Fifteen Must-See Bands at ACL Fest 2009

words by Andy Pareti & Randy Cremean

The Low Anthem
Friday at 12:20pm
Austin Ventures Stage

The Low Anthem provide an opportunity to catch your breath and reminisce, ponder, sigh, whatever it is you decide to do to the cool strum of a string bass and the warm, leathery voice of The Low Anthem’s Ben Knox Miller. This Providence, Rhode Island-based threesome have cooked up their own, bubbling stew of dive bar Americana and folk traditions, applying their own experiences as classical composers to give the raw, jagged music a surprisingly graceful beauty. - AP

Phoenix
Friday at 4:30pm
AMD Stage

What’s that, you say? That new band, Phoenix, that exploded onto the scene this year, like, totally released the best debut album of 2009? Well it may seem Phoenix came out of nowhere, but that just ain’t true. In fact, they came from France, about a decade ago, and this year’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is their fourth studio album. This is actually news to many people, which is one of many reasons this should be a band to watch at ACL. They have a back catalogue that is unbeknownst to many and, as their late addition to Bonnaroo previously indicated, they know how to rock the house. - AP

Them Crooked Vultures
Friday at 7:30pm
Xbox 360 Stage

Fueled by some creative publicity and radiating with mystery and intrigue, the super-powered lineup of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) is like a sea beast slowly emerging from the foam – with every snippet of studio recording and last minute live show, they expose little by little their collective triumvirate of rawk. Homme doesn’t match the technical abilities of Grohl and Jones, but he has character and the brute force to match his partners’ licks. Watch for him to be the ace up the sleeve of this three-headed devil child. - AP

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Friday at 8:30pm
AMD Stage

When the Beastie Boys had to cancel their remaining tour dates due to Adam Yauch’s unexpected bout with cancer, promoters were scrambling to fill the void. All Points West was declared the undisputed winner with Jay-Z, but Lollapalooza proved that their choice of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was a swift success (Soundcheck captured Karen O in quite the colorful, tribal mood). Now, ACL will hope to repeat that success with their own late addition of YYY, which should provide a rainstorm of big sounding indie-garage rock. - AP

!!! vs. Mute Math
Saturday at 2pm
AMD and Livestrong Stage

This shapes up as a battle between two of the best live bands we've exerienced in the past few years. It's the indie dance-funk of !!! versus the electro-prog-pop of Mute Math. The last time we saw Nic Offer, front man of !!!, he was burning up the stage at Lollapalooza '07 and giving Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder the nom de guerre, "Ed Ved". Offer is a gyrating, hip-thrusting dervish who doesn't let up until the lights go out. He's Napoleon Dynamite channeling James Brown and the rest of his band provide a groove strong enough to create a dance-party 20,000 people strong.

Mute Math's sophomore album, Armistice, expands on their dynamic, post-rock experimentation with ambitious, arena-ready anthems and should move them even more into mainstream awareness. What sets Mute Math apart from other bands, though, is their live performance. In addition to being unbelievably tight, the band is all motion and infectious energy on stage. Lead singer, Paul Meany, uses his Yamaha stage piano as a gymnastics apparatus; often doing handstands on the keys and leaping from atop it while rocking a keytar. Darren King on drums is a percussive force of nature, the backbone of Mute Math's sound. King , who is respondible for triggering the samples that help give Mute Math their enormous sound, secures headphones to his person by wrapping his head in duct tape. With band members switching instruments and running all around the stage, Mute Math promise to be one of the most entertaining sets of the festival. - RC

Grizzly Bear
Saturday at 3pm
Dell Stage

Their latest album, Veckatimest, has been hailed as a contender for Album of the Year by critics, bloggers and the jaded hipsterati, while simultaneously enjoying mainstream success, as is evidenced by their debut in the Billboard Top Ten and numerous late-night television appearances. How have these indie darlings been able to insert themselves into the popular zeitgeist? Their music manages to be beautiful and intelligent without straying into esoteric realms. The sonorous crooning of Ed Droste calls to mind a gentler age where Pat Boone and Frankie Avalon play on the radio. Daniel Rossen's songs and voice are reminiscent of Paul Simon's graceful intensity. Bassist, Chris Taylor, and drummer, Chris Bear, lend their voices to create wondrous and captivating harmonies that can entrance a crowd of any size. - RC

Passion Pit vs. Dirty Projectors
Saturday at 5pm
Xbox 360 and Dell Stage

In perhaps the most egregious conflict on the entire schedule, hipsters will have to choose between Passion Pit’s dance party and the avant garde indie rock of The Dirty Projectors. Passion Pit have been consistently outperforming their stage assignments on the Summer festival circuit, with overflow crowds whipped into frenetic, frolicking masses that had security on edge. Their sold-out show at Emo’s was the talk of the town and a good indicator of the enthusiastic reception they can expect from their adoring masses at ACL Fest.

