Ooooof. I'm sure there are some teenagers out there who are freaking pumped right now, but that is a brutal lineup for someone with my musical tastes. Hozier might be the only band on that group of headliners who I would pay to see separately from a festival. I like the Killers well enough, but I've seen them repeatedly and really don't need them again. Stray Kids is apparently a K-pop boy band. Melanie Martinez is terrible. I saw Future and he was mediocre. Tyler doesn't interest me at all. SZA has some cool songs, but I just don't love R&B. Skrillex still exists?
And then in the smaller type, it really never gets much better. I remember Deftones having a few good songs thirty years ago. Two Door Cinema Club is fun. Killer Mike and Vince Staples are legit. I like Wilderado and Militarie Gun. Cool to see Briscoe on here.
But if this lineup showed up in Austin I would legit have a hard time. Unless all of those smaller artists are rad rock and roll bands. Actually, let's just quickly sample:
Post Sex Nachos - "Talk About It" is generic synth rock that feels like 40 of the things on last year's ACL lineup.
Quarters of Change - "Kiwi" is a soft-rock indie thing whispered by some dude that gets a little jam bandy after a while.
Wisp - "Your face" feels like the Deftones wanted to cover that Slowdive band from the 90's but with a female singer. I kinda like it.
It's Murph - "Food for the Soul" is thumping techno/house.
Yeah, none of those poke out as helping me get excited about the lineup. Man, I really hope some of my predictions are right, or this year may be a tough one! I'm going to dive deeper into these headliners and their schedules soon.
Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version). I went back and forth about whether to really review this - it's not like there is anything really new to say about this disc - but I decided that I'd go ahead and dive in just to note a few things I have noticed. First, "Welcome to New York" is not great. Really feels like a cash grab where she wanted to try to make sure that all New York sports teams and television stations and whatever would license this song and she could make some cash. The vaguely Asian sound in there also never worked for me. But then this disc has three of her biggest hits of all time - "Blank Space" "Shake It Off" and "Bad Blood," and all three of those are good for a reason. "Shake It Off" is for sure my top track on the disc. When this album came out, originally, we had this exceedingly sweet babysitter at the time who bought my middle daughter a copy of this CD for some reason. She loved it. But I never gave it all that much love beyond the hits, which has led me to only now realize how freaking fun "New Romantics" is. That song freaking jams. Strangely, at least to me, the biggest song on this version of the album is "Wildest Dreams." Unexpected. The original version of this disc has these stream numbers: Blank - 1.7 Billion, Shake - 1.3 Billion, Style - 1.1 Billion, Wildest - 917 Million, Blood - 571 Million. Fascinating and not what I figured. Anyway, Wildest has 650 million streams here.
Not like it is a bad song or anything, I just didn't expect it to be the biggest. I'll definitely note that it bothered me for a while to hear my daughters sing the line "handsome as hell" in their cute little girl voices. The five new tracks - "From the Vault" - are fine. Nothing all that exciting.
Flatland Cavalry - Wandering Star. I don't think I've ever heard a single song from these guys, but I've heard them mentioned with the sorts of bands like Turnpike Troubadours for years. This is their new 2023 album, and it is really solid southern rock/Americana stuff. The album keeps starting over in the playlist and I really enjoy the sound. Like, "The Best Days" is just a really lovely little violin-infused rocker that makes me happy. "New American Dream" has some good one liners about how we're all going to hell while staring at 5 inch screens. "Last American Summer" is a wonderful capture of nostalgia for some awkward moments from adolescence. The top track is "Mornings With You," which features Kaitlin Butts (who is married to the lead singer of the band). Just over 3 million streams.
Why does YouTube call these "Official Visualizer"? It's a music video. Visualizer makes it sound like it's just going to be random light show graphics or something, not a nice little short movie about being in love. And a nice tune about trading in the long night party time for a relaxed morning with a love. "The Best Days" reaches out for really being a rock and roll tune, but with a pile of fiddle as well. “The stars go on forever, like a billion fireflies, we’re glowing dust just burning out, lucky to be alive.” I dig it.
