Lorde (2026)

One Liner:  "Royals" and all downhill from there...

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative pop, electropop, indie pop, synth-pop

Home: Auckland, New Zealand

Poster Position: Headliner
Both Weekends.
Saturday at 8:15

T-Mobile Stage

Thoughts:  Last here all the way back in 2014 in support of her mega-hit 2013 album Pure Heroine.  The one with "Royals" and "Team" on it.  And apparently "Ribs," which I do not recognize at all and yet has 1.1 BILLION streams, just less than "Team."  Weird.  I do not see that I did a review of her back then for the 2014 lineup.  I was less insane back then, apparently.  But, in case you have been living under a rock, this is "Royals" with 1.5 BILLION streams.

She was very pretty in that video (cringes because she was like 17).  A friend reached out to me the other day, he and his daughter were discussing the most annoying songs of all time, and he wanted my top three.  Without spending a lot of cogitation, I fired out Billy Idol's "Mony Mony," Aqua's "Barbie Girl," and George Strait's "Check Yes or No."  I also mentioned the entire catalog of Imagine Dragons.  he responded saying that for him, it was absolutely "Royals" in the lead with zero challengers and the song made him want to kick her in the balls.

Meanwhile, for me, I have a really nice memory of that song because of a friend who has since passed away.  I liked the song just fine when it came out, but that fall, we had a big college Homecoming of some sort.  Some of us put together a bigger event, rented out a brewery, and collected a bunch of friends.  Well, Tate, my now-deceased buddy, kept taking over the music so that he could play this song over and over because he just thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever heard.  

And to this day, I just think it is an excellent song.  I know that it was overplayed to death, but the bass and finger snaps are very cool, and the lyrics are super interesting.  I think it is a great critique of the materialistic culture of the pop/rap world, where she explains that she's not like that, but its what everyone seems to act like is normal.  I find that to be smart.  Unfortunately for me, that is just about where my pleasure ends here.  Before I get to that, let's go background.

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor was born in 1996 in Auckland, New Zealand.  Her mother was a Croatian poet and her dad an Irish engineer.  She caught someone's eye at a school talent show performance as part of a duo, she and the friend then got to perform on a big NZ radio show, the friend's dad sent the recordings to a A&R executive, and Ella was signed to Universal when she was 13.  Which is an insane sentence to write.  The poor friend!  He got the shaft!  Her first EP was released in 2012, when she was 16, included "Royals," and it went insane.  Nine weeks on top the US Hot 100, #1 in many regions, sold 10 million units to become one of the top selling singles of all time.  it also won two Grammys.

Also on the first album, "Team" is good, and "Tennis Court" was okay.  Then it was to her second album, which I reviewed back then:

Lorde - Melodrama. [2017]  Like most other folks, I very much enjoyed her first album and the quirky, clever writing and her ability to take a trope to the shed and make something interesting out of it. I'm not so sure about her these days, after becoming part of Taylor Swift's squad and living the pop star life.  She has squeezed a few of these tracks out over time before the full release of this album, and while some friends thought "Green Light" was good, it sounds super derivative of a load of other pop stars right now, very uninteresting to me.  Really reminds me of that Jess Glynne song from a few years ago - disco-fied, brassy pop.  Not a fan. [763.6 million streams in 2026]

Meanwhile, its got 182 million streams, so other people still like it.  I don't know, its like she used to be the opposite of the Katy Perry-type pop star, but then she just jumped right onto the wagon and embraced that sound instead of keeping the moody, clever outsider thing going.  Maybe it was working with the fun/Bleachers guy, but this seems much less appealing to me.  Bits of the rest of the album sound better, especially when you hear her still writing great lyrics, but the tunes themselves leave me wanting something else.  Like the other hit I've heard on the radio some, "Homemade Dynamite," which has some kind of cool couplets of lyrics: "Might get your friend to drive, but he can hardly see, We'll end up painted on the road, Red and chrome, All the broken glass sparkling, I guess we're partying," but the song itself is some generic pop pablum with her lame-sounding stuttered pronunciation of the song title.  Seems like an album that would be good to read, even if it isn't so great to hear.

So, you're saying you loved, it, huh, Jack?!  Not so much.  But what did you think about 2021's Solar Power?

Lorde - Solar Power.  I'm going to fully admit that I have stared for an unacceptably long time at the cover of this album, trying to discern if I find this acceptable, too much, shocking, titillating, or any other number of thoughts.  I don't think Judge Breyer would call it porn, but he might.  But I keep looking.  As for the music itself, I hate this album with the power of the sun itself.  I really liked "Royals," that is still a freaking brilliant song.  But nothing on here is even good.  I find it interesting that Jack Antonoff was so involved in it, because his super power is to popify everything to a grand sheen that doesn't even look shiny despite being near perfect.  Instead, these sound both boring and thrown together.  Entirely uninteresting.  The title song tries to fire up a touch of dopamine, but its like she just copied someone else's happy music without actually putting her own back in to it.  That is the top streamer, but I'm going to give you a different one that has the third most streams but more fully reflects the rest of this album with semi-nonexistent accompaniment.  This is "Mood Ring."  27.7 million streams [now up to 88.3 million].

"Don't you think the early 2000's sound so far away?  ayy ayyya yyayyyayayyyyyayy"  Ugh.  Sounds like a bad Brittney Spears song that never made it onto one of her albums.  "Let's fly somewhere eastern, they'll have what I need" (while she looks knowingly at the camera) is just yucky.  Nope.  Hate it.

So, yeah.  Wasn't feeling the vibe on that one either.  And after that, I just quit trying.  She has one more album, 2025's Virgin, and I never even tried it.  Looks like most of the world generally agreed with that stance.  It's got one big hit, another with good stream count, but then some songs didn't even break 20 million.  Which, yeah, other artists would kill for, but the stream counts on Melodrama and Heroine crush that.  "What Was That" has 170.4 million streams.

I have for sure seen that video though.  Can't recall why or when, but I definitely didn't review this one.  She looks like a crazy person and the song is very boring.

I am honestly surprised that she only has four albums in all of that time.  I figured I would come here and realize she had a handful I had not tried.  Recently, I remember seeing her in the news because she yelled about Palestine on stage and then pulled all of her music from Apple Music in Israel.  I'm sure they were crushed.

Meanwhile, my 15 year old went to her show at the Moody Center somewhat recently, and came back saying it was incredible.  Best show she had ever seen.  So, who knows.  It's not like the other headliners are worth a damn, so maybe I'll be over on the Lorde train with all of the teen scene after all.

