ACL 2018 from the perspective of 26-year old ponchis
(Credit: ACL Festival Flickr)
ACL Band Reviews:
Day 1:
Jungle:
Jungle had so much hype coming into the festival. A large amount of people that I know seemingly fell in love with the band and have been hyping them up on social media and in person for a few months now. These guys were great and it was totally up my alley. Playing some solid dance/disco tracks with a great vibe and had everyone around us dancing. I don’t know any of their songs at all but I was sold on them by the first track I heard. Good stuff.
4/5
Khalid:
I saw Khalid earlier this year at SXSW and actually had a great time! Unfortunately I’m not the biggest Khalid fan so the second time around it actually felt like a huge bummer lmao. I’m not saying he was terrible but he was switching from happy go lucky vibes to sad vibes. Ultimately, its not for me but he’s still a great performer.
3/5
Brockhampton:
They lived up to the hype and commanded a crowd better than most acts the entire weekend. There is a reason why Brockhampton recently hit #1 and it's just through good records. Honestly there is not much else to say, they fucking played SWAMP which is the first Brockhampton track I ever heard and they killed it. They killed the entire set. Basically I felt that TEXAS pride because these dudes are from San Marcos/Austin. Good homecoming
5/5
Paul McCartney:
I mean cmon man, you have to see this dude live if you ever fucked with literally anything Beatles period. Just a fantastic and long show, Paul had a lot of anecdotes and looked/sounded amazing (especially for his age). He’s still got it. Its mad corny but the feelings I got when he played I’ve got a feeling, Something, and Hey Jude were next level. Like I felt some type of way on that hey jude sing-a-long you know what I mean and in a good way. It was just wild and felt like I watched one of the best performers of our time.
5/5
Day 2
Rhye:
Another band I had heard of but never really listened to them at all. It was very chill at times and very vibey. They did have some solid dance tracks too. All in all: Not bad! Will I listen to them or see them again? Probably not! Generally not the type of music I listen to and didn’t grab me as much as it did others. BUT it was still good and I had a great time.
3/5
Blood Orange:
Cmon man, its Dev motherfucking HYNES. This man is a legend. All I’m gonna say is that yes he is god like, he performs at a high level and everything sounded amazing.
5/5 will MOST DEFINITELY see him live again in a smaller venue I hope.
Chvrches:
Second time I see Chvrches and it was great! They have a drummer now which gives some of their older tracks a more tangible feel to them that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I’m not the biggest fan of their latest album at all as they decided to hit a more mainstream produced sound that I’m just not really feeling at all. But everything they played from their first two albums went mad hard and I loved it.
4/5
Sylvan Esso:
Honestly I don’t know these guys and it felt like background music to me while we waited for Justice. It wasn’t bad but I just didn’t really pay attention to it. Sorry.
Review score: N/A
Justice:
Lmao goddammit JUSTICE man. I am on the record as only really loving their first album (its a goddamn masterpiece). Everything else they have done was ok to pretty bad at best (AVD got some killer tracks, but Woman is just in general boring, check my review if you want my thoughts on that album on this blog as I have detailed why I don’t like it and honestly I still stand by what I said when I published that). But goddamn man they know how to do a show. Its crazy how solid they are live. Remixing all of their new material with older material and sprucing it up is the type of energy they needed for their albums but thankfully they still kill it live. There’s nothing like listening to the opening bars of STRESS, or PHANTOM, or D.A.N.C.E, or Genesis, or Waters of Nazareth. The list goes on, CROSS is still perfect 10 years later. They had everyone off their feet and just going off dancing and having a damn blast. I would definitely see them again. Now please make a good album again!!!!
5/5
Metallica (Last 3 songs):
Low key embarrassing to hear and sort of depressing but Enter Sandman at least sounded good. I’m happy I watched Justice instead.
Review Score: Depressing N/A
Day 3
Amber Mark:
Surprise of the festival. She fucking killed it with the first set of the day. Just fantastic dance music and a Sade cover as well. Pretty damn awesome.
4/5
Amen Dunes:
It's hard for chill bands I never heard of to make an impression on me, but Amen Dunes actually made me pay attention. Its wild, but I just felt the vibe and really enjoyed this band, enough to download their album and check them out some more. Pretty good! They would be amazing in a smaller venue for sure.