Black Pumas - Chronicles of a Diamond. In all honesty, I wasn't too terribly excited about a new Pumas record. They're good, but not like my favorite thing in the world. But this album freaking whips ass. So great. Super soulful and funky and original. Sometimes it feels like you are just listening to straight soul, and then a bit later you are wiggling around in some psych rock crunch. Burton's voice is magical and full of depth and reach, while Quesada is grooving his ass off in the background. The top track is the album opener, "More Than a Love Song." 6.2 million streams.
Comes on like some Marvin Gaye funk. The deep-background tinkling ice cream truck song in the background of "Ice Cream (Pay Phone)" is such a cool little touch. Every time "Hello" starts, I think a different album just started in my queue. But, this disc is worthy of being the representative of Austin out there in the world. Very good.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - The Silver Cord. Freaking weird shit. These guys are best known for their prolific releases of sludgey psych rock metal stuff. Some of which is very good, some of which is meh. But this is some sort of weird-ass, synth-pop, 90's dance electronica, Krautrock thing that makes no sense at all. I do not enjoy it. Pretty sure I've never made it past the terrible rap part of the third song. Every time I start to hear that part, I just turn this off and do something else. Of course, that is the to song other than the album opener, which you know only has high streams because people want to check this out and then go ewwwwwww and turn it off. "Set" has just over a million streams. Just wait for that rap thing.
And just in case, the back half of the album is all 10-20 minute versions of the first half of the album. DEATH.
Charles Wesley Godwin - Family Ties. This dude played Two Step Inn last year, and while I missed his show, he hopped on stage with his buddy Zach Bryan to jam out on a few songs. I love "Another Leaf," especially the big breakdown at the end. "Cue Country Roads" is straight rock and roll. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is a little trite for a dude from West Virginia, but I love that song so I will allow it. "Headwaters" is lovely. "10-38" sounds just like a Springsteen song from Nebraska. "Two Weeks Gone" is a fun barnburner. While I normally have beef with an album like this that is 19 songs long and over an hour - learn to pick the best tracks, dummy! - I never find myself growing bored on this one. Really solid Americana sound and I just find myself immersed instead of wondering when it ends. Surprised by the top track, and it is the top by a ton. "All Again" is one that I didn't even note above, and yet it has just over 9 million streams.
Goddamn. Song has nothing to do with the theme of the video, but we get to randomly think about mortality and a Dad who suffers through his cancer without telling his family. WTF man. Because those of us who have watched cancer ravage someone - its not all lovely days like that. Now I'm sad and mad. Dammit. But a beautiful song, I just wish the video didn't change the meaning of it like that. Really solid album.
Shakey Graves - Movie of the Week. Speaking of surprisingly solid albums, this disc is fantastic. I don't give Shakey Graves nearly enough credit as a musician - sure I remember back when he could play six instruments at the same time or whatever - but this has some freaking amazing sonics. "Limbo" comes in a like a long-lost Wilco song, and then morphs into a lush slice of the Beatles getting psychedelic. At multiple points while listening to this album my brain registered a Tame Impala song was being played. And the unquestioned hit on it, featuring the excellent-in-her-own right Sierra Ferrell, nails the vibe. 20.8 million streams for "Ready or Not."
Tasty funky nugget right there. Expertly combined shuffle along with a strolling bass line. And their harmonies have the business too. I really like it. Sadly, no further duets on this disc, but the whole thing has an excellent feel to it. Love it.
The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds. I'm not sure what the consensus has been on this album - now that Rolling Stone publishes like one review a month all I ever really see are people yelling at Anthony Fantano on Twitter, but usually that is for something unrelated to music and is some kind of inside joke about his sex life. But in all honesty, this ain't bad. You're not going to put any of this up against Exile on Main Street or anything, but these are good, basic rock and roll tunes. "Bite My Head Off" got my attention because of the explicit words - feels weird to hear rock and roll grandpa dropping f-bombs, and it looks like the public is in to the one with Lady Gaga at the end of the disc (which doesn't sound much like Gaga at all to me, but what do I know - she sounds more like the lady who yelps "rape" and "murder" on "Gemme Shelter" back in the day). But the first song is the most popular by a large margin. "Angry" with 25.5 million streams.
