EDIT:
They have officially taken The White Stripes off Saturday’s schedule (although they’re still on the front home page) and they moved Muse to the Stripes slot. Dr. Dog has been added but they’re up against “Sound Team”. Damien Rice is now up against Arctic Monkeys, which makes much more sense. St. Vincent has been put in Jon Dee’s open slot.

Since it was announced I haven’t been that crazy about the line-up which is headed by Bob Dylan, Björk, The White Stripes, The Killers, Wilco & Arcade Fire. On paper it doesn’t look like it has the diversity that other years have had. I went in 2003, 04 and 05, missed last year and the first one. This year it seems like there are lot of young indie- type bands without the experience. For instance Rodrigo y Gabriela (who I first discovered through NPR) have canceled due to to exhaustion. They are being replaced by Common, which I don’t know his music but I am glad cause it does diversify the festival a bit by adding some hip-hop, but by accident. Of course it’s widely known that although she sang that she didn’t want to go-go-go Amy Winehouse has finally gone into Rehab so she will n longer be a part of the bill. Also another example of lack of lengthy experience of the performers, the band Sound Team a relatively young band are breaking up after this show.

There are only a few artists on the bill with longevity to their careers, such as Lucinda Wiliams, Steve Earle and of course Dylan are among the few big name acts that fit in this category. I shouldn’t really complain I get to see my favorite band Yo La Tengo (who I would say fit in the long career group) within the same day as my favorite solo artist Bob Dylan. So, yes I am changing my tone and getting psyched since it is just a few days away and I have some great after-shows lined up as well. We’re seeing Stephen Marley and Zap Mama on Friday night at Emo’s. My buddy Joe who is a die-hard Drive-By Truckers fan wants to stop in at Club 155 and see Patterson Hood before we head over. We were keeping Saturday night open, as nothing was screaming out to us until it was announced last Friday that Dylan would be playing Stubb’s BBQ. A spot that people speculated would be Wilco or My Mornign Jacket. We were so excited that all of us bought tickets without consulting each other first so we have a couple extra. I am suprised it took an afternoon for Bob to sell a 1000 tickets in a pre-sale, if it were the east coast it would have been less than 10 minutes to sell out 2,100 capacity venue. Now we don’t have to decide between Arcade Fire & White Stripes, makes that choice helluva lot easier. On Sunday after we see Dylan for a second time (as the headliner) we’ll head back into town to The Parish and check out Porter Batiste Stoltz of the Meters to end our weekend bash.

If you’re a newbie and looking for some tips here’s my lowdown on some basic stuff you should know. Once you get your wrist-band resist the urge to take it off after you leave the first night, you will need to wear it for the 3-days. So if you have an OCD issue, this will be the place to get over it or you’ll be buying another ticket. A trip mid day to the Barton Springs pool is key to keeping yourself cool. Food at the festival is a little pricey but not as high as other festivals. There is a pretty good variety if your not a vegetarian. We stopped at a good Mexican restaurant downtown for lunch the first year we went. We rent bicylces while in Austin as the trek from the festival grounds to town is a couple miles.

Things you should have: Sun block & sunglasses as the sun is brutal in Austin. A cell-phone to get in contact with your friends. Your ACL Pass/Cash/CCs: If you purchased tickets to events don’t forget to bring that credit card. Something to sit on, the grounds are huge so there is a lot of walking involved. I bring a Neat Sheet, it’s like a beach blanket, which you can buy at a drug store. You can bring a chair, but you can’t, or I should say your not supposed to, bring it up close to the two main stages.

Shorts and T-Shirts for the day! I bring at least 1 extra shirt with me a day because the ride over can get sweaty. You can buy shirts there too if you run out. I highly recommend bringing a bathing suit, to go swimming at the hotel or at Barton Springs pool. A ziplock bag to keep your damp bathing suit in. Depending upon the weather you might need another pair of shoes, or not. Last time I was there they were a dusty a mess at the end but I only brought one pair. In 2003 they got pretty muddy from the scattered T-storms all weekend. If your balding (or bald like me) you may need a hat or you can purchase one from a large variety of vendors at the festival. One thing I have to remind myself is to not to jump up and down at shows anymore. I’ll be back next week with a full report, no pun intended.

Ryan Lewis, who co-founded Kindercore with Dan Gellar, says in that release, “Our priority is to help progressive artists – be they musicians, illustrators, animators, film makers, fashion designers or writers – to create and deliver their inventions directly to the people, providing a place for people to come together and dig on art, music, science, fashion, politics and life in general.” Apparently they are branching out a bit.

