The Official ACL Blog for like Eight People!
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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.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but punk, rock and roll, awesomeness
Home: Essex, England
Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 13. Weekend Two Only. (NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) Sunday at 3:30
BeatBox Stage
Thoughts: Oh, Thank God this isn't more dream pop. This is some of that fire, sloppy, pop-rock punk stuff like White Reaper or FIDLAR who have shown up here before. Their Spotify bio made me grin: "The bastard child of a Ramones/Strokes one night stand, they play ferociously fast distorted pop songs, with melodies that hook so deep, even the most skilled lobotomist would struggle to scrape them out." I am just personally so pleased to hear fuzzy, angry guitars and pounding drums instead of another soft-focus synth song. So good.
Billie Joe Armstrong called them the best band in England right now. They recently completed opening gigs for Green Day, Royal Blood, Weezer, The Hives, and The Darkness, so they've definitely got friends in the same zone. They also have a live album in this mix, and I dig it because it is raw as hell. You can hear them screwing things up but also tearing the roof off of it. Lead singer Bobby Nerves just wails all around over the top of the pounding tunes. Here is a great quote from him: "I always sang as a kid. When we started the band, I didn’t want to sound like a British twerp. I wanted to find a sound that I liked. The sound is kind of nasily. To get that tone, you have to kind of sing the wrong way. You have to hit these high notes." A British twerp!
Two albums - 2020's Bad Nerves and 2024's Still Nervous. Top streamers are from the first album, but let's do one of each. "Can't Be Mine" from the first album has 14.2 million streams.
It takes all of two seconds of silence before they come at you like a pack of feral dogs. I just got goosebumps watching the drummer murder that kit. What a fun song. I'm watching these dudes for sure. The top song off of the new disc is "Don't Stop" with 7.6 million.
Those dudes even look like real-deal punks from Britain. Just a minute and 43 seconds of shred. I feel like the drummer must be the most in shape guy in all of England. Let's do it.
We will get to all the rest. Before we do that, I want you to do me a favor. Depending on your money situation, do one of these two tasks right now:
Arrange to have your car shipped to Germany. Go to the starting line of the Autobahn. Find the Amyl and the Sniffers song called "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)" and queue it up. Snort a kilo of cocaine, hit play, and hit the gas so hard that your sweet Kia rears up on its back wheels like one of those Fast & Furious drag races and before the song ends your engine lights on fire and sinks into the core of the Universe.
Put in some noise canceling earpods, strap on your fastest running shoes, queue up the song, and before you die from pure overexertion and exhaustion, pump your fist to God and thank him for this song.
One Liner: Unmuzzled, brute-force punk and roll riffage (in a great way)
Wikipedia Genre: Pub rock (what the hell pub is that?), punk rock, garage rock
Home: Melbourne, Australia
Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 4 Both Weekends. Friday at 4:30
American Express Stage
Thoughts: That schedule is sort of a bum deal. Like, three of the best things on this entire poster are Amyl at 4:30, Grocery Bag at 5:15, and Turnstile at 6:15. Back-to-back like that means that you really can't get into the front for all three. Which would be way better - watching this from the chair area would be a crime.
For some reason, I had it in my head that they were Amyl and the Night Sniffers. Where did that extra word pop into my brain?
Anyway, before we get to the albums, let's talk about the band. The name comes from slang for amyl nitrite, also known as poppers. In a BBC interview, lead singer Amy said: "In Australia we call poppers Amyl. So you sniff it, it lasts for 30 seconds and then you have a headache – and that's what we're like!" The four original members were housemates who decided to give a band a shot, and one guy left after the first EP and was replaced.
As you can tell, I dig the band. So, I have actually reviewed all three albums over the years. Their debut was my #5 album for all of 2019. Amyl and the Sniffers won the ARIA (Aussie music awards) for Best Rock Album and was nominated for other awards.Here is what I had to say:
The opening track and the closing track on this album are both the highly-concentrated perfect concoction to get my blood pumping. The band absolutely crushes a heavy groove in both "Starfire 500" and "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)," and I am extremely here for it. The vocals can get a little yell-y over time, but the deep, dark, fuzzed out rock and roll is worth every penny. Australian band, and the lead singer's name is Amy Taylor, which makes me grin just because its such a plain jane name despite her bruising vocals. Surprisingly, "Got You" is the top streamer, at 651k. [now up to 14.1 million in 2026]
A blast of punk fury with a very freaking weird video that looks like lost archival footage of something freaky from 1983. "Gacked on Anger" sounds very much like she is repeatedly saying that she "gagged on dick" (or at least that is what I hear, which is probably unfortunate). Because I get to make the rules around here, I'm going to give you another song so that you can hear one of my favorites as well. This is "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)." [7.4 million streams in 2026]
560k views on that video, 464k streams on Spotify. The intro is enough to get me jacked up and run through a brick wall for sure. I know its a pretty basic package of riff-tastic rock, but I'll be damned if those riffs don't work like drugs to my brain. My Daily Commute mix put this on two days ago while I was driving home, and if there hadn't been eighty billion cars in front of me on Mopac at the time, I would have driven 120 miles an hour to Canada immediately. I keep singing it in my head and banging my head around and then needing to fix my hair, while at work. This shit is going to get me in trouble. "Shake Ya" also provides a similar package of riffs, even if the overall tune isn't quite as awesome. Keeping this one for sure.
