ACL Lineup Announced Yesterday

So it's been well over a month since my last post, and for that I apologize. To be quite honest, there hasn't been an incredible amount of stuff to write about aside from a fantastic (as always) performance by The Hold Steady at Emo's a couple weeks back and an excellent release from Man Man. In fact, let's talk about that for a second.

Prior to the release of Rabbit Habits, I would describe Man Man to my friends as, "You know, like the type of shit that pirates sing when they're having a party." However, like Strawberry Jam did for Animal Collective last year, Habits propels Man Man into the upper echelons of the indie rock community. Lead singer Honus Honus calls this the band's "pop album," but that's using pop in a very relative sense of the word. He's not that far off, as there are hooks on the album that will stay in your head for days, if not for the melody for the wordplay, such as the Big Trouble" refrain, "You look like a man/But you talk like a fool/You strut like a stallion/But you fuck like a mule." On the sparse, piano-based "Doo Right," the audience gets a rare glimpse at Honus' sensitive side, allowing him to show that he can do more than just impersonate Captain Beefheart. However, the band's quirks are not entirely gone, by any means. "The Ballad of Butter Beans" begins with a xylophone melody which can only be described as "Looney Tunes-esque," "Mysteries of the Universe Unraveled" consists of nothing but fireworks being shot off in the middle of Philadelphia streets (which can be seen here at pitchfork.tv), and the album closes with two 7-minute+ epics. This album is not for everybody, but for fans of Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, or anything with a gypsy flair, then this is an absolute gem.
Key Tracks: "Hurly/Burly," ""Harpoon Fever (Queequog's Playhouse)," "Top Drawer"

Now, on to ACL

Every year, I look forward to finding out who will be playing at the Austin City Limits festival. Though ACL is not on the same level as Lollapalooza or Bonnaroo, it has become a fairly formidable festival with at least one performance every year that would publicly defecate myself in order to see. A few years ago, it was the Pixies, two years ago the Flaming Lips, last year LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire. When the months of anticipation ceased yesterday, I was a little bit disappointed to find this year's lineup to be a bit lackluster. Even the usual staple Wilco is missing. However, I'll examine the highlights, in no particular order:

1. Gnarls Barkley: Though the The Odd Couple is no St. Elsewhere, there is not human being more soulful than Cee-Lo Green (he may be disqualified for this award, however, because he is not a soul man like the rest of us, but, in fact, a soul machine). If this year's performance proves to be anything like their ACL show two years ago, then we can look forward to awesome constumes, random covers, and hilarious stage banter from the soul machine himself.

2. Beck: Sure, The Information was absolutely terrible and the guy is a Scientologist, but we should not forget how much excellent music this guy made up until a couple of years ago. Though I've never seen it personally, Beck's live show has been highly touted for its energy and theatrics, and if we're all very lucky, then he might bust out some old-school Midnite Vultures dance moves for us.

3. Okkervil River: Riding high off of last year's excellent The Stage Names and recent stage performances with Roky Erikson and The New Pornographers, Okkervil River comes home to Austin at the apex of their career so far. I can't wait to see if they maintain their brutal live energy of their earlier career or if their trademark thrift-store suits will finally turn them into the professional musicians they've been threatening to become for years.

4. Vampire Weekend: I say this for pretty much every band at a festival, but VW wins this year's award for "Band I'm Pretty Excited About Seeing at ACL, But I'd SOOOOO Much Rather See Them in a Club Setting." Even still, if I'm able to get close enough, then their adorable Ivy League charm and cool tunes should be able to keep the Texas heat at bay, as they'll surely end up with a daytime slot.

5. The Kills: This is a band who will end up with a daytime slot, and their show will be a massive disappointment because of it. Hotel and VV are, in fact, evil vampires who want to kill you. Hopefully they'll play an aftershow to give people an idea of what a real Kills show is like.

6. Drive-By Truckers: This brilliant and under-appreciated southern rock outfit should strive in the festival setting due to their huge riffs and "Fill the truck up with High Life" attitude. Expect to be surrounded by lots of drunks and lots of flannel.

7. Man Man: Read the above review of their album and then look up pictures of their live show; supposedly a deadly combination. The only reason I'm not more excited about this ACL show is that they're coming next week with Yeasayer (also playing ACL) to play a club show.