I missed their last swing through Austin - I had tickets that the pandemic postponed, and then couldn't be there for the rescheduled dates. Jerks. I've never been a mega-Stones guy, I always liked Zeppelin the best out of the classic rock bands, but hearing their true classics live would have been amazing. That video is fun - the classic imagery on the billboards is cool. I dig the "Country Honk" vibes of "Dreamy Skies." The poppy rock of "Mess It Up" made me realize that Jagger's voice still sounds pretty solid, and I don't hear a bunch of effects or assistance to get him there. Now, is this album a necessary thing that I need to save and listen to for the rest of my life? Nope. But it is surprisingly good for a band who could have just lived off of their residuals for the rest of their waning years.
Blink 182 - One More Time. Hey! Speaking of a band who could have just kept living off of their prior popularity! The first thing I notice here is that Travis Barker freaking jams. People have talked him up as the top tier drummer for years, and I've never really noticed much out of him on those classic Blink albums. But I really feel like he is magnificent on these tunes. "Fell in Love" sounds like they are stealing from The Cure. "One More Time" is the sad-boy ballad that has been working it on the radio waves recently - 47.7 million streams of people singing about "do I have to dieeeyyyy to hear you miss meeeeeeee."
I mean, I know Mark Hoppus almost died from cancer and all, and Barker almost died in a plane crash, so this is kind of sweet. But it is also very treacly and too twee for me. Of course, after I have heard it, my brain doesn't care and I keep singing it over again. So maybe it is better than I am willing to admit. I know that they are mixing in lots of silliness in here, but I am not going to go take the time to read their lyrics to see which songs are about masturbation. But even if this is just a carbon copy of the classic sound they used in the late 90's, it feels fun to me. Like, the generic Blink-ness of "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT" which sounds like it even rips off "Adam's Song" for the taut chorus and then arena-sized chorus feels like it could have been on multiple other Blink albums. Which is likely for the best at this stage.
Annie Blackman - Bug. Not sure where I found this one, but it is lovely little indie music. One song - "Altitude" - involves her being at the Austin airport and waiting for a flight where the airplane is too hot, and also mentions the Austin Marriott. Which is odd to hear, but it is a really pretty tune. She apparently started recording things in a home studio during the pandemic, where she and her dad used pvc pipe to hang up sound-dampening fabric for her to perform inside of. Love that visual. But this was her first thing recorded in a studio. Sounds good. Warm and clean and uncluttered. The opening track is the top streamer with 29k streams, so this one is not on a lot of people's radars just yet. "Ash."
Sweet homemade video. "You love me, I believe you, please don't say it anymore" is a great line. Completely unassuming stuff, but the lyrics work and the underlying tune is gently pleasant. Nothing to sell as the greatest album of all time, but it really is nice.
Katy Kirby - Cool Dry Place. Her only album for now - and it sounds really great. She came to ACL last year, although I couldn't make her show. Edges into rock and roll at times, but frequently keeps the gear shifted down into a more chilled singer/songwriter zone. Not a ton of streams on Spotify, but a few tunes crack a million. "Juniper" has 6.8 million.
The first touchstone I smell there is Courtney Barnett - clever lyrics delivered over winding little guitar tunes. I've only had green chartreuse, maybe I need to try the yellow that she is using in that cocktail. Maybe it will be less harsh. The difference between weeds and herbs, are flowers." Lovely. I also really like the vibe of the title track, the light little way that she sings "keep me, keep me" reminds me of the Von Trap kids singing like coocoo clocks. But it is a really great-sounding song. I like this one.
Leon III - Antlers in Velvet. This is another one that came to ACL last year, and was notable because the band includes people who founded Howler Brothers clothing company. Which is dope as hell. I want to be the dude who got wealthy making overpriced but extremely cool clothing for bros and now has time to make sweet psych rock beauty. Dammit. The best song, bar none, is the almost ten minute epic opener, "Fly Migrator." I've needed to review this album and move past this for a long time, but every time the album starts and that sweet reverb-soaked track slides into my ears, I'm entranced again. If you hate jam bands, then that song will not please you, but I find it delicious. But the top song per streaming is the third track, "The Whisper is Ours," with 58k streams.