Jess Williamson

One Liner: Nice Americana from a past Austinite
Wikipedia Genre: folk and indie
Home: Austin, but now in L.A.

Poster Position: Late Addition!
Day: Sunday
First Weekend Only

Miller Lite at 2:00.

Thoughts:  First song is pretty darned good.  Kind of a Lucinda sound.  She was born in the suburbs of Dallas, but moved to Austin to attend UT.  She started playing music while a student and released her first two albums on her own label.  That is an odd thing.  Does it just mean that you make up a label name and write it onto the CD case, as though there is an actual label involved with the album?  Or is there something more particular you have to do to officially be a "label"?

Well, she moved to LA and got a "real" label (although that also could just be somebody who said "I DECLARE A LABEL" and agreed to help her release her music and give her a cut.  maybe I need to make the Dull Jack label and profit handsomely.  Oh, wait, this is half of the Plains project with Katie Crutchfield.  I really liked that album.  I didn't review it until 2025, despite it being released in 2022, but here is what I thought at the time:

Plains - I Walked With You A Ways.  I think Katie Crutchfield's voice is just too distinctive for this to sound like anything other than a Waxahatchee album.  This is her with someone named Jess Williamson, who I am not familiar with, but they sound fantastic together.  An indie country Americana slice of pie slathered in top tier harmonies.  Sometimes it makes me think of the Highwomen, although really it just sounds like Waxahatchee.  Which is a good thing!  "Problem With It" is the top track with 6.5 million streams. [now at 8.4 million]

Huh.  Just realized this album was from 2022.  I guess I found it sooner or later.  Pretty dang sure that landscape they are driving through at the start is the road between Marfa and Alpine out in West Texas.  Beautiful patch of the world.  Also, I freaking love the banjo in that tune - just the perfect level of pluck weaving in around behind their harmonies.  Damn, I would love to be on the rim at Big Bend, drinking a cold beer and listening to Crutchfield sing right now.  Sounds like a perfect evening.  Definitely an enjoyable disc.

So, this has a lot of those same hallmarks: pretty singing, Americana pedal steel, good grooves.  I am truly enjoying this so far.  There is a trippy and gorgeous version of "True Love Will Find You in the End" among these songs, with Shakey Graves, that is a wonder.  696k streams.

Her 2014 album, Native State, is nice, but seems to have made little impact with not very many streams.  Definitely a more raw sound there, like she made it herself and then released it on a made-up-ass label.  2016's Heart Song got a smidge more traction with three bigger streamers.  The top tune of those is "Devil's Girl," the final track on the disc, with 932k streams.

Again, sounds more like she is making this in her bathroom.  But the stripped sound allows the song to become more intriguing and worrisome.  The next two discs, 2018's Cosmic Wink and 2020's Sorceress, have her finally getting on with a real label.  And she finally has a track that cracks seven figures with "Wind on Tin" at 4.7 million streams.

A much bigger, polished, fulsome sound, and I like it a lot.  Actual accompaniment and a groove going on there, and it sounds really good.

Funny thing, I was playing this in the bathroom this morning as my wife and I each showered and got ready.  I, proud of playing something that my wife would enjoy as opposed to, like new Turnstile or old Primus, asked what she thought.  She was like "eh, sounds like everything else."  Crushed me a little bit.  She's not wrong, but also, for me this is miles better than all of the pop, R&B, and EDM on the rest of the poster.  Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Chloe Qisha

One Liner: Pop that actually got me pulled in
Wikipedia Genre: pop, alternative pop, electropop
Home: London

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 20
Day: Saturday at 5:15
Second Weekend Only

BMI Stage

Thoughts:  Out here messing with the "u comes after q" rules, while also making me sing her name as though she was the title character in a Stankonia track.

Chloe Qi Sha Lim was born in Malaysia and attended school in Kuala Lumpur until moving to England to go to a boarding school.  She attended university and ended up with a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Communication.  During that time, she started uploading song covers to YouTube.  She calls her music "nostalgic alternative pop" and cites influences like ABBA and Troye Sivan (I have heard that name but it rings no bells).  She also says "Teenage Dream" is the "backbone of my catalogue."  Which, sure?  "Baby Girl" actually has some Katy Perry funk bass in there that reminds me of a different Katy Perry song.  What is the one where they chant TGIF?  "Last Friday Night," that is the one.

No albums, just EPs from 2024 and 2025 and then a pile of singles.  Biggest track without a doubt is "21st Century Cool Girl" with 10 million streams.

That opening piano, and maybe just because the mighty Dolly Parton passed away today, is giving me "9 to 5" vibes.  I wonder if intentional?  The voice and lyrics sound more like one of the confessional love songs of Olivia Rodrigo.  I like it.  "Evelyn" has a Rodrigo sound too - leaves some of the synths and Katy Perry thing behind for banging drums and some riffs.

Her current most popular track is the 2025 single with a great name - "Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread" with 4.9 million streams.

That one sounds like St. Vincent on that MASSEDUCTION album.  She also really likes to hang out in her panties in her videos.  The song is pretty fun either way...

I have actually enjoyed her.  I figured someone with a Katy Perry song as the backbone of their artistry was going to be terrible, but I keep finding myself grooving along.

Grace Ives

One Liner: Heavy synths but pop that is drawing me in
Wikipedia Genre: synth-pop, electronic
Home: NYC/Brooklyn

Poster Position: Late Addition
Day: Sunday
Second Weekend Only

SnapChat Stage at 3:30.

Thoughts:  I had no clue there was a Snapchat stage now.  I hate that app and what it has done to my girls.

As a teenager, she participated in the School of Rock program - maybe she'll take the stage with them at the Fest and help them melt our faces.  She started college at Maryland Institute College of Art to study graphic design before transferring to the State University of New York at Purchase and starting music-making in her dorm room.

As low key as this music seems to me, she is one of the openers for the Olivia Rodrigo tour in 2027, so she is doing something right!  All synth pop, definitely seems like she is starting with a basic Casio beat, and then layering more action on top to make the songs interesting.  Sort of feels like when Haim does their synth-driven tunes.  And then it can sound like Chappel Roan doing her sort of campy sound over synth riffs.

Her first EP was back in 2016, so unlike many of these folks she has been at it for a while.  After that, a 2019 album called 2nd, a 2022 album with the amazing name Janky Star, and then a 2026 disc called Girlfriend.  Her top track is on that 2022 album, called "Lullaby" and boasting 16.6 million streams over a jenky ass casio beat.

