Babes in Toyland • American Football • Venom • More
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROY TOMPKINS BABES IN TOYLAND • AMERICAN FOOTBALL • VENOM • MORE MIKAL CRONIN MCIII (Merge) Scuzzed San Francisco pedigree or no, multi-instru- mentalist Mikal Cronin’s critical path always arced toward FUN FUN FUN aspirant pop. The Ty Segall compatriot employs full- bodied arrangements and summit-cresting guitar solos to FEST PREVIEW craft a grand statement on solo LP three. Roiling strings drive “Turn Around,” an exclamatory overture sabotaged by lack of resolution, while the cruise-controlled cowbell clip of “Say” summons open roads. The ELO-flavored French horn passage opening “Alone” on side two’s six- part song cycle builds a restiveness that culminates in straight-up wallbanger “Ready.” Missing the shambolic charm of Cronin’s earlier work, MCIII nevertheless guaran- FRIDAY tees bigger stages. (2:25pm, Orange stage) HHH – Greg Beets TORO Y MOI What For? (Carpark) Racetrack buzzes open Toro y Moi’s fourth album, but What For? isn’t speedy. Instead, its boogie day- dream reiterates the abundant gifts of South Carolina producer Chaz Bundick. Breathy riffs on “Empty Nesters” whisper Tame Impala’s Currents, but the Seventies guitar pop is all Bundick, whose increase in vocalizing here eliminates the need for heavy synths to drown them out. The chillwave connoisseur thus deliv- ers according to expectations, creating a short, bubbly experience fit for a fest. (4:45pm, Orange stage) HHH – María Núñez NOTHING PEACHES 1:20PM, BLACK STAGE 5:10PM, BLUE STAGE Any line betwixt metal and shoegaze grows “Fuck the Pain Away” singer Peaches is, perhaps, the ever thinner in the hands of Philly quartet Nothing. only musician on the FFF bill that could make her comedian A hardcore background and patronage of counterparts blush. On her first album in six years,Rub – BABES IN TOYLAND headbanger haven Relapse didn’t stop 2014 debut which tapped Kim Gordon and Feist as guests – the Toronto Guilty of Everything from being dream-pop singer-turned-Berlin dweller remains as sexually explicit as 4:55PM, BLACK STAGE heaven for traditionalists, even as Nothing proved ever as she approaches 50. – Abby Johnston “I don’t do half-assed,” declares drum- “Honestly, I thought it’d take us, like, itself metal club habituates. – Michael Toland mer Lori Barbero. “If Babes in Toyland a year to get these songs down again,” CONVERGE are rocking again, then I want us rock- laughs the former White Horse drink- BOMBA ESTEREO 6:05PM, BLACK STAGE ing at 700 miles per hour, no less.” slinger. “But after about five rehearsals, 2:55PM, BLUE STAGE Between guitarist Kurt Ballou’s busy production At 53, the Minneapolis-reared time- we nailed ’em.” These Colombians continue to cook up a schedule, singer Jacob Bannon’s prolific label Deathwish keeper admittedly resisted the idea of Barbero drummed casually during cauldron of futuristic folklorico on fourth studio LP Inc., and drummer Ben Koller’s concurrent membership in reuniting with her former bandmates, Babes’ hiatus, in the Minn.-based acts Amanecer, this summer’s eclectic electric follow- Mutoid Man (also playing FFFF), the mighty Converge initially. Eggtwist and Koalas, while Bjelland up to 2013’s Elegancia Tropical. Singer Liliana doesn’t record as often as it should, but new LPThousands “I thought, ‘Can we physically do fronted alt-rock outfit Katastrophy Wife Saumet and multi-instrumentalist Simón Mejía of Miles Between Us is imminent. The 25-year-old Salem this? Can we really play hourlong sets and raised her now-16-year-old son. The fuel the “Fiesta” with cumbia, hip-hop, electro- quartet’s heart-on-sleeve mathcore remains as intense every night?’ I mean, I don’t act my age. women hadn’t conversed in a decade. funk, champeta, and dancehall. – Thomas Fawcett and potent as ever onstage. – Michael Toland I probably do more things “Until Kat and I recon- in one day than the aver- “I thought, nected, I hadn’t realized age 24-year-old, but still, I ‘Can we how much I loved Babes in FFF LOCALS by Kevin Curtin was skeptical at first.” Toyland. I really missed Together since 1987, the physically do these songs. Lately, I’m EAST CAMERON FOLKCORE Minnesotans dropped this? Can we having so much fun playing (Sat., 5:30pm, Yellow stage) three rancorous alt-punk really play drums again that I don’t Heavy folk orchestra whose potent sing-alongs LPs in the Nineties’ front care whether there’s five, owe debts to Guthrie, Orwell, and Chomsky. half, also popularizing that hourlong sets 100, or 10,000 people in our GOLDEN DAWN ARKESTRA era’s “kinderwhore” craze. every night?’” audience. I just love playing (Sun., 1:20pm, Orange stage) Her babydoll dress and in a band with Kat again.” ANDERSON JOHN Dashiki-wearing space travelers