I’m of course in it for the tunes and their first original release of that nature will be by King of Prussia, whose song “Campaign Kids” on their MySpace page is pretty cool. They will also put out an EP by Ruby Isles, featuring Gellar and Mark Mallman. David wrote about Mallman’s Between the Devil and Middle C here last year.

I see iTunes icons on the bands’ profile pages at the Kindercore site, but no mention of eMusic. As of this moment the old releases are still available. Let’s hope the new stuff makes its way to our favorite download service too.

I also noticed something called A Minus Story Compendium with the triple listing of “new,” “eMusic Only,” and “Free Track.” Turns out it’s a nine track free sampler taken from the other available albums and EP. How cool! I already had all the songs after grabbing the new one but I think it’s a great idea as far as giving others a free introduction to the band is concerned. It’s a great little compilation too. I haven’t listened to My Ion Truss yet, but the other songs selected are the same ones I would have chosen using my new myopic selection standards. Included are my two favorite songs by them, “Little Wet Head” and “You Were On My Side.”

I’m not sure how to describe the band’s music. I see Flaming Lips mentioned a lot but I don’t think they sound like them at all. Still, their brand of mellow neo-psychedelic-indie-folk-pop-rock is in the same ballpark. If you’re intrigued but not an eMusic subscriber, there are a bunch of freebies available at both the Minus Story and Jagjaguwar sites.

Seriously, I had had hardly any exposure to their work although I was aware of their reputation. I know David is a fan and wrote about a string of their shows last fall. They’re one in a long list of bands I’ve been meaning to check out but never have. So I wasn’t going in completely cold, I solicited some friends to put together a DBT crash course for me and listened to it the way to the show.

There apparently have been several personnel changes in the DBT lineup over the years. A major one occurred recently when Jason Isbell left the band. So last night John Neff and legendary Muscle Shoals organist Spooner Oldham joined core members Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Brad Morgan, and Shonna Tucker. Oldham was in town to record with the band in the studio this week. Neff is now an official member, although he has recorded and played with them extending back as far as their first album. I think he may have some of those Elephant Sixers beat as far as being associated with multiple bands is concerned- Star Room Boys, Japancakes, and Jack Logan to name a few.

At first Oldham’s keyboards didn’t quite mesh with the rest of the band. They were too loud in the mix and kind of distracting. They eventually worked things out on the board though and everything sounded great after that. I was of course drawn most to the rockers but they played a nice variety of material.

Patterson Hood is an engaging, charismatic performer. He told several stories to introduce songs and I was fascinated by what he had to say. Funny too. He listed a long string of bands he saw play with Kansas over the years before they launched into “Let There Be Rock” and ended by saying he hated that band. It was a you-had-to-be-there kind of moment but the point is he’s a personable storyteller with great timing, no less effective than a comedian leading up to and delivering a punchline. I found it curious that none of the band members said anything, especially since Mike Cooley sang every other song.

The highlights for me were “Women Without Whiskey,” which I had heard driving to the show (thanks Christian!), and “The Living Bubba.” Hood gave a very touching introduction to one, telling how it was inspired by a songwriter named Gregory Dean Smalley who continued to perform to the end of his days even though he was slowly dying from AIDS. The real showstopper though was “Let There Be Rock.” They were absolutely locked in and scorching. The band took a short break after that and came back for a couple of more songs, but neither of them matched the power and energy of “Rock.” That’s not a complaint. I developed an instant appreciation for Drive-By Truckers based on this strong performance and realize what I suspected was true- I’ve been missing out.

Contrary to popular myth I’m not as worldly some might lead you to believe and am no way a polyglot as I have enough difficulty being understood in my native tongue. That said, Pirats Sound Sistema is, to my best guess, from Spain judging by the Spanish imprint and the vocals. Let it be said I am also a lazy detective. Anyway, Pirat’s Sound System Vol. II is a fantastic summer album that slams together the best of Reggae, Hip Hop, Dub, and Dance Hall with the occasional smattering of Ska like the sublime “Lletres de colors”. The album is fresh and fun especially when they mash disparate elements like they do with “Pel teu bé” which opens with a smokey Middle Eastern feel only to quickly be swept up into a backwards leaning Electro/Dance Hall piece that begs you to shake the change loose from your pockets.

Here’s a video to give you a good feel for their sound…

You can also grab a sample of “Tancs” on their label’s website or just grab the album from eMusic. Highly recommended.