3.9/5
A R I Z O N A:
Alright another confession. Even though I enjoyed what I saw, the only part that I actually truly enjoyed from this show was when they covered Passionfruit by Drake. Otherwise I don’t really remember much else aside from the Mexican flag on the guitarist’s mic stand and them just sounding good but nothing mind blowing.
2.5/5
Parquet Courts:
Great band and great energy live. I had to leave mid set so I can’t really dive deep into why I liked these guys (definitely have to try to see them again sometime). Their newest album was fantastic though.
3.5/5 (probably 4 if I stayed for the whole thing)
Janelle Monae:
You hear a lot about Janelle Monae over the years, especially with the fantastic albums she drops time and time again proving she’s a forced to be reckoned with. But goddamn, its wild just how good her live show is. Even if you are not a fan, she will win you over. This is the trait of a good performer. She’s got great charisma and just a goddamn fantastic show.
5/5
Tinashe:
Second time I see Tinashe and loved it. Extremely underrated. She’s just a great performer and got some dope songs. Cmon man 2 ON????????? Yes
5/5
Vince Staples:
It has been a long time coming but I finally saw Vince live and it was 100% worth it. Probably one of my favorite musicians in this day and age. Enough for me to own Summertime 06 on vinyl and I still want Big Fish Theory on vinyl as well and I don’t even own a record player. He’s made some of the most impacting music I’ve heard in the last few years and the show lived up to my own hype. Vince Staples keeps it real and even taunts his own audience and honestly, it’s great. I don’t know I was really into it and the mosh started and it was a lot of fun.
5/5
Travis Scott:
This was the tale of two headliners and two different generations and types of people. Arctic Monkeys played on the other side of the park and offered a solid rock show, BUT Travis Scott pulled all of the hardcore ragers in the park to his side. We waited for an hour and 45 minutes+ for Travis to start and missed out on St. Vincent (low key bummed out but whatever) and it was completely worth it. This is what a headliner looks like, he is a certified modern day “Rockstar” and the show proves it. Coming off one of the most fun albums of the year with Astroworld, the live show went off. It just went so fucking hard. This was truly a show where you could feel everyone feed off each other’s energy. Almost like Justice in a sense, but instead of dancing hard and vibing together as one, this was like a warzone in the mud with everyone jumping, moshing and more. In fact this one of the shows (along with Vince Staples as well) where you can make some good friends in the crowd because you’re all on the same page and just want to go crazy. This is the type of energy release I look for in shows and Day 3 provided it in spades and we capped it off with just an amazing show that left me with bruises. Worth it.
5/5
~ Lets get Deep ~
Let's get this out of the way: I love music. I love it so much that I’ve made it a mission from when I was a teenager to seek out and experience as much live music as I can. Growing up in the border you don’t get almost any chances to meet your musical heroes, and when you do many people will not want to travel with you because they are not as passionate as you are. That is the situation I found myself in back then and have struggled to find a way to express my frustration on people who aren’t as passionate as I am. Thankfully over the years I have found a group of people I can rely on to not only go to shows with, but have a ton of fun with it as well. My regular group of friends aren’t as into music as I am or even into the same types of artists I enjoy the most, which can cause friction sometimes. I’ve come to learn to accept that not everyone is like me and that is ok. I’m often asked why I’m so into the music that I’m into or why I care so much and it is because of the power a great album can hold, whether it be a release of anger or in general healing. I don’t have much musical ability to express myself so I find the music that will have elements of what I currently feel at the time.
So when I go into a big festival such as Austin City Limits, I come in with all of these thoughts in mind. Who am I going to see? But most importantly what does my group of friends want to see? There is a conflict there since we are an eclectic group of people with very differing tastes in music. What they might think sucks, could be something I very much enjoy. So there is compromise with that. And as we head more into the future and I grow older, I think about a lot of the newer artists appearing on the big stages of the festival compared to the older acts. What compels young people to go see Metallica for example? I don’t really know. I’m 26 now but in some sense I still feel like I am 22 or 23, just eager to quench my hunger to rage at a concert. Part of me thinks is because I still live in Austin which for all intents and purposes will always feel like a city filled with students. But the more I think about it the more I realize that a sea change has definitely arrived and a new generation is ready for their time.
