Day 2 is usually a late start for me, and quite honestly it’s a
late start for most festival goers that have the 3 day pass. This is mainly due to the fact people always sneak out and get a little festival pre party in that Thursday night and
maybe even hit up an ACL after show Friday night. But who knows, after hearing
the white Keith Sweat the night before, apparently Muse’s Matt Bellamy just
moans the entire time on their new album, I might be pumped enough to get
started a little earlier than usual Saturday.
If you wake up early enough to get to the park by 11:30,
then get yourself a taste of some fun post punk in the form of Austin transplants, Parquet
Courts. They deliver exactly what you’d expect to hear from New York City’s
underground punk scene, with simple but effective bass lines, and a lead singer
who sounds like a weird mix of Max Headroom and Ben Stein. Remember when Stein had his own game show? Quality stuff! Anyway, half of their songs will
have you jumping around like the idiot from Everlast and the other half will have
you debating whether or not it’s too early to break the seal, but overall they
are definitely worth checking out.
I know I’ll sound borderline hipster with this next take but
you can definitely count on me avoiding the 2 o’clock Walk the Moon show. Why
you ask? Because they sound exactly like every other dancey indie band that has
come out in the past 8 years! They have the blueprint for this type of music
and they don’t deviate from it at all. It’s like watching yet another reality
tv show featuring more people who can’t really sing; similar to yet another music blog with someone who cant really write but um...let's move on. If you like mind numbing music and simply want to dance,
then this is probably for you. Have they come out with
If you’re a girl, then I get your fascination with Haim. It
reminds you of when you were in your teens and had sleepovers with your girlfriends where you drooled
over boy bands, wore pigtails, and ate weird foods together like ice cream on a
cone and blow pops. Oh wait, that stuff really doesn’t happen, does it? No
matter, this pop music is heavily influenced by the RnB and Folk artists the
girls grew up listening to but this show will only be good for one thing and
that is picking up chicks. And that is exactly why I will be there! They are
also playing at 2 o’clock.
The 2 o’clock slot also offers Electric Guest, they have a
hipster lead singer who has a soulful voice which at times sounds a bit like
Jamiroquai reincarnated. Musically they also sound like MGMT on a few tracks,
which I know sounds great in theory but honestly this music is so different
that it could either be one of the more memorable shows of the weekend or just
plain boring, leaving you to wonder whatever happened to that cute girl that
you met at the Haim show.
Next up is the band Junip and they remind me of Paul Simon,
well that is if someone forced Sir Pauly to play a Moog keyboard in every song.
They consist of three Swedes who grew up loving hardcore music (of course they
did, they’re Swedes!!!) but now they make more thoughtful music. This is the
stereotypical music that you’d expect to hear at ACL, non threatening stuff
that will keep the masses calm. But they do an awesome job of blending the keys
with Jose’s acoustic guitar to create a sound that will draw you in, so based
off of the that I will pop in for about 15 minutes before I need to hear
something a bit more energetic.
At which point I’ll roll by and catch about 10 minutes of
Delta Rae’s show, who when you hear them singing, they sound like they should
be black. Their song Bottom of the River sounds like a song slaves sang after a
day in the fields. With that said however, I am not really a fan of their other
songs because their musical style southern rock pop music. It’s not really for
me but like they said in Coming to America “He can sang! Damn dat boy good!”
Lissie is really cute and she sings edgy pop music but I’ll
pass on her in order to see Silversun Pickups; I’ll need distortion and some
energetic rock at this point. Granted every song on their new album is mellow but
they will still end up playing old favorites Panic Switch and Well Thought Out Twinkles. This
set will be just hard enough to do light head banging and some scrubby moshing.
I a bit torn between keeping the rock going and popping in
in the Welsh trio Joy Formidable or seeing the innovative Grimes. With Joy,
you’re going to get more distortion and a girl wailing on the guitar while
adding in her light and pleasant voice over it. With Grimes, you’re getting
weird electronic dance music; and no I don’t mean the kind you hear in a club
with glow sticks. This is more of a quirky sound that she creates using beat
machines, computers, and keyboards while using her voice as an additional
instrument. You may end up seeing a few club kids rocking backpacks and suckers
along with dirty old men dancing in tank tops but that’s all a part of the fun!
Kendrick Lamar is quickly becoming the biggest thing in hip
hop right now. He just recently put everyone in the game on notice that he is
out to destroy them all on wax and in the process take their fans from them.
And when you’ve already worked with Dr. Dre on one of your cuts this early in
your career, you know you’re on your way. I’ll be checking out the west coast
rapper because there is no way I can pass on the one token hip hop act ACL
gives us each year.
After that comes the biggest influence for 90% of the bands
that I like. Goth kings (even though they hate that label) The Cure will grace
the stage for 2 hours. Hopefully Robert Smith is still fat, still wears white
face power (no one can be that naturally pale and not be vegan), and still has
his crazy hair.
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