Eyedress

One Liner:  Kinda jenky bedroom pop heavy on the new wave synths and basslines

Wikipedia Genre:  bedroom pop, post-punk, shoegaze, witch house (?!?), hip hop

Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 12
Both Weekends.
Saturday at 2:20.

AmEx Stage.

Thoughts:  Man, out of the frying pan and into the fire.  I just wrote how I wanted to move along from Valencia Grace to some other artist, but this is definitely worse.  His Spotify bio says he is a 5x platinum artist, but I don't see how that is possible.

Idris Ennolandy Vicuna is originally from the Philippines, but he moved to Phoenix when he was young.  Later, living in Orange County, CA, he joined a punk band Liberal Underground as their bassist.  He moved back to the Philippines when he was 15, and started releasing beats online by the time he was 20.  These tunes sound like someone raised on 80's new wave is making demos in their basement.  Wikipedia includes "witch house" as one of the genres for him - never heard of that.  It is apparently also called drag, and is described so: "a microgenre of electronic music that is musically characterized by high-pitched keyboard effects, heavily layered basslines and trap-style drum loops, while it aesthetically employs occult and gothic-inspired themes."  Mmmmkay.  This sounds to me more like old Cure and New Order if those guys never found a good producer.

Apparently, some of his tunes went viral on TikTok, during the pandemic.  His Spotify is very confusing, in that the first album included there is by something called Lofty305, but Wikipedia never mentions him using that moniker.  Instead, it is a 2013 EP called Supernatural that seems to be the first real release with this name.  2017's Manila Ice is the first real album, although none of those songs get much play.  2018's Sensitive G got a little more, but still most songs are under a million streams.  A 2019 single called "Jealous" was the big break, and is still his top streamer with 828.1 million spins on Spotify.

Yeah, okay, it isn't terrible by any means.  I can get with the vibe as I listen again, kind of a spoken word freakout with super lo-fi tunes.    That track was also included on the 2020 album Let's Skip to the Wedding, which included the other big TikTok hit, "Romantic Lover."  2021's Mulholland Drive has a nother big one, "Something About You" with 467.7 million streams.  Let's check that one out.

Smiths.  That one reminds me of the Smiths.  Just uninteresting to me.  Funny to me that the TikTok kiddie would blow up a track like this.  His next album was with something called YUNGMORPHEUS, 2021's Affable with Pointed Teeth, and it is very unpopular rap without any appreciable streaming action.  His 2022 album is with something called Natia, and it likewise went no where.  2022's Siblings with something named The Simps and zzzahara is same.  2022's THE HILLS HAVE EYES is yet another collaboration, this time with something called YL.  2022's FULL TIME LOVER has loads of different collabs.  Again, low streams though.  Finally, he released 2024's Vampire in Beverly Hills, a 34 song, hour and 19 minute pile of shoegazey new wave and shitty autotuned rap.  This one is called "Birkin."  I'm sorry.

I still don't know how he claims to be 5x platinum.  Maybe once you get a certain number of streams you get to act like you have a platinum record.  Either way, this ain't my thing.  Hope you enjoy!

Something Corporate

One Liner:  Emo pop punk that probably should have remained in 2002

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative rock, pop-punk
Home: Orange County, CA

Poster Position: 6
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 2:10.

Honda Stage.

Thoughts:  The lead singer of this band was here a few years ago, as Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, and I remember looking up what Something Corporate was because I had never heard of the band.  So, it seems like the lead guy tried other things before coming back to his old mates.  The band was formed in Orange County in 1998 and it sounds like it - sorta pop punk, sorta emo, sorta operatic alternative rock.  They went on hiatus in 2004 and the McMahon started a new band called Jack's Mannequin, but then they reformed in 2010.  It sounds like they didn't do much with that reformation, until they reunited their core lineup for the When We Were Young festival in 2023.  

Which is made obvious because their discography is super lame - 2002 album Leaving Through the Window, 2003's North, and then a 2010 Greatest Hits album.  I'm sorry, but if you have two albums, you do not need a greatest hits compilation.  At all.  That is horseshit.  I'm sure there are some 30 year olds who are pumped about this band coming to the Festival, but I am preemptively annoyed by them.  There is also too much stuff in here that uses string arrangements to sound pompously important and it is bothering me.

Top track is from that first album - "Punk Rock Princess" - with 24.7 million streams.

