bacon's blog

Waka waka. The initial lineup for one of BoT's favorite festivals has been announced, and it's so good it makes me sad. Sad because it means us Houstonians will probably be forced to skip Houston's premiere local fest, Free Press Summer Fest, to attend. With a lineup that includes My Morning Jacket, Mumford and Sons, Umphrey's McGee, Ben Harper and the Relentless 7, Thievery Corporation, Galactic, Ghostland Observatory, and Langhorne Slim, how could we not? Add in the fact that it's in the most beautiful festival setting I've ever experienced and will be chock full of old friends and Arkansasan family, and I think the decision has been made. If the Free Press lineup can Top That I will bow down at their altar and sacrifice a hippie. Check out the full lineup after the jump.

Somehow, the main artist profiled in this excellent Grinderman road diary isn't Nick Cave - it's Shilpa Ray. Reading about all of the praise showered on her by Nick Cave and others led me to seek out her music, and it certainly merits the acclaim. Shilpa has been playing the harmonium since the age of 6 and was born with a voice that can overpower even the most raucous output from her squeezebox. Check out some of her solo stuff on teh Youtubes, then stream a performance over at Daytrotter by her band: Shilpa Ray and the Happy Hookers. They are set to perform at Fitzgerald's on April 20th with Acid Mothers Temple, see you there.

Currently crossing into Louisianaaaa!!! Eggs and I are set to arrive in NOLA with a couple hours to spare before the best Friday music starts. A quick Sunday preview is below. I’m looking forward to this day of the fest the most, thanks to sets from Janelle Monae, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band (perhaps with Jim James?), Interpol, Toubab Krewe, and My Morning Jacket. Check out my planned Halloween schedule, along with videos, after the jump.

Saturday’s lineup doesn’t give me too many reasons to get excited, but I’ve never had a bad day at Voodoo – so I fully expect to come away pleasantly surprised. Honestly, I’m a little more excited about Saturday night in the Quarter, which will be insane due to the confluence of Steelers/Saints fans, Voodoo attendees, early Halloween revelers, and redneck hippies in town for Widespread Panic. There are some definite highlights of the fest, though, with sets from The Whigs, Crystal Method, Die Antwoord,the Street Sweeper Social Club (which features Tom Morello and Boots Riley), and of course, Ozzy. Read on after the jump.

It’s BoT Christmas!!!! Voodoo Fest is upon us yet again, and our 5th year in attendance is sure to be an eventful one. We’re older, slightly wiser, and a helluva lot more in need of a New Orleans weekend to break up the responsibilities of quasi-adulthood. For reasons both sentimental and musical, this is our favorite festival of the year – it’s our goddamn Constant.

Friday looks to be one of the best days of the entire festival, with Weezer, Metric, Hot Chip, Jonsi and a whole lot of Stanton freakin’ Moore. My Friday preview hits the high points of the 29th, but it’s bound to omit some great stuff – so be sure to explore, and let us know about who you’re excited to see in the comments. See you in New Orleans; read on after the jump.

Tomorrow, Houston temporarily gets even more badass, from the moment the Drive-by Truckers cross into our city limits till the moment they leave. You’ve got two chances to check out one of the hardest-working bands in the business, who over the course of 14 years have carved out a reputation as some of the best songwriters and performers in alt-country. Their three-guitar blitzkrieg is now supplemented by keyboardist Jay Gonzalez, who joined the band prior to the recording of their latest album, The Big To-Do. As part of the promotion for the record, the band released webisodes explaining either the lyrical or musical origins of most of the songs. Check out the webisode for my favorite song off of it, “Drag the Lake Charlie,” and head to Cactus tomorrow at 3:30 and House of Blues tomorrow night. Snag your tickets here!

I love that the DBT’s are forming relationships in the jam world… almost as much as I love the lyric: “I’m almost out of Valium, courage, and self-respect.”

