Big Wild

One Liner: Electronic chill music for your next terrible mixtape

Wikipedia Genre: Electronic
Home: Portland, OR

Poster Position: 5
Both Weekends.  Sunday.

Thoughts: Dadgummit.  Two artists with the name "Big" something on the fifth line of the poster, and neither of them are the massively epic rock band that I want them to be.  The top song is kind of pop R&B-ish stuff, and may be about getting freaky with your partner person.  "6's to 9's" - either I'm very childish (which, uh, yeah) or this is the great bedroom ying-yang.  When I first started dating my now-wife, she had a sticker on the front windshield of her car that, if I recall it correctly, was a very small circle with a 69 in it and YAGA written behind it.  YAGA was a brand that originated in Galveston many moons ago, and was very cool back in the 90's.  I don't recall ever being cool enough to own any YAGA gear, but this sticker was stinking hilarious to me, because the wife had no clue what "69" meant, and just thought the sticker looked cool.  I joked her to death about it until one day it disappeared from the old Mercury Topaz.

Let's check it out, just in case.  62.7 million streams.

Nothing explicit in the lyrics about making the action, but you certainly can read between the lines of all the things they want to do together because they are so in love.  Including this little bit: "Save your conversation for the basement (Yeah), I want you speaking in tongues, You know what they say about those."  So yeah, I'm just going to say this is the 69 song.

Anyway, this is electronic music with a chill vibe, lots of lush layers of synth sounds and frequently unintelligible vocal sounds that just set the mood.  Like "Awaken," his third most streamed tune, is just someone making pretty vocalizations over the waves of synth patterns.  Very relaxing.  Should be playing next to a pool in Palm Springs right now.  Others have actual lyrics, but generally their relatively vapid - "you are my home!"  "we're in love you and I!"

Real name is Jackson Stell, a 31 year old from Massachusetts.  When he was 14, he started his career as a hip-hop beat producer known as J-Beatz.  Good job on changing the name.  He graduated from Northeastern University and worked in advertising before moving to L.A. to begin his Big Wild journey.  Also, slightly terrifying, is that he went through treatment for thyroid cancer in 2013, but appears to be healthy now.

Only one album - 2019's Superdream - and then other singles and EPs going back to 2014.  The 69 song is on that album, as are several of his other top tracks.  I'll go with the newest single for his other track on here so that you can experience that as well.  Well, actually, his newest single is someone else's song (Cory Wong) that he is just featured on.  Weird, so is his one before that - "Firepit" with Phantoms.  And the one before that was "Awaken" with Surfaces (ACL alum from last year).  The last one with just him as the artists was in 2020 with "Who Do You Believe."  1.5 million streams.

So, it's never a good sign when I'm listening to one of these bands and just slam the brakes on whatever I'm doing at work because I can't handle continuing to listen to them while working.  These songs are annoying the crud out of me right now.  There are obviously people who love it and have listened to it millions of times, but I just mumbled "shut the hell up!" and paused Spotify so that I could just come and finish this one up and move on.  I really wish something else was occupying the fifth line of this poster.

Southern Avenue

One Liner: Belt-y, soulful rockin' gospel-adjacent tunes

Wikipedia Genre: Blues, soul blues, gospel
Home: Memphis

Poster Position: 20
Weekend Two Only.  Saturday.

Thoughts: I know that the Beyhive will come for my soul for saying this, but the comp my brain keeps making here to the voice of the lead singer is Beyonce.  Her name is actually Tierinii Jackson (and no, I don't know how to say that first name) and she's in the band with her sister on drums.  The band is a five-piece outfit out of Memphis - the band name is after a street in Memphis that runs from the eastern city limits to the area of town where Stax Records was located.

The tunes are rock-ish blues and soul music, that sometimes veer towards gospel and sometimes towards southern rock.  It's pretty good music, and when combined with Tierinii's great voice, the whole thing really works.  Three albums, 2017's eponymous one, 2019's Keep On, and 2021's Be the Love You Want.  None of them really have a different feel or groove, they all pretty well run together after a long day of listening.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, they found a lane and they are crushing it.  Reminds me of Lake Street Dive, but with a better singer.

Top track is from the debut - "Don't Give Up" has 2.8 million spins on Spotify.

Hear that gospel vibe in there?  The opening with the guitarwork and hand-claps feels like you're in a southern Baptist church waiting for the word.  And then the drums and electric guitar kick in and you've got a slow-burner rock song.  Good stuff.  Off of the new album, the title track is the top streamer - "Be The Love You Want" - with 219k streams.

That one is a little more aggressive - bongos driving it forward and the horns popping up here and there to give it a little crescendo.  Again, her voice is the difference maker.  The band is solid, but imagining it along with some generic singer and it would be significantly less interesting.  I hope they can convince McConnoaghayscghey to get on stage naked with them and play the bongos for this track.  Would be guaranteed to get them noticed and make the first weekend crowd angry about the lack of McConaPeen.

Zach Bryan

One Liner: Excellent low-key singer-songwriter Americana

Wikipedia Genre: Country, alt-country
Home: Oklahoma

Poster Position: 5
Weekend One Only.  Friday.

Thoughts: Sweet!  I had completely forgotten about this guy.  My niece's husband pinged me about him a year or two ago and I tried out his only album (at the time) and really liked it.  Before I get to that, do you have people in your life who frequently send you direct messages on Instagram?  I find that to be such an odd action.  Like, the message is not forwarding an Instagram post or whatever, its just a substitute for a text message.  I'm sure all the youth use this all the time and I'm the weird one, but it just seems unnecessarily complicated to message through an app.  Get offa my lawn!

I'll readily admit that when I pulled this guy up, my first thought was that this was going to be some bro-country garbage like Jon Pardi was last year, but this is absolutely not that.  Isn't there another country guy with the last name Bryan? LUKE!  Thanks google. When I clicked on the first song, the voice just sounds familiar.  He's got a special voice that isn't perfectly tuned, but also isn't one of those ragged and raw singer-songwriter voices either.  Here is what I said about his debut album back in 2020:

"Zach Bryan - DeAnn.  I have a relatively new Nephew-in-Law (is that a thing?  I'll assume that is a thing, I will call him Nephew-in-Law) who suggested this guy to me, and I like it.  Very stripped down singer-songwriter type stuff - just a guy and his guitar - but some of these have good turns of phrase that make the guy appealing to me.  I won't say he's as good as Tyler Childers, but he's in that same wheelhouse.  He doesn't have a bio on Spotify, and his photos look like he was a Young Life counselor in a prior life.  This article makes it sound like he's been blowing up because of this album, released without a label or publicity.  He says he is on active duty with the Navy (which is pretty damn boss), but threw this together when some friends encouraged him to let his stuff see the light of day.  "God Speed" has a few great lines, like "And I wanna love a girl who doesn't worry about the pictures when we kiss ... lay in bed all day and call that shit pure bliss."  That's the song I'll give you - 1.9 million streams [up to 33.2 million now!].

I can imagine that these tunes would be even better with a full-on band and arrangements backing them up.  They're good as they are, but adding in some drums and banjos and a children's choir and digeridoos and BASS DROPS would complete the package.  Cool story, good stuff."

Here's another, filmed with his usual DIY-level of professionalism.  "Heading South."  Over 15 million streams on YouTube is damn solid.

Just a sweaty old boy jammin' his guitar.