The piano cracks me up.  It's like The Fray tried to get harder edged.  Also, dude is wearing flip flops to sing in a pop punk band and play the piano?  Really?  I make fun, but that is a pretty solid early oughts sneering pop punk anthem.  I'm trying to think what I was really into in 2002 that would have kept me from even knowing this band existed.  I guess it would be The Killers.  Oh, The Eminem Show was that year, as was the O Brother soundtrack, Nellyville, Dave Matthews' Busted Stuff, Dixie Chicks' Home, Songs for the Deaf, Yoshimi, Lord Willin', Sea Change - some classics.  I think this was about the time that The Hives put out that one album that I wore out as well.  Well, this band's other big song is from that same album, called "I Woke Up in a Car," also with just over 24 million streams.  After that, the stream count falls off.  The biggest track from North is "Space," with 6.5 million streams.

Yeah, sure.  I can see how this would have clicked with me back then, but now it just sounds overwrought and like he's trying too hard.  The kind of band who would put out a greatest hits album to commemorate their two hits and then just stuff it with every song they had ever made.  I'll let this band do their thing without me.

Deyaz (2024)

One Liner:  Bummer tunes done in a lovely way

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - bedroom pop, bedroom R&B, depressingcore

Home: London

Poster Position: 26
Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 1:40.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts: This fool was here last year!  WTF man.

Deyaz is a tattoo fan who claims to be a "non-confined musician."  Whatever that is supposed to mean.  I mean, I know that it is likely supposed to show how badass he is because he can't be held into a single style - but then you listen and he's absolutely got a style.  So it just ends up being a dumb thing to say.  He was raised in London, a Jamaican/Syrian kid who shares too much over bedroom pop beats.  Before this solo thing, he apparently played the drums in punk bands in east London, and produced rap tracks.  I wish he was still doing one or the other of those things.

He taught himself guitar as a kid, learning Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains by ear.  These tunes do not sound like someone who claims that as their original background.  More like someone raised on Post Malone.  But he won a scholarship to study at London's Guildhall School of Music (which more than one source called "prestigious"), and turned that into this current melancholy sound.

His first album - 2022's WHY NOT has "Don't Leave, Don't Go" as the top single from that one, with 8.9 million streams (up from 6.9 million streams last year).

So simple and yet very powerful.  If you just stop and feel the emotion of what he has going on, it is really lovely.  At the same time, not sure how much I want some sad sack song like that at the Festival - I wanna jam out, brah.  His second-most streamed is "I'll Scream (All the Words)" which was a single with 4.7 million streams last year but since then made it on to his new 2023 album called TRANSPARENCY.  Well, there is a normal version now with 8.5 million, and then a remix featuring someone named Jessie Reyez that has 3.7 million.  This is that duet.

Sure.  That is pretty, and sad, and depressing.  And I don't really want to hear it anymore!  Some of his other songs are more upbeat in tone, like "Helpless," even when the lyrics are a bummer again.  I wouldn't go out of my way for this one.

Brittany Davis

One Liner:  Blind musician making hip hop-inspired jams and offbeat sounds

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but hip hop, R&B
Home: Seattle (via Kansas City, MO)

Poster Position: 19
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 2:05.

Tito's Tent.

Thoughts:  Well, here is a curveball.  Never heard of them before, but this is a blind, formerly homeless, non-binary, foul-mouthed, party-starting keyboard player and singer.  Just a string of words I never considered to be in my fingers.  Blind since birth, they were homeless after moving to Seattle when they were 14.  They say that they were having to figure out a lot then, like trying to play broken ass keyboards without being able to see them, but they love music so much that they just persevered.  They played in church as a kid, and says they loves gospel and jazz.  But these tunes sort of lean into a hip hop style.

Now they not only play in her own band, but they also play in a band called Painted Shield with Pearl Jam's guitarist Stone Gossard.  Never heard of that!  Need to check it out as well.  Into the queue with that one.  

One album, the extremely long 2024 release Image Issues, with an astounding 26 tracks.  Some are spoken word interludes, but still, that is a long ass album.  There is a very clear winner of the streaming game with "Sepricon," a funky ass James Brown-style track with 146k streams.

Makes me think of that Mystikal track that is like FEEL GOOD IN THIS MUTHAFUCKA!  They kind of have a beard in some images, but their voice definitely sounds more like a gal.  "Through the Motions" makes me think of Andre 3000/Outkast.  "So Fly" is fun.  According to their Spotify bio, they not only sing on the album, but they also make almost every sound on it and co-produced.  That is badass.

Nothing else in their catalog breaks the 40k barrier as of right now, but the closest is one of the first tracks, the title track from their 2022 EP called I Choose To Live.  39.7k streams.

