The Official ACL Blog for like Eight People!
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One Liner: Great British power soul singing like a Winehouse or Adele
Wikipedia Genre: British soul, alternative R&B, jazz, neo-soul
Home: Brighton, England (via California)
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12 Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Ladybird Stage at 3:30.
Thoughts: Fifteen seconds in, and I'm already naming Amy Winehouse. But also, the top song (by a ton, by the way) is instantly familiar. I played it for the wife and she agreed. Looking it up, and it was sort of funny - it was apparently the go-to song for poignant moments in the streaming shows we have watched recently, with appearances in Ted Lasso, Nobody Wants This, Outer Banks, and two other shows I didn't watch. This is "Strange," which is an excellent song, by the way. 235.9 million streams.
Like Winehouse mixed with the whispy-raspy thing of Macy Gray. What I keep hearing in her other tunes is an angle that sounds like either she is trying to make a James Bond theme or she just wants to dance with somebody in a British club. But if you like that sort of soulful, jazzy, storytelling chanteuse thing of Adele and Winehouse and Glynn and whatnot, then this is truly great. Her voice is top tier.
Fascinatingly, she was actually born here. Born in Culver City, California to an English mother and Jamaican father, but then she moved to Dagenham and then Brighton as a toddler. She started writing music as a teenager and was uploading songs to the Internet with some success before she was discovered and became the generic power-voice on some hits from EDM guys like Avicii, Tieks, and Real Lies. Lots of singles and remixes and whatnot, until her 2021 album Not Your Muse. That disc has several of her top songs, and it all sounds pretty damn good. The other biggest streamer from it is "Stop This Flame," with 95.9 million streams, which
Shows that dance party side of her. Makes me think of, maybe like Orbital? Moby? Like, a song from the soundtrack for that Leonardo Decaprio movie The Beach. That is the vibe I get there. Anyway, again, her voice is so good. Fascinatingly, no other album. She's gotten a lot of support in the UK - Elton John told people to watch out for her, Forbes UK 30-uinder-30 list, James Corden said he couldn't stop listening to her, BBC Radio has championed her and she won a BBC Music Award, and she also won a BRIT for Rising Star in 2020. It very much feels like she was one who was poised for massive success (as predicted at the start of 2020 by publications such as Vogue, The Guardian, NME, GQ, The Independent, and Ticketmaster UK), and then the pandemic shut everything down and her momentum fizzled.
I think she sounds amazing. Hard to fault any of these songs that I have been rotating through for a day and a half. Feels like she ought to be huge.
Wikipedia Genre: no Wikipedia, psych rock funk stuff they borrowed
Home: Columbia
Poster Position: 15 Both Weekends Saturday at 3:05.
Tito's Tent.
Thoughts: Hold on, man. You're doing a Khruangbin copy on the same day as Khruangbin? What are we doing here? For real. I've been going for an hour or so and this is just poor mans Khruangbin and similarly difficult to spell. Is this a gathering of the Khrungalos?
They are Columbian and claim to fuse elements of "Middle Eastern Music, Disco, House, Funk, Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Surf and Cumbia into a cohesive whole." It is cool sounding, but not sure how they get to just copy one of the headliners on their day and not get punched in the mouth. The formed during the pandemic and have started churning out music, but I can't really find just a ton about them.
Three albums - 2020's MACROCOSM, 2022's Cause & Effect, and 2023's Third Vibration. Top streamer is off of that first disc - "Johanna's Dream" with 3.1 million streams.
I mean, yeah. That is cool. Just seems really weird to have this sound done by another band right now. I know it shouldn't - lots of rock bands sound similar, punk bands, rappers, pop stars, whatever. But this vibe just feels singular right now and so it seems weird to hear a copycat. Second most streamed is from a 2021 EP called Eclipse Solar, and the name of the song is "Eclipse" with 1.4 million streams.
Now we go a little more modern disco boogie on that one. Not as good, in my opinion. 1k views of that video and zero comments? That seems really odd. Whatever. Also, it just, like, ends. Ah, that is because on the EP it transitions right into the next tune.
Sincerely doubt I would go watch this. It is not bad, by any means. Don't get me wrong. Just feels wrong for it to even exist for me.
One Liner: One of the finest vocalists around, maybe forgotten, but still making jazzy tunes
Wikipedia Genre: pop, jazz, folk, country, blues
Home: NYC
Poster Position: 2 Both Weekends. Friday at 4:10.
Honda Stage.
Thoughts: I really never give Norah Jones a thought. Which is always interesting - at one point she was a huge star with that first album - but now she has just receded away from the spotlight so much that I don't recall seeing a single mention of her new album. Visions was released March 8, and it really felt like it might as well have been a new Kidz Bop album. And that is rude of me, because I am literally listening to it right now, and it is pretty cool!
Geethali Norah Jones Shankar has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, won 9 Grammys, and Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000's. Her first album was the killer one, selling more than 27 million copies and earning five of those Grammys. She is the daughter of stud sitarist Ravi Shankar, whose association with George Harrison turned him into a household name here in the States. While she was born in Manhattan (which makes total sense), she was raised in Grapevine, Texas (which super does not track). After high school, she attended North Texas to major in jazz piano. After school, she moved to New York, signed with Blue Note, and started crushing it.
