ACLMF Day Two: The Day of the Mud People or Pay Attention to Weather Reports

Day 2 at Zilker was a lesson to check in on the weather reports before going to the show. After having some complications with the cab, we headed off to Zilker. Had I checked the weather reports during this down time waiting for a cab, I would have found that a huge storm front was moving in for a long, cold, rainy day. I could have dressed in slightly more waterproof attire, and may have neglected to wear anything on my feet at all. My only consolation was knowing all the hipsters who had chosen to wear their woolen vests and dress pants with their patent leather shoes were absolutely miserable. But on with the day:

Deer Tick:


I have never seen Deer Tick live before, but I got almost exactly what I expected from this band. I already love the cigarette and whiskey abused voice of John McCauley. He greeted us with a simple declaration, "This is easily the earliest I've been awake in the last 3 months". I believed him; he looked like 10 miles of bad road, but still pulled it out to be an 11 o'clock set. Their set was even balance of Born on Flag Day and War Elephant and closed with a monster cover of La Bamba. They were the perfect hungover band to watch after waking up sore from an all day concert and hungover from a night of drinking afterwards (much thanks to the folks at New Belgium for their Fat Tire Ale).

We had no idea what to do with 12:00 hour, and wandered over to see the Virgins on the recommendation of a rando in the crowd. They were awful. Whiney pop punk infused with people more concerned with their image than the music they made. We hastily then made our way to get up close for the next act.

Cotton Jones:


Cotton Jones served as the day's "pleasant surprise" band. The Cumberland, Maryland natives came on stage with their soothing country-ish folk music. I did feel as though the lead singer, Michael Nau, tried his best to pick the most tattered t-shirt he could find. The female vocalist added a greater softness to the twang provided by Nau. The music was fit well with the early afternoon drizzle that had started over Zilker; it sounded both sad and cheerful at the same time. Overall a very good bad to watch, and I'd watch them again given a chance.

!!!:


I'll be honest, I had never heard of !!! before ACLMF, and half the reason I wanted to check them out was that I did not care for Mute Math whom Ryand and Clark were going to see; and that I wanted to know how one pronounced, !!! (chk, chk, chk). I was also pleasantly surprised (but not enough to award them with the title) with the amount of energy and attitude that they brought to the stage. By this time, it was pouring rain in the middle of the day so they still did not have the benefit of a light show and they still had people dancing and shaking their collective groove thang.

Grizzly Bear:


I have to admit that I think I was too amped up from !!!, to really appreciate Grizzly Bear. I attended the set on the recommendation of my little brother. Their brand of L0-Fi indie pop that seems to be the sound of half the bands coming out of Brooklyn these days was not enough to keep me interested in the pouring rain, and shortly after arriving I sought out sustenance at Austin Eats Food Court where I met my aforementioned love, The Mighty Cone.

Citizen Cope:


Clarence Greenwood or Citizen Cope has been a personal favorite of mine since my first year at college, and the opportunity to see him on a stage as large as this was too good an opportunity to pass up, even if staged opposite Flogging Molly. I waited nearly an hour in the pouring rain with some ACLMF veterans as we griped about the younger attendees rudely shoving their way to the front. When Cope took the stage, he was humble yet confident in his power to move the crowd. Admittedly, I was curious to see if his everpresent unofficial partner in crime, Alice Smith would also be in attendance. Sure enough, when the set reached 107 Degrees, Miss Smith took the stage and proceeded to fill all of Zilker with her voice. Mind blowing, really.

I tried finding my friends throughout the entire set of Bon Iver but was unable to really get a sense of the show. If I could say, it was probably one of my bigger regrets at ACLMF. Even more to the point, I didn't even find them given the entire set. Since Mos Def was late to take the stage, I decided to grab a fish taco at Austin Eats.

Mos Def:

I love Mos Def, probably more than most white people do. I've seen him twice before this; once at the Kennedy Center. That being said, I felt that Mos did not bring it to the show. Despite just recently releasing an album, The Ecstatic, it seemed that Mos Def's side project Amino Alkaline: The Watermelon Syndicate was the bigger influence on this show. He opened with an exorbitantly long drum solo, that just served as a large let down after having stood in the rain for over an hour. Mos was still able to bring "it" when "it" needed to be brought, belting out ridiculously well flowing lyrics.

I popped in on the first two songs by The Decemberists in an attempt to find my friend, Clark but to no avail. So, knowing that Austin natives Ghostland Observatory were headlining the AMD stage, I made my way to the sound booth to stake out a good spot just as I had for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And like I "watched" Them Crooked Vultures, I got to see STS9 from the sound booth of the AMD stage, overlookin the Xbox 360 stage.

STS9:


I don't usually go in for instrumental music, but when it comes in the package that is delivered by STS9 I don't think anyone could stand still. They're unique blend of jazz/funk infused electronica coupled with a psychedelic light show was a perfect appetizer for the main course that was Ghostland Observatory. From the second they picked up their instruments, it was a 60 minute dance party worthy of any European club, except it was in a rain-soaked, muddy field.

Ghostland Observatory:

The Austin duo of Ghostland Observatory was easily the "rock and roll" band of the day. On top of the Floyd like laser show they used, frontman, Aaron Behrens acted with such swagger and raw rock and roll energy one found it hard to think of anything else but how fun this show was. Having just seen them, at 9:30 Club 3 weeks prior, I knew what I was getting into this time, and was prepared to dance my ass off. I chatted it up with a cute photographer who had been taking freelance pictures for her friend that day and compared notes. We were later joined by three enthusiastic girls for a 90-minute dance party that climaxed as the UT marching band joined them on stage for The Band Marches On. It was incredible. One minute the lights are down and the second they come up the entire band is on stage blaring out the song.

I shortly met up with my mud covered allies, and we taxied our asses home for some Home Slice and Fat Tires.