I actually like it.  Calling it a jenky casio beat sounds rude, but I kind of dig the groove in there.  Her second biggest streamer is from the initial EP, but I wanted to give you the new hit instead.  From the new album, this is "Stupid Bitches" with 2.3 million streams for now and more of a straight pop sound to me.

I like it when it kicks in a bit more for the chorus.  That is a good beat.  Even though my normal attitude towards a synth-pop girl would generally be skeptical, this one is winning me over.  I find myself bopping along to these tunes and then starting her top ten over again.  Who knew I was a synth pop girlie?

Joe Jordan

One Liner: Low key, DIY-feeling country and toothpicks
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is country
Home: Cincinnati

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 20
Day: Friday at 5:15
Second Weekend Only

BMI Stage

Thoughts:   The top entry in Wikipedia is a dead American ragtime piano guy who wrote songs for a lot of classic guys like Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman.  There are a bunch of other "famous" guys with this name as well - an Irish hurler, a civil rights activist and judge, an English naval officer, a Scottish football player and coach, etc. etc.  I again wonder why so many of the artists on the poster this year are just first and last names.

He grew up in a Rhode Island town named Woonsocket, which is a wonderful town name.  His family had a family band that would play around the area, but soon enough he and his wife moved to Cincinnati and started firing out kids and songs.  Multiple of his photos include him with a toothpick in his mouth, so I guess that is a thing.  There have also been several mentions of God and Christianity, so I think that is another thing here.

First single on Spotify is 2023, then a 2024 EP called Born to be Broken, a 2025 EP called Oh! The Anxiety, and finally a 2026 album called The Heart Sessions.  Feels kind of like the Zach Bryan thing, where there are tons of songs - feels like so many singles for only three years.  The stream count is nothing like Bryan, but just the prolific output.  Top streamer is "Big Enough Mountain", a 2024 single that made it onto that Born to Be Broken EP.  12.7 million streams.

I don't think the sound is in line with the ZB stuff, sounds more like regular county and less stripped down than those who came out of the ZB lineage.  "I love you a whole, whole lot" and "I could try, try to count, numbers just don't go that high" are truly terrible lines though.  The top YouTube comment is a guy saying he is "going too sing this song too my wife on our wedding day" [sic] and I feel like this says a lot about the people who love this song.  That was rude, but I still stand by it.

The top song from the new album is "Deeper Talks" with 7.9 million streams.

That song is a whole, whole lot better than the earlier one.  Hey, he has a toothpick!  I think the accompaniment is what is making me like it more.  Not so sure the lyrics are upping the ante just yet.  He may be the best thing during this hour though...

Joshua Jensen

One Liner: One song, but it is a good indie rock track
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but maybe just indie rock for now
Home: Arizona-born, NYC-based

Poster Position: Late Addition
Day: Sunday
Second Weekend Only

Miller Lite at 2:00.

Thoughts:  Only two songs on Spotify, and one of them is just a strings instrumental (?!?), so the review is going to be pretty limited.

"Hoping" comes on like a quiet, singer-songwriter over strummed guitar tune.  Like something in the Noah Kahan playbook.  And then it starts to build larger and wider as the first verse concludes and the drums start banging and the choir begins to warm up.  But then the guitars start crashing and the harmonies kick in and you start to feel more like we are in the Hozier world.  4,975 streams for this song.

Man, I miss cool weather and the idea of going camping.  They make the video start even more simply than the studio song, with just crickets to open that version.  It is a good song, he sounds great and the build of the song is really nice.  Cool video too, which he apparently shot with a friend and two sisters on his own.

He says he grew up thinking that singing in five-part harmony with your family was normal.  Which is sort of funny and sort of nuts.  He then moved to New York to attend the New School for a few years.  He claims to have made three of four albums worth of orchestral music, jazz, film scores, R&B, and hip-hop.  I hope he sticks to the indie rock thing and leaves the R&B in the cellar.

Hopefully by October he will have a proper album out and more to do on stage!

Solya

One Liner:  Dreamy, torchy, Americana and indie tunes from Abilene, of all places

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative rock, dream pop, indie rock, Americana

Home: Abilene, Texas

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 16

Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 1:15 pm.

T-Mobile Stage.

Thoughts:  That is a weird list of Wikipedia genres.  I would generally say that I do not want for my alternative rock bands to also play dream pop.  Also strange, the second artist from Abilene this week.  NEW LIVE MUSIC CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!!!

Solya Ava Lowe is all of 20 years old - born in 2006! - who began playing piano at age six and later figured out the guitar and synths.  She started by releasing her own music as a teenager, but then signed with a label and got started on her album by recording in Lockhart, Texas.  She's really trying to keep it real with the small-ish Texas towns.  As I listen to the tunes, I guess I understand the weird genre mixture up there.  Because some of this sounds sort of like Lana Del Rey doing Lucinda Williams, while other bits feel more straight indie rock.  It's odd, but I like it better than a lot of the pop stuff that has been on this area of the poster.

A 2023 EP, a 2024 EP, and then the 2026 album Queen of Texas.  None of the songs on the new album have really blown it up just yet, only one cracks three million streams.  "Movie Star."

Torchy little tune.  Nice background music, not entirely sure it would be a tune that I would go out of my way to go and see played live in a field at 1 in the afternoon though.  Her biggest streamer is a 2023 single called "Tear Me Apart" with 12.2 million streams.

You could almost see this being a mid-90's tune from some female-led rock band who will be playing the Lilith Fair.  Or maybe a Mitski song.  It is overall a kind of fun change of pace from a lot of the straight pop on this poster, where you can hear real instruments being played and arrangements of them that are sort of cheeky and fun.  But also, not so sure I see myself getting there early for this one.

Britton

One Liner:  Generic R&B-ish pop

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is R&B-ish pop

Home: Toledo, OH

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 16

Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 2pm.

Beatbox Stage.

Thoughts:  Just the first song already has \me turned off to this one.  Very overly breathy and affected voice on top of generic pop sounds.  The tiny bio I found on Apple Music says "Ashlee Britton Robinson aka Britton is [sic] blends R&B and electronic-influences [sic] into her own emotionally vulnerable and sonically layered alt-pop."  Another bio paragraph claims she is from New York and is making waves in the indie pop market.  Another agrees that she is from Toledo, Ohio, who moved to L.A. in 2020 to pursue music full-time and claims that her music lives at the intersection of dark pop confessionals and cinematic vulnerability.  WTF does that even mean?  But here is why she was signed to a music label - "Britton comes to Position with an impressive following across streaming and social media with 1.4M+ on Tik Tok, 316K+ on Instagram, 220K+ on YouTube and 200K+ on Spotify." 

