Rainbow Kitten Surprise (2025)

One Liner: One of the worst names in rock makes great rock like old Kings of Leon
Wikipedia Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock.
Home: North Carolina

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 4
Day: Sunday

Both Weekends

T-Mobile Stage at 4:15.

Thoughts: Last here in 2017, and I got to catch their set both weekends.  Although the poor guys got so sweaty during the weekend one show I thought they might shrivel up and die right there on stage. They are pretty great.

I mean, their name is just terrible.  It truly is.  An early leader in the clubhouse for worst band name to recommend to a friend.  Unless that friend is an eight year old girl, in which case, she is probably instantly a big fan.  Until she hears the music and realizes it is a Kings of Leon-esque blues rock band (only thinking the first two KOL albums here) and not a Katy Perry-fronted band of My Little Pony cartoons.  Weak name aside, the music behind that weak name is great.  If you were a fan of the early Kings of Leon, you could very easily get confused after a few songs into believing that you are listening to an unheard, old KOL album.  The vocals match, the underlying tunes match (especially the guitar part), it really clicks to that comparison.

Amazingly, if you had found these guys waaaay back in the day, you could have potentially spent $300 to back their new album on Kickstarter and then received an in home concert in exchange.  I mean, how amazing would that be?  I know these guys aren't Springsteen or anything, but a single concert ticket these days is likely more than $300.  To get a show in house with all of your friends for only $300? Would have been pretty rad.

They've got four albums, 2013's Seven + Mary, 2015's RKS, 2018's clunkily named How to: Friend, Love, Freefall, and 2024's Love Hate Music Box.  That new disc hasn't gotten much traction - the majority of their popular tracks are from the older discs.  The second biggest streamer, from the 2015 disc, is some prime-time goodness.  "Cocaine Jesus" has 211.4 million streams.  Here is a live (not quite acoustic, but stripped down) version.

That lead singer has got more beard and chest hair than I could grow in a month of Sundays.  Real talk.  He could braid those two suckers together and, well, uh, like severely hurt his neck because he was always looking down and stuff.  Whatever, Richard.  I actually got to meet him at SXSW many years ago, after a short show at Weather Up over on the east side.  Seemed very cool, and their show is high energy and very good.  

But before we continue, I should probably retread a little on that statement up there, because the lead singer (Sam Melo) has since transitioned and taken on the name Ela Melo.  So, instead of being that exceedingly hairy bro you can see in the screencap above, she is now a lady lead singer.

The top track from the first album is "Devil Like Me," which cranks up 180.9 million streams, which is pretty solid.

I've watched that video before.  Freaking depressing man.  But another really good tune.  I like these guys a lot.  But that doesn't even reach the newer two albums, and that third album is where they got even bigger.

By the way, the band formed in Boone, NC after the guitarist and lead singer met at Appalachian State University.  Wikipedia says the name came from a friend who had recently recovered from a serious illness.  Which, uh, huh?  It sounds like he just made up something random on the spot: "But before one open mic night, they realized they needed a name. They turned to a close friend who'd just been through a tough illness.  "We were just like 'Okay, we gotta sign up, Noah, what's our name?' And Noah's like, 'Rainbow Kitten Surprise.' 'Are you positive about that?,'" Melo recalled."  Now, like Hootie and the Blowfish before them, they are stuck with it.

The third album, entitled How to: Friend, Love, Freefall likewise seems to show they suck at naming other things. What the freaking hell is what supposed to mean? Did Noah get sick again and just blurt out those words too? It's like the lyrics to a Migos song, just stream of consciousness silliness jammed together. Can't you hear it in a Migos cadence? How to (huh?) / Friend Love (skkrrrt) / Freefall (mama!).

If I'm being perfectly honest, this album isn't as good as their prior albums. I want to keep loving it, because I genuinely liked the concerts and their old music, but I've made my way through the album a good number of times and I'd say there are some good bits, but not an excellent whole offering. When I reviewed it in 2018, the top song was one called "Fever Pitch," but "It's Called: Freefall" has now crushed that song entirely with 582 million streams.

Reminds me of Modest Mouse for sure. "Even the devil needs time alone, sometimes" is a fun lyric. Weird ass video. But I really like it when the song kicks in - I wish that was longer. Regarding "Fever Pitch," the funkiness of that tune is fine, as is the bit when he says to "simmer dooooown." "Holy War" has more of a plodding sound that reminds me more of something Blue October would release (and if you know me that is not a compliment). I dunno, but its actually been growing on me. The whole album actually has - my original review I wrote (before another 4 or 5 streams of the disc) was much less complimentary of the album. "Hide" sounds like the classic RKS that I like, old King of Leon tunes. I'm not saying the album is bad, because it's not, but many of the songs just ease on by like two warm innings of at bats in a 14-2 summertime baseball game. When you try to remember them later, you know you were at a game, but you don't recall those individual tries. But the more I've been through it the more I want to go back and do it some more.

But now the new disc - I didn't even know they had a 2024 album. From the stream count, it looks like no one did. The tune with Kacey Musgraves tops the stream count on the 22(!?!?!) song long disc, but I'm going to give you the second-most streamed to avoid the borrowed popularity. "Superstar" is the only other tune with an 8-digit stream count at 14.1 million.

They show a guy playing the drums, but that sure sounds like a drum machine. Meh. It's not a bad song, but I liked the grimier old stuff instead of that type of over-produced thing. Of course, I just heard it a fourth time and it is starting to grow on me. I wonder if they will play a poppier show based on the new album instead of the old jams. Looks like they will not - I pulled up their most recent setlist (from Alaska!) and the show was 23 songs, and only 3 were from the new album. Good news!

The bad news though is that this show is at the same time as Wet Leg. Which is some bullhonkey. ALL OF THESE CRAPPY THINGS ON SUNDAY EVENING, AND YOU COULDN'T SEPERATE THE TWO ROCK BANDS?!?! Seriously annoying. Put Polo & Pan's goofy ass up against Wet Leg, y'all! That is crap.

Chuwi

One Liner: Spanish stuff from Puerto Rico
Wikipedia Genre: Tropical
Home: Isabela, Puerto Rico

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Day: Sunday
Weekend One Only.

BMI Stage at 3:15.