ACL 2018 is what I would categorize as the generational shift in a microcosm spread across three days. On one stage you have Arctic Monkeys, and on the other side of the park you have Travis Scott — just two incredibly different types of artists with different types of fans. For example, I don’t and probably won’t ever understand why someone would rather see Odesza over Paul McCartney. At the end of the day, its fine, as long as you had your own fun and were able to enjoy yourself. After seeing many live videos of Metallica before the weekend began, I decided I didn’t have to see them because of the quality of their live show. That and I would be surrounded by a lot of people who would place a different kind of energy to that live show. From what I could tell the crowd for Metallica was generally very chill with some light thrashing around, but nothing on the level of what Travis Scott or even Brockhampton brought to the stage. I didn’t go see Shawn Mendes because not only is his music just literally not for me, I have no personal connection to it whatsoever since I don’t listen to him at all. I’m sure he’s a great performer and I’m glad my friends all got to see him. I went to Vince Staples instead and had a blast of my own. I’m going on a rant here about this generational divide because I feel it's happening in real time. After the second day, I played my friends some Sheck Wes and they had not heard of him, but while waiting for Travis Scott everyone around me knew the song. I’m usually trying to find new music and what connects with myself and sometimes its the anthem of a specific culture or age group.
As I read comments on youtube or reddit (always a GREAT thing to do and NEVER a bad idea lmfao) I notice so many people just out of touch with not just the culture but reality. Mosh pits are now cool again, especially at rap and pop shows, and a certain type of person will just never be about it. But you can’t stop the kids from going off, they need to let this energy go. Before I used to hate on ACL in my time, the crowds were just never hyped enough, never had a specific energy I wanted, or gave me the outlet I needed to release my own energy, but this year I felt the shift happen. The line-up this year seemed split in half of what the younger generation wanted to experience and what an older generation wanted to see. You’re not going to find people raging at Paul McCartney but you will find them going hard for Brockhampton or many of the EDM shows at the festival. I’m all for letting people just rock with whatever they want to see, and I was very happy to see some good concert etiquette (picking people up if they fell down, holding up personal items and asking around who’s they are, people saying sorry to each other, just in general people being very nice to each other).
As for the artists I saw, I’m pretty happy with who I got to see with my group. Usually there is a divide between what I want to see and who my friends want to see but thankfully this year was mostly a group effort and we all got to see many things together (except for the last day when I decided I had to see Vince / Travis up close and in the pit).
In conclusion:
This was basically my favorite full 3 day ACL experience thanks to the group of friends I went with. Every other year there were either many regrets or problems rose up as the days went by. The artists we saw were great, the energy we had was amazing and all around it was just an amazing time and it got me sad when it was over. I hadn’t felt that way since Fun Fun Fun Fest (or SOS Fest). Previous years of ACL sometimes would frustrate me because either I was just not feeling the vibe or the people around me just had no energy (and in some cases huge disagreements would be had which would lead to more frustration). This year though, everything fell into a surprising rhythm for me. Just a grand ol TIME. The people around us had a different sort of energy previous years I attended did not have and it was very refreshing.
ADDENDUM:
Quick Bonus Album Reviews:
Sheck Wes - MUDBOY
Top 3 albums of the year. The last time I connected with an album this hard was with Veteran from JPEGMAFIA. Yes, Mo Bamba goes mad hard, but you know what else does? The rest of the album. Its insanely impressive. No features. HARD RECOMMEND.
Blood Orange - Negro Swan
Its beautiful man, I just love this album.
Fromis_9 - To. Day / From.9
The homie @pokecapn, hit me up on twitter to let me know he was going to KCON NY and he was going to take video and told me the groups he was going to see. Fromis_9 was one of the groups he listed, and I had heard of them only because of their name. Look at that name, it has a damn underscore in it, it stands out: “From Idol School” and there are 9 members. This is some grade-A classic Kpop insanity just from the name alone. Then my friend Seungyoun, reminded me that Koreans pronounce the F as a P so the name sounds like “Promise_9” when said out loud which is just hilarious to me on so many levels. But how is the music?
I goddamn can’t stop listening to it. The producers this group scored just go off. I love the percussion on the EP and on the Single. The songs are all fast paced and incredibly addicting. Its just really goddamn good and feels like comfort food to me. Just some really solid and enjoyable KPOP.
Albums I’m still listening to:
Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch
How the fuck does Trent Reznor still sound good and come up with these musical ideas, I’ll never know. He’s so damn good and this album is fucking awesome.