All singles from 2018 to 2026, when she finally released an album - Loving You Almost Killed Me.  No song on the album has more than 3.1 million streams.  One of her singles, 2021's "To My Younger Self" is the big hit, with 24.2 million streams.

Well that shit is super depressing.  I also find that sort of song very off-putting - maybe it helped someone going through a hard time and was great to help!  But it also feels like a money grab of someone cynically trying to figure out how to get a viral hit by mentioning mental health and platitudes about being a survivor.  Maybe I am the cynic.

The biggest tune on the album is "clawmarks" with 3 million streams.

That does nothing for me at all.  I find it fascinating that the first handful of YouTube comments are all stuff like "I guess I'll play this on repeat for the rest of my life" or "your voice is so angelic and pure every song is something different and there all very relatable" or "this is a masterpiece."  Not for me, Russian bot commenters!  Hope y'all enjoy your time at the BeatBox stage!

Speaking of the Beatbox drinks?  Woof.  Those things taste like butt and will turn an otherwise enjoyable music listening experience into a blur.  We got a handful of them for free one year and, because I am a cheap bastard who would not want to waste alcohol (even if it does taste like truck stop air freshener), I fired those suckers down and then lost the next few hours.  Avoid.

Ethan Regan

One Liner:  Folky, chill pop that feels like many things I have heard recently

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is folky pop

Home: Charlotte, NC

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12
Weekend Two Only
Sunday at 2:45

American Express Stage

Thoughts:  I literally just saw the guitar on the cover of his top single and went "thank God."  And then started playing it, and thought to myself - how can all of these bands sound so same?!  There is a banjo in here, but I'm getting AJR vibes, or maybe Mt. Joy vibes, from this guy.  His banner photo on Spotify cracks me up, because he is standing before a large crowd, guitar over his shoulder and arms stretched wide, as though this is some big moment in a show.  And yet the people in the audience are mainly just blankly staring at him.  Like, he might have just explain how to amortize a mortgage, for as much fun as those people seem to be having.

Sometimes, when reading about these artists, I feel the same way as I do when I read a horoscope.  "oh wow, yeah, that does sound like me!  Crazy how these very generic horoscope descriptions seem to always relate to me!"  Here is the intro to a short bio on his label's page: "Music goes beyond skin deep for Ethan Regan. Piercing the surface, he’s not just singing and playing guitar; he’s laying his emotions bare, getting out those words that we don’t always say when we should, and practicing the best kind of therapy—out loud. As a vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, the North Carolina native shapes each facet of his artistry, architecting soundscapes, performing every part, and belting right from the soul. Sonically, he fuses gentle, yet heartfelt folk with alternative experimentation, going as far as to pull inspiration from rock, hip-hop, and funk."  I feel like I have read something similar about half of the artists on this poster.

He took guitar lessons as a young kid, but was generally uninterested until he saw a clip of Damien Rice performing at a festival.  He learned how to self-produce on the computer and started making little DIY clips, and once he was in college at Penn State he got a viral hit on TikTok with "Durham."  That track has 5.1 million on Spotify, but is no longer in his top ten most popular tracks.

I'm playing the new album now, and I am coming around to this a little bit more.  Kind of a Jack Johnson vibe in some of these, like a chill, relaxed groove in here.  Got some whistling, some banjo, some bongo drums...  "spring cleaning" is the top of that pile.  1.65 million streams.

He's got a piggie!  We had a "pot-bellied pig" in college that ended up not being a pot-bellied pig at all.  My friend Greg's family adopted Smokey once we realized we were too irresponsible to care for her, and later Greg's now-wife had to help to bury the absolutely massive, full-size hog.  Very funny story.  Anyway, a nice little ditty.  His top streamer is actually a 2023 single that didn't make it on to any of his albums or EPs.  13.9 million streams for "secrecy".

A little more quiet and folky.  "cartilage" makes me think of Gigi Perez.  Overall, I have enjoyed listening to this as the days have spooled by.  It is significantly better than much of this poster, but still not sure that this is where I would head during this hour.

Solomon Hicks

One Liner:  Classic blues guitar slinging by a younger guy

Wikipedia Genre:  Blues, jazz

Home: Harlem

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 25
Weekend One Only
Friday at 2pm

Tito's Tent (the right venue)

Thoughts: He looks sort of like the guy from Police Academy who could do all of the cool sounds with his mouth.  But also sort of like the Reading Rainbow guy.

"King" Solomon Hicks, both by his nickname and his musical style, sounds like he should be an 80 year old dude who made music with Buddy Guy and BB King decades ago.  Instead, he is 31 and plays a groovy style of guitar classicism that ranges from the blues to rock to gospel to funk to soul.  I dig it.  He apparently got started when he was 6, taking lessons from his mother.  He attended the Harlem School of Arts and started sitting in on stage by 13. By 14, he was on a recording with the Cotton Club All-Star Band as the lead guitarist.  Since then, he's performed at a Knicks game, performed for the United Nations, jammed for NY politicians, and at famous blues clubs all around the world.  He has also played with all sorts, from Ringo Starr and Tony Bennett to Bruce Springsteen and Ne-Yo.

It's honestly damn fun music.  I'm just sitting here at my desk grooving on "421 South Main" like the way that Bill Cosby used to dance in the Cosby Show.  Here, groove that one.  894k streams.

C'mon!  Smokin' guitar and a funky backbeat.  I need a tumbler of Chivas, a pack of smokes, and a pretty lady to boogie with, stat.  He can also get into a Gary Clark-esque, grimier rock sound, like in the chorus of "When I Was Your Man."  He's also got covers of Adele ("Rumour Has It"), Aaron Neville ("It Feels Like Rain") and others.  Instead of giving you another tune from that first album (2020's Harlem) I will give you a tune from the new disc (2026's How Did I Ever Get This Blue).  Top track is "Flyin' High (Yesterday)" with 131k streams.

Pretty classic blues groove under that, along with pretty classic sounding vocals singing about the same thing as a hundred other bluesmen have sang about for a century.  This guy sounds great to me.  Not sure that I need to see it, but at the same time, he's better than a ton of what I have heard on the poster so far.

Marzz

One Liner:  Back to the classic and uninteresting style of R&B

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is R&B and some rap

Home: Louisville

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Weekend Two Only
Sunday at 12:45 pm.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  Brutal time slot.  Literally up against the Jazz Collective and no one else at the first slot of the day.  Getting blasted by the heat to play some sultry R&B grooves sounds miserable, but I guess she is out there making money as a touring musician and I'm just sitting here like a lump.