In 2021 (likely after the good, old COVID break), they released Comfort to Me. My review:
Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me. Their last album was an absolute banger. Just an unhinged blast of ridiculously overcharged angry bashing. "Some Mutts" is a classic. This one has some of that same flavor, but nothing in here is so perfectly pitched as those tracks on the first one. Although I really like "Security" and her yelling at the pub's security about how she's NOT THAT DRUNK! Makes me grin. I love the guitars and the pounding drums, and her kick ass Aussie accent adds a perfect flavor for these tunes. The top track is "Hertz" with 2.9 million streams. [now up to 36.8, their top streamer overall]
I very much appreciate the way the singer just looks like someone who would scream about not being that drunk or yelling at me to climb into the backseat because that is where she'll be waiting. The lyrics literally could be a country song - "take me to the beach, take me to the country, come in the backseat, if you love me." I can hear Maren Morris singing that in a nice country lilt right now. But there ain't nothing nice or lilted about that tune right there, just an angry fuzzy blast of deranged love. "No More Tears" kinda sounds like classic REM when it starts. "Laughing" cracks me up because of the weird slang she is using, saying that she is dressed "daggy." The google says that "daggy" means unkempt or scruffy. Enjoyable album anyway, but not nearly as essential as the last one.
Something about that Australian accent, man. We are currently watching a very ridiculous murder-mystery-cop-show on Prime called Deadloch, which is based in Australia, and one of the characters pretty much just cusses in a deeply thick Aussie accent and I can usually just barely pick up which body parts she is cussing about. Also, "Guided by Angels" is another rip-roarer from that album up above. Unhinged guitar riffage.
Finally, we get to 2024's Cartoon Darkness.
Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness. "Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)" is the track that caught me in the Sniffers' net a few years back, and while nothing on here is as viscerally, ridiculously amazing for me, it is another patch of skuzzy punky rock bashing. The album opener, which I somehow actually heard on terrestrial radio the other day, is just so amazingly rude and weird, I need to tell you the lyrics.
You're a dumb cunt, you're an asshole
Every time you talk, you mumble, grumbles
Need to wipe your mouth after you speak
'Cause it's an asshole, bum hole, dumb cunt
You are ugly all day, I am hot always
You are just a critic and you want to hit it
You are fucking spiders, I am drinking riders
Don't wanna be stuck in that negativity
Keep jerkin' on your squirter
You will never get with me
I don't wanna be stuck inside that negativity
Keep jerkin' on your squirter
You will never get with me, yeah
I have to say, the lyric "keep jerkin' on your squirter" is really going to stick with me for a long time. That is just A LOT. But as soon as that one is over, "Chewing Gum" has a super-catchy set of lyrics bopping over the top of a nice little Madchester-ish rock track. Super fun. Sadly, I don't get to show you the "Jerkin'" video, which is something (especially if you hunt down the uncensored version), because "U Should Not Be Doing That" is winning the stream wars with 10.2 million. [now up to 24.5 million in 2026]
Her dance moves crack me up. It's like an almost TikTok-ian rapper vibe, but while she's spouting these angry lyrics. But again, I find the tune itself to be very catchy and groovy. That bassline gets me moving. Same with the breakneck chorus portion of "Do It Do It." This stuff is fun and ridiculous. Give it all to me.
I'm sure that I will look ridiculous if I try to get up there in the thick of the pit and jump around and make a go at being youthful and ready to rock during this show, but I'll be damned if I don't really want to try. I can just imagine a Friday afternoon in which I tear an Achilles and have the best afternoon of my life with Amyl and then Turnstile. Worth it.
One Liner: Doo-wop punk goofiness Wikipedia Genre: Punk rock, queercore Home: San Francisco Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15 Day: Friday at 1:15p Weekend One Only.
American Express Stage
Thoughts: Remember Shannon and the Clams? This reminds me of that sort of thing - kinda 50's girl-group-doo-wop but then also some punk rock flourishes. There are some songs in here that are legit punk rock and are kind of annoying, but the majority of this feels kind of fun.
Seth Bogart is Hunx. He was previously in a band called Gravy Train!!!! (and I like that name), but the funny thing to me here is that he seems to take the backseat to his backing girls on almost every song. He started the band in 2008, they broke up in 2011, reunited for a minute in 2013, and then came back for real in 2019. The only album with this current lineup of folks is 2025's Walk Out On This World. The top track from there is "Alone in Hollywood on Acid." 147k streams.
I feel like it would actually be really terrible to be alone in a big city while high on acid. Maybe cool people who do acid all the time will disagree, but that scares me. But their top streamer overall is "Lover's Lane" from the debut album - 2.7 million streams.
Total girl group vibes on that one with the "woooooo" intro. Even sounds like it was written about something from the 50's. Who would still go to Lover's Lane now? Feels like a good way to get cut up into small pieces or sold into human trafficking.
I dunno, man. Definitely more fun than some of the pop garbage I have been listening to so far, but also kind of one note? We'll see how the schedule shakes out.
One Liner: Raucous but fun punk rock from a pack of Aussie girls Wikipedia Genre: riot grrrl, punk rock, post-grunge Home: Canberra, Australia Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 21 Day: Sunday Weekend Two Only.
Thoughts: Hell of a band name right there. Also, I wonder who decided just how many r's should go into the genre name for "riot grrrl"? Two seems like it would have gotten us there, and four seems like it could have been a fun option. Three would not have been my first choice.
This foursome was formed in 2015 by 15 year old girls who went to school together in a suburb of Canberra, Australia. When I was eight, I got to visit Canberra, the lovely capital of Australia. I recall absolutely nothing of it, other than when we were on the road from Sydney to Canberra a flock of sheep took over the entire highway and we had to wait for the shepherds to move all eighty billion of those sheep out of the way for our big ass tour bus to continue. Anyway, the band released their first single in 2019 and was named as a Triple J Unearthed feature artist. Pretty sweet for a bunch of teenagers. Since then, they've gotten to open for the Foo Fighters (2023) and Pearl Jam (2025). That would have been funny if I had already seen them before, but they were not on the Austin bill.