Since that album, he's obviously gotten even bigger and better, and he's released a 2020 album called Elizabeth, and a handful of singles.  Elizabeth adds a tiny bit more accompaniment - "Mine" has some piano tossed in there.  "Revival" full on adds in a drummer, extra singers, and a little piano!  It's WILD!  The funny thing is that its actually not, it still has this same stripped-down and raw sound.  Oh hey, and thats the top song!  Just over 16 million streams.

Those goofy ass little stool drums, man.  Nothing makes me think YoungLife and Christian summer camp like one of those things manned by some overly serious white boy who thinks they sound like Neal Peart.  Even though you aren't getting the studio experience in that video, you get the picture.  He's still pretty stripped down and basic.  Lets the lyrics shine through.

His story is alluded to up above in my old review, but let's talk a little more about him.  He was born in Japan while his parents were deployed overseas in the Navy, but his home is some tiny town called Oologah, Oklahoma.  He also joined the Navy, and would still make music on the side as a hobby.  His friends encouraged him to put some of that music out there, and so he started putting videos up on YouTube.  His first album was in 2019, and is named after his late mother.  He apparently recorded it with his friends in an AirBnB in Florida while on leave.  He ended up putting in eight years with the Navy before being honorably discharged in October 2021.  Now he can put his music at the forefront.  Oh, hey, and he's supposed to release his first real-deal studio album in 2 days.  Look forward to checking it out!

We'll go with one more, his newest track, just for giggles.  Although "Open the Gate" is the named single on this release, the second song has all the streams, so we'll go with that one.  "Something in the Orange," released as a single in 2022 and already 12.5 million streams.

Lovely.  And all of those fan videos he stitched together with sunsets and sunrises were really cool too.  Except for the dorks dancing for the camera or otherwise looking at it.  Those were lame.  Show me more videos of nature and the sun.  Good tune!

And since I wrote this, he released that new album last Friday.  I had sort of forgotten about it, except that our youth group leader gave it a shout out on Sunday morning, saying that his "high" of the week was that his favorite artist had released a new album on Friday.  A kid jokingly asked if he meant Harry Styles, and he said it was Zach Bryan.  For someone to say this is their favorite artist overall is an interesting tidbit.  As for the new album, it is Very good, but it is also THIRTY-FOUR FREAKING SONGS AND OVER TWO HOURS LONG!!!!!!!  Holy hannah.  Come the hell on, man.  Can't you just do three seperate albums instead?  My goodness.  The top track is "From Austin," with 20.5 million streams.

Lovely.

I'd definitely go check him out.

girlhouse

One Liner: Really good indie rock in the vein of Snail Mail or Soccer Mommy

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but bedroom pop and indie rock
Home: Nashville

Poster Position: 24
Weekend One Only.  Friday.

Thoughts: This is apparently a bedroom-pop band for a woman named Lauren Luiz (although it definitely sounds like she has a band in some of these tracks, and in that bottom video).  Here is her story of her first show: "I was playing an acoustic show at choir camp in high school and I forgot to tune my guitar before I went on stage so I had to do it last minute in front of the audience. There was a mom in the crowd that kept yelling at me that I should have done this before I went on and I told her “I realize that now.” It made tuning take a lot longer than it should have. I don’t remember what songs I played."  That mom sounds like a real bitch.

Searching Wikipedia for this band does not bring up this band, but instead brings up "a 2014 Canadian horror slasher film directed by Trevor Matthews and written by Nick Gordon. It stars Ali Cobrin playing a woman in an X-rated reality web series and Slaine as the psychopath who stalks her."  The rest of the movie's description also sounds terrible.  I will not watch this movie.

No albums, just a few EPs and singles scattered about since 2020.  Well, Spotify lists a single from 1996 called "a long december," but I have to assume that is someone else because this lady would have been like 2 in 1996.  Also, it is a cover of the Counting Crows.  Also, it sounds like this same singer, so maybe they just mis-dated it on Spotify?  Freaking great song, and the cover is pretty good.  It's got some squelchy guitar effects that make me think of Soccer Mommy, and when the song kicks in about 1:35 in, that part kinda rules.  Okay.  I'm digging it.

222k streams, and it ought to have more for sure.  Fucking thing, that video and the song just made me tear up.  Getting old is whack.  Also, I got some crappy news the other day about an old friend of mine, who is headed into hospice now, and so small things are definitely reaching down into the heart a little more swiftly and easily than normal.

The top song, "Concussion" has a Lana Del Rey flair.  4.2 million streams.  From the 2021 EP entitled the second ep.

I like the more guitar forward tunes in her lineup more, but that is a good one too.  Like, on that same EP, "happy now" is good stuff.  Snail Mail vibes.  Her most recent ep, 2022's the third ep (I'm sensing a trend here) collects a few of her older singles into a 6 song collection and includes the pleasurably named "facetime after sex."  Also, "paul blart mall cop."  But the top single from it is "cool guy," so we'll check that one out.  142k streams.

She does a pretty awesome job of making jenky DIY videos that are clever and kinda funny.  I love the people sitting in the background while he plays bocce.  Catchy tune too.

When this puppet started playing guitar, I laughed out loud.

I like that tune as well.  Goofy, cute, video that makes me happy.  I'm extremely glad that I just found this band.  I'd absolutely go check them out in person.

Larry June

One Liner: Chilled out rapper from the Bay Area

Wikipedia Genre: Hip hop
Home: San Francisco

Poster Position: 9
Both Weekends.  Sunday.

Thoughts: Larry Eugene Hendricks.  Bomb name.  His Wikipedia, for unclear reasons, includes the tidbit that he was born to teenage parents.  Which makes me really pleased, in that this means two teenagers, in 1991, decided that their baby boy needed the most grandpa ass name they could come up with.  Larry Eugene.  The most popular baby names in 1991 for a boy were boring as hell - Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua, Andrew - neither Larry nor Eugene pop up in the top 100 baby names in America in 1991.  Oh wait, he was the third.  Nevermind.  His parents weren't cool at all.  I thought they had a cool old-school sensibility and wanted to name him unfashionable old names.  Instead they were the exact opposite of being original.

Before my first kid was born, I spent a ridiculous amount of time with a book called the Baby Name Wizard, and its related website, to try to pick the absolute perfect name for my kid.  I know it will be a shock to you, the reader of a blog that obsessively chronicles information about a music festival that the writer has no connection to, but I was a little OCD about this process.  Color-coded tabs throughout the book.  A ranking system I made my wife play along with to determine our favorites with data.  Detailed little charts digging into the historical popularity of certain names.  It was a lot.  I have regrets.  In the end, after shooting down my wife's super cute names and pushing hard for Stewart, I'm pretty sure we didn't even use the damn research I had compiled.  This is the way.

Anyhoo, my man Larry.  The stage name actually comes because he has the same name as his Dad, and so people would call him Larry Junior all the time, or just Junior, which sounds a lot like June when this man says it.  He was born in San Francisco, then lived in Atlanta into high school, before going back to SF to continue high school.  By then, he started to rap and dropped out.  Around 2016, that started to work out, because he got to open for Post Malone on his tour.  He was signed to Warner for a while, but Wikipedia makes some noise about how he is on his own now.  Which is an interesting choice, and also interesting how he got on this poster without kissing the LiveNation ring.  He has an absolute pile of releases - I guess that is what happens without a label - 9 albums and a bunch of other mixtapes and EPs.

