing anything of the words to the songs, I'm just left telling you that this is a perfectly passable Latin groove type of music that I normally never listen to. Catalina Garcia is the lead singer - she apparently came to the States for a few years but then moved back to Bogota and formed this band with some dudes. They won a couple of awards in Colombia and started getting noticed. Here is the origin of their name, which sounds very lame: "The name of the group arose from Prieto's reading of Michel Houellebecq's "The Elementary Particles", which discusses the périnée. The word became a joke among the group, and thus the original name was simply 'Periné. García, who initially opposed the name, later added the word Monsieur, referencing the idea that everything that is French is elegant and refined." Mmmkay. Three albums - 2012's Hecho a Mano, 2015's Caja De Musica, and 2018's Encanto Tropical. Their top track is from the new album, and actually balls out at 21.3 million streams. That is a legit number of stream, man. here is "Bailar Contigo."
I mean, yeah. Pretty catchy, groovy little number. But, she could be singing about the Church of Satan for all I know. How about one more - this is "Sabor a Mi," from that first album. 12.5 million streams.
The instrumentation evokes France more than Columbia. But again, sounds good and all, I'd just never go out of my way to hear it again. I wish them the best in all of their future endeavors. But I will not go watch this show.
Wikipedia Genre: Blues rock, soul, R&B Home:Austin, Texas Poster Position: 2 Day: Saturday Both Weekends.
Thoughts: The initial artist announced by the Festival! So I get to jump right in before the lineup is even announced! Woohoo! Before I get in to it, I'm freaking pumped to see GCJr again. His show at ACL a few years back was mind blowingly great. Clark is from Austin. Went to Austin High (LOYAL FOREVER, YO!). And he has been very cool to Austin since then, helping to bankroll the re-opening of classic club Antone's, recording locally at Arlyn Studios, and staying put in town when he could have easily picked up and left town for one of the coasts. I don't know why it should matter, but it makes me very happy to know he is homegrown and still pays back the city. His live album from 2014 was one of my top ten albums of the year. His full album from 2012, Blak and Blu, is also great, but the live version of his tracks are just so damn good. So much passion and fire and shredding ear candy. I love the fact that he can go from molten hot lava guitar domination to a more tender, nimble guitar style at the drop of a hat. See the transition between "Numb" and "Please Come Home" on Blak and Blu. Here is "Numb," just so you can taste the sludge:
I mean, come on! That is so good! 4.8 million streams. I saw him when he came to ACL a few years back and was just straight up blown away. I never got to see Jimi or Stevie turn their guitar into a weapon of blues-flavored rock and roll fury, but I love hearing someone so obviously steeped in their tradition. His most popular track from that first album is "Bright Lights," which boasts 19.2 million streams.
If you haven't played this guy's music before, you seriously need to go enjoy it. If you don't like rock, or are scared of good music, at least go listen for the skill the guy has on his instrument. One more video that I have to add to this, its not his top song on Spotify or anything, and this isn't the sick version on the Live album that they've played it on KUTX, but it still shows the amazingness of what he's got going on when he plays "When My Train Pulls In" live.
Seriously, the live version of that track is killer. I can't play jack crap on the guitar - the F chord was more than my fingers could bear. But I can sure as hell hear when something is transcendentally fantastic. I've heard that song 40 times by now, but I still just got goosebumps listening to him hammer his solos out. So good! Now, since those two early albums, he's put out two new discs - 2015's The Story of Sonny Boy Slim and 2019's This Land. I reviewed both, and neither of them is perfect, but when they are on, then they are freaking good stuff. The thing that I wish is that he would get a big time producer and just see what that would be like, to be the guitar wizard with someone else there to help his music bang. Might be interesting to try, but I guess he is loyal to his people. Sonny Boy Slim has some fun detours on it. This album picks up where Black and Blu left off, but sounds like he wanted to flex his creative muscles a little more. He still has the blues-guitar-God stuff on here ("Stay" or "Grinder"), classic crossroad blues ("Shake"), and acoustic hymns ("Church"), but then he also goes further afield with dance-ish stuff ("Can't Sleep") or 80's falsetto-drenched rhythm and blues ("Down to Ride"). "Wings" sounds like John Legend. This music is all over the place. "Grinder" is the second most streamed, and that is the one I want to hear more of (not the love song "Our Love," which just barely has more streams).