Thoughts:  I want every song to start with a Chewbacca roar, like the little MuzzyOnABeatHoe thing that DJ Mustard does.  Sadly, this is all in Spanish and with a heavy salting of Auto-Tune, so it does absolutely zero for me.  I would actively prefer silence.

Chuwi is apparently an electronics manufacturer headquartered in Shenzhen, China.  Maybe that is who sells me all of the weird crap on Amazon with seller names like HIJOPLAY and JUNIFUN.  Interesting that they would start a band that sings only in Spanish.  Actually, this is a Tropical band formed in Puerto Rico in 2019.  Their very limited Wikipedia says "The group grew up in the context of the protests in Puerto Rico in the wake of Telegramgate since in their lyrics, they vindicate themes such as the independence of Puerto Rico, migration and gentrification, among others."  I was unfamiliar with Telegramgate, and honestly wish that we didn't feel the need to just add -gate to the end of things just because the Watergate was named the Watergate.  This was a scandal involving the Governor of Puerto Rico, when his Telegram chat messages were leaked to the world.  I gather they were not very nice.

It seems as though the reason we know about these folks now is that they are featured on a Bad Bunny song called "WELTiTA."  That song has 328.3 million streams.  The top stream for these dudes is "Tikiri" with 2.1 million.

There you have it.  A song by Chuwi.  I hope that you found pleasure in it and it makes you excited to go see them jam it in person in a few months.

Aaron Page

One Liner: R&B that is deeply on my nerves
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, R&B
Home: Houston

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 26
Day: Sunday
Weekend One Only.

BMI Stage at 12:15.

Thoughts: I know you have seen me be dismissive and annoying about R&B before, and I'm sorry to this guy and to all of the big time R&B fans out there, but I just have to turn this off.  I have a ton on my plate at work and it is making me deeply annoyed to have this echo-laden, soft-falsetto, electronica R&B beating my earholes in.  It must stop.

Here is what a terrible webpage says about him: "Moving seamlessly between R&B and Hip Hop, singer songwriter Aaron Page has the confidence and the ability to forge an incredible path in the music world. Growing up in New Haven CT and now based in the epicentre of the music industry Houston, Tx, has been spreading his wings far and wide.

Inspired by Michael Jackson, Kanye West, Drake, Usher and Bryson tiller, these seminal artists barely scratch the surface when it comes to the music he creates. Deep, luscious with a sentimental touch that speaks to love, losses, and wins with a touch of romance, Aaron recently dropped the instantly recognisable Lord Knows in 2024 which exceeded all expectations.

Tender and soulful vocals sit atop a deep enthralling beat and a warm embracing bass. This is music that is liquid, heartfelt and intelligent all in the same moment. Undeniably setting a standard for others to follow, his ambition to pour himself into every single release is paying dividends. The freedom to express his innermost feelings through the medium of song delivers an extraordinary sonic palette that all can enjoy.

Trusting in himself to use his real name, Aaron is a musical Page turner. From one beat to the next, he is bringing his best game to the recording industry who are looking at him with increasing admiration."

Even that write-up sucked ass.

Top song is "Lord Knows." 950k streams.

For sure the best of this batch.  I promise the rest are much worse.  He also has a song called "Pretty Girls Like R&B," and "Make Up" is one of the ones that is offending my brain.  Godspeed to you all.

Polo & Pan

One Liner: Very French electronic music
Wikipedia Genre: house, electronic, tropical house, deep house, world, synth-pop
Home: Paris

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 3 (!?!)
Day: Sunday
Both Weekends.

Miller Lite Stage at 7:15.

Thoughts:  You always wonder about the sliding doors of music.  Would Jay-Z have been a megastar if Biggie and Pac had lived?  Would Dave Grohl leave Nirvana to create the Foo Fighters without Kurt Cobain's death?  Would one of the bands sidelined by COVID at their inception have become the biggest band in the world?  What if a huge pile of folks had lived - Buddy Holly, SRV, Janis Joplin, Duane Allman, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, etc. etc.  It was the first of these that popped into my head this morning in the shower while listening to these guys, but that last name also brings up the same point that had me thinking.  Because if Jerry Garcia had lived, and the Dead kept churning out more of their signature sound, then would the legions of copycat artists floating in their wake have ever existed?  Interesting to think about.  

Anyway, this group sounds to me like what happens when Daft Punk refused to keep making music.  Daft Punk were a French electronica duo that quit in 2013 with their very-well-regarded Random Access Memories.  This group is a French electronica duo that released their first album (EP?) in 2014.  And, like Daft Punk, this is not the EDM of the majority of the artists on this poster, building towards a drop and thrumming with bass.  Instead, this is sort of sexy, sort of groovy, the kind of thing that a smart-dressed Parisian would be playing from their Vespa as they insouciantly weave through traffic with a cigarette smoldering in their mouth. That is not always true, some of these build and bounce like regular EDM, but I find the less generic ones infinitely more interesting.  "Canopee" is a good example of that, or "Peter Pan."  I always wonder about electronic duos though - what is the second dude doing while the first one is twisting the fake knobs and moving the little fake switches up and down.  Do they both act like they are doing something after they click play?  Or does one act like he is the one in charge while the other just does the "pump it up" gesture?

I make fun, but I have actually enjoyed this more than the other EDM on this poster.  They do a cover of Pilot's track "Magic" that is great, even if the commercials for Ozempic have now ruined that song for me.  Four albums - 2014's Dorothy, 2017's Caravelle, 2021's Cyclorama, and 2025's 22:22.  The top tracks are both from the 2017 album, with the #1 song being "Canopee" with 146.9 million streams.

Le Honhonhon!  Je temps le pommes de terre!  Je danse nue pour toi et ton petit champignon grandit et explose avec ta fleur brillante mais ensuite un arbre t'a mangé et j'étais déconcerté!  In other exciting news, canopee means canopy.  Was hoping for so much more...

I won't do the #2 song, since it comes from that same disc.  Let's go to #3, which uses native American chanting for some reason, and is from the 2021 album.  "Ani Kuni" has 62.5 million streams (well, that is for the edit, the full version has another 52.6 million itself).  I believe this is the edit.

