Photos: CRX at Stubb's
Photos: Sound on Sound Fest 2016
Your Guide to Sound on Sound Fest 2016
Sound on Sound is less than a week away and it's pretty exciting to see what the organizers have in store for us during the festivals inaugural run. The line up has something for everybody but in case you are quite sure what to see I have decided to share my top picks for the weekend along with a spotlight on some of the local talent that are participating this year.
Top Picks:
Run The Jewels
Hinds
Run The Jewels - Killer Mike and El-P just days away from the election and hopefully armed with new tracks from RTJ3 is a can't miss. Fellow Dungeon Family member Big Boi from Outkast will also be at the fest so maybe a cameo?
Hinds - One of the funnest bands to break out this year, Hinds have been touring a ton in support of their debut Leave Me Alone including more than a dozen shows during this years SXSW.
Empress Of - The singer songwriter came on peoples radar when she started releasing snippets of her work on YouTube in 2012 and her debut album Me features the track Standard, one of the best songs to come out this year.
Beach House - The "can't miss" band of the weekend. Their live shows are always hypnotizing and this might be the last chance to see them before they begin work on the follow up to last years Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars.
Deerhunter - A last minute addition that changed everything. Deerhunter have released some of the most creative and refreshing music over their last 5 albums and the bands live performance is always something special.
Car Seat Headrest - The band released 12! albums on SoundCloud before signing with Matador Records in 2015. 2016 brought their first major label release Teens of Denial which was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year.
Wild Nothing - Dreamy synths are Jack Tatum's specialty and he has been releasing stellar albums since 2010's Gemini. He was back earlier this year with Life of Pause which we will hopefully get to hear a lot from during his performance.
Thundercat - The extremely talented bassist and producer has worked with everyone from Flying Lotus to Erykah Badu but you know he's doing something right when he was featured extensively on Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly.
The Locals
American Sharks
Saturday November 5th / 4:00 - 4:40 The Keep
Night Drive
Sunday November 6th / 3:10 - 3:40 The Forest Stage
Orthy
Saturday November 5th / 3:10 - 3:40 The Forest Stage
Magna Carda
Friday November 4th / 3:10 - 3:45 The Forest Stage
Boyfrndz
Friday November 4th / 1:30 - 2:00 Dragon's Lair Stage
US Weekly
Saturday November 5th / 2:20 - 2:50 The Keep Stage
The Map:
Click to expand
Set Times:
Click to expand
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Death From Above 1979 - November 2nd at Stubbs
BRMC - Photo Credit: James Minchin
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Death From Above 1979 are two bands that have a long history of inner turmoil keeping them away from the spotlight and are strangely both the perfect fit for co-headlining a tour together yet the most unlikely at the same time. While DFA1979's members broke up over creative differences in 2006 and have since reunited and toured sporadically over the last few years, BRMC has had to deal with a series of health issues and tragedy that has kept them off the road. In 2010, Michael Been, who was not only father to BRMC bassist Robert Been, but also served as sound man and roadie to the band collapsed from a heart attack after a show and passed away. The passing set the tone for the bands next release, 2013's darker more subdued, Specter At The Feast which the band toured relentlessly in support of. During that tour drummer Leah Shapiro began to suffer with what she has described as a "weird way that her coordination was not working as it normally did" and having sensitivity to lights and sound. She was later diagnosed with Chiari malformations which effects areas of your cerebellum that controls balance and coordination and the only fix would be surgery that would mean opening up her skull. After surgery she then worked with her surgeon on rehabilitating herself and essentially starting at square one with her drumming. Being in a rock band that is known for their loudness meant that some adjusting to both her drumming style and how the band performed overall. Both Shapiro and the band have come back from a very challenging place over the last few years and have begun working on new material that will hopefully get a preview of this Wednesday at Stubbs. The band has also teased that they have recently been rehearsing "U.S Government" and what song would be a better battle cry just days before this years presidential election.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Death From Above 1979
with Deap Valley
Wednesday November 2nd at Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater
Doors at 6:00pm - [TICKETS]
ACL 2016: Band of Horses at Austin City Limits
Photo Credit: Scott Newton
Band of Horses could easily be described as one of Austin's favorite bands. Having played here several times over the course of their career to huge crowds and several appearances at the Austin City Limits Festival over the last few years. The band recently completed their sixth album Why Are You OK and returned to to the ACL Festival stage on Friday night for a triumphant set before settling into their second appearance on the Austin City Limits stage last night. The latest album was written by the bands leader, Ben Bridwell, in what has been described as an "estrogen charged atmosphere" at the home he shares with his wife and four daughters. Bridwell took every free moment he could find between taking care of his daughters in his garage writing material for the new album and it is one of there best releases. Band of Horses were making their second appearance on Austin City Limits last night having played at the the old studios on the campus years before. The band opened strong with "Is There A Ghost" from their second record before showing off new tracks "Solemn Oath" and "Casual Party". They then made a quick set changed for a stripped down acoustic version of "No One's Gonna Love You" that had an audience of over 2,500 completely silent. When they finished they were given a standing ovation and thunderous applause that was refreshingly authentic after a long weekend of short festival sets. The bands energy was contagious and the adoration and respect they have for each other is so apparent. They joked around with each other and commented to the crowd on how much fun they were having before joking that "Now that were all having fun, here's a song about death" and then performing a fan favorite "The Funera