Yeah, baby. Red hot guitar action. I know the normal touchstone for guitar heroes from Austin is Stevie Ray Vaughan, but for some reason this album makes me think more of the collaboration SRV did with his brother, Jimmie Vaughan - Family Style. I thought that album was the good stuff back in the day. Like a combination of bombing guitar mastery, along with an Austin-ified lite blues swagger, and some left-field weirdness for good measure. While I'd like to hear more molten guitar lick thunder on here, I like the album. His new album - This Land - is a little more uneven for me. The lead single and title track is a stone cold killer. A burning indictment of America right now, apparently based on an interaction that Clark had with a neighbor of his newly acquired ranch outside of Austin (who refused to believe that Clark could possibly be the owner of the ranch next door), with a killer chorus that includes him spitting out the line "fuck you, I'm America's son, this is where I came from." I can't even believe that Clark is still having to deal with shit like that today, but I guess that's easy for me to think. I love the anger and power of the song. Video is killer too.
Sadly though, the rest of the album doesn't have that same power. The songs seem to be unfocused, stuck in this limbo of the Austin-centric bluesy-guitar-slinger soft-rock but legit guitar sound (except for the freaky weird things like the reggae swagger of "Feelin' Like a Million"). Not that these other tunes are bad, I like the unhinged energy of "Gotta Get Into Something" or the Stones-ey swagger of "The Governor." In fact, when I heard "Gotta Get Into Something" again on the radio the other day all I could do was just turn it up and rock out. Great track. But after the power, both of lyrics and licks, in "This Land," many of these other songs feel like a slog. The boring Marvin Gaye/Curtis Mayfield-ish soul track "Feed the Babies," all about mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters coming together to help the babies and teaching them to love. Or the falsetto love fest of "Pearl Cadillac," like a Prince b-side that he wrote the lyrics to on the fly. Or the usual tropes like "standing on the corner with my heart in my hand" and "I can't do it without youuuuu!" from "Guitar Man."
But listening to the new live album that he put out in 2017 - Live North America 2016 - I'm again reminded that when he does his thing live, it covers up any R&B slowdown that I wouldn't seek out with a white-hot blanket of guitar fuzz and solo fireworks. Definitely going to see him. There would have to be someone pretty major opposite his show for me to skip.
And its one of those insanely annoying optical illusion thingies that were hot back in the 90's and I NEVER can see what is going on in them. Fucking Magic Eye things. I always blamed it on the fact that one of my eyes is messed up and I wore glasses, but if you look at the comments to this thing, it seems like everyone else is having trouble too. These suck https://twitter.com/aclfestival/status/1121441221891768320 On the Instagram version, people are hilarious, saying that it says Deftones or Arianna Grande or whatever they want it to say. Most people seem to be guessing Tame Impala and Gary Clark Jr., but I have no clue if that is legit or just guesses.
The Internet Nerds have decreed that this image says Gary Clark Jr. Which is rad! But also annoying that they are using a method for the spoilers that is probably non-ADA compliant.
Still can't see anything, and even tried loading it into some Magic Eye decoder website, but that just made me dizzy. Annoying shit. But the Internet says that this says Monsieur Perine, which is something I've never heard of. Time to get crackin'. Many more things have come out, saying that we get Kacey Musgraves ( hell yes), Griz (cool), 21 Savage (?), Sigrid (OK), Childish Gambino (overrated), and King Pricess (??). Lineup announced this morning! Also, just a random observation that I hadn't seen before - Consequence of Sound named ACL 2018 their Festival of the Year, which is pretty rad.
