@ZackTeibloom Spoon may be bigger and pulled off a triumphant run at Stubbs this summer, but I’d argue that Ghostland Observatory is the best current band to come out of Austin. They’re certainly the most exciting live act, ranking in the top 5 bands to see at ACL this year for good reason.

The two-man band is a force of nature. A dazzling laser light show envelops the raging crowd, as a caped Thomas Turner pounds the synth while a sunglasses-clad, hair-braided Aaron Behrens dances around on stage, belting high-pitched catchy choruses, slinging a guitar his “fingers crave” in an electro-dance-soul-rock fusion. Not to mention the hardest beats around.

The Austin duo comes back to headline Saturday night against one of the biggest live acts of the last 20 years and there’s no one they’d rather play the same time as.

Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore Often, Zack and I each do our own top-10 list of the shows we’re most looking forward to at a festival. Sometimes we get in a good jab at one another, or defend our positions on why we’re right about a certain conflict. For the most part, I agree with Zack. Rather than reiterating his arguments and then adding a few of my own, I decided to do a top-10 of the bands he did not mention. I’m leaving Dave Matthews Band off my list as well. Not that I don’t think they’re great, but because if you’re going to see them, you don’t need me to convince you. That gives you, our privileged readers, 20 bands to look forward to at ACL. Who said we never did anything for you? Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom In part one, I focused more on indie-rock and dance shows. The stages are smaller, the bands younger and the dancing more lively, but the Festival Crashers are all about the two much-for-one-hand rock bands.

Before we get to the big four monsters of rock, there’s one more dance party we need to get to. Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore I had the opportunity to chat with Easy Star All Star’s producer and sometimes guitar player, Michael Goldwasser, shortly after missing two sets of theirs at Summer Camp. It was quite interesting to pick the brain of a man that has successfully reworked some of the most renown music known to man. Goldwasser, being the producer, offered a view through the looking glass of what goes through his mind as he prepares a tribute album. I figured I wouldn’t be the only one who thought this was as interesting as I did, so I’m providing you guys with the transcript of our full interview.

Starting with how you choose the band or album, what is the process for creating an album for you guys step by step? Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore Well, it only took me two days to get my feet wet in the LA music scene. I had noticed a tweet about a free Easy Star All Star’s show on Saturday in Irvine, on our drive in from Grand Junction, CO on Thursday. You don’t usually have to tell me twice to sell me on free live music, but I was already looking for an excuse to see ESAS. I had to sit Summer Camp out this year with an ankle, and missed both their day set and the special late night Dub Side of the Moon set with members of Umphrey’s McGee. Taking the hour or so drive down to Irvine with my brother was a no brainer. Read the rest of this entry »

@Zack Teibloom Even with acts dropping like celebrities in the summer of ’09, Austin City Limits still has a meaty enough line-up for a two-part post* and for Andy to fly in from his new home in L.A. I’m starting to go through the schedule hour by hour and finding some diamonds in the rough, but these 10 are the cream of the crop. The ones I daydream about in my cubicle**.

I glanced at last year’s Top 10 Preview and noticed both this year and last year feature Dave Grohl and Jack White in the top 3, but with different bands. Yeah, they’re that good. I gotta say, I’ll take this year’s top 10 over last year’s head to head, but we’ll have to see how it plays out. Lets rock: Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Come on festival lovers. You’ve got stories to tell. We want to hear them. If you were at ACL this weekend, you were ankle deep in hilariousness (and human feces.) Just this weekend, I was on stage with the Knux, talked someone into diving head first into crap, and had a Saturday night for the ages. But you know my stories. I want yours.

One of my favorite things about a music festival is there’s always someone acting more ridiculous than you are. It’s nearly impossible to embarrass yourself. The wild things come out and you just can’t top them. They have body paint on parts you barely expose in the shower. They’re defying the laws of physics, or at least they’re pretty sure they are.

We want your stories of the Wildest things you’ve seen at a festival. We’ll reward you with a prize package including the “Where the Wild Things Are” soundtrack, A WTWTA tote bag and crown all thanks to our friends at Filter. Read the rest of this entry »

 @AndyShore It would take something very special to keep my from watching the VMAs as they air. In years past I’ve turned down work and other seemingly solid plans to see what MTV would have in store for me. Unfortunately for MTV, they cannot compete with the Bears v. Packers season opener. After watching that atrocity of a game, I kind of wish I had skipped the game and watched the VMAs live. I definitely need to watch them now, so I don’t go cry myself to sleep. Without further ado, my “live” blog of the 2009 MTV VMAs. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom “It Might Get Loud” is a wet dream for electric guitar lovers.  Directed by the Acadamy Award winning director of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth,” we get an hour and a half of three generations of axe masters, Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White III, as they trade secrets and licks culminating in an awe-inspiring, intimate performance.

Even more telling than having the three gods in the same room getting loud, are the journeys that provide a glimpse of how the electric guitar shaped the lives of three boys from Ireland, London and Detroit. And how, in the decades since, these three virtuosos have shaped the guitar and its prominent place in rock.

We open with Jack festooning a guitar with a coke bottle, wood and nails in minutes saying “who says you need to buy a guitar?” After seeing this movie, I most certainly do. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Doors at 9, opening band at 10, I get off at 12. You can count on two sets and an encore from Umphrey’s like you can count on death and taxes, so even with a torrential downpour and a 15 minute drive, I figured I could at least catch an hour of Umph. I figured right.

The crashing gods smiled upon me once again as the rain slowed as I got closer to the venue and I had @halleyclaire as my girl on the inside feeding me info. What I knew going in was that there was a stamp, an outdoor smokers patio for easy access. If you’ll recall from Successful Crash #5, I have a stamp in my car at all times for such an occasion. Read the rest of this entry »