SXSW 2010 Music Festival
The fest is here, and the updates are flying. Latest news | Side parties | Full coverage | Follow us on Twitter | Send us tips.
Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > ACL 2009: Friday category
ACL 2009: Friday
October 4, 2009
Live review: Ben Harper & Relentless7
Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN
I’ll be the first to admit, I was never a knocked-in-the-head Ben Harper fan. His musical compass never seemed to settle in any one direction for any length of time, and his tastes were eclectic almost to the point of randomness, it seemed. That perception might speak more to my musical limitations than any lack of focus on his part, but still, that was Your Humble Correspondent’s take on the guy.
But I found myself drawn powerfully to his newest effort, “White Lies For Dark Times,” in which he replaced (temporarily at least) his longtime backing band, the Innocent Criminals, with a trio of Austin blues-rockers, whom he dubbed Relentless7 — Jason Mozersky (guitar), Jesse Ingalls (bass) and Jordan Richardson (drums). His new recorded songs with the group had a cohesion and structure that some of his earlier stuff seemed to lack.
Onstage, the foursome displayed a raw, blood-and-thunder punch that was almost a physical assault, at least for those of us in close proximity to the stage. Sinus-clearing bass, waspish barbed-wire guitars and relentless percussion permitted almost no time for reflection or opportunity for reprieve. Relentless, indeed.
Harper confined himself almost entirely to sitting with a lap steel guitar at center stage, but on the occasions when he strapped on a conventional electric guitar, he seemed almost like a kid let out of school. “I’m the only Californian in the band,” he exclaimed, “and it’s a true honor to be onstage with these guys kicking my (expletive) every night.”
Still, he seemed almost like a homeboy himself, delivering shout-outs to Waterloo Records and Lance Armstrong.
But mostly, he let the music do the talking, with most of the set derived from the latest album, including “Boots Like These,” “Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart),” “Shimmer and Shine,” “Number With No Name” and “Up To You Now.” At least one new song, the hook-centric “Rock and Roll Is Free (If You Want It)” was trotted out to the crowd’s delight.
It’s anybody’s guess if this musical incarnation marks a permanent detour for Harper (chances seem slim), but for the time being, he has re-booted his musical persona with a powerful dose of Texas rock and blues, and listeners seem as taken with the new sound as he does.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
A scene from Friday night ...
Sunday night headliner Eddie Vedder on stage with Friday night closers Kings of Leon for the song “Slow Night, So Long”:
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
October 3, 2009
ACL live interview: Todd Snider
Todd Snider’s increasingly political songwriting (“Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White American Males”) crested three years ago (“You Got Away With It (A Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)”) and peaked with last year’s pointed EP “Peace Queer.” The 42-year-old singer indulged requests (“Play a Train Song,” “Easy Money”) near the end of his Friday afternoon set on the Austin Ventures stage. “I’ll have a few drinks, thinking about what I want to play,” he says. “I’ll play mostly what I want to play, but I take (requests because) I want to be challenged, too.”
American-Statesman: How’s your ACL been?
Todd Snider: I guess I’d just say that the people who help out are being so nice. It’s easy to get around.
Are you sticking around to see anyone?
I want to see the Kings of Leon and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and that guy who plays with Peter Buck, Robin Hitchcock. But I have to leave (Saturday). I’m going to play Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (in San Francisco).
What do you like about this festival compared to others?
I love Bonnaroo and I’m not knocking it, but I love the diversity here.
The Walkmen drowned you out at first, though. How distracting was that?
I could hear the other bands, totally. But, you know, it’s not a big deal. I’m not the concern. It didn’t bother me because I could hear my sound through my monitor. That’s the hard part about festivals, though, I guess. It just comes with the territory.
You have a birthday coming up (on Oct. 11). You played ‘Greencastle Blues,’ which touches on getting older as a musician and getting into trouble. Has touring gotten old for you? Would you ever quit to take a job selling insurance?
Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t do a different job. Well, maybe, like Spinal Tap, I could be a haberdasher (laughs). Really, I don’t know if there’s something I could do besides this. But if I keep saving money, I might be able to just sit around. It’s an interesting question. How long do you do it? Well, I guess as long as it’s fun.
So, it’s still fun?
For me it is. I know people who don’t think it’s still fun, but I still dig it, and I still like to travel. I don’t always enjoy playing because sometimes it’s nerve wracking. Today for some reason I wasn’t nerve wracked, but, you know, every day you’re in a new town and you’re having fun and everyone’s clapping.
You’ve been doing that ‘My name’s Todd Snider and I might go on for 18 minutes between the songs’ bit for a long time now.
Yeah, I sort of go into a trance. You know, it’s funny. I’ve said it before, but not everybody’s heard it before. I always like to get that out of the way before I play. It feels like once I say that part, I can relax.
Even those who know the routine seem to always laugh at it.