A Native American hymn originating from the Arapahoe tribes living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming, according to Wikipedia.  Righteous.  I bet those native homies didn't know how to add a sick ass beat that sort of sounds like that one Madonna song!  This was their top hit on the charts, rising to #10 in France and charting on something in Belgium called Ultrapop Wallonia chart.

Probably a no for this show, but if they had a 2pm show I could go just lounge to while waiting for friends to show up, I would wear my beret and sip red wine while lounging in the splendor.

The Dare

One Liner: LCD Soundsystem-esque party pop
Wikipedia Genre: Dance-punk, electroclash, electropop, new rave, indie rock
Home: NYC

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 9
Day: Sunday
Both Weekends.

Miller Lite Stage at 3:15 (how you gonna put party music at 3:15?)

Thoughts:  I have an uneasy relationship with LCD Soundsystem.  I think their initial popularity grated me the wrong way, and so I was ready to dismiss them immediately, and then I sort of caught some of the bug and allowed myself to jam out to some of the tunes.  And then I saw their ACL taping a few years back and was like, meh?  I have documented my ambivalence for them here, back when they came to ACL a few years back.

Well, this is not that, but it is a damn good facsimile.  And, I actually like it.  Made me wonder if the name he uses for the band is because someone dared him to make LCD Soundsystem sound-alike music when LCD supposedly retired a few years ago.

Harrison Patrick Smith used to perform as Turtlenecked - indie music he put together after he graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Portland.  Pitchfork and NPR both said nice things about Turtlenecked.  He moved to NYC and kept doing his thing, even after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, teaching at a private school as he did his thing.  But, during the pandemic, he was goofing around with electronic music to send to friends and play around with funny lyrics.  As a riff on the Rolling Stones' album Some Girls, he wrote "Girls."  He tried playing it at a Turtlenecked show, and even thought it was totally different than the usual indie tunes for that band, he noticed that the crowd was into it.  62.3 million streams.

Unhinged and funny stuff.  Girls who hate cops and buy guns?  And the girls with hairy asses?  NPR named this the fifth best song of 2022, and Smith's response was to call it a rejection of the last five years of music.  Good times though.  Since then, he's gotten to open for Charlie XCX and Yves Tumor.  He helped produce one of the songs on brat, called "Guess."  I never got in to that album, at all.

Just one album, 2024's What's Wrong with New York?  None of the other songs are nearly as huge as that one, but "Good Time" makes the best attempt at 7.1 million streams.

That one is another party anthem, but it has a little darkness underneath the party, like you're trying really hard to have that good time but underneath you are really having a terrible time and wish you could go home.  I think it is the chorus sounding more like NIN than LCD, but the breakdown freakout is pretty fun.

Honestly, sounds pretty fun for a show.  Which is sort of funny, since I just crapped on the Sammy Virji guy for sounding like generic EDM when this guy is pretty dang close to the same, just with better lyrics.  I'd party.

Lamont Landers

One Liner: Soulful belting from an Alabama gingah
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but soul, southern rock
Home: Decatur, AL

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 18
Day: Sunday. 
Weekend One Only.

T-Mobile Stage at 12:45.

Thoughts: Listening to this fella has been really weird, because he appears on a single called "Ms. Mocha," by an R&B crooner named Wade Brown, and so each time that song keeps popping up in the playlist, my brain does a hard left and is like "oh wait, this guy is D'Angelo?"  it is very offputting.  Because his normal music is pretty dang soulful, but it still sounds like a white dude cranking out the soul through the red hair coifed atop his head.

He started playing the guitar as a teenager, and then appeared on America's Got Talent.  Dude looks terrified.  Not sure if it is the glasses or the paleness, but 

I think he was trying to be something he is not on that show - dude is a soul singer, not a pop thing.  Prior to that appearance, a cover of a Ray Charles song had gone viral and gotten him a taste of fame. But it was a cover of "Rubber Band Man," reposted by Questlove, that got the attention of Dave Cobb and a label signing.  His first single available on Spotify is a cover of "Love and Happiness" that sounds legit.  1.6 million streams.

He has a 2018 self-titled EP, but otherwise nothing but singles.  I assume that an album is on the way, as he has two recent singles where the newest one also includes the earlier one on the single (which is annoying to me).  That newest one is kind of fun though, "Oh Shit! (I'm in Love)" with 54k streams so far.

Those horns - any good soulful rock song with horns added gets my attention.  I also like how you can't really tell that he's cursing in the chorus unless you know the title of the song.  Sounded more to me like he was singing "she" instead.  Kind of an Alabama Shakes vibe there.

I'd go watch this guy.  I wonder if he might be better suited for a smaller environment, rather than a huge field, but still, this is enjoyable...

Joey Valence & Brae

One Liner: Wanna-be Beastie Boys sound like fun
Wikipedia Genre: Punk rap, rap rock, nerdcore, experimental hip-hop, electronica
Home: Pennsylvania

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 10
Day: Saturday
Both Weekends.

Beatbox Stage at 3:30.

Thoughts:  Huh.  They are really failing the world with that group name.  When you see that name, what do you expect?  Some sort of indie bedroom pop?  Joey plucking gentle riffs on his guitar while Brae sings wistful lyrics about lost love.  NOPE.  This is a hip hop duo from Pennsylvania making angry rap action.  I hear some Beastie Boys and some Pharcyde and some House of Pain in here.

Strangely enough, that isn't even a real name.  Joseph Bertolino (Joey Valence) and Braedan Lugue (Brae).  The two met as freshmen at Penn State and after becoming friends started making music together.  Their first single dropped in 2021, but their big hit landed in 2022 as a single.  "PUNK TACTICS" has 152.6 million streams.

Apparently filmed entirely on a Nintendo DSi.  Ridiculous and silly, and yet its pretty damn enjoyable.  They released a 2023 album named after that track.  This is going to be a fun show, I think.  The Internet says that they do a really high energy show with backflips and moshpits.  Perfect for the kiddies who haven't been getting enough fun rap stuff on the poster.

Funny thing, after deciding that I liked this and was excited about it, I played it for wife and child #3 yesterday in the car.  You know how when you play music for someone else, after you have claimed it is good, and then you start really listening closely to it?  You really shouldn't do that with these two goobers.  It's fun music that would be a good time at a festival, but it's not something that will ever be critically acclaimed or something to impress your middle-aged wife with.