"Gas Station Run" sounds very much like he is from the Bay Area - some Too Short vibes on both the beat and the lyrics.  Oh, wait, this whole album sounds like that.  2021's Into the Late Night is pretty solid.  Definite Too Short feels.  2020's Numbers is more laid back and chilled out - I really enjoy it, but the vibe is on some old school soul samples and cooling out.  In fact, that's kind of the full vibe from this dude.  None of these songs are going to inspire a big hyped up mosh pit, he's more likely to inspire people to get stoned and just bob their heads.  The top track is from 2019's Out the Trunk, called "Smoothies in 1991."  21.5 million streams.

Hell yeah, picking out that kombucha from the cooler.  And that old school Mustang is sweet too.  I like his flow, I like the classic beat.  He isn't saying anything too important, but overall the vibe is good.  His second-most streamed is "Watering My Plants," from 2020's Adjust to the Game.  12.2 million streams.

Love that little classic sample - just sounds like West Coast rap right there.  Nice, laid back track.  I love that he is talking about investing strategies at the start of it.  Hell yeah, rapping about passive income up in this bitch!  And then a sweet exchange with a nice looking lady, including a desire to get her some plants for her new apartment, and then keep them watered.  Really nice boyfriend material here - mailbox money and a green thumb!

His newest album is a collaboration with Jay Worthy and LNDN DRGS called 2 P'z in a Pod.  Same vibe.  Although, I honestly don't like it as much.  I prefer the tunes with just Larry on them.  None of those tunes crack his top 10 on Spotify, but we'll give one a taste anyway.  "Leave it Up to Me" has 854k streams.

Yep, the dude in the Palace shirt is the weak link on that track for sure.  And yeah, this guy is good.  I like his whole vibe - the flow is good, the lyrics are relatively positive, the beats are classic.  I can dig it.  So far, the best rapper on the poster!

The Midnight

One Liner: More 80's redux schlock

Wikipedia Genre: Synthwave, futuresynth, electronic, chillwave
Home: L.A.?  Wikipedia says the singer is based in Atlanta and the producer/singer is in L.A.

Poster Position: 10
Both Weekends.  Saturday.

Thoughts: Wellp, I keep striking out on something new and awesome.  When I saw the pink square with a handprint on it as the avatar for this band on Spotify, I thought for a second that this band might have something to do with Midnight Oil, which had me excited.  But unfortunately, this is just another band fetishizing 80's pop music.  I don't understand what the deal is with that trend.  It is maybe kinda funny for a song, to be like, "oh yeah, that sweet saxophone and synth combo is super funny!"  But then it is the ninth song and you're still stuck with below-replacement-grade 80's music, and the fun ebbs quickly.  Also, we left behind the freaking 80's music for a reason!  This stuff was a fad that ran its time!  I blame Stranger Things.

Actually, according to an article I just found, this is the fault of The Weeknd and Dua Lipa.  The Weeknd's 2020 album, with that "Blinding Lights" track that became the biggest song of the year, re-energized this thing.  Miley Cyrus did "Prisoner."  Dua Lipa did "Physical."  This has become a thing.  So now these dudes join the other people on this poster, chasing the new trend and bastardizing an old sound to make their boring replications of the original stuff.

I'm sorry.  I'm being rude.  I hate bagging on artists who are on the poster, I really do.  They are out there making music and getting picked to be at a huge music festival, and I'm just dragging them down without any appreciable talent at all.  But at the same time, I expect that you are reading this because you want to know what this sounds like, and so I'll tell you that it sounds like old stuff you stopped listening to when Ronald Reagan was the President.  "Neon Medusa" steals some riffs from "Thriller" and Daft Punk.

This band is made up of Tyler Lyle (Atlanta) and Tim McEwan (Danish-born, but L.A. now).  McEwan's folks are actors and musicians in their own right, back home in Denmark.  Wikipedia claims that their inspiration for this entire schtick was the Drive soundtrack.  So that is who I have to blame!  They also collaborated with TimeCop1983, who has collaborated with fellow ACL 2022 artist Primo the Alien.  Maybe they'll join each other on stage at the Fest!  Can't wait!

And, now that I actually look at their discography, maybe it was these guys who the major stars copied!  It doesn't make me like it more, but they have been doing this since 2014 with the album Days of Thunder.  Since then, they've also released 2016's Endless Summer, 2017's Nocturnal, 2018's Kids, and 2020's Monsters (plus a few EPs in there).  That is a lot of output!  The top streamer is from the 2016 album, called "Sunset," with 22.5 million streams.

Makes me think of Starship - the synths and electric guitar solos.  I'll give you one more before I can blissfully escape this artists and hope that the next one will cleanse the 80's from my brain.  The newest single is "Change Your Heart or Die," with 619k streams.

That voice sounds like the guy from the Shins.  The tune sounds like something that would have backgrounded a bootleg copy of Double Dragon that you bought in a back alley.  Again, big fat nope for me, dawg.

Maude Latour

One Liner: Baby Lorde

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but its pop
Home: New York City

Poster Position: 15
Weekend One Only.  Saturday.

Thoughts: Initial snap judgment - Lorde copycat.  She doesn't have her own Wikipedia entry, but her name pops up because she is apparently the daughter of Almar Latour, the CEO of Dow Jones and Company.  Which was such an odd fact it just made me bark out a laugh in my office.  I also super love that she is just going by her dope-ass name for her career.  No clever little stage name, just going with the grandma name and rocking it.

In fact, it feels like this poster is heavy with people's plain names.  I wonder if that is some sort of movement - people are tired of making up a band name and getting stuck with Diarrhea Planet or Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and so they're just doing their given name instead.

She is apparently also a student at Columbia University, which is kinda cool.  Growing up in NYC, she claims to have had a crazy high school experience because of the energy and diversity of living in the City.  But now she kind of idolizes the suburban life.  "I don’t know how to drive, and I have a totally idealized image of what it’s like to drive."  It's pretty awesome!  You should try it!  In this same article, she says that she was a Gwen Stefani, Lana Del Rey, and Lorde fan.  See, I can hear that!

No actual albums, just a bunch of singles and EPs.  "Ride My Bike" sounds like it was specifically made to be on a workout playlist, until the breakdown in the middle where it would break the mood.  But the pace and mood of the rest of the song, and being able to sing "runner's hiiiiiiiiiiighighhgiighhghhhhghh" is very empowering to the Peloton crowd.  But her top song, by a mile, is "One More Weekend," with 25.9 million streams.

Hear the Lorde?  Lyrically, it makes me think of Lucy Dacus at first as well, but the music is uninteresting to me.  Also, the drama of her lip syncing in the video and dancing spazztically is throwing me off.

I'll also give you her newest single.  This is "Trees."

Six views for that video.  Six.  Zero plays for the track on Spotify too, so I must have discovered it right when it was released.  Weird.  Again, I'm liking the lyrics more than I'm liking the tune or the delivery.  Catchy sounding, but I'm not sure I'll ever get behind singing the chorus about the trees are breathing so I know its you?

Feeling medium about her - on the one hand, seems like she can write well and sing well.  On the other hand it also seems like Dad might have opened some doors for her to release this out to the world.  None of these songs really light me up, but it's not bad.

Teezo Touchdown

One Liner: Auto-tuned R&B oversharing terribleness

Wikipedia Genre: He has Wikipedia, but it doesn't list genre.  I'm calling it emo R&B
Home: Beaumont, Texas

Poster Position: 15
Weekend Two Only.  Friday.