JPEGMAFIA - Veteran
As far as I’m concerned, its the album of the year. I keep finding new reasons why I love this album and I’ve been listening to it since February. DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN PEGYYYYYYY
Lil Peep - Come Over When You’re Sober Pt. 1
This has had a longer lasting power than I first initially thought (even before his death). I just can’t stop listening to it. RIP PEEP
I’ll start this review just by stating that I will review this album in a track by track analysis fashion. These are just my thoughts, we are all different with different tastes. I like to think I have a good ear for quality, but you can come to different conclusions that I came up with after listening to this album. Let’s also try to remember that this is just a review of a music album, and not an attack on anyone’s character. You can like this album or you can hate this album. I write this disclaimer because people treat music as if its a part of their identity. And if you want to call me out please tweet me @ponchis_g. Don’t forget to follow.
REVIEW:
Safe and sound:
Kicking off the album is Safe and Sound, which was also the first single for the album to be released. This song features one of the most funky basslines of the entire album and has shows so much potential for where this song and the rest of the album will go. At the same time, you start to see the weaknesses that will later plague the album such as the vocals and in general just this song not really going anywhere. If anything this feels like it should have been somewhere in the middle of the album but instead we’re kicking it off with this. Justice are trying to give this album a feeling of grandeur and majesty with the vocal choir and the disco strings. Towards the end we have some synths or distorted guitar that sound interesting but in the end the song just kinda feels so samey and uninteresting. The bassline is so killer and there are signs that the Justice of old is still here, but unfortunately (and just like the title of this song) they play it safe and sound instead of going for risks.
Pleasure:
We go from the first track to this and its just so boring. Why is this the following track? This is where the unsettling feeling that Justice has abandoned everything that made Cross so great and doubled down to the prog/disco aesthetics of Audio, Video, Disco. Pleasure is so forgettable because it just tries to sound very pleasing to the ear. Its clear that Justice is attempting to go for an anthem, especially with the vocals, the same choir (?) from “Safe and Sound.” This song goes nowhere, the keys are boring, the vocals are boring, and the structure of the song is just boring.
Alakazam !
From the get go, Justice finally sound like they have some drive kicking into this album. Its a bit more fast paced than the last two songs and the build up begins to feel satisfying. Once the buildup leads into the bassline (again, another great bassline!!!) you start to think: Hell yes, finally. And the “chorus” of the song with the warbled synths feel good albeit a bit empty. The production is so crisp and clean here, that you begin to wonder why are Justice holding back? When we get into the bridge/breakdown around the 3 minute mark, you hear some familiar Justice sounds and I’m not gonna lie, the drums finally start to sound interesting and you just want Justice to rip it open, but they just never really do. We go back into the chorus and back to where we began.
Fire
For some reason Justice really like the dude from AVD so they just bring him back here in full force. This and Pleasure began to give so many AVD vibes, but with a bit of a faster pace. Whereas AVD was a prog rock inspired album, this is much more disco inspired. But Justice doesn’t seem to learn the lessons of the disco era and the improvements nu-disco and blog disco had brought with them. There is just no edge at all, and with a title like Fire you are wondering “Do Justice have any fire left in them at all?” Its still all too clean and crisp, the raw energy is gone. There is no drive here and ultimately feels uninspired. We are a far cry from Cross (07) and its obvious that Justice has no intentions of going back to that era of their music or even revisiting ideas from there. The vocals are still just there, nothing too exciting. Despite Justice wanting to go into this more disco direction, it doesn’t even match their best disco song homage: D.A.N.C.E., because at least with that track, they weren’t just mining old sounds, they were creating a fun new dance track. Nothing here even inspires me to dance.
Stop
Another rock song from Justice. I’m bored. I feel like the title right now. Sure it sounds a bit groovy once you get to the chorus, but this track as a whole is a chore to listen to. We are now halfway into the album and there has been no “Genesis,” there is no “D.A.N.C.E.” fun single, there is no energy. Justice seem obsessed with the 70s and I guess 80s era of rock arena music. Cross felt like they didn’t give a fuck, they were loud, brash, full of energy. Here they feel like out of touch dad rockers. I sound like I’m being increasingly negative with each track, but its hard not to. A lot of this does sound pleasant, sure I’ll give you that, but where that hardcore raw energy? Definitely not here.