My first comparison was Wet Leg, probably because I have been listening to a lot of Wet Leg. But as I have kept going in this catalog, I think I'd compare it more to The Beaches (here last year) or something more punky like Cherry Glazerr (who was here a few years ago). It's good fun. A 2022 EP called Pretty Good for a Girl Band and 2 2023 album called I Love You (which includes the songs from the earlier EP). So, not a ton of output for a decade-old band. The top track is on both of those - helpfully titled "AHHHH!" 5.1 million streams. And again, why four h's? Is there a proper number of h's to create the sound of screaming? Wouldn't more h's add to the allure of that song name? I don't know.
That seems like an excellent song to yell along to at the top of your lungs while seeing this band live. Pogo jumping all over and yelling WAHOEWAAAAOOOHHAAAAAWWW! over and over. Good fun - and the breakdown and riffage at around 1:38 jams. Rip it up, little teenage Aussie bras. "Girl Sports" is a good one too. The second-most streamed is "I Used to Be Fun," with 3.5 million streams.
"I used to be fun, until they took my car away." Stupid parents, man. They don't understand.
Yeah, this band is a good time. Even if their name is a mouthful that will be hard to say correctly when I try to remember what I recommend in a month and someone asks, but it is fun business. WEEKEND TWO ONLY IS BOLLOCKS!!!
Wikipedia Genre: pop punk, alternative rock, skate punk, punk rock
Home: Poway, California (suburb of San Diego)
Poster Position: Headliner! Both Weekends. Friday at 8:10.
Honda Stage.
Thoughts: One of the biggest pop punk bands around. Green Day feels bigger to me, without doing the research that would be required to establish that as a fact, but there was a time in the late 90's when I might have lost that wager. But where Green Day matured a little and starting making political satire and other topical stuff, these dudes just kept singing about their lack of maturity and weird sexual things.
Their formation may not be that interesting, but I like the serendipity in it. Guitarist Tom DeLonge was expelled from high school for being drunk at a basketball game, and had to go to a different high school. While there, he performed in a Battle of the Bands and met drummer Scott Raynor, and through a friend's sister, met Mark Hoppus who was in town to attend college. The three formed the band in DeLonge's garage, bonding over their love of scrappy punk rock. If dipshit #1 hadn't gotten drunk for a basketball game, no Blink 182.
The band was originally just "Blink" but once they started to get some early traction, and Irish band named Blink sent them notice and so they supposedly just added a random number on to the end. Explanations of “182” include the number of times Al Pacino’s character Tony Montana says “fuck” in Scarface, the number of the ship on which Hoppus’s grandfather served in the Marines, and Hoppus’s ideal weight. But, DeLonge has apparently confirmed that the number actually has to do with some sort of dumb high school rivalry. The maybe-sorta-kinda confirmed thing for people from Poway is that Blink-182 is a euphemism for “Fuck RB,” because R is the alphabet’s eighteenth letter and B is the second. “18 + 2 = R + B = Rancho Bernardo”. Riiiiiiiiiight. There is also discussion of how the Brits call it Blink One Eight Two, and James Corden said it should actually be called Blink One Hundred and Eighty Two, and so Delonge said it should actually be Blink Eighteen Two. Exhausting. Blink One Eighty-Two for me.
Out of curiosity, that Irish band Blink doesn't appear to exist anymore. On Spotify, there is a BLINKYSPIRIT, a Blink that does techno with Asian vocals, BLINKERRED, Blinky Bill, Blinky Blink, Blinkie, BlinkMade, BlinkScape, Blinky, Blink (looks like K Pop), and some others, but none appears to be the Irish band that messed up this whole thing.
Fascinating that they had a 1994 album named Buddha - no one seems to be listening to it much and I don't recognize the songs. Weird. Even weirder, Cheshire Cat is a 1995 album that repeats some of the songs from that earlier album, and likewise seems under the radar. I jammed a little of that and it is suuuuper raw. Like, definitely the sound of some kids who just figured out to record themselves and hit some chords on the guitar. It was 1997's Dude Ranch that finally got them a hit - and a lot cleaner production. But this is still the sound with the original drummer, a guy named Scott Raynor, who got tossed after this album and before the biggest hits of their career. Anyway, the big hit from Dude Ranch is "Dammit," which is a classic 90's radio staple you'll still hear today. 289.3 million streams.
Funny seeing that other drummer in the band and not the tatted up Barker. They are so clean cut looking! "Well I guess this is growing up" is so basic but a great line. This was the era when I definitely did not own that whole album, but I bet I downloaded that song and "Josie" on Napster and then played it on my WinAmp with a sweet skin while working for AOL. Haha. Good times.
But it was 1999's Enema of the State, with its porn-star-nurse-cover and mega-hits that finally turned this into a major thing. And some strange detours in here, being that "All The Small Things" is just a poppy mega hit (1.1 BILLION streams), "What's My Age Again" is more juvenile dick joke humor stuff (721.3 million streams), and then "Adam's Song" is a kind of lovely song about teen suicide (313.1 million streams). That is a really wide range. I don't know this album as well as the next one, but those hits are pretty undeniable.
Massive MTV rotation for that video, and apparently still very popular for over a billion streams and 373 million views on YT. And now you get all of those huge drum fills and power cymbals from Barker. You also get some surprisingly good lyrics like the bit about work sucking and how little surprises like roses by the stairs let your loved one know that you care. But the polish and shine on this album is obvious - no longer the raw bashing of those first few albums. This is slick and catchy pop rock.
After that huge album, they did a live album, and it is my sincere desire that they are no longer like this, now that they are in their mid-50's. But tons of dick jokes and "I want a blow job from your mom" jokes and just deeply stupid crap. "Everyone yell FUCK!"
Next comes my favorite album of the bunch, 2001's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Again, a well-produced, slick, catchy, tight set of songs that are both funny and rockin'. Pretty sure I owned this one. Not as commercially successful - at least less streamers for sure - but I really enjoyed it. The big hits were "The Rock Show," "Stay Together for the Kids" (again, kind of a more poignant subject for these goofy dudes), and "First Date." That one is the biggest with 439.7 million streams.