I know, I already published my final thoughts on the potential lineup. I'm cheating. But I totally forgot about this other theory I had from last year, and it is this: the ACL people hand off an early teaser of the lineup to local radio stations, and the radio stations then start playing those bands/artists early so that the ACL people remind the masses about good songs from the bands they are about to announce, and the radio stations get to be like "oh, we've been playing that band forever, we know music, yo!
Last year, it popped into my head because I had noticed that the few radio stations I listen to had been playing the hell out of The National. Go check this post if you want to see my thoughts on it last year. Sadly, the KUTX archive is still jacked up, and won't provide real results when you search by artist. Instead, I had to collect a few days worth of their playlists (4/21, 4/22, and 4/24 - skipped a day b/c their 4/22 and 4/23 playlists are currently identical), and then compare those to their playlists from a month ago. Let's see what we find out. These are the artists who are getting a ton of play all of a sudden, who were not being played a month ago. Means I leave out things that are similarly played in both data sets, like Adia Victoria and Moving Panoramas and Beck and Cage the Elephant and Spoon (those last three also have an upcoming July show and will not be at ACL) or Gary Clark Jr (kind of a core KUTX artist and a new album out) and Kacey Musgraves and Radiohead. The National, my inspiration last year, just gets played 24/7 now with 9 plays in the old set and 9 plays in the new set. Three times a day, man. Might mean nothing, but we'll investigate a little bit.
Al Green. Would be dope to have him at ACL, but he had a show here in Austin on 4/24, so I think this uptick in plays was solely to get people hyped for that show.
Andrew Bird went the wrong way, from 10 plays to 4 plays. Nah, he's playing Stubb's on 10/30/19.
Beruit went from zero to 4. Same thing, they are playing Austin on 11/21/19, so nope this this one as well.
Better Oblivion Community Center dropped off (and they just had a show in April). No.
Bob Mould went from 2 to 5. So that is more than once a day on average for a guy without a new album. But, he just played the Mohawk on April 3. No other shows on his calendar until November, so I'll go with a no on him (although if he would come back and play Sugar from start to finish, I'd snort a ghost pepper).
Springsteen went from 1 to 3. LOCK IT IN BABY!!!! Just kidding. Dude isn't touring this year. No.
Calexico & Iron & Wine went from zero to seven - so that is interesting. Iron & Wine, by itself, went up from 1 to 2, so that isn't saying much. Nah, they are playing a show at Stubb's September 28. Not happening.
Childish Gambino only went from 1 to 2. But I still think he's going to make it up to us... Yes.
Courtney Barnett goes from 2 to 7. Another interesting one. I've predicted that she will come, and that uptick sure seems to lend support to that guess. Yes.
Deerhunter from 5 to 7, so not that big a shift. When I saw that KUTX was playing Deerhunter more than once a day right now, I thought this one would become a lock, but if they were playing the hell out of them last month too, then maybe not. Ah, they have a show on April 29 at the Mohawk, so those plays can just be KUTX hyping up that show. Going with No.
Devon Gilfillian. He goes from zero plays to eleven. Something is up there... He just played Stubb's on 4/10/19, with the Brothers Osborne. Hmmm. But they're still playing the crap out of him, even after that show? And his tour shows that his last show on the current tour is on September 22? This one feels legit. The guy plays a C3-sponsored club in April and then is free after late Sept.? He also played ACL Fest in 2017, so the C3 people already know him? Lock it in.
What about Brothers Osborne? Nah, they're playing shows during both weekends.
Girlpool is getting a lot of play, but no major uptick, just 4 to 5. But for a band I've never heard of, that seems like a lot of spins. Aaaaand it's because they have a show at the Mohawk on May 7. No.
Interesting how many times I've mentioned the Mohawk here - I wonder if they have some special deal with KUTX to get their medium-level bands hyped before shows?