Come Away With Me has three mega-songs, and I'm not sure what it was about that moment, but her version of bluesy, country-flecked piano jazz just nailed the mood. Top track by quite a bit is "Don't Know Why," which dropped right around the time me and my friends were all getting married, so this is the kind of song that makes me think of those times. 503.5 million streams.
The title song and "Turn Me On" are the other two big ass songs from that album. And even the non-hits, stuff like "Seven Years" as an example, is just gorgeous music.
The next disc was 2004's Feels Like Home, which included some cool stuff like a Dolly Parton duet before having Dolly on your stuff was the badge of honor it is now, plus her second biggest streamer "Sunrise" at 334.2 million streams.
That standup bass rules. I think the thing that is very fascinating to me is that many popular song from this era have never really translated into streamer hits. Like, if you look at other majorly popular tracks from 2002, say Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You" as an example, that one was a top track in 2002 and yet only has 103 million streams now. But something about these lovely tunes keeps them in the culture. "Those Sweet Words" is lovely as well. Listening to this makes me think of Meg Ryan romcoms. I have no clue if that link is warranted and I'm refusing to look it up, but I feel it. I remember 2007's Not Too Late as well. Pretty sure I owned it - that cover of her black and white dress on the red looks very familiar. But the stream counts are way down on this one - most tracks don't crack 5 million and only one has 40. I don't recall 2009's The Fall, but the opening track on that one fired up 58.4 million streams. Let's see "Chasing Pirates."
Oh yeah, I remember that tune. Maybe that was the radio for that one, but I have definitely heard it. A little gap here, before her 2012 album Little Broken Hearts that she apparently made with Danger Mouse. Definitely lower interest to that album. But not for any good reason that I can hear, she is still just plugging along with the same zip. Not like it is all EDM or something.
Did you know that she made an entire album of duets with Billie Joe Armstrong? That is a shock to me. Wait, are they also all Everly Brothers tunes? Who the hell greenlit this idea? Is that the least commercial thing that has ever been made? "Get me the Fall Out Boy singer and Sheryl Crow to cover Bob Wills, STAT! No, wait, make that the Offspring's singer with Vanessa Carlton doing Liberace! No, wait, let's go with Kelly Clarkson and Billy Corgan doing Guy Clark tunes!" Oh no, not all Everly songs, just all old Traditionals. Even less commercially relevant! But it is honestly really nice! Super old school tunes and their nice harmonies wrapped around over the top.
The next album she released in 2016, I actually reviewed it back then and was apparently underwhelmed. "Norah Jones - Day Breaks. I want to like this one a lot more than I do. I loved her first album (like everyone else in the entire world did), even though this type of jazzy piano music isn't really my normal cup of tea. I've given this one a few chances, and it is still lovely music and all, but I can't say I'd need to keep going with it. The hit is "Carry On," with 10.5 million streams (up to 110.9 million now!).
Like I said, super pretty and soulful and nice, but I'm OK. I'll toss this one back into the sea and carry on."
After a few years she released the teeny tiny Begin Again in 2019, with only seven songs and very little action. Then 2020's Pick Me Up Off The Floor - likewise not much for stream popularity even though it sounds generally pretty. After that, her Spotify is littered with singles that apparently come from a podcast called Norah Jones is Playing Along. The funny thing about all of these discs is that I am putting them on to check out the vibe of them, and for the most part I don't hear much difference between something on the 2020 album and the 2007 album. Fascinating. But the new album is entertaining, even if that is not going to be why people want to go see her in the Fall. They'll go see her to hear the classics. Like this recording of her Austin City Limits taping!
The opening announcer really is correct - one of the prettiest voices on the planet. That was filmed in the old studio! I can see the trees in the audience!
Anyway, yes, Norah Jones is still freaking amazing and her voice is a national treasure. I'm not sure this makes me excited to see her play a sweaty set in October, since I will almost assuredly be elsewhere to see Stapleton or Blink, but it was nice to go back down this road with her for the past few days.
One Liner: The Huston-Tillotson University Jazz Collective
Wikipedia Genre: The Huston-Tillotson University Jazz Collective
Home: Austin
Poster Position: 5 (26) Weekend Two Only. Friday.
Thoughts: Spotify has music from the Huston-Tillotson University Concert Choir, but nothing from their Jazz Collective. Swing and a miss... Also no YouTube videos. There is a BS video that makes you think you are about to see "The Huston-Tillotson University Jazz Collective ::LIVE:: At Zilker Park. Austin. TX. USA" but when you click it all you get it some generic rock riff and a request to click a link. NO thanks!
Soooooooo, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is a jazz collective from Huston-Tillotson University who will be at the festival to play some jazz in a collective group. Woohoo! Jazz! Collective! University! Yeah!
One Liner: Jazzy multi-instrumentalist doing electronica solo
Wikipedia Genre: Nu jazz, Electronic, Rhythm and blues, French house
Home: Tours, France
Poster Position: Level 3 (8) Both Weekends. Friday.
Thoughts: I don't know where, but I have absolutely heard that first song before. Made me think he must have been at ACL before, but I'm not finding anything when I search his name. Ahhh, its because that is someone else's song. I can't read so good. This song is actually by Masego, who was at ACL previously, and features FKJ. The track is called "Tadow," and all I can hear in my head is the Ice Cube lyric from "What Can I Do," of "tadow, tadow, tadow! How you like me now!" Instead, this is not a classic rap track, this is some smooth ass R&B love making music made for knockin' da boots. 372.5 million streams.