She apparently grew up hiding her queer identity in a very religious home in Louisville, KY.  But the interview I am reading is weird about it, like, sounding like she had to hide her identity but then describing how most of her family is "super open-minded" and how supportive her mom, grandma, and Uncle Paul were.  I guess this means her dad was an asshole.  She got started singing to make people smile.  She says people at school would come to her to ask her to sing for them to cheer them up.  That is sweet.  But while in high school, she started posting little freestyles onto Instagram after school, and somehow Timbaland saw one.  He apparently DM'ed her to say "Yo, your pin game is crazy.  We gotta work."  I have no clue what that means, but she told him she was in, and he flew her out three days later.  Since then, she's gotten to open for Jack Harlow, open on the H.E.R. tour, and perform at the Soul Train Awards.

Her first single was in 2020, so I expect that the pandemic really jacked up her rollout.  The put out an EP in 2021 (Love Letterz) that became a full album (Love Letterz 2) in 2022.  Since then, a handful of singles, but nothing else, which seems weird.  I guess that is why she is down at the bottom of the poster, despite being discovered by Timbaland.  Top track is "Countless Times" with 11.8 million streams.

I don't know the term for that beat/rhythm there in the background, but it feels like a frequently used groove for traditional R&B.  The drums and bass laying down a slinky groove while the singer warbles and whispers and squeals over the top.  Never my style of tune, but she has a nice voice.

Second most streamed is "KMS" which is not standing for what I expected (kill my self) but is instead about killing me slowly.  2.8 million streams for the studio version.

More of a rap beat to that one, but the lyrics aren't getting me much of anywhere.  Feels pretty well-trod space and without a special beat or an especially cool voice saying something new.

Not my jam.  If it's yours, I hope you enjoy the heat stroke that will come with the show.

Faouzia

One Liner: Heavy vibrato pop
Wikipedia Genre: R&B, pop, synth-pop
Home: Carman, Manitoba, Canada

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Friday at 2 (WE1); Friday at 2:45 (WE2)
Both Weekends.

WE1 - Miller Lite Stage; WE2 - American Express Stage

Thoughts:  The heavy vibrato brought Miley Cyrus to mind in the first song.  Her biggest song gets a major assist, with John Legend appearing to give the song some piano mastery and his voice under her warbling.  "Minefields" has 250.5 million streams.

Of course, it shows her sitting at the piano.  Which, I don't know, seems like a mistake?  Am I getting the piano kingpin or am I getting this unknown lady?

So, that is her real first name, and she was born in Morocco in 2000.  She then moved to Canada at the age of one, but says that her family maintained a Moroccan connection and lifestyle.  When she was 13, she started posting covers on YouTube that received hundreds of thousands of views.  When she was 15, she won Song of the Year, the Audience Award, and Grand Prix at something called La Chicane Electrique.  That was followed by other awards I have never heard of, including the Nashville Unsigned Only music competition.  In 2023, she was one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards.  Which, wut?  They have a whole awards program just for immigrants?  Seems weird, eh?

But it appears that some of the heavy vibrato is just the influence of Arabic music on her version of English pop.  And some of that really makes her more interesting.  Listening to "PEACE AND VIOLENCE" right now and I like the little trills and influences from (what little I know of) Arabic music.  Just one album, 2025's Film Noir, and a few EPs and singles before that.  The top song from her album is "UNETHICAL" with 63.1 million streams.

This was that first song that made me think of Miley.  It is very cinematic, very dramatic.  Overly so for me - I would not go out of my way to listen to this sort of thing when just trying to hang out.  It is sort of stressing me out right now, in fact.  "Tears of Gold" is just a little much for this relatively chill afternoon as I try to work.  I am good on this one.

Chelsea Jordan

One Liner:  A more organic sounds R&B style that I enjoyed

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is R&B, neo-soul

Home: Baltimore (to L.A.)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Weekend Two Only
Sunday at 2 pm.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts: What is the actual deal with all of the R&B on this poster?  Is that the hot new genre and just no one in the entire world knew about it?  Really weird.

I actually like this better than several of the other R&B things, because this one frequently uses real instruments.  Like, right now, I am re-hearing "i'll remember you" and it is honestly a really pretty love song with poignant lyrics and a nice coffee house sound.  Sometimes her voice is a little too affected for me, a little extra vibrato or breathiness that always tires me out when people go there, but generally she has a nice voice, good lyrics, and the background music isn't so bad.

Weird that we also have a Rochelle Jordan on the poster.  Y'all need to make band names.

Interestingly, as least to me as a lacrosse dad, she committed to USC (assuming that is Southern California in this instance) to play lacrosse out of high school.  When she got there, she took a songwriting class and realized that sports wasn't all she wanted to do.  It lit a fire, she switched from business major to music major, and the rest is history for her.  She started out online doing fit checks and otherwise showing off her fashion sense, and it took off enough to allow her to quit her three jobs and become a full-time online person.  And that gave her the freedom to work on her music enough to get an EP together and then get signed by Arista.  She has since been compared to Olivia Dean, and I think that is pretty appropriate - she even mentioned that sometimes her writing sounds too close to Dean and so she changes it.  She also says she loves Lola Young and Amy Winehouse.  Makes sense.

She only has 11 songs total though, so while that is enough to get a good idea of the sound, its not great for an extended listening session.  Two EPs, 2024's BETTER WHEN I'M LONELY and 2026's better late than not at all.  Why is she either all caps or none?  The youth, amiright?!?!

Top track is a 2025 single that ended up on the new EP called "halfwaythru."  10.1 million streams.

I don't know why but it really bothers me for her to mess up those nice and white clothes with the wine.  You need a stain stick, girl.  But yeah, I like the smooth groove going on in this track.  

Second biggest streamer is also on the new EP, called "picky choosy," with 4.1 million streams.  Apparently about being picky with who you give your time to.

See, how those real instruments come in there with the piano, drums, bass and create a legit backing for the song that feels warmer and funkier than some plain synths.  No way you are eating cake in the bathtub looking like that, Chelsea.  That is some false advertising bro.

BUT, maybe this means I don't dislike all R&B sounds, it is just certain ones.  Maybe having a ridiculous overload of R&B on this poster is actually a good thing to teach me some things.