I think they’re laughing because I’m saying it…again (laughs). I might say the same thing twice, but I’m not going to come into a town and be like, “Hey, glad to be in town, we stopped over here and got a soup at this place downtown that was really great.” When I talk, I like to think I have a point to make. Sometimes it comes off like a play, I guess, but I don’t want to waste that time.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Los Amigos Invisibles
Venezuelan group Los Amigos Invisibles bring together three words rarely heard in the same sentence: Latin, disco and funk. The group rocked the Wildflower Center stage just after sundown Friday with a danceable groove that could have been George Clinton and Santana’s illegitimate love child. It was a wonder, then, that the crowd was so lethargic. I saw these guys play in the 100-degree heat at ACL a few years ago and the crowd nearly danced themselves into a collective stroke. Under the covered stage it was cool and in the mid-70s, but most of the crowd looked like they were knee deep in cement. A wild pitch bending solo from the keyboard player got things moving somewhat before the band dropped into a tease of ’90s one-hit-wonder Black Box’s “Everybody Everybody,” but for most of the set spectators far outnumbered groove participants.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Bassnectar
San Francisco electronica group Bassnectar lived up to its moniker Friday night, almost to a fault. The sounds emanating from the Dell stage were deep and penetrating as the sun sank behind the video screens that depicted whirling break dancers splattered in digital paint. Heavy bass riffs from the band’s danceable mash-ups shook the nearby porta potties and rattled the chests of the people waiting in line well back from the stage. The band spun some classic crowd-pleasers from the likes of Grand Master Flash, Pink Floyd and the Cure as well as a few head scratchers, such as a mix of “It Takes Two” (Rob Base) and “Walk Like an Egyptian” (The Bangles). The sunlit rave reached a fever pitch when the band dropped White Zombie’s “More Human than Human” although the extreme level of bass obscured the biting guitar lick that makes that song so visceral. The band brought the level down a few notches for an ambient ending to their set that included a chilled-out remix of Roy Ayers’ “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” a nod to all the “Grand Theft Auto” players in the crowd.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
ACL live interview: Sarah Siskind
Nashville singer songwriter Sarah Siskind was one of two female artists to take the BMI stage Friday, delivering her promise of “from-the-gut” autobiographical indie originals.
The 31-year-old performer charmed her crowd during her ACL debut. Siskind, who just released her sixth album, “Say It Louder,” said that passion has been driving her in a new direction lately.
“I’ve gone through a lot in the last couple of years emotionally,” she said. “I went to Florida a couple of months ago and wrote nine new songs all at once. I’m really trying to hone in on who I am as a whole person - exploring that in music. I’m definitely searching.”
Siskind has been playing music since the age of 4 and writing songs since 11.
“I communicate through songs much better than I do by talking to people,” she said. “It’s self healing - a way to work through things.”
When asked by ACL to play this year, Siskind jumped at the chance. She fell in love with Austin during her SXSW stay last spring.
“I love the energy and the laid-back kindness here,” she said. “I took a look at the lineup, and felt a real sense of honor and pride at being asked to be part of it.”
Siskind didn’t have much time to enjoy the city this time around. She is playing Cincinnati tonight and continues her tour of the East Coast and the South during the next few weeks, with additional stops in Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky. While she jumps from state to state, the artist will continue songwriting, continue reflecting.
“I feel right now like it’s happening for me,” she said. “Other people tell me that my songs help them realize things about themselves. I write music to express things from my life. When those songs connect with fans, that’s a gift. That’s as good as it gets.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Them Crooked Vultures at ACL Fest
So maybe it just comes down to getting the reps. When you consider that hard rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures sprang into being over the summer and only crossed the dozen total performance mark (minus practices, of course) while partaking in three Austin City Limits-related shows this week, it’s not surprising that there’ve been quite a few rough edges fans have done their best to overlook while foaming at the mouth over the still-new band’s star power.
If Friday’s barreling thunder revue performance at Austin City Limits festival was any indication, the band (made up principally of Dave Grohl on drums, Josh Homme on guitar/vocals and John Paul Jones on bass/keys) has benefited greatly from three shows in as many days with each member’s parts linking together more smoothly than the night before.
There’s still a problem of songs like “Scumbag Blues,” “Mind Eraser, No Chaser” and “Reptile” sounding for the most part like Queens of the Stone Age (Homme’s main gig) weirdo riff rock cross pollinated with the ultra low end rumble Jones brought Led Zeppelin and not venturing too far from that template. Not a bad recipe for starters, though, and when all three (plus multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes) locked in there wasn’t a harder rocking act going anywhere in the 512 area code.
But the real fruits of this group will come when they start venturing forward musically as a group, rather than refashioning their already established musical identities. It’ll take time for that to happen, but what’s cool is that ACL and Austin-area crowds got to see some of that progression up close and for a few handfuls of moments it was riveting stuff.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: K'naan at ACL Fest
Near the end of a nearly life-affirming set Friday evening at the Austin City Limits Festival, Somali world rapper/poet/singer K’naan asked the crowd for their “permission to set this joint on fire.” It was a turn of phrase, of course, but the cheers showered upon the charismatic singer throughout the show suggest they wouldn’t have much minded if K’naan had in fact pulled out a drum of gasoline and a match and set the stage ablaze. Honestly, it’s about the only way things could’ve gotten any more combustible.
You want to know how unhinged and effervescent this cat is? A round 2 p.m. word got out that he was doing an impromptu special guest set for the children and parents at the Austin Kiddie Limits stage. After some talks and glad handing in the media area (including a meetup with weirdo rappers The Knux that got this mind spinning about collaboration possibilities) the guy found time to write a new song (working title “Baby, Baby”) five minutes before his 5:45 p.m. set and (Why the hell not?) started his show with it as hearts fluttered to still-drying lyrics about swimming oceans, cursing mountains and crossing deserts to reach a special someone.