Great video. Another totally goofy song, but freaking catchy as all get out. Forever, forever, lets make this last forever! HOLY SHIT! That is where that little meme comes from when people show the blond guy in a mullet say What the Fuck - go to 1:54. That is wild! Great jam, especially the solo bit near the end. "Stay Together for the Kids" jams, by the way.
Apparently, right about now, the guys were rushed into releasing this album to capitalize on the popularity of the last one, and after a co-headlining tour with Green Day things were not all awesome. DeLonge made a sorta solo project, but he invited Barker to do the drums, so it made Hopper feel dissed and made a rift. Barker also started working outside the group with a band called Transplants (bad rap/rock stuff) on the side. They got back together for 2003's blink-182, which fired up one of their biggest tracks. Funny though, because to me it is muddy sounding. The drums are muffled and the whole sound is just not nearly as crisp as their other albums. I wonder why. Anyway, "I Miss You" was the big one here, with 783.7 million streams, some strings, and a continued presence on the radio even today.
The thing that I always remember about that track is how weird his voice sounds. Before a whole group of young ladies learned to sign in italics, he was out here singing "wheryyre ayyyyre yuurr... or ... voyyyce inshwwd myyyed" But it is a nice little song. I prefer the dumb shit, personally, but I'm not anti-love song. "Feeling This" and "Always" got some traction on that disc too. The disc, like that video up above, has a little more emo-ness to it, instead of just the usual frat boy punk.
Right about here, the simmering rift in the band blew it up and they announced a hiatus in 2005. DeLonge wanted more time with his family and less touring, the other guys didn't. Hoppus was still made about the side project. So, DeLonge formed Angels and Airwaves, while Hoppus and Barker made an album with a project they called +44 (if you go back to the weird numbering thing, D is the fourth letter in the alphabet so maybe they're saying to add DDelonge to the list of fuck yous?). Barker gained more fame with reality TV shows and then a major plane crash that killed four other passengers and left him with PTSD and the need for 16 different surgeries. After that brush with death, the guys decided to sit down and work it out.
The result of that was 2011's Neighborhoods. Even though they were "back" together, they actually recorded the album in separate places and never really made a cohesive thing. You also have the fact that the pop punk thing is not in vogue by now. So, no real hits on that disc - maybe "After Midnight," but I just put that one on and don't recall it at all. After this, they tried touring (although Barker wouldn't fly so it wasn't simple) and then DeLonge exited the band again (in part to investigate UFOs).
So, they had to find a new guitarist and part time vocalist, and ended up with a guy named Matt Skiba, who had been in Alkaline Trio. I don't know that band at all. After some legal battles with DeLonge, Skiba became an official member and in 2016 they released California. Here was my review of it at the time:
"Man, I like this album a lot even though this was one of the two discs they did with a replacement guitarist/vocalist, while Tom DeLonge was out of the band. Nothing new from the old sound of the band, in fact, any of these songs could have been taken from the sessions for Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and I would not have been surprised. Strong drumming, tight harmonic singing, quick blast songs, it sounds just like the old Blink. And they still keep their boyish frat party vibe going, with two super short songs ("Built This Pool" and "Brohemian Rhapsody") that contain a juvenile joke and little else. If you never did like Blink, then this disc will still be disappointing and boring to you, but as someone who enjoyed TOYPaJ back in the day, this sounds good to me. The hit off of here so far is "Bored to Death," and I like it even though it has been on constant rotation on the radio [FYI, in 2024, 163.1 million streams]. Such a trademark sound, especially the chorus and the line "Life is too short to last long," sung as a throwaway line after the main portion of the chorus. I assume you've already heard that song 80 times, so I'll bring you my second favorite track, "San Diego." [38.7 million streams in 2024]
That video makes me want to vomit - the movement of the lyrics is unsettling to my eyes. But I dig the tune, and the nostalgic points making about jamming the Cure in the parking lot before a show. "Los Angeles" is also good, as is "California" and "No Future." Another album that is fun, although you're not going to want to parse the lyrics and make a case for a Pulitzer. But fun to jam nonetheless."
2019's Nine did not affect me the same way. Here was my review:
"This one will truly live up to the title of these posts, and be very quick. No. I was on the fence about liking this bratty pop-punk back in the Clinton administration, but now this all sounds the same. Whiny, bratty, generically mediocre pop rock with a great drummer. This one also is missing DeLonge. "I Really Wish I Hated You" is tops with 16.8 million streams [now at 64.6 million].
They were best when they were funny, and nothing about these songs is funny at all to me. No."
COVID messed up the promotional cycle for that one, but also by 2021 Hoppus revealed that he had been receiving treatment for cancer. That caused yet another sit down and make-nice between the boys, and they rejoined. It sounds like maybe Skiba didn't get the best messaging about getting booted out, but it seems like he took it pretty well. So, they played a surprise set at Coachella in 2023 for their first show with the whole group in almost a decade, and then made some new music. Here is my review.
"Blink 182 - One More Time. Hey! Speaking of a band who could have just kept living off of their prior popularity! The first thing I notice here is that Travis Barker freaking jams. People have talked him up as the top tier drummer for years, and I've never really noticed much out of him on those classic Blink albums. But I really feel like he is magnificent on these tunes. "Fell in Love" sounds like they are stealing from The Cure. "One More Time" is the sad-boy ballad that has been working it on the radio waves recently - 47.7 million streams of people singing about "do I have to dieeeyyyy to hear you miss meeeeeeee."
I mean, I know Mark Hoppus almost died from cancer and all, and Barker almost died in a plane crash, so this is kind of sweet. But it is also very treacly and too twee for me. Of course, after I have heard it, my brain doesn't care and I keep singing it over again. So maybe it is better than I am willing to admit. I know that they are mixing in lots of silliness in here, but I am not going to go take the time to read their lyrics to see which songs are about masturbation. But even if this is just a carbon copy of the classic sound they used in the late 90's, it feels fun to me. Like, the generic Blink-ness of "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT" which sounds like it even rips off "Adam's Song" for the taut chorus and then arena-sized chorus feels like it could have been on multiple other Blink albums. Which is likely for the best at this stage."