Grupo Fantasma went from 2 to 10, let's check them out. They just played The Mohawk (!?!) at the end of March. And they are playing The Little Darlin' (which I've never even heard of?) on April 27 - this weekend. I'll say no.
Haelos goes from 3 to 8. Were supposed to come to ACL in 2016, but skipped the Fest instead. Played a show at ACL 3Ten in March. Their tour ends at the end of August, so feels like a good possibility. I'll move them into the medium fire zone.
Another interesting one, and part of what made me think of this project again, is the Son Volt, Wilco, Jeff Tweedy, Tweedy family. I kept hearing Son Volt and Wilco on the radio, at a rate higher than I would expect. Old data set is 8 plays (Jeff Tweedy 6, Billy Bragg w/ Wilco 1, Son Volt 1, Wilco 0) and new set of plays is also 8 (Jeff Tweedy 2, Billy Bragg/Wilco 0, Wilco 4, Tweedy 1, Son Volt 1). SO maybe those guys are just core artists for KUTX. But I also looked at yesterday's Sun Radio playlist (for the limited time it is available, very annoying) and they played Wilco twice in the periods I looked at.
I love Son Volt, so I was kind of hoping they would be the ones to come, but I think they are still dead.
BUT, Wilco is on a European leg of a tour, that ends on September 28 in London. HEY NOW!
Jeff Tweedy's personal tour dates end in August.
That sure feels like a good call. Very Austin City Limits-style artist, lots of recent radio play, tour fits perfectly? Yes.
Karen O with Danger Mouse is getting a ton of plays in both sets - 9 then and 8 now. But no shows on the interest scheduled, so I'd guess they just like this song a lot. No.
LCD Soundsystem jumped up from 1 to 4. Not touring. No.
Local Natives from zero to 3. Stubb's on June 15. No.
But Lizzo from 4 to 1? That seems weird. I still think she's coming.
R.E.M. went from zero to 4!!! It's finally fucking happening! This is a sign from GOD HIMSELF!!!!! (sadly, just kidding. Everything you see when you google "rem reunion" is extremely negative. Which is the worst thing ever).
Queen with only one play - sure doesn't seem like they are getting hyped if this theory is true. Feeling more like a no now. The Strokes with zero plays...
Ryan Bingham with about 2 plays a day? Seems interesting. Has played Austin a few times recently, but right now he is in Europe, and his tour ends on Sept,. 13 in Telluride. Sure, I'll say yes.
I'd say the same about Sharon Van Etten, except she came here last year... She is up to 10 plays in three days? Weird. No.
Steve Gunn (?!?) up from 1 to 4. Yeah, just played Barracuda on the 24th. No.
Huge uptick for Tame Impala, from 1 play last month to twelve plays this month. Part of that can be attributed to a new single or two coming out, but that is a huge jump. Lots of people have new music come out and don't get that big of an uptick. Yes, I still believe, even more so now.
Interestingly, Talking Heads went from 1 to 5. But Byrne was here last year and the band is still broken up. That one has to be random.
Telekinesis, who I don't know at all, are getting daily plays now and only one in the old data set. Just played ACL 3Ten on April 24, so I'll attribute this uptick to that show. No.
The Black Keys are in crazy heavy rotation in both data sets, but that is likely because Lo/Hi is a freaking fantastic jam and it must be played every time I'm in the car or else an angel dies. Also, they have a show in November (that I just bought tickets to!) so they are not coming to ACL.
I got excited when I first looked at the recent playlist data, because The Cure is in there three times. They played "Boys Don't Cry" (which rules), "Love Cats" (which blows), and "Why Can't I Be You?" (which again, rules). That seems like a lot for a band with no music, right? BUT they also played two of their songs during the period last month, so that isn't such a good indicator after all. I'll keep them in the I Don't Know category.
The Dream Syndicate has four plays in each of the data sets? Isn't that an old 80's band? Nope, they are playing other shows during second weekend, so I'll assume they aren't just coming for weekend one.