Chorus
Some curious elements in this song and there is a build up. It demands your attention and then the drums come in and yes, finally, here we go into a heavenly chorus? This is the longest track on the album coming in at seven minutes and nine seconds and after a promising start to the song it just sort of winds down and meanders in this rock realm I guess. No one is going to be dancing to this. Where did Justice go wrong? It feels like at first they wanted to make a Daft Punk-ish Human After All track, but it doesn’t really commit to that and instead we have this AVD sequel, rock anthem with no vocals outside of this choir. The guitar here is used as an epic solo device, remember rock guys? Remember solos? It ends up being another disappointment.
Randy
The best song on the album. Its probably the only track on here with any sort of energy and drive. The music here is all on point, the guitar, the drums, the bassline and the keys. The vocals are the only low point here, but to be fair its the best vocal performance on the whole album. The guitar as well is the best its been on the entire album as well. If only the other rock songs on this thing where as fun as Randy then I wouldn’t be so down on this whole thing. I love the drum fills on this thing as well as the guitar. When this was released as a single I was tentative. Yes this song sounds cool and fun, like a better AVD song, but I was afraid the rest of the album would be worse. I mean why put this out as a single if you have better material right? But its clear this is the single because its just the best and most “pop” friendly track on the entire album. Its not a complete downer, there is a lot of Justice elements at play here, especially towards the middle of the track as it explodes into this disco crescendo that is actually very awesome. Why couldn’t the rest of the album have this energy? I wouldn’t have minded, but instead we just had Justice asleep on the wheel. Justice described this album as “If every song could sound like the opening of boxing championship when the guy enters the stadium…..well it would be great.” Sure if the year was 1970-1980 something that could be true, I guess?, but its the year 2016 and that just seems like they’re holding on way too tightly to a bygone era, hoping to uncover more interest here. This is their second shot at this style and its just not working. Diamonds in the rough at best, and its very rough.
Heavy Metal:
We go from the best song on the album to one of the worst. I legit laughed when the song began and I heard it for the first time. It is beyond corny at this point. Justice has always been corny and cheesy but by this point on track 8/10, its just a little too much. Not all is lost, sometimes the track is fun in that corny type of way, especially during the build up, but it builds up to nothing really. Is this supposed to be the “Waters of Nazareth” of this album? I have no idea, but it never reaches those levels. By this point in the album, if you make it this far without turning it off to listen to something better (Cross) you might as well just hear the whole thing to see how it plays out. I don’t really know what else to say about this track, nothing really happens. I’m for sure not playing this song at parties whereas I would blast the living hell out of Waters of Nazareth.
Love S.O.S
The siren song. As well as another anthem. Is it a dance club anthem? No. Nothing much really to say here, but it certainly feels as though the album, and Justice for that matter, are winding down. This and Pleasure are the most forgettable tracks on the album for me.
Close Call
We finally made it to the end of this disco, prog, inspired journey and what better way to end things with an ABBA esque throwback. I would like to listen to ABBA instead actually, but I digress. This feels like a cooling down ballad to finish things off. Its ok I guess, I wish there was a funky bassline to just soothe me, but instead we have this harpsichord keys. It is what it is. The leather jackets are gone, the IDGAF attitude is gone, the raw energy is gone and this is what Justice is now.
When Audio, Video, Disco came out, it was a huge shock because of the complete change in sound Justice had undergone. They had described Cross as a night album and AVD as a light album, full of progressive rock influence. It still had some amazing songs though (On n On, new lands, Helix, and the title track weren’t too bad). I was extremely let down. Cross is always a good time from start to finish, but AVD had so many forgettable and skippable tracks. For Woman, instead of going into yet another different direction, I feel as though Justice decided to just make AVD part 2 while addressing criticism, such as the slower more deliberate pace that AVD had. In general sure, the pace of the album of Woman does feel a bit more fast, but by this point it feels as though they just lost their edge. This is the first Justice album in 5 years and this is what we got, a lot of uninspired, disco and rock songs.
Cross came out in 07 in this huge internet dance music boom. It felt like they were taking the torch from Daft Punk with that album with a fierce energy and they just sort of squandered on their potential. Their influence is everywhere, from the huge EDM bangers of 2016, your Skrillex’s of the world, to the New Retro Wave/Synth Electro, whatever you want to call it. But Justice decided to remove themselves from that, which I admired for AVD, but not so much on Woman. They don’t go in any new direction and instead make a very bland and forgettable album.
