Festival Crashers

Favorite Song 2011: Finals: Young the Giant “My Body” vs. The Black Keys “Lonely Boy”

teibs — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:07:26 +0000

@ZackTeibloom Here we are. Finally. A week into January and we’ve arrived at the finals. Last year The Black Keys took down LCD Soundsystem so convincingly that LCD was forced to break up forever. Let’s hope Young the Giant either beats The Black Keys, or decides to stick it out for another dozen years or so anyway. I really don’t even know who I’m voting for here. I personally had The Black Keys winning it all, but this is not even their best song. This is by far Young the Giant’s best song and it’s one for the ages. I’ll remember this year as theirs, so I may just pull for them. But ahh The Black Keys! The new kings of rock! I want them to win everything. I hope this decision is as tough for you.

If this was still the Catchiest Song of the Year contest, “Lonely Boy” would be the winner of these two songs. Alas, “My Body” is simply the better song. Sure, it has catchy elements to it, but it’s the full package. It’s a high energy, jump up and down, sing at the top of your lungs sort of song. The reason Young the Giant closes every show with it, is simply because it demands that you leave everything out there. Summon every last ounce of energy you have and release it through celebration of what truly was, the Best Song of 2011. -Andy S.

@ZackTeibloom I don’t even know that The Black Keys have a catchier song. Andy and I both agree we would have scrapped all the rules and had Nicky Minaj and her “Super Bass” take that title. I think The Black Keys have the most instantly lovable song. The kind of song that when they’re sequencing the album, they didn’t have a choice but to make it first. For whatever reason, Young the Giant made “My Body” second behind “My Apartment.” The ten seconds of “Lonely Boy” guitar build-up before the drums come in sets the tone for a rollicking rocking jaunt of a single and it never lets up. The oh-oh-oh-oh’s are infectious and it just goes. It’s the stand-out on my favorite album of the year. Is it enough to repeat? You have until Monday at 3 pm to decide…

2011 Bracket Results before the Finals

teibs — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:05:20 +0000

@ZackTeibloom We’re down to two songs and only two brackets left in play. My top seed, Young the Giant and their smash hit “My Body” found their way into the finals. They’ll have to unsead defending champion The Black Keys and their “Lonely Boy.” Both Andy and Caitlin had this match-up exactly in their brackets, but since only I had The Black Keys winning, and Caitlin had a better first three rounds than Andy, only the Rock Love Austin team has a chance at the title. As Andy bitterly said to me on g-chat when I’d done the math, “I can’t believe the only two people that actually cared who wins are in the finals. That doesn’t make any sense.” Whoever wins, Team Wittbloom is getting a vinyl copy of El Camino (we already have Young the Giant’s album on vinyl) and all that’s at stake brackets-wise is pride. But who cares. What really matters is the songs. And I can’t wait to see who you pick. Andy and I will post the vinyl battle tomorrow around noon and give you until Monday at 12:30 p.m. central to vote for the champion. There can be only one. I put the grades in there if you care to see how you did.

Caitlin 20/24 (Young the Giant)
Andy 17/24 (Young the Giant)
Rob 15/24 Maxed out
Sadie 15/24 Maxed out
Zack 14/24 (Black Keys)
DJ Aimless 9/24 (Maxed Out)
Laura 9/24 (Black Keys)
Hart 3/24 (Maxed out)
Glttrgrrl 2/24 (Maxed Out)

Favorite Song of 2011 Contest: Semi-finals: My Morning Jacket “Outta My System” vs. Young the Giant “My Body”

teibs — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:35:52 +0000

@ZackTeibloom I clearly over-thought my bracket. I had Young the Giant as my #1 overall song and then had them not making the finals. Whoops. Now only My Morning Jacket stands in their way. If you’re reading this on your lunch break, try not to have food in your mouth as you read Andy’s reasoning for why you should pick MMJ. I had some stir fry in my mouth that almost went flying. The winner of this match-up has the challenge of taking down returning champion The Black Keys. I think if either song has a shot, it’s Young the Giant, but My Morning Jacket has surprised me time after time in the last few years, so who knows what they’re capable of. Let’s get to it. Seriously, don’t be eating something. I warned you…

Lyrical content means almost nothing to me. I’m in it for a good melody. Vocals are another instrument, albeit a very important one. You could sing a song about pissing-out-of-your-asshole-style diarrhea, and if it sounded good I would blissfully listen to it. That inevitable and horrifying mental picture aside, the mellow nature of this song swept me into paying attention to the lyrics. It’s a beautiful song about growing up. Getting your youthful antics out of the way…and having no regrets about having done it. This makes it a viable choice for theme song for the perpetual state of arrested development many of my friends still exist in. Now, knowing the lyrics, my last argument for this song rings even truer. Insert it into any coming of age scene in any movie for the perfect soundtrack accompaniment. “Outta My System” earned its spot in the Top Four songs of 2011, according to this poll that is totally full of meaning and not at all biased by excited fans and those that filled out brackets. -Andy S.