Smooth, laid back, cool as hell track. But I have to say that the high-pitched interjections of "lady" or "dayday" or whatever he is saying, those get to the level of bugging quick. Oh, that is him saying "tadow?" The lyrics claim that is him saying "tadow," and yet that is not at all what it sounds like to my ears. There is no "ow" sound, hell, I don't even hear the initial "t" sound. Weird. Cool ass jam though. But I don't know which parts of it are this person. We gotta dig deeper.
French Kiwi Juice, or FKJ, is a French dude who apparently does solo live performances where he plays all the instruments and uses his laptop to do live loopings. Several of his tracks feature his wife, whose stage name is ((( O ))), which is deeply weird. Is that a wrinkly butthole? Is that fingers curled around a very open mouth? Is it a dinosaur's eyeball?
He has three albums - 2017's French Kiwi Juice, 2021's Just Piano, and 2022's V I N C E N T. His biggest tunes are definitely from that first disc, his streams fall off a lot from there. The most recent album is a gentle vibe - kinda jazzy, but unlike anything I can really think of. His top song on Spotify (other than that one above that isn't really his?) is called "Ylang Ylang," and features (((O))) for a chill piano instrumental that inexplicably has 113.2 million streams despite sounding like a Rodgers and Hammerstein interlude that has been remixed.
Ehh, sure? Nice little vibe piece? I have no clue why that would have so many streams? I sincerely doubt that I will make my way to whatever stage this man graces with his piano, although I'm sure it will be a lovely show.
One Liner: The Huston-Tillotson University Jazz Collective
Wikipedia Genre: The Huston-Tillotson University Jazz Collective
Home: Austin
Poster Position: New addition to the poster Weekend Two Only. Friday.
Thoughts: Spotify has music from the Huston-Tillotson University Concert Choir, but nothing from their Jazz Collective. Swing and a miss... Also no YouTube videos. Soooooooo, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is a jazz collective from Huston-Tillotson University who will be at the festival to play some jazz in a collective group. Woohoo! Jazz! Collective! University! Yeah!
One Liner: Keyboard prodigy playing fun funk and critically acclaimed jazz.
Wikipedia Genre: R&B, soul, jazz, gospel, jazz-funk
Home: Brooklyn
Poster Position: 18 Weekend One Only. Friday.
Thoughts: When I first read the top line of his Wikipedia entry, I thought it said that he had been a member of Skinny Puppy. When I was a teen, for reasons that I do not know, I would always allude to Skinny Puppy's album Rabies when I was talking about music that frightened me. I don't know why, I doubt I ever even heard the music back then, but it was a weird shorthand I always leaned to. But as I'm jamming these tunes, I can't believe that this dude was part of a Canadian industrial rock band. But then, and here is where reading comprehension is so useful in life, I realize that he actually belonged to something called Snarky Puppy. Sorry, now you know randomly about Skinny Puppy.
For some reason, I reviewed a Snarky Puppy album in 2016, and had this to say:
"Snarky Puppy - Family Dinner, Vol. 2. I have no recollection of how this band crossed my radar or why this album is in the New Stuff playlist, but I do know one thing. Do not come to me for hot takes on new jazz music, as I am the absolute wrong person to ask. I have no clue what this music even is - jazzy jam jazz? Is this jazz? Are we not men? Is this in English? Here is a ten minute video to a song from the album, called "Don't You Know."
It's like Phish with 128 people in the band. And $280,000 worth of headphones, or was this just a headphone commercial? And people in the comments to that video are going nuts for the piano guy, who is apparently Jacob Collier. He sure seems like he can do his thing well. Honestly, that video just made me like this album more. That whole crew of people are having the best time of their lives jamming that song out. And its pretty damn funky when you get into the groove with them. Huh. At least check out that video, then you can decide whether you want to go for the album too."
So there you go - jammy jazz! But this cat was making music from an early age, even playing a show at the Apollo Theater at age 6! He has toured with a murderers row of artists - Bruce Springsteen, Michael McDonald, P. Diddy, Boyz II Men, The Roots, and Kirk Franklin. He's also been on albums for Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, and Frank Ocean, among others. His first album came out in 2014 (although Spotify lists an album back in 2012?), his second in 2016, and both were hot on the jazz charts. He went out on his own in 2018 with Art of Love. Then released 2020's Something to Say, 2021's Best of Me, and then 2022's really fun Operation Funk.
His top tracks are from the Something to Say album, with two of those boasting over 3 million streams. The top one is the good-mood maker "Happy Days." 3.2 million streams.
Fun times! Smooth grooves! Stevie Wonder vibes from that harmonica part. "Switch" is also a cool sounding groove. The new album is funky fo sho. "The Line" sounds like a Prince jam. "The Fool" is the top streamer with 340k and another Prince-esque jam.
That bassline is sweet! Especially in the chorus, with that handclap and those harmonies, you get some serious Purple One vibes.
I wouldn't say that I normally angle towards jazz, but that funk infusion of the new album is pretty damn fun. I might go check that out.
One Liner: Killer piano player who collaborates well.
Wikipedia Genre: Jazz, hip hop, soul, R&B, neo soul, acid jazz Home: Houston Poster Position: 14 Both Weekends. Sunday.