Note from the greasy desk o’ Bacon: I couldn’t be happier to welcome Beau "Blintz" Henry to the intermittent writing staff here at BoT. Beau is a fellow map nerd by day and a screenwriter by night. He also moonlights as a superhero to those of us lucky enough to know him, and often hosts the best goddamn movie night in Houston. After you read his work, I’m sure you’ll join me in hoping that his contributions last long past this magical Summer we call 2010.

Words and Video by Beau "Blintz" Henry

If I may re-purpose one of the great hyperbolic utterances of rock criticism: I have seen alt-country future and its name is Robert Ellis. Such hyperbole is necessary if only to stand among the local press that this guy has been getting. I’ve seen Robert Ellis four times, all in the last month. The first was his triumphant return to Whiskey Wednesdays at Mango’s. A friend said, you should come to this. I went in blind. It’s been noted elsewhere just what it is that will blow you away about these shows. The Houston Press likened it to the Armadillo World Headquarters in the early ‘70s when Willie Nelson managed to get rednecks, hippies, bikers, and heads to stand in one room without killing each other. At Mango’s there were parents, grandparents, and a swath of young people that could be labeled (and negated) as hipsters, but let me try to illustrate it quickly: the best two-steppers had the most tattoos and piercings. A scant two weeks later, Whiskey Wednesdays was put on hiatus; although the promise of its rebirth at Fitzgerald’s in late September portends an autumn of delightfully nauseating Thursday mornings. On Saturday, Robert Ellis played two shows; check out a review of both, along with a ton of videos after the jump.

This past weekend, a major music festival took place: LCD Soundsystem, Raekwon, and Major Lazer all played. No, I’m not talking about Pitchfork… I’m talking about Camp Bisco 9, a surprisingly more-than-decent festival in Mariaville, NY built around a surprisingly less-than-decent band: The Disco Biscuits. Before any Biscuit kids jump down my throat, know that I’ve tried, I really have, and it just isn’t my thing. I respect the hell out of what they’ve done with the Camp Bisco lineup though, and I’m pretty sure I’d have guilty fun seeing the Biscuits live. Throw together another lineup like this year’s, and I might have to make the trip. This year’s Camp featured Gift of Gab, Caribou, Girl Talk, Talib Kweli, Meth + Ghost + Rae, Thievery Corporation, RAQ, Holy Fuck, LCD Soundsystem, Diplo (both solo and with Major Lazer), and, best of all, Ween. Check out a video of Deaner ripping up “A Tear for Eddie,” his tribute to P-funk’s Eddie Hazel, below. And to all you Pitchfork hipsters… wise up and Hail the Boognish!

I re-watched one of my favorite movies last night, Coffee and Cigarettes, with one of my favorite people. As the title belies, the film is a series of vignettes centered on two of the oldest complementary vices. Some of the better scenes revolve around musicians, be it Jack and Meg White discussing a Tesla coil, the RZA and the GZA giving medical advice to Bill Murray, or Iggy Pop and Tom Waits awkwardly interacting over an excuse-laden cigarette. The scene with Tom Waits got me on a bit of a Waits-centric youtube kick, and I came across a performance that is, quite frankly, the epitome of cool: a 1977 performance of “Step Right Up” recorded in West Germany. Pour a cup of coffee, light up a cig, and enjoy.

The initial line-up for the 2010 Voodoo Experience has been released and has already been improved by a major addition: My Morning Jacket. This festival has never let us down, and 2010 looks to be no different. Headlining the three-day event are the suddenly ubiquitous festival act Muse, legendary Black Sabbath founder Ozzy Osbourne, the aforementioned My Morning Jacket, nostalgia act (at least among my peers) Weezer and the bipolar dance/psychedelic band MGMT. Other acts scheduled to play include Metric, Hot Chip, Tom Morello and Boots Riley’s Street Sweeper Social Club, NOLA's own Galactic (and Friends!), and Jakob Dylan and Three Legs. It’s a little insane that this will be BoT's fifth year attending the festival, but it truly is the best time to be in New Orleans and we wouldn't miss it for anything.

You can check out the full line-up after the jump