ACL 2021: OMB Peezy

 Friday at 5pm.  Nothing much new to review in the 3-5pm time slots.  Not good.  At 3:15 is Durand Jones and the Indications who we've seen before.  They played SXSW and ACL in 2018.  Also playing is HINDS out of Spain who we've seen at SXSW as well.  The other two acts at 3:15 are Skip Marley (reggae, natch) and Austin hiphop artist The Teeta.  Either HINDS or Durand Jones are good for me.

The 4pm slot is Megan Fox's boyfriend Machine Gun Kelly.  Not our genre.  The other option is Jack Antonoff's side-project Bleachers.  I love his work with Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift but not a big fan of Bleachers sound.  Too poppy.  They did a Tiny Desk Concert that isn't bad, though.  The other option on the Tito's stage is something called Disko Cowboy (Vinyl Ranch) which sounds awful.  It's a DJ out of Houston that remixes disco with country music and apparently has a merchandise and lifestyle brand.  Puke.

That brings us to 5pm.  Leann Rimes and Finneas are the big names. Moses Sumney played ACL in 2018 but he was opposite Janelle Monáe's spellbinding performance. I'm thinking I'd like to check him out.  

This is a rapper out of Mobile, AL who is playing the BMI stage.  Not a bad song.  "Sleep at Night" has 10M views. 

  

ACL 2021: Q

Friday at 2:30pm.  Heartless Bastards are on at this time so we'll be there.  

One of the bands in this slot is Jxdn, the moniker of 20-year old TikTok star Jaden Isaiah Hossler from Tennessee.  Here's his hit song.  Not my cup of tea. 37 million views, though.  Kids these days.

This musician isn't much older. Maybe 22?  Q Steven Marsden is his legal name but he goes by Q.  It took forever to find him since searching for Q or "Q band" turns up everything but him.  I did find this article that talks about his name.  

I've heard this song before.  Maybe on KUTX?  Nice sound.  Vice calls it Electric R&B and says:

"Q isn't a nickname, nor is it short for anything. That's just his name. Raised by Jamaican immigrants in Broward county's Pembroke Pines neighborhood, Q Marsden has music running through his veins. Both of his parents worked with premier reggae and dancehall artists: His father owned a studio where he produced for Sean Paul and Wayne Wonder, and his mother played the keyboard for Beenie Man and Bounty Killer. Music is his inheritance, and for Q, who wrote his first song at five years old, it comes relatively easy."

"Garage Rooftop" is nice, too.  He's signed to Columbia Records.

ACL 2021: Maggie Rose

Friday 1:45pm.  Another singer/songwriter out of Nashville.  Her new album comes out tomorrow (Aug. 20th).  Blues/rock/soul.  She's playing Antone's on August 28th.  We'll be at Michigan Rattlers.

This is from the new album.

ACL 2021: Leah Blevins

 1:45 Friday on the BMI stage.  The small BMI stage usually books a lot of Nashville artists and this is no exception.  Americana/country singer/songwriter.  She has opened for Amanda Shires.  Her debut album just came out on the Thirty Tigers label (Amanda Shires, Charley Crockett, Colter Wall, David Ramirez...)

Here's an article about her on American Songwriter.

I wouldn't mind checking this out.  "Mexican Restaurant" is a nice slow song. (Amazon Music link)

ACL 2021: daydream Masi

 Friday at 1:45pm.  Local Austin hip-hop husband and wife Riders Against the Storm play the Tito's tent at 1:15pm.  After that we've got 4 choices, including Claud which is probably my first choice.  

This is the moniker of Akron, Ohio's Raed Asi.  Here is a short intro.  

Hip hop/soul/R&B and electronic mixtures.  He's signed to Interscope.  I think he's just out of high school.

This is off his newest EP.  

ACL 2021: Vincent Neil Emerson

 Friday at 1pm.  This is my choice.  This post from a Texas Monthly article on him convinced me: "The Myrtle Springs native counts Colter Wall, Charley Crockett, and Jason Momoa among his fans. His new album should make you one too."  He's also liked by Saving Country Music.

This is a more upbeat song.  His lyrics are compared to Townes Van Zandt.  I can see why: from the Texas Monthly article:

"Off-stage, the cherubic Emerson has weathered a lifetime’s worth of hardship in his 29 years: his father’s suicide, alcoholism, his little brother’s death in a house fire, dropping out of high school at age seventeen, homelessness, and a best friend’s killing in an argument over drugs."

Here's his new album: https://music.amazon.com/albums/B08XSHW5BQ

ACL 2021: Saleka

 Friday at 1pm.  They just released the schedule so it's time to plan the itinerary.  This year a majority of the bands are completely unknown to me so I'm going to be busy.   

First up is M. Night Shyamalan's daughter.  She went to Brown and has released a few singles but no album yet.  Three of her videos were directed by her sister and one by her father.

Soulful R&B style.  Mellow.  Probably a good time slot for this music.  

This was my favorite song of the videos online.