Thoughts: When I kicked this guy into Spotify, I thought I had another R&B singer on board. The first song features a singer named Phoelix, actually so do 7 of his top ten songs, which makes it seem like Phoelix is the sound of this dude. But after making it through his top ten and his most recent album, I realized that we were dealing with a virtuoso piano player instead. Because his second most recent album is pretty much a jazz piano disc. And despite the fact that you would never find me in the jazz aisle at Waterloo Records, his playing is so damn pretty that I find myself enjoying it despite my proclivities.
And I'm not the only one believing that he is good, as he boasts four Grammy awards and collabs such as playing the keyboards on Kendrick's To Pimp a Butterfly. Beyond Kendrick, he's appeared on or produced everyone from Mac Miller and Common to Brittany Howard and Anderson.Paak.
He got an early start, with a mother who sang blues and jazz professionally. She'd apparently take him to clubs instead of leaving him with a babysitter, which led to is path into music. After high school he attended the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC. I was hoping that reviewing the list of famous alumni from there would lead to me blowing your mind with some cool people, but none of them ring a bell. Yuki Tei or Adam Cruz, anyone?
His first album was 2005's Canvas, which is a pretty straight-forward jazz album. But by 2007's In My Element, you get some cool, strange tweaks. An extrapolation of Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place," for example. 3.8 million streams.
Freaking cool. This dude is insanely talented. After that album, he released 2009's Double Booked before he actually hit big with 2012's Black Radio. The disc has a sort of Common and Erykah Badu vibe to it - jazzy piano underneath beats and either R&B/neo-soul singing or rapping. It sounds phenomenal. He also covers "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on here, which is very unexpected for sure. The top track has Badu on it - "Afro Blue" - with 20.3 million streams.
Nice chilled out groove. The issue I have here is the realities of this show. Is he going to bring singers and rappers along with him for the concert? If he's actually bringing Badu and Common and Jill Scott and Snoop Dogg and Denzel Curry and H.E.R. and Q-Tip and Killer Mike and Jennifer Hudson up on stage with him, then you'd think this would be advertised differently.
After Black Radio, he's done a bunch of additional albums, including Black Radio 2 and 2022's Black Radio III. Off of that new album, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a killer cover, complete with a really solid Common verse in the latter half. Phenomenal song. But the top streamer of the whole catalog comes from 2020's Dinner Party, which was a big collaboration with several other folks, and with that Phoelix guy doing the singing. "Freeze Tag" has 35.2 million streams.
Now I am realizing that "Dinner Party" is the name of the group, it just gets listed on Spotify as though it was a Glasper album. Also, good goddamn. That video is tough. The lyrics of the song belie the gentle groove there - it sounds like a nice summertime track for a good cookout or something, and then you realize that he's singing about the freeze you do when the cops draw down on you and you're waiting to see if you are going to get shot. Damn.
Again, this dude is super talented. Not sure how his show would go at a huge festival, I guess he'll invite somebody to come and do the vocals for him, and we just won't know who that is until it drops. If you want to see what that might look like, here is a 2019 show - Glasper seems really likeable.
One Liner: Jazzy pianist who makes purely fun music and plays with Stephen Colbert's Late Show
Wikipedia Genre: Jazz, R&B Home: Metairie, Louisiana Poster Position: 7 Weekend Two Only.
Sunday at 7:30 on the T-Mobile Stage
Thoughts: I've heard a few of these tunes before, but I wouldn't have been able to ID this guy beforehand. I think I thought that the songs I had heard before were actually by John Legend. He is the bandleader and musical director for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and looks like the dude from the Pixar movie Soul (for which he co-composed the music and won an Academy Award). He was born in Louisiana to a musical family and became a piano mastermind while attending Julliard. His usual band is called Stay Human, but for some reason they aren't listed on the poster here for this performance.
Lots of albums, and honestly I'm really enjoying the later ones. The early stuff is more piano-focused and straight jazz. Like, the ten minute opening song from his first album is all jazzy piano scatting with flute and trumpet be-bopping along over the top. For ten minutes. For the people who dig that, I bet it's great, but that isn't going to be my bag. This is "Misunderstood."
Lotta gentle cymbals going on in there. It's great! I can tell he is very talented! But it still doesn't mean I want to hear a whole show of that while standing in a dusty field. Luckily, his more recent albums are not that jazziness. He's now pushed the piano-forward stuff out of the way in favor of a more funky pop sound. Which is legit!
One of the tunes from Soul is his top streamer - this is "It's All Right," with just over ten million streams.
The other thing that this reminds me of right now is Leon Bridges. That same style of soulful and lovely voice. "CRY" makes me think of Gary Clark Jr. "WE ARE," with its awesome choir/marching band breakdown reminds me where this dude is from. His next top streamer, which I've heard on the radio some, is fun as hell. "I NEED YOU," with 4.6 million streams.
I mean, if that bouncy little bass line and hand-clap action at the start doesn't affect you at least a little bit? You're dead inside. Sorry to tell you. It's overly earnest, but I'm loving it anyway. Gimme someone putting themselves out there and having a good time all day over the mopey shit that half of this poster has ended up being. I'mma give you one more, just because. "Freedom," with 2.6 million streams and another fun video.