8. M. Ward: Love the guy, but this could turn into a very boring sunburn.

So, those are 8 performances that I'm legitimately excited about, which I suppose is not that bad. However, all of the big acts are artists that can only be called "slightly exciting." The main act is the Foo Fighters, and I think that Dave Grohl is one of the baddest dudes on the planet, and they have a real knack for writing kick-ass singles, but I have this looming feeling that this huge setting will force them into an hour and a half of appeasing stupid people by resorting to their many lighter/cringe-worthy ballads. The remaining biggies -- David Byrne, John Fogerty, and Robert Plant -- are all former leaders of bands that I may claim innocent human life to see, but in whose solo output I have absolutely zero interest.

Listenings of the Past Month

Alright, so it's been about a month since my last post. I'll try to do better in March than I did in January and February, but this should basically sum up what I've been listening to for the past little while.

Shows:

The Black Lips show last Saturday night was the first concert I've been to in a very long time, and it was a deliciously sloppy mess. I'm usually not one to hop in the mosh pit, but something about the band's mustaches and silly hats forced me to take off my shirt and tie and thrash about with the rest of the crazies. It's odd, though, because the Black Lips aren't really even that loud or aggressive; they're really just funny and trashy garage rock. I think that the reason that people go so crazy at their shows is that because of their wild reputation -- vomiting onstage, pissing into their own mouths -- people feel like they need to invoke that same spirit in themselves. For whatever reason, the crowd was going nutso and the band played very well, too, focusing mainly on their most recent album, Good, Bad, Not Evil. My friend commented afterward that he could have easily sang better than everyone onstage, and I don't think that anyone would deny that; however, that vocal homeliness created less of a separation between the band and the crowd. The show was not so much a celebration of The Black Lips' music, but more so an excuse to get drunk and act like a big group of idiots, and sometimes that's just what everybody needs.

New Music:

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend -- Say what you will about how these guys are so obsessed with Wes Anderson that they used his Futura Bold font on the cover of their album, or about how they all went to Columbia, or how they rhyme "Louis Vuitton" with "Reggaeton" and "Benneton," if this album doesn't put a smile on your face, then you are most likely a douchebag. Taking a great deal of influence from South African music -- or perhaps just taking influence from Graceland -- VW creates excellently catchy pop music with clever lyrics and cheery melodies. As winter turns to spring, there's no better album to ride your bike to and smile wide enough for every one of your Ivy League comrades to see.

Key Tracks: "Walcott" (possibly the best melody of the year), "Oxford Comma," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"


Magnetic Fields, Distortion -- In the past, I've never been a huge fan of Stephen Merritt and his band of sad sacks, but this new album finally has me on board. What's different here, as the album's title implies, is that the volume is turned up significantly and the sound is dirtied up a bit. This new sonic approach fits Merritt's sly baritone, most notably on the depressing and clever, "Too Drunk to Dream," which finally answers the question, "What would it sound like if Leonard Cohen sang for Soft Cell?" Merritt splits vocal responsibilities with Shirley Simms, who turns out the Phil Spector sugar on "California Girls," and the My Bloody Valentine sheen on "Drive on, Driver." Overall, Distortion is an excellent record, if not too heavily leaning on its influences.

Key Tracks: "California Girls," "Please Stop Dancing," "Too Drunk to Dream"


Stephen Malkmus, Real Emotional Trash -- I don't think this comes out until next week or so, but Soulseek is a beautiful thing. First and foremost, Real Emotional Trash is a fine record with some excellent guitar playing and some killer drumming. The addition of Janet Weiss to The Jicks allows Malkmus to play around with the meatiest band of his career, and he utilizes this gift by crunching out a litany of monster riffs. The problem here is that the songs tend to go on forever, and with three of them exceeding the six minute mark, they really do ramble. Malkmus' trademark wordplay is obviously still here, especially on the outlaw tale of "Hopscotch Willie." In the end, however, Malkmus' lyrics and catchy melodies work better in pop songs like "Stereo" and "Cut Your Hair," not 10-minute epic title tracks. While this album probably is still a fun listen, it makes me wonder when this former leader of the essential 90s band stops making essential music and becomes just another old guy.