The Raconteurs goes from zero plays in the March set to four plays in the April set. Also, they've been playing Jack White (x1), White Stripes (x3) and Dead Weather (x1) this month when those weren't getting that play last month. Feeling really good about this prediction. Sun Radio also played them yesterday. Yes.
The Well rockets up the play count, but they also are the KUTX artists of the month, so nothing interesting there. Except they are kinda kick ass sludgy rock...
Vampire Weekend is getting heavy play (x7), but they also got that last month, and are playing shows in Austin before ACL so they're not coming.
Also, KUTX played Midnight Oil one time! IT'S SO FUCKING ON!!! Just wait until they invite me on stage and I can belt out "Red Sails in the Sunset," and every panty in the audience will just drop to the ground in one swoop! KUTX also played Hendrix! And U2! And Tom Petty! We're getting them all!
OK, so what did I learn from all of this? That I have too much spare time? Assuredly so. You should see the page of notes I made from looking at this stuff last night after the kids went to bed. Looks like some creepy, stalker Beautiful Mind shit. I think this supports some of the people I was already guessing, like Tame Impala, The Raconteurs, and Courtney Barnett. But it negatively reflects on some of my other predictions like Lizzo. New stuff I'm going to predict now - Devon Gilfillian (who sounds like an Irish Riverdancer, not an African American soul singer), Wilco, Haelos, and Ryan Bingham. No help for The Cure and Childish Gambino and Queen and The Strokes.
With the announcement today that we are just a few days away from the final announcement, it's time for me to finalize my predictions and make my final guesses. Not going to add anything new that I haven't already looked at, but am just going to collect everyone that I have already predicted and do one last check to see how hard I am for my prediction. If you want to see my prior prediction sets and don't want to hunt for them, click on the ACL 2019 banner button thing up above.
Tuesday, April 30th for the announcement, which is about a week earlier than normal. I'm ready! I really need to start jamming out to garbage indie rock bands from Perth and writing 2,000 word screeds about why their sound combines Pavement with INXS in a way that reminds me of The Culture Club. HURRY UP ALREADY! Also, I'm excited for the fun announcements - remember last year's weird ass Facebook Live thing in the laundromat? Where they kept taking out and folding t-shirts that matched up to bands coming to the Fest? That was a good one (better than the sign spinners).
I gotta say, if we get the same lineup as Lolla, Coachella, or Bonnaroo, I'm going to be mightily disappointed. I know that we usually get different stuff than those lineups, but those others sure are trending towards the young and the pop-centered. That being said, now that I have finished this post, I really like a bunch of the things that I think are locked in - Kacey Musgraves, Tame Impala, Gary Clark, The Raconteurs, and Lizzo are all super fun. BUT, there had better be some other headliners other than what I have named, because a top line of the groups I have named below as lock down folks would be missing some star power for sure. Slight set of edits here, because I just went and did my Recent Radio Uptick blog post, so I've added in a few more items.
Hard Lock Groups I Feel Confident About:
Childish Gambino. I think he makes it up to us this year after being a big crybaby last year. He's already doing Lolla and Bonnaroo, both of which are C3 shows, so I think he keeps that going and makes it up to C3 for forcing them to scramble two weeks before showtime last year. [although, no recent radio uptick on KUTX...]
Kacey Musgraves. She's playing every large fest and has a big gap for ACL. Lock it down.
Cardi B. Predicted her in my original post and still think it makes sense. Her tour ends in September, so she's got the time to make it fit, and is still hot/benefiting from her top album last year. A good, big rap name for the top few lines of the poster.
Tame Impala. Playing Lolla and a bunch of other big fests, new album coming out, nothing on their tour after mid-August. Sweet! Also, hue radio uptick in the past month on KUTX - makes me feel like this one is a definite lock.
