ACL 2022: Transportation

How in the world do 80,000 people all get to Zilker Park, a landlocked zone bordered by a river, a highway, a creek, and a road that is closed down for the Festival?  I've tried all sorts of ways to get in and out over the years, so I'm back to provide a report.  

I will also readily admit that this article from the Chronicle is solid, except that it really doesn't give real life experiences about each method.  How To Get To and From ACL Music Festival: Shuttles, bikes, rideshares, scooters, and sometimes just your feet - Music - The Austin Chronicle

For many years, I had the smug superiority of being able to park at my Mom's house, which was right up above the Park, and then walk down without any hassle or trouble.  It was amazing.  Although, if I'm honest, walking back up that hill at the end of the night could sometimes be a major bitch.  But mom sold her house, and I now lost my free parking space, and have to join the unwashed masses in a hunt for transportation.

The ACL Website provides several options.  If you have other ideas, please hit me up - comment here, DM me on Twitter, whatever - I want this to be as easy as humanly possible for me (and everyone else).

1. Uber/Lyft.  The best option, IMO.  The website says that pickup locations are either Lamar/Barton Springs or under the Mopac bridge by Austin High.  The first of those is a long ass walk, and then you'll be mired in the McDonald's parking lot waiting with a million high school kids for their moms to roll up in the minivan. 
• The negative here is just that a ton of other people are vying for the same cars.  So the waits and surge pricing can be painful.
• Recently, we have walked from the Fest to a local bar, had a beer or three while we waited for surge pricing to go down, and then scored a reasonably priced Lyft to get us home.  Worked pretty well.  Not cheap, but better than being unsafe, right?
2. Free Shuttle from Downtown.  My second-favorite way.  I tried it, and it works really well.  You board the bus at Republic Square Park (about 5th and Guad), and then it takes you directly to the Barton Springs West entrance.  When I did it last time, they had loads of buses queued up and ready to go, and we didn't have to wait very long at all on either end.  Was clean, easy, and best of all FREE.  So if you can score downtown parking, this is a good option.
3. Drive your own car.  There are places you can park (even though there is zero official parking by the Park).  On Azle Morton Road (formerly Robert E. Lee, which runs between Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Zilker) there are a few houses with big yards or driveways that will have cardboard signs up offering parking for $40 per day.  Just know that you should not randomly park on the streets in Zilker/Barton Hills/Tarrytown/Bouldin, etc.  They definitely tow.  
• City Hall, Palmer Events Center, and One Texas Center have allowed for Fest parking in the past, at more like $15 a day, but that is a much longer walk (and getting out of parking garages after an event sucks).  
• I have also parked in the garages near MoPac off of Bee Caves Road, and those work pretty well.  Can't recall the cost.  
• Also, usually, the Austin High Band does a fundraiser on Saturdays to park.  That is convenient.
• This website lists expensive paid parking locations with their distance from the Park: https://www.premiumparking.com/city/austin/acl-music-festival
4. Get dropped off by your 16 year old son.  WHHAAATT!?!  Heck yeah, sorry boy, but this year you are going to be paying old dad back from a lot of rides.
5. Electric Scooters (Bird, Lime, etc.).  This seems like a good option, but I am here to tell you that it is not.  The two times I have tried it, I expected to find a scooter by Austin High.  That was not in the cards, and I ended up walking all the way back downtown by myself, which was not optimal.  Again, there are 80,000 people who also want that scooter.
6. CapMetro.  No thanks.  Rode this in February for the first time ever.  I suspect that the ride, and stops, and bus switches, required for me to get home would take so long that I might as well just sleep in the Park.
7. Just sleep in the Port-o-Potty and never leave.  YES.  This is the best plan.
8. Biking.  Hahahahahaha!  My old lazy ass is never going to bike to the Festival.  I know some young, hip dudes who ride all the time can probably crush this, but come on.  For those of you considering it, they have a ton of bike racks where you can lock it up, but know that if you get wasted on Sunday night and leave your bike behind, ACL threatens the bike could be impounded.  The racks are at Stratford Dr. or Azie Morton Road.
9. Walking.  I mean, this might be the right call.  The problem is that parking in the surrounding neighborhoods is very much verboten, and they will tow your car if you aren't in the right spots, so where are you actually going to park that you can reasonably walk plus not get towed?  I need more friends.
10. Other weird options: There are pedi-cabs, but I have a feeling those will be pricey.  And I always feel guilt for those dudes carrying my fat ass around.  Motorcycles/scooters (like, gas ones) - parking for those is available at the corner of Sterzing Drive and Toomey Road (Toomey is that road behind Chuy's).  Uh, like roller blades?  They don't have a dock, so you can't canoe...

I think Uber is the best option.  If you are looking to save money, then the downtown shuttle is good.  If things go to plan this year, then I'll probably make the kid drop me off, and then do the plan of walking to a bar for some post-Fest beers and waiting for a later night Uber/Lyft.

ACL 2022: Why You Should Reconsider This Lineup

Good morning friends!

A week away from the first weekend kicking off!  I'm super excited to tear it up for another year of fun.

Yesterday, I had another discussion with a friend about how his kids hated this lineup and didn't want to go to the Festival.  And I get that sentiment at first blush.  You want the whole poster to be catered to your personal desires each year.  I don't care to see much of the EDM or R&B people that are ever on the poster, so there are always holes in the lineup for me, personally.  If they would just replace Lil Nas X with Pearl Jam, and Flume with Taylor Swift, and SZA with Rage Against the Machine, this lineup would be amazing!  But that isn't how it works because there are 150,000 people who are coming to the Fest and they all have different tastes.

I spent my dog walk this morning rolling this issue around in my head, and I came up with two thoughts.  These may be things that everyone else has already thought about and discussed ad nauseum, but I had not seen them discussed anywhere, so I thought other might be interested in my take.

First off, before my new thoughts, because I have said this before, but I really do think that some of the more exciting bands or artists who could have been added to the lineup were skipped over because of the Astroworld tragedy.  Live Nation and C3 are currently in litigation over those deaths, and so I don't think they are quite ready yet to book Rage Against the Machine or Ye and take the chance that people will get trampled again.

But beyond that, my two considerations for your consideration.  This first thought is an evergreen one for the Festival circuit, but I think people have lost sight of it.  A bunch of the artists on the poster are unknowns.  So when people look at the lineup and see Ripe, or Twen, or Blondshell, or Ben Reilly, or Cimafunk, or any number of those smaller-type artists, they just see some random name that doesn't mean anything to them.  But if you think historically about this Festival, and the artists who have been listed down in that small type in the past, then you'll realize that this might be your chance to see the next big thing without a big crowd around you.  

In 2016, Lizzo played to a tiny crowd at 12:15 on a Sunday.  I went both weekends and it was truly something to behold.  Twenty One Pilots, Royal Blood, Leon Bridges, Gary Clark Jr., Kacey Musgraves, Car Seat Headrest, A$AP Ferg, Big Thief, Oliver Tree, Megan Thee Stallion, Denzel Curry, YOLA, and many more have all had early slots at ACL in the past five or so years.  So if you would have had the stones to just try her out, you could have seen Lizzo twerking and playing her flute and spitting great rhymes from like 20 feet away (versus the last time she came when her stage was packed like a panhandle feed yard).  So, you've got to embrace the things that you could discover here, my kids!