There is an hour long documentary about them available on their website, but I'm not committed enough to go through that whole thing.  I think this is pretty solid music, and their (I have had to go back and fix the dang pronouns like 4 times in this post, dangit) story is great.  Depending on the schedule may be interesting to go see in person!

Goldie Boutilier

One Liner:  Shape shifting gal seeking out the winning formula in a pop-influenced alt country

Wikipedia Genre:  Alt County, Pop, Rock, Disco (quite a list there)
Home: Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

Poster Position: 18
Both Weekends.
Saturday at 1:05.

Tito's Tent.

Thoughts:  I was curious to search for this one.  That name could have been a very wide range of outcomes for what I was about to hear.  In the end, it is a kind of semi-country indie pop sound.  Real name is Kristin Kathleen Boutilier, and she is a Canadian singer, model, and DJ.  She moved to L.A. at 20 years old to pursue music, where she was discovered by Ryan Tedder who was part of OneRepublic.  The next chapters of her life are weird because of the shapeshifting she did.

She originally went by My Name is Kay, and back then she was very much a pop thing (and not a very good pop thing, you can still hear it on Spotify and it is trying sooooo hard).  Although she did get both Kurtis Blow and Pusha T to show up on different tracks, which is interesting.  The Pusha track is super dumb - she does her crappy pop thing for 3/4 of it and then he just tosses off a generic verse.  101k for the top streamer from this persona.

According to Wikipedia, she was fighting to get out of her label contract at this time and had to wait tables to get by and pay legal fees.  At the end, Interscope let her get out of the contract, but she was barred from using the name "Kay" anymore.  Which is so weird.  Is Interscope going to release a new artist with that jenky ass name?

Next, she was a DJ in Paris under the name Goldilox.  Her second album was released under that moniker and doesn't seem to have gone anywhere.  The top track has 3.6 million streams and is called "Sex Paranoia."  Not good.

But with this new iteration of herself, she is aiming more for slightly poppy alt country stylings and a concentration on her voice instead of slick production.  Gone is the bad pop and bubblegum image, as well as the electronic beats and sexy image, now we are down to a pretty curly haired gal in a dress.  13 total songs on Spotify, and the top one is from the 2022 EP, the title song of Cowboy Gangster Politician.  5.9 million streams.

Has a Fleetwood Mac feel to the vocals to me.  Pretty little ditty.  "Pretending" makes me think of Miley Cyrus singing like Margo Price.  "The Actress" makes me think of Neko Case, but a little breathier.  In addition to the music, she has been featured in several modeling campaigns and also modeled nude for the French edition of Playboy.

She claims this version of herself was inspired from digging through her parents records, which I like.  I would love for my kids to discover the great music lurking around in my old stuff.  After that initial EP, she released another in 2023, called Emerald Year.  Not any big track from there, but the top streamer is "Penthouse in the Sky" with 564k streams.

All I seem to be able to do with this one is compare her to other things - this one has a Lana Del Rey meets Daft Punk vibe.  Meh.  None of this is either great or terrible, it just kind of bops along in the middle.  I've listened all day and nothing has really grabbed my attention.  Probably wouldn't bother with it.

Valencia Grace

One Liner:  Unmemorable pop singer with a nice voice that can Adele at times

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but pop

Home: Oxford, England

Poster Position: 16
Both Weekends.
Saturday at 1:35.

IHG Stage.

Thoughts:  Another one that I am stopping my work to bang out the review because I just really don't want to hear this anymore.  It isn't awful, kind of a combination between Adele and Lana Del Rey, but there is a sameness to the songs and a lack of excitement in the underlying tunes that is leaving me very uninterested.

A weird development with some of these young artists - no Wikipedia, zero bio on her website, her Spotify bio says "hope you hear your story," and the first page of google results about her have no background/interviews/bios/whatever.  My guess is that I am expected to watch TikTok videos or review her Instagram to figure out what she is about, but that is just weird.  A website called famousbirthdays.com has the most info of all, calling her a TikTok content creator with more than 2.5 million followers.  She apparently auditioned for Britain's Got Talent.  She is the 53,955th most popular person on that website and was born on June 24.

No albums.  A few singles and one EP.  Her top tune, "There I Said It" was a 2022 single that has the Adele sound.  1.3 million streams.

I think watching some Spanish-language songs on YouTube has jacked up my algorithm - the ads I am getting before videos are now sometimes in Spanish.  Great voice - not trying to diminish her talent at all.  Just kind of a boring backing song in the background.  No other song cracks a million for her, but "It Was You" comes close with 932k.