Key Tracks: "Baltimore," "Hopscotch Willie," "Gardenia"


The Mountain Goats, Heretic Pride -- With his past three albums, John Darnielle seemed to be heading towards a great rift between himself and his listeners. Focusing on themes such as methamphetamine addiction, an abusive stepfather, and heartwrenching loneliness in the wake of a serious relationship, Darnielle's albums were just getting more and more personal, lowering his audience's comfort level with each release. On Heretic Pride, Darnielle returns his focus towards stories and characters, while also adding harder instrumentation to his repertoire. The key aspect to that new instrumentation? The addition of drummer Jon Wurster, who used to totally rip shit up in Superchunk, and continues to rip shit up with The Mountain Goats. Combining one of rock's most distinguished lyricists with one of the best drummers of the past 20 years, Heretic Pride proves itself to be a winning album.

Key Tracks: "Lovecraft in Brooklyn," "In the Craters of the Moon," "San Bernardino"

Alright, so that's pretty much all I've got for this time around. I'll certainly have another post within the next week, most likely reporting on Sunday's Built to Spill show.

There Was Blood, and It Was on the Wall

Alright, so I finally saw There Will be Blood a couple nights ago, and it was probably the most compelling and thought-provoking film I saw in the past year. I didn't walk out of the theater with my jaw on the floor; I walked out with my jaw resting in the palm of my hand, "Thinker" style. There are so many themes and concepts throughout this picture that I've been piecing it all all together since I saw it. That's not to say that it's some kind of Daron Aronofsky mind-fuck or anything; it's just that the story is so perfectly told and its themes are so shockingly overt that the film can be applied to so many aspects of modern American society. Let's look at it from the basic film perspectives.

Direction: PT Anderson has always shown himself to be a fantastic director, sometimes showing signs of absolute genius. There Will be Blood solidifies that reputation and puts him at the vanguard of modern cinema. In addition to brilliant pacing, tones, and staging, Anderson's film is so filled with shots that make your jaw drop that by around minute 48, the viewer begins to expect sheer brilliance with every angle. The script and concept may not be as original as Boogie Nights or Magnolia, but Blood is the most visually stunning film of the twenty-first century.

Score: Johnny Greenwood officially surpassed Noah Lennox for the role of "Most Badass Year in Music" with the unfair tag-team of In Rainbows and the There Will be Blood soundtrack. With a combination of classical-style compositions and post-rock percussion pieces, Greenwood puts together a crushingly epic score which accompanies the film perfectly. While some of the work may come of as a bit too modern for the the period piece, Anderson and Greenwood come together to make it work.

Acting: Daniel Day Lewis. I feel like I'm not even qualified to try to talk about him as an actor or this performance. Pure genius. Also, Paul Dano is excellent in this breakthrough performance as twin brothers Paul and Eli Sunday, the latter of which, rumor has it, Dano only had days to prepare for, making his troubled performance that much greater.

I'd rather not get into plot or themes (cop out?) because I want all of you to see it for yourselves and get from it what you will. Point is, the film is incredible, and it just gets better the more you think about it in the following days.

In other blood-related news, Blood on the Wall just came out with a new album, Liferz. They're an indie-punk band that bites more people from the nineties than Hannibal, but they actually sound pretty fresh in today's uber-hip alternative landscape. The chick bassist sounds pretty much exactly like Kim Gordon, the drumming sounds like Superchunk's Jon Wurster is pounding the skins, and the male vocals and guitar playing are like when Stevie Malkmus forgets to take his Ritalin. The redeeming result of all this carnivorous biting? It fucking rocks. It's one of the only albums I've bought in a while that required a second listening immediately after the last song ended. The only other band I can think of out right now who can capture that great '90's underground sound is the Ponys, but the advantage of Blood on the Wall is that dude can scream and yell as well as anyone, and he's also capable of finding that perfect note of feedback to elevate a song from "decent punk tune" to "public headphone headbanging anthem." If you're a fan of bands like Superchunk, Pavement, Jawbox, and Sonic Youth (which, if you're reading this site, you probably are), then you should check out Liferz to remind yourself that you're not the only one who remembers how people used to rock out before synthesizers and drum machines took over.

