ACL Festival Preview: Conflicts

This is the part in my pre-fest coverage that is the most fun for me, it's where I look at the Austin City Limits Festival official schedule and I highlight the points in the festival when it will be hardest to choose one stage versus another. Last year was my first year attending ACL Festival and I learned a great lesson, which is don't needlessly move from stage to stage. So, for me personally, my decisions will be based on proximity as well as desire to see a specific set. Last year I did a lot of moving from one side of Zilker to the other and I can tell you, it's a task. Factor in that it's going to be hot as the surface of the sun this year and it makes the likelihood of me traversing the festival grounds even slimmer. I'm not here to tell you which artist to choose either, I'm just going to point out some decisions that you'll have to make throughout the weekend. Some may be no-brainers for you, some may be harder than algebra. Let's start chronologically shall we?

My first major conflict happens at 2:30pm on Friday when Fool's Gold takes to the Austin Ventures stage and Delta Spirit play the Bud Light stage. In this case, you CAN see Delta Spirit at Emo's tonight OR since it's early in the day you can catch half of each set. The Austin Ventures stage is located in a pretty central area so it shouldn't be too tough to move between these two stages at around 3:00pm on the opening day of the fest.

Fool's Gold - Nadine video via YouTube

The next major conflict, happens during the next time-slot. James Blake starts at 3:10 on the Honda stage, that's on the complete opposite side of the park from the Bud Light stage where Delta Spirit will still be performing. Blake's set goes until 4:10p Friday. Meanwhile, back toward the Bud Light stage, Smith Westerns take to the Google + stage at 3:30pm. I have seen both Smith Westerns and James Blake and they're both great performers but due to trekking reasons, and the fact that James Blake's music is very intimate, I'm probably going to choose Smith Westerns. There music is just more festival appropriate and it will require less moving on my part. Did I mention I'm bringing a chair this year?

Smith Westerns - Weekend video via YouTube

The rest of Friday I won't feel too conflicted. I know a lot of people are going to have a tough time choosing between Foster the People and Cold War Kids but I'm probably going to go with choice C) food. The final conflict for Friday is the headliners. It's a battle between Coldplay and Kanye West. Two very different performances in two very different genres. The worst kept secret of the festival this year is that Jay-Z, will join Kanye to perform some of the songs from Watch the Throne. Also, Jay-Z's wife is from Houston so it's possible that she will appear as well. I've seen both Coldplay and Kanye in the past and both performances will be very high energy with lots of spectacle. Kanye will have more cameos and auto-tune, he'll have a cooler stage setup and a LOT more bass. Coldplay will have more balloons, more positivity and a LOT more yoga poses. This is going to be a tough call for me and seeing parts of both sets will require some serious walking and chair carrying. My verdict is still out but I'm kind of leaning toward Kanye, I feel like his set will have more surprises than Coldplay's.

The Throne - Otis video via YouTube

Saturday:

The conflicts start shortly after noon on Saturday as I choose between The Antlers on the AMD stage and Aloe Blacc on the Bud Light stage. The Antlers newest album is one of the best of 2011 and when I caught them at Emo's earlier in the year they sounded at their best. They've added a touring member who really fleshes out the guitar sound and the rhythm section deserves a drumming Emmy. Aloe Blacc is an artist I have never seen before, who sounds fantastic on recordings. Can he deliver in the hot Texas sun? This conflict is early enough in the day that I could probably catch pieces of each set but the jury is still out on which one I'll start with, or if I'll actually end up splitting my time at all.

Aloe Blacc - Loving You Is Killing Me video via YouTube

The next conflict is between The Belle Brigade and Twin Shadow. I have seen Twin Shadow three times in the past but I love them soooo much, I would LOVE to see them play before a festival crowd. On the other hand The Belle Brigade shows a lot of promise and an up-and-coming act that we will be hearing a lot more from in the future. I featured them already as a group who you must see at the festival. Would it be hypocritical of me to not watch their entire set? You'll have to keep an eye on my Twitter feed to see, which band I choose on Saturday.

The Belle Brigade - Losers video via YouTube

The next Saturday conflict is at 4:00pm Saturday, between Iron & Wine or Alison Krauss & Union Station. Both acts feature amazing songwriting, with deep, personal, heartfelt vocal performances. Both artists are known for their breathtaking live performances and both are legendary in their respective genres. Also, I have never seen either act perform live, this might be the toughest conflict to date. I'm leaning towards Alison Krauss even though I'm less familiar with her songs, simply because I feel like I will have many more chances to see Iron & Wine perform.