Elijah Delgado

One Liner: Local indie rock with a Leon Bridges-lite voice
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie rock, indie folk, and pop
Home: Austin

Poster Position: Late Addition
Day: Friday at 2
Weekend One Only

SnapChat Stage

Thoughts:  An Austin native who calls his music indie rock lullabies.  If "Talk" is supposed to be a lullaby, the baby in question must be baby Godzilla or something.

But then "Key" hitches into that gentle folky tune vibe and I hear it.  A little David Wilcox in there for my ears.  Very pretty.  Next song ("You and I") sounds sort of like Leon Bridges' voice.  "Pipe Dream" comes on like a Gary Clark Jr. tune.  "Houdini" makes me think of Noah Kahan.  What an interesting chameleon of a guy.  

After some streaming, I think that maybe the original sound was the lullaby focus.  Now, he doesn't sound as exclusively chill (for the better).  I have enjoyed just letting this play over the last two days - it is very nice music.  His singles started in 2020, when he was a senior in high school (I wonder which high school?) with his first album - When I Was On Cloud 9 - in 2021 that collected several of those songs.  Since then, two EPs - 2025's Moonboy and 2026's Wherever You Go, There You Are.  Pretty low streams all around, with his first single winning the streaming war so far.  "Staring Competition (With the Ceiling)" has 339k streams.

Do you hear that Leon Bridges comparison that I was making before?  And you can catch the lullaby vibes in there as well.  Although when the drums kick in, it leaves the lullaby vibes and starts into a nice groove.  For the top song off of the new EP so far, this is "Talk" with 37k streams.

Hear what I mean about the lullaby for Godzilla by the end?  It starts off pretty, and then devolves into a pummeling intro to a Foo Fighters album.

He said that he has wanted to perform music since he was ten, but that the formative moment for him was watching a James Bay ACL taping on TV when he was about 13.  I wish that I had watched more ACL tapings when I was a kid.  I didn't even understand that they were a thing back then.  He said that the combined power of the lights, the bass, and the energy from the audience set something concrete into him that he has been chasing ever since.  That is cool.  HIs dad taught him a few chords on the guitar when he was little, and then he taught himself the rest using YouTube.  I like it.  I'd go watch him do this.

DJ Cassandra

One Liner:  Remixes of other people's music

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is just going to be remixed music from other people

Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Late Addition

Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 2pm.

Tito's Tent.

Thoughts:  Ugh.  I have never knowingly listened to AI music on Spotify - like one of those artists who is just entirely fake with fake images of bandmembers and entirely AI-created tunes.  But it would not surprise me at all if this is that.  Just an entirely generic techno drivel thing with banging beats and generic English and other language singing over the top.  Very lame.

It feels like it will be a very weird experience for folks to be in the Tito's Tent at 2 in the afternoon, in the pure heat of the day, getting their faces bashed in by this aggressively European techno. 

WAIT.  Maybe I am listening to the wrong thing.  The "DJ Cassandra" on Spotify says the Composed is Luigi Iaccio and the Producer is Iaccio Luigi.  Maybe I really am listening to AI.  But when I just searched the web, I see that there is a young blonde lady, written in up in Tribeza of all places, who uses the same name and is "one of Austin's most sought-after DJs.  That is bound to be the correct person, right?  She doesn't seem to have any Spotify music though.

Cassie Shankman graduated from UT with a music composition major, began her career working in film on several Terrence Malick projects, and more recently got to open for Willie Nelson at the Austin City Limits 50th anniversary taping.  Which, quite frankly, sounds like a dream life.  Her Tribeza interview also has her saying that playing ACL Fest "was amazing" so I guess she already played here?  I don't have a review written about her, so not sure where I missed that.

I tried searching for her on YouTube, but I think the DJ things I found were all someone else, except for a short commercial for the Firehouse Hostel, which is just her remixing a little bit of Kendrick.

So, no clue what her set will be like, but I assume it will just be a mashup of other people's tunes to dance to in the heat of the afternoon.  I think I am good!

Kings of Leon

One Liner:  Excellent rock and roll still lives

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative rock, southern rock, indie rock, garage rock revival

Home: Mount Juliet, TN

Poster Position: Headliner
Weekend Two Only.
Friday at 8:15

T-Mobile Stage

Thoughts:  The Kings of Leon have been a favorite ever since I bought 2004's Aha Shake Heartbreak at a Best Buy, upwrapped the old cellophane wrapper, slid that disc into my sweet Jetta's soundsystem, and began the process of blaring it while driving around town.  That album is great.  I went and got Youth and Young Manhood (2003) soon thereafter, and then enjoyed Because of the Times (2007) after that.  At first, I wasn't all that hot on Only By the Night (2008), but then I saw these guys at Stubb's and connected much more forcefully with some of those tracks.  I love when that happens, you go see someone pour their sweat and fire right into a song, and hear the crowd soaking it up (and firing it right back at the band), and then your feeling and memory of a song is forever transformed. Good stuff.  I remember "On Call" that way, just the hymn-like quality and the crowd carrying the vocals to a different place than I'd noticed before.  So, I've stuck by these guys as they have continued to release albums through the years, and they've been fine.  Nothing as urgent and awesome as those first few albums, but still keeping these guys up there in the conversation for the best (out of very few contenders) rock band left in America.  Although, I think the new EP#2 that was released last year sounds fantastic.

Their two biggest songs are ubiquitous as hell, but I'll go ahead and link them here in case you need a refresher.  "Sex on Fire" has 2.2 BILLION streams.

And then "Use Somebody" has a paltry 1.3 BILLION streams.

You probably already know the whole backstory here, but let's dig that chestnut out and roll it around on the back of our tongue.  Three brothers, Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew, formed the band back in 1999.  The brothers' father was a preacher, and as he travelled the south for church and tent revivals, the boys were frequently recruited to make music.  They camped out of the back of a purple 1988 Oldsmobile to go wherever Ivan was scheduled to preach.  In the late 90's, dad quit his job, the brothers moved to Nashville, and the band was born.  Matthew has said that he was kidnapped to become part of the band - they told his mom he would only be gone for a week, but then didn't allow him to move home.  Jared is still a teenager, and they are also forcing him how to learn the bass.  Pretty funny.  The name is after their grandpa Leon.

So, as I mentioned, those first few albums are all classics.  Really great rock and roll music.  But it was the 2008 album Only By the Night that launched them into true superstardom.  "Sex on Fire" helped with that, and it was the #1 album in the UK and the top selling disc in Australia that year.  it went platinum here in the States, and then they won three Grammys for Record of the Year, Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock song for "Use Somebody."  They also came to ACL that year.