I promise she has songs that aren't about breakups.  Another one where her voice is remarkable - lovely sound and strength to it - but I promise that in three days when someone goes "hey, any recommendations from what you've been hearing for ACL recently?" I will not remember this one in the slightest.

Zach Person (2024)

One Liner: Blues rock goodness in the vein of Gary Clark Jr.

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, Blues rock
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: 25
Weekend One Only.
Day: Saturday at 12:05

Tito's Tent.

Thoughts:  Cool stuff - this guy is legit.  Getting a Gary Clark Jr. vibe from this - bluesy rock stuff.  It's not the same at all, he uses drum machines on some of these tracks, and his guitarwork isn't nearly as volcanic, but its in that same wheelhouse.  He was last here in 2021.

He was on American Idol in 2016, and even played Gary Clark Jr. for his audition tune.  He made it to the top 50 on the season, and then got cut.  From one article I read, it sounds like he used to play as a three piece, but during the pandemic slimmed down to just him and his drummer.  He says he grew up in North Carolina, then in Houston.  He claims inspiration from John Mayer as well, which I can see.  Kinda bluesy but also rock-based and catchy.  In that American Idol video, he can jam on the acoustic, and has a lot of confidence.  Three yes'es from the judges - pretty damn good.

His second-most streamed track is "Can't Stop Running," with 136k streams.  His eyes are freaking me out.

That video is awesomely bad.  Like, made for $300 in a friend's art studio in 30 minutes bad.  But I still love it.  And a good tune - got some guitar fireworks and a catchy jam.

Two albums, starting with 2021's Zach Person.  On the cover, he's in a swanky bathtub with a tumbler of drink in his hand, looking all sort of relaxed and nonchalant.  He's not getting just a ton of streams - most of his tunes have less than ten thousand.  Which is a shame - I think this is very enjoyable.  His fourth-most streamed is "Send Me Away," with 53k streams.

Huh - I had no clue that those drum sounds were being played by a live human.  Thought that was just a drum track when I listened before.  But another rock tune steeped in the blues and dripping with a slinky soul.  Dig it.  That guitar solo is tight.

Since then, he released 2024's Let's Get Loud, and has a bigger hit on his hands.  "Muddy Water" currently has 319k streams and so it wins his streaming wars.  Freaking good too.

Definitely is not angling away from the Gary Clark Jr comparisons with that sound.  That guitar tone is freaking bad ass.

Unfortunately, his poster position likely means he'll be playing the crappy early slot.  Maybe we'll get up there in time to see him, but that seems like too early for Saturday.  We'll see - I definitely think he's worth checking out if you are going to be there.

Elyanna

One Liner:  Arabic pop that is otherwise pretty generic

Wikipedia Genre:  alternative pop, Arabic pop, Arabic traditional music, urban

Home: L.A. (via Palestine)

Poster Position: 12
Both Weekends.
Saturday at 4:20.

Tito's Tent.

Thoughts:  Elian Marjieh is a Palestinian-Chilean singer originally from Nazareth.  Her music sort of sounds like a Shakira/Rihanna sort of Carribean pop thing smashed up with Arabic pop that I only really have experience with because of the Bend it Like Beckham soundtrack, but then the lyrics are in Arabic?  A little English here and there.  Wikipedia says she was the first artist to sing in Arabic on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, so I guess that is right!  Her brother is her pianist, producer, and creative director, while her sister is her stylist.  Keep it in the family!  She and her crew moved to San Diego and then L.A. when she was fifteen, to pursue her musical dreams, which seems to be working out.

Two EPs, 2020's Elyanna and 2022's Elyanna 2 (original ass names!) and then one album with 2024's WOLEDTO.  Not just a ton of stream count, but she has one that has gotten up over ten million.  "Ghareeb Alay" has 10.4 million streams.

Apparently translates to "strange to me," although I have no clue what the lyrics overall have to do with anything.  She sure is purty though.  That track was from her second EP.  The top track from the new album is "Callin' U (Tamally Maak)" with 4.1 million streams.

Little English in there to mix it up!  Super generic lyrics though!  And then back to Arabic so that I don't know what is happening.  I don't expect that I would go watch this thing at all.  I just honestly hope that there isn't any sort of stupid protest or freakout over her being Palestinian and on the stage.  That would be annoying.

promqueen

One Liner:  Overly cutesy pop/rap in both English and Vietnamese

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but hip hop, pop
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: 24
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 12:05.

IMG Stage.