My other thought is one that really only applies to this particular year.  A very common theme that I noticed in reading about the artists on this year's lineup is how absolutely SCREWED everyone is from the pandemic.  Over and over, in interviews and articles for these artists, there are so many of them who were just on the cusp of breaking out when everything went to crap.  Their big tour got cancelled, they had to go back home, and they tried to make sense of it all like the rest of us.  Omar Apollo, or Zach Bryan, or Arlo Parks, there are literally so many as I look down this poster who had gotten some excitement and hype back in 2019 or 2020 - their song got play on Radio One, or they appeared on a late night show or two - and so they booked their big tour and prepped their debut album, only to have it all just chopped right off in front of them.  

So what?  I think it is important because some of the people on this poster could have come into this year riding a huge wave of excitement.  Conan Gray could have just finished a massive world tour where people loved every second of it and had him on the same level as Harry Styles.  Jackson Dean could have become the next big thing in Nashville after a feature on Yellowstone and now be touring with Willie and Dolly.  Goose could be on par with Phish now.  There is no way to know how the last two years could have played out for these folks.  But any and all of them who are new-ish to the game - their only reality has been a burning trash heap for two years.  Any and all hype they could have gotten fizzled out and they're only now getting their chance to shine.  And some of them are going to really shine.

I have no stake in this game.  Everyone, every year, is going to poop on the lineup and whine about how it used to be, but I think that this year has a particular set of challenges that shaped the lineup in a way that hasn't been done before.  And I'm still hyped to go!  See you dudes out there to catch the next big thing.

Briscoe: C-Boys Heart & Soul: August 2022

Briscoe is a neat little band - formed in part by two dudes who met at the same summer camp where I went approximately 3 million years ago.  Some friends got together a big group of people to go check out this show, part of a multi-week residency that the band did at C-Boys this summer.  We were legitimately the first people there, lined up outside of this little bar like we were Harry Styles fanboys lined up to get front row.  Someone bought a six pack of beer from the 7-11 across the street, and we waited for the doors to open.

I had never been to C-Boys before, but it is a cool venue (just very tight!).  The band was set up in the back corner, and some tables ran down the center of the room.  I wish we would have had the forethought to snag one of the booths on the far wall, would have made for a nice watching experience, but we just stood in the middle like goobers.

Anyway, they played a nice (although too short) set of original and covers, with good backing and solid harmonies.  For a band that I had never even heard mentioned before, it really was a refreshingly wonderful thing to go to a new place and hear a really solid band with a bunch of friends.  Highly recommend the experience!  I just saw that Briscoe will be playing Antone's in January of 2023, I think you should get tickets and give it a whirl.

Dinosaur Jr.: Moody Theater: September 18, 2022

This show was a damn long time coming.  I don’t even remember when I bought the tickets, but it must have been sometime in 2019.  COVID came along and cancelled the initial show, and unlike most other concert tickets I had at that time, these didn’t get refunded, they just pushed the show.  They pushed it probably twice more, finally landing in September 2022.  Which I promptly forgot about for a long time.  And when I remembered, I pinged the guys who had originally alerted me to the show, and none of them wanted to go anymore.  WTF, man!

The opener was a bro named Ryley Walker, who was actually really enjoyable.  I didn’t know anything about him, and like 20 people were on the floor with me during his stripped down set, but it was legitimately enjoyable.  Like a singer/songwriter vibe, but playing more of a soft rock sound rather than a country thing.  Nice little groove.  And completely different from the sound that was about to come.

Dinosaur Jr were freaking LOUD.  Like, holy damn crap they were loud.  The loudest show I think I’ve ever been to was a Diarrhea Planet (RIP) show at the Longbranch Saloon (RIP) many years ago, where I had to rip labels off of Miller Lite bottles to shove in my ears to try to save some shred of my hearing.  This show took second place for sure.  I ended up tearing a dollar bill in half to wad up and shove into each of my ears.  Seriously so loud.  My friend ended up going to the back of the room, hoping that would help.  I stayed up front like a dope, gamely letting the youths bounce off of my as they half-heartedly moshed around.

The surprising thing to me is how little of the Dinosaur Jr catalog I actually know.  In my head, I listened to them all the time back in the day.  But in actual practice, I think I really only listened to 1991’s Green Mind and 1993’s Where You Been, and nothing else.  I recognized “Feel the Pain” from the radio, but otherwise a lot of the songs were first-timers to me as they played them.  Which was unexpected.  But also really fun – these guys freaking jam.  They feel like it is a good time for them, just plowing into each track with sloppy, fuzzy abandon.  They also covered “Just Like Heaven” for the final track, and I freaking love that song, so it was a good time!

Florence & the Machine: Moody Center: September 27, 2022

I got to see Florence and the Machine at ACL several year ago, and had a great spot in the crowd that was very close to the runway that they had built down the center of the crowd.  Amazing show.  And I think that show spoiled me for seeing her again, because this show made her feel like a caged animal that wasn’t being let free to roam.  They actually lowered some opaque walls at one point, literally caging her up on the stage.  But even when the walls were down around her, she felt contained in the Moody Center venue, unable to really explode outward.  Her voice still did that for her, and she left the stage a few times to go stand on the barrier in front or behind the crowd, but it never felt as free as she did during that ACL show.

Another odd thing – I can’t recall the rest of the band during the ACL show, but they were absolutely non-existent at this show.  You could kind of see them, off to the side, toiling away in the shadows, but the spotlight was always definitely on Florence.  Which I guess makes sense, she is for sure the focus of the band and her voice is what makes them special, but it still felt a little weird to realize just how overlooked there are during the show.

But, the show itself was great.  Super high energy, and her voice is just HUGE.  Amazing range, ridiculous power, just a truly amazing instrument.  She hyped up the crowd a lot, punching the air, jumping up and down, running around.  And the songs are great.  I don’t really listen to Florence much – they fall off my radar when it comes to music I just want to throw on – but they have a bunch of absolute banger rock songs.  You should definitely check them out if you get the chance.

ACL 2022: The Eats!

I know I talk a lot about the tunes, but you also gotta pay attention to the food you can get in the Fest - key thing to think through before you walk in the door.  And the organizers even made a cool poster for it this year.

Although what I really want is for them to release a list of what each booth will sell.  Hard to know how pumped I might be about East Side King, when they could fire up some Por Qui Buns, or they might fire out some weird noodle thing.  You never know!

You will eat well at this festival.  They do an awesome job of bringing legit local food folks out there to offer a wildly diverse menu, from pizza and burgers to ethnic and back to BBQ. I know for most of you, it is no longer a big deal to see legit food available at a festival, but I'm old enough to have suffered through Willie's Picnic at the big field beside Luckenbach, where your choices were like cold, stringy turkey legs and cheese whiz nachos.  It ain't cheap, but you can probably do two meals for about $30 total (plus $800 in beer) for a good day at Zilker.  Or you can bring your kids and watch them blow through $300 in food and yet refuse to finish any of it because it "tastes funny."  Whatever!  Wheeee!