And that’s how it went for a too-brief 60 minutes; K’naan and his four-piece band spinning through straight-ahead world pop, rap and funk workouts with lots of stop-off points in between, like some mad scientist’s rendering of Wyclef Jean, Youssou N’Dour and OutKast’s Andre 3000 with the showmanship of any of them.
The entire exercise was a highlight, but two passages stand out; a mid-set run through the tearful recollection “Fatima” that benefited from a sparse arrangement (ie, minus the canned horn section on the still-newish “Troubador” album) and a set-closing two-take presentation on “Wavin’ Flag,” once as an almost spoken word slow burn with the audience supplying the chorus and last as a full-band-fueled celebration of life and freedom that most Sunday sermons couldn’t touch when it comes to winning over new believers.
Amazing. Simply amazing.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Blitzen Trapper at ACL Fest
Sometimes the best thing you can say about a band is they’re perfect for their particular time and place. On Friday, as the first afternoon of this year’s Austin City Limits Festival was picking up momentum as bodies streaming through the gates, Portland’s Blitzen Trapper were the perfect band in the right place.
As the sun made one of its first real charges through the clouds on the day, there were guitarist/vocalist Eric Earley, Erik Menteer (guitar, keyboard), Brian Adrian Koch (drums, vocals), Michael Van Pelt (bass), Drew Laughery (keyboard), and Marty Marquis (keyboard, vocals) tossing off story packed lyrics and pitched melodies like were penny candy.
Chief among these was “Furr,” the title track from its 2008 album and one of the sunniest singles of the past year that drew some of the biggest smiles from the crowd and the principals on stage. Soon after, though, was the almost sinister and, yes, Dylan-esque “Black River Killer,” which added just enough intrigue and pathos without coming off as a full-on downer for the just-arrived masses.
Through their hour-long set the six piece displayed enough skill and craft to earn them a spot higher on the bill in coming years (and later in the day) than what they’re enjoying now. When that happens, it’ll be deserved but the absence of a day setting band like Blitzen Trapper perfectly serving its purpose will be missed.
Larry Kolvoord photo
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: The Walkmen
The Walkmen first truly ascended to lofty creative heights with 2004’s “Bows + Arrows,” an effectively driving rock album with one of the decade’s best singles in the energetic “The Rat.” But they took a swerve with last year’s “You and Me,” a slower, darker, more atmospheric record which, at least on first impression, migh be a hard sell in the blazing afternoon of an outdoor festival.
Their solution seems to have been two-fold: limit the number of songs off “You and Me” in the set list, and play the songs they do play very fast indeed.
Fortunately, it paid off, leaving the Walkmen — in their second ACL festival performance — with one of the afternoon’s better straight-ahead rock shows. “You and Me” standouts such as “On the Water” and “Canadian Girl” were delivered with a greater speed and blistering vocals courtesy of singer Hamilton Leithauser. The crooner occasionally opened his mouth so wide he resembled one of those snakes that unhinges its jaw before consuming an animal much larger than its head.
The remainder of the set was taken up primarily with highlights from “Bows + Arrows,” including a rollicking version of “The Rat,” and choice cuts from other previous albums, including a brilliant version of “Louisiana” with an engaged live horn section. Audience members were even treated to a new song from the band’s forthcoming sixth studio album, an ersatz alt-country number with an ambling charm that suggests the Walkmen aren’t done reinventing their wheel just yet.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: The Greencards
Most bands will pepper their performances at large outdoor festivals with token acknowledgments of their love for whatever their current city may be — among live music clichés, the popular “We love you Cleveland”-esque shout-out is among the most pervasive.
But when the Greencards go out of their way to express their delight at returning to Austin, as they did on the intimate BMI stage on a cool Friday evening, you get the sense they really mean it. Partly that’s because the progressive bluegrass trio — made up of Australians Carol Young and Kym Warner and English musician Eamon McLoughlin — was formed here in 2003 before uprooting to Nashville in 2005. And partly that’s because their jam-heavy, joyous set had the genuine sense of fun and camaraderie that all the best homecomings have.
The Greencards’ 45-minute set featured a number of instrumental jams, but the band successfully avoided the dangerous trap that is the self-indulgent jam by keeping their performances brief and energetic. As each member of the band took a brief period to solo, with McLoughlin’s robust fiddle-playing a consistent highlight, an already trusting audience grew more engaged, and hand-clapping and occasional shouts of approval became de rigueur.
But it was Young’s voice, a smooth lilt that nonetheless, on striking performances of new songs — like “Fascination,” the title track off their 2009 album — and old favorites veered into surprisingly powerful moments of darkness and tragedy. It’s the Greencards’ greatest secret weapon, and though they had to contend with the sound bleed that’s long been endemic to the BMI stage, they performed admirably and enthusiastically, with the kind of tight and energetic playing a band can only have when — yes, genuinely — they’re awfully happy to be back home.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Parlor Mob at ACL Fest
During a radio interview on Friday afternoon, prior to their set at the opening day of Austin City Limits Festival, the members of Parlor Mob talked about the direction of their in-production sophomore record, partially recorded in San Marcos. The unspoken desire to advance the band’s bluesy, proto Zeppelin sound in a new direction was a topic of some discussions, to which this reviewer can only say “Thank God.”
Tha’s because The New Jersey band might somehow have more Led Zeppelin in its DNA than Zepp workhorses Them Crooked Vultures, who count Zepp bassist John Paul Jones as a member.
