Culture Greyhound

A friend of mine and I were discussing the awesome awesome lineup for Fun Fun Fun Fest this year, and recently, they announced their schedule for our viewing pleasure. My friend was excited, but admitted he knew only a few bands. Where, he wondered aloud, could he find a comprehensive rundown of each band, a sampling of their musical chops, so he could further educate himself before the finest weekend of his year? I assume the Fun Fun Fun website has such a playlist, and they do, and it’s cool, but I wanted to make my own. So every Friday, from now until the fest (that’s nine weeks), I will be posting a playlist for your educational purposes for each stage and day, excluding the Yellow stage, which is mostly comedy.

This week’s playlist covers the bands playing on the Blue (Hip-Hop/Dance) stage on Friday – Fat Tony, Auto Body, Pictureplane, Franki Chan, Black Milk, Omar Souleyman, Big Freedia, YACHT, Spank Rock, Four Tet, and Public Enemy.

Listen to the playlist on Spotify.

Missing From Playlist (not on Spotify yet): DJ Car (Stereo) Wars

My Stage Pick: Public Enemy

Friday’s headliner lineup is pretty great (Passion Pit, Reggie Watts, Danzig Legacy), but there’s no denying the headliner of the whole fest is Chuck D, Flava Flav, and the rest of the crew.  Do yourself a favor and mosey on over to the Blue stage for a spell and it’s pretty much guaranteed you won’t be disappointed.  These guys are hip-hop legends for a reason.

And so begins the weekend when a crapload of people litter the streets, destroy our prettiest park, clog up our traffic even worse, and make downtown unbearable. A weekend of sunscreen and insufferable tourists. A weekend of avoiding arguably the coolest parts of town. A weekend of middle of the road music and thousands of spectators not listening to it.

You know, ACL weekend. Thank God it’s only a weekend.

As you may have surmised, I’m not going, as usual. If C3 would make a lineup worth seeing (thank you FunFunFun…again), I would pony up the $180. Of course, by the time they even announce, scalpers have already grabbed all the tickets and are selling them on Craigslist for $200+. Too rich for my blood for an experience as unbearable as ACL. The crowds, the lines, the heat, the general d-baggery. No thank you, I go to festivals to see bands play, not to deal with screaming children, rolling college girls, and unattended lawn chairs to trip on. I’ve bitched about all this before, of course, but something about all the undeserved hype that surrounds this weekend every year just sends me on a bit of a tangent.

Why is SXSW any better, you may ask? SXSW is a completely different animal – a downtown-wide festival with many venues, many options, and so much diversity there’s something for everyone. ACL is 80,000 people cramped in a park too small for such an event, and, frankly, the lineup is typical fest fodder. Think of it as Lollapalooza with less left-field indie and more homespun “safe” bands.

That’s not to say there isn’t some stellar shit happening, just not enough to warrant a scorching-weather weekend of my life and $200 of my precious cash. There’s enough great shows coming to town I’d rather attend – ACL afterparties included – that are more intimate and a better concert-going experience. And cheaper. And indoors/in the evening when it’s cooler. With less people and shorter lines.

But, hey, enough of me on my soapbox. You kids have fun! Let me know how Foster the People is! (don’t) Let me know if Coldplay rocks the house and burns the stage down!  (they won’t)  Let me know how many old people (probably sleeping) you trip over and then apologetically crawl off of! (tons) And maybe I’ll see you in November or March.

Active Child – Playing House (Chad Valley Remix)

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Slow Animal – Heatwave

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Colleen Green – Rabid Love

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Pandr Eyez – Little Bit

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M83 – Midnight City (Big Black Delta Remix)

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If, for some reason, you missed out on Castlemania this year, you should get on that, because Dwyer and Co. are releasing another LP for 2011 on November 15, Carrion Crawler/The Dream. Just dropped today, here is the semi-title track for the album, and it rocks hard, as expected. I anticipate hearing this track, as well as many other new ones, at this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest.

Thee Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler

Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Aaliyah – (Are You That) Somebody (Hudson Mohawke Remix)
Purity Ring – Belispeak
All Pigs Must Die – The Blessed Void
Junior Boys – Banana Ripple (2 Bears Remix)

A friend of mine and I were discussing the awesome awesome lineup for Fun Fun Fun Fest this year, and recently, they announced their schedule for our viewing pleasure.  My friend was excited, but admitted he knew only a few bands.  Where, he wondered aloud, could he find a comprehensive rundown of each band, a sampling of their musical chops, so he could further educate himself before the finest weekend of his year?  I assume the Fun Fun Fun website has such a playlist, and they do, and it’s cool, but I wanted to make my own.  So every Friday, from now until the fest (that’s nine weeks), I will be posting a playlist for your educational purposes for each stage and day, excluding the Yellow stage, which is mostly comedy.

This week’s playlist covers the bands playing on the Black (Metal/Punk) stage on Friday – Defeater, Mind Spiders, Bane, Doomriders, Ty Segall, From Ashes Rise, D Generation, Thee Oh Sees, Russian Circles, Murder City Devils, and Danzig Legacy (Danzig playing Misfits tunes.)

Listen to the playlist on Spotify.

Missing From Playlist (not on Spotify yet): Total Control

My Stage Pick: Thee Oh Sees

John Dwyer’s experimental left-field home recording project has taken on a life of its own, with a fan base possibly more devoted than his previous outings, including the Coachwhips.  If you’ve never seen Thee Oh Sees, prepare to have your mind blown.  There’s no other way to describe it; Dwyer never fails to amaze.

Japandroids – Tonight @ Mohawk

Ty Segall – 9/17 @ Mohawk

Toro y Moi/Unknown Mortal Orchestra – 10/8 @ Mohawk

Star Slinger – 10/12 @ Beauty Bar

Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – 9/30 @ Emo’s

I recently finished up the very awesome 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die on Current TV, hosted by Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock, but apparently the documentarian is keeping busy. He’s got an interview series on Hulu titled A Day In the Life, and one of his subjects is Greg Gillis, better known as the mashup master Girl Talk. Watch the episode above and remind yourself that you’re well past due for another GT show filled with boozing and booty-shaking.

Today is Labor Day and I’m a week into school, so for me, and many others, summer 2011 is over and done with, even though my thermometer and the official calendar would disagree. Last night it cooled down here in Austin to “West Texas evening” degrees, which is good enough for me to declare that autumn approacheth, though it’s probably going to take its sweet time getting here. Anywho, as is the case this time every year, I have compiled a short list of my “songs of the summer.” Some people like lazy-time summers filled with laid-back tunes and relaxing choruses. Me, I’m more of a “let’s dance all season long” kind of guy, and this selection reflects that. What are your favorite songs from the past 3-4 months? What were you rocking while dehydrating?

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