The top track off of their 2024 album is called "OK" with 15.9 million streams.

Man, if you thought the video shot on the Nintendo was bad... But again, you get some more Beasties-lite action.  Yeah, I'd absolutely go and bop along to this mess.  It's bound to be a good time.

The Backseat Lovers (2025)

One Liner: Utah boys making loose rock jangles

Wikipedia Genre: indie rock, alternative rock, folk rock
Home: Utah

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 5
Weekend One Only.

Saturday.

T-Mobile Stage at 6:15.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2021, but way down the poster back then.  They've risen considerably, which is only surprising because normally rock and roll is dying and not rising.  But literally last time they had one of those kiss-of-death 1:45 on Friday afternoon slots.  Now they are somehow on a higher billing than Modest Mouse?!

Digging it.  Finally, a little rock and roll in the poster.

Their bio on their management website gives this background story: "The band started when Josh [Harmon], having heard of local drummer Juice Welch, introduced himself and asked if he wanted to start a band. They immediately started working on arrangements for some of Josh's songs. Later Josh met lead guitarist and vocalist Jonas Swanson while waiting in line for an open mic at the Velour in Provo city. Neither of them got on the list to play that night, so they sat on a park bench outside the venue and played their songs to each other until they ran out of stuff to play. Josh invited Jonas to come down and play with him and Juice. It was that night that Out of Tune, a song Josh had been holding onto since he was 16, came to life when they arranged it as a group."  That tune has a couple different versions on Spotify, but sounds like a good early example of who they were.  29.2 million streams.

The dudes look like they are 16 years old.  Their sound is kind of a Kings of Leon/Strokes sort of thing.  And there is someone else that their lead singer reminds me of, but its not coming to me right now.  Someone I like, who has that same rough-edged voice at times.  He's almost got a Brit sound to him - kind of like the singer from Travis.  A little bit of that dude who was supposed to come to ACL but then bailed and I was very sad, uh, the "Hypersonic Missles" guy, uh, Sam Fender!  Thanks Google!  NO!  It just hit my brain like a lightning bolt - this guy reminds me of Benjamin Booker!  Another dude I discovered through ACL Fest.  Super good.  Anyway, after forming, they won a battle of the bands contest at a Provo, Utah venue.

Their first album - 2019's When We Were Friends - is pretty solid - I think their guitarist is legit.  One song off of that album has exploded - two other tunes crack 100 million streams, but then "Kilby Girl" is out there with 413.1 million streams.  

Yeah buddy.  Jangle those jangly guitars right up into my jangle spot.  "Intuition" is a good track too, with a cool tempo change.  "Heavy" is a good one too.  I'll give you one more, their second-most streamed at 156.6 million.  "Maple Syrup" (although this is an acoustic version, on a sailboat, with a pretty sunset going on in the background).

It's hard to see his mouth, but it feels like the music doesn't match the video, which would seem impossible to do.  Either way, a nice version of the tune.

After that, one more album, 2022's Waiting to Spill.  Interestingly, at least to me, only two tracks from that disc have made their way into the band's top ten on Spotify.  I guess people just dig the first disc.  For me, not sure why.  I mean, nothing here is as catchy as "Kilby," but it is still a solid disc of rock and roll pleasure.  Maybe its a little more chill overall, but I still enjoy.  "Growing/Dying" is the top streamer with 24.3 million spins.

So, I have a plant on my windowsill in my office that exemplifies that really well - seems like it is always an inch from death before another little leaf pops out.  I got the plant after it protected President Joe Biden one time.  Which sounds very strange but is entirely true.

I'd absolutely go see this show.  Hell, if they played an aftershow one night, I'd be up for going to see them in a smaller venue.

Chance Emerson

One Liner: Spicy Flannel Rock!

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but like an indie pop

Home:  Concord, NH (via Taiwan/Hong Kong)

Poster Position: Late Addition
Day: Friday 
Weekend One Only.

Ladybird Stage at 2:00

Thoughts:  For the first time that I can recall, when I searched for this fella, the top biographical result is an article by his high school - St. Paul's School in Concord, NH.  Class of '18.  It notes that he is/was a third-year computer science and archeology student at Brown University.  A fascinating dichotomy between the past and the future with those majors.  He also calls his music "spicy flannel rock."  I'd say it sounds like what an American Idol contestant makes after coming in tenth (and no, I don't think he was on the show).  He split his childhood between Taipei and Hong Kong before moving to the U.S. for high school (as a "Third Former," in the description from his school, although I dunno what that means and don't care enough to look it up).

Two albums - 2020's The Raspberry Men, 2023's Ginkgo - a handful of EPs, and an appearance on that Bebe Stockwell album that I just listened to earlier today.  Another bio claims that he is a descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which is pretty slick.  But probably more important to him right this minute, he won second place in the John Lennon Songwriter's Award from BMI in 2023.  I was trying to find other winners that I recognized, but no such luck without serious digging.  Top track is "House We Share" from the 2023 album, with 2.6 million streams.

His description of the song was that this song is about how attentive and wonderful at tending house he was when his relationship started, and then how that slipped as the relationship melted.  I guess I missed the part where he stopped making three course meals and chopping firewood.

His second-most streamed is from his first release, and EP from 2017 called The Indigo Tapes.  "The Wandering Mind" has 1.7 million streams.

[extreme Italian voice] Thatsa spicy flannel!  It is fine.  I don't dislike it by any means, it just feels to me like a nice little space filler that was added to the poster after the bookers realized that they needed to fill some more time.  I am always hoping for a big time addition here at the last minute, but usually it will be more like this fella.  I'm probably good.

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

One Liner: Raucous but fun punk rock from a pack of Aussie girls
Wikipedia Genre: riot grrrl, punk rock, post-grunge
Home: Canberra, Australia

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 21
Day: Sunday
Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts: Hell of a band name right there.  Also, I wonder who decided just how many r's should go into the genre name for "riot grrrl"?  Two seems like it would have gotten us there, and four seems like it could have been a fun option.  Three would not have been my first choice.