Psych rock meets pedal steel goodness. Has a My Morning Jacket echo that I dig. I really enjoy this album as well. Cool stuff.
Zach Bryan - Boys of Faith. I have wasted a lot of your time, dear reader, with discussion of this dude. So, I won't go too deep into any of that here, other than to mention my middle kid is begging me to buy tickets to see him in San Antonio later this year. Also, I'll note that he got some shit when this little album was released, because he put it out on the same day as his buddy Charles Wesley Godwin, and because ZB is so massive, he sucked all of the air out of the room instead of letting his boy have a day to himself to release his own thing. All of that aside, I will say that these songs are pretty good. Better than a lot of the other stuff he's been shoveling into the ether. He's got Noah Kahan on one, and Bon Iver on another, and just in general, I feel like these songs are pretty fun. The stream counts on this are nuts. The Noah track is the hit with 71.9 million streams.
The unchained feel is also a good time. Feels like one of those they could jam for long periods of time on stage together. The opening track, with its driving beat and good storytelling about Zach as his dad's pool hall protege, is fun time. "Deep Satin" just sticks in my head, mainly the chorus line where he sings "Friend of the Devil, by the Dead" and how that is what his/her friends want him to be. Dig it. Short little disc, which I think honestly works better than his overbloated 30 song discs. Just do this little guy 10 times a year instead!
Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, The Water, The Sky. Love the band name, with I liked the music more. I just started writing this up because I literally just looked up from the e-mail I was reading with the thought of putting on some music, even though this album was currently playing. That is not a good sign. And I feel a little bad about it, because I actually think that this sort of reverby, shoegazey, alternative rock is up my alley, but for whatever reason this isn't hitting for me. Kind of a Cowboy Junkies vibe at times, but with a more modern sheen like a Mitski jam. Top track is "Nobody," with 335k streams.
Yeah, that is a really pretty song. Annoys me not to be enamored with this, but I'm just not. Feels like she is for sure going to come to ACL now that I said that.
Model/Actriz - Dogsbody. I read an article in Rolling Stone talking this band up like they were the saviors of rock and roll, but I find this way too abrasive and unpleasant to be something I'd ever want to hear again. I was kind of digging the bass on "Slate," but "Amaranth" just made me grimace and look out the window. Sort of a Nine Inch Nails vibe of soft/loud transitions and dance drums with distortion and gnashing of teeth happening over the top. Absolutely not for me. "Crossing Guard" is the top track with 970k.
Not my thing, and no thank you.
Wilco - Cousin. Wilco is a band that I have longed to love, but just have never fully been able to fall for. They have some good songs back in the day, but the unwavering critical humping of that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album always confused me. It was fine, but not like top album of all time to every Pitchfork (RIP) writer. This one just keeps up the same shaggy, pleasant indie rock thing - beautifully and quietly meandering through 10 songs that generally bleed into one another. The one that keeps making me look up has a really weird parallel in my mind, not sure if anyone else will hear it, but "Evicted" has the cadence in the beginning of it that makes me think of "Raspberry Beret." I feel like I could easily fit in "I was working part time at the five and dime, My boss was Mr. Mcgee, He told me several times that he didn't like my kind, 'cause I was a bit too leisurely." It's the top song here, so you can tell for yourself. 2.2 million streams.
Also, those are Jeff Lynne's guitar licks and you need to give them back. I don't hate this album by any means, but it is just another entry in a long line of albums by Wilco that I have really tried to dig and then left feeling underwhelmed.
Lil Wayne - Tha Fix Before Tha VI. Speaking of an artists who's best days are long behind them - Lil Wayne hasn't released anything essential in like 15 years. He definitely keeps at it, you can't fault him for trying, but there is just nothing on this album that sticks in the slightest. At least five repeats in, and I couldn't tell you a single good hook or especially interesting beat on here. The top track is "Kat Food" with 13.8 million streams.
Just a completely generic set of boring bars. There is just no way that I will remember anything about that song in five minutes. That beat could have been used so much better by someone else. This is a hard no for me.