Thoughts:  I was really hoping that this was some sort of sarcastic naming convention and that this would be a heavy rock band using the name ironically.  No such luck.  It is also hard to find stuff about her online - Wikipedia thinks I want to know about a song by Angerfist.  Google thinks I want a song by Beach Bunny or Molly Kate Kestner (or several other people).  Prom Queen, where it is not one word, is a whole other band that also comes up, who have an album named Doom-Wop.  But I finally found her website - saypromqueen.com - to find out that I wasn't just hearing her use a different language, but that she is a second-generation queer Vietnamese pop/rap artist based here in Austin.  She claims to be a cocktail of Rosalia, Missy Elliot, and Doja Cat.  For me, I will say that she is a cocktail of "I Don't Want to Hear This Anymore."

Two albums - 2023's szn one and 2024's (wait for it, you'll never guess!) szn two.  Very few streams on any of this - most songs do not list any streams at all, and only one breaks the 10k line.  "out of my head" is from that first disc and has 14,760 streams.  655 views for this official video too.  

Like, some of that is not English, right?  Can't tell if she is just hard to understand or if that is partially in Vietnamese.  The overall vibe I would give this is a sort of cutesy pop.  Maybe that is what Doja Cat sounds like, I have tried to avoid her music, but it feels extremely disposable to me.  That is rude, and I am sorry for feeling that way, but it is also the truth.  I don't see that this one is going to blow up into the next Beyonce.

Obed Padilla

One Liner:  Beatmaker using some good ones on himself

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but rap, hip hop, R&B

Home: Oceanside, CA?

Poster Position: 26
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 11:55 am.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  Kinda fun!  According to an article I read, at one point he was dead broke, making beats for other people and living off of what he could make for those beats.  That is kind of wild.  But there is very little written about this dude online - no Wikipedia, and other than that one short interview, not much else out here.  Seems weird.  I think he is from the San Diego area though.

Biggest track is "Through Tha Night," with 2.5 million streams.  A 2020 single.

That initial beat makes me think of Mac Miller, and the whole tune makes me think of those bopping Anderson.Paak tracks.  Sorta unmemorable, but if you just immerse yourself in there as you listen, it is fun to bop with.  "Chicano Poetry" is his most recent single - 43k streams for now.

More like a Kanye/Common vibe in this one.  Smooth as hell for that first verse.  I'd honestly prefer the sound of the rap chunk over the singing in the chorus.  This is pretty solid stuff - I've just let it play for hours and been enjoying the vibe.

Godly the Ruler

One Liner:  Art-noise-type aggravating rap and post-punk emo singing dreck

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is rap and post-punk-emo
Home: Chicago

Poster Position: 25
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 11:55 am.

Miller Lite Stage.

Thoughts:  Ugh.  The ACL lineup over the years has forced me to listen to things like this before, and I resent them for it.  Mostly, this is the kind of thing where it sounds like a rapper collaborated with a free noise art app to make the least pleasant things he could come up with and rap/scream over.  Like he thinks he is Tyler, the Creator, but just super is not.  Then he also does those sorts of emo post-punk guitar things like that awful Travis Barker protege who was here a year or two ago.  Kenny Hoopla.  The Spotify bio says he is Nigerian born and Chicago raised.  Not quite as awful as that Death Grips thing from last year, but in that wheelhouse.  I want it to stop.  

The best things in his Spotify are when it is someone else's song and he just appears to mess it up.  My work computer is not allowed to access his website because it is blocked.  That is scary.  Real name is Godwill Oke, and he apparently went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison.  He built his own home-studio setup in his room when he was 14 years old and spent hours teaching himself how to produce things.

His first few tracks, back in 2020, are unformed little minute long messes.  "Mortal Kombat" actually has a pretty tight beat and flow over it.  But less than 20k streams means it never went anywhere.  No real albums, a couple little EPs that collect prior singles, and that is it.  The top streamer is a 2023 one called "call and i'll answer."  491k streams.

Sorry that Kenny Hoopla ruined any sort of crappy auto-tuned emo guitar rap move for me, but it is the way of life.  Hard no here.  Here is "supernova," with 233k streams.

I'm sorry you have to go through this, but I did, so now you're stuck getting this garbage shoved into your brains.  I hope you recover quickly.  Luckily, because he is in tiny type at the bottom of the Saturday lineup, he'll be hitting the stage around noon and I won't be there!  Good luck!

Joe P

One Liner:  Straight-forward guitar rock that sounds great, despite the weak name

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is rock and roll

Home: Asbury Park, NJ

Poster Position: 16
Weekend Two Only.
Saturday at 11:55 am.

