Austin Sound

In preparation for his string of ACL afterparties shows at Emo’s, where he’ll be shaking the floors inside on Friday and Saturday night, Car Stereo (Wars) mashup master Chris Rose is offering a download of his latest creation. It’s a pretty sweet remix of Spoon “Rhthm & Soul” (sic), and we’re sure he’ll be unloading it on the sweaty masses this weekend. Download the track below, and prepare to overtake the stage inside at Emo’s.

The competition for an indie band to win their way onto the ACL stage has reached it final leg, and once again there several local representatives vying for the 11:45am Friday slot on the Dell Stage. Among the six groups that will face off in the battle of the bands are Austin’s youngster sensation The Steps, the soul shakedown of T-Bird and the Breaks, the Scotland Yard Sale’s power pop, and returning finalists Quiet Company. Also winning top votes in the online contest are the Mexico outfit 60 Tigres and Utah’s Good Morning Maxfield.

For those not wanting to battle the sweltering September heat in Zilker Park, the ACL Fest has announced their official rundown of aftershows, which include some great opportunities to catch bands in more intimate settings than Fest. Among the artists performing their own shows are David Byrne, The Black Keys, The Drive-By Truckers, Conor Oberst performing with Jenny Lewis and M. Ward, and, finally, the Butthole Surfers giving us a local gig (Luckily, Stubb’s sound guy is probably out of beer-bottle flinging range). Full list after the jump, or go here.

The ACL Fest is once again holding their “The Sound and the Jury” battle of the bands for an opportunity for one worthy act to garner a set at this year’s festival. Last year saw four Texas bands and one from Georgia duking it out in the final live showdown, including locals Golden Bear, Quiet Company, and Nelo, though Abilene’s Homer Hiccolm and the Rocket Boys took the prize. Bands have until August 22 to register but voting starts on July 11. You can sign up here.

The Austin City Limits Festival released the schedule for the three day Zilker Park bash this week, and we like what we see. No major complaints in the conflict department, and a well-rounded set of artists. The Fest takes place September 26-28.

4/15/08
After last week’s Car Stereo (Wars) teaser (and kudos to Chris Rose for putting that mashup together - anyone that can mix together Robert Earl Keen, Octopus Project, and N.E.R.D. deserves some credit) the Austin City Limits Festival has officially announced it’s 2008 lineup. The full list is below, but we’re pretty excited with the overall sweep of talent. While there are no legendary headliners like Dylan (this year we just get Jakob), the top of the list includes Foo Fighters, Beck, Raconteurs, Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, and David Byrne. Full list below.

Oh boy, it’s festival time. Not to be outdone by Lollapalooza, who released their official lineup this weekend, Austin City Limits is giving us a preview of a few of the 130 artists set to invade Zilker Park this September. Well, sorta…

The preview comes in the form of a mashup from local artist Car Stereo (Wars) (née Christopher Rose). Basically, the song (available both on the ACL Website and Car Stereo (Wars)’s myspace) is a mix of songs by 29 of the 130 artists slated for ACL and it’s your job to figure out who those artists are.

We’re not going to tell you the obvious ones (Gnarls Barkley) but we may drop a few hints about where that classic opening guitar riff comes from.

The real list (so far) is after the jump, for those of you who hate suspense.

1/31/08
It seems everything has to be dolled out in cryptic drama these days. Was that the new Gnarls Barkley track that got “leaked”? Who knows. Frankly, it’s fun watching the music industry play with the expectations of promotions in the digital era.

In that spirit, ACL is “apparently” set to release their annual slew of early-bird tickets. No word on the price or the performers (can we speculate on Radiohead yet?), but the 2008 fest will be held September 26-28 in Zilker Park, and on Saturday, February 2, they will announce how to get the early tickets on their website.

9/12/07
With the unfortunate cancellation of the White Stripes’ appearance at this year’s ACL (according to the Stateman’s music blog due to Meg White’s suffering from acute anxiety - though we thought they had pills for that now), C3 has had to scramble to redo the lineup for Saturday’s schedule. With no Icky Thump action, Muse moves in as the unlikely headliners, while Dr. Dog gets added to the AT&T stage from 12:30 - 1:30. This also means that the Arcade Fire set is likely to be packed, but at least we no longer have to choose between caring less about Muse and the Arctic Monkeys.

9/11/07
It’s been a rough year for hammering out the lineup for this year’s ACL Festival. Earlier, Amy Winehouse had to call off her appearance (no big surprise there), and was replaced on the bill with the Cold War Kids. Then last week Rodrigo y Gabriela, who missed SXSW due to visa issues, were forced to cancel both their festival slot and sold-out aftershow at Antone’s. But the latest cancellation comes as a huge blow, especially with only a few days until ACL goes live - citing medical reasons, the White Stripes have had to cancel, which includes their sold out show at Stubb’s on Sunday.