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS. Something about Rodrigo makes me feel wrong. Like, this is my kid's diary that I am reading through, or like I am spying on my kid and her friends as they talk about their lives. Which is weird, because I have never felt like that with other confessional music things like Taylor Swift or whoever. Something here just hits differently. So much confession and story-telling tho. For me, it is definitely the loose rock and roll tunes that make me enjoy this the most. Because what makes this so fun is the reckless abandon of yelling along to things like "IT'S SOCIAL SUICIDE!" and the lyrics of "all-american bitch." That last song is a great intro to the album - super basic but extremely fun riffage, Rodrigo vacillating between childish screaming and angelic singing while jumping all over the possible lyrical map. The chorus of "bad idea right?" is cracking me up. This is deeply fun music. Without looking, I was trying to consider what would have the most streams, and I came down on either "vampire" or "pretty isn't pretty," but that second thought must just be a personal preference because it comes in at the second-least streamed on the album. I like it though. "vampire" has 703 million streams and some well-placed cuss words.
One thing it does really well is transition from a tender piano ballad into a danceable beat, and yet still destroys this guy with her lyrics. When she last toured through Austin she played the tiny Moody Ampitheater, which meant that only 5,000 people got to go. Which is jenky. I'm sure it was fun for those select few, but I hope she gets put onto the ACL poster or otherwise swings back through Austin for us. I'd go, and I know my daughters would be down for it.
Tyler Childers - Rustin' in the Rain. Speaking of things my girls inexplicably love more than expected... I put "In Your Love" on a playlist and while it was playing in the car I got a very serious - "turn that up right now please" - from the backseat. I read a Tweet or Skeet or something the other day complaining that he's getting so much recognition for that song when he has so many other songs that are significantly better songwriting. Which, sure, but getting a rocketship song on the charts just gets more folks to go back and listen to the old stuff and realize what he has back there in the catalog. My main beef with him right now is that the last time I saw him live, at last year's Two Step Inn, he was straight-up boring. He apparently refuses to play the old classics like "Feathered Indians," and just had no stage presence at all as he meandered through some gospel-tinged tunes. Which is exactly what I hear on songs like "Space and Time" on here, just a slog of a country-tinged doowop tune. I like the title tune though, as it's got some verve and gumption to it. "In Your Love" crushes all the others on stream counts - like almost 10x the second-most streamed tune.
I really like some of those individual lines, stuff like "team of mules pullin' hell off of its hinges." I had no expectation that the video for this song would feature two miner dudes making out. I figured the new-found Christianity wouldn't have room for that sort of thing. Maybe I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt here. Also, that little piano trill after that line I quoted up above is hilarious every time I hear it. Sad fuckin' video, Tyler. Damn. That hurt my heart a little bit. Couple good tunes in here, but the full album isn't a keeper.
Royal Blood - Back to the Water Below. More of the same from these guys, and that is a good thing in my opinion. I've seen them live a handful of times, and after the first one (where you realize, wait, all those sounds are really just made by two dudes?) you learn that this band will bring the powerful thumping catharsis each time they take the stage. Their last disc had a little too much pop ambition for me, but this one generally leaves that behind in favor of pure riffage. The funny one is the Beatles-esque (but it also makes me think of that band Jet) "There Goes My Cool," which pops up out of no where and throws in a psych-ish ballad tune among all of the punishing rock of the rest of the disc. But this is a good return to form. Top song is "Pull Me Through" with 7.1 million streams.
A little extra instrumentation on that one with the piano before the usual assault kicks in. That lady's teeth are really gross. Remember that intense video for "No Surprises"? This felt like that for a minute, if it weren't for the random gallery of dopes collected around the car. Good disc.
Paramore - Re: This is Why. Completely unnecessary remix album of their last disc. Like, they have some cool collaborators on here, like Wet Leg and Foals, and then you can't even really notice those folks' presence on the track. Just a less good version of the song they already put out. Like, "This is Why" supposedly features Foals, but it just sounds like a light, meandering house re-imagining of the tune. Not at all like a Foals and Paramore collab. Really weird. Looks like the one with Remi Wolf ("You First") is the only one that has caught on at all. 5.2 million streams.
I guess that is more of a real collaboration. But still, I'm sticking to my guns in finding this an unnecessary addition to the Paramore sound. The originals are all better.