offer cosmic Mary Janes belied a wrathful wail, while The pair – plus Prissy Clerks’ Clara Afro-beat vibrations and exotic art. Babes singer Kat Bjelland had the girl- Salyer, who replaced longtime bassist KEEPER (Sun., 12:30pm, Blue stage) next-door-gone-awry look on lock. Maureen Herman in August – conclude Harmony-driven female vocal trio specializing Trailblazing bands like Hole, the their fall tour at Fun Fun Fun Fest. The in synth/soul/pop. Lollapalooza ’93 vets gingerly fizzled as animated talker (a “go-go-go Sagittarius”) A GIANT DOG (Sat., 12:30pm, Orange stage) RINGO DEATHSTARR the decade advanced, officially disband- relishes in rock, despite the utter anti- Bombastic quintet thrusting meteoric melodies (Sun., 12:30pm, Orange stage) ing in 2001. glamour of life on the road. into marching anthems. Stomp-box worshipping shoegaze heavies with For seven years Barbero lived local- “We take showers at truck stops,” she AMERICAN SHARKS (Sat., 12:30pm, Black stage) brain-melting songs and three-arm drumming. ly, working for South by Southwest says. “Being a musician is hard, hard Crucifix-flipping metallic punk trio with irresist- SURVIVE (Sat., 12:30pm, Blue stage) and tending bar on Austin’s Eastside. work, but I’ve had a great life. If I died ible melodies and equilateral charisma. Analog key-pushers construct towering sci-fi She returned to the Twin Cities last tomorrow, I’d know my life couldn’t BAYONNE (Fri., 1:45pm, Blue stage) compositions without a laptop in sight. fall, as a Babes’ reunion rumor mill have been any more fun.” Indie-vibed electronic composer Roger Sellers THINK NO THINK (Fri., 12:30pm, Orange stage) began to crank. – Neph Basedow sings and pounds drums over loops of Poofy-haired wailer John Dowey’s fuzz rock trio bedroom samples. sounds like Robert Plant fronting Blue Cheer. CONTINUED ON P.3 2 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE FUN FUN FUN FEST PREVIEW 2015 NOVEMBER 6, 2015 austinchronicle.com FUN FUN FUN FEST PREVIEW 2015 • FRIDAY • CONTINUED FROM P.2 exchange tomorrow buy * sell*trade BENJAMIN BOOKER CHEAP TRICK 6:35PM, YELLOW STAGE 7:15PM, ORANGE STAGE Benjamin Booker’s eponymous 2014 debut LP filters “There are many here among us who feel that classic Delta blues through a punk rock filter – Bad Brains life is a joke,” sings heartthrob Cheap Trick meets Blind Lemon Jefferson at the crossroads. The New vocalist Robin Zander on 1978 suicide ode “Auf Orleans by way of Virginia Beach 26-year-old seems to Wiedersehen.” What’s no joke is how guitarist/ operate at only two speeds, but the malaise of crawling songwriter Rick Nielsen’s six-string bombast and ballads like “Slow Coming” is no match for the urgent arch songcraft keep the band’s power-pop breakneck blues of tracks like “Violent Shiver” (“Exhale templates like “Surrender” and “I Want You to Want Me” eternally fresh. Zander and bassist Tom out, breathe in, mark return to sender/ Fuckin’ up on a ON THE DRAG: five-year bender”). – Thomas Fawcett Petersson still break hearts. – Tim Stegall 2904 Guadalupe St. • 512-480-9922 Bu aloExchange.com THE KING COHEED KHAN & AND BBQ SHOW CAMBRIA Bad News Boys The Color Before (In the Red) the Sun (300 Gonzo garage Entertainment) maniacs King The Amory Wars Khan & BBQ are over. Band Show offer the visionary Claudio aural equivalent Sanchez called a to a drunken hook-up: short, weird, messy. cease-fire on Coheed and Cambria’s seven- Bad News Boys ends a six-year hiatus since album sci-fi sprawl, and now dips into more 2009’s Invisible Girl and finds both Khan emotionally grounded territory. Pop rock rath- and Mark “BBQ” Sultan once again spinning er than space prog, The Color Before the Sun unhinged madness, from the deranged doo- is akin to his beloved Rush’s permanent wave wop of “Alone Again” and “Buy Bye Bhai” goodbye to fantasy epics in favor of radio- to the paranoid speed rock of the Conan friendly AOR. Only “You Got Spirit, Kid” feels O’Brien-inspired “Zen Machines.” The duo like vintage Coheed, Sanchez’s trademark flips off Montezuma’s revenge on hardcore spit and growl over a jaunty but jagged riff. freak-out “D.F.O.” (“Diarrhea fuck off!”) and A music industry dig, its knife-edge honesty crunch, crunch, crunches the positively silly segues into the Tool-echoing “The Audience,” “Snackin’ After Midnight.” Hooch-fueled hook- whose lyrics serve as reminder that the up fun that doesn’t have to make sense. bandleader knows his fans even if labels (7:40pm, Yellow stage) don’t. (8:45pm, Black stage) HHH – Thomas Fawcett HHH – Richard Whittaker CHVRCHES Every Open Eye (Glassnote/Virgin EMI) Although 2013 debut The Bones of What You Believe ventured into prog and rambling imitations of the Pet Shop Boys, Chvrches embraces an unabashed joy of pop on sophomore offering Every Open Eye.