The original Eats zone is still over there between the Tito's tent and the Barton Springs beer hall (on the river side of the park), and then the smaller Eats space is still over by that new Barton Springs stage that is across Barton Springs Drive from the rest of the park.    

The food booths obviously take cash, but the easiest thing to do is to connect your credit card to your wristband and just pay with a PIN all weekend.

Unfortunately, they stopped showing you the actual menu items with prices.  So even though a place might sell a great burger in their brick and mortar, they may only bring tacos to the festival booth.  So I'm making guesses on the costs and selection, based on prior years.  The selection will allow you to try several iconic Austin places or just get some food in your belly. The choice is yours.  Here are some eats that I remember from the past few years.

Actually, before I get to that, I have to note that they screwed us all since the past years.  The absolute best deal in the park used to be the P. Terry's burger.  You could get a very good burger for $4, in a line that hauled ass because they already have the burgers ready to hand out.  So it was quick, good, cheap, and easy.  The best thing to just nab while trying to haul ass between shows.  But its gone again.  That sucks.  Wholly Cow is on the menu still, but in my opinion that joint is overpriced and overrated.

Awesome Things:

• East Side King's Poor Qui Buns.  $8.  So stinkin' good.  I love those soft, steamed buns, and the pork and seasoning going on in this was great.  They also do fried chicken thigh chunks that are awesome (but sometimes overly crunchy, like they were cooked 8 hours ago and then just kept warm).
• Mighty Cone!  $7.  I had a freakout just now, because that Eats menu is alphabetical, and they listed Mighty Cone under "The Mighty Cone" - i.e. under "t" instead of under "m."  If it had been gone, I would have been deeply sad.  These things are awesome.  They have a chicken and a shrimp, and I recall destroying several a year ago.  Great crunch on the fried protein, plus a tasty sauce, some slaw, and a bad, hard tortilla.  Yummo.
• Burro Cheese Kitchen.  I've eaten these things several times and they are freaking good.  Those little King's hawaiian rolls with cheese melted inside are mighty tasty!
• Flyrite Chicken.  Haven't tried them at the Fest before, but their fried chicken sammies are good stuff. 
• Pizza Rolls from Austin's pizza.  Easy, greasy, and good.

Not Awesome Things:

• Chi'Lantro Kimchi Fries.  $8.  This trailer used to be right across the street from my office and it was awesome.  They pretty much serve that one kind of meat 7 or 8 different ways.  The burger, with a fried egg on it, is so fantastic.  But that wasn't an option here, so I went with the fries.  I recall them being less than warm, and kind of sad and soggy underneath the yummy kimchi.  Mediocre.
• Also had their chicken taco last year, and the meat was pretty cold.  Kinda nasty.
• Mmmpanadas green chile chicken empanada.  $8.  My recollection of this is that this was a poor choice.  I thought it would be a good change of pace, but I recall it being kind of waxy and dry.  And pretty sure I pooped green afterwards.
• Lonesome Dove Austin.  I can't recall what I ordered, but I remember thinking afterwards that there was no line at that booth for a reason.

No Torchy's?  WTF, man!?  No more Taco Deli?  WTF, man?!  No more Stubb's, which is jenky, because it was my other go to easy meal in the park. Their chopped beef sandwich comes with chips for $8.  But they aren't listed on the website anymore.  Crap, and Salt Lick is gone too!  They used to have great, huge, messy nachos.  You can also get Micklethwait Barbeque, which has some great food.  I ate at their festival-style booth at a golf tournament once and it was excellent.  The brisket was well cooked and flavorful and all the nerdy nerd things that BBQ snobs demand now out of anything they eat.  I recall a pickle or something too.  Anyway, you should try this.

Assuming I can tear myself away from East Side Kings and Mighty Cone, here are some things that I want to seek out to try:

• I love De Nada Cantina in its normal habitat (although use caution with those frozen margaritas, they will take you new and exciting places).  I wonder what they will dial up at the Park?  If it involves the tacos, the carnitas are bomb.
• Homie Fries?  May be good, if it is like a pile of good meat dumped onto french fries?
• Taco Bronco.  This is a taco trailer by the Micklethwaits folks.  Smoked meats in a taco?  Bring it to me.
• Hoover's Cooking!  Holy crap.  I can't think of what they would bring to the Fest, it's not like you'll want to get a plate of fried catfish with collard greens on the side while walking in between shows, but I'd be interested!
• Koko's Bavarian - I just took two of the kids here the other day and it is crazy yummy.  Their monster soft pretzel is killer good.
• Mama Fried is interesting solely because of the name.  I dig it.

As for actual eating, know that it is a grind to get the best stuff during the usual eating times. Now that Torchy's is gone, I don't know what will get the big lines - maybe Taco Broncho? - but some of the lines will be massive at the high traffic times.  The word is out and the tourists want to eat the tacos.  This is one of the reasons I used to just go with the burger - for ease - they have them ready and you just snag, pay, and roll along.  And on hot days, the sno-cones and popsicles and whatnot are going to have insane lines.  So half of the time, my eating decision ends up being based not on what I want the most, but on what has the shortest lines!

Also, regardless of how tired you are of standing, you likely are not going to get a spot to sit in the shade by the food stands unless it is an off time.  Usually, every seat in the big eating tent is occupied by some large group of bored-looking college kids who are texting each other and fanning themselves with their hip, straw fedoras.  They aren't eating, but when you glance around with food in hand, hopefully scanning for a spot to sit, they do not move, or offer their seat, they just continue to chew their gum and stare.  I love the youth.  

The new food area by the Barton Springs stage did not have any seating or tents in which to eat, it was just a place to buy the food and shove it into your gullet.

There are a handful of other weird things you can get, like Amy's ice cream or snocones or cake pops or bananas covered in stuff or juice or popsicles, but I'm not about that stuff.  I want fuel to get me to the next show and soak up my beers.  I AIN'T GOT TIME FOR THE BULLHONKEY BANANA COATED IN PEANUT DUST!  GIMME MEATS AND CHEESES WRAPPED IN CARBS!

ACL 2022: Weekend One Rap Focus

After many a conversation with friends and my kids' friends, I thought it would be a useful exercise to make note of all of the options for rap over the weekend.  I don't really understand why the youths don't want to hear the radical sounds of a good rock and roll band, but it's just the reality.  They want to mosh to rappers.  They don't even really care if the rap is terrible, they just want the beat and the energy and the crowd.  And I can understand that part, except I'm too old to go up front and get shoved around by some pack of high school seniors.  Even someone who plays a wretchedly awful set (like Polo G did last year), is apparently very fun for the kids.  So, let's take a look at what we have for just the rap shows this year.

You can click the link to read more about the rapper and get links to some of their YouTube videos.

Friday:

2:00 - T-Mobile - ZAI1K: Auto-tuned rapping and singing with a viral hit on TikTok.