If I had to give this album a score, it would be a solid 2/5 stars considering that I didn’t outright super hate it and enjoyed parts, but for the most part was very let down, disappointed, and bored for the most part.
Listen to Pertubator, M.O.O.N., and other synthwave artists if you miss that raw energy from Cross, as they seem to be the more interesting as well as being pioneering dance musicians.
This girl is fucking incredible. I learned about her from a Japanese friend a week ago and I just went on a deep dive with all of her music. Two other guys handle the production/songwriting and the directing the music videos but KOM_I the singer is on a whole other level. Great voice, she has a great flow as well while rapping in Japanese too. The music ranges from EDM to drum n bass to other crazier genres in the pop spectrum. I’m obsessed and I recommend this to everyone honestly. Get over the language barrier, who cares. This is dope as hell.
gesu no kiwami otome:
Same Japanese friend showed me this band as well and I thought it was so awesome. Its very hit or miss and it is very much pop but there is something about the musicianship and instrument skill each band member has that pulls me in each time. The main singer’s voice is a little soft but everything from the solid funky basslines, incredible piano lines and the fucking kick ass girl drummer makes for some top tier music. Its hard to find here in the states, but I was able to find a youtube link to some of their albums. Definitely take the time to listen to these guys!
Rae sremmurd
SremmLife 2 is fucking awesome. When they first kicked into the scene I was very skeptical about them and thought they would just be one-hit wonders, but that was before their first album dropped. It was also before I got to see them live last year. Since then I’ve seen Rae Sremmurd live three times and it is probably one of the most fun live shows you can ever go to. The crowd is intense and feeds off the limitless energy that they produce on stage. Their second album is a great follow up to their debut, containing amazing tracks like Black Beatles, Look Alive, Shake it fast and more.
Gucci mane
I missed guwop. Gucci basically came back and destroyed the entire game again from the moment he came back home. Everybody looking is fucking awesome and the countless features have been amazing. Honestly nothing else to be said, go listen to some gucci mane.
21 savage
It took me 3 full listens of Savage Mode to “get” 21 savage, but I finally did and goddammit its fucking awesome. I love his ad-libs and after getting used to his flow the whole tape goes off. Its honestly just good turn up music. X and Mad high are my stand outs from Savage Mode and he was great on Travis Scott’s “Outside” as well. 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21
Lil Uzi Vert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eoSanFCU-M
This dude is so good. His voice and flow are sick as hell and his music goes hard. Both of his tapes this year have been amazing. “Do what I want” is basically the theme of this year for me.
Travis scott
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDinQ92OZQ
Always kinda liked Travis but all of his solo stuff always left something more to be desired. Many great ideas but just not the best execution. With his newest album I feel like he’s finally come into his own. Packing so many features into the album with some great production and music, I feel as though this is his strongest project to date and its going to make me pay attention to whatever he does next. It is p fun.
Mitski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ0O2vDT0VE
I heard about Mitski from a couple of friends, then kept seeing her album cover at record stores and websites like pitchfork constantly. I finally gave it a try and she is actually so fucking awesome. Puberty 2 is a great indie-alt-whatever rock album and it fucking goes. She’s great
Young Thug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjN5-f2MNWM
Slime Season 3 was fucking crazy.
JEFFERY took it to the next level.
Can’t stop thugger
Frank Ocean
The wait was worth it. Two full length albums with production that is pretty fucking insane I think. Endless is a little more low key but goddamn Blond is a fucking must listen. It is probably in my top 3 albums of the year. Nights is the song of the year for sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od-lYhRcZ-k
Vince Staples
Summertime 06 is a modern a classic. Its probably one of my favorite albums ever. The variety in it is insane and the production just goes fucking off. People always tell me they never have time to sit down and listen to a full body of work and I think that’s bullshit. We all have time, either in our commute, at work or even at home. Prima Donna is also excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkxEKumTj08
DVSN
This dude came out of nowhere with one of the best albums of the year. He has an incredible voice and the album is haunting and just so fucking good. I love this album so much honestly and it was a real treat being able to see him open up for Drake. He kills it live too. So good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7LBse25QP8
Radiohead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWSb0cDZUxE
A Moon Shaped Pool is still in my regular rotation for how relaxing it is. Honestly they’re just one of the best bands ever and their latest album is so much better than The King of Limbs its not even funny. FUL STOP FOREVER
Mac miller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR3GQfryp9M
I can’t fucking believe that I’m listening to Mac Miller in the year of our lord 2016 but here we are. I still remember when he first debuted and it was just the lamest/corniest shit you could ever listen to. Thankfully he turned his entire music career around and actually became good which is very remarkable. The Divine Feminine is a fantastic album that will be on rotation for quite some time for sure. “Dang!” is one of the biggest jams this summer.
