Tuesday, September 29, 2009

ACL 2009 Preview: Thursday Pre-Show

As if three long days of music aren't enough, Rachel and I decided to expand our ACL weekend this year and got tickets to one of the Thursday night "pre-shows" happening at a few of Austin's music clubs. There were a few good possibilities, but we thought the triple bill of The Walkmen, Blitzen Trapper and Wye Oak at the venerable Emo's was the best option.

We've seen The Walkmen a few times already. Three times, to be exact, including a set at our first ACL in 2005. They always sound great live, and their last album, You & Me, is definitely one of their best. We caught them last year at The Parish when they played a set heavy on songs from You & Me, and it was probably my favorite of the three shows by them we've seen. So I'm pretty confident Thursday's show will kick some tuchus as well.


The Walkmen - In the New Year

I hadn't heard much by Portland, Oregon's Blitzen Trapper until I saw one of their videos a few times after it went into heavy rotation on ME (Austin's version of MTV, back when it was still good and played videos). That song, Furr, is very cool. Apparently, even main-stream music media liked it: Rolling Stone named it #4 on the magazine's Best Singles of 2008, while the album of the same name was ranked #13 on the RS 2008 album list. Picky Pitchfork gave it an 8.5/10 as well.


Blitzen Trapper - Furr

I don't really know anything about Wye Oak. Wikipedia describes the Baltimore duo as "a blend of American folk and indie rock [whose] songs often focus on themes of family and maturing through youth."


Wye Oak - Please Concrete

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