Miller Lite Stage.

Thoughts:  I'm sorry, but that is an annoying artist name.  You gotta come up with something better than "Joe P" or you don't get to come to ACL anymore.  This guy is a fun listen, I've pretty much just kept it going for three days and gotten way behind on my work through the poster.  Kinda Pete Yorn-ish, which is a compliment in my mind.

Before being Joe P, he was in a band starting in 8th grade, Deal Casino.  He did a year at Berkeley in Boston before dropping out to figure it out on his own.  But his band dissolved at the start of the pandemic.  So, stuck in his basement, he started playing around with making music on his own and uploading it to TikTok.  Within a few months he had 300k followers on the TikeddyTokkity and millions of views for his videos.  I am pretty sure I have heard his top song before, I guess on the radio, but it sounds familiar.  "Off My Mind" has 39.2 million streams.

I sort of feel bad for the big black ball of death.  I feel like it just wanted to be his buddy but he was not nice to it.  But very good tune - nothing ground breaking but solid stuff.  "Fighting in the Car," also from that debut album, 2021's Emily Can't Sing, is also a tasty nugget.  No other albums since then, a 2022 EP called French Blonde, and then some singles that make it look like a new disc is coming soon.  The top track from the EP is "All Day I Dream About," with barely over 4 million streams.

Fun video and another good track.  Again, nothing super new or original going on here, but just good driving guitar music and lyrics.  "Birthday baby (The Girl With No Smile)" is weird, because the song cuts off at one point every time I play it, and Spotify puts up a little error message.  Strange.  He also does a good cover of Zeppelin's "Going to California" and another solid one of Springsteen's "I'm on Fire."

If you feel like taking 30 minutes to check out his horror movie that he made - I'm not going to stop you.  It also features four of his songs, so it is sort of a music video as well?  Odd stuff.

I watched about a minute, but ain't nobody got time for all that.  If you watch it all tell me how it goes.  Anyway, I'd absolutely go check this out.  Definitely enjoy.  But 11:55am!?!  Morning set?  That is jenky as hell, y'all.

Uncle Jumbo

One Liner: Kiddie hip hop action

Wikipedia Genre:  Kiddie
Home: Louisiana?

Poster Position: 27
Weekend One Only.
Day: Saturday

Thoughts:  His Spotify bio has a quote from the Houston Press saying that this sounds like if Prince made a children's album.  I can't go quite that far here, but it definitely has a nice little sound for the kiddos.  he has FYUTCH on one track, he was a kiddie rapper who was on the bill last year.  Honestly, "Roly Poly" is catchy, totally has me boppin around.  That is his top solo track.  20k streams.

ROLLIN AROUND!  "Uncle Jumbo is a Texas born son of a Disco and Reggae DJ, who got his start, as a four year old, playing accordion with touring Zydeco bands on the front porch of his Aunt Helen’s house in Louisiana. After spending years blending the grooves of Hip Hop and Soul, new inspiration struck deeply when he heard the first rhythm of his daughter’s heartbeat. Soon after, Jumbo and family held tightly to music as a way of bringing hope and healing to their home, when his daughter was diagnosed with a rare liver disease at birth. This led to the evolution of Jumbo turning his musical focus into creating heartfelt, uniting and jammin’ music for children everywhere, in an effort to help raise generations of positive, loving people."

Jam on, Uncle Jumbo! 

The Tiarras

One Liner:  Local trio of sisters singing in English and Spanish

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is world music, indie rock, other genres I don't

know the names of.
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: 25
Weekend Two Only.
Saturday at 12:05.

Tito's Tent

Thoughts:  Before the first notes even play, I am guessing these are sisters.  YES!  I know things!  Tori, Sophia, and Tiffany Baltierra are sisters "pursuing sound without restrictions."  The Tiaras were a Canadian soul group from Toronto, but this band threw an extra "r" in there to become their own thing.  Actually, they used to be The Tiarra Girls, but recently switched because they are becoming women.

One of those discographies where I have been listening for a few hours but have for sure heard the same songs multiple times.  10 total songs on Spotify, and some are fully in Spanish.  Apparently, Tori is the singer/guitarist, and she decided to pursue music in third grade when she saw a teacher playing the guitar.  Born and raised in Austin, and their dad was apparently a DJ who listened to any and all types of music.

No real album, just a handful of singles.  "They Don't See Us" is the top streamer by far.  506k streams.

