Archive - May 2, 2010

I'm posting this a bit late in the game, as it was announced early Saturday morning, but I've been carousing through the streets of Austin all weekend so I couldn't get to it. For a week or more leading up to the announcement, Free Press Houston and Pegstar had been teasing us with an additional headliner for the 2010 Free Press Summer Fest that was yet to be announced. Everyone I talked to about it leading up to the announcement were guessing many different bands ranging from Pavement to LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire to GWAR. High hopes we all had, high hopes. While we were given the schedule as well, which is an amazing thing for planners like myself, our hopes for a huge national touring indie-rock group to give the festival a nice little bump in status were somewhat diminished as instead we were given Houston's hip-hop mascot – Bun B. I think it goes unsaid that if there is a hip-hop act on the caliber of the already scheduled Slim Thug, Bun B will be in attendance, either meandering through the crowd with a drink in hand, or up on stage spitting some verses with whomever it may be. I've never seen a Bun B or UGK show, but I've seen Bun B perform at least fifteen times, so when Free Press gave us the news of his addition to Slim Thug's set rather than the heavy hitter I'd been hoping for, my reaction was melancholy at best. I guess now, after June, I can say I've seen an advertised Bun B show.

Don't worry, I'm still extremely excited for the 2010 edition of Free Press Summer Fest, and now that I have a schedule to peruse, I can't get it off of my mind! Check out the full listing of events after the jump

Words by Dillon "Banana Nut Pancakes" Lamb | Photos by Anna "Hash Browns" Vernon

Holy Shit! People still go to shows in Dallas?!? These were my first thoughts as I arrived at the Yeasayer gig at the Granada. I knew the show had sold out, but I suppose it did not hit me until I saw a line snaking around the building for will call. A packed house seemed appropriate for Yeasayer, a band who seem to have all the ingredients for taking off in a major way. Their first release, All Hour Cymbals, garnered comparisons to other mystic-dancepop darlings Animal Collective and TV on the Radio, while their latest, Odd Blood, is lighter on the critical praise and heavier on the shake-your-ass.

It was hard to know what specifically to expect from this show considering the many stylistic differences from the Yeas’ first to second discs. Would they continue to forsake the more organic, tribal dance sound of All Hour Cymbals? Would this Brooklyn three-piece prove to be Dave Gahan’s progeny?

Read the rest of the review after the jump.