Put it this way, when you can describe a band as Wolfmother only less cerebral, there’s a problem.
Before I hammer too hard, it bears saying that if Zepp, Blue Cheer and Lynyrd Skynyrd are your musicial paragons, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with what Parlor Mob does. vocalist Mark Melicia can caterwaul like few this generation and guitarists Dave Rosen and Paul Ritchie came a few furlongs within something Jimmy Page might’ve churned out circa “Presence”.
But after 25 minutes I’d had enough and was weighing fleeing to see either The Walkmen or Dr. Dog, neither of which I’d had the slightest interest in heading into Friday. Good luck with that next record, guys. You’ll need it.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Reckless Kelly
Hometown favorite Reckless Kelly took the Austin Ventures stage Friday night, making its fourth appearance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt as far as high-energy root rock band members are concerned. They can’t get enough of the local music festival.
“How could we miss this — it’s right in our backyard,” said instrumentalist Cody Braun. “All our friends in other bands love coming to Austin to play ACL. That creates a special kind of energy. It’s a great place to play.”
It’s been an exciting two years for the band. In June, the group nabbed an American Music Association nomination for best duo or group. And in 2008, the band won Country Band of the Year — a bit of an odd designation for the group — at the Austin Music Awards.
Reckless Kelly hit Austin Friday after a gig Thursday night in Denton. Saturday night, they’ll play the legendary Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco.
The three-day stretch is typical for the band. Despite the fatigue of a hectic schedule, Reckless Kelly’s members are excited about their current work in progress — a CD honoring hard-country Idaho musician Pinto Bennett.
“This new album is giving us a chance to get back to our roots, something we’ve been wanting to do for years,” Braun said. “We’ve been around Pinto and his music all our lives. These songs will be about Pinto and the Motel Cowboys, but it’s definitely a Reckless Kelly record. There are some rockers on there, too.”
At Round Rock’s Dell Diamond in June, band members Cody, Willy Braun and Jay Nazz presented the Miracle League with checks totaling $30,000, money earned from the first Reckless Kelly Celebrity Softball Jam held in April.
The Braun brothers and Nazz are still jazzed from their philanthropic venture and plan to repeat the event next year.
“We got very lucky in that all the bands that played did it for free,” Braun said. “We got the idea when we were with friends at a ballgame at Dell Diamond and we thought it would be great to get a bunch of bands together to play ball and follow it with a concert for charity.”
Reckless Kelly will make a tour run of the southeast coast in November and then start work writing songs for a new record. Braun said the bad is also talking to Joe Ely about doing songs together for a new Ely release.
Roy Mata photo
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
October 2, 2009
Live review: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Karen O is a strange and complicated frontwoman. This is, of course, a large part of her band’s genius. Their headlining set was just an hour, but it was easily one of Friday’s most riveting hours. The trio-plus-hired-multi-instrumentalist Dav Pajo (Slint) played a hi-octane set part chunky noise rock, part club-ready dance fevers that made a case for them as one of their generation’s truly excellent live bands. (Giant eyeball beach balls, much like the giant eye that has become their on-stage prop this year, bounced around the crowd. This is the only way beach balls should ever appear at a festival. The end.)
At once mannered and raw, distanced and immediate, O owns whatever stage she’s on almost by default, whether it involves opening the show in a kimono covered in stylized eyes, looking every inch the fashion Jedi while singing the spare, melodramatic “Runaway” or bouncing around the stage to their brilliant single “Zero,” one of the year’s most infectious slices of neo-New Wave dance rock. She makes the most of small motions (cradling the mic, gesturing with her hands) or cheap-seats moves (spitting water into the air, stuffing the mic in her mouth). Her vulnerability during “Maps” should still make everyone with a heart a little verklempt, even if it is more acting that open-vein heartache.You want to roll your eyes one minute, dance wildly the next and give her a hug by the next song.
But she also seems to feel the need to roar out the end of every sentence - it’s her shtickiest move and serves to add another, obfuscatory layer to her performance.
Guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase are perfect foils, Chase with metronome drumming and Zinner with spare riffs that sketch out the song without over-playing it. He’s the Edge of New York noise rock - his music is filled with simple riffs, be they on guitar or jeys, that giver his singer’s outsitzed persona something to hang on.
The set leaned heavily on this year’s “It’s Bliz!” (“Dull Life,” the crowd-moving “Heads Will Roll,” the moving “Skeletons”) and a few older, poppier songs (“Gold Lion”). She headed into the crowd for some sing along choruses during “Cheated Hearts.”
Maybe her days of public emotional exhaustion are gone. But we still have the music. And she’s still an amazing entertainer.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Kings of Leon
Are Kings of Leon, who played the 4,000 capacity Austin Music Hall a year ago, a true headliner at ACL Fest?
Yes.
With Caleb Followill’s vocals and the band’s steady step forward, the band was pretty terrific at ACL, especially with ‘On Call,’ with its steady bass and drum communication, and opening number ‘Crawl.’
But the band whiffed on ‘I Want You,’ the recent album’s most engaging number, sending a bunch of folks headed for the exits. Too slow and grooveless, it was.
But ‘Use Somebody’ was exquisite, perhaps the theme song of ACL. He’s got the worst haircut in rock history (Flock of Seagulls laughs), but Caleb is a tremendous singer. The people next to me were singing along at the tops of their lungs, but all I heard was Followill.