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Paper Airplane video via YouTube

The conflicts between 5:30pm and 7:00pm are numerous. Specifically, between 6:30pm and 7:00 pm, I want to see Cut Copy, Wanda Jackson AND Gillian Welch. Of those three Wanda Jackson is the artist whom I have never seen before, I saw Gillian Welch quite recently and Cut Copy live on another continent. So, even though I ADORE Gillian Welch, she is, pretty much, out of the running. She is based in Nashville and will be back in Austin soon. Wanda Jackson is a legend so I MUST catch her set and when she is done, I'll have time to catch the climactic final 30 minutes of Cut Copy.

Wanda Jackson - Thunder On The Mountain video via YouTube

The headlining conflict for Saturday is going to be a difficult choice for lots of people. My Morning Jacket is largely considered to be the best American touring band of this generation and Stevie Wonder has written about two dozen of the greatest songs in American music. I have seen a lot of conversation about his on twitter and I know a lot of people will be splitting their time. For me, it's a pretty obvious choice. I am definitely a fan of My Morning Jacket but they will be back in Austin a lot in the next few years. Stevie Wonder will not

Stevie Wonder - Living For the City video via YouTube

Sunday

On the final day of ACL two bands that I've featured both go on at 1:30pm. Do I see the quirky Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr? Or do I go for the The Head and The Heart. I love both of their albums and I think that both acts deserve my attention. However, I have seen Dale Jr Jr on Emo's inside stage and I have never seen The Head and The Heart. The fortunate thing is, no matter who I choose chances are both artists will be back through Austin again within the next year. I love you Austin!

The Head and The Heart - Lost In My Mind video via YouTube

Later in the day both Death From Above 1979 and Elbow go on at 5:30pm on opposite sides of the park. Their sounds are very different but they are similar in the sense that whichever stage I choose I'll be bummed I missed the performance at the other stage. Neither Elbow nor Death From Above play very often, although DFA did perform at SXSW this year. Personally, I'm a brit-pop addict so I'm going to choose Elbow although, the hipster side of me really thinks I should go with Death from Above.

Elbow - Open Arms video via YouTube

So, those are the areas in which I feel most conflicted this year. Who know maybe I'll just be passed-out in a folding chair from too much beer and sun and I won't feel conflicted about any of this. As I mentioned, I feel like a lot of these decisions will come down to how far will I have to move my chair, if at all. Congratulations and thank you to those of you who managed to read this far down in the post. I truly appreciate you, I love writing this post every year but it takes forever to put all the links in here. Feel free to tweet at me where you feel conflicted or post it in the comments if you wish.

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Tristen and Smith Westerns (Separately)

Don't get me wrong, I love that Austin has so many choices for great music on any given night but I hate when there are two artists I really want to see playing at separate venues on the same night. Such is the case tonight. I am a new fan of, Nashville artist, Tristen, but ever since I first heard her LP, Charlatans at the Garden Gate I have been listening to it on repeat. To me it's the perfect blend of Americana, alt-country and indie-pop. Her voice is unique and infectious and the melodies just make you want to sing a long. She'll be back in Austin during SXSW but I am excited to have the chance to see her on the Mohawk's inside stage tonight. The intimacy of the space should suit her sound perfectly. If you'd like to join me tickets will set you back $9 and Tristen goes on at 11pm.


Tristen - Avalanche video via YouTube


Meanwhile a little further south of the 'Hawk on Red River the Smith Westerns will be taking the stage at Emo's inside. The last time I caught them here in town they were opening for Girls at the Parish and they really impressed me. On that tour they were supporting their debut, self-titled LP, which had great songwriting but less-than-great production values. On their latest LP, Dye it Blonde they have enlisted the production help of Chris Coady, whom you might know from his work with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Beach House. Their songwriting has also matured. Their music is still jangly and makes me want to have an indie-rock Beach Blanket Bingo party but the subject matter has matured and the musicality has become more textured as well. Tickets for Smith Westerns at Emo's will set you back $10 and I'm hoping they don't go on until midnight so I can catch both shows.


Smith Westerns - Weekend video via YouTube

If you are only attending the Emo's show you might be interested in, the much buzzed-about, Yuck who go on around 11pm. Personally I haven't been impressed with what I've heard from Yuck and I think their name is terrible HOWEVER I've often had my mind changed when I see a band perform live. Unfortunately Yuck won't have the chance to change my mind tonight as I'll be at the Mohawk for Tristen at 11pm. Luckily, like Tristen, Yuck will be back in Austin for SXSW and I expect they'll be playing a billion day parties.


