Gardens & Villa

I already mentioned how Saturday is stupid with scheduling conflicts.  Well 2:00 on Saturday is when the crazy goes up a notch.  All four bands playing are worthy of your time.  I'll start with Gardens & Villa, a band out of Santa Barbara.  I previewed them before SXSW and we got to see them live.  It was a fun show.    Even if you don't like the music it's worth seeing them live to check out their lead singer.  He plays the flute but he has like 10 flutes he carries in what looks like an archery quiver on his back.  He's jamming along with his guitar then reaches back into his quiver and pulls out the appropriate flute for that song and starts fluting away.  (Is that the appropriate term?)  Not your typical rock star maneuver but it's totally cool.

I really like these guys.  They're whole album is good.  Worth checking out.

Black Hills

Zola Jesus

The other act playing at 1:15 on Saturday is Zola Jesus, the moniker of Nika Roza Danilova.  Her music is much better suited to 2am at Elysium than 1:15pm on a Saturday.   I don't think her fanbase is even awake by 1pm.  

This is where I have to admit a little secret:   despite my exterior americana/folk music tastes and white-bread WASP personality, I'm a closet Goth music fan.  In college it was Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Sisters of Mercy.  When I moved to Dallas I discovered The Grey Zone on KNON from midnight-4am on Friday nights.  DJ Stereotype introduced me to bands like My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult.  When he passed away in 1991 Cyberina Flux carried on the show as Rocket Radio.  Here's a good article on the show's history.  I've kind of drifted from that music over time but then another band comes along that makes me wax nostalgic.

Zola Jesus suits this genre even though some of her music is fairly straightforward pop.  She was here for SXSW and I previewed her then, but we didn't get to see her.  It won't be the same in the middle of the day but I definitely want to check it out.


Vessel

Bombay Bicycle Club

Saturday at 1:15 has two bands worth seeing.  I'll be at the band I'll post tomorrow but some of you may enjoy this one.  It's composed of 4 nice lads from Crouch End, North London.  I assume they're nice.  They could be cads.  They have a sweet light folk-pop sound, though.

Ivy and Gold

Wheeler Brothers

Playing ACL at 1pm Saturday on the Austin Ventures Stage is a local Austin band.  Kind of folk/pop, we saw them at Blues on the Green opening for Rhett Miller.  I enjoyed them.  Laid back Americana sound.  A good Saturday afternoon band.

Portraits

Civil Twilight

Back to Saturday at ACL.  The next band on the schedule is Civil Twilight at 12:30.  It consists of brothers from South Africa.  They cite Radiohead as an influence.  I can also hear some Muse and U2.  The other bands opposite them are Dev, a rapper influenced by Eminem, and Native Run on the BMI stage.  I'll start with these guys and give them a shot.

Letters from the Sky

He's my Brother, She's my Sister

After that short break, I'll start with a band playing on Friday at 11:45am.  This is an LA band that is getting lots of praise for their music and their live shows.  Their first album is coming out soon and the buzz is big.  Supposed to be folk/blues/rock.  Signed to Park the Van records (started by Dr. Dog), they're also supposed to be playing Stubb's at an aftershow that weekend.

If we get an early start Friday we should check them out.

Tales that I Tell

Wild Child

Playing at noon on Saturday on the Austin Ventures stage is an Austin folk duo called Wild Child.  They are getting big fast and were quite the buzz at SXSW.  Very nice mellow songs.  

Pillow Talk

Caveman

Playing at 11:45 on Saturday is a Brooklyn band I've been meaning to see for awhile.  I previewed them when they opened for Here We Go Magic last year and again when they came to SXSW this year.  Once again, we didn't see them either time.  Hopefully we'll be there in time to see them this year.

Old Friend

Nikki Lane

Appearing opposite Quiet Company at 11:15 on Saturday is Nikki Lane.  I previewed her before SXSW but alas we didn't get to see her.  She reminds me a little of Sarah Borges.  I still love this song so I'm torn about who to go see.  The video is pretty cool, too.

Gone, Gone, Gone

The Eastern Sea

I'm going to skip ahead on the schedule in order to preview another band playing tonight at Blues on the Green.  The Eastern Sea is an Austin band that is playing the 11:20am set on Sunday.  I didn't know much about them which goes to show you that sometimes you miss what is right under your nose.  All the bands I listen to and I didn't stumble on to these guys?  They are right up my alley.  I'm ashamed of myself.