“This is our last song of the night!” At this point, I’m not sure these aren’t the opening words to “My Body.” Last go-round I told you it was the ultimate show closer, and I hadn’t even seen this video yet. I can’t help but smile as all the kids leap up on stage and just go crazy, like they’re at a Girl Talk show. Young the Giant’s rumbling explosion of a song launched their careers in one year to the point that they can sell out two nights of Stubbs and play the VMA’s. Is it enough to send them to the finals?

Favorite Song 2011 Contest: Semi-finals: The Drums “Money” vs. The Black Keys “Lonely Boy”

teibs — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:33:37 +0000

@ZackTeibloom If found it interesting that Andy and Caitlin decided to break down the venue each of today’s contestants performs in and how the crowd reacts to them, without knowing the other were doing it. Andy defends the newly anointed stadium rockers, The Black Keys, while Caitlin bleeds for the indie rock heroes The Drums, who even get the Austin club hipsters moshing and crowd surfing. There’s a lot to say for each. The Drums are great down to each unique, odd member, while The Black Keys fill the arena with Patrick and Dan only needing help from Danger Mouse. One of the two will see themselves in the finals. For The Black Keys, it would be a return. It would be a cinderella story for The Drums, who no one had going this far, even Caitlin, their biggest fan. Let’s vote:

When the Drums recently performed at a club in Austin, “Money” was the song that got the entire crowd moshing. Moshing? Yes. Moshing. People were circle-pitting and pogoing all over the place, and for good reason. The rhythm of “Money” catches you up, and the chorus defies you to not sing along. You have the lightning-fast bass licks by Myles Matheny, his fingers shooting up and down the neck of his instrument like he’s on fire. You have the plinky, almost eerie guitar riff from Connor Hanwick that is really the vehicle that gets your head nodding. There’s Jacob Graham in the back, in his own world, conducting himself and an imaginary orchestra while he inserts synths in waves, and then Jonny Pierce leading the troupe with pained but beautiful vocal stylings. It is a pitch-perfect mix, performing an undeniable song. -Caitlin W.

It was surprising to me to see that the Black Keys were headlining a stadium tour in support of their new album, El Camino. Then, after watching college and NBA basketball over the last couple weeks, I realized they were already in the stadiums. “Lonely Boy” was playing over the PA in every single game I watched. The drums from Patrick Carney are like a train chugging along the tracks. Dan Auerbach’s ooo-OOO-ooo’s accompanied by backup vocals make the chorus especially memorable. The addition of the synths from Danger Mouse add another layer and continues to show his understanding of how to open up this two-piece to a bigger sound. One that will fill stadiums. -Andy S.

Favorite Song 2011: Round 2 Results

teibs — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:29:38 +0000

@ZackTeibloom Could we have a repeat of champions by both the band (The Black Keys) and bracketologist (Caitlin)? The Black Keys look poised for a final slot in their bracket, having avoided Adele and now facing The Drums, who have already over-performed. Caitlin may have been heartbroken that Bright Eyes didn’t make the final 16, but she’s laughing now with 12/16 points and her final match-up still intact. Rob, Sadie and I are close behind, but we had M83 going much farther, and I think only me and the others who have The Black Keys winning it all have a shot.