So, the big decision is whether I'm going to go see this. I think the answer is most likely yes, even though Stapleton is probably my favorite thing on the whole poster. But I've seen Stapleton do his thing four or five times by now, so it seems to me that it would make more sense to go to the fun thing that I've never seen before. We'll see, I guess!
One Liner: A really great indie rock band that can't quit ruining songs with screaming
Wikipedia Genre: punk rock, indie rock, noise rock
Home: Philadelphia
Poster Position: 14 Weekend One Only. Friday at 3:10.
Miller Lite Stage.
Thoughts: This is one of those bands that critics seem to like and you hear about, but then when you try it out, its not that fun. Kind of like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for me. This is the kind of band who gets props from both NPR and Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and SPIN. Here is what I had to say a few weeks ago when listening to one of their top singles to see what the fuss was about: "Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven. I want to like this more than I actually do. The backing music is great, but the vocals grate on me." Feels about right. 4.8 million streams.
It's like if one of those good Wet Leg songs got remade with an angrier lead singer. Again, I'd like to actually like it. I never really gave Hole a chance back in the day - the few songs I heard with Courtney Love freaking out over the top just turned me off immediately. This is what I imagine I was missing.
The band was originally formed by the current guitarist and lead vocalist Marisa "Missy" Dabice and Athanasios Paul, who met in school. Just a two piece at the time. They released an early album called Gypsy Pervert, but later re-released that album as an eponymous album because the band regretted using the word gypsy, which is often used as a pejorative insult. Funny that they are totally cool with using pussy in their band and album name, but gypsy is a line too far. There is an old man who lives on the street behind us who uses that word all the time, pretty much in his head it means anyone he doesn't like in the neighborhood - yard workers, homeless guys, thieves, someone knocking doors asking for signatures, whatever.
In one interview, they were asked if they think the band name is sexual, and the response was "[t]here was never an intention for it to be, but I’ve definitely learned just how little control we have over how others will interpret it." Really?
Anyway, but 2015, they've bulked up the band to a four piece and released their second full-length, Romantic, in 2016. Rolling Stone called the title track from that album the 14th best song of 2016, and it is still the band's top streamer at 11.3 million.
Yeah, sticking with my earlier thought. Nice for a bit, then unpleasant for a bit. But as you go through the catalog, there are some genuinely enjoyable tunes. Sometimes they hold the screamo in check. For example, on the I Got Heaven disc from this year, "Nothing Like" is pretty, but then "OK? OK! OK? OK!" just shreds all of that nice feel. When it is nice, I get some Japanese Breakfast or Soccer Mommy vibes. And I like both of those! When it is not nice it detracts from my whole day.
We'll do one more to listen to a track from the 2019 album Patience. This was the last one with that founding drummer before he left to go find himself. "Drunk II" is the track from there with 8.2 million streams.
I wanna go boogie while I play pool at that bar. I don't think I want to make out at that bar tho, that part looks stressful. But yeah, a nice rock and roll tune that never devolves into something that would make me nervous to play it around my wife who hates angry things. And even though the lyrics are sad, they are also poignant in a great way. But this album does the same thing, following up a lovely "Who You Are" with the grating "Clams" and "FUCAW."
We'll see. Friday is looking like a really solid day, except that the top line is a bummer with both Stapleton and Blink at the same time. Couldn't they move Blink to up against Dual IPA? But who knows, this may end up being the right show on that day despite the screaming.
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: 13 Both Weekends Saturday at 1:35.
T-Mobile.
Thoughts: Confusing me, in that I got excited seeing this thinking that Goose was coming back to the Fest. Dangit. 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, its 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. 4.5 million streams.
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! The only tune in their top ten right now that is not from that 2023 album is a new single from 2024 called "Jesse" - I'll give you that so you can see if the new sound is catching on. 679k.
Well, now that I lured you in with two songs that sound pretty sweet, 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. 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 how this will hit.
One Liner: Unhinged, frenetic punk rock with new wave angles
Wikipedia Genre: Punk Rock
Home: Nashville
Poster Position: 5 (23) Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: The actual band name is Snõõper, which is an entertaining thing before you even get to the frenetic tunes. Those little tildes make it look like eyes with curious eyebrows over them. Strangely, and I don't think I have seen this before, their debut album has a Wikipedia page, but the actual band does not have a Wikipedia page. They are signed to Third Man (Jack White's label) and recorded in Nashville, so they are definitely a different animal than most.
By the way, Super Snooper, known as "Schnoop by Blabber," Snoop or Snooper, is an anthropomorphic cat, a detective, and one of the main characters of the Yogi Bear franchise. Didn't recall that factoid, did you!?! The band though is made up of Connor Cummins and Clair Tramel. This makes me pissed that Amyl and the Night Sniffers are not at the festival, because they rule. Apparently, this is something called "egg punk," which I had to look up. "influenced by Devo and a hatred for the us vs them mentality of the emerging "chain punk" bands. Egg punk is satirical, danceable, energetic, and deeply cynical of the edgy "hardcore and serious" approach to music." Well, that all sounds right.
The music is fun, wild stuff. "Running" sounds like a cheerleader fronting a cover band that can't remember if it is supposed to be playing early B-52s or early REM. Their most streamed song too, I think it jams.
Punk for sure, but also with a sheen of new wave on there. I wanna dance in a crowd to it when the guitar solo kicks in. Fascinatingly, that is one of their very early songs, from the 2020 EP Music for Spies.
