This is fine.
We have been setting you up with interviews, and a few news posts and some fun previews. Let’s get down to business. These are the things that will help you survive ACL. After the break you will get information that will make you feel like a seasoned pro at festing, updates on food and vendors around the grounds and plenty more.
Team ATH has a combined thirty eight years of ACL experience. You can trust us…
Have a schedule conflict? Love Love Love one artist too much? Want to see someone on a big stage and then a small stage? Didn’t bother getting a wristband, but still want to see some of the bands in town for ACL? Done.
Most of the ACL Late Night shows will go on sale this week on Thursday to E-List members confirmed by today at noon and Friday to the public. Highlights you should consider are Leon Bridges at The Parish, TV on the Radio at Emo’s, Danzig (really?) at Stubb’s, The Decemberists at ACL Live and Alt-J w/San Fermin at Austin Music Hall. Full list after the jump, y’all.
Not to be out done by FFFX, ACL Fest has released the daily lineups and opened the store for single day tix. With all three day passes sold out, this is your only access to the fest barring you get brave and start jumping fences (i.e. get slapped around by security).
As for the daily lineups, Friday is pretty stacked with several of the festival band faves for Team ATH with Foo Fighters, Tame Impala, Gary Clark Jr., Albert Hammond Jr. and Mr. Billy Idol. The Strokes will finish out the fest on Sunday and Saturday seems a good night to get aftershow tickets and bail out early.
Buy your single day tickets here. Check the daily lists, Weekend One and Weekend Two.
Well here it is folks, ACL Festival starts tomorrow and ATH will be signing off about this time tomorrow. Before you head out the door, check out another interview from festival act Empires. We’ll of course have a few more interviews coming your way after the weekend with full recap of the events. Follow the jump for interview.
When taking the first look at the ACL Schedule for each weekend, I tend to first see the conflicts in headliners. Luckily, we are fairly conflict free this year, we’ll get into that more soon enough. How about we take a look at a few of the artists put in the early spots? The cool morning grass, the wide expanses to roam and the vendors still relaxed before the dude-bro crush all add up to a child-like wonderment with the scale of the empty festival giving you the this all-for-me feeling. This year’s ATH Approved Early Bird Artists will create the soundtrack for your barefoot dance party.
Let the wrangling begin…
The schedules for both weekends of ACL 2013 are out and you can start the process of arguing with your friends over what hillside or stage rail you will be on at 7pm everyday. Not too many either or dilemmas for me on first perusal, but there are plenty of half-set conflict. Pheonix to Atoms For Peace to Lionel Richie? Probably going to happen. So sad I’ll miss Kings of Leon to see The Cure.
But why the hell is Wild Nothing playing at 11:15?
It’s that time of year again, with the Austin City Limits Festival just around the corner. As one of our favorite festivals, and one of the many musical outlets in the city, we thought it was our job to keep you updated on the acts that are vital to a successful weekend out at Zilker Park. Our first act to take a look at is Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs. Read more
The lineup has been announced and tix will be up for sale soon. After many months of speculation and the build-up via the scratch offs, the management has let loose the list of bands that we will argue about for the next five months.
Obviously, the headliners aren’t for us. I mean, I will hang out for a little Red Hot Chili Peppers and maybe even Neil Young for a moment, but The Black Keys have jumped the shark. I am down with seeing Iggy. Other notables for me include The Afghan Whigs, Crystal Castles, Die Antwoord, The War on Drugs, Bombay Bicycle Club, Oberhofer, Polica, Stars, Black Lips, Caveman and Nikki Lane. I am sure I forgot some stuff in the list I like, but as with every festival lineup from the music obsessed point of view, we can react with meh. We’ll all still go and have fun, so start shopping for your cooler-umbrella-chair combo device. Leave a comment with your reaction and see you on the lawn.
Update: Three day passes are gone. Single Day tix will go up once the daily schedules are announced tomorrow.
It’s that time of year folks! Hopefully the heat will subside, even if for a few days, and we can get full-on into our celebration of Austin City Limits, free of heat stroke. We’ll be bringing you interviews and more over the next couple of weeks, highlighting bands we think you should check out over the festival, so read on for info on our first spotlight, Death From Above 1979. Read more
Rating: 
The question with the latest Jenny Lewis album, Acid Tongue, really lies in the listener. Are you, as a listener and fan, willing to forgive some of the lackluster perfomances on this album in order to enjoy some of its finest pieces?
Opener “Black Sand” is the perfect song for Jenny. It’s gentle soundscape relies entirely upon her vocals, which is precisely where she excels. When she pushes her voice during the chorus, you know exactly why you love Jenny Lewis. There is something to her strength as an artist and a fox that both male and female are drawn towards.
Then we Jenny go further in the direction of country/folk, which most of us will say is where we think she belongs, or where she has been all along, but this is untrue. Sure, Rilo Kiley has gravitated towards that, and away from that; yes, her debut solo album bore that influence, but the greatest Rilo album’s were the early ones where she maintained her pop sensibility. The backing of acoustic guitars did nothing other than provide a stage for her voice.
You see, that is where the problem lies in this album. Jenny waivers back and forth between folk and classic R&B girl groups, but she never lands on that precisely pop moment where she truly shines. The title track, “Acid Tongue” does head back into the past, and even with its country undertones, you can still hear the pop star in Jenny Lewis ready to crawl out of her shell. This is the one song where it’s hard to differentiate between the Jenny we love, and the Jenny we are now witnessing. She stands firmly between both worlds.
“Fernando” is full of sexual appeal, which is where I place the blame for the faults of new era Jenny. She’s lost the innocence that made her so spectacular, instead forging ahead into sexual innuendo, associated with a bravado that is very unbecoming. But then, she jumps in with a song like “Godspeed” that makes you fall in love with her all over again. If only she could carry the power of this song throughout an entire album.
Therein lies the final conclusion. Jenny Lewis has a phenomenal voice, unlike most other female musicians these days. Her range is ridiculous, but in an effort to fully explore the vast expanse of her vocal landscape, she leaves herself stretched too thin, leaving faults in songs that could have been perfected. I’m still holding onto hope that one day she finishes it off right, either solo or with Rilo Kiley.
And don’t forget to check her out at ACL this weekend because if there is one woman that commands a stage, it’s this one.