It wasn’t magic, but it got the job done.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Thievery Corporation
Though the core of Thievery Corporation is comprised of the DJ/producer duo Eric Hilton and Rob Garza, their stage performances flesh out the group’s complex songcraft with a supporting ensemble a dozen members deep. Garza and Hilton presided over the group’s ACL performance on a platform above the stage, while the diverse cast of international musicians and vocalists took center stage.
Thievery Corporation’s music is best categorized by a term coined by local DJ Chicken George (who first turned me on to the group several years back): ‘jazztronica.’ They experiment with global polyrhythms, sultry South American vocalizations, sitar lines and dancehall chanting all within the context of midtempo loungey electronica. It was an apt soundtrack for the setting sun on the first day of a beautiful ACL Fest. The crowd was thick and fairly diverse. Young girls in hippie skirts snaked their way to the front, dredlocked boyfriends in tow. Well-coiffed blondes tied bellydance scarves on their hips to shimmy to the rhythms. Baseball-capped frat boys nodded their heads to the beat. Clouds of smoke wafted over the whole scene.
The subject matter in Thievery Corporation’s music is deeply political. When I interviewed Garza and Hilton in the afternoon they said that Austin was one of the smaller cities that really gets their music. Throughout the performance political references cropped up. The song “Numbers Game” was introduced as an explanation of what’s really going on with the current financial situation before kicking into a funk groove. At one point Brazilian singer Karina Zeviani bounded onto the stage chanting, ‘The people united will never be defeated.’ Austin was referenced as “an island of tolerance and peace” as the lead to the outcry for global justice on the track ‘Vampires.’
Did the ACL crowd get the higher messages and catch the revolutionary spirit of the group? I suppose its possible. Did the densely layered rhythmic grooves laced with smokey melodies make them move? Absolutely.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq is one smooth cat. Rocking a black tie and a suit coat rapidly shed in the setting sun, he easily won the Xbox 360 crowd over with retro soul grooves complemented with Temptations-esque dance moves. A soul lifer who cut his teeth in the groundbreaking 80s act Tony! Toni! Tone!, his work in the years following the group’s break-up has been met with widespread critical acclaim, but limited commercial success. His 2008 release ‘The Way I See It is changing that scenario. With an old school sound that’s straight up Motown and a style crafted to match, Saadiq seems to have hit his stride.
The ACL audience was clearly sold grooving right along with Saadiq, who was backed by female and male singer/dancers as well as horns and guitar, bass and drums. When he ripped off his tie and segued into harder grooves delivering a screeching, electric guitar-driven cover of Iggy Pop’s ‘Search and Destroy,’ the crowd screamed along with him.
A consummate performer, Saadiq knows how to work a riff. He brought in the sensual love song ‘Let’s Take a Walk’ with a prolonged intro full of lengthy flourishes and pregnant pauses before sliding satisfyingly back into the horn accented old school soul.
His pipes were pure and when he picked up the guitar the man proved he could shred. But the most striking thing about Saadiq’s performance was his ebullient spirit. It was an infectious vibe that spread from the stage across the field. He introduced the song ‘Faithful’ by crying out, ‘Do you love me tonight? Do you love me tonight, Austin, Texas?’ Then he answered the responding screams: ‘I sure hope you mean it.’
There was no doubt we did.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: John Legend
This correspondent, for one, was curious to see how John Legend’s boudoir-friendly R&B/neo-soul translated to the cowboy-hatted al fresco environment of ACL. Seems I wasn’t the only one.
‘I know you don’t get a lot of R&B acts here,’ Legend said toward the end of his hour long set. ‘But I feel very much at home tonight.’
Certainly he made himself at home. Legend began his set standing on a box in the middle of the runway between the stage and sound board, serenading the rapturous crowd with a heartfelt version of Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song.’
Bounding back up to the stage, he cranked up the big hit-making machine — horn section, girl singers, subterranean rhythm section and all. And the hits, culled from his three chart-topping albums, kept coming. ‘When I Used to Love U’ yielded in quick succession to the hip-hop inflected ‘All Right,’ which segued to the creamy, seductive ‘Satisfaction’ and the glossy pop/soul confection ‘Save Room.
No matter the tempo, the number of dreamy, doe-eyed female fans following every swivel and inflection showed no signs of going anywhere for anything short of an air raid.
Legend took advantage of the open-air setting to breathe some fresh air into his ‘PDA (We Just Don’t Care),’ beefing it up with live samples of the Blackbyrds’ ‘Rock Creek Park’ and Roberta Flack’s ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love.’
Not every digression was successful. His overbearing take on the Beatles’ ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ seemed like a gimmick, and the swoony ‘Good Morning,’ with its annoying peeps of synthesizer, felt like a Hallmark card writ large.
Well, never mind. Legend was engaging and outgoing, resisting the tendency of letting the big production reduce him to just another gear in the clockwork action.
After a confessional and intimate turn on ‘Everybody Knows’ (with it’s great line, “I wish you the best…I guess.”) and ‘Ordinary People,’ Legend finished big, stripping down to a black tank top and romping through his devilishly infectious hit ‘Green Light. It was a genuinely exhilarating conclusion to a show that demonstrated conclusively that a velvet-voiced R&B hitmaker from (go figure ) Ohio could indeed get over deep in the heart of Texas.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Poi Dog Pondering
Chicago house music (aka gay disco) at ACL? Poi Dog Pondering was suffering with a poor vocal mix at the Wildflower Center stage, but when they pulled out Marshall Jefferson’s ‘That’s the Way Love Goes,’ it got the crowd jumping up and down. Then the former Austin band followed up with ‘Natural Thing’ to keep the groove going.