KPOP Garbage
I still listen to a lot of kpop for some reason so let's go into at least a few tracks I’ve been down with:
Blackpink - Whistle
New group alert. This song is dope as fuck. This beat goes so fucking hard its actually insane. They put out another song that's more up beat but honestly who cares, this is where its AT yo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dISNgvVpWlo
Gfriend - navillera
This shit sounds like the opening to Sakura Card Captors straight up, mixed with the theme of Digimon lmao. Its good shit, the guitar goes off in this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se8bbsUFjC8
Red Velvet - Russian Roulette
The last thing I was expecting I think from Red Velvet. This song gives me so much nostalgia for the 05-09 french house/blog house scene. Never forget. Its so fucking awesome man I love this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslJYDX3o8s
That’s it. I probably forgot some stuff but whatever. This is in general what I’ve been listening to recently. If you want to call me out for having a shit taste in music, please don’t hesitate to follow and message me about it on Twitter (@ponchis_g) as well my facebook and instagram and snapchat. Alright bye
Fader Fort: I was finally able to hit up the Fader Fort on Thursday after working all week. Once we arrived we were able to get in quickly. This year’s Fader Fort setup is a little different from years past. No free shirts this time it seems, but Converse and Toyota were both there to promote their new products. You could even purchase the new Converse Chuck IIs which was pretty neat. There was a room where you could also put on some headphones and dance in the silent disco area, but the room was just way too hot and didn’t seem to have any A/C at all so we didn’t stay there for too long. There was also a barbershop! This time I do not believe Birds provided the cuts, but I always thought that was a fun thing to do (I’ve gotten a haircut at the fort a few years ago). They had also given us two drink tokens, and by the time I was going to use my second one, the bartenders told me we didn’t need them anymore since it was now open bar. Weird! Anyway on to the bands and rappers I was able to see.
Flatbush Zombies: I love these guys. I’ve been listening to them since their 2013 mixtape “BetterOFFDead” and now recently they finally put out their debut album “3001 A Laced Odyssey” which continues the same hardcore/drug infused rap they’ve been doing for a couple of years now. Although they had fallen off the public radar for a bit there, their live energy has not changed. A Flatbush Zombie show typically revolves around crazy in your face performances from the rap group as well as mosh pits from the fans. At one point Flatbush deliberately asked for a mosh pit from the crowd, because that is how their shows usually go. This usually happens at the Fader Fort. The crowds, especially in the early hours typically are very chill and don’t turn up that hard. The type of people coming to the Fader Fort are also sometimes very laid back and just want to watch the show over dancing, moshing or turning up. This is not a jab at those who don’t participate in the crazier types of concerts, just an observation. But once the call was made for a mosh pit, the floor cleared as people were probably a little scared and only a few people began the mosh pit. I jumped in and was just having a lot of fun with a few people in this large pit. Soon the Flatbush Zombies joined in and it became a real crazy mosh pit. They ended their set with Palm Trees and killed their set. Excellent show and I’m pretty sure they won some new fans thanks to their energy and stage presence.
Dua Lipa: This was the biggest surprise of the day for me. Dua Lipa is a pop singer-songwriter, self-described as Dark Pop, which only appears to have 3 songs released so far. With her debut coming in 2016, she is relatively unknown but she had one of the best sets of the day. She was backed by a good backing band as they played the 3 released songs, a cover (Jamie XX cover!) and some other tracks. It was awesome. I told my friends that this girl is definitely going to blow up this year just based on the music alone, but her performance was even better and left my friends and I very impressed. Once I got back home from, I immediately started to listen to her. If that’s not a strong recommendation then I don’t know what is. Definitely keep a look out for her this year.