This foursome was formed in 2015 by 15 year old girls who went to school together in a suburb of Canberra, Australia.  When I was eight, I got to visit Canberra, the lovely capital of Australia.  I recall absolutely nothing of it, other than when we were on the road from Sydney to Canberra a flock of sheep took over the entire highway and we had to wait for the shepherds to move all eighty billion of those sheep out of the way for our big ass tour bus to continue.  Anyway, the band released their first single in 2019 and was named as a Triple J Unearthed feature artist.  Pretty sweet for a bunch of teenagers.  Since then, they've gotten to open for the Foo Fighters (2023) and Pearl Jam (2025).  That would have been funny if I had already seen them before, but they were not on the Austin bill.

My first comparison was Wet Leg, probably because I have been listening to a lot of Wet Leg.  But as I have kept going in this catalog, I think I'd compare it more to The Beaches (here last year) or something more punky like Cherry Glazerr (who was here a few years ago).  It's good fun.  A 2022 EP called Pretty Good for a Girl Band and 2 2023 album called I Love You (which includes the songs from the earlier EP).  So, not a ton of output for a decade-old band.  The top track is on both of those - helpfully titled "AHHHH!"  5.1 million streams.  And again, why four h's?  Is there a proper number of h's to create the sound of screaming?  Wouldn't more h's add to the allure of that song name?  I don't know.

That seems like an excellent song to yell along to at the top of your lungs while seeing this band live.  Pogo jumping all over and yelling WAHOEWAAAAOOOHHAAAAAWWW! over and over.  Good fun - and the breakdown and riffage at around 1:38 jams.  Rip it up, little teenage Aussie bras.  "Girl Sports" is a good one too.  The second-most streamed is "I Used to Be Fun," with 3.5 million streams.

"I used to be fun, until they took my car away."  Stupid parents, man.  They don't understand.

Yeah, this band is a good time.  Even if their name is a mouthful that will be hard to say correctly when I try to remember what I recommend in a month and someone asks, but it is fun business.  WEEKEND TWO ONLY IS BOLLOCKS!!!

Disco Lines

One Liner: EDM

Wikipedia Genre: Future bass, deep house, trap
Home: Boulder, CO

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 8
Both Weekends.

Sunday at 5:15 on the Miller Lite Stage.

Thoughts:  I am hopeful that the stage name here is about cocaine.  That feels like it tracks, right?  I am a big fan of his Wikipedia entry though, because it contains a total of about 50 words.  Which also seems correct - generic EDM guy that no one will remember in a year?  Sure, why write a lot about him?

Thadeus Francis Labuszewski was raised in Colorado and attended CU Boulder.  He started making EDM in high school after hearing a Skrillex album.  He appears to have a ton of songs on his Spotify, but I am 90% sure I have been listening to the same one for the past few hours.  First single was 2019's Honey.  Biggest early hit was a remix/cover of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" with something called Cassidi singing.  Biggest hit overall is the 2022 single "Baby Girl" with 204.7 million streams.

Sure.  I could groove to that.  No albums, just singles.  Also no other song with more than 100 million streams.  Closest one is a 2025 single called "No Broke Boys."  92.5 million streams.

Features something called Tinashe.  I suspect that is the lady in the forefront of that image above, who needs a new t-shirt.  Google's jenky AI agreed with my idea that this stage name is likely a play on the act of consuming lines of cocaine.

Also, and of course because I am about to cite Reddit, who knows if there is any truth here, but apparently this guy doesn't even really do anything on stage.  "Last week I saw a DJ who’s been blowing up on social media, namely TikTok and Instagram. His name is Disco Lines and he’s gotten a ton of traction on a few of his remixes and songs and was playing a party I went to.  Dude gets on stage and straight up plays 4 songs in a row that the opener had played 30 minutes before him. Just your generic EDM hits, like pepas, pursuit of happiness steve aoki, you know the drill.  I go up near him and I see that sync is on his controller. I ask him if he plays his sets with sync on and he’s like yeah and laughs."

So that I could understand, the "sync" button is apparently a feature in DJ software that automatically synchronizes the tempo and beat of two tracks, so that you can create a seamless transition between the two.  Many folks see that as cheating because you are not showing any DJ skill - the machine is doing it all.  

Not that any of this really matters - people aren't going to these EDM shows because they want to see a guy creating something.  They just want to watch a guy or gal pump their fist in the air, act like they are tweaking knobs on a sound board, and get the crowd hype.  He's probably great at it!

Hans Williams

One Liner: Yummy, vibey Noah Kahan-esque tunes
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie
Home: New Orleans (or maybe back home to Vermont?)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Sunday
Weekend Two Only.

T-Mobile Stage at 12:45.

Thoughts:  "Eeeh! Sorry Hans, wrong guess. Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change?"

My first thought when I saw the name wasn't actually Hans Gruber, it was that this was the guy who wrote the Star Wars and Indiana Jones theme songs.  But that was wrong.  I was conflating Hans Zimmer (Lion King, Dune, Gladiator, Pirates of the Carribean, Dark Knight trilogy, and many more) with John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T. Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, and many more).  THEN, about halfway through his first song I had to look and make sure I hadn't accidentally played Noah Kahan instead of this fella.  

Dude is from Vermont.  Maybe everyone from Vermont sounds the same?  A bio I read said that he started making music in the third grade and would hand out CDs after school.  Which is hilarious.  I would have taken one and thrown it so hard at some kid waiting for his mom, I'd still be in trouble in middle age.  He got some tunes on Spotify and had more than a million streams before graduating high school.  He moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane and kept at it, writing his first hit about a student on his dorm floor who committed suicide.  Heavy shit.  Thankfully for my brain, that is not a top track.

No albums, just one 2024 EP called More Than One Way Home.  The hit from that one is also his second-most streamed track overall - "Skin" has 23.6 million streams.

Bro.  Is that the same field and house that Noah Kahan is standing in front of on his Stick Season album cover?  Vermont-ass weirdos.  Only one house in that state.  Anyway, very pleasant little indie bop right there.  Good vibe.

The bigger tune is a 2022 single called "All is Well," and you'll notice that he keeps the style rolling over time.  53.4 million streams.

Dude looks 14.  But another cute, little strummy nugget of pleasant indie.  Also, I want to go wander around that ferny little gully with him.  That looks nice.  Also, wonderful set of lyrics - the "if I get overwhelmed, I'm sure you'll never know, keep it to myself, all is well" bit of the chorus hits home.