Only one real album - 2023's Super Snooper. "Inventory" is a little much for an old man - too much dissonance and noise. "Microbe" is somehow like a drum and bass song? Lotta weird samples in here too - like some meathead bodybuilder talking about his routine. They do an off-kilter cover of "Come Together" in their early stuff. But not a lot of streams on most of this, which is too bad. I think its ridiculous fun. The top track from the new album is "Pod" with 135k.
That video is awful and it rules. Just this girl yelling over an unhinged tune and a bunch of jacked up imagery. I made a terrible stop motion movie in, like, middle school (please God don't tell me it was high school because it looked awful) where I remember being very clever for using Metallica's "One" along with a tiny slice of something from the Vaughan Brothers album. I've been an insufferable music nerd forever. Anyway, if it wasn't going to be at noon on Saturday, I'd go wig out to this.
One Liner: Very arty rock with more screaming than I would have guessed, based on "Maps."
Wikipedia Genre: Garage punk, garage rock, indie rock, art punk, dance-punk, post-punk revival
Home: NYC
Poster Position: Level 2 (2) Both Weekends.
Sunday.
Thoughts: Weirdly, this is the absolute first time I have ever intentionally listened to this band. They've been a part of the cultural discussion for so long, and yet the only thing I had ever heard of before was the one or two radio hits. So it is really weird to realize what was behind all of that hype. I also fear that my cool friends are about to be disappointed in me.
The band was formed in 2000 between Karen O (vocals, screaming, piano), Nick Zinner (guitar), and Brian Chase (drums). Note that there is no bassist listed there. Everyone met in college, while at different fancy colleges - Oberlin, Bard, NYU - and after forming they supported some other arty, loud bands like The Strokes and White Stripes. The band's name is supposedly taken from the way a New Yorker would dismiss something, like "yeah yeah yeah, whatever, buddy."
Their big hit was "Maps," and I fully agree that it is a great tune. But the rest of the album misses me entirely. I know that it is a critical darling, and I'm probably going to be seen as an idiot for this take, but it truly sounds like the band wanted to riff some classic rock jams, and their friend came in to the room and started just singing/squealing random brain farts onto the tracks. "Waaah! Ooooh! bum bum bum! I gotta man! gosh! Wow! yeah yeah yeah! [random sexy noise] WHO! tick tick tick tick tick tick!!!" I really dig the tunes in the background - these dudes are laying down tight rock and roll jams - but the vocal are actively aggravating to me. And obviously I am in the minority, as all the cool kids love this band. It makes "Maps" just that more jarring, because it is a legitimately beautiful song full of nuance and style. "Pin" has a Zeppelin groove to the tune, but Karen is just bop bop bopping over the chorus like she forgot to write lyrics before the recording started. Here is "Maps" which has 151.9 million streams.
Truly, a lovely song. Starts out so quiet and curious, and Karen O's vocals just layer in there with beauty. She is again very repetitive with half the first verse just being her saying the word "say." But that song is legit. I was curious what the song is about, because it makes zero sense to say the lyric "Maps / Wait, they don't love you like I love you." Like, a big paper map of the world is not being loved enough? According to the Internet (and when has that ever been wrong?), it is an acronym for "my Angus please stay." Deeply, confusingly, odd, but sure makes a lot more sense!
The rest of the album though, that is a hard no for me dawg. But meanwhile, Pitchfork gave that album a 7.4 and bends itself into knots about how compelling they are as a trendsetting band. Metacritic has it at 8.3. NME named it the #5 best album of the decade. I dunno man. I don't need that much squawking I guess.
I tried their debut album, and it also has a similar vibe. "Art Star" has her spouting weird lines until she decides she needs to engage in scream therapy. And then she just says doo doo doo da doo da doo for a while. It's awful.
After Fever to Tell, you get 2006's Show Your Bones. I like this considerably better. Still has the tight, brawny, thumping rock sounds, and O seems to control some of her natural instinct to harm my eardrums. Interestingly, the stream counts are really low for something I would have considered to be a big record. Nominated for Best Alternative Album Grammy, ranked well by Rolling Stone, NME, and Spin in their year-end lists. Odd. But the top song crushes the rest for streams, this is "Gold Lion" with 46.6 million streams.
Her voice in that one sounds like some 80's singer I can't identify right now. She is very affected in the way she sings. But at least she sounds like she is trying to hit some notes and actually sing. But the underlying song is a nice alt rock skuzzmobile.
After that album, you get 2009's It's Blitz, then 2013's Mosquito, and 2022's Cool It Down. That big gap in there was a hiatus after 2014 for no known reason that I can see. Looks like they were just bored, wating to get the "urge" to make more. Their big comeback was supposed to be for Sound on Sound, an old Austin festival that had supplanted Fun Fun Fun Fest, but that was the year that the main investor pulled out and the Fest died. Jerks. But of those three later albums, lower streams on each as they get newer, except for the second track on It's Blitz! "Heads Will Roll" has 213.1 million streams.
(indie music starting) - I love the subtitles to these songs. I just remembered who she sounds like, its the "Voices Carry" person from the 80's - Til Tuesday. Holy shit. WTF. Did you know that the lead singer of Til Tuesday was Aimee Mann? NO way. I love Aimee Mann, "Save Me" is amazing stuff, but I had zero idea at all that she was the affected voice of "Voices Carry." Weird. Anyway, this song is too 80's throwback for me, I'd rather hear them do the heavy classic rock sound from those earlier albums. This is like some weird Lady Gaga tune. I like the album opener "Zero" better!
The most recent album continues that trajectory to the band sounding like an 80's synth band. "Wolf" is pretty good. "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" is fine. Interesting that they took their hiatus, and then apparently felt like this was the album they needed to come back to make. Not bad, but also not very interesting.
Weird. I guess I don't like Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This is not at all the expectation I had when starting this post, I figured this was going to be a cool opportunity to finally join the masses who love this band and catch up with the times. Instead, now I know that "Maps" is just a singularly great song.