Yuck - Holing Out video via YouTube

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Patting One's Self on Thy Back

Well folks, 2010 is drawing to a close. You've already seen what I felt were the top albums for the year so I'm going to dedicate this post to a new addition, in 2010, here at Austin Bloggy Limits. That's the trusty, Bloggy Cam. I received a simple Flip Cam for Christmas last year and have employed it to capture footage at various shows I've attended ever since. I don't have a tripod, I don't edit the videos and I'm not going for artsy-ness. I just think of it as a visual-document of my experience. I don't tweek the sound or get any sort of official permission for these videos, I simply bring the camera in my pocket and try to post-up in a decent spot. If someone gets in the way, that's how it was in person. If some jack-ass (read most people at most shows) was talking through an entire performance that is also captured. Sometimes security interrupts, as was the case when I shot Bad Veins at Stubb's, and sometimes they just try to interrupt and I point at a meaningless wristband, as was the case with Jamie Lidell at Antone's. Basically what I'm saying is you get what you get, no apologies, no excuses. Sometimes the picture and sound pleased me and sometimes it didn't. I'll be peppering some of my personal favorite videos throughout this post with a bunch of words in between.


Fang Island - Always Be My Baby video via YouTube


Some of the most-viewed clips on the Bloggy YouTube are the worst looking and/or sounding. I shot Spoon performing in the Waterloo Records parking lot with the sun directly in my camera's lens but that has been one of the most-viewed videos since it was posted. The sound is quite clear though. On the opposite side of the spectrum I was literally on-stage at Malverde shooting Sleigh Bells so the image is nice but the sound is terrible. There are a lot of negative comments on that video critiquing the audience and the sound. A lot of people from out of town don't understand the crowd at a SXSW event. These are not "normal" shows people. SXSW audiences are filled with jaded, industry-types. Some of them are there out of obligation. In the instance of the Sleigh Bells performance, most of the people you can see in the video are photographers who had been shooting for 16-18 hours before the band took the stage. As for the sound, since I was ON-STAGE the sound captured with the camera was monitor sound and the vocals were buried.


Local Native - World News video via YouTube

Occasionally I'm surprised by the response to a video. Some, I expect to be much more popular but aren't while others get many, many views when I don't expect them to at all. I feel like I must have posted one of the first live performance videos of Twin Shadow because they got around 1,000 views the first week while my video of Pavement sits with around 100 views. I guess the lesson there is if you want lots of views be one of the first to post something. All in all I don't really care if people watch the videos or not (no offense) I just like to have them for myself. I fully expect that at some point I will be forced to remove some, all or most of them. Although, I don't have too many videos from "big-name" artists, nor do I plan to.


The Smith Westerns - My Heart video via YouTube

If you're reading this thinking, "Hey I should bring a Flip Cam to shows too." Don't! That's my thing. No, but seriously you should know that it's frowned upon by the artist, their label, management, the venues etc. With that being said here's some sage advice I've learned from experience. Firstly, there is such a thing as being too close to the artist. Don't believe me? Check out 2 out of 3 of my videos of the Very Best. Also, if you want decent sound position yourself between speakers, not in front of or behind them. One of my favorite LOOKING videos is one of the first ones I shot. It was Harlem at Emo's and I positioned myself side stage with my camera behind the speaker tower, it looks really cool but the sound is sub-par. Also, I HATE zoom, it makes your shots look even less steady and often times grainy. Never zoom, if you want to get a closer shot move your feet closer to the stage. A final note, I don't shoot an entire set and neither should you pick a song at random get in position and shoot it. One to three songs MAX but it's super-irritating to the people around you to have that bright LCD display distracting them. I usually let the people around me know what I'm doing and how long I'll be doing it and they are GENERALLY ok with it.


Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I) video via YouTube

So this post had a few of my favorite videos but there are 118 to explore and the list will continue to grow until I get some serious cease and desist notices. To the bloggy cam...not to be confused with Sony's Bloggie Cam. Really wish I had patented that.


Jamie Lidell - Another Day video via YouTube

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Girls, Smith Westerns, Videos

I saw, the much blogged about, Girls at the new and improved Parish last night. I thought they put on a totally solid performance, with hooky, jangly tunes that wear their influences on their sleeves. Apparently, lead Girl, Christopher Owens' mother was in the audience last night. He said she hadn't heard him sing or play guitar since he was 16, which was a long time ago I suppose. Have you heard his whole back-story about the religious cult and all? It's pretty interesting, scope the wiki for the full, possibly verified story. In any case I did have the trusty Flipcam in my pocket so I did steal their souls during a few songs, just for you dear reader.


Girls - Darling video via YouTube


Girls - Ghost Mouth video via YouTube

What? Did you think I didn't shoot them performing any of their "singles"? Well I did...


Girls - Lust For Life video via YouTube

Chicago band, the Smith Westerns were the opening band, with Magic Kids playing the middle set. I'm going to try to not judge, Magic Kids too harshly because I haven't heard their songs on record yet. However, I will give you one word to describe my feelings throughout points in their set last night and that word is, "cringe". Check my twitter feed if you want some more specific feedback. Also, I wasn't standing in a good spot during the Magic Kids set so I don't have any video of their performance.