Only four songs remain, and I can’t wait to see how it goes down. The Black Keys, Young the Giant, My Morning Jacket and The Drums represent the year pretty well. Sure, Adele and M83 and even Kanye and Jay-Z might be what we think of when we think of 2011, but it wasn’t meant to be for them. Here’s the bracket standings:

Caitlin 12/16
Rob 11/16
Sadie 11/16
Zack 10/16
Andy 9/16
DJ Aimless 9/16
Laura 5/16
Hart 3/16
Glttrgrrl 2/16

Favorite song of 2011: Round 2: Justice “New Lands” vs. Young the Giant “My Body”

teibs — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:00:45 +0000

@ZackTeibloom Simmons asked if he should pull his starters and throw in the reserves for his column this week. I told him I’d read every word, so he better make it his best stuff. Well, I feel his pain. It’s the Friday before New Years and you’ve likely checked out somewhere around Christmas, but we’ve got two worthy songs who deserve out attention, so let’s give it to them. These are two passion bands for Andy and I. Justice had Andy doing car dances that got attention from everyone else on the road. He went through a number of favorite tracks off the new album before settling on “New Lands” and he’s picked a winner, but I’m not sure it’s going to top Young the Giant. “My Body” catapulted them from a band getting some attention at SXSW ’11 to selling out two nights of Stubbs in ’12, and they don’t even have to play the fest. I sure wish Justice would come by Austin some time, SX or not.

Listen to the chorus of “New Lands.” I have no idea what New lands / trust embedded on the sand means. But the way it’s sung, combined with the music is so enjoyable to me. Combine that with the heavy metal style guitar in the breakdown towards the end, there’s a lot to like about this song.

Young the Giant’s show is built around this song. Not like Kanye and Jay-Z with their playing “Ni**as in Paris” 8 times, but this is the ultimate finale song of the year. The rumbling intro and the epic builds and the screaming of the chorus just throw down the gauntlet. There’s nothing you can play after it. You drop the mic and walk off. Actually, you drop two mics. They have one just for the vocal effects. I’m curious if this will be their show ender forever. I hope they write a song that can eclipse this, but if they just write more to build up to this masterpiece, they’re set.

Favorite Song of 2011: Round 2: My Morning Jacket vs. M83

teibs — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:38:40 +0000

@ZackTeibloom We’re going live for this round. Why not? Andy and I have both seen these bands live, though never together. I was lucky enough to see MMJ at Lolla and M83 at Fun Fun Fun. I’ve already got tickets for M83′s May show at Stubbs and after watching the video below, it solidifies my wish that it was an indoor venue. Both are headline worthy, even though MMJ is the only one who gets the slot at this point in their careers.

Andy picked seeing Emimem over My Morning Jacket at Lollapalooza while Caitlin and I were confident in our MMJ pick. Andy also picked Stevie over MMJ at ACL, but after Stevie had sound issues, he caught about 5 MMJ songs, including some with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Caitlin and I chose option c), The Arcade Fire ACL Live taping. If MMJ and M83 were playing at the same time, I’d have a really tough time deciding. I do have an opinion on which song I’d rather hear though.

I have never wanted to tell someone to suck a bag of dicks, as much as I did when the sound system wasn’t functioning properly for Steve Wonder at ACL 2011. I gave up and headed to get an early jump on the shuttle line. My Morning Jacket redeemed the night. I managed to catch five or so songs, while in line for the shuttle. It was exciting to see them go from the late night powerhouse I saw them to be at Bonnaroo, to the festival headlining spot they’d earned. As for today’s song, “Outta My System,” there is just a quality to that song that it hard to pinpoint. It has a great feeling to it. Like it would be the song in any movie when the main character puts on headphones, or as an alternate song choice for the Beta Band scene in High Fidelity. I can’t explain why. It just is. Ok? -Andy S.

When I announced that we were thinking about songs for this year’s contest, Rob H. said he was confident M83 would win it all. I have them losing in the finals, but I agree that when I think of 2011, I’ll think of them first. Their double LP is as gorgeous to listen to as that translucent blue and pink vinyl is to hold. I love a number of the 22 tracks Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming holds, but “Midnight City” is bombastic. It starts out with those synth horn sounds that just leap out and grab you. The rest of the song ebbs and flows masterfully and keeps me dancing all throughout. MMJ has a lovely song here, but it’s ultimately forgettable. In 5 years I’ll only remember this M83 track. -Zack T.

Favorite Song: Round 2: Lady Gaga vs. The Black Keys

teibs — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:27:55 +0000

@ZackTeibloom Now this is a battle of heavyweights. The Black Keys only waited a year and a half after Brothers to give us El Camino for Christmas. I hope you didn’t make your best of albums list without giving this one a few spins. Lady Gaga sold a ton of her follow-up album Born This Way by making it ninety-nine cents on Amazon. Personally, I’d rather spend $30 for El Camino on vinyl. I’ll save my Gaga bashing (as best as I can.) It’s just not for me. Andy will try to sell me on it by saying it has a country twang. Again, not my thing. It’s nice that Brian May plays guitar, and it makes this one listenable enough, but I’d rather have a rock band in their prime than a guest spot on an otherwise uninspiring track.