Even when the music is not in Spanish or sounding like Mexican traditional music, as it sometimes does, you still get a little edge of Latin flair in there.  This one is kinda funky and I like it.  They definitely can get more explicitly Hispanic, like in their second-most streamed tune, "Soy Chingona," with 100k streams.

Handy that they start the video with a definition, as I was just about to go find a definition and give it to you.  A Chingona is an empowered mujer.  She a bad bitch, yo.  Weird though, because google translate says that this means "I'm cool."  Quora says it means I am awesome.  Weird.  Also weird, they tell the important guy on the courthouse steps that they aren't leaving, and then they immediately run back to their car and drive away.  You are sending mixed messages, ladies.

I have honestly enjoyed listening to these tunes, despite the portion that is not in English.  Pretty good on the instruments, good voices and harmonies, I dig it.  I doubt I will be there at the noon hour on Saturday, but this is kind fun.

Being Dead

One Liner:  Crunchy, fuzzy, local psych rock goodness

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but psych rock, surf rock, weirdness
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: 24
Weekend Two Only.
Saturday at 12:05pm.

IHG Stage.

Thoughts:  Wow.  Speaking of people throwing back to a classic old sound, this is spot on 60's psych rock action over surf guitars.  Incredible harmonies and fun fuzzy guitar.  Even though I was just complaining about some other band ripping off the past in an uninteresting way, I freaking dig the hell out of this one.  Also, a little weird that they are behind Promqueen on the poster when their songs have significant streams and promqueen has nada.  Bull.

Being Dead is a book by Jim Crace, published in 1999, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and was selected by the NYT as the Editor's Choice of the Year.  The film version stars four people I have never heard of.  But otherwise, Wikipedia doesn't know them.  But their PR company's description of them is very interesting.  Even though there are three people in every photo, they claim that this is an Austin, TX duo consisting of Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy.  Their Spotify bio says it is a duo made up of Falcon Bitch and Gumball.  So, Falcon Bitch is definitely in the band, that is for sure.

Handful of singles prior to the first album, 2023's When Horses Would Run.  Really a fun album - could have come from 50 years ago or yesterday for sure.  The top streamer is "The Great American Picnic," with 393k streams, but several others have more than 100k and two more have more than 200k streams.

Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy are not very nice to those who are smaller than them!  Look's like they were the KUTX artist of the month at one point and did a live jam for the station in Studio 1A.  Check the vibe.

"ONWARD!  BUFFALO!  According to the video description, Ricky Moto is that extra person playing bass, but then they say that both Falcon Bitch and Gumball each play guitar, drums, and vocals, so you get no closer to knowing which is who?  Oh wait, they announce!  The lady is Falcon Bitch!  Now we know!  But what I am realizing is that I need to figure out when to just go see these two weirdos around Austin sometime.

The current single of their upcoming album Eels is called "Firefighters" and according to something I read, it is apparently told from the perspective of a Dalmatian who is overworked at their fire station.  38k streams and all the fuzz pedals.

She sounds vaguely Australian.  That tune rules.  I'd absolutely go see them, but since they are weekend two only (booooooo) it looks like I need to find them elsewhere in Austin before the Fest!

The Criticals

One Liner:  Strokesian, loose, enjoyable rock and roll

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia - rock and roll

Home: Nashville

Poster Position: 22
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 12:40 (ouch).

Honda Stage.

Thoughts:  Love to hear a Nashville band that has nothing to do with country music.  These guys are doing some Strokes-ian rock and roll action and it is pleasing to my ears.  Not much written about them, but it is two guys who apparently played in other bands in Nashville in their teens and then came together to give this action a shot.

Their first EP has a gross sounding name to me - feels like a douche name - Mimosa Hygiene, released in 2019.  But, it has their top streamer on it, so I guess people are okay with douching with Mimosa Hygiene.  "Treat Ya Better" has 4 million streams.

A little disco flavor in there.  Gives off a Rolling Stones vibe to me.  After that EP, Sour Grapes was released in 2020 but got little to no traction.  The 2022 EP Habits to Break got a little more action, with one of their only other tunes with more than a million streams.  "Absinthe"

Is there like a certain microphone that the Strokes used that everyone else now uses to make their voice sound that way?  Either way, I kinda dig the vibe here.  Not breaking any ground with these songs, but I've been playing them pretty much all day and enjoying it.  I'd go check it out.

ACL 2024: Schedule is OUT!

Which, I really shouldn't be too excited about because it just means I have to go back and re-do every post to note when they are playing, but it means we are edging ever closer to me being able to slap all of this into spreadsheets to that you can use those to figure out your pathway through the park!  Yeehaw!