Smith Westerns - Gimme Some Time video via YouTube

As you can see, I was in a good spot for the Smith Westerns set last night and I was quite impressed. I have their self-titled album and it's a grower, not a shower. It took me a few weeks before I began to enjoy it but I was already a fan before seeing them last night. On record they sound really bratty and the mix of the album is very treble-enhanced so to actually hear the vocals and not have everything sound tin-ny was quite pleasant. It's like the band Wavves if you've only heard the records you probably don't get the hype but when you see them live you can actually hear the songs.


Smith Westerns - My Heart video via YouTube

While I'm on the subject of good mixing versus bad mixing of albums, have you heard the latest from Yeasayer yet?!?! It sounds SOOO effing good, especially compared to their last album, which sounded very far away and didn't do their songs justice whatsoever. Kudos to bands who work with great ears, maybe if y'all performed with earplugs you'd recognize when your albums are mixed like shhh. <---This comment is aimed at no specific band.

This is where I would have embedded the newest Yeasayer video if their label allowed FREE PROMO!!! WTF labels, live in the now.

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Pack of Wolves this Weekend

So, Pack of Wolves will be at the Mohawk this weekend and if you were wise, you'd be there too. See, what I'm discovering as all the best LP's of '09 lists are coming out, is that a lot of these albums are easiest to buy directly from the band when they come to your town. I just tried to buy a copy of the LP by the Smith Westerns at End of an Ear to no avail. I haven't tried to buy the latest LP from Pack of Wolves but I'm guessing it will be at the merch table on Saturday night. Also, isn't it just cooler to buy an album directly from the band themselves? No? Fine, be that way but that's what I'm going to do, so there!


Pack of Wolves - Concession video via YouTube


As you know, I don't normally endorse such aggressive/angry music but something tells me that seeing these songs live (with ear protection) is going to be pretty intense. By which I mean, face-meltingly awesome.

In all honestly, the Smith Westerns are much more my style of music, but hey they're not playing the Mohawk on Saturday are they? No, they played Emo's a few months ago, but that's neither here nor there. Chances are when I check at Waterloo Records for the Smith Westerns LP they'll probably have it. I just like shopping at End of an Ear it's so small and nerdy and it smells like musty old records. It's so dreamy, le sigh.


Smith Westerns - Girl In Love video via YouTube

Anyway, if you want to get tickets to see Pack of Wolves get all aggro on your ass at the 'Hawk too bad, you're going to have to pay $9 at the door. Unless you can buy them at Waterloo ahead of time, in which case they're $7. See you there?

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Girls w/ the Campesinos Friday

Are y'all going to catch Girls with Los Campesinos Friday night? I feel like Los Campesinos played a show here in town quite recently, not that I'm complaining...yet. In any case, I'm actually as excited/more excited to catch Girls again. I know it can be tough with Women, Girls and Vivian Girls all on the scene at once but hey at least they're not all in town together like they were during SXSW. Apparently Vagina-inspired band names are the new animal-inspired band names. Although, I'm pretty sure crystal-bands were already the new animal-band but you see where I'm going with this.


Girls - Hellhole Ratrace video via YouTube


Los Campesinos are known for being Canadian, and putting on a very high-energy show. It seems to me that it's a little bit easier to put on a high energy show when there are a billion people on the stage (See Polyphonic Spree). I'm not trying to knock Los Campesinos but it will be strange to see 7-11 band members after seeing Girls perform as a duo. But I digress. I'm pretty sure you can still get tickets to this show. At least at the moment that I'm writing this. That's why I'm posting about it on Monday so maybe you can actually get in to the show.

Los Campesinos are on one of my favorite labels, Arts & Crafts home to Stars, and Broken Social Scene among others. So, chances are if you like those pleasantly Canadian, indie-pop gems then you'll enjoy this one as well.


Los Campesinos - Death to Los Campesinos! video via YouTube

Chicago band Smith Westerns will be kicking things off at Emo's outside stage Friday night and tickets will set you back a cool $14 before extraneous fee-age. Check 'em out on Chicago Public-Access television. Meanwhile, in Austin, Texas politics biker-style? In any case, I'm really into the whole droney, Phil Spector, surf-garage, indie-movement so this band is right up my alley (see, Austin band, Harlem for example).


Smith Westerns - Tonight video via YouTube

I also have to note that on the Smith Westerns' Myspace page they describe their music as sounding like "blogs", which I find to be both funny and true or possibly funny BECAUSE it's true.

Oh and here's one more from Girls before I sign-off.


Girls - Lust For Life video via YouTube

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