The Raconteurs. Have a big gap in their tour from mid-September to mid-October, and the show they have in Second Weekend is in Oklahoma, so they could make that trip very easily. Double sweet! [EDIT] big radio uptick on KUTX and Sun Radio recently, so I'm feeling even more strongly about this one now.
Billie Eilish. Played Lolla last year, playing big festivals this year, big buzz for her. Her touring ends on Sept. 21, so this feels like a lock. This would also make my kids freak out and want to come to the Fest again this year, which is unfortunate for me...
Gary Clark Jr. Hometown guy, supporting new music, playing Lolla? For sure.
Wilco.I kept hearing Son Volt and Wilco on the radio, at a rate higher than I would expect. And it looks like they get tons of play on both Sun and KUTX all the time anyway, but then I took a look at their touring schedule, and they are on a European leg of a tour, that ends on September 28 in London. HEY NOW! Jeff Tweedy's personal tour dates end in August. So I'm making the call - this feels like a very ACL-style artist who would fit well, and the radio is playing the crap out of them without any other upcoming show.
Lizzo. Dude. Her new album is so freaking funny and I dig it. On a monster tour, that happens to have perfect gaps for each weekend of ACL - she plays Louisville on 10/2, then other Midwest shows on 10/8, 10/9, and 10/10, but then nothing during the 10/11 to 10/13 second weekend. yep.
Courtney Barnett. Lots of Fests, including Lolla Berlin, and her tour list ends in mid-September. Feels good, and I'd love to see her again, but I just don't feel as sure with her as I do with the others up above. [EDIT] Just moved her up here to the lock space - she's had a big recent radio uptick on KUTX that doesn't seem attributable to any other Austin show or new music.
Tierra Whack. Playing Lolla and her last show is in September. Up and coming rapper, easy fit for the medium type portion of the poster.
Dean Lewis. Playing real Lolla and Berlin Lolla, which is a few weeks before ACL. Up and coming guy who makes sense.
Lauren Daigle. Has shows that could fit ACL perfectly into the space, with a stop in Tulsa, OK on the Friday of first weekend, then a date in Southaven, MS on the Thursday before weekend two. Another up and comer.
Judah and the Lion. I know, you likely give two shits about these low level bands, but if I figured out they will be here, I want to up my average on my correct predictions. Playing Lolla and then perfect gap in their touring schedule for us.
Sigrid. Cancelled her ACL show last year and is playing Lolla.
Devon Gilfillian bunch of radio plays plus a tour that ends just in time for ACL. Played here in 2017, just played Stubb's with Brothers Osborne in March.
Haelos. Dropped out of ACL in 2016, recent radio uptick, sold out a show in Austin earlier this year.
Ryan Bingham. Big recent radio uptick and the tour ends right before ACL.
Medium Level Fire:
The Strokes. Playing Lolla and their tour ends in California on September 27. Seems to fit really well. (although my brain also says uggggggghhhhhh). [EDIT] moved this one down out of the lock it in category, because KUTX didn't play a single Strokes song in either of the two samples I took. Feels like that is a bad sign for them to be hot enough to come back to ACL.
Post Malone. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want for this to happen. But he played Lolla last year to massive crowds and has never played ACL, and his tour is done in late August. Feels like a fit, even though my heart won't let me move it up to lock it down groups because my soul will die if he is the remaining big headliner I haven't come up with.
Swedish House Mafia. Their tour goes through Sept. 20, which gives them plenty of time to come be the big EDM headliner.
Sheck Wes. I'm still feeling this one, although he is playing Austin 360 on May 4, but he is such a small fry artists that I don't think C3 would block him from also playing ACL. MO BAMBA!
I Have No Clue (These are the bands I looked at and have no good reason to say either yes or no, but I can't count them out):
Flume. More EDM for the kiddies to enjoy. They are headlining Lolla, so they seem like a good guess, but their tour dies out in mid-August and I don't even know who they are, so I'm lukewarm on it.