4:00 - Tito's Tent - Genesis Owusu: Ghana/Aussie rapper/singer with a little funky flair

5:00 - Miller Lite - if you squint really hard, you could say she is rap: Arlo Parks: British indie pop singer with a lovely voice and smooth delivery

6:00 - Honda - likewise, James Blake: Falsetto-singing, glitchy-electronic R&B Brit 

Blake is sorta rap adjacent if you really try to think that way?  He definitely has been involved in big rap things like Kendrick and Ye albums.

SZA happens at the end of the night as well, although I don't consider that to be rap at all.  So, overall, a pretty awful day for rap fans.  Just two real rappers.

Saturday:

Here's your big day if all you want is rap.

12:00 - Barton Springs - Mama Duke: Local rapper with a brash sound and some clean beats

12:45 - Honda - The Future X: Connecticut rapper with solid bars

3:15 - Barton Springs - Tyla Yaweh: More boring Autotune mumble rap/R&B songs from a friend of Post Malone

A nice, long break for you to get lunch and dinner and see some football in the tent?

6:15 - Honda - Big Boi: Half of Outkast still making funky raps

AND

6:15 - Honda - Lil Nas X: The "Old Town Road" guy is still making insanely popular but mediocre raps

Too bad for the rap fans, as this pits two of the biggest ones against each other.  You can either choose the old school or the new school.

7:20 - Barton Springs - Tobe Nwigwe: Houston rapper with a great range of voices who will fight you when Jesus won't

Sunday: 

Today you can take an opportunity to sleep in, and go to bed early, as there are no real rappers happening before 2pm or after 7pm.

2:00 - Honda - Larry June: Chilled out rapper from the Bay Area

3:00 - Miller Lite - BIA: Lady rapper who leans in to her name's Lil Jon relation.

4:00 - American Express - Oliver Tree: Weird ass rapper with terrible hair and bad sunglasses

6:00 - Honda - 6lack: Atlanta rapper and crooner who I like despite my pre-conceptions

So, there you have it.  Sorry, rap fans, you're not going to be terribly excited by this year's lineup.  Lil Durk fell off the lineup after his accident at Lolla, but that was also right about when they added in Big Boi and 6lack, so it wasn't a bad trade at all.

Lyle Lovett and his Large Band: Moody Theater: August 25, 2022

Lyle has still got it!  We saw him (also at the Moody) more than ten years ago, and his voice still sounds fantastic.  And it was really fun to see him play with the large band.

The thing about this show though, was that it truly spanned a massive career.  I know the songs on Pontiac by heart.  I know and love The Road to Ensenada and Step Inside This House.  But he's got twelve or so other albums that he's released since 1986, and many of those songs are entirely off of my radar.  I can't think of another artist like that, where I deeply love some of their music and have somehow remained entirely ignorant of the rest of their catalog.  Weird.  So, it created an interesting concert experience where more than half of the songs were new to me, but the people around me knew every word.  There was a woman behind me who turned the spoken-word parts of "Here I Am" into a personal mission statement full of measured inflection and enunciation.  Made me wish I knew that album with that level of passion.

In addition to some of the classic tunes, I really loved the spot-on version he did of "Nobody Knows Me," and it's been stuck in my mind since the show.  Just a lovely piece of music and set of lyrics.

And then there was the Large Band.  Musically, they made the show awesome.  The three backup singers sounded amazing and added some classy little dance moves and steps to the left side of the stage.  The horns, the fiddle, the slide guitar, the piano, the whole setup was excellent.  Everybody seemed like a stud at their instrument.  The one downside to having the Large Band on stage was that Lovett took about nine hours to introduce them and banter with them about the first time they ever came to Texas.  I'm all for a little stage banter and introductions, but criminy he spent forever doing it at this show.

I was hoping for a Front Porch Boys collaboration, since Robert Earl was playing the same stage two nights later, but no such luck.  Great show though!  I'd definitely catch him again if possible.

Robert Earl Keen: Gruene Hall: August 18, 2022

The news of Robert Earl Keen's retirement hit me in a tough spot.  I know that he is considerably older than I am, but still, in my head, I've always kind of conflated that dude with my own self.  Just like in his stories, me and my friends sat on the front porch of our house in college and poorly played guitar music.  And then I did nothing with that and he sold millions of records.  I've dreamed of escaping to Boquillas and lamented my dreadful selfish crime.  He's been a constant soundtrack for many moons, and I've seen him play live a number of times.  And now he's hanging it up.

If you looked around on the Internet, the stated reason was a unified chorus of - nothing to do with his health, he just wants to spend his time doing something else - and yet, it has since come out that he has terrible back pain that limits his ability to stand for any long period of time.  A friend was at the final show at Flore's Country Store and said that he read a prepared statement explaining it all - extreme back pain, body/foot swelling, Bell's palsy.  Which just sounds freaking awful.  So, I'm glad that he was able to give us all a few more shows before he retires to Kerrville (and hopefully finds some pain relief!).

You could absolutely tell that something wasn't right about the guy during this show.  He came out and sat down on a stool, and from my recollection, stood up maybe one time.  And when people in the crowd shouted out the usual crap about Aggies or whatever, he just kind of grimaced in his chair and never acknowledged any of the banter like he did on his live album.  

But as for the music itself?  He sounded great!  The new bandmates - especially Noah the guitar and fiddle kid - did an awesome job of picking up where the old bandmates left off.  He mostly played a great set of hits and classics, with a few weird new-ish ones thrown in, and getting to see him on the stage at Gruene is a highlight for me as well.  Such an iconic spot and the fact that I got to sing along to some of my favorite songs with him just a few feet away was wonderful.  "Feelin' Good Again," "Shades of Grey," "Five Pound Bass," "Road Goes On Forever," "Gringo Honeymoon."  He freaking killed it.

Final gripe?  To me, this was a very special show.  The last time REK would ever play Gruene Hall.  One of the last five or so shows he would ever play (supposedly).  Iconic performer, iconic venue, the whole thing, right?  And yet some of the people around me - and I was about four people back from the stage, very up front - were just having a loud conversation with their friends as though we were at a coffee shop.  Why are you here?  Why did you get up close?  If you don't care about this amazing moment, then what makes you want to get five feet away from the man to talk about your kid's scores in math class?  Just go outside, you dork!  Or leave your ticket for a real fan to enjoy!  I got overly heated about this and the wife had to back me down a little bit.  So annoying.

Manchester Orchestra (2022)

One Liner: Very good indie rock (which makes it a mistake to have just also reviewed Death Cab and War on Drugs).

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, alternative rock, indie folk, art rock, emo, post-hardcore
Home:  Atlanta.

Poster Position: 7 (same line as 2018!)
Weekend One Only.  Saturday.

Thoughts:  Odd juxtaposition of sounds if you just run through the top ten most popular tracks for this band on Spotify.  I'm going to go ahead and write this review as I run through those, and then will offer more comprehensive thoughts once I've run through everything.

The most streamed song, the very excellent "The Gold," calls to mind Iron and Wine or Lord Huron or Death Cab.  Slightly rockin', very emotional, powerful indie rock tune.  Has just over 27.8 million streams (although there is a newer version with Pheobe Bridgers that has fired up even more with 32.5 million).  This is the original.