Schedule | Austin City Limits Music Festival (aclfestival.com)

This is also a good time to notice that they have added multiple new bands to the Friday lineup!  None are anything I have ever heard of or anything, but more music is a good thing!  More Friday reviews to come for sure.

Also, some observations about the first Friday.

• WTF is Catfish and the Bottlemen doing at an early afternoon slot?  They are on the eighth line of the poster and have great songs, and yet they are below tons of unknowns?
• Carin Leon at 4:30 is also a surprise, since he is the top non-headlining artist on the poster.
• Foster the People vs. Leon Bridges is lame.  Since we don't care about the size and power of the band for the slots, can we just put Foster at 3?
• Looks like I'm grabbing dinner at 7!
• Two things left to review on that day!

First Saturday Thoughts:

• They did all the aspiring rappers dirty, putting PawPaw Rod, Obed Padilla, and Godly the Ruler all at noon.  They also shanked Zach Person with that same slot.  Weak.
• Honestly, now that I look at it, they did all the up-and-comers wrong here.  Friday has ten bands before 2:45 (and one is Asleep at the Wheel), but Saturday has 15 bands before 3!  Packed the house for that early college football spot.
• Pretty weak day for me overall, would have been good to have some of those randos in the mix so that I'd have something new to try out - like Geese or Sawyer Hill.  Jungle vs. Vince Staples is hard though.

The Beaches (2024)

One Liner:  Poppy garage rocking ladies

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative rock
Home: Toronto

Poster Position: 10
Both Weekends.
Saturday at 3:20.

T-Mobile Stage.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2019, which I did not recall, except that some of these songs really rang a bell.  But, since they were last here, they have released another album that angles more into pop and less into the garage rock that colored their early stuff.

The early stuff is surprisingly awesome garage rock from a foursome of ladies hailing from Toronto.  You'd be excused for thinking that one of their most popular early track is the Strokes with a deep-voiced lady taking over for Casablancas.  This is "Fascination."  3.4 million streams on an EP called The Professional from 2019.

I'm sure they are already super sick of any comparison to any of the other all girl bands out there, but this one, especially the drumming and guitar, reminds me of the GoGos, or like a less-hard Donnas.  But this stuff is pretty solidly fun and good.  "Snake Tongue" just made me look up from what I was doing and check the name of the song.  "Desdemona" has a disco rock tilt to it.  And one line (in "T-Shirt") has been running through my head all day, because she said "itty bitty titty committee," which is an amazingly descriptive and titillating line.  But the tunes are catchy and driving rock.  I dig it.

So, the band is four ladies from Toronto, most of whom originally played in a pop punk band called Done with Dolls.  The band name isn't a play on bitches, but instead is the name of the Toronto neighborhood where two of the ladies grew up.  The band's 2017 album was produced by the folks from Metric.  They won Breakthrough Group of the Year from the Juno Awards, and got picked to open for the Stones in their only Canadian stop in 2019.  They later won Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year in 2022 as well as the 2024 Juno Award for Group of the Year, so they are well-regarded in Canada!

Not surprisingly, the track with my favorite line is their most streamed early tune - "T-Shirt" has 8.2 million streams.

Pretty solid, even before that line about the itty bitties.  The harmony vocals, the good groove, and the good holler-able chorus about not giving back his sweaty t-shirt.

I've been through their tunes twice now and it is a great transformation.  The truly early stuff from 2014 is definitely their weakest - you can tell they were still feeling out their identity and weren't quite so confidently ready to rock out.  The 2017 album is confident and fun.  Then the 2023 album shows them breaking out.  Sometimes I thought that maybe the lead singer was actually a dude - her voice is definitely at the lower range, but I like it.

Confusingly, the name of the 2023 album - Blame My Ex - is what it sounds like when they are singing the first, and most popular, track on that album which is called "Blame Brett."  Maybe they are?  I feel like they are tricking me.  57.4 million streams.

Ah, by looking at their lips I can see they are saying both!  Hooray for paying attention!  Wikipedia says that track went off on TikTok, leading to its popularity and high stream count.  Dig the lead singer playing the bass.  I don't know why but I always like that move.  Trying to think of other bands that do that - Primus and the Police for sure, Royal Blood (but he makes it sound like a guitar so I'm not sure that counts).  Whatever.  Looks badass.  "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Paranoid" is cool, and I love the tempo and spacey 80's guitars in "Me & Me."

I'd go see this.