Neon Indian: These guys are great. Neon Indian took a while to hit the the stage, but once they did, they it off. Playing only music from their latest album “Vega Intl. Night School” that released last year is definitely a bold move and it left some fans in the audience disappointed that hit singles from the first albums were not played. Despite that, the set went off without a hitch and front man Alan Palomo seems to have infinite stage presence and energy. He was dancing the entire time, it helps that the new album is so infectiously dance-able. The crowd wasn’t as into it as I was, but they were waiting for good spots to watch Rae Sremmurd, which is a very different audience so that makes sense. Either way they put on a great show and if you have a chance to see them definitely go!
Rae Sremmurd: The highlight of the day for sure. No question. Rae Sremmurd brought out their SremmLife Crew and shut down the Fader Fort. I was in the thick of the crowd as we began to mosh and jump around. They debuted a new single “By Chance” from their latest mixtape which the crowd loved. These guys just have so much energy that they inspire the crowd to just let loose. There was no room for breaks until the end since they played all of their hits, No Flex Zone, Up like trump, Come get her, No Type, Throw Sum Mo and more. I left the show sore since I was just enjoying myself way too much. If you like to turn up at shows, then you owe it to yourself to go see Rae Sremmurd perform live.
N.A.A.F.I.: From 5-8pm NAAFI played DJ sets in between the bands on the main stage and they killed it. I’ve never seen a crowd form for a DJ set at the Fader Fort in the last 5 years I’ve gone and these guys provided many Latino remixes that got the crowd moving. Then there was a few interpretive dancers that I’m not sure if they were with them (probably not) but also brought a crowd to watch. Once Rae Sremmurd was over we got to chill and dance a bit at the DJ booth and just had a bunch of fun. These guys were good DJs for sure, check them out.
We were exhausted after that and weren’t able to stay for rising country star Kacey Musgraves, which is kinda crazy booking but great exposure for her. She is also the first and only Country artist so far to have ever graced the cover of Fader as well.
Cucumber Quest launched on April 3rd, 2011. Thank you so much for your support over these past 3 years! I’m so happy that my silly bunny comic makes other people happy.
Here are the folks announced for the new Smash Bros. so far ⊟
The top image contains the new Smash Bros. game’s Assist Trophies (here’s a version with the Metroid shown this morning), while the other pic shows the playable characters with their ancillary buddies, like Olimar with his Pikmin. Both are from Neorice, who is on Tumblr so you should follow him.
Don’t forget that there will be a Nintendo Direct dedicated to the 3DS/Wii U game tomorrow, streaming at 6PM ET (12AM EU time) — we’ll probably see one or two new faces to add to the roster!
PREORDER Super Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS, upcoming releases
And I am tired! What a fun week yet it was filled with insanity.
I do want to take some time to remember those who died outside the Mohawk thank to a senseless drunk driver. Never drink and drive, it saddens me that this even happened at all especially at one of my favorite bars/music venues in Austin.
Go to http://www.sxswcares.com to give whatever you can to the victims of this tragedy and show the world that Austin truly does care for its people.
HIGHLIGHTS!~
Kpop Night Out
Fader Fort
BitTorrent Sync Party
Rainey Street in general
Worst parts of SXSW:
Julian Casablancas
WELP! Julian came back with his solo outfit and boy it was just AWFUL. Julian sounded horrible, and was obviously on SOMETHING. He didn't talk to the crowd much other than to give a shoutout to Travi$ Scott which I mean I guess. The band he played with "The Void" was also pretty terrible. I don't know but honestly this is probably it for Julian Casablancas. The Strokes new material just isn't really panning out and now this happens. Hopefully he gets an intervention soon and can begin to start doing good music again but alas.
Corporate SXSW and Selling out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi50MF7Hdhg
Can you say: Sell Out? I can. Honestly I have no words for it but I guess fuck the integrity of your art right.
I did actually manage to see Lady Gaga and honestly really she shouldn't have come to Austin, along with all the other big sponsored acts like Coldplay, Pitbull, and more. SXSW is more about the up and coming artists or people who want to be humble and play in smaller intimate venues. But nope Lady Gaga says eff that and plays at the big doritos stage thats built to look like a vending machine.
titsay
stormborns
janainaart
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
ellievsbear
theartofmadeline
jacobvanloon