It’s not like the early going didn’t have its moments; the seque from ‘Jackass Ginger’ into the rock number ‘Lemon Drop Man’ was brilliant. But due to sound problems, the set started 15 minutes late and took awhile after that to kick into gear. Guitarist Dag Juhlin was on fire, though, and his enthusiasm seemed to fuel the others.
One plus on the late start was that there was no empty space between songs, making for a wall-to-wall jam. ‘Pulling Touch,’ with guest vocalist Abra Moore, harked back to Poi’s Austin years. But the best stuff was electrified and funkdafied.
If you feel left out of ACL, you’ve got a chance to get your fill of one of the first day’s highlights. Poi Dog plays the Speakeasy tonight at 11;30 p.m. Public’s invited.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: The Wood Brothers
Chris Wood definitely wins this year’s ‘Most Versatile ACL Musician’ award, along with ’ Festival’s Biggest Hustler’ (as in ‘hustling around,’ not ‘ripping people off’).
Just over an hour after leaving the Livestrong stage following his set with Medeski, Martin and Wood, the bass player appeared on stage with his guitar playing brother Oliver.
Chris made the switch from improvisational jazz to blues & roots with apparent ease. The brothers got the crowd into a bluesy gospel revival mood with a stirring rendition of the almost-100-year-old ‘Lil Liza Jane,’ a song made famous in the 1940s by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. The song was punctuated beautifully by the brothers’ harmonies. Oliver has a rich, booming but syrupy voice, and for a jazz bass player, Chris is no slouch on the vocals. In fact, the qualifier ‘for a bass player,’ isn’t fair. The guy can sing.
With the brothers slapping their stringed instruments while wailing, ‘I know what it means to be senseless,’ and Oliver dancing his slide up and down the fret of his acoustic guitar, the small grove of trees in which the brothers were holding court felt like it could have been in the Georgia pines.
Oliver, with a nod to the wafting scent of marijuana, acknowledged that ‘it sure smells good out there,’ and then launched into ‘One More Day,’ with a bayside bass line that sounded like the theme to ‘The Wire.’
With the boys throwing down the blues while the young crowd up front danced along, the scene was taking on a real New Orleans JazzFest vibe. And just when you thought the brothers couldn’t take us any further down South, Chris broke out his train-chugging harmonica and Oliver put his slide through the paces for the blues tune, ‘Where My Baby Might Be.’
On this breezy afternoon, the two brothers from Georgia looked like two happy towheaded little boys with old souls sitting out on the front porch without a care in the world. As one of their songs put it, ‘the older I get, the less I know and the more I dream.’
Matthew Odam photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Walter 'Wolfman' Washington
Back in his hometown of New Orleans, one of the fun things to do is to go see Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington play a little uptown bar called the Maple Leaf. The stage fronts on a big bay window, and when Washington and his band, the Roadmasters, crank it up, you can look through the window and see people dancing on cars up and down the street.
Washington didn’t excite quite that level of fervor on Friday, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. A journeyman guitarist and vocalist whose professional affiliations go back to Johnny Adams (‘The Tan Canary’), Lee Dorsey and Irma Thomas, Washington has created a solid and durable body of work as a leader based on an elastic fusion of blues, soul, funk and an ineffable Crescent City groove. All of those qualities were on display during his ACL set, which hopscotched from a scorching instrumental funk track that opened the show to a sugar-sweet quiet-storm style ballad, ‘Sada’ and a nimble cover of The Delfonics’ ‘Start All Over Again.’
Playing guitar lines that managed to sound both stinging and sweetened (he’s from the T-Bone Walker/Gatemouth Brown school), Washington also took home sartorial style points, looking downright demonic in head-to-toe scarlet, from his red Kangol cap to the incarnadine patent leather shoes — and flame-red Gibson Chet Atkins guitar, of course.
One could see the band lock into place from the opening bars of the first song, tossing one another looks as the pieces jigsawed into place. At one point, a little guitar figure Washington played pleased him so mightily that he said, ‘I gotta do that again’ — and proceeded to do so. It was an oddly engaging moment, an interlude where a guitar lifer can still discover, almost by accident, why he still finds himself onstage night after night.
Larry Kolvoord photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Trouble for vendors along Barton Springs Road
As I was making my way down Barton Springs Road today around 2 p.m., there were fewer vendors than normal. Turns out some city employees were patrolling the streets and shutting down the operations of people who did not have the proper permits.
At least one business had rented out its road-fronting parking spaces to vendors, and they too were told to stop until the proper permits were required.
I didn’t talk to the officials doing the closing, so I don’t know if the crackdown has come as a result of the neighborhood association or C3 intervening or the city simply deciding to play hard ball.
It will be interesting to see if the usual assortment of food, glassware and beverage vendors line the streets this evening as they have in years past.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Phoenix
In a year filled with synth-heavy pop rock, French pop rock group Phoenix, who reportedly flew in from Paris this morning, released one of the most celebrated albums of the year, ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.’ Their set this afternoon on the AMD stage was more rock than pop, packed with pregnant pauses and heavy guitar licks. After starting out with an energetic “Lisztomania,” The band was sidelined by what frontman Thomas Mars deemed technical difficulties, which he tried to compensate for with a cover of fellow French band Air’s ‘Playground Love,’ which fell flat with Mars’ vocal backed by a single guitar.
