Band Vs. Band at ACL Fest

A festival like ACL, which takes place in a central location won't have as many tough choices as say, SXSW but there are multiple stages so you're still going to have to make some tough decisions every now and again. I'll be posting my picks for each day of the fest the day before each day...does that make sense? Firstly though I want to highlight some of the tougher choices when making your picks this year. For me, Saturday has the most conflicts but I'll try to go chronologically.

The first hipster music conflict I notice of the festival is the pitting of Miike Snow against Girls. For me, I definitely am leaning towards Girls since I'm such a big fan of theirs HOWEVER I have already seen them play before whereas Miike Snow I have not seen. Miike Snow played several times during SXSW, even at some events I attended but they were never playing while I was in attendance. So, I guess it comes down to whether you want to rock out or electro out? Dance out? Pop out? Not really sure how I would classify the Snow sound.


Miike Snow - Silvia video via YouTube


The next major conflict for Friday is, Beach House Vs. local metal heroes, The Sword. These artists are on complete opposite ends of the musical spectrum and while I adore Beach House especially their latest LP, Teen Dream, the Austinite in me says I have to support The Sword. Besides, I really don't think the Nyquil-pop of Beach House is well-suited for the festival experience.


The Sword - Tres Brujas video via YouTube

The final conflict of Saturday pits the old-guard of alt--rock against the new guard of blog-rock. The legendary, Sonic Youth are playing the same time as Vampire Weekend. Do you want to rock or do you want to twee-rock? Personally, I had the chance to see VW before their first LP on the Mohawk's inside stage and I don't see anything topping that. However, I will (hopefully(*fingers crossed)) be in attendance when Sonic Youth tapes their Austin City Limits Television performance Thursday night. In otherwords by Saturday I will have seen both artists. In either case, you have to pick the legends simply because you can. Sorry, vee dubs, maybe next year?


Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster video via YouTube

Saturday has lots of conflicts so I'm going to keep it more brief. The conflicts start early (12:15p) when First Aid Kit and the Very Best take stage simultaneously. I vote the Very Best based on having fun at a festival. Also, it's quite likely we'll see Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend at the Very Best's set as he lends vocals to the title track from their LP.


the Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa video via YouTube

The always handsome, Pete Yorn will be playing while BOTH Ninjasonik and Two Door Cinema Club perform. I'll probably skip Ninjasonik despite really enjoying them, simply because I caught them at SXSW this year.


Ninjasonik - Negative Thinking in Tight Pants video via YouTube

4:30p-5:30p on Saturday is going to be the toughest hour of the whole festival. I literally like EVERY artists playing at that time. Silversun Pickups, Broken Bells, Local Natives, AND Dan Black are all playing at the same time?!?! Damn, that's going to be a tough decision. I have actually seen all of those artists already this year but that doesn't mean I don't want to see them all again?!?! I want Local Natives to get a good crowd, but SSPU were soooo effing good and a festival is really where they shine. I'm not going to pick a horse in this race, I'm going to just let the fest lead me.


Dan Black - U + Me = video via YouTube

That's not the end of Saturday's conflicts though, not even close. We've got, Gogol Bordello playing at the same time as LCD Soundsytem.


LCD Soundsytem - I Can Change video via YouTube

Then at 7:30p on Saturday both Matt & Kim and Deadmau5 will take to their respective stages.


Matt and Kim - Silver Tiles video via YouTube

Finally M.I.A. and Muse are playing at the same time. Personally, I have seen M.I.A. twice (on here first tour(natch)) and I have never seen Muse so I'll most likely be checking out Muse. For you, who knows? Might be a tougher call to make. On the bright side, Muse's set time is 30 minutes longer than M.I.A.'s, also her new material pretty much sucks soooo...


Muse - Sunburn video via YouTube

On to Sunday, the Lord's day, lucky for us there are far fewer conflicts on the fest's final day. Unfortunately (or fortunately) MOST of the conflicts are early in the day when it SHOULD be easier to move from stage to stage. There are THREE Bloggy favs all playing at the same time between 11:30a-12:30p on Saturday. Two local favs, TV Torso and Shearwater will both be performing while Warpaint performs at another stage.


Shearwater - Hidden Lakes video via YouTube

A little later you'll have to choose between Ted Leo or White Rabbits.