Very nice tunes.  Great mellow music to start out a Sunday.  Or watch the sunset on a hot summer night.  If we don't go tonight I definitely want to get out to see them.  They just released their first album after 2 previous EPs.  This is off the album.

The Match

Quiet Company

Saturday of ACL this year is insane.  Since Sunday is pretty lame (more on that later) I plan to get there first thing Saturday and stay until the very end.  It is going to be impossible to see everyone but I'd like to try.

How good is Saturday? At 11:15 there are two exciting bands playing opposite each other, and another one starting at 11:45.  I'll start with the Austin Ventures stage, which has a stacked lineup all day.  

Quiet Company at 11:15.  Austin band that took home every Austin Music Award this year.  I think they invented categories just so they could give them more awards.  They're playing Blues on the Green tonight.  Very poppy, happy music with horns, guitars, and choruses with lots of harmonies.  Singalong music.  

How do you do it

M. Ward

I was going to move on to Saturday but figured I'd post something about the other act playing opposite M83 on Friday.  I have 2 active commenters but over the 4 years existence of this blog I think the readership has doubled.  With that massive growth comes the chance that the other 2 readers may not be as versed in the bands we go see.  So I'll try to be more inclusive.

A great guitarist,  M. Ward has played behind bands such as My Morning Jacket, Jenny Lewis, Neko Case, Beth Orton, and Bright Eyes, to name a few.  He is part of Monsters of Folk and She & Him but in between all that he puts out solo albums.  He has been on more tapings of the Austin City Limits TV show than practically anyone.

Here's a song from his new solo album that I really like.  Very mellow.

The First Time I Ran Away

M83

The 6:30 timeslot is all rock.  I'm not going to preview any of the bands as they're all well known.  You've got the garage rock of the Black Lips, indie rock of Weezer, and alternative rock of Florence and the Machine.  The latter will have all the people as she's on quite a roll.  I'm not in my rock phase these days so I just can't get into her music but I'm willing to give it a try.  I may briefly check out Weezer then head to see Florence and the Machine.

The 7:30 slot is a different animal.  While I'm not excited about any of the 6:30 shows, all the 7:30 shows are solid.  You can't go wrong with any of them.  You've got always good perennial ACL band Thievery Corporation if you want to sway and dance, alt-country/folk from M.Ward, and synth/guitar dance from M83.  Again, you all know these bands so no need to discuss them so I'll just post one of my favorites from M83's latest album.  Probably not going to be played but it's so cool that I had to share.

Raconte- Moi un Histoire

Alabama Shakes

At 5:30 on Friday there are two choices: A-Trak, who I think is DJ, and Alabama Shakes.  2012 is the year of Alabama Shakes.  They exploded at SXSW and have been at all the festivals this year.  They're at Lollapalooza this weekend as a matter of fact.

They remind me a little of Woodstock-era Ike and Tina Turner, not to be confused with MTV-era Tina Turner.  The song "Hold On" is on heavy rotation on most radio stations so here's something a little more mellow.

I Found You

Trampled by Turtles

Playing the Austin Ventures stage at 5pm on Friday is a bluegrass/folk band from Minnesota.  They've been around for awhile and have played SXSW but I've never seen them.  Kind of a mix of Gourds/Avett Brothers/Dawes.  Some of their songs are very fast-paced bluegrass but others are more mellow harmonies like Avett Brothers.  This song is kind of a mix of their two styles.  Their shows are supposed to be raucous like Split Lip Rayfield so may be worth checking them out.

Walt Whitman

Tegan and Sara

The 4:30 slot on Friday gives us Lance Herbstrong, a reggae/funk dance band from Austin that substituted for Gayngs at ACL 2 years ago when the Gayngs truck and equipment left town at the last minute.  Most of the crowd didn't know the difference and we heard people really liked Gayngs.  Well now they get legitimate billing so if you want to dance and smoke weed this is your band.

Also playing is Afghan Whigs.  The hipster thing to do is discover a mediocre band from the past and embrace their sound.  Kind of a "way ahead of their time"/"that last generation didn't get it" thing.  Like we did with Nick Drake.  Well, I'm sure the young kids will enjoy the Afghan Whigs but they didn't do much for me in the 90s and they still don't.

That leaves Tegan and Sara, the indie darlings from Canada.  They played ACL in 2008 and have carved a nice niche in the indie pop world.  They came through town recently but they played Bass Concert Hall and tickets were like $50.  I missed it, obviously.   This will have to do.

Back in Your Head