Austin – Fun Fun Fun Fest definitely front-loaded its lineup. The five bands I wrote about played on Friday, along with Alt-J (who Best New Bands reviewed earlier this month), 2 Chainz, Dinosaur Jr., Death From Above 1979, Judas Priest, and lots of others. The festival got swamped on Day 1, and the line to get in was stretched across the 1^st Street Bridge by afternoon. Eventually they started shooing people in without passes so everyone could get in, which all things considered was a pretty gracious move. By Saturday they seemed to have it under control.

SOHN

Here’s something I learned about SOHN: he’s one of those guys who’s really picky about sound. It’s pretty typical for a sound check to need correction, but SOHN was a prolific signer–up, down, more arcane hand signals meaning lord knows what as he sorted things out with the sound crew. When you love an artist as much as I love SOHN, though, it becomes kind of adorable. I once watched spellbound for half an hour while James Murphy switched out record needles. It was beautiful. SOHN left me with kind of the same feeling. Apparently this is a thing, because his sound check backed up the Nites set at Empire Control Room by half an hour.

I’m not sure if it made a difference to anyone but him. His set came across perfectly. Electronic music that punches in the bass, without sacrificing its delicacy.

Standout track: “Lessons”

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SZA 

SZA loves her job. And her fans seem to love her for loving her job. SZA’s birthday was on Saturday, the neo soul singer told us. I think everyone wanted to help her celebrate. She would have invited them, if there were any club with a capacity of roughly 1,000. SZA’s music is pretty diverse, but it’s tied together by a slow, swaying beat that comes across best in her collaboration with Toro Y Moi.

Standout Track: “Hiiijack” (produced by Toro Y Moi)

 ______

Lunice 

Lunice is billed as a DJ, but I think he secretly wants to be a rapper. Or secretly is a rapper. It’s not much of a secret actually. He’s an instrumental hip hop DJ, and his music needs to be managed more than played, so he takes every chance he gets to run out there and scream out a couple of verses.

Standout Track: “Can’t Wait To”

______

Bonus Nites: Twin Peaks

This is one some journalist buddies dragged me to. I knew nothing going in, except that apparently these dudes are skid row lifers. Duct-taped guitars, no budget for hotel rooms, rock harder the smaller the venue, that kind of stuff. That having been said, this is among the best sets I’ve ever dropped in on. Twin Peaks played an excellent garage rock set, in the best tradition of 70’s rock and roll. Seriously, listen to “Flavored” and tell me you don’t instantly think of a heavier version of “In the Street” by Big Star.

Red 7 was a good choice of venue for this one. The spotty acoustics of cinderblock walls adds something to the experience.

Standout Track: “Flavored”

Check back for more reviews from this past weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest…

Top Photo By Ashley Garmon – All Other Photos By Will Jukes

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Will Jukes

Will Jukes has lived in Texas his whole life. It doesn’t bother him as much as you’d think. A Houston native, he studied English at the University of Dallas before moving to Austin in search of the coveted “Grand Slam” of Texas residencies. He comes to music journalism from a broad reporting background and a deep love of music. The first songs he can remember hearing come from a mix tape his dad made in the early 90’s that included “Born to Run,”, “End of the Line,” by the Traveling Wilburys, the MTV Unplugged recording of Neil Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand,”, and “The Highwayman,” by The Highwaymen. He has an enduring love for three of these songs. Over the years he has adored punk, post-punk, new wave, house, disco, 90’s alternative rock, 80’s anything, and Townes Van Zandt. He’s not sorry for liking New Order more than Joy Division.

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