Thoughts:  If this guy wasn't a running back in college or something, I'm going to be deeply disappointed.  If his #1 song on Spotify sounds familiar, its because it is a Tyler, the Creator track from the Call Me If You Get Lost album.  After that collaboration (with 36 million streams), his best stream track only has 2 million.  And I think I know why - I was hoping for a rapper here, since the poster is so very bereft of good rap.  Instead, this is another singer guy who seems like he would be best used to sing a hook for a rapper, instead of performing entire emo R&B tunes.  Because I think that is how I'd describe this.  Emo R&B.  My face just literally turned up into a bitter beer face while listening to the top track.  "Social Cues."  2 million streams.  And I have no clue how or why.

Reminds me of that godawful guy I went to watch last year.  KennyHoopla.  Did anyone else go to two songs of that and feel like they had walked through a nightmare?  That dude couldn't sing worth a damn, and Autotune master here may have the same thing going on?  This is what I feel like I'm getting here.  I get it man, you have emotions.  We all have emotions.  You don't need to add AutoTune to them.  I'm going to guess right now that this is a TikTok thing.  Just the most plain and boring pop punk song with mediocre singing over the top.  Make it stop.

Real name is Aaron Thomas, and shockingly he's almost 30.  Expected 18 from that video.  His father was a DJ so he was exposed to a lot of genres as a kid, but he apparently settled on bad auto-tuned singing.  He originally worked under the names AyeTee and Teezo Suave, but Wikipedia says his videos "received little attention."  HAHA, here's a quote the Wikipedia page has about one of his 2020 singles: "About "SUCKA!", Pitchfork stated the song lacked "the ear for production, nimble flow switch-ups, or, well, talent.""  LOL.  Pitchfork keeps bringing the heat on this kid!  Also Wikipedia: "In June 2021, he featured on the song "RunItUp" with Tyler, the Creator, which Pitchfork called "unmemorable"."  Amazing.  And something I finally agree on with Pitchfork!

I'll give you his most recent track too, just so you get another sample.  It's not good.  "Handyman," with 332k streams.

I'm honestly fascinated by the YouTube comments.  Someone calls him the goat?  Someone says no other like you and is grateful to have discovered him?  Another says he is a huge inspiration?  I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.  I guess there is always a fan of any type of music, but this is just bad stuff.

Sadly, nothing I'd read shows that he was ever a college running back.  So depressing.

Happie Hoffman

One Liner: The Cantorial Soloist for Temple Israel in Memphis (?!?!)

Wikipedia Genre: None, but Jewish chanting?  And maybe opera?  And maybe indie acoustic guitar solos?
Home: Memphis

Poster Position: 23
Both Weekends.  

Weekend One - Sunday.  Weekend Two - Friday.

Thoughts:  Well, there is something I didn't expect today.  According to Wikipedia, assuming this is the same Happie Hoffman, this gal is on staff at a Reform Jewish synagogue in Memphis, Tennessee.  Wikipedia says he is the Cantorial Soloist for the synagogue.  According to myjewishlearning.com, "a cantor — hazzan (חזן) in Hebrew — is the person who chants worship services in the synagogue."  "Beyond their responsibilities as prayer leaders, contemporary cantors typically also officiate at lifecycle events, teach bar and bat mitzvah students, and sometimes provide pastoral services."

Mmmmkay.  She has no Spotify presence other than appearing on songs for two other artists.  The best of those two is absolutely Zach Singer's "Adonai Malach," because the Laura Copel track sounds like a normal Christian music drivel.  The Singer song is slightly groovy and good.

Happie has a website - happiehoffman.com - but it pretty much just says coming soon.  The announcement from Temple Israel that she started there says she is native to Memphis, and was trained in opera at Indiana University.

Seriously, what the hell is going on here?  Is this like the niece of one of the C3 people or something?

I think this is her, being as her name is so very different that I can't imagine there is another woman singer with her name:

Sure.  Really pretty voice.  I have no clue what this is doing on the poster.  Maybe they're adding her to the Gospel stuff on Sunday morning (or adding a new Jewish chanting portion on Saturday morning?  Am I going to find a Muslim muezzin somewhere on the poster as well?

DEHD

One Liner: Surf-y indie rock that sounds like lost 80's New Wave

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, post-punk, surf rock, garage rock
Home: Chicago

Poster Position: 14
Both Weekends.  Sunday.

Thoughts:  Never heard of this, but a guy whose musical opinions I generally can jibe with told me this was one of the bright spots on the poster for him.  Formed in 2015 in Chicago, they have kind of a reverb-y, old school sound that leans on surf and echoes.  And some 80's vibes too - I don't know what band I am hearing, but "Empty in my Mind" makes me think of some new wave band from the mid-80's.  Apparently, the two lead singers were once a romantic thing, but that ended and the team strayed in the band.  Must have been weird for the drummer, just chilling back there bopping the skins and hoping mommy and daddy will stop fighting.

Their second album was Water, from 2019, and it starts to make me think of The Cure and Velvet Underground (with Nico).  It's not as produced and lush as the Cure, much more raw and DIY-sounding, but it has that arty tossed off flavor of VU.  

2020's Flower of Devotion makes me think more of the shoegaze bands that I have heard.  It is kind of droning and harmonic and saturated with echoes at the same time.  At the start of it all, I don't love it, but some of these songs get more expansive and I like it.  Like "Month," it makes me think of the line between something like Echo and the Bunnymen and original R.E.M.  "Loner" is the top track on this disc with 5.5 million streams.

The start to that video is deeply annoying.  The angel should scream a little less.  As for the actual song, its pretty good.  Again, it feels very much like I am listening to something old that I just don't remember.  Like an old Siouxie and the Banshees album came across my feed and I fired the whole thing into my queue among the other new music I've been trying.

Since that, they have a brand new EP from 2022 called Empty in My Mind.  The top track from that has just over 1.3 million streams - "Bad Love."

I feel like a rube here, because I'm just not feeling the appeal.  It's not terrible or anything, but it really feels like a carbon copy of something that went out of fashion in the 80's and hasn't needed a re-do.  I sort of doubt I will go see this one.  But now I feel bad because my friend mentioned it as one of the three things he was excited about.  Dammit.  Guilt...

Goose

One Liner: Jam band goofy goodness

Wikipedia Genre: Rock, progressive rock, funk, psychedelic rock, jam band
Home: Wilton, CT

Poster Position: 4
Both Weekends.  Sunday.

Thoughts:  I have a feeling that I am close to alone in the way that I discovered Goose a few years ago, because it is quite honestly really a weird thing.  We'll go back to the beginning.  And in the beginning, Vampire Weekend released a song called 2021, on the album Father of the Bride.  Pretty good song.  The guitar solo in the center sounds like some classical song I can't recall right now, like "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" or something.  Well, Goose then collaborated with them or something, and turned that minute and forty second track into a twenty minute and twenty one second track that just noodles through, in, and around that same song into infinity.  It's actually pretty freaking great.  "2021 (January 5th, to be exact)"

Hews a little more truly to the sound of the original to start, and then just ambles off into the sunset with it, before suddenly unfurling wings and launching into the sky for some steel-powered fireworks, and then turning back around and loping back towards the barn to look for a soft place to lay down.  