Brings to mind that diddy diddy bop rap song from US3 that came out in the mid-90s. Such a purely joyful song. Inject it into my veins. And yeah, I know that mostly I like rock and rap that is not so pure and innocent, but this stuff just jams.
As of now, the kids are scheduled to come with me on Sunday of second weekend, and unless something major is up against this guy, I'm 100% going to make them go enjoy this joy with me.
Oh wait! Tiny Desk!
That organ on "Cry" is devastating. Just so full of feeling and soul. That whole show is funky and fun.
One Liner: Surprisingly jammy new tunes from the 80's piano soft-pop mastermind
Wikipedia Genre: Improvisational multi-genre, jam band, rock, gospel, heartland rock, jazz, bluegrass, blues rock Home: Williamsburg, VA Poster Position: 9 Both Weekends.
Thoughts: Huh. Who woulda thunk that Bruce Hornsby would turn his soft-rock piano stuff into a freak-jazz-jam-band style thing in his older age? I'll readily admit that I enjoyed the classic Bruce Hornsby shit - the "Mandolin Rain" and "The Way It Is." Wait, do you even remember that stuff? Quick refresher - Bruce Hornsby and the Range brought the heat in 1986 with the album The Way It Is, which boasted the massively popular title track and several other great tracks. 57.5 million streams for that hit.
If you're a fan of rad late 90's hip hop, then you certainly recognize that lick and hook as co-opted by 2Pac in "Changes." Which is a good track. And the original is great as well. But Hornsby's gig was jamming the piano - he was an unapologetic piano man. Took home the 1987 Best New Artist Grammy for that initial album as well. He's also jumped out and done some other weird things, like winning another Grammy for an album with Ricky Skaggs (for Best Bluegrass album) and then served as a member of the Grateful Dead from 1990 to 1992, playing over 100 shows with them. But this band, The Noisemakers, appears to have come about many years ago to serve as his touring band, but then they've made a handful of albums that are listed as being by Hornsby and the Noisemakers. I have no clue what that means for the live show - are we getting a full career retrospective from Bruce, or will this only be those tracks that are on official Noisemaker albums? Taking a look at his setlist from a July 14 show in Ohio, it looks like this will be a full-on do-whatever-the-hell-they-want show. His set includes multiple Bruce Hornsby & the Range tracks, a few Hornsby solo tracks, a 2Pac mashup (of Hornsby's "Sunflower Cat" + "California Love," which is wild), some Creedence, Staples Singers, Don Henley, and Robbie Robertson. So no clue what you'll hear in Austin, but I bet you get "The Way It Is." Without any knowledge of what is coming, I'll just dig into his two most recent albums - 2016's Rehab Reunion (which is expressly with the Noisemakers) and 2019's Absolute Zero (which features all sorts of people, like Justin Vernon and somebody named yMusic). The 2019 album is the one with the super strong jam band lean, although even the 2016 one has some of those aspects. But they also have small pieces of folk, country, Irish traditionals, rock, jazz, and who knows what else. But I think a lot of the jam-ish sound are the guitar solos. And, it must be said, that his voice is still beautiful. He's always had a wonderful voice, and time hasn't reduced his instrument any that I can tell. He might not try as many of those top end notes, but when he jumps up and goes for it, they still sound tasty. The final track of Rehab Reunion has the most streams, most likely because Mavis Staples is on it. The track right before, "The Valley Road," has some of that Irish traditional sound, the jam-band guitar sound, and little to no featured piano parts. But here is that Mavis track, "Celestial Railroad."
Nice little organ-fueled groove. And its that mandolin solo-work that also sounds tight. Absolute Zero is all over the place. "Fractals" is like some freaky experimental jazz thing with his staccato piano angles bouncing up and down the keyboard. The title song is more of a chill groove. Sometimes, he almost sounds like solo Sting in some pieces, where Sting used to get worked up over a piano groove - like in "Meds." "Voyager One" is a high energy one with more high hat than all the other tunes combined, until it goes into a rumbled little jam solo on some weird instrument for a minute. But "Cast-Off," one of the tracks featuring Justin Vernon (Bon Iver for those of you who have slept) is the top streamer, at 484k.
Understated and lovely, with a distinctive sadness in the first minute or so before the drums and lyrics kick in. Reminds me of some sad Peter Gabriel song I've heard before. And the sax makes me think of Dave Matthews. Random aside, Wikipedia says that he claims to have beaten Allen Iverson in one-on-one basketball three games in a row after helping Iverson get out of jail. What in the hell is that all about? I also found a live album back among the 20-something albums available from Hornsby on Spotify, that is called Here Comes the Noise Makers, so maybe that is a good indication of what they will sound like live (albeit from 1998, 1999, and 2000, so hopefully they will have some fresh material since then). Still has a jam band feel, his great voice, and excellent piano playing. A good sound. And includes covers from Grateful Dead, Don Henley, Bob Dylan, and probably others I just can't identify. Here is "Circus on the Moon," captured live last year by this whole posse, to give you a little flavor of what to expect.
A buncha gray haired dudes making nice tunes that would feel at home right in the middle of a String Cheese set. I've been surprised at how much I have enjoyed these new BH albums. Figured that this was just a nostalgia play for the old 80's heyday, but his new tunes are legitimately enjoyable stuff. I could see doing this show.
