ACL Fest: Artist features

13 items

The wild fun and abandon that Iggy Pop still throws out on stage — at almost 70! — continues to impress and inspire musicians.

Iggy and the Stooges: Musical and stage power still influencing punks in Austin and beyond

There’s close to zero percent chance that when Iggy Pop (born James Osterberg) joined a group of shaggy degenerates called the Stooges in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1967, anyone involved figured they’d wind up altering the course of rock music. That sounds admittedly hyperbolic, but more than four decades after ...

Back in the beginning, not everyone would have predicted that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would still be around, filling arenas and closing major music festivals.

Red Hot Chili Peppers head class of superstar rock survivors

When looking back on the Alternative Rock Heroes Class of 1991, you’d have gotten long odds in Vegas that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would even still be together in 20 years, let alone be (arguably) the most successful band of the bunch. Think about it and add up all ...

Neil Young, right, performs with his band Crazy Horse, including Frank Sampedro, left, and Ralph Molina, recently in New York. Sampedro says the ACL Fest audience can expect a lot if improv in their Saturday headlining set: “There’s no pat solo. There’s no counting bars. There’s none of that. It’s different every night. … I think the songs are just a catalyst to get us to the jam.”

Founding guitarist Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro talks special thing that is Crazy Horse, working with Neil Young and, of course, the jam

Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s recent “Americana” reconfigures several standards (“Oh Susannah,” “This Land Is Your Land”) as well as relatively obscure traditional songs (“Wayfarin’ Stranger”). The band quickly follows the covers collection with all new originals on the forthcoming double disc “Psychedelic Pill” (due Oct. 30). We caught up ...

You will not be sorry if the Punch Brothers perform some of their great covers, including a bluegrass version of the White Stripes “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” during their ACL set on Saturday.

5 by 5: Going deeper — kind of — with five ACL acts

5 great quotes from Tegan and Sara stage banter 1. “One time as a band we saw ‘Wimbledon’ four times. That scene where they have the pretend game of tennis without rackets or balls or anything? Yeah. Four times. People wonder why musicians start to fray at the edges. I’ll ...

Singer Gotye says his monster hit, “Somebody That I Used To Know,” is not about one person or one particular breakup.

Gotye points to optimistic moments among somewhat dark breakout record

By purely unscientific accounting, there have been roughly 13,000 parody videos and audio recordings inspired by the Gotye hit “Somebody That I Used To Know.” Seemingly all of them are linked by an arm’s length appreciation for the (for lack of a better term) blatant weirdness of a chart-topper with ...

Bassnectar is among the electronic dance music artists playing ACL Fest this weekend.

Bassnectar takes his show on the road, to ACL Fest and beyond

Lorin Ashton, who is more commonly known as Bassnectar, started his latest tour in Greensboro, N.C., a couple weeks ago. On the day of the first show he rehearsed with a team of 12 people, who worked on 20 computers. “I’m trying to hold it all together,” Ashton said in ...

An Avicii show, in which Tim Bergling, performs atop a giant head with an elaborate light show, is more love-in than rave.

Avicii owns the arena with a musical mix of genres that never loses the melody

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Police officers are everywhere. Cruising the parking lot, strolling on the concourse and at the side of the stage. Entering the venue requires a full-Hello!-body frisk. Guys in T-shirts and jeans, mostly in groups of three, and coiffed-up girls in tight skirts, mill around where it’s ...

The Roots, led by co-founder Black Thought, have played many times in Austin, including the 2004 Austin City Limits Music Festival.

The Roots are the best band in America. Period. Here’s why.

Take a long, hard look at the schedule of any major music festival, and amid all the gems and joys you’ll find sprinkled in a few injustices. The eleventh Austin City Limits Music Festival is no exception, but no crime is more major than this: The Roots aren’t a headliner. ...

Several Antibalas members are also involved with the hit FELA! Broadway show.

Antibalas brings Afrobeat sound to ACL Music Festival

Unless you closely read liner notes, you’ve likely listened to multiple albums that Afrobeat band Antibalas members have been a part of and not even realized it. TV on the Radio? Yes. Mary J. Blige? Check. The diverse list of musical collaborations stretches across genres. Yet after 14 years in ...

The Afghan Whigs, led by Greg Dulli (center), have played a number of well-received shows since reuniting. Dulli says he’s been happy to see the band’s original fans from the ’90s as well as younger faces in the crowds.

For Afghan Whigs, a resurging campaign

If you were a fan of Afghan Whigs in the 1990s and devoted an unhealthy amount of time to their amazing hat trick of albums — “Congregation” (1992), “Gentlemen” (1993) and “Black Love” (1996) — it was entirely possible to believe frontman and songwriter Greg Dulli would not survive the ...

Sonámbulo grew out of a performance art group that was involved in Costa Rica’s street circus movement.

Costa Rican Band Sonámbulo brings Psychedelic Tropical Sounds to Austin and ACL Fest

To understand Sonámbulo’s music, you have to keep in mind where this 11-piece psychedelic tropical band hails from — Costa Rica. Yes, the same Central American country consistently ranked among the happiest places on Earth. A place where people sometimes greet each other with sayings such as “Pura Vida,” which ...

Michael Kiwanuka, all of 25, already has some impressive kudos, including winning BBC’s Sound of 2012 poll, and says he picked up guitar to fit in with his peers.

Michael Kiwanuka hits with a delicate fusion of acoustic folk and heart-rending soul

Michael Kiwanuka’s voice keeps cutting in and out. London’s 25-year-old velvet-voiced soul and folk sensation is somewhere near the U.S./Canada border, bound for an evening performance in Vancouver. Between Kiwanuka’s soft, modest conversational voice — one that betrays little evidence of the textured singer’s persuasive pipes — and a dicey ...

It’s official and free, with an RSVP: M83 (aka Anthony Gonzalez) is one of several ACL Fest performers doing DJ sets from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. this weekend at Malverde. M83 is on the schedule for Friday.

No ACL pass? No problem; check out these surrounding events

Nobody likes to feel like the only kid that wasn’t invited to the party. In the case of this weekend’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, if you don’t have a ticket, you can enjoy the spoils of events outside Zilker Park. Let’s start with the free. Mohawk and Red7 are ...