Austin City Limits

There’s nothing quite like catching an artist on the rise. Local Natives attracted immediate acclaim with its first LP Gorilla Manor a couple years ago and has been steadily building a loyal, passionate audience since. We were fortunate to put that audience into a room with the L.A. quintet for its debut ACL taping, and the result was magic.

The atmospheric synth intro of “Breakers” signaled the beginning of a journey through the group’s harmony-rich vision of Afropop-kissed indie rock. Busy percussion and polyrhythmic grooves buoyed soaring melodies in “Ceilings,” “Colombia” and “You & I” to unique effect. “Airplanes,” “Black Balloons” and the crowd favorite “Wide Eyes” tightened the rhythms and emphasized catchy, jangly guitar hooks as much as airy vocals. “Shape Shifter,” “Bowery” and the encore-closing “Sun Hands” stretched the band out dynamically showcasing songs that started gently and ended with vibrant excitement. The band paid tribute to an oft-cited influence with a rattling cover of Talking Heads’ “Warning Sign.”

The most moving moment came during the final song of the main set, when the Natives performed a special acoustic arrangement of “Who Knows Who Cares” worked up for this performance that really exploited the band’s folk underpinnings and choir-like vocal harmonies. We’re always flattered when an artist treats a taping as a special occasion (made doubly so when the band asked their touring bass player to join them permanently), and we can’t wait for this spring to show you why this performance counts as one. Stay tuned.

When Neko Case last graced the ACL stage, she was still the reigning queen of Americana, a minimalist-minded singer and songwriter in thrall to torch songs and classic country. Over the succeeding decade, however, she’s developed into an eclectic, ambitious artist who won’t be hemmed in by genre restrictions, as her latest LP The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You attests. With that acclaimed work in hand, Case and her band gave us a well-rounded, wide-ranging performance.

Opening with “Where Did I Leave That Fire,” an atmospheric slice of art pop, Case followed directly with “This Tornado Loves You,” one of her most accessible and eccentric tunes. Case and her versatile band, including returning stalwarts Jon Rauhouse, Tom Ray and