I endorse this message.  Very good song.  From 2017's A Black Mile to the Surface.  That whole album is a wonderful thing.  Several of their top songs are from that album and it is really good.  Other songs on the Black Mile album get to rockin', now that I've run through the whole catalog here, know that its not all tender Iron and Wine vibing.  "The Moth" kinda jams.  In fact, that whole album is very good, bouncing back and forth between the two sides of this band's sound.  I very much like the chilled sound like "The Gold" and "The Alien," but also enjoy the rawk.  This album is good enough for me to save it for future streams.

I liked these guys, leading up to Austin City Limits this year, but after seeing them throw down on stage and now re-listening to this album, I'm deeply digging it.  Got some gentle Lord Huron/Iron & Wine vibes at times, got some rock and roll shred senses at other times, and I'm all in for the combination.  Also a good Band of Horses vibe at times, another band I like.  On stage, they were surprisingly shoved over on the grungy riffage side of the equation, but this album is generally pretty relaxed and lovely.  "The Gold" is the hit up above, but let's also do "The Alien," which has 10.7 million streams.

Great song.  Powerful, emotive stuff.  And if you go read the lyrics, it sure sounds like it is about a guy who had his ears cut off by his drunken dad and then later tried to commit suicide by ramming his car into a bunch of people.  WTF, man.  Whatever, very good album.  

So who is this band?  Interesting that they are from Atlanta.  Their name immediately brings to mind the Madchester scene, with like, the string section from "Bittersweet Symphony" as a constant portion of the band, but instead they are pretty distinctly American sounding.  The main guy, Andy Hull, says that he was 16 when he formed the band, and was super into The Smiths, who are from Manchester, and then the Orchestra part came in because he wanted to make it clear that he was the conductor of the band of high school kids, and others could come and go like a regular orchestra.  Weird, but OK.  I can guarantee you my band names I came up with at age 16 were waaaay dumber than that.  I wanted a tattoo of a toaster for crying out loud.

Odd factoid, they apparently created the soundtrack to the super weird movie Swiss Army Man.  That movie was no good.  Harry Potter fart factory was not even the strangest part of it.  Another factoid, clap me on the back because I predicted this band would come to ACL.  I am a knower of things.

They have a deep and long catalog, which I don't really recall from prior times of listening to them.  2005's You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, but Brilliance Needs a Good Editor seriously sounds like Death Cab and the Shins, even down to a different singing voice.  I don't love it.  Also, that EP name blows.  They then released I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child (also a shit album name) and then 2009's Mean Everything to Nothing, which are more like, uh, emo punk?  Yelping rough vocals and taut guitar like Gaslight Anthem or Dashboard Confessional.  Here is the band's second most listened to track from that latter album, "Shake It Out," with 15 million streams.

Still a pretty good song, although I think I'd prefer the more chilled out sound to the older emo rock thing.  2011's Simple Math was not very successful, but at least it started to sound like the key components of the sound that they have now.  

2014's HOPE is actually a little like an Avett Brothers sound - especially on "Girl Harbor" - or Ray LaMontaigne sound.  Then 2013's COPE goes more rock and roll, driving guitars.  Ah, ha!  Actually, those two albums are the same songs, just two different versions of the songs - rocking COPE and acoustic/chilled HOPE.  Interesting.  I like both of them - kind of cool to take rock and roll and strip off the sneer to reveal the emotional core beneath.  Neat to put them side by side.  I really like COPE, got some punk and emo elements.

After Black Mile, they released a single, "No Hard Feelings," released in March 2018, and so far with 1.8mm streams.

That is actually a cover of an Avett Brothers song.  And it makes me want to get all emotional and hug my dog and tearfully sob into his fur as I recall loss.  Oh criminy, I was making a joke, and then I read the second comment on the YouTube video for that song, which is from someone saying that this song made them feel slightly better in the end of their fight with cancer, and so I just randomly cried at my desk for real while listening to this song.  Stupid freaking cancer.  Lovely tune though.

There are a few albums in their Spotify listing that are attributed to Bad Books, Manchester Orchestra, and Kevin Devine.  Which is odd.  They are not as good as the regular tunes though.

Their final album is 2021's The Million Masks of God.  You can hear the earnestness they bring to the stage in this album - its the kind of stuff that starts with a whisper and then fills the entire atmosphere.  Hell, just the title of the album is pretty damn earnest and arena-sized.  But I really like the combination here of the singer's tenderness in his vocals, added to the frequently bombastic music behind him.  "Bedhead" is the hit so far, I've been hearing it on the local Sun radio station for a year, but I'm going to give you number 3 in streams - "Keel Timing" with just over 3 million streams.

The driving start is so nice when it rolls into his whispered start, and then the whole thing just builds until it spills out into a jam.  I really like it.

I'd absolutely watch these guys again.  I really like it.

The Chicks

One Liner: One of the finest country bands of all time

Wikipedia Genre: Country, bluegrass, country pop
Home: Dallas (but of course likely Nashville now)

Poster Position: Headliner!

Both Weekends.  Friday.

Thoughts:  I love the Chicks.  I loved them more back when they were the Dixie Chicks crushing all expectations and making those first three amazing albums.  I loved them when they insulted George W. Bush and got cancelled by all the rednecks (who seem to have forgotten about their love of cancelling now that they are griping about the Donald getting cancelled).  I definitely loved that they were a band that both my wife and I enjoyed, so we could agree on something to listen to.  I didn't love the new album, but what are you gonna do?

Let's do some background here.  You probably know all of this, but just for completism.  The band was formed in Dallas back in 1989 by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer (previously Erwin) with two other ladies, mainly sticking with a bluegrass sound.  They gained some notoriety, winning "best band" at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and scoring opening slots for Garth Brooks and George Strait. They released a few independent albums, each of which featured steel guitar by stud player and producer Lloyd Maines.  So, when the other two ladies decided to move on from the band, Maines suggested his daughter, Natalie, to take on the lead singer role.  And thus, the current lineup was born.

Martie was the violin virtuoso, placing in the top three twice at the national fiddle championships.  She also handles some guitar and mandolin.  Emily is the guitar wizard, with a little banjo tossed in here and there.  All three of them sing, but it is Natalie who you are usually hearing with the lead vocals, and the other two add in their killer harmonies to make the whole thing work.  Sounds so good.

Loads of success.  Multiplatinum records.  13 Grammys.  The best-selling female band and best-selling country group in the US in the Nielsen SoundScan era.  Crushing it.  And then in 2003, they were playing a concert in London and Natalie told the crowd that they were ashamed of US President George W Bush being from Texas.  That triggered country music boycotts and record burnings and a bunch of other deeply stupid crap.  But it also left room for the Chicks to take a break to allow the Erwin sisters to make their very good Courtyard Hounds album.  After a long break, they reunited to tour around 2012 and 2013, and finally released a new album in 2020, about the time they dropped Dixie from their name.

The Dixie Chicks name came from the Little Feat song "Dixie Chicken," which is a great song.  But in the 2020 political climate, just using the word Dixie became something tinged with negative connotations and thus something for dopes to get worked up about.  So, now they are just the Chicks.