Wikipedia Genre: Jazz fusion, future soul, R&B, neo soul, funk Home: Newport News, Virginia Poster Position: 10 Both Weekends.
Thoughts: His top track on Spotify is called "tadow," and all I can hear in my head is the Ice Cube lyric from "What Can I Do," of "tadow, tadow, tadow! How you like me now!" Instead, this is not a classic rap track, this is some smooth ass R&B love making music made for knockin' da boots. 78.5 million streams.
Smooth, laid back, cool as hell track. But I has to say that the high-pitched interjections of "lady" or "dayday" or whatever he is saying, those get to the level of bugging quick. Oh, that is him saying "tadow?" The lyrics claim that is him saying "tadow," and yet that is not at all what it sounds like to my ears. There is no "ow" sound, hell, I don't even hear the initial "t" sound. Weird. Cool ass jam though. From reading the comments, I see that a lot of fans have said that this official video is admittedly fire, but not nearly as super-duper-three-fire-emoji-worthy as an eight minute video of this song just jamming in the studio. So let's take a look there as well.
I mean, yeah. Roll me up in that groove and smoke me 'til I die. 140 million views of that video! That is a buttload of views! And a chunk of it is two dudes playing saxophone at each other! Is this high school band camp all over again? No lie, that is a cool video - seeing two dudes who are super good at playing a bunch of different instruments make a dope track is worth all eight minutes. Dude's real name is Micah Davis, and he was originally born in Jamaica but lives in Virginia now. He found and decided on the moniker Masego after finding out his family had roots in South Africa, and that the word “Masego” means "blessings" in Setswana. The tunes are an interesting mash up jazz, hip hop, and R&B. His second most-streamed tune is a great beat under a good rap track. This is "Navajo," with 38.1 million streams.
Trap House Jazz. Never heard of that as a genre, but sign me up. The beat is reminiscent of those great Jazzmatazz albums from Guru back in the mid-90's, but this guy soars over the top with more than just rap, and is clicks together in a really nice way. One album - 2018's Lady Lady - that has the "tadow" song, and a few other pretty good rap-centered tracks. Then he does a lot of kind of mediocre R&B type stuff that is less interesting to me - the title track and "Queen Tings" are easy examples. He's got a 2016 EP called Loose Thoughts that is all over the place, and then another 2016 EP called the Pink Polo EP. I say they are all over the place, but that isn't necessarily bad. He keeps a consistent funkiness and groove in the tunes that is pretty fun, even if I normally wouldn't be aiming for an R&B jazz thing like "Too Much." Depending on timing, sure I'd go check this out. Seems innovative and interesting enough that I'd like to see what it is like in person.
Wikipedia Genre: Nu jazz, funk rock, psychedelic rock, electronic rock, space rock Home: London Poster Position: 16 Both Weekends.
Thoughts: I'm a big fan of the fact that Wikipedia calls this "space rock." I think I would have gone with "space jazz." if you listen to "Because the End is Really the Beginning," you can imagine weird alien dudes preparing to fight other weird alien dudes in a ninja-meets-Michael-Jackson-Bad style battle. This stuff is weird, atmospheric, psychedelic, funky, freaky business. They hail from London, and each one uses a strange nickname - "King Shabaka" (saxophone), "Danalogue the Conqueror," (keyboards) and "Betamax" (drummer). The King says their name came from: "a BBC Radiophonic Workshop piece of the same name. Once we heard this piece, with its allusions to sci-fi, cosmic remembrances and general space, it instantly struck a chord. We're exploring new sound worlds and aiming to destroy all musical ideals which are unfit for our purposes so the name stuck.'' Yep, "destroy all musical ideals which are unfit for our purposes." Totally something a normal person would say. The top track in their arsenal is "Summon the Fire," a freaky jazz psych thing that I'm not sure I can adequately explain. I'll let the music do the talking. Just under one million streams.
There is a section in that song (right at 1:58) where the bass absolutely steals directly from an old Primus song (I think it is their cover of "Making Plans for Nigel"), and I'm into it. How to explain this music in words - fuzzed-out saxophone over a throbbing bassline slathered in atmospheric synth wash, like I'd imagine it would feel to drop acid and then watch the intro to the Cosby Show on a loop until you lose your mind. Actually, that sounds fun. That one comes from their 2019 album Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery. They have one other album, 2016's Channel the Spirits. The top track on that one is "Space Carnival," with 579k streams.
Trippy video, yo - and the song is more of a freakout quasi-EDM track with saxophone. These guys and Griz should tear the roof off a stage! I feel exhausted after having survived that track. Big Sax Energy! A lot of these tunes are freaking intense! In fact, it kind of gives me a headache after a while - "Birth of Creation" from the new album has this throbbing bassline that whumps its way into the brain, as some clarinet-ass sound is trying to groove along, and I need a break. There is one beat poet-sounding track with some words used, but otherwise this is instrumental freakout stuff. it's kind of neato in a - what the hell is that? - kind of way, but I doubt I'd actually go watch it live.
One Liner: Jazzy piano beat-focused instrumentals (is a phrase I never knew I'd write)
Wikipedia Genre: Jazz, Electronica, trip hop Home: Manchester, England Poster Position: ? (early announcement) Day: ? Both Weekends.