They recovered with groove-heavy version of ‘Fences,’ and ‘Run Run Run,’ where a dark beat dropped into even darker rock. Guitars gave way to keys on ‘Too Young,’ which also showcased drummer Thomas Hedlund’s energy. Mars repeatedly expressed how grateful he was to be playing to the audience, which he said was the group’s largest ever. Closer ‘1901’ was a highlight, complete with Mars jumping into the audience and a false ending that gave way to a raucous conclusion.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Medeski, Martin & Wood
In the documentary ‘Icons Among Us,’ which aired on TV earlier this year, keyboardist John Medeski said that jazz musicians are never going to be given anything. They’re going to have to go out there and take it.
Medeski, Martin and Wood have been going out and taking it for the better part of two decades now, and today at 2:30 p.m. on the Livestrong Stage was no different.
The band took the stage to a small but appreciative crowd and proved to be the perfect vessel for many fest goers to set their weekend off to sail.
After an opening tune that featured Medeski playing a claviola and had the band building to a crescendo then backing off to settle into some quiet spaces, the band lit into some swampy funk on their second tune. Bassist Chris Wood switched from lilting sounds reminiscent of Jaco Pastorius to the electric-guitar-sounding root notes he played high on the neck of his bass.
That gave way to some playful Sesame Street funk, not a surprising milieu, as the band recently recorded a children’s album.
When Wood switched to upright bass, his deep notes conjured a soft breeze, and with Billy Martin toying with bells, the jam took on a Charles Mingus/late John Coltrane vibe that let people slide into the day’s proceedings.
Not surprising for a band who’s last album was titled ‘Let’s Go Everywhere,’ the guys spent the rest of their set sliding easily from New Orleans funk to Chicago blues and zydeco. The set highlighted each member’s strengths and versatility, all three playing with precision and power, not afraid to go to quiet spaces or erupt in combustible fury.
The only drawback was the longing it evoked in those of us who would like to see the trio play an aftershow at a small, dark club.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: Jonell Mosser
Singer/songwiriter Jonell Mosser might not be the biggest marquee name in Nashville, but the last thing you could call her is ‘unsung.’ Mosser, who enlivened the first day of ACL, is the possessor of a rich and soulful voice with an afterburner mode that crisped the speakers on the BMI Stage when she popped the clutch. No surprise, that, considering she has made a name for herself as a backup singer for the likes of Waylon Jennings, Etta James and Keb Mo’.
Perhaps best known in these parts for a tribute album she recorded of Townes Van Zandts’ songs a decade or so ago, Mosser is also a fine writer and interpreter, as was on display during her mid-afternoon set.
Kicking off with ‘Trust Yourself,’ a slapback rocker (and the title track to her latest album) that owed more to Memphis than Nashville, Mosser’s soulful voice (think Bonnie Bramlett or a younger Bonnie Raitt) immediately turned the heads of passers-by.
Moving between original material (the irreverent ‘Richest Daddy,’ ‘Know Who You Are’ and ‘Blessing’) and some well-chosen covers (Nick Lowe’s “When I Write the Book”and Van Morrison’s ‘Into the Mystic’), Mosser leavened her set with shout-outs to audience members and irreverent intros. ‘This song is for a man who really liked to date beautiful women,’ she said at one point. ‘Unfortunately, they were the kinds of women who like to stick nail files into his truck tires.’
Songs like ‘Boney Man’ (an homage to Van Zandt) and the rocking ‘Bang, Bang, Bang’ ran the gamut from serious to abandoned, and Mosser navigated the stylisic and emotional changes with aplomb. She deserves a wider hearing next time she comes to town.
Larry Kolvoord photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: The Avett Brothers
Though we reviewed the North Carolina-based Americana trio the Avett Brothers’ new album, ‘I and Love and You,’ earlier this week, it’s worth mentioning their live show, as the stage is where they really excel. The two brothers, Scott and Seth Avett, as well as bassist Bob Crawford and cellist Joe Kwan, are as about as animated as a mostly acoustic outfit can get, yelling, jumping and dancing their way through songs from their two most recent albums as well the the ‘Gleam’ EPs.
They stretched things out instrumentally as well, including a raucous bluegrass coda on ‘Laundry Room’ and an extended cello solo on ‘Salina.’ The band also took a couple rock turns, with Seth Avett plugging in on ‘Slight Figure of Speech.’ The brothers stood alone on stage for the slightly sappy, mostly moving ‘Murder in the City’ and closed with the climactic ‘Perfect Space.’ While the music isn’t exactly charting any new territory, the band is very good at what they do—tight harmonies, dance-along country numbers and big ballads.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Yes, you can find ponchos at Zilker Park
Cory Davis is one of the owners of LocoStyle, a Leander-based company that sells mostly guayaberas. They’ve had a booth in the art market/retail area for the past four ACL fests. They sell some shirts, see some bands, make some new customers. This weekend, they are in the $10 poncho business. And business is good.
“We brought about 300 with us,” Davis says. “We cleaned out two Academy Sports and Outdoors stores last night.”
By 2 p.m. Friday, with 76 degree weather and harmless-looking clouds, she had already sold 60 or 70.