I've been re-listening to the first three albums, and I'm having trouble deciding which is my favorite.  At first, I thought it had to be the debut, 1998's Wide Open Spaces.  But I think that album is carried by the title song, which is my favorite song they do.  Do I love the rest of the album as much?  "I Can Love You Better" is a great leadoff track though!  Then I figured it would be 1999's Fly, because that one was released just out of college and it holds so many good memories for me.  "Ready to Run," Cowboy Take Me Away," and "Goodbye Earl" all rule.  Especially "Earl."  But it feels like the last few songs could have been left off and make the album stronger.  So then I'm left with 2002's Home, which has two absolutely killer covers on it, but then doesn't do a ton with the rest of the tracks.  "Travelin' Soldier," which is a Bruce Robison tune, is devastating and perfect.  I love it.  And "Landslide" is another wonderful tune in the Chicks' hands.  I think I'll give the favorite label to the debut.  I mean, "Loving Arms" is beautiful, "There's Your Trouble" is clever, "Let 'Er Rip" is fun.  It's just a really great disc of unexpectedly cool country music.  And you also get the added benefit of the cover image for the album, which looks like two hot friends finished their day jobs bartending at the coolest bar in Nashville and then picked up their goth cousin at the bus station to show her the best comic book store in The Gulch.  But, let's do some of these songs in here.

"Wide Open Spaces," the number 3 streamer at 112.7 million streams.

Oh wow.  That video, and those fake ass overly blue eyes, and the superimposed trampoline flying?  Those are really something.  But the harmonies, the lyrics, the fiddle and banjo and steel guitar - it all just comes together just right.  And the reality and perfection of the last verse gets me every time - "as her folks drive away, her dad yells check the oil, mom stares out the window and says I'm leaving my girl.  She said it didn't seem like that long ago, when she stood there, and let her own folks know she needed wide open spaces."  

"Cowboy Take Me Away" is the second-most streamer.  136.6 million streams.  From Fly.

Also a good one, although it makes me think of Julia Roberts movies for some reason.  Was it featured in the Runaway Bride or something?  No, that was "Ready to Run."  Hmmm.  More killer harmonies, and excellent work on that banjo.

About a million years ago, I was at a music festival of sorts that was being held in the Dallas mansion, Southfork Ranch.  There was (is?) a radio station in Dallas that played supremely great Texas country and Americana stuff that I really liked, and they put on a little music festival inside of the Southfork.  I have no recollection of who was there, and I'm certain that the Dixie Chicks were not playing, but I am certain that Charlie Robison, Emily's then-husband and now ex, was one of the headliners.  One of the guys I was with had the balls to go ask Emily to dance (the show was in a big ballroom with a dance floor included), during her husband's set, and she actually said yes and danced with him.  Legend.  Many years later I actually helped represent Emily and Charlie in a legal claim.  The world just keeps turning, doesn't it?

The top streamer in their catalog is that "Landslide" cover from Home.  154.8 million streams.

Going freaky with that video.  Trippy water drop action!  Those effects super suck!  Martie has gone goth!  Emily is pregnant!  But a beautiful version of that song.  Crushes the streaming numbers for a reason, they kill it.  "Lil Jack Slade" is a good bluegrass breakdown from that album as well.

The next album was 2006's Taking the Long Way, which was their big F YOU record to everyone who had attacked them for the Dubya dustup.  The top song is the imminently angry "Not Ready to Make Nice," with 85.4 million streams.

Her best look of all of the videos linked here.  Not my favorite song from the album at all, I prefer the title track (which also has a little nastiness to it, with lines like "I wouldn't kiss all the asses they told me to") or "Easy Silence" by far.  But I'm sure people use it as shorthand now the same way they use "I Won't Back Down" or "Respect."  This was their statement song for sure.  But, after that no new music for 14 years (except for a live album and a compilation).

Then, here comes the name change and the very 2020 album.  Even the title.  Gaslighter.  I really want to love this album, but after a handful of listens I'm pretty ambivalent about it.  First off, this ain't country.  And I know that shouldn't be surprising, they've been angling away from that work for a while, but the use of drum machines ("Julianna Calm Down," with a drum machine and forlorn organ instead of banjo and fiddle) and one song that is more or less a rap ("Tights on My Boat") are both surprising moves from these ladies.  And I'm sure changing their name to step away from the potential racist connotations of "Dixie" is likewise carried along by distancing themselves from the country establishment in general.  But more importantly, the album as a whole seems to be focused on personal issues, and less on the broadly pleasing story-telling, catchy tunes, and humor-with-insight that made them amazingly compelling back on their first two albums.  I think back to "Wide Open Spaces" or "Goodbye Earl," and I'm immediately happy about the feelings those great songs evoke.  But I think back to what I remember after 10 or so streams through this album and what I recall are Natalie's multiple mentions of some damn boat where her husband must have cheated on her.  Which isn't really all that interesting in the end, except to the TMZ folks who want the tea spilled.  And it's so specific - I can't relate to the issues they're singing about.

Their harmonies are still lovely.  The banjo picking is still technically proficient and well-placed.  But it feels like they put this out to show that they still aren't ready to make nice, but now none of us even remember why they were mad in the first place.  The lead single and title track kind of bugs me - I think I'm tired of hearing the term gaslighting because I over-scroll Twitter - and I'm sure it was cathartic to Natalie to call out her ex-husband for being a lying jerk, but the song isn't catchy enough to make me want to dig in.  And if it was catchy enough, then I could apply it to my own life - the liars that I might have to deal with - but in the end I just think about the dumb boat and that annoying term.  That track is the top streamer on Spotify at 40.2 million streams, but I'm going to give you second place instead, "Sleep at Night," with 10.5 million.

The chorus makes me think of "HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW!" from Toby Keith each time she sings it.  Also, her ex-husband truly sounds like a piece of shit.  Even if I don't much care about knowing about it.  Maybe they'll release another album next that isn't quite so directly aimed at the balls of her old man.  Despite not caring about the subject matter so much, that one is a good song.  "Everybody Loves You" makes me think repeatedly of Coldplay - there is a piano lick lifted directly from "Trouble" and it throws me off each time.  I know that "March March" is saying the word "march," but I keep hearing "Marge Marge" and I think of the Simpson's mom angrily marching down a Portland street to protest all of the random things that they sing about in this song.  I think that normally I would gravitate to their big songs, but on this album, it's the quiet songs that are more appealing.  But, despite really wishing that this was going to be the next big thing on my radar, I don't much care for this album.  Hopefully something better is on the horizon.

Which makes me curious - what do their setlists look like these days?  And the answer is kind of a bummer.  Their last show had 10 tunes from Gaslighter, 4 covers, 3 each from Fly and Taking the Long Way, and 2 each from Home and Wide Open Spaces.  Ruh roh.  The show before that had one less cover and one less from Wide Open Spaces but was otherwise the same.  Dang, seeing them at Red Rocks would have been dope.  Their setlists look almost identical on this tour - Sin Wagon, Gaslighter, Texas Man, Juliana Calm Down, The Long Way Around...  I guess my hope would be that they'll do a different show for a Festival crowd?  Fingers crossed.  I'm absolutely going to go see them - zero question in my mind - but I sure hope they go with the old tunes over the new disc.