Thoughts: What in the world is this one? I mean, three songs into their top ten, its actually pretty dope stuff. Like someone kidnapped George Winston, made him smoke a bunch of weed, and then got him to jam out over a drummer playing live break beats intended for a rapper. You honestly have to hear this to understand. Here is their top track, "Hopopono," with 7.1 million streams.
Reminds me a little of those Bad Bad Not Good guys from a few years ago - I need Ghostface Killah to jump in and start freestyling over the top of this about getting a BJ in a mountain of coke while eating a hoagie. It's really good. (and I start to hear the Peanuts theme in there after a little while). TINY DESK MOFOS!!!
The piano players facial hair is a crime against humanity. Like, come on, man. Tiny Desk is forever, bro. Again, though, this is damn pretty stuff - very technical and dense action that draws me in and I want to complete. A lot of repetition, like they get into a groove where the piano keeps repeating the same phrase, and the other two just hold the groove steady, and you get to just slide along in that groove for a minute before they shift into something else. Cool stuff. I gotta say that the name threw me off though - was definitely expecting something different than modern jazz with a name like GoGo Penguin. This is how they describe the origin: "Me and my mate Pete got drunk at the rag-week auction at the RNCM and Pete bought this weird looking stuffed penguin for £60. His girlfriend was terrified of it and wouldn’t have it in the house, so I put it up in mine. We got our first gig at Sandbar in Manchester and desperately needed a name, so we started throwing ideas about and the penguin telepathically gave us the solution. Hence ‘Penguin’, ‘Go Penguin’ and eventually ‘Gogo Penguin’." So many things to unpack in that response. WTF is a rag-week auction? And isn't sixty pounds like $100? That seems like a lot to spend on a terrifying penguin. They name a bunch of very odd influences (although who am I to say they are odd, if they had listened to a bunch of REM and Zeppelin and Beasties, they wouldn't be making this cool music today): Aphex Twin, Mu-Ziq, Four Tet, Ustad Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Bonobo, Acoustic Ladyland, Radiohead, Polar Bear, Portishead, Lamb, Scuba, Burial, and Björk. I've heard of four of those before. But they turn it into something wildly expressive and interesting. Four albums, and you can use them to hear an evolution from a more straight-forward jazz sound to their more experimental edge now. The debut, 2012's Fanfares, has one track with more than 400k streams, "Last Words," with 439k.
God, I bet making that video took 9 years. Lovely track though - hard to find fault with any of these songs - these guys are really great with their instruments. But you can tell on there that, while they are using drums to make some fast-paced beats under all the piano, they aren't making a quasi hip hop track like now. v2.0, their 2014 album has some crazy jams on it, like that first video I posted above, and then "Garden Dog Barbeque." I mean, I can dig it. I'm not at all sure what a live show from these guys would look like, in a festival setting, but depending on the schedule, I'd be willing to check it out. Someone pass the mushrooms and lets groooooooooove.
One Liner: Jazzy Kiddie Limits singer with some fun songs Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll go with jazz. Spotify Says Similar To:Lucas Miller and Tim and the Space Cadets. Home: Portland, OR Poster Position: 26 Slot: ?
Thoughts: Only one song available on Spotify, called "Heisenberg's Aha!" which is a piano jaunt about the beauty of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Kind of funny.
I think that we are talking about an Austin Kiddie Limits artist here, educating the children about quantum mechanics. Because the stoned people at the regular stages are never going to comprehend any of this. In addition to Heisenberg, she also pays homage to Fred Rogers and Jane Goodall in other songs. Her voice is great, and she's got a jazzy number as the title song for her Grammy nominated album, "How Great Can This Day Be?"
I like it. Here's one more, just in case. If the comments to this video are to be believed, the lyrics to this are something that Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote?
Ah, no, her quote with the video just says that this is inspired by a Neil deGrasse Tyson quote. Pretty piano for sure, and her voice is still nice as well. This isn't music that I'd listen to every day, but it really is lovely.
One Liner: Trumpet-forward pop tunes. Wikipedia Genre: Trumpet, vocals, keyboard Spotify Says Similar To: morgxn and Girl Blue Home: Los Angeles Poster Position: 20 Slot: ? Thoughts: Spotify says he is a trumpeter known for his funky jazz and R&B infused pop. That sounds terrible. He has apparently toured with Foster the People, Portugal the Man (both ACL bands this year) and Capital Cities, St. Lucia, and HOLYCHILD (past ACL bands) so maybe he is actually the booking agent for ACL and only now is bold enough to book himself... hmmmmm. Oh God, 98% of his songs available on Spotify are the same song (Diggy) in a billion remix formats. He literally has Diggy Feels, Pt. 1 (6 song EP) and Diggy Feels, Pt. 2 (7 song EP) that are both entirely versions of this same track. Now I want to die. Here is a version (I have no clue which one) for you to enjoy.