One Liner: Thrashing punky grunge from some Nirvana-loving Austin gals
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but punk and grunge
Home: Austin
Poster Position: Level 5 (25) Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Yeah baby. My wife would hate this so very much, but I am digging it. I'm sure once I start reading about the band, everyone else will be comparing it to Bleach-era Nirvana as well, but this is making me really happy. Skuzzy, pounding, chunky riffage tied to heavy drumming. Yummy. The first video I spotted was this one live in studio for KUTX, where they rip right in to it.
Oh, they switch instruments! That is cool. "Evangeline" very much sounds like what I am talking about. Not sure what she is saying before "you know you like that," but it totally sounds like Kurt Cobain screaming his words. And "Hair of Dog" just freaking rules. I love the band - the vocals, well, maybe not my favorite thing, but the music that is happening here is making my hair stand on end.
The only reference I found on Wikipedia for "Die Spitz" is that it was a German mail order franchise for apres sail wear in a BBC television drama called Howard's Way in the late 80s. If these ladies named their punk band after that reference, I will be really impressed by how super freaking weird that would be. But actually, here is the story, taken from a KUTX article: "“We wanted to have the word ‘spit’ in our name because it sounds epic. “Die” was chosen initially because it’s an article in German. “Die Spitz” Google translated means “the point”. After a long night of pacing the living room with a brown paper bag in our hands we were thinking of “Die Spitz” and “pig pen”. After direct correlation to “The Point”, Ringo Starr’s animated film, we went with the name. I like to imagine a grim reaper spitting when I explain it to people. Later on in our shebang we got a message in the Instagram DMS saying that “die spitz” means “die horny” in German. Spitz is slang for horny. Helps us have a name to stand the test of the time.” "
They formed the band as juniors in high school, during the pandemic lockdown, as a way to pass time together. Their first show was at the Hole in the Wall in January 2022, and a year later they took home Austin Music Awards for Best Punk, Best New Act, and Best Residency. Pretty awesome.
Just one album - 2023's Teeth - which is only 7 songs and 23 minutes, but my favorites on there are "Slater" and "Hair of Dog." Oh, "Monkey Song" jams too. The top track overall is "Hair of Dog," with 63k streams.
That video kind of rules too. And they have the light-up ceiling like that other good video with the dancing guys - Half-Alive. Everybody gets to hang in the BatCave these days, man.
This is very fun - I'd love to see them play. Feels like one of those smaller shows where the energy is wrong in the park - not enough people to truly mosh about and so it feels odd to just stand there and watch people thrash to the max on stage. We'll see!
One Liner: Pop punk thrashings from an unsafe bike rider
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - punk, pop punk
Home: Chicago
Poster Position: Level 4 (21) Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Spotify is rude, in that after I had heard this band's entire catalog, it shifted me straight to a Beth's song, which got me excited that this band covered the Beths, which then turned in to disappointment. I love the Beths and don't understand why they aren't coming to ACL for me.
That is neither here nor there. This is a lady named Deanna Belos (with some collaborators fleshing out the band) from Chicago who blasts some intense pop punk. I dig the rhyming band name, even though it feels like the name for some twee indie thing and not a punk band. Instead, this feels like the epic sort of sneering lyrics that people would yell along to in a sweaty pit in a small club. According to one article, she got her start as a solo artist playing acoustic, and then some guys from other bands heard her and decided they needed to inject punk into her stuff with some full-band treatment.
She's got 2 albums - 2017's Rhombithian, 2021's Bless My Psyche - and a handful of singles (and repeats of the same songs, after spinning the whole catalog, it feels like I've heard some of these songs ten times). Her top song is from that new album, "Trust Me" with just over 2 million streams.
She looks like a child riding that bike! Good fun in the tune. If you are in to that sort of - wait, you're riding the bike with a pizza in your hands and no helmet! I'm calling your mother! - sorry, if you are in to that sort of screaming punk rock, then this will scratch your itch. My wife would hate it. I think it is fun.
Although I'd also say that if you just spin through the songs, she can be very tuneful; in her vocals - it is not always just her screaming. Sometimes she sings really nicely. Second most streamed is from the debut disc - "Overbite" - with 1.9 million streams.
Even if you don't dig the screaming, the tune is prime pogo-party stuff. "I still feel just about as dumb as I used to!" is a great yell-along line, as well. This stuff is a good time. Personally, feels like a band that would be more enjoyable in a small sweaty club than a dusty field, but if I happened to be there in the early day when they take the stage, I'd check it out.
Wikipedia Genre: garage rock, garage punk, noise rock, punk rock
Home: Brooklyn (by way of Oxford, Mississippi)
Poster Position: Level 4 (19) Weekend One Only.
Friday.
Thoughts: Some of this sounds very much like White Reaper. Do they share the same singer? Apparently not! This band is fronted by John Barrett, who originally formed the band as a one-man band in 2008. The first two albums are him, alone, doing all of the bits. Formed in Oxford, MS, they later moved to NYC to get plugged in to a better scene. It is a great band name. Even though it would be even more great if they actually had a monster drum that would blow your speakers once every track.
Their tunes have been featured in all sorts of things - movies like Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Fist Fight, video games like MLB 2K12 or Grand Theft Auto V, commercials for H&M and Nascar, TV shows like Vampire Diaries and Altered Carbon.
Five real albums and six EPs, although not all of that is available on Spotify. Their biggest track is from 2013's eponymous album, called "Crawling After You." 11.6 million streams.
I like that insistent bass line underneath there. This is absolutely my kind of jam. Their second-most streamed is from the debut album Gb City, from 2011. "Get Found" with 5.8 million streams.