I am sort of surprised that they have not come to ACL since then.  We've had The Killers 14 times in the last decade and yet no KOL reunion until now?  Odd.

And it looks like they have fallen off of my radar a little bit too, in that I have not been reviewing all of their albums over the past few years.  Here are two:

Kings of Leon - Walls.  This one keeps that same conversation going.  Nothing new or revelatory, but still solid groove-based rock and roll with one of my favorite lead singer voices.  Strong, but glitchy enough to be real, and harmonic, but not so fancy that it loses its rock sound.  Most of this album is in the 5 million plus range for streams, except for two tracks that both bust through the ten million zone - "Walls" (15 mill.) and "Waste a Moment" (31.5 million).  [EDIT, those numbers are very different by now - Walls has 183.1 million, Waste has 280.9 million]  Here is the latter.

Weird video.  Still don't understand what he is accomplishing with the side-head-jazz-hand whenever the bad guy whips out his comb.  Although it appears to be something involving fire and toys.  I dunno.  But this whole album contains the classic sound of the KOL and works well.  I wish this album had more of the rawness on their first few albums, but I get it, they aren't young and raw anymore.  They are fully practiced and skilled at using their instruments.  But I like it anyway, still hoping the come to ACL again.

Kings of Leon - When You See Yourself (2021).  Oh, my sweet brothers of rock and roll.  So glad you are back and not doing anything weird or techno-ey or whatever.  This is the straight-forward business that sounds just like it should.  Slightly whiny vocals, rock solid drumming, slightly funky bass lines, soaring guitars, all wrapped up in that unmistakably KOL sound.  "The Bandit" is a great tune - catchy and hits on all cylinders.  God, why does "Sex on Fire" have so many streams.  715 million freaking streams for that dumb ass song...  Anyway, "The Bandit" is winning the stream wars on this album for now with 14.2 million (now at 50.9 million in 2026).

The introductory music just sounds so quintessentially like this band.  Super good.  "Must catch the bandit!"  The lyrics make no sense to me, but the feel of the track is right on.  "Golden Restless Age" keeps sticking it to me as well.  As you can see from this review, I'm not talking about any new, groundbreaking direction, but that's not I want from these guys anyway.  Loving it.

And then they appear to have released a 2024 album called Can We Please Have Fun, which I very rudely did not review or remember even hearing.  No, wait, "Mustang" rings a bell.  That tune was on the radio for a while.  And I never could quite comprehend the lyrics.  "Are you a mustang or a kitty?  What are you all about?"  Is the mustang a cool guy and the kitty a wuss?  I don't really know, and the other lyrics don't help.  "I like to watch you eat in front of the camera, and there's a misty morning in your eye."  Ah, sure.  Of course.

But, that new album, like their most recent EP, is more good stuff.  Nothing new or weird or different, just good groovy rock and roll.  I don't know if we will be there for the second weekend, but I'd love to get to see them again.

Underscores

One Liner:  Just in case you wanted more weird EDM, you are in luck!

Wikipedia Genre:  hyperpop, pop-punk, dubstep

Home: San Francisco

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 10
Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 3:30

BeatBox Stage

Thoughts:  Kill me now.  April Harper Grey is another dubstep producer.  She will apparently open for Charlie XCX on tour this year.  She said that her inspiration and early influences was Skrillex and 100 Gecs.  Two influences that make sense since I immediately dislike these sounds.  She is also a trans woman.

Her early releases don't have that many streams, but by the time of the 2021 album fishmonger, she started getting a bigger audience.  Her biggest recent song that is just her is a single that was added to her new 2026 album called U.  "Music" has 8.3 million streams.

Very annoying, very nervy and stressful-sounding.  Maybe this sounds just like Charlie XCX?  I guess I will find out sooner or later when I listen to her.  But that song feels like she wanted to copy Madonna but make it ten times worse.  Her biggest streamer isn't actually her song, she is just featured on a track by something called Oklou.  Let's go older for one song and give you the top track from fishmonger, "Spoiled little brat."  10.7 million streams.

Terrible pop punk.  I was expecting for that one to be more of the Skrillex thing, not tragically awful high school talent show level dreck.  Definitely will not see this.

Almost Heaven

One Liner: Another LCD Soundsystem-ish thing, but I like it
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is dance pop, synth electronic
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 24
Day: Friday at 12:45 (brutal time slot)
Weekend Two Only.

Tito's Tent (fun venue though)

Thoughts: I rolled my eyes a few songs into this because it is another blatant LCD Soundsystem ripoff.  I can't even remember the name of the LCD ripoff from last year's ACL, but I remember there being one with a song about slutty girls or something.  Well, after a few songs, I stopped rolling my eyes and started boogie-ing around in my desk chair.  This is kind of fun.  But when the cowbell effect starts kicking in, I sometimes start to roll my eyes again.

An aside, based upon the name, is that I think it is extremely cool and good that "Take Me Home, Country Roads" has become an unofficial supporter song for the USMNT in the 2026 World Cup.  That song freaking rules.  Many decades ago, someone started the tradition at my summer camp that we would sing that on the first night in camp and awkwardly try to shoe-horn "Echo Valley" into the slot where the song says "West Virginia" and it felt very special at the time.

I searched Wikipedia for the band, and apparently Almost Heaven was the 10th studio album by European American pop group The Kelly Family.  The cover of that album is giving me pedo vibes.  But this is the joinder of Stefan Barraza, originally from El Paso, and Austin native and drummer Jaelyn Valero.  Barraza says he was a student at Texas Tech when his professor walked into class to give a presentation about the Graphic Design program and he was smitten with the thought.  He dropped out and started doing graphic design and video, working with a lot of musicians, but soon realized that he really didn't like some of the music he had to work with for the visuals.  So, he decided to make the kind of music he wanted to go with his visuals, and this band was born.

Some of their earliest 2022 singles have no tracked streams on Spotify, so they didn't kick the door open right there at the start.  3 EPs since then, and even though I am digging some of what they are laying down, the stream count is really not there yet.  Top track is called "FEEDBACK" with 18k streams.

I'm expecting some pretty damn good visuals to come along with this song, since the whole reason for making music was just to match the rad visuals.  He wants her to bite his arm to take something away?  She is not interested.  "fever trying to blow" with 15k streams is the second-biggest streamer.

Hear that LCD thing?  But here is the deal, I bet that song is absolutely fantastic to freak out to in a crowd of people looking to dance and have fun.  he even tried to design a dance for it.  "hypnoxia" has a similar feel, or "LOVE ON THE RUN."  "power music (elektrik revival)" had me sitting here like "wheeeeere do I know that from, dammit!" before finally blurting out OUTKAST on my third or fourth listen.  "THE GOOSE" is kind of cool in a different way, with some frenetic drumming in the middle and almost a Franz Ferdinand meets The Strokes thing.