I threw this on in the car just now, and the kiddo and wife agreed with my NK comparison.  But also, it helped to realize that some of the top songs are different for sure - like "93" has a drum machine beat going on in the background of the guitar.  I like the organic things better.

I'd go check this out - too bad it is weekend two only!

DJO (2025)

One Liner: One of the Stranger Things actors making good psych and indie rock.

Wikipedia Genre:  neo-psychedelia, indie rock, psychedelic rock, synth-pop
Home: L.A. (born in Massachusetts, college in Chicago, but he's bound to live in L.A. now, right?)

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 2
Both Weekends.  

Saturday.

Ladybird Stage at 7:30

Thoughts:  He was supposed to come in 2022, but he actually bailed at the last minute.  On Insta, he shared a cryptic message saying that an unfortunate last minute scheduling conflict is causing him to miss.  But it was a month and a half prior to the Fest.  What is last minute?  You've got a month and a half to get it fixed!  But, since then, he has grown significantly in popularity.

Before I understood who this was, I was slightly confused.  Here was my digging into that in 2022... Always fun to have someone like this on the poster, where I get to find out that Djo is a Portugese futsal player, DJO is a manufacturer of medical devices (headquartered in Lewisville, Texas!), DJO High is Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School (high school of Eric Metcalf!), Djo d'Eloy is a Cape Verdean singer (whose greatest song is "Arriola"!), Djo Mpeko is a footballer (a defender for the Girabola!), Djo Tunda Wa Munga is a film director (winner of the 2011 MTV Music Awards for Best African Movie!), AND HE IS ALSO THE OLDER BROTHER IN STRANGER THINGS!?!?!

Of all the things I did not expect to happen today, way way way high on the list would be to click on the listing for Djo and see that it is the stage name for Joe Keery's music career, when he is not starring as Steve Harrington in Stranger Things or the movie Free Guy or the fifth season of Fargo (as a super psycho Sheriff Deputy).  Fascinating.  He went to DePaul University and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.  In his musical career, he apparently started out by releasing music under the name Cool Cool Cool, but then became a guitarist for a band called Post Animal for a few albums.  According to one interview I read, he said that the fame from Stranger Things made that weird because the rest of the band didn't want to just be the "guy from Stranger Things" band - but they've stayed friends and he's gotten their help on making his solo album.  In 2019, he started releasing music under the Djo name.

And you know what?  It's actually pretty solid!  Kinda low key indie psych rock.  Think super basic Tame Impala.  One song, which I have heard in the interim on the radio a good bit, is for sure the megahit with 1.58 BILLION streams.  Damn.  "End of Beginning."

Good, chill, nugget for me.  I dig the groove.  Part of me wanted to come to this post with the angle of whether or not he would have gotten this far on the ACL poster if he wasn't the Stranger Things guy.  Like, would he have separated himself from the other indie rock out there without that slice of pop culture notoriety?  Almost like a nepo-baby thing, but instead of a famous mom, being cast on a wildly popular show.  But after churning through these songs for a day, this is legitimate.  I dig it.

Well, then I have to say that the 2020 single "Keep Your Head Up" is not my favorite.  Too much falsetto, too much saxophone, too much squelchy synths.  The stuff from the 2019 album Twenty Twenty is much better.  The second most streamed tune from that album, called "Roddy," has 102.4 million streams.

Pretty good tune - nothing particularly stands out in there, but good guitar and vocals and a nice little groove.  The synth voice thing in the middle, straight out of Ferris Bueller, is a little weird, but otherwise it is a solid tune.  "Chateau (Feel Alright)" is the other big song, with 142.9 million streams and a similarly woozy rock sound.

Nice chill tune.  Brings me some Beck vibes.  "Mutual Future" has some Strokes vibes, but also some jam band guitarage near the end.  "BNBG," with its ridiculous outro of repeatedly saying "babygirl," is a massively cringe inducing moment.  "Personal Lies" kicks in with a pop rock swagger, but then devolves into a spacey meander.  I like it.

After that disc, you get 2022's DECIDE, which includes that mega-hit posted up above.  Nothing else on there comes anywhere close to that level of excitement.  The top song otherwise has 33 million streams.  Finally, you get 2025's The Crux, which is pretty good as well.  The title song has a Beatles piano ballad vibe to it.  The bigger song is "Basic Being Basic," but I like "Delete Ya" much better.  20.4 million streams.

Again, nice groove to go with a catchy tune.  Sort of a The Cars vibe in there to my ear.

I'm in.  A little shocked at that decision with where my head was pointed when I started this, but I like it.

South Arcade

One Liner: Very catchy pop punk action
Wikipedia Genre: pop punk, alternative rock
Home: Oxford, England

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Day: Saturday
Weekend Two Only.

BMI Stage at 1:30.

Thoughts:  Nice to be pleasantly surprised as I troll around the dregs of the poster.  Not that many songs really, and so I feel like I've heard some of them five times in just the last few hours.  Regardless, the mix of alt rock and a poppy vocal is kind of fun.  Like, you know how Linkin Park added a new female vocalist to take Bennington's spot?  This is like if Britney Spears took over the singing duty and didn't try to scream her way into it.

No actual albums, just singles and a few EPs.  The biggest track, by stream-count, has played several times, and I always look up from my work and notice at the same time.  It made me laugh out loud a few minutes ago to realize I had done it again.  "HOW 2 GET AWAY WITH MURDER" has 9.1 million streams.

At first, for me, those voice effects are a turnoff, but then I get caught up in how damn catchy that pop punk flavoring is.  It's that throwdown around 2:25 that catches me up every time.  

The band itself is from Oxford, England and was formed in 2021 at university in Guildford.  They apparently named themselves after a sign they saw in a shopping mall called Westgate Oxford.  They released a few singles that got a little traction, but then their band rehearsals at BBC Radio 1's studio went viral for some reason on the TikketyTok.  Their own cited inspirations?  Avril Lavigne, Gwen Stefani, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park.  Maybe that is a better pull than Britney - this is like if Stefani was brattily singing for Linkin Park.  Sometimes, I hear Miley Cyrus as well (like on "Supermodels").