Also in blood-related news, former Blood Brothers (RIP) Cody Votolato (guitars) and Johnny Whitney (vocals, keyboards) have finally emerged from the rubble of their brilliant former band to create Jaguar Love, a project with former Pretty Girls Make Graves drummer Jay Clark. From the looks of the two songs on their MySpace, the band is radically different from the hardcore Blood Bros. sound, but still retains Whitney's apocalyptic lyrics and melodies which we've all come to know and love. What's even more exciting is that the two demos on the site (which sound better than most bands' singles) were recorded just two weeks after the band formed, meaning that they essentially have no ceiling. They did a brief tour with Queens of the Stone Age, meaning that they're already playing with bigger boys than the Blood Bros ever did. Excitement.

Les Savy Fav is better than your band, sing it.

Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Indie League. I haven't posted in about a month, but I was in Jackson during that stretch, so it's not like there were any big concerts to report on (unless, of course, you're talking about the Politically Correct Holiday Show, which was a massive success). However, I'm back in Austin now, and I've had a couple of fun nights of live entertainment to talk about.

Two nights ago I attended probably the most bizarre show I've seen in Austin. It was at the Mohawk, so it was outside, and it was January, so it was about 28 degrees. Also, the line to get in snaked around the block and took about and hour to get through. This would have been fine if it was a rock and roll show, where there would be dancing to keep everybody warm; however, this was a comedy show with Michaels Ian Black and Showalter, so everybody was standing still and being cold and pissed off. Apparently, it is customary in Austin to go to a comedy show solely for the purpose of being a jackass publicly, because I had never seen so many hecklers at a single performance before. Perhaps due to his lack of experience in the stand-up world, Showalter's actual material was pretty limited because he took the time to address every single heckler's cry. This did, however, produce some pretty entertaining banter, specifically when he was asked to do a little bit of Doug, his most famous character from The State, and he responded by saying things like, "I'm Doug. I have attempted suicide five times by overdosing on pills. I dropped out of college and now have no job. I'm out of here," just so that he could fulfill his obligation while still a smarmy asshole.

Michael Ian Black proved himself to be the true performer, delivering over an hour's worth of top of the line comedy. He relied very little on the material from his recently released comedy album (the excellent I Am a Wonderful Man; Showalter's Sandwiches and Cats is also very good), throwing in a good amount of jokes directed solely at the Texas crowd. He closed his set with a reading from his forthcoming collection of essays, similar to his blog reading at the end of his CD. In spite of the fact that it was way too cold outside to be standing still, it was a show that I was very glad to have been a part of and would recommend to anyone living in a city on their tour.

Les Savy Fav

So, Les Savy Fav is just flat out nasty. There's no other way to describe their brand of dancey-yet-trashy punk rock. I was only able to catch one of the opening acts, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, and they set the mood for the main act by playing some high-energy, high-volume rock and roll that makes you feel just a little bit filthy on the inside, like a mix between The Dismemberment Plan and The Blood Brothers. However, once LSV took the stage, with Tim Harrington dressed as a fat, bald, bearded African poacher and blasted into "The Equestrian," it was as if the Guilloteens had never existed. Let's Stay Friends is so well produced and catchy that you don't even realize how abrasive all the songs are until you see them performed live. "What Would Wolves Do," one of the "quieter" songs on the album, sounded as heavy and intense as anything else in their catalog. PErhaps the reason for this heightened intensity was the fact that Harrington is, plain and simple, a crazy person. His drunken onstage antics, which included humping photographer's face and feigning his own hanging with the microphone cord, were almost wild enough to make you forget how tight the rest of the band was playing. The other members of LSV almost seemed like squares compared to Harrington's insanity, but perhaps that balance is what makes their appeal so great: at some point this guy with his hand in his pants had to sit down with a bunch of very talented musicians and write great rock songs.


The best songs live were probably "Rage in the Plague Age," and "The Year Before the Year 2000," probably because they make you want to pump your fist even while listening to them on headphones, so with a huge crowd of crazed fans the bar was raised a few pegs. For their encore, they played mostly cover songs, with the exception of the ultimate thrasher, "Who Rocks the Party?" off of The Cat and the Cobra. The best of these covers was "Debaser" by the Pixies which seemed to be the only one that everyone knew, and thus sent the entire crowd into a frenzy. The entire time, Harrington kept insisting that everyone in the building was in a band called the Honeybees, which was a confusing and bizarre thing for him to say. However, walking away from the show after giving myself whiplash and sweating on all my new friends, it really did feel like we had all created something great under the leadership of a true madman.