Based upon that strange introduction, I hunted down another Goose album to give their other stuff a try.  Their 2020 EP called Night Lights was the one I hunted down and reviewed, and here is what I had to say:

"Goose - Night Lights.  I blame Vampire Weekend for this.  I already know that most jam band music misses the mark for me, but these guys did such a cool job reimagining 20:21 that I had to go hunt down something else from them and give it a shot.  Some of this is fiiiiiine, but some of it was also so cheesy sounding that I actually worried the other day that the guy working on my sprinkler system might hear it from my home office and judge me for listening to some Teletubbies ass shit while working.  I'm sure the sprinkler guy gave no shits and/or was high and would have enjoyed it, but if you're getting self-conscious about what the sprinkler guy thinks, then you don't love the music.  The opening track is the best one - "All I Need" - and "Time to Flee" is the whack shit.  Neither of those is the stream king though, with "Wysteria Lane" claiming that crown with 735k.

Lower key than most of these other songs, or at least slower tempo.  Feels like the part of their show when you'll realize just how stoned you really are because you've stopped pogo-ing around and yelling alligator rhymed with see-you-later.  I dig some of the other tunes better, where they really intertwine their instruments.  This one is a little more straight.  Sounds like something The Revivalists might have played (except missing the slide guitar).  I have a feeling that I would dig their live show more than this EP."

And here's the thing - I'm just not really a jam band guy.  I have always liked the Dead, and I like some bands that dance around the edge of jamminess like My Morning Jacket or The Revivalists or Dave Matthews or Moon Taxi.  I've been to at least one jam band show that I loved - Umphrey's McGee can play the living hell out of their instruments - and then a lot where I felt like I just didn't get it - String Cheese Incident, for sure.  But Widespread and Phish never tickled my fancy, and so this band isn't going to necessarily scratch my itch.

Although, I will now readily admit that when listening to this band in the car on the drive home today, I noticed "Wysteria Lane" as being pretty solid.  Even more solid?  Their three new singles sound really good.  Most of their albums appear to be live albums (with names like 2021.11.21 Denver, CO), but they also have some studio action like 2016's Moon Cabin and 2021's Shenanigans Nite Club.  I'll talk more about that 2021 album in a minute, but the three new singles - "Borne," "Dripfield," and "Hungersite" - sound better.  They get into some jam bits, but the majority of it drops some of the "Shakedown Street" type disco funk and goes for more of a straight soft rock thing.  Their stream count goes in order of release, but I think the newest one is the best one, so I'm giving you that.  "Hungersite" with 125k streams so far.

Poor little office worker drones!  And why did the bag with the video tape in it also have donuts and mango La Croix in it?  Weird detail.  Still goes for the long guitar solo in there, but the overall vibe doesn't feel so loose and improvisational.  Also, what kind of animal puts a bunch of donuts in a paper bag where their toppings can rub off?  Freak.

As for Shenanigans Nite Club, it opens with the hit of the album, "So Ready," which sounds like the discofied funk that I always attribute to "Shakedown Street" when a jam band goes that way.  The second tune, "Satellite" definitely makes me think of Phish with the ever shriller guitar licks climbing their way higher and higher.  The jam at the back half of "Madhuvan" is pretty fun and groovy.  As soon as the auto-tune vocals on "Spirit of the Dark Horse" kick in, I laughed and realized this album is not my thing at all.  Oh, and the 12 minute long "Labyrinth" at the end, big nope energy.

The band itself is five guys - three of them used to be in a band called Vasudo.  Their star has been on the rise for a little while, and it seems like the pandemic stunted their growth for a only a little while.  They played a bunch of livestreamed concerts from a barn in Virginia during the shutdown and called it the Bingo Tour.  Now that they are back out on tour, they seem like the hottest ticket in town, with all of their shows selling out across the country.  

But that may be the deal - maybe their whole thing is that their live show is where the good stuff is.  Lucky us, we have several live albums we can peep!  I tried the Denver one from last year.  I can see the appeal.  I mean, they definitely get repetitive at times, but I can also feel the pleasure of a good repetitive groove that locks in and you can just let it take you over for a little while.  Here is a show from Atlanta and the Sweetwater Festival in 2022.  

See that weirdo dressed like a jellyfish?  That is one of the String Cheese people who overran us at Red Rocks a few years back.  What is up with those three guys who left the crowd after 1:45?  Did they think they were there for a metal band?  The dork in the green hat who is filming the first song - little does he know a professional grade video is being made right behind his head and will be available for free on YouTube.  I'm sitting here judging the people in the crowd, meanwhile I personally hate to feel judged when I'm trying to let loose at a show and enjoy myself without inspection.  Okay.  This is goofy music - a huge crowd singing la-da-dat-dat-dahhh -da as they gently boogie around is something to behold.  But at the same time, I think the show would probably pretty fun to go groove around to for an afternoon.  I just found myself getting sucked into the extendo-jam during "Hungersite."  

Dangit, I'll probably try to go see this.

Big Gigantic

One Liner: Electronic hip hop and jazz with lots of guest vocalists

Wikipedia Genre: Electronica, livetronica, hip hop, jazz
Home: Boulder, CO.

Poster Position: 5  (fifth line!  for this!)
Both Weekends.  

Weekend One - Friday.  Weekend Two - Saturday.

Thoughts:  It's a sucker's game to try to predict what someone will sound like because of the band name, but I was really leaning in to the idea of this being a cool rock band with jam tendencies.  I think I had MMJ's "One Big Holiday" in my brain from that show last week.  Instead, this seems to be electronic music that is making me think of that AJR band that I really dislike.

They feel like the perfect festival group.  Wikipedia says they have previously played Coachella, "Lollapalooza, Ultra Music Festival, Hangout Music Festival, Austin City Limits, Governors Ball Music Festival, Electric Forest Festival, Outside Lands and Bonnaroo, among others" although I can't find any old posts about them in my blog, so they must have come before I started blogging (yes, a little searching shows it to have been 2012, which was before I started my neurotic past-time).  But anyway, they feel perfect because they mix electronic with hip hop and so you get a good beat, lots of bass, and a sound that is danceable and raveable, but is also milquetoast enough to just be used as background music as you sit on the grass and chat with your friends.

One thing that I find interesting is how exactly they will do these songs.  Just about every one of their top tunes has someone else doing the singing or rapping.  Their top ten has the following as collaborators on the ten songs: Logic/ Rozes, GriZ, Angela McCluskey, Louis the Child/NoMBe, no one listed, Pell, Ashe, Aloe Blacc, Kota the Friend, and Nevve.  So, who does all of those vocals when they are playing the track live?  How does that work?

The tune with no contributor has these lyrics, which make me grin that Genius has them typed out:

Ooh

I been heatin' up on you

Got me feelin' up like cool

Ooh, got me like

Ooh

I been heatin' up on you

Got me feelin' up like cool

Ooh, got me like

[Drop]

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Got me feelin' up like cool

Ooh, got me like

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Got me feelin' up like cool

Ooh

I really love that they have the [Drop] marked, and that someone had to type out all of those "ooh"s.

The group is made up of two dudes - Dominic Lalli, who plays the saxophone and produces, and Jeremy Salken, who apparently plays the drums.  They've been together for a while, and boast a surprising number of albums: 2009's Fire It Up, 2010's A Place Behind the Moon, 2012's Nocturnal, 2014's The Night is Young, 2016's Brighter Future, and 2020's Free Your Mind, with another album apparently coming out next month.  I would have predicted an album or two and a bunch of singles.  