A song with a country twang and Brian May on guitar. If “You and I” was sung by Grace Potter and I sent to to Zack with that lead, I’m almost certain he’d like it. Sadly, he and many others will write this song off, simply because it’s a Lady Gaga song. She’s not Mel Gibson. In fact, she’s quite the opposite. I don’t need to continue to harp on the, ‘get over yourself/the fact it’s Lady Gaga’ argument. Instead, let’s review the awesome guitar work by May on this track. The flourishes he adds at the end of each verse add so much flavor to the song. His solo reminds you that Queen, while very much Freddie Mercury first and foremost, was also great in no small part thanks to May. You have to be able to get behind an artist that’s bringing such a talented guitarist to a whole new audience. -Andy S.

I used to consider The Black Keys, The White Stripes light. Of course the two are often compared because they’re guitar-drums two-piece blues rock. The White Stripes had bigger, more bad-ass albums with hits. The Black Keys wrote a lot of good songs and were always dependable for a hard-rocking festival afternoon set, but didn’t get the national attention. In 2007, The White Stripes released Icky Thump and were on top of the alternative rock world, taking home the Grammy and having a #1 album in the UK and #2 in the U.S. And then that was it. Since then, The Black Keys released three monsters. (Not Little Monsters.) Attack and Release raised the bar, Brothers made them a commercial juggernaut and El Camino made them a arena-headlining band. And here we are. No gimmicks. Just like this video. One goofy Carlton-esque dancer shaking it to a band that could one day surpass The White Stripes. Well, not for me. But to the rest of you rock fans it’ll be an argument at least. And I’ll respect you for starting it. -Zack T.

Favorite Song 2011: Round 1: Young the Giant “My Body” vs. Ezra Furman “Mysterious Power”

teibs — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:34:09 +0000

@ZackTeibloom We’ve reached the end of round 1. I’ll do a full recap tomorrow, showing you the standings for your brackets and giving a recap of all the match-ups, but we’ve got one more match-up of two of my favorites. Up until this point, it’s been easy to pick who among me and Andy will write about which band, since we each picked 8 songs. Today, my pick of Ezra Furman made the tourney as a wildcard and faces my #1 seed Young the Giant, so we let Andy take Young the Giant, since he’s seen them twice and was totally into it. I honestly don’t know who I’m going to vote for. Ezra put out his best album to date and this song warms my heart, but how can you compete with this phenom that is “My Body?” When I first saw Young the Giant, I said they had one headline-ready hit and a couple strong ones to go with the rest of their catalog. I’ve come around on the rest of the album and don’t skip any, but my god, “My Body” is a first track on the mix tape. And Ezra has always been a last song on a mixtape kind of guy. Which I completely love him for as well.

Young the Giant enjoyed a breakout year in 2011, in no small part thanks to a performance at the MTV VMAs. They are none of the things I dislike about indie rock and put on a bitching, high energy live show. I had the pleasure of catching their sets at both Lollapalooza and ACL this year. Lead singer Sameer Gadhia’s voice sounds as great live as it does in the studio, with a great raw quality to it. Yes, the chorus of this song gets stuck in my head often. In the sign of a truly great song, the bridge does half of the time too. This song is constructed to get a crowd jumping from the opening thumping of the bass. The guitars and drums join to get your whole self rocking back and forth. If your feet don’t leave the ground when you hear the chorus, well…you’re no fun at all. This song shouldn’t just beat Ezra. It should win the whole competition.

We may be at Ezra’s last hurrah and according to Ezra’s Facebook, this could be the last Ezra Furman and the Harpoons show of all time. Ezra’s been pushing towards a solo career. He just toured Europe alone, moved to San Francisco and recorded a solo album based from a kick-starter project. I love the band, especially guitarist Andrew Langer, formerly of The Redwalls, but Ezra is the heart and soul of this band and he always puts both right there on his sleeve. This song is the title track for a reason. It’s raw Ezra, lonely, in his room, telling us how he sees the world. I like seeing a world with him making music faster than he record it and thankfully we live in such a world. For the record, his cover of “I Can Change” that he made just for me and Caitlin for contributing to his kickstarter project is my favorite thing released this year by leap years.