Death Cab for Cutie

One Liner: One of the finest indie rock bands of all time

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, alternative rock, indie pop

Home: Bellingham, Washington

Poster Position: Headliner!
Both Weekends.  Saturday.

Thoughts:  Ben Gibbard's band was once the most important indie rock bands I could think of, but now I realize that they have fallen off of my radar entirely.  I never have gotten to see them live, so I am hopeful that they'll put together a show that leans on the past and emphasizes their rockier side.

Gibbard initially started the band as a solo project, but then expanded it out into a real band in 1998 for their debut - Something about Airplanes.  But several years later, they hit their commercial and critical apex with the back-to-back releases of 2003's Transatlanticism and then 2005's Plans.  They were features on TV and in movies, and that second album went platinum.  Their truly awful band name came from a song title, by the BOnzo Dog Doo-Dah Band that was performed in the Beatles film Magical Mystery Tour.  Gibbard has expressed chagrin at the name, saying "The name was never supposed to be something that someone was going to reference 15 years on. So yeah, I would absolutely go back and give it a more obvious name."  Just drop the "for Cutie" part!  Easy!

I bought Transatlanticism when it came out, I remember someone playing it in the law review offices while I was working on some godawful technical editing project that made me want to curl up and die, but taking note of this tuneful, harmonic, wonderful sound.  It opens up with these hard and discordant guitar riffs, and then Gibbard's plaintive falsetto starts singing these wonderfully descriptive and interesting lyrics over the top of great indie rock tunes.  The top songs were "Sound of Settling," "Title and Registration" (with its fantastic opening line about the glove compartment being inaccurately named), and "A Lack of Color," but the title track has been the biggest streamer over time.  Just over 50 million streams.

So damn sad and poignant.  Just the opening chords, hearing them again just now for the first time in years, made me sigh, break out in goosebumps, and think about the build later in the song.  Almost 8 minutes long, but it feels like those eight minutes are all both necessary and earned.  Songs from this album ended up used in Wedding Crashers, Easy A, The O.C., and Six Feet Under.  Six Feet Under had a great soundtrack - the show got to be a little much for me over time, but I remember the music in that show being top tier.

After that album came out, I used now-unfortunate means to get and listen to some of the older music, and really liked the 2000 album We Have the Facts and Are Voting Yes.  In my defense, the band actually encouraged fans to download their songs from the Internet!  But next in the order of music was 2005's Plans, which really fired the band into the public consciousness.  "Soul Meets Body" became a constant radio tune, and "Crooked Teeth" also became a hit.  But their killer song to me will always be "I Will Follow You Into the Dark."  Just one of the most lovely songs I can imagine.  252.1 million streams.

Between that and "If We Were Vampires," I could just listen to songs about lovers dying all day long and feel sated.  "Love of mine.  Someday you will die.  But I'll be close behind.  I'll follow you into the dark... if heaven and hell decide, that they both are satisfied, illuminate the "no" on their vacancy signs. If there's no one beside you, when your soul embarks, then I'll follow you into the dark."  Many times when writing out lyrics on this blog, I have to go look them up to be sure, but I know those by heart.  And his voice is perfect for it, as is the tiny guitar bit.  Wonderful.  The whole album is great and absolutely worth a listen if this is your first introduction to the band.

Next came 2008's Narrow Stairs, which boasts one pretty big track that I still hear on the radio sometimes, and not much else.  Still overall sounds good, but didn't feel as vital to me as the last two discs.  The top track is "I Will Possess Your Heart."  33.4 million streams.

The piano and bassline on that one make it special.  Got a good groove to it.  It is too bad that he didn't just do a whole series of songs that were all titled "I Will" do something.  Like, he'll follow you into the dark, and then he'll possess your heart, and then he'll lock you in a cage, and then he'll feed you strawberries, and then he'll cut off your toes one by one, and then he'll comb your hair, and then he'll buy you a Maserati, and then he'll pick your nose, and then he'll fly far far away.  Maybe he takes requests?

I don't recall 2011's Codes and Keys at all.  Maybe by then I had gotten off of the Death Cab train.  No, actually, I recall the hit from that one.  But I think I thought it was from the 2008 album.  2015's Kintsugi still sounded great, I reviewed it as follows:  "More great sounding music from Ben Gibbard and his friends.  I loved Transatlanticism and Signs, and still think "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" is one of the greatest songs around.  This one follows the same kind of sound, indie rock with good groove.  Here is "Black Sun," 42.5 million streams.

I feel sad for that guy who keeps getting run over.  Poor guy.  But this album is good.  I don't hear an instant killer hit like IWFYITD, but it is solid."

And then I don't know what happened to me, but I absolutely hated the next disc.  2018's Thank You For Today.  "Sooooo boring.  Earlier this week, I tried just shuffling through all the music in my new music Q.  I was busy at work and it was nice to just try out new stuff without feeling a compulsion to write about it or really heavily listen.  Every time a song from this album came on, I looked at Spotify just to see who was crushing my soul.  I like me some old Death Cab, but this does zero for me.  "Gold Rush" is the hit so far, with about 6 million streams. [now up to 21 million]

Sounds like KGSR, now "Austin City Limits Radio" (voooooooomit), in 1992.  And not in a good way.  Each song is just super milquetoast and gentle."  Wow.  Who pissed in my Cheerios?  I was so mad!

Since then, no new albums, but I will definitely say that the two most recent EPs sound really good.  2021's The Georgia EP is a disc of covers of Georgia artists (Jason Isbell did something similar to thank Georgia for going blue at the 2020 elections) that includes two that I immediately recognize - REM and TLC, but then three I don't - Neutral Milk Hotel, Vic Chesnutt, and Cat Power.  It is solid, although someone other than Gibbard is singing on that cover of "Fall on Me."  Such a good tune.  Man, I love REM.  And even better is the one right before it, 2019's The Blue EP.  "To The Ground" sounds really good!  Just over 4 million streams.

Starts off all spacey and mystical, before the urgent little guitar riffage comes in there.  The tune could almost be an old REM song, now that I have them in my brain.  But this one scratches the itch that the last full album missed entirely for me.  "Kids in '99" gives off a good little drummer boy sound too.  This is better!

They apparently have a new album to be released on September 16, so I guess we will get some even newer tunes at the Fest!

Lil Nas X

One Liner: The "Old Town Road" guy is still making insanely popular but mediocre raps

Wikipedia Genre: Pop rap, hip hop, country rap, trap, pop rock, pop

Home: Georgia

Poster Position: Headliner!
Both Weekends.  Saturday.

Thoughts:  I find it truly amazing to see that this cat has three songs with more than 1.3 billion streams.  Like, that is truly wild.  I thought "Old Town Road" was a fun tune, and my kids loved it back when jamming that and doing the flossing dance were things, but I don't understand the continued excitement about him at all.  Well, I get that he courts controversy and makes outrageous videos and gets viral attention for stuff, but these tunes are entirely unremarkable to me.