The Cure. They announced a tour of a bunch of festivals this year, which sounded promising, but zero of them are in the US and the tour peters out in late August. They could, but should they? KUTX played them three times in the past three days, so they are getting recent airplay, but they also played them twice in last month's dataset from three days. So, that doesn't seem like hype, just seems like playing classic tunes... No help.
KISS. I mean, this would be a little bit weird, but they have a two month break that just happens to straddle the ACL weekends, between Sept. 16 in Oakland and Nov. 16 in Australia. So it definitely fits, and they could be the old guy nostalgia act. They do come to San Antonio in September though, so that might be too close? Still feel medium about this one.
Queen & Adam Lambert. Their tour has a weirdly huge gap, between August 23 and Feb. 5, 2020, so they definitely could fit us in, but they'll be in Dallas and Houston in July, and that gap looks more like a winter break than hiding space for ACL. Very lukewarm on this one now despite feeling it previously. Even more lukewarm when I see that KUTX has only played one track from Queen recently.
Madonna. I know that I had previously said a definite no to her, but then she released a new single on Spotify and the third grader still inside of me got all pumped up about seeing Madonna. Take me right back to Harper Washburn's birthday party in 1984 or so. But she still has zero tours/shows announced, so even with the taste of new music that could signal a show, I can't actually predict this one.
Mumford & Sons. Could fit us in, with the end of their tour on Sept. 15, but not sure they would come back to ACL with no new (good) music or hype around them.
Nope Groups (These Bands are otherwise occupied or I otherwise say no for sure):
Dead & Co. Their tour now continues right on through both weekend, and in Europe, so a big fat bowl of nope.
Muse. Negatory good buddy. Playing in South America all around both weekends.
Fleetwood Mac. Nah. Earlier, their tour ended in Sept., but now it plows right through both weekends of the Fest.
Foo Fighters. No. They added some new dates to the tour in Colombia and Costa Rica, during weekend one, so not going to happen.
Mitski. Although she is playing Lolla, she'll be in Austin already on June 4, which seems to close to the festival dates to make sense.
Soccer Mommy. Playing shows with Vampire Weekend that include the Thus. before and Sunday of First Weekend, so feels like a no now.
Jade Bird. Now she has shows in England on the second weekend, so maybe she comes to weekend one, but I don't see it making sense to name her when she'll be across the pond for all of weekend two.
I'm still holding out hope that somehow C3 just says to hell with it about people who are already playing Austin around the fest, and they bring in The Black Keys and Vampire Weekend as two main headliners. And then they add Springsteen and Pearl Jam! And then NWA reunites! And same with R.E.M. and Rage Against the Machine and Oasis and Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix and its the greatest festival of all time forever. Either way, I'm now fully excited about the announcement and getting started on listening to the new tunes.
BTS - Map of the Soul: Persona. So these guys are all the rage right now, internationally, as the hottest of the hot South Korean boy bands. They are the most successful K-Pop bands in U.S. Chart history. So I thought I'd give their new album a chance to see what the hype is all about. And it SUCKS. Obviously, I can't understand 3/4 of the words (they sing and rap in a weird amalgamation of both English and Korean) so that makes it hard to enjoy. And usually the words that do come through are garbage tripe like "where the party at?" or "oh yeah" or "you ready to get hyped up?" or "let it shine!" or something. But even without knowing the words, the music itself blows. Crappy, generic pop beats, sprinkled with some guitar and Auto-Tune. If a legit rapper like Pusha T tried to put out an album backed by these tracks, he's get clowned into the grave. Even a pop star in the US would get ragged on for these cheap ass beats. Maybe like a cheap facsimile of The 1975 on "Mikrokosmos" but even that is a stretch. This is very bad stuff. The top track features Halsey, and I'm sure the opportunity to jam with these guys was too much to pass up, but that is just weird. "Boy With Luv," currently has 24 million streams.