63k views for that video, and 2 million streams for the main version on Spotify. Makes me think of a less exciting Bruno Mars. Actually, makes me think of a Disney movie where the main character is a high school band nerd and gets made fun of every day and stuffed into lockers until one day he finds a magic ugly/shiny striped blazer that gives him special dance move powers and he spontaneously bursts into this song and trumpet breakdown while everyone else in the high school raises their eyebrows and nods their heads until they too are breaking into a spontaneous (but fully coordinated) dance on the front steps of the high school. This show, called JAZZED!, is sure to make Disney millions and loads of spin off opportunities, and I only require a 25% cut once it is made. YOU ARE WELCOME DISNEY! I actually hear Foster the People in some of these tunes, like "Right Into U," which totally sounds like something off FTP's recent album. That's right, I just called them FTP. I was also the kind of guy to call Fine Young Cannibals FYC back in the day. So, this is some snappy, poppy stuff, but it literally sounds like something my kids would make me listen to after 90 rounds of Kidz Bop, so I think I'm out. Just so you can get a second example of the tunes, here is "Good Time People."
One Liner: Jazz funk Canadian dudes with a hip hop style Wikipedia Genre: Post-bop, instrumental hip hop, jazz, free improvisation, electronica Spotify Says Similar To: Shabazz Palaces and Flying Lotus Home: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Poster Position: 9 Slot: ? Thoughts: So, I'd listened to these dudes before because they played the tunes behind one of Ghostface Killah's albums a few years ago (the solid Sour Soul, with the hot track "Ray Gun"), but I never really dove down into the rest of their tunes after that experience. I guess the thing for most of these tunes is that it is a pretty chilled, organic hip hop beat style. I'll give you their most listened to track as an example of just that, this is "Hedron," which has 5.3 million streams on Spotify.
You can imagine someone laying down a rap over the top of that for sure. Most of the top tracks on their Spotify are ones with either a rapper or singer doing something along with it, so I almost wonder if they will be bringing someone along with them for this show, or just going it alone with instrumentals. I have a feeling it would be the former, as a show of just the chilled instrumentals would probably not be all that fun in the festival format. But Spotify has a 2017 Spotify Live album, apparently recorded at SXSW in Austin, and it is solely instrumental tunes, so maybe they really will try to get by with just hip hop grooves and jazzy sax as their only vocali-ish sound? To that I say nah. They've got a handful of albums, according to their Bio, but only III, Sour Soul, and IV show up on Spotify, so I can't tell you what their first two albums were like. Here is the most popular track off of that Sour Soul album, the title track, which has 2.8 million streams.
Now, if these guys were going to show up with Ghostface in tow and let him go to town over all of their songs, then I'd be highly interested in seeing that stuff. But if it is all going to just be jazzy instrumentals, I think I'll be cool seeing something else. I mean, these tracks are well executed and all of that, but I just don't see an entire show of instrumental jazz holding my interest with so much other good stuff going on. But get A$AP Ferg over there to freestyle over these songs, and I'm in. Will I go Watch Them? Probably not.
One Liner: Jazz and soul delivered with a honey smooth voice Poster Position: 14 Thoughts: When I pulled up this guy's music, and saw a picture of him, I remembered him from somewhere. His particular look is very distinctive. But it wasn't until I went and read his bio that I remembered that he was one of the guys who contributed vocals to Disclosure's most recent album, and when I looked him up I couldn't take that hat then either. I mean, what is that thing? He's like a hobo who found a jockey's helmet and now won't take it off. Is he in a wetsuit under his short and tie? Is there a helmet in the hat to avoid head trauma? What is going on here? Well, now I went and looked it up, and found this: "He has referred to it as both a security blanket and his “jazz hat”. In a 2012 interview with Jazzweekley.com he explained why he started wearing it: "I’ve had some surgery on my skin, so this has been my look for a little while and will continue to be for awhile longer." Crap, now I'm an asshole. Greg, sorry I made fun of your weird hat. Hope the surgery went OK. Enough about the jazz hat, his music is absolutely freaking gorgeous. I'm no big jazz aficionado, but holy damn, his voice is melting honey gleaming in the sunshine. I mean, he's just smoove like a fine lady's backside, warm like the steam that rises when you cut homemade bread fresh from the oven, soft like my beer gut, he is all things at once in all times in all places. Like God, but with a weird hat. It's making me think of the fun tunes that I was in to from Jamie Cullum years ago, except with God singing. I kid, but here is the top tune on Spotify (well, the original version, his top three songs in terms of listens are versions of this tune, called "Liquid Spirit," the original at 5.2 million, the Clapton remix at 8.0 million, and the Claptone Remix Edit at 5.6 million. Pretty impressive.
This song is on an album by the same name, and that album won the 2014 Grammy Award for best jazz vocal album. That song right there is all sorts of funky action and requires some dancin'. Kind of has a gospel sound in addition to the jazzy soul funk. More popular than that track right now (but with many fewer streams at only 833k) is a reinterpretation of that track that he appeared on for Disclosure, which appears on 2016's Take Me To The Alley, called "Holdin' On."
Feel that? Some Barry White sounding action at the start. Just beautiful, man. Awesome sound. I'd never go out of my way to listen to this type of music, unless maybe trying to set the mood for the wife or something, but we've had an unseasonable rainstorm or two the past few days here in Austin, and it sure is nice to have this playing while the rain dribbles down my office windows. Prior to those two most recent albums, he opened with 2010's Water and then 2012's Be Good, which has his third most popular track, another gentle jazz beauty, again the title song, "Be Good (Lion's Song),"
Another really nice track. It would be out of character to go see something like this at the festival, but I just might, just so I can hear some of this in person. It seems like this would be way better in a club setting, more intimate and with better acoustics, but maybe he'll surprise on a big stage? Either way, I'll keep enjoying this music.
