ACL Wrap-Up

I am from Houston and I am primarily interested in Houston but let me just wrap up my ACL adventure now that I'm back. It'll be the last word about Austin for a while. I promise.

Here are some of the disappointments:

CULTS- This band was not one I was super excited to see anyway since their album material is little more than weak twee/indie pop to begin with. Seeing them live just confirmed that opinion for me. If their album was stronger their performance would have been too. Overall, a giant disappointment as the first act I saw this weekend.

FOOL'S GOLD- Now with Fool's Gold their performance was ok but it wasn't as awesome as I had expected. After the first few songs it began to drag. Maybe it was just me realizing that the band's two albums are a little lacking in variety.

Highlights were:
STEVIE WONDER- This almost goes without saying that he was the major highlight of the fest but it bears repeating that his voice has not suffered at all for the years. He even played scorching keytar solo which involved him getting on his knees then playing on his back. The best song that night for me was "Higher Ground".

COLD WAR KIDS- This was an upset for me because I've never been especially fond of CWK but their performance has made me totally reconsider them. Nathan Willet's souful vocals carried well at Zilker and made me realize how much talent the band has. Definitely the biggest surprise for me.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN- I've long looked forward to seeing these guys live and was thrilled when I learned they would be at ACL. The garish, bright, glammy performance was all I'd hope it would be complete with head-dresses, dancing swordfish girls, and guitar heroics by front man Luke Steele.

REPTAR- Often branded as rich white kids making expensive-sounding music, Reptar actually rocked extremely hard. The members used electronic beats but did not lean on them. They sounded exactly like themselves and no one else. Although their electro-rock, they're far beyond their more widely known peers like Foster the People who I've promised not to rant about again.

Now back to reality. Expect more reviews and normal content starting tomorrow.

Albums of ACL: TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

Despite the death of bassist Gerard Smith there's something quiet and serene about Nine Types. It's not necessarily what I would call outright happy but maybe more like warm, instead. There's less torment and angst than you'd normally encounter and instead a dreamy almost sentimental glowing.

A good example of the hard to describe feeling is on, "You" with its shimmering synths and ethereal lap steel phrases. "Killer Crane" imparts this beautiful floating feeling on the listener too. Tunde's silky voice rings through the mix as ebullient but manly against the twinkling of guitars and flutes.

As far as the key tracks go, for me, "Will Do" seems to have the most potential as standalone with love-themed lyrics and advice. The song, like the others, has that quality of radiant mirth punctuated with just a hint of distant sorrow. See potentially sad lyrics like, "I think we're compatible, I see you think I'm wrong". The second track I'd recommend to anyone looking to experience the genius of Nine Types is the slightly frantic and markedly more claustrophobic "Repetition" with a palm-muted guitar lick that sounds pleasantly similar to Radiohead's "Morning Mr. Magpie".

The band continues to move further away from the punky ferocity of early songs like, "Wolf Like Me" but that's ok. It's just natural maturation and it sounds very dignified to me.

Albums of ACL: Twin Shadow - Forget

Twin Shadow is one of those acts I passed up for a while just because of how "over-hip" the guy looked. Yes, of course, that's a shallow reason but hey- I'm a moody, disloyal, temperamental music critic. Once I got around to giving Twin Shadow a good listen though I decided that he was an act worth the time.

Twin Shadow is a dark but majestic electronic artist that in many ways embodies the spirit of many post-punk acts I admire. Here the goth maxim of "dark but danceable" definitely applies as George Lewis croons delicately over a series of infectious electronic beats. Despite all the Morrissey comparisons, Lewis' voice really reminds me of another English rock luminary: he sounds much like golden-age Peter Gabriel on tracks like, "Tyrant Destroyed" where he the vocals are really more like melodic, gravelly, whispers.

Poppy numbers like "Shooting Holes" give Twin Shadow's music a scope beyond just some obscure indie niche. This is another Gabriel-esque tune but also includes disco guitar and drum beats, something you'd have a hard time finding on "So" or "Security".

The danciness and darkness seem to work well together but it's hard to make too many other style conclusions based on the music of "Forget". It's all very good stuff but I'm looking forward to Lewis' distilling from his music an even more individual style on his next release. This is still very much a concept album but this was released in 2010 and it's almost 2012. It will be interesting to see if there are any new developments in his ACL performance.

Grade: B-

The Road to ACL: My Schedule

I officially have three days off work, I've secured a parking space via Craig's List, and have made a schedule. I'm more than ready to book it to Austin for ACL. Here are my selections:

FRIDAY
Cults 11:45
Ha Ha Tonka (replaced Theophilus London for me) 12:30
Reptar 1:20
Fool's Gold 2:30
Smith Westerns 3:30
Beardyman 4:30
Cold War Kids 5:10
Bright Eyes 6:10
Santigold 7:10
Coldplay 8:10
---
SATURDAY
Telekenesis 11:45
The Antlers 12:30
Twin-Shadow 1:15
Phosphorescent 2:00
Allison Krauss and Union Station 4
Wanda Jackson 545
Cut Copy 6
TV on the Radio 7
Stevie wonder 8
---
SUNDAY
Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr 1:30
The Walkmen 2:30
Broken Social Scene 4:30
Death from Above 1979 5:30
Fleet Foxes 6:30
Empire of the Sun 7:30
Arcade Fire 8:30

The Road to ACL: Foster the People

I initially hated this band because of their unmistakable resemblance to more veteran electro bands Passion Pit, MGMT, and Miike Snow. However, I was actually right in this initial assessment because after listening more closely to their music nothing changed.

I've griped about this phenomenon here before so I won't go too much further but there are a glut of electro bands with seemingly identical, high falsetto vocals and some of them sound like they're just trying to hitch a ride on the Passion Pit bandwagon. The music of Foster the People isn't terribly executed, it's just without a whole lot of substance. It's a lot like cotton candy: the listener is attracted by bright colors and seemingly lively presentation but when the true experience begins, the songs melt away quickly on the tongue like puffy masses of pink sugar. The banality of the lyrics is what really annoys me.

The almost rapping vocal style and the oh-so-ironic white kid trying to be soulful shtick is no longer working for me. I'm sick of the Maroon 5 ish register of these made-to-order indie acts. There are moments where the band is catchy and maybe I'll eat my words if the band makes it onto my ACL schedule but Foster the People seems to me like little more than an accumulation of indie electro zeitgeist. It's been done to death.

I am craving a real, strong, reaction to MGMT and Passion Pit and the inundation of electronic indie bands rather than more of the same. This is not to say that I haven't enjoyed this bloc of electro bands but the same tried and true formula isn't doing it for me any more.

As far as I'm concerned, stupid songs like "Pumped Up Kicks" show that the band is committed to not doing anything interesting. The way that kid sings I can actually picture the "I think I'm so cool" look on his face while he sucks his own dick in self-adoration.

Warpaint returneth!

I'll be at Austin City Limits on Friday and Saturday but couldn't afford to stay for the last day which is disappointing since it would be my fiancee's first opportunity to see Warpaint. However, sharing a bill with Young Mammals, the beautiful L.A. experimental-rockers Warpaint are coming back to Houston on the 10th of October, just in time for my arrival. The gig will be from 7-10:30 at The Orange Show, 2402 Munger St. Be there, especially if you've never seen them play before.