Wednesday, May 23, 2012

I'm writing this as the Indiana Pacers try to win the pivotal game five against the Miami Heat, so forgive me if this is unorganized. My hated of the Heat makes it tough for me to focus. Now, onto my miscellaneous stream of consciousness musings.

As most of you know by now, the lineup for Austin City Limits was announced yesterday. Naturally, the reactions to the list vary widely. Some people are psyched, while others are disappointed. The Red Hot Chili Peppers seem to be the most divisive, love 'em or hate 'em choice. While I haven’t listened to a RHCP album in many years, I can’t hate the group. They were the first real band I ever got to see up close. Back in 1989 they played a small college in my dinky town. There were only a few hundred people there and I was in the front row the entire show. The band deserves derision for spawning countless shitty funk-rap-rock fusion groups and for some truly embarrassingly bad songs themselves, but the 17 year old me will always think they’re awesome.

I perused the full ACL lineup and I didn’t recognize many Austin groups. Perhaps I missed a few but it looks like Gary Clark Jr., Quiet Company, The Wheeler Brothers, Aaron Ivey Band, and The Eastern Sea are the only local acts. Quiet Company is definitely deserving and Gary Clark, Jr. is a potential breakout star, but I wish they had selected a few more local bands. The show and festival were originally focused on Austin music, so it’s key that the concert organizers don’t stray too far from their roots. Here’s hoping bands such as No Future, Not In The Face, Bill Callahan, or T-Bird and The Breaks get the call next year.

This is a MP3 blog, so I suppose I should include some tunes. Tomorrow night Beerland features a stacked lineup of garage rock and ugly pop bands. It’s a mix of local and touring bands: The Wolf, The Cry (Portland), Sweet Talk, Something Fierce (Houston), and Pharaohs. Admittedly, I’m most excited for Something Fierce, but I’m definitely intrigued by what I’ve heard from the other bands, especially Pharoahs. Unfortunately, their album is still being mixed, so I can’t share a track, but you can listen to a number of songs on their Facebook page.

:The Wolf - Love Minus Three:

:The Cry - Sleeping Alone:

:Sweet Talk - Talk:

:Something Fierce - Future Punks:

- -



Unless otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any related pages, including the blog's archives, is licensed by John Laird under a Creative Commons License.