HIs first release was 2019's 7 EP, which was thrown together to capitalize on the popularity of his "Old Town Road" remix with Billy Ray Cyrus (but before he released remixes with people as varied as Diplo, Young Thug, the Walmart yodeling kid, and one of the dudes in BTS).  When I reviewed it, this is what I had to say: "I'm still so shocked that this album was nominated for multiple Grammy awards.  Including Album of the Year!  It's freaking 18 minutes long!  And the best song on it is a ridiculous one-hit wonder piece of badly written fluff with a hyper catchy chorus that leans on Billy Ray Cyrus to get it any sort of gravity!  One of the songs ("F9mily") sounds like a bad Fall Out Boy song (But has Travis Barker inexplicably drumming on it)!  One of the songs involves Cardi B dropping an entirely forgettable verse!  Here is the thing, I really enjoyed the Lil Nas X phenomenon - breaking the Country charts with his dumb song, all of his goofy tweets, his generally winning personality throughout the whole rise to fame - he seems like a genuinely good dude.  But this album is dudu.

Chris Rock!  Vince Staples!  Other famous-looking people I should probably know!  The beat is undeniable.  The lyrics are horrific.  I will not save this album for any reason."

So you liked it?!?!  His real name is Montero Lamar Hill (thus the name of his one album, Montero), and he is originally from a small town called Lithia Springs, Georgia.  His Wikipedia says that he was named after the Mitsubishi Montero truck.  Which is awesome.  While "Old Town Road" was decimating the charts, X came out as gay, which is purportedly the first time someone has ever come out at the time that they had the number one record.  He lived with his mom in Atlanta for a while before moving out of town with his dad, to another small Georgia town.  He enrolled at the University of West Georgia, but dropped out to work on his music, living on his sister's couch and working crappy jobs.  He started writing and recording in his closet, and came up with his name as an homage to the rapper Nas.  His first album was uploaded to Soundcloud, but later got pulled down because of copyright issues.

For "Old Town Road," he rather famously bought the beat for the song anonymously on beat-selling platform Beatstars from Dutch producer YoungKio for $30  The beat samples Nine Inch Nails' track "34 Ghosts IV" from their sixth studio album Ghosts I–IV.  He recorded at a "humble" Atlanta studio, CinCoYo, on their "$20 Tuesdays," taking less than an hour.  He then promoted the crap out of it on TikTok, making over 100 memes to promote the track, and it finally took off months later because of a #yeehaw challenge on TikTok.  It later gained controversial fame when Billboard removed it from the Country charts because it wasn't country enough, causing pundits to call that move racist.  Billy Ray Cyrus emerged from the ashes of his career to make the first remix, and that is when the tune really blew up, breaking Drake's record for the most US streams in one week.

His one album came out in 2021, named Montero, and of course it landed amid controversy. The video for the title track shows him grinding on Satan's crotch and it got the evangelicals all in a tizzy.  Which was, of course, the whole point.  Nothing on here is nearly as catchy as the "Old Town Road" business.  It's all kind of gently boring trap rap stuff (except for "Lost in the Citadel," which makes me think of all of these goofy Blink 182 wannabe bands) or R&B stuff like most rappers angle for these days.  Probably the best track is the one with Jack Harlow, "Industry Baby."  He has a bunch of other A-List guests here - Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat, Elton John, Megan Thee Stallion - but the key to the album is his extremely personal lyrics.  "Don't Want It" is a good example of that, rapping about having to smoke himself to sleep and taking too many shots.  While I just called the album "gently boring," and I stand by that, I just discovered that NPR named the title track as the 2021 song of the year.  Which is kind of insane.  I know the video was a hot button source of social media fire - including a lap dance for Satan - but the song isn't that interesting at all.  I guess this album is having more of a social impact on the world, and to LGBTQIA folks, than to me personally.  The title track is, just barely, the stream hit with over 1.49 billion streams.  Getting funky with Satan must have worked for marketing!

I mean, that's just dumb and funny.  I don't know why people get all up in arms about stupid stuff.  Other tracks have a lot of streams, but interestingly it goes that one, then "Industry Baby" with 1.47 million, "Thats What I Want" with 690 million, and then "Sun Goes Down" with 134 million.  Those tracks are all over the album, there is no real pattern to where the popular songs are in the track listing. A few songs on here are just bad - I do not enjoy the poppy enthusiasm of "That's What I Want" or the "Lost in the Citadel" one mentioned earlier.  But I also know that the lyrics on this album really aren't aimed for me.  When he's singing "Sun Goes Down" to his childhood self (and other kids who aren't sure about themselves), that isn't resonating much with me anymore.  The album overall is fine, but nothing that I need to keep forever.

I actually read an article somewhere, I can't recall where anymore, but maybe it was Rolling Stone, where a black gay man was talking about how vitally important this album had become to him, because it brought much needed representation to his self.  He talked about getting married to his husband and blasting on of the songs at the reception, embracing the joy it brought and the freedom of expression that had previously been missing in his world.  I'm glad that this music is doing that for folks.  It gave me a new perspective on it all.  I won't go see the show, but I'm glad that he's got a slot on the top line of this poster for all of the people who never saw someone rise that high before.

Twen

One Liner: Really great indie rock band from Nashville

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie rock

Home: Nashville

Poster Position: New addition to the poster
Weekend Two Only.  Friday.

Thoughts:  Wikipedia thinks that twen was a West German magazine published from 1959 to 1971, known for its innovative design and typography.  WTF.  Who is going to read an entire magazine when all that is good about it is the typeface that they are using in it?  "Oooh, I really love the Helvetica they used for that sidebar, it really sparkles next to the Trebuchet they used in the main article."  TWEN also stands for a Westlaw online course teaching tool for law schools.  So far, this is making this band sound deeply boring.  Fonts and law school classes, wheeeee!

But in actuality, this is some really tasty indie rock stuff.  They have previously toured in support of White Reaper, and that is a show that sounds pretty slick to me.  The main pair - Ian Jones and Jane Fitzsimmons - came up in Boston, playing punk, before moving to Nashville together to change up their sound into a sort of indie rock/psych rock/alternative thing that is really very good.

Two albums - 2019's Awestruck and 2022's One Stop Shop.  The entirety of their top ten is from the new album, which makes some sense, as it is great.  The first album had two bigger tracks - "Waste" and "Damsel."  The second one of those has a pretty great video to go with it, and is the stream king with 212k streams.

Dirt bikes!  Joyful guitars!  Blue skies!  Jumping for joy!  Sweet Twn track suit things!  The sound on that track is definitely deferent than the new album - more reverb and kind of a shoegazey quality to the guitars and vocals.  Kind of reminds me of The Sundays - great band!

The top song is from the new album and is titled "HaHaHome," with 278k streams.  I'm disappointed in the world that no one is streaming these guys.  I'm thoroughly enjoying.

The effect of that video is disorienting me - with the lags of the video.  Also, looks like they've added a full band now and not just the two main people.  I dig the things she is doing with her voice on that one.  Love it!  "Brooklyn Bridge" has a wistful sound that is super appealing as well, it isn't all harder edged stuff.  I'd go watch them in a heartbeat.