“People tell me they’re going to come back tomorrow,” Davis said. “I tell them, “Um, you might wanna buy one now.’”
Weekend weather predictions have yo-yo’ed all over the place over the past 24 hours, but most forecasts are now calling for a 70 percent chance of rain Saturday and Sunday, with highs in the 70s Saturday and the low 80s on Sunday.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Live review: School of Seven Bells
Opening up the massive Livestrong stage on the eastern end of Zilker Park can be an imposing challenge even for the most energetic of bands, making it doubly difficult for a group like New York electronic shoegaze trio School of Seven Bells.
Benjamin Curtis and identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza play the kind of sweeping dream pop that can be atmospheric and fascinating in the intimate setting of a club but somewhat muddled and difficult to parse early in the day at a large outdoor festival. Curtis — looking the embodiment of an emo guitarist with wispy hair and a black outfit — and the Deheza sisters seemed to savor the challenge, purposefully opening their set with some of the band’s slower, more ambling tunes, including an emotionally delivered “Connjur.” Despite a clearly engaged band — vocalist and bassist Alejandra alternated between grinning ear to ear during the lengthier solos and adopting a genuine look of concern during the songs’ angst-filled moments — the set was light on banter and frequently lost in its own waves of synths and reverb-heavy vocals.
Which is too bad, because when the School of Seven Bells managed to pair their technical virtuosity with their more rocking instincts — as on an excellent abridged version of “Sempiternal/Amaranth,” the closer to their set and a highlight from last year’s debut album “Alpinisms” — they demonstrated that they had the chops needed to thrill a large audience.
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009, Reviews
Scene report: Ray Benson helps get ACL started
Walking under cloudy skies amidst temperatures in the low 80s, music fans trickled into Zilker Park this morning to catch the first day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Austin icon and perennial ACL favorite Ray Benson helped kick off the fest with an energetic performance of “Miles and Miles of Texas.”
“Good morning, everybody,” he boomed from the stage. “We’re all a little Asleep at the Wheel, aren’t we?”
In his eighth ACL appearance, Benson said he likes having the early time slot. The nine-time Grammy winner was one of the first artists to appear on the Austin City Limits television program.
“It’s just the best - nobody’s sunburned yet, nobody’s worn out and everybody is still full of excitement,” Benson said. “Once you kick off seven or eight times, you’re kind of a tradition, right?”
Benson said festivals like ACL and SXSW, in which he also appears each spring, are important because they keep the spotlight on Austin, specifically on Austin music. Headed to Snyder, Texas, for a show this evening, Benson will head back to ACL on Sunday to catch some entertainment himself. He said he likes the fact that ACL brings in a hefty number of young musical artists.
“Young folks are the percolation of what’s going to happen to music 20 years down the road,” he said. “It’s important that we all do what we can to make an environment that is going to continue to be conducive to music.”
After Sunday, Benson goes back on tour across the country. His next show in Central Texas will be at Gruene Hall on Oct. 11. And after Thanksgiving, he will begin a tour with friend Willie Nelson to promote their CD, “Willie and the Wheel.”
Benson said he is happy to see many of those young musicians he feels are so important to music turning a keen ear to Asleep at the Wheel and swing music in general.
“I was a 16-year-old kid when I discovered swing,” he said. “I figure there are 16-year-old kids out there now that are interested. I’m not trying to reach the masses with my music; I’m just trying to give people some interesting music— something different.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Live review: The Low Anthem
It’s easy for groups playing folk/Americana/roots (or whatever label people use to characterize the music) to sound very similar. Providence, Rhode Island-based trio the Low Anthem for the most part avoid that trap, elevating their well-written but not terribly notable Dylan-inspired songs with a focus on varied instrumentation. Band members Ben Miller, Jeff Prystowsky and Jocie Adams took turns on keys, drums, stand-up and electric bass and clarinet. On one song, Miller not only played a baritone horn, but made use of feedback from two cell phones, while Adams’ clarinet kept the music grounded, especially on “The Ballad of Broken Bones.” Unfortunately, sound from other stages drowned out several songs, including the quiet “Ticket Taker.”
Jay Janner photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: 'Star Wars' and playin' hooky ... NOT
One of the coolest moments of ACL Fest is the first, when the gates are opened at 11 a.m. and the crowd runs for prime viewing spots as the loudspeakers play the theme from “Star Wars.” This year the throngs were sprinting on grass that was as velvetty as the fairways at Fazio Canyons. The difference from last year was noticable.
The eight St. Andrews Episcopal School eighth graders who were among the first through the gates Friday were not skipping school: they had the day off for a parent- teacher conference. Wonder why more schools, such as Austin High, where the ACL flu is prevalent each year, don’t schedule an off day on the Friday of the fest.
Austin attorney Richard Suttle was chaperoning the group from St. Andrews, which included his 14-year-old daughter Molly. “They’ve been talking about Nelo all the way here,” said Suttle, as the kids, each wearing tie-dyed shirts, staked out a front row seat at the BMI stage.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
Scene report: Scalper prices: $250 a three-day wristband
Scalpers are not as plentiful as in past years, but it’s still early. The going price seems to be $250 for a three-day and $125 for a single day.
This being a trailer-food town, there were a lot more food choices enroute on Barton Springs Road, including a stand for Kerbey Lane.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: ACL 2009: Friday, ACL Festival 2009