Ted Leo - A Bottle of Buckie video via YouTube

Finally the toughest VS. of the day, will you choose Band of Horses? Or would you rather see the Flaming Lips? I did hear a nasty little rumor that the Lips and Spoon swapped slots, which would mean Spoon and BOH would be playing at the same time. To either scenario I say, dang.


the Flaming Lips - The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine video via YouTube

So those are the time conflicts as I see them, stay tuned for the next few days and I'll break down who you should see and/or where you might see me at the fest.

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Ted Leo +/- Pharmacists Wednesday

I wasn't sure if I was going to see Ted Leo + the Pharmacists on Wednesday but then I heard about Ted Leo's solo acoustic in-store at my favorite record shop in town, End of an Ear and that pleased me. Oh, how it did please me and doth still, yeah so that's supposed to happen at 4pm but EoE is tiny so I'm going to get there early enough to rub Ted Leo's shoulders while he guitar solos. Although, it's an acoustic show so that might be awkward...for him to do guitar solos, not the massaging that's normal, people do that. You can also see Ted with his full band of Pharmacists at Emo's but it will be a lot harder to massage him there, just so you know. It will also be a lot louder and more warehouse/post-apocalyptic bomb shelter-esque at Emo's but they have a lot more liquor than EoE, which can be nice. As of the writing of this post there are still tickets for the Emo's show. Of course, the End of an Ear appearance is free but you'll probably want to buy some stuff while you're there. No, seriously buy it!

I hope Ted does this one tomorrow, or perhaps a more time-appropriate but similarly-themed cover. I love your originals too though Ted, just sayin' the kids like the cover songs/Gleetarded mash-ups.


Ted Leo - Since You Been Gone/Maps video via YouTube


A group called Screaming Females will be playing the slot right before Ted Leo. I know nothing about them...yet but without searching I'm going to guess that it's actually a 3-piece, none of which are women who do clever pop-punk music (Take Off Your Pants and Jacket). Now the next paragraph will be dedicated to either smugness on my part or humility and the truth about Screaming Females. Stay Tuned.

Ok, so their Wikipedia entry is pretty shit-tastic and I still haven't heard their music but I now know that there is at least ONE female in the band. I also know that they are in fact a 3-piece "indie rock/punk" band who hail from New Jersey. Will fist-pumping be mandatory at this show? So, let's kill the mystery and get to the sample video. I'll scour the ole' YouTube and see if I can find something we can check out.


Screaming Females - Burried in the Nude video via YouTube.

Ok, so it was clever but not in the ways I was expecting and it's definitely not "pop-punk" I wouldn't even use the word punk near it, but I suppose I can see how they would end up with that label. It's sort of like an angrier B-52's, on that note I think any band would be better if Fred Schneider added vocals. Let's check out one more track from Screaming Females and try to picture Fred Schneider adding a call and response style vocal.


Screaming Females - Bell video via YouTube

It wasn't a rock! It was a rock! Lobster!


the B-52's - Rock Lobster video via YouTube

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Jersey's in the House

People are pretty excited about someone by the name of Springsteen? Babysitters in Austin are making bank tonight 'cause Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are playing the Erwin Center tonight. I recognize that Springsteen is still relevant and that he's been making great music since before I was born and all that I've just never really listened to any of his albums. Also, I don't really get the whole, "The Boss" thing? Does it have anything to do with Tony Danza? Is it like, "Where's the Beef?" where you had to have been a certain age in the '80's to get it? Anyway, if you want to get tickets to see, "The Boss" tonight just head on over to your DeLorean and go back to when they still had some. *Ouch*. You could also get 'em from a scalper if you've got that kind of loot. Something tells me if you REALLY wanted to see Springsteen in Austin tonight, you're not reading this blog anyway.


Ted Leo - Dancing in the Dark video via YouTube

More Super-Reverent Videos After the Jump...

Somehow covers of Springsteen songs are more satisfying to me. Sorry, "The Boss" :-(


Pete Yorn - Your Own Worst Enemy video via YouTube

Ah, I love Pete Yorn. That remind me, have you heard Josh Rouse? He had a song on the Vanilla Sky soundtrack. He and Pete Yorn should be friends. Maybe they are, I don't know.


Josh Rouse - Directions video via YouTube

Oh yeah, Springsteen sorry I got side tracked. "The Boss" baby!!


Who's the Boss? - Springsteen?

Man, indie-rawkers <3 Dancing in the Dark. I guess it is pretty emo, what with the guns, fire, darkness and such.


Tegan & Sara - Dancing in the Dark video via YouTube

I think this video came from that island on Lost. What's with the video quality? This is supposed to be 1987 but it looks like 195X.


U2 ft. Bruce Springsteen - Stand By Me video via YouTube

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