This is fine.
Yesterday, you got to hear RayRay’s thoughts on the festival, with his Friday highlights. Today, you’ll get me talking about my Saturday highlights, along with a few thoughts on the festival as a whole. It’s interesting to look back on it with the perspective of the last few days occurrences, so if it seems a touch idealistic…so be it.
Joe Jack Talcum is probably better known for his comical word play in songs like “Big Lizzard,” but it seems that the Dead Milkmen songwriter has long had a soft side that I wasn’t even aware of, despite calling myself a fan. HHBTM is releasing the second collection of Talcum’s home recordings, illustrating a more down-trodden songwriter; this song has a heavy buzz on the guitar in the recording, showing us all what lo-fi really is meant to sound like. So if you’re wondering what one of your favorite writers does in the confines of his home, give a listen to Home Recordings Vol. 2 1993-1999; it’s available right now.
With so many acts in town this weekend, it’s not easy picking out the best, but for Saturday night, I had it easy, as The Beets are going to be here, playing over at Beerland. If you haven’t heard of the band, you’ll probably find that their recent album, Stay Home, off of Captured Tracks is as good a place to start as any. If you’re looking for that lo-fi spirit with a bit of humor, then you’re going to have to be out there having fun with these guys. In my mind, it has a softer spin on what the Dead Milkmen seem to have perfected during their hey-day. There’s twanging guitars, simple hooks, and the band always poke fun at themselves. It’s definitely something that can win people over, and careful listening will probably leave you and your friends to each have your own favorite song, arguing through the night about which was best. It’s simple, they all are, so we’ll see you at Beerland Saturday.
Download: The Beets – Dead [MP3]
We here at ATH are getting really pumped about this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Festival. But, as we all know, it’s difficult to figure out who to see when there are so many bands playing. You have time conflicts, you don’t know who some of the bands are and you wonder who will put on the best show? Well, our Friday Top 5 is a compilation of bands that ATH is excited to see. Hopefully this helps you make some decisions before you head out to the festival. We’ve also got some MP3s you can stream for each band in the list, so fire up the ATH Radio and enjoy.
Through that friendly Internet, we have learned that the dates have been set for Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008. This year the festival will fall on the weekend of November 8 & 9. So far, the only names that have been left out are those beginning with the letter D: Deerhoof, Dan Deacon and Dead Milkmen. I don’t know about you, but a re-united Dead Milkmen sounds pretty good to me. For those of you that missed out last year, be sure to make it out to this festival, for its probably the best one in town–just one man’s opinion.
You can check out news and updates on the fun fun fun fest here, or you can just keep coming back to us; we’ll keep you up to date.