This one is the biggest streamer from their 2024 EP, "2005," with 8.6 million streams.

Tasty, crunchy riffs will open the door to me anytime.  And so even when those vocals get a little too cutesy, I'm still over here biting my lip and nodding along.  I spent all weekend out in North Carolina, enjoying some nice weather and good company with some friends.  These songs kept popping into my brain - they are just super catchy for my brain!

The Bends

One Liner: Kings of Leon-esque rock and roll from LSU Tigers
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is rock and roll
Home: Baton Rouge

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 20
Day: Sunday
Weekend Two Only.

BMI Stage at 5:15 (they get the top show for that stage, interesting)

Thoughts:  I saw a great license plate the other day that said SWMPOND and decided that Swim Pond is a pretty great band name.  Brings to mind summertime innocence and cannonballs and sun-dappled coolness in nature.  That obviously has nothing to do with this band, but I absolutely immediately think of Radiohead when I see this band name.  No way not to.

But, this is not a Radiohead band at all.  This is The Kings of Leon, if the Kings of Leon were from Baton Rouge and only had four songs.  Also of note, Earl Sweatshirt and Mr. Bungle also had songs called The Bends.  Sort of makes me laugh to think that maybe Radiohead named their hit after a Mr. Bungle song that came out in the same year.  But having a name that sounds like a hugely popular album makes it harder to find information about these bros.  Also, there is a Radiohead tribute band called The Bends (the "Midwest's premier Radiohead tribute band"!), which similarly makes this harder.  Looks like there are other tribute bands using that name as well.  

But these dudes met at LSU with two childhood friends linking up with two other fellas to make rock and roll.  They got notoriety playing college bars and whatnot, selling out the cool-ass venue there called The Varsity.  The top song of their extensive four-song catalog is "Makeup."  2.2 million streams.

Stone cold KOL from the first lick.  I like it though.  KOL is a great band to get compared to!  Maybe they will release an album by the time they come to town - sort of reminds me of that West 22nd band who was at the Fest last year and was pretty solid.  I'd go check this out.

Ted Hammig and the Campaign

One Liner: Like a college town bar band broke loose to bring old school rock and roll back
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is classic rock and roll
Home: Fayetteville, AR

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 26
Day: Saturday
Weekend Two Only.

Tito's Tent at 1:00.

Thoughts: Aaaaaand the award for the worst band name on the poster goes to .....

Very strange, hitting play on the first song makes me feel like I am listening to one of those Yacht Rock playlists where they try to go crazy deep into the genre and you are hearing songs for the first time (when your goal in clicking on that playlist was to hear Steely Dan and Michael McDonald classics).  According to the Fayetteville Flyer website, Fayetteville musicians such as these fellows are having a HUGE moment right now.  Definitely, as indicated by this band being the absolute last one on the poster for Saturday.

The band started up right at the worst possible time - March 2020.  They were doing masked shows with the social distance thing going on, so they were definitely stubborn about it all.  Ted says that he had been writing songs for a long time but couldn't find people to play with him, so he put out a solo album in high school where he played all the instruments himself.  he also says that they play rock and roll with emphasis on the roll.  Ugh.  But he also says that this is intended to be classic rock and roll.  I agree.

Also, if you have never been to Fayetteville, it is dope.  I was really hoping that the boy would end up there for college, but he picked Knoxville instead.  But it is a great college town with a lot of cool character and outdoors stuff.  I dug it.

Two albums - 2022's Out of Context and 2024's Shouting in Small Rooms.  Two songs in their catalog have more than 10k streams.  Several songs on the albums have no recorded streams.  But honestly some of these tunes are cool.  "Drive With Me" comes on like some long-lost Stones track being played by a Black Crowes cover band.  But "Give Me a Call" is the top streamer, and from the new album.  12k streams.

You hear that yacht rock flavor I mentioned?  The problem with choosing to go see these guys is that their show will likely be at noon on Saturday.  "Walk Away" has a little reggae-ness and sounds like it was maybe an early track from when they were just learning.

Probably not.

Shallowater

One Liner: WEST TEXAS DIRTGAZE
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but Brooklyn Vegan said "slowcore, post-rock, alt-country, ’90s alt-rock and emo" which is quite a lot.
Home: Houston

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 26
Day: Saturday
Weekend Two Only.

T-Mobile Stage at 12:45.

Thoughts:  Shallowater, Texas is a tiny town with less than 3,000 people up near Lubbock, Texas.  However, this is a Houston band who called their music West Texas dirtgaze.  I really like that description, because I'm hearing some shoegazey sort of elements, but also some grimy, dirty rock and roll as well.  Like, if Neil Young asked Hotline TNT to back him up on some new tunes his nephew had written.

According to one website, the band is actually from Lubbock, but is just based in Houston now.  I can't tell if they met at Tech or not, but I now know that they are Skipper (vocals), Tristan (bass) and Ryan (drums).  And listening is very simple because they only have a 2024 album and then one single that is an acoustic version of one song from the album.  So, you won't get bogged down by too many tunes here!

The top track, unsurprisingly, is the one that was later made into an acoustic version.  "Angels" fires up 263k streams.

Opening lines just draw me right in - "when I woke up from dreaming / all I saw was clay / windshield is useless / on a day like today."  Did he wake up in the passenger seat during a foul west Texas storm?  And the guitar solo in the midst of it, where the song opens up and blooms into something louder and larger and livelier, is delicious.  And the final line throwback to classic country from Kitty Wells.  The title song sounds kind of like butt, but otherwise this is a good disc.

Oh, they literally released a new song since I started listening to these guys yesterday.  Maybe I was the first person in the history of the world to listen to it.  You can't guarantee I wasn't.  "Highway" comes on very quiet and chill, and, as with many of these songs, ramps up to a fire.  "Birdshot" is the second-most streamed though, with a raucous guitar line to fire up any listener.  171k streams.

Fascinating way to start an entire album - "here is some music that is so quiet you may be unsure if you hit play! Oh, no, wait, now let's melt faces!"  Too bad they are weekend two only, because I'd sign up to see it happen in person.

Dizzy Fae

One Liner: Oddball R&B gal from Minnesota
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but R&B, pop, synth pop, hip hop
Home: Minneapolis, MN

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Day: Saturday
Weekend Two Only.