The old albums generally sound the same as the newer stuff, but with less hip hop sensibility and more electronica.  Actually, no, I just had to stop the music from playing on their first album, that one is super annoying.  No songs from that old era still populate their top ten, so I'll spare you any interaction with them.  Their top track is the one with Logic, from 2016's Brighter Future.  84.4 million streams.

I like Logic, but that is a super weak set of bars from the guy.  Not especially nimble and not very interesting lyrically.  And the music itself is plain jane as well - you're not really going to rage to it, and you're not really even going to pay attention to it.  They kick in a minor drop and some horns/maybe sax about 2/3 of the way through, but its not much excitement.

And we should talk about the saxophone.  I actually kinda like it.  I thought GriZ was fun a few years back when I saw him, and he was heavy on the sax.  But the fact that someone listed this band's musical genre as "jazz" on Wikipedia means that we are simply broken as a society.

Their second-most popular track right now is a 2022 single with GriZ that involves a lot of reggae sounds intermixed with some brostep effects that take me back to when Skrillex was a thing.  And then the saxophone comes in strong as hell.  It's super catchy and would be fun to jam to if you are in to angry dancing in a crowd.  Only 1.4 million streams so far.

As an aside, I super-duper hate those SeatGeek commercials that have the twitchy butts talking about buying tickets.  Also, that little bear's bucket hat for sure would have blown off if he went skydiving.  That video was so unrealistic.

There are bits and pieces of this that are fun to listen to, and I'm sure they'd be fun to bump at the fest or as part of an Apple commercial for new iPhones or something, but I really don't find significant pleasure in it.  I'll leave this to the kiddies.

Turnstile: Stubb's Amphitheater: May 6, 2022

I was really looking forward to this show, and for the most part it provided everything I needed from it.  If you don't know Turnstile, I'm not terribly surprised, as they are kind of in a niche right now as rock continues to contract away from the mainstream.  But they are very hot among the rock/punk/hardcore folks, and this show was sold out in a heartbeat.

The key thing here is that their new album is amazing.  Just a perfect blast of anger and catchy guitar riffs and joyous singing.  It's like if Weezer or Fall Out Boy was a lot more angry and loud.  And so I felt exceedingly out of place in the crowd - taller and older and significantly less pierced and tattooed than everyone else there.  But the show freaking jammed.  Just loud and fun and exuberant.  And hot and humid and freaking packed with humans.  The one plus about this being an all ages show though?  There must have been a lot of 11pm curfews because the floor cleared out around 10:30 and gave me more room to not get bounced around.

There were so many pits at first, and then a big ass one opened in the middle of the main section in front of the sound stage.  I was about four people outside of it, and was glad for that buffer because I still had to hold my ground for the first few songs.  Much more violent than you see in that video up above of Lolla Brazil or something.  And while I didn't get fully engulfed there, I was close enough so that my slight pogo-ing and fist pumping looked to be a part of the melee.

Pretty sure they played every song from Glow On, and each one was rad.  "TLC," "Blackout," "Mystery," "Don't Play," or "Holiday," they all jammed.  But then the weird moment of the night was when they came out for their encore, and just fired right back in to "Mystery," as though we had not just heard that same song 30 minutes before.  It ruled, yet again, but it was really odd that they hadn't planned an encore song and held one back for that moment.  Great show though.  Was hoping they'd be coming to ACL.

[oh, and I forgot to mention, I saw two of the opening acts.  I don't understand, in the slightest, what the word "hardcore" even means when it comes to musical genre.  Ceremony was kinda awesome, but it also felt like I was watching a disco and new wave band fronted by Henry Rollins.  The other one, Citizen, also vascilated between screaming, breakneck punk and new wave 80's sounds.  Very confusing...but fun!]

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats: Moody Amphitheater: April 30, 2022

This show was good.  But I had a very bad attitude about it the entire time.  I can explain.

Last October, when shows were being announced for the new Moody Center, a friend reached out to see if I'd like to see George Strait and Willie Nelson open the new center.  Hell yeah, I would!  Are you kidding?  So I wrote him back and said I needed to check with the wife and then I'd get back to him.  Did I get back to him?  No, dear reader, I did not get back to him.  Idiot.  So, another friend hit me up to go see NR&tNS and I was like sure, that sounds like a fun night.  Put in on the calendar.  And then a few days before Willie/George, the first friend pinged me to talk logistics for our night out.  DAMMIT.  Felt like the right thing to do to honor my commitment to the people I had actually committed to, but I'm still so pissed that I didn't get to see King George and the Redheaded Stranger sing "Pancho and Lefty" together on the same stage.

BUT - that is not Nathaniel's fault.  All my fault.

We had a really good time at this show.  Ate some dinner at Scholtz's beforehand, with a few beers, which was a good plan because the beer at the Amp was insanely expensive.  Lovely night, and good company, we had tickets back in the lawn.  They have significantly improved the lawn experience since the Counting Crows show we saw there in the summer of 2021.  The speakers have been adjusted or something, because the sound was clear and solid.  So we just laid back on the lawn and had a lovely time listening to our buddy Nate belt his ass off.

And that's the thing, right?  Dude can freaking crank it with his voice.  He looks like he's all of 4'8" on that stage, but the voice that erupts from his little body is outsized by magnitudes.  His whole band was there to have a good time, and he bopped his way through a great set.  Wait, is that Sturgill Simpson in that video up above, playing guitar?  Weird.  Anyway, for sure, their best song continues to be "SOB," but the whole set was a lovely compliment to an evening in the grass with friends, a $36 cocktail for my wife, and a $45 bucket of four Dos Equis for me and my friends.  Yes, for a round of drinks, that likely had value of about $10, I paid $85.  Welcome to the new Austin.

Fun show, I'll probably catch him again in the fall at ACL!

My Morning Jacket: Moody Amphitheater: April 29, 2022

My good Lord.  What an amazing show.  I mean it, this was one of those transcendent feeling moments of musical bliss that left me floating on a cloud.  Just ridiculously good.

I had never gotten to see MMJ before.  I got to see an offshoot band from their drummer a few years back - Spanish Gold - when they played ACL and then an aftershow at Stubb's indoor.  After the show, I went and said hi to the drummer, and clapped him on the back.  It was like clapping a bear made of water.  Sweatiest human on the planet after that show.

I've been a fan of their music for years.  I think Rolling Stone first turned me on to Z or It Still Moves many moons ago, and I love both of those albums.  The stuff since then has been more uneven - Evil Urges has some great tunes and some odd detours, and the same can be said for the Waterfall albums, Circuital, and the new jammy one.  But at the end of the day, they make a cool mash of rock and jam and alt country that I really enjoy.

And this show leaned into some of those best things!  "Mahgeetah," "One Big Holiday," "Wordless Chorus," and "Victory Dance" were all revelatory, adding depth to already great songs.  I lost count of the number of times goose bumps raised up on my arms during those songs.  "Holdin on to Black Metal" was an unexpected surprise song, as was the Willie Nelson cover on his birthday.  

Jim James just crushed it as well.  Hell, the whole band walked a perfect tightrope of skilled precision and shambling looseness that I can't even understand.  But James uses his voice to reach new spots in the eardrum, as he simultaneously is shredding on the guitar.  Also, you have to discuss his hair.  His hair floated in the wind like a sea anemone , pulsating to and fro in the glow of a spotlight.  It was like an extra member of the band.