The Dirty Projectors turned in one of our favorite sets at Bonnaroo.Their quirky song structures and complex harmonies translate surprisingly well in a festival setting. The crowd will be waiting for "Stillness Is the Move", one of the most brilliant songs released in recent memory, but don't be surpised if the loudest ovation goes to "Cannibal Resource" or "Remade Horizon" and the superhuman vocal jujitsu performed by Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian and Haley Dekley. Expect the crowd to grow throughout their set as casual wanderers are drawn in by the pristine voices and the virtuoso guitar of Dave Longstreth. By the end of Saturday, The Dirty Projectors will have amassed thousands of new fans. - RC

Mos Def
Saturday at 6pm
AMD Stage

When he’s not Sweding classic films, Mos Def has been enjoying a long-standing hip-hop career that has somewhat quieted down since his highly-touted emergence on the scene in the late nineties. But with a new album, The Ecstatic, out this past June, the multi-talented Mos Def will have his undivided attention on the music and so will his crowd, which should expect a strong showing from the hip-hop veteran. - AP

The Dodos
Sunday at 12:30pm
Livestrong Stage

The young career of the Dodos have fast given the San Francisco-based band a large plot of land on the indie map. Don’t take their name literally, because bandleaders Meric Long and Logan Kroeber are a pair of sharp songwriters that specialize in fragmented slices of psychedelic folk music. Combining the erratic unpredictability of The Books with the rustic hominess of Iron and Wine, The Dodos should please the brainy indie crowd as well as the bong-toting hippy populous. - AP

The Dead Weather
Sunday at 6pm
Livestrong Stage

It’s a new month, and that means a new Jack White band! Or so it seems. Like his other projects (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, various solo ventures and collaborations), this is able-bodied, brains-and-brawn rock and roll. Even if White has traded in six strings for a set of drums, this is some damn good guitar-boogie blues, with singer Alison Mosshart (The Kills) providing most of this new dimension in the Jack White Zone. The rest of the band isn’t too shabby, either. Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs) pluck away at their stringed instruments, making this the second most intriguing collaboration project to grace ACL. - AP

Dan Auerbach
Sunday at 7:15pm
Austin Ventures Stage

When Jack White just isn’t enough blues for you, the Black Keys more than fill the void. BK singer/guitarist Auerback went solo this year, and while the result is still very Keysish, his newfound liberty has provided him a certain lazy, front-porch, bright eyed whimsy. On his own, Auerbach slows down the blues, cuts off the fat, looks it in the face and sees his reflection in its own, teary eyes. Auerbach’s blues is of the slow-burning kind, giving you the perfect opportunity to sit back, tilt your straw hat over your eyes and watch the masses stumble around Austin like so many tumbleweeds. - AP

Pearl Jam
Sunday at 8pm
Livestrong Stage

After years of musical soul-searching, Pearl Jam found their groove again with their 2006 self-titled album and have been riding the wave ever since, headlining pretty much every major summer music festival at one point or another. Now, they are giving fans another reason to slip into their now-too-tight torn jeans and grow their hair long and ratty with their ninth studio album, Backspacer. Pearl Jam don’t seem to be satisfied until they top every major festival lineup in America, and with good reason. This will be a must-see show for any ACL’er, even if you were just ten months old when Ten came out. - AP

Who is the fifteenth band? Pick an artist you've never heard of and go see them. Part of the thrill and joy of music festivals is discovering bands who are completely off your radar. If you're unfamiliar with the local music scene, go see a band from Austin. If you need to beat the heat or get out of the rain, go bask in the righteous sounds of the gospel tent. Point being, every band earned their spot in the lineup and are worthy of your attention, even if it is just a walk-by to check them out.