BMI Stage at 3:15.

Thoughts:  From the name and the flavor of the first song, I thought this was a Brit for sure.  Nope.  Minnesotan!  Just like no one thought!  Funny that I just talked about Gwen Stefani in the last post, and now "Hug My Throat" has a bratty sound like Stefani talking about Harajuku Girls.

No Wikipedia, and honestly not many good articles that really dig into her background, so I will just give you this slightly unhinged comment she made when she was asked about how she came up with a song called "My Baby Loves Me."

I love dissecting this world. I really have for a long time built a world, and I kind of want to take you through the journey of it real quick. It's pretty fun to talk about, but it kind of helps with all the projects I've put and where it's going. And I'll probably say this a few times, because I think it helps anybody at any time, get on the bandwagon, but understand me a little bit more. I'm a very visual thinker, and so I think of like, okay, boom — Alice in Wonderland. I'm in a field, it's beautiful, there's flowers everywhere. And then I'm reading my book, my cat is probably doing his thing, climbing up the tree. I'm like, "Get out of the tree!" I'm very in my element. And that is Free Form, my first mixtape. That is just me, free flowing, free forming, just kind of being who I am, what I am, in this space. And then it starts to get a little cold, and I'm like, "Oh, I should probably bundle up, figure out my next move. I can't lay here forever." And so on that journey of just being like, "Alright, my consciousness is starting to need a plan. Something is happening." That's my next mixtape, NO GMO. So I'm kind of going, I see this river. I like to say chocolate, because I like to add a little pizzazz. And so I'm like, "Let me get on this river." I get on a boat that's going down the river, and there's a map in it. And I'm like, "Oh! Okay." I hold the map up, that's my EP Antenna. So now I'm like, "Okay, I have directions, an antenna. I have something calling to me to do what I'm supposed to do. I felt it earlier from NO GMO, and I was building from Free Form." So I'm like, moving the map around, upside down, looking at it. I'm like, okay, North West, South —  okay, period. I'm like, "I should probably get off the river, because the map is telling me that." I get off the river, I continue to follow the map. And then the map takes me to this door, and I look down, and the place mat in front of the door says, "Are We There Yet?" And that's my last EP. Because now it's kind of at a point where like, "Okay, well, this is the map takes me, takes me right here, like, are we there yet? I think we might be!" So I look inside the keyhole. Hence, "My Baby Loves Me" at the beginning, when I started doing content, you saw a keyhole, then it zoomed in, and I look in, I'm like, "Okay! I see some in there." I open up the door, and that is going to be my next project. So that's gonna be my debut album.

Wow.  Yeah, sure, now it all makes complete sense. 

As you may have surmised from that diatribe, she has yet to release a real album.  2018 mixtape called Free Form Mixtape, the 2019 NO GMO Mixtape, the 2021 Antenna EP, the 2024 EP called Are We There Yet, and then some more singles that will maybe be about her keyhole and what you can see inside when you drop acid and read her interviews.

Top track is a single that then made it onto the Antenna EP.  "Body Move" with 6.3 million streams.

Speaking of taking acid - do not walk toward the talking tree with the big mouth, girl. I am guessing this was a minor TikTok hit to get it those streams, because I don't hear anything great to keep around.  She was apparently classically trained in opera and jazz, which is kind of wild as I listen to her rap about boning in a backseat.  She caught the eye of Lizzo and got to open some shows for her on tour a few years ago.

Second-biggest streamer is from the debut mixtape, "Baby Pillz" has 4.5 million streams and a deeper electronica sound.

She's got a good voice and a pretty face, but I just don't care for the actual songs themselves.  By the way, she claims her fanbase are called Dizzerts.  Which made me grin.  Not my jam, but I can definitely see how the combination of oddball stuff and her great voice could appeal to others.

Southall

One Liner: Pretty great southern rock/red dirt country in the vein of Turnpike/Flatland
Wikipedia Genre: No real Wikipedia for the band, but Red dirt country, southern rock
Home: Stillwater, OK

Poster Position: Last Quarter - Line 22
Day: Saturday
Weekend Two Only.

BMI Stage at 5:15.

Thoughts:  Southall is a section of London, but in this instance is the current name of what used to be known as the Read Southall Band.  They are an American country rock band from Stillwater, OK formed by Read Southall that sounds very much like Flatland Cavalry to me.  Rolling Stone did an article in 2023 that I am not allowed to read because of dumb paywalls, but I can see that they are referencing the explosion of Oklahoma country acts that was presaged by Zach Bryan's rise to fame.  In that article, they cite to Southall, Wyatt Flores, Kaitlin Butts, and Lance Roark.  Flores and Butts have already played Two Step, and are great stuff, so now we get another slice of this world.

Five albums - 2015's Six String Sorrow, 2017's Borrowed Time, 2018's live album, 2021's For the Birds, and then, after the re-branding, 2023's Southall.  Let's go old school with the first one.  That second album boasts five of their most popular tracks, but "Why" crushes all the others with 124.2 million streams.

Almost sounds like Kaitlin Butts is the harmony-singer on there, like in a bunch of the old Flatland tunes.  Good, if very sad, song about losing love.  Also, the comments are very sad - loads of people being like "damn, I screwed up with you and I'm sorry and now when I hear this song I'm just so damn sorry."  The early single "Clean Slate" is also very good.

I watched a nugget of a documentary called Southall or Nothing, which is super generic and silly.  "Man, as long as you are real to yourself, bro, you get what you give, man."  But they did note that the band, when the name changed, went from Read being more in charge to it being the whole band giving their input and being involved.  Sounds like a good thing to my ears.  Looks like maybe they record in an old church?  The video did a bad job of actually explaining this.

For the next, let's go with the new sound of the revamped and renamed band.  This is "Scared Money" with just about 4 million streams and a real video!

A little more southern rock than Red Dirt in that one.  Like Lynyrd Skynyrd on training wheels. I also heard both "Tulsa Time" and Jason Isbell's "Super 8."  Also on that new disc, "Out Alive" comes on a little like grunge, maybe if Kings of Leon was covering Soundgarden.  "DLTGYD" is almost metal underneath.

I played this for the wife last night as we drove to dinner and she was in.  I really like it.