The sometimes got a little too jam band-ish for my wife, but I enjoyed the entirety of the show.  Just wonderful (the way I feel).  I'd go see them again immediately.

L' Imperatrice

One Liner: Funky French groovy pop

Wikipedia Genre: Pop, nu-disco (I wish I never knew that someone had ever written "nu-disco" anywhere), and electro
Home: Paris.

Poster Position: 13
Both Weekends.  Friday.

Thoughts:  I'm certain that I already told this story on this blog somewhere, but I foolishly took French as my language in middle school and high school.  This was in part because one of my best friends wanted to take it as well, but I would later discover that both of us pretty much had a crush on the same girl who was also taking French.  Learning an entire (well, a portion of a) language because of a crush is a deeply stupid thing to do.  Also, some dick whose last name was higher than mine in the alphabet always grabbed "Jacques" as their frenchy name, so I got stuck with weird shit like Emile and Xavier.  BUT, I can order a potato in a restaurant, so I'm sure you are deeply jealous.

In case you are confused, I tell that story because this band sings in French.  Unfortunately for me, the lyrics are not just them ordering potatoes, strawberries, bread, and water in a French restaurant, so I am left without any understanding of what they are going on about.  But then some of the songs are in English too.

You know what these people do well?  They get freaking funky.  Lotta 70's bass bumping in these songs.  And when combined with French lyrics you just have to think that this music is definitely intended for making sweet love.  If their show at ACL isn't just a sex party, I'm going to be very deeply disappointed.

L' Imperatrice means The Empress.  The group is a pile of six musicians and includes two keyboardists because they needed more of the 70's boogie.  Only one gal, the vocalist for most of the songs that have vocals.  They won something called the Deezer Adami Fans' award in 2016.  Strangely, I cannot find out anything about that award, except to tell you that Deezer is a music streaming service in Europe.  Spotify shows them as having three albums, although two of those are the same album but French and English versions.

The top track, by a large margin, is one called "Vanilla Fraise," which means "vanilla strawberry."  I TOTALLY KNEW THAT WAS STRAWBERRY, Y'ALL!  56.4 million streams.  

SEE WHAT I MEAN?!?!  SEX PARTY.  They're gonna feed us some of that special ice cream, start playing funky tunes, and everyone will be heaving in passion.  Guarantee that tune is on a bunch of playlists for chilling with your expensive friends.  They also have two other tunes with 40 millions streams, so they're doing some good numbers.

Off the new disc, 2021's Tako Tsubo, the top track is "Peur des filles," which I was going to translate into "for the ladies," but it actually means "fear of girls."  which is a very different thing!

Just with the videos alone, these people seem like fun.  Add some funky music to the mix, and it really seems like a treat worth enjoying.  "they don't have the same thing down there" just made me laugh out loud.  One article I just read called them Space Pop and I like that idea.

I also want you to hear "Voodoo," because it bangs.

Running that bass through some sweet pedals for a freaking cool as hell sound.  I'm ready to disco roller skate immediately.

I'd go see this. More than likely there will be something else during its time slot that is a more immediate need, but I really have enjoyed the funky grooves today.

Primo the Alien (2022)

One Liner: 80's synth wave love from a local gal

Wikipedia Genre: None, synthpop, retrowave, synthwave
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: 24
Weekend One Only.  Sunday.

Thoughts:  She was here last year, so I guess she didn't piss anybody off or make a scene!

Her Spotify presence is weird.  Last year, if you searched for "Primo the Alien," you got a page that had a big headline saying THIS IS NOT THE PRIMO THE ALIEN SPOTIFY PAGE SEE BELOW.  And then down below, there is a note to go to her official page "Primo."  Well, what the hell, man.  Just re-direct us to the right page?  Why keep this other one up to order me around?  Also, why is the Lineup still calling her Primo the Alien if Spotify just thinks she is called Primo?  Let's get on the same page.

Her top song is a synth pop throw-back called "My Delorean," with a wonderfully 80's artwork and a sound like it came straight from 1983.  2.1 million streams (1.5 million streams 9 months ago).

Oh, wait, that song is actually by something called TimeCop 1983, and it features Primo as the singer.  Eh, I can't say that one is my jam.  Nothing much to it.  I guess her voice is nice?

Her only album last year was 2017's To the Max! and it definitely seems like her schtick is the 80's redux action. No song on that album cracks 43k streams. The title track kind of sounds like Lady Gaga.

Wow.  Just, wow.  But then she released a new album in 2022, called Heart on the Run.  Well, album seems generous, it only has four real tracks and then four bonus tracks?  Why call some tracks bonus and others regular when its not like anyone is buying the album?  Weird vagaries of the modern streaming age.  The top track keeps the same schtick for sure - 80's synths and drum machines and her voice gliding over the top like I'm stuck on the 80's station in Grand Theft Auto IV.  This was also her top single last year, I guess before the album was released.  "Do It Again" has 240k streams.

Sure, that has a catchy little thing going on.  Feels good to bop around to.  Definitely the best thing on the album.

Here is what her website said: "Primo the Alien is an Austin-based synthpop/retrowave/ synthwave artist and producer. Primo writes and produces each song, herself, with a unique blend of humor and drama that leaves listeners captivated. Her wild tales of epic showdowns, interplanetary tourism, and hyper-sensual scenarios are guaranteed to make you feel like you’re living in 1987... if 1987 was a dangerously sexy, post-apocalyptic wasteland complete with kick-ass parties, flying motorcycles, and lots of glitter.  The wings of this retro rainbow Pegasus are Primo’s signature powerhouse vocals. Primo sings with urgency, from the gut, hitting notes so high you’ll wonder if she’s hiding a soprano sax in her throat. With eccentric bravado, compelling intensity, and colossal production style, Primo the Alien delivers the punch music fans of all genres have been oh-so-eagerly anticipating."

Her real name is Laura Lee Bishop.  She made it onto American Idol in both 2013 and 2014, so her voice is legit.  But I don't easily find a lot of background information about her.  Just pieces talking about her music, but not her personally.  

The 80's redux is kind of fun, but that wouldn't be what I'm aiming for in general.  Likely wouldn't go here.

Buffalo Nichols

One Liner: Rootsy bluesman with all the right notes.

Wikipedia Genre: no Wikipedia, but I'll just say Blues and roots
Home: Born in Houston, but raised in Milwaukee.

Poster Position: 18
Both Weekends.  Sunday.

Thoughts:  His real name is Carl Nichols, but I dig the stage name, which is why he is the first band I'm checking out on the poster.  This is super legit.  Listening to these tunes makes me feel like I'm watching Oh Brother Where Art Thou or Justified.  Just feels like I've entered a portal back to a time when a guy would do an entire show or record that sounded like he was pouring his heart out over basic, rootsy instrumentation and his soul.  And he is really good at what he does.  

Now, will there be people who want to see that these days?  No clue.  But there is no way you can deny the fact that his voice and these tunes are spot on perfect for a bluesman revival.  He's signed to the same label as the Black Keys, which also makes sense.

Only one album, 2021's eponymous debut.  The top track is "Lost & Lonesome," with 949k streams on Spotify.