I'd go watch.  I wonder if the skuzzy club vice will come through very well as noon on Saturday in a dusty field with like 45 people there, but a man can dream.

Sasha Keable

One Liner: Perfectly fine London R&B singer
Wikipedia Genre: R&B, trip hop, soul
Home: London

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 21
Day: Sunday at 6
Weekend Two Only.

BMI Stage

Thoughts:  Why is every artist on this line just someone's name.  Just fake me out and only use your last name or something.  Just be Keable!  I'm very tired of the generic pop singer style today.  And luckily for me, this isn't that!  Oh, but wait, its generic R&B singer style instead.  Which is terribly rude to say, but I am just not the right guy to dig into a R&B singer lady.  Sorry.

She British, born in South London, and was previously featured in a Disclosure track in 2013.  I feel like another singer on this poster was also in a Disclosure song?  Or maybe I just accused someone of sounding like them.  Her father was British and her mother was Columbian.  She graduated from the BRIT School, which is a performing arts school in a London borough that has produced many famous alums from Adele to Winehouse to FKA Twigs to Jade Bird to Lola Young to Olivia Dean.

Many, many EPs and singles over the past 8 years.  None of the early stuff really popped, but she has had a few gain some traction more recently.  Her top song on Spotify isn't hers, something called GIVEON.  And her most streamed is also not hers, something called Isaiah Falls.  So, her top streamer that just belongs to her is "WHY" with 16.7 million streams.

Sure.  Forgettable and uninteresting for me, personally, but her voice is nice.  I feel like a jerk when I review R&B, because I just don't care for it.  Might as well be gospel or classical, which I would never seek out to hear.  If you love London R&B lady singers, then go check this one out!  I'll stop while I am ahead here and just say it is not for me.

Geese (2026)

One Liner:  Wild NYC art rock with a few too much dissonance for my taste

Wikipedia Genre:  post-punk, indie rock, art punk

Home: Brooklyn

Poster Position: TOP Quarter: Line 2
Both Weekends
Sunday at 6:30

T-Mobile Stage.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2024, which is a pretty quick turnaround for a top line band.  Annoying.  So, pretty easy write-up because I can just combine the write-up I did in 2024 with the recent write-up I did of their whack new album.

Complete first impression on the first hit is that this is the singer from the New Radicals who got tired of singing about how you have to get what you give.

These cats are based in Brooklyn, and I think you can hear it in every song.  Fun origin story though: They formed in high school up in Brooklyn, and recorded an album during the pandemic.  As graduation neared, and several of them were looking to graduate and head off to Berklee and Oberlin, they figured that they would break up.  But then their demos started to get some attention from record labels, and they ended up making a go of it.  Now they've become the latest saviors of NYC rock – touring the world, performing on late night television, and creating significant industry buzz with their run of gigs at SXSW in 2022. All before they could even drink legally at a club where they are jamming.

That 2021 album, Projector, is so much better for my tastes.  Recorded in their basement from 2019 to 2020.  Like a Parquet Courts kind of garage rock album with loose edges and a little funky feel.  Meanwhile, the more popular 2023 album 3D Country can be painful.  "3D Country" is just weird.  Like a lounge singer trying to sound like the classic Rolling Stones in a dilapidated Vegas cocktail bar before he passes out in a pool of his own vomit, complete with the background singers and sloppy piano.  "Undoer" gets some Radiohead vibes like when Thom Yorke just starts yelling long words over a blasting, unnerving guitar line from Greenwood.  Way too much screaming and dissonance for me, and I love a little well-placed screaming in a song.  It's not all terrible by any means, it's just that even an otherwise solid song like the album opener "2122" can go from a good, tight, little rock song into a soundscape freakout.  Shafts the groove for me.  Makes me wish this really was Goose!

Top track is from that new album - "Cowboy Nudes" - which I think I have heard on the radio a few times.  14.5 million streams (up from 4.5 million in 2024).

Maybe the fact that is their top song will help them realize that they can make nice rock songs instead of adding in terrifying dissonance and screaming.  Those people in the video are scary tho!  Well, now that I lured you in with a sorta sweet song, I am obligated to also give you one of the terrifying ones.  Here is "Undoer."

Wow.  Yeah.  7 minutes punctuated with pain.  Now, I will say that I pulled up a live set of them from Rolling Stone's studio, and it sounds pretty solid.  If you want a little more, that can be your source.

He gets a little animated at times with the vocals, but it is nothing like the stuff he is wailing on the album.  Dunno.  

Then, their 2025 album took them to new heights in the catalog of bands who people either love or hate.  Geese - Getting Killed.  So, these guys have annoyed me just because they got popular at the same time as Goose, which confuses my old brain, and I wish they would have chosen a different name.  No, I don't know which came first.  But they have more generally annoyed the world as well, or at least if you believe the Internet headlines.  Their SNL performance was the source of a lot of backlash and derision. I read a quote that their lead singer sounds like "Chewbacca doing opera" which is really mean but also funny. A friend reached out to ask what I thought, I mentioned I had not tried them yet, and he said "it's fine if you like improvisational jazz but want more screaming."  So, of course, I have to try it.

I will tell you what, I have not dug into the online hatred much other than just seeing headlines or tweets or whatever, but the initial song is an absolutely miserable experience.  "Trinidad" sounds like four jazz musicians made their own, unrelated songs, tried playing them together without practice, and then the lead singer just decided to scream "THERES A BOMB IN MY CAR" over and over.  Truly awful.  Meanwhile, the title track is a funky little groove and I mostly enjoy it.  So, hard to say overall.  The lead singer doesn't give me Chewie vibes, he sounds more like late-stage Thom Yorke mixed with the guy who sang for The New Radicals.  It is a deeply annoying voice, especially when he yells/screams.  His voice cracks repeatedly, which is like, you could have a good voice?  Or use it in a good way?  Why are you like this?  "Au Pays du Cocaine" is the top streamer with 16.3 million spins (now up to 26.5 million).

Maybe it's just the least offensive tune on the album so people send it to their friends as an example to get them hooked.  That baby is really cute though.  I will not retain this album.  Good luck to all the people who love it.

This will be a gametime decision for me, depending on who they are against.  On the one hand, I can't be choosy with rock bands because they are few and far between.  On the other hand, not sure that I want to hurt myself like this.