Another raw banger. I'm comparing this more and more to the White Reaper sound, which is likely unfair since this came out years before I heard of White Reaper, so its probably those dudes who are ripping off the sound! But if you listen to both bands, the singing style is undeniably similar. And because I really like the Reaper, this is freaking fun too! 2014's Rip This also has a Hives sound to it, like that rad album that came out around 2004 or so.
I kind of figured that Barrett had ended up in Oxford for college or something, but no, he is actually a native of Oxford, Mississippi. He left for New York to release several of his albums, but then returned to Oxford during the pandemic to reset
Finally, the new album has been out a few months, Say I Won't, and so the stream counts on these are pretty low so far. This is apparently the first album where he really treated the whole thing like a band and allowed collaborators to help out. Patrick Carney of the Black Keys helped out with production. Top track is "Say Your Prayers" with 314k.
That poor kid. I hope he burns that church down. Ohnoes! Get up, kid! Listen to 30 Seconds to Mars and it will wake you up! Good track. Apparently, Mike Kerr from Royal Blood collaborated on that track as well. Cool.
I like this stuff a lot. Fun, loud, raw - sounds like a good time!
One Liner: Overly theatrical rock and weirdo stuff from Phoebe Bridgers' old band.
Wikipedia Genre: Punk rock, avant-punk, avant-rock, post-punk, chamber pop Home: NYC Poster Position: 20 Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Well, this is freaking weird. Makes me think of some of the deeply weird stuff that Nirvana or Primus might have done back in their heyday of weirdo alternative rock. The top song is just not a normal experience at all. I know that is the point, but remember how dumb the Marilyn Manson stuff started to seem when you really thought about it? That is sort of this. "They're Coming to Take Me Away--Ha Ha!" has 2.3 million streams.
Right? It's like some hidden song at the end of a Primus album. Although the video is kinda freaking me out, man. But here's the deal - this is her top song? Would anyone want to hear this played at a festival? At all? Nope. Now, some of her other songs are snappy and have some action to them, but that most popular track ain't it.
In fun trivia news, Wikipedia says that Phoebe Bridgers used to be the bassist and backup vocals in the band. That's pretty sweet, but also a bummer, to lose someone that talented from the band! The front woman is named Haley Dahl, and she apparently does a little performance art with her performances that can include some birthday suit action. Maybe they signed up the old band as a mea culpa for cutting the mike on Bridgers last year when her set went over.
Like, "Where's My Wife" - which very much sounds like it could have been a Nirvana track from the Bleach days - is a pretty solid rocking tune. 142k streams.
Sloppy is right, but can't you just see/hear Kurt Cobain squealing those lines as the band broke all of their instruments? And then, her most recent single, from 2021, is an actual song. Like, normal chord structure and harmonic singing and stuff. "Party Anthem" has 338k streams.
She still needs to do some weird overacting things in there - I get the idea that she did some theater in high school. "Jesus on Your Living Room Floor" is also a normal, quiet, dramatic tune.
The 2015 EP Sure-Tuff is the one with Bridgers on it, and also the Coming to Take Me Away song, it is super weird stuff. Definitely a bunch of slop, lots of vocal effects and muddy sounding music that's almost like if Hole did surf rock. Don't love it. "Scratch n' sniff" is probably the best, drops out a lot of the crappy vocal effects for a dark and groovy tune. The new disc from 2021, Madison, definitely has a more pleasing sound that doesn't sound like a goofy lark by a kid who just found a Fisher Price microphone that transmogriphied her voice. Although the opening "Overture" definitely reminds you that you are about to listen to something overly dramatic and weird. "Wonderama" goes back to that same well. Funny thing is, now that they reduced some of the freakiness of it, the music is just more boring. "Lullaby Formica" just sounds uninteresting, as an example. Also, "The Constable" is freaking 9:34 long. GTFOH with that.
Sorta interesting for bits, but overall I don't expect I'd go watch this one.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is punk rock and garage rock Home: Austin! Poster Position: 26 Weekend Two Only. Sunday.
Thoughts: Woah, okay. I guess I wasn't totally right about C3 completely eschewing any music that might get people riled up and ready to stampede each other. This is some rip-roaring punk freakout music. And one of the few things so far on the poster where the name of the band 100% matches the sound of the band. And after more listening, I amend that earlier statement, some of this is less straight punk and goes more to post-hardcore or tuneful garage rock type stuff. It's not all punk.
The lead singer is Audrey Campbell, who also writes the lyrics and seems to have all the stage presence needed. After her, you have bass, drums, and two guitars. From the one interview I read, it sounds like it can sometimes be considered a solo project, because she's the only member who stays constant while some other folks come and go. In her words (while talking about how they fit into the Austin music scene) the genre here is fluid: "Sometimes it feels we are too loud for the garage rock scene then too dance-y for the heavier noise punk rock hardcore scene." Also weird, she says she is also in a Stereolab cover band called The Groop where, instead of screaming and pushing her vocals to their edge, she sings soft and low to channel her best french girl. So that's a weird switch.
No true albums, just EPs and singles. 2016's Hunt is pretty DIY and raw sounding, with more pure screaming than the later stuff. 2018 had both Seize and Pleasure Venom, and then there have been three singles since then. Only one track has over 100k streams, and that is "Hive" from the 2018 Pleasure Venom EP. 137k streams.
I like that the singer thinks her music is "dance-y," when the only kind of dancing I would consider to do to this is the kind where you ram yourself into everyone around you as wantonly as possible. Also, that is some really good acting at the end there. Also on that same EP, "Deth" comes on like an old Fugazi song with those guitar riff attacks, and then gets a little new wave dancey before devolving back into the Fugazi riffs. I like that tune a good bit. But the other one I'll give you to check out is "Severed Ties," their newest single. 9,218 streams.
That's a good tune as well. It's hard for sure, but it's not obnoxiously so where you're going to end up with a headache after a listen. Let the past go, man. This band might be fun to see rock loose in October, we'll see, as I feel like they might get the noon slot on Saturday or something.