No real videos, no Wikipedia.  You'd think that he could work at the marketing just a little since he's already playing out-of-fashion music. Either way, it is a great song, feels like when Gary Clark Jr. takes off his SRV cape and goes for a rootsy number.  Excellent voice, good lyrics, cool guitar-work.  Checks all the boxes.

"Another Man Done Gone" is an old song - covered many times, even by Johnny Cash.  But Nichols has adjusted the lyrics with "Another Man Gone" to call out issues for the Black Lives Matter era.  It used to just sing about how "they killed another man," but now the lyrics are more modernized for today.  In whatever version, “Another Man Done Gone” was never specific, merely lamenting “they killed another man.” Now we get: “Another woman is dead/Turn signal wasn’t on they locked her up and now she’s gone,” (referencing Sandra Bland, probably) or “No need to hide behind a white hood/When a badge works just as good.”

I'd go see this.  We'll see what the schedule ends up looking like, but this feels like a real talent who could be at the start of a cool career.

ACL 2022- Lineup is OUT!

 Let's GOOOOOO!

I'm a Chili Peppers for life guy, so the first moment of seeing this lineup has me psyched.  I get that some people might not love super great funk rock and silliness and amazing bass/guitar interplay, but they're just going to have to go watch something else that night while I jam out.

Of course, I've already received a bunch of texts from people who are disappointed.  I really should go back in my text threads and compile all of the announcements to see if there was ever - EVER - a time that the old dudes in my friend groups were ever fully satisfied with the lineup.  So entirely predictable.  THEY CAN'T JUST BRING THE BEST ARTISTS FROM YOUR COLLEGE YEARS!  IT WOULD BE BORING FOR 95% OF THE WORLD!

Now, I'm not into it up and down the board or anything.  Like, I would not have been able to tell you whether or not P!nk still existed, much less that she could be the #2 artist on a major music festival.  In my head, she's like Christina Aguilera or the Spice Girls, where she had a big run about the time that the original Charlie's Angels came out, but then hasn't been a think in 20 years.  (I'm sure other people would say the same about the Chilis.  Well, or the Chicks too.  I guess this is a lineup heavy on the legacy stuff!)

I don't know much about SZA, Flume, Diplo, or Zhu.  Never heard of Lil Durk.  Oliver Tree gets old really quickly to me.

BUT, Chilis, Chicks, Kacey is a great top three for me personally.  And then other rad things like Billy Strings, Paramore, Phoenix, Nathaniel Rateliff, Wallows, War on Drugs, Spoon, Goose, Japanese Breakfast, Manchester Orchestra, Wet Leg (weekend two only SUCKS!).  Those bands are freaking great.

I'm a little shocked at how quickly I stop knowing anything in the small type.  I feel like I work hard at keeping up with tunes, but after Wilderado and Joshua Ray Walker, I got nothing.

One other observation here - I wonder if the Astroworld disaster has influenced their lineup decisions.  I had thought for sure that Rage Against the Machine would be coming on their new reunion tour, before that tour was cancelled by COVID.  Now, this lineup has nothing that would inspire a rager of a pit.  I mean, some old dudes may bounce around for the Chilis, or maybe one of the other bands I don't know will end up being hardcore.  But no Rage, no Turnstile, no Travis Scott (or other similar rager rappers who try to hype the crowd into a frenzy).  In fact, now that I look here, rap is really under-represented.  Lil Nas X, Lil Durk, and then I don't see anything else that I immediately recognize as rap.  Absolutely none of the big rappers.  Interesting.

LET'S GET TO WORK!

Quick Hits, Vol. 305 (Jack White, Wet Leg, Vince Staples, The 502s)

Jack White - Fear of the Dawn.  Weird ass album, man.  Like, one track will be the usual, heavy, Icky Thump of a prototypical Jack White track.  And then he has one with Q-Tip skedatting all over some weird creeper of a track.  "Into the Twilight" straddles both, both slashing guitars and thumping low end, but also weird flourishes that derail the song multiple times.  I'm remembering the great ways that he made minimalism the perfect sound on the White Stripes albums, because this one is chock full of action the entire time.  Lots of good guitar riffs in here, but you just aren't going to find a solid, full, cohesive song that brings together the best things in White's catalog and makes a catchy song.  "That Was Then, This is Now" is pretty solid, even if the organs make it seem like a jokey tune.  "Morning, Noon and Night" is probably the most straight-forward normal track here, and "Eosophobia" is a cool guitar noodle party for the first half.  "Taking Me Back" is the hit - a pile of brawny guitar riffs and smirking lyrics, perfect for a recently divorced guy to lift weights to.  7.3 million streams.

Straight rock and roll, homie.  But again, all those synths and effects and weird stuff?  That wasn't the schtick back in the day.  But at least the tune is catchy and loud and full of guitar flourishes!  I guess I find the overall album to be uneven.  Some songs draw me in, but usually not enough to like the next one.

Wet Leg - Several songs on here are straight jams.  "Chaise Lounge" is the hit, but "Wet Dream" rules (with, like a cheerleader party sort of vibe), and if not for the long scream in the middle, "Ur Mum" would also be a top song on the disc.  "Supermarket" has a great sing-along bit of her singing that she got "too high-e-i-e-i-e-i-e-igh."  These ladies were the belles of SXSW this year, and you can definitely tell why.  They're kinda funny, have sweet jams, and just sound like today.  For example, the lyrics to "Chaise Lounge" allow some good old fashioned double-entendre where she sings about telling her parents to look at her because she went to college and got the "Big D."  Which is both a degree and the peen.  Then they go into a bit about buttered muffins and getting horizontal on the chaise lounge.  It's silly and funny and absolutely danceable as hell.  You know its the hit as well, so here it is with 17.2 million streams.

Absolutely more funny hearing those words come out of the mouth of a girl who looks 15.  And the Strokes-ian guitars are great too.  When you watch their mouth, as they sing the words "chaise lounge" it looks like they don't even say the "nge" at the end.  That is weird. Love the kicks when the chorus kicks off.  Great fun.  That's what I'd say about the whole thing - its great fun.  Feels like these girls are here to goof around and kick out jams.  I hope they're on the ACL poster in a few days!

The 502s - Could It Get Better Than This.  I think my wife heard one of these songs on the radio, because she liked it and told me to check it out.  Unfortunately for this band, I've grown weary of the Lumineers' schtick, and so I don't really love this thing either.  Sounds like a roomful of buddies jamming and hollering and singing along.  And then a quiet solo track here and there, but it all lies in the lineage left behind by Rusted Root and the Lumineers.  I heard Train in one song.  Holy hell, "Just a Little While" has 34.7 freaking million streams!  Oh no.  This band is going to be at ACL, isn't it?

Also sounds like something that will be the song of the summer at every Christian youth camp across the country.  Fun and bouncy and entirely inoffensive.  I'm sorry love, but I just don't love it.

Vince Staples - RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART.  I generally like Vince.  He's done some stuff in the past that jams.  This album is another good one, not a classic by any means, but it has a good vibe and a handful of very good tracks.  "DJ QUIK" is named after the stud old-school rapper, and is a good one.  The beats are pretty chill, and his flow is very laconic.  He very rarely fires up in any meaningful way.  "Magic" has the top spin count right now at 11.1 million.

Good beat, with that deep bass thrum and the little hint of that sample that Ice Cube used in "You Know How We Do It."  This song really hits all the notes, with that chill feel in both the tune and the flow.  I'll probably keep this disc around for a while.