I mean, I get it that this might be all about their sex appeal and fun dances and stuff, but that song is very bad. The rapping is painful. And Halsey's part is kind of non-existent? Does she just sing "ooh my my my" and then sing along with part of the chorus? or is there more to it that I just can't hear? Anyway, no thanks! Reignwolf - Hear Me Out. As I have noted before, the opening track of this album is a damn jam. Just fuzzy, slammin' rock and damn roll. This dude was at ACL last year, and he did weird stuff to his guitar like no one I had ever seen before, popping the strings one handed and playing it like a stand up bass. Wild to see, but the sound was awesome. This is his first proper album, and like the first song and the live show, it all bangs. It has a flavor of Royal Blood and Jack White-centered-projects - heavy riffage, pounding drums, some squalling in the vocals. He's best when he's in that mode - some of these go for a bluesy wailing mode, and slow down the hustle, and I'd rather have him losing his shit. Like "Son of a Gun," too much petulance. Give me the loose jam instead of the wail. The top song, somehow beating out the opener and early single, is "Over & Over" with 530k streams.
Has a Nine Inch Nails meets Royal Blood thing going on. Its great stuff and I'll keep it all around to keep jamming out. Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center. Quite a mouthful of a band name there, fellas. This is a new band made up of Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst. I have tried, so many times, to get into a Conor Oberst-helmed band. Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk, his solo stuff, I just can't ever quite get to the point where I want to keep hearing it. I don't think its just the depressingly bummed out lyrics he always uses, I don't think its just his bummer vocal tone, I don't think its just his tightly wound indie style. Just something in there never makes me want more. So this one adds in Phoebe Bridgers, who I didn't remember until someone at church last week asked me if I liked her tunes, and then quickly said "probably too sad for you, right?" Which is weird, right? I like sad music. Like, you know, uh, "Nothing Else Matters" and, uh, "Let Him Roll." I know sadness, yo! (except she's probably right, screw sad ass music, man.). "Dylan Thomas" is the hit so far, I've heard it on the radio a few times, with 2.8 million streams.
I like that one pretty well - kinda jangly and loose indie rock with a good singalong chorus. Up tempo and cheery despite the lyrics about dying on a barroom floor. Good guitar solo too. But most of these songs are kind of quiet and isolated sounding, like the haunting "whoooooowoooo are you, waiting for" on "Service Road." The album opener, "Didn't Know What I Was In For," keeps sticking in my head - I found myself randomly singing it last night while cleaning dishes. But its a fucking insane song too - sounds lovely, and yet she's singing about losing it and getting strapped into a straight-jacket. The last line, fading into nothing, says that she tries not to think about how living is just a promise that she made. WTF. Overall, very pretty music, but also bummer stuff. Cass McCombs - Tip of the Sphere. Holy Dead-Lovers convention, Batman! Just go straight to the peakin' guitar solo in the opening track, complete with noodling and canoodling and supernoodling, while the rest of the band just keeps a semi-Americana groove going in the background for 3 minutes. Prime, grade-A, aged, and well-executed Grateful Dead-iness that tastes sugary sweet. I dig it for real. Then the opening of "Estrella" has that same flavor, finger-picked jaunting over the top of jammy grooves, followed up with quiet vocals that don't harsh the vibe. Many moments on here very clearly harken back to the Dead - "Sidewalk Bops After Suicide" is another with a heavy debt to the groovy guitar warbles that are trademark Dead. You may hate the Dead, I know there are weirdos out there who can't stand it, but that ain't me. I think the combination of country and funk and rock is tasty. Only one song on this thing has more than a million streams, so you get "Sleeping Volcanoes."
Of course, that track is less Dead and more Arcade Fire meets Kurt Vile, after I spend 10 lines discussing Jerry and Co. Whatever, go listen to the whole album and you'll catch that flavor quickly. And maybe I should say that it just has a classic rock and jam band sort of feel overall (but I still hear Dead flourishes throughout). The opener (7:37 long) and closer (10:09) long are crazy long but don't feel overly so, they flow into different parts and parcels in a pleasing way. I think this album rules.