One not so little project I’ve been working on lately is selecting choice tracks from the albums on my mp3 player and jettisoning the rest. That probably sounds like the obvious thing to do but for me it’s been a radical shift in thinking. I’ve been in full album listening mode for so long it took a conscious effort to break from that self-imposed constraint. I only recently came to the realization that, duh, there’s simply never going to be enough time to relisten to most of the thousands of albums I have. Might as well pick out the highlights.

I just finished whittling 3,900 tracks to about 800 and have moved on to the albums stored on my computer. From there I’ll comb through the couple of hundred backup mp3 discs I have plus my cd collection. It almost sounds like work but it’s been a lot of fun. The coolest part is hitting random and rocking out. Every song that comes on is my favorite! Can you imagine?

Yes, I am sort of an idiot and probably should have been doing this all along. I always thought of albums as complete works though, like novels. You don’t just read random chapters in a book, you take it as a sequential whole. But that analogy doesn’t even make sense since there have always been singles.

Then again, it’s not like I’m completely ditching albums. My approach will be to listen to new stuff until I get a feel for it, pick out my favorite songs to transfer, and then move on. I can always go back and listen to the whole thing if I get the urge, but in most cases the select few songs will probably be satisfying enough.

This is not to say, however, that Friend Opportunity is a terrible release rather it is technically superior with tight compositions and production values and while all that is great it is a sort of empty intellectual exercise in music. What I think it is lacking is a dose of raw intensity. Take the opening track for instance with its buzzsaw Jon Spencer riff which just tears in and out in a self-conscious manner that is precisely orchestrated and much to clean both of which detract from its intended well-muscled angularity. Granted, precision is the hallmark of Prog Rock but as other bands have demonstrated you can be precise while still being impassioned and loose; give a listen to King Crimson’s “The Great Deceiver” or, for a more contemporary example, “Peter Criss Jazz” by Don Cabellero. Where the band excels, however, is in weaving together some pretty intricate rhythms, nesting heady percussion sections into machine like chopping guitar riffs, “Cast Off Crown” is a great example. “Galaxist” a short sweet track that soars, demonstrating the potential for an album unfortunately weighted down by pretense.

So while the album has some real bright spots and is definitely worth a listen it ultimately failed to captivate me. Take a sample of the album and judge for yourself as my opinion is in the minority (almost).

Reviewing Ambient albums is a challenge. What do you focus on? Most of the work in the genre is slow building and often very abstract with tempos measured in minutes and key changes that occur almost imperceptibly.  Pieces are designed around textures and moods with the aim of conveying a particular state of mind. While most Ambient works are developed using purely electronic means, and Their Refinement of the Decline is built upon symphonic instrumentation there is the use of a brass section, soft strings, and even some choral fragments all of which lend it a warm human quality and is reminiscent of the more exotic leaning Temple Of The Invisible which made heavy use of human performed instruments.

Much of the album drifts by like a soundtrack for a non-existent film (”Apreludes (in C sharp major)” has every feeling of dropped into the middle of a planetarium show). It is lush and unobtrusive and is best listened to when your mind is calm and when you have two hours free to be gently carried from beginning to end. This is a perfect example of headphone music as the work envelopes you, softly wrapping threads of sound that caress and coax.  Throw it on your favorite player and take a walk outside, rain or shine, woods or scrap yard, it doesn’tt matter as the album will provide a theme for almost any environment.

You can sample some the album over at their Myspace page, including “Apreludes (in C sharp major)” which has an accompanying video.  Beautiful and highly recommend.

This is one of those albums that explodes in the opening notes, giving you little time to catch your breath or gather your wits as the band kicks up the dust and begins to spin you about. It is a beautiful album filled with an energy that is at once aggressive yet filled with joy and a pleasure of being alive. “Sandala” features some of the tightest brass playing I have ever heard with a tuba line that nimble dances about light as a feather. “Ibrahim” follows in suit matching staccato rhythms to a husky yet strangely enchanting vocals of Esma Redzepova but cool things down a little on “Ma Maren Ma” eventually turning that into a slow burning number with “Nakelavishe” where Redzepova makes a moving reprise.

To give you a little taste of their energy here’s a video from this year’s tour, shot in Berlin.

Since picking up this album the wife and I have been unable to put it down, giving it a spin nearly every day, just getting drunk on its intoxicating melodies and rhythms. You can find out more about the band on their page over at Asphalt Tango or over at Wikipedia which has a nice write up about the band and their music. Easily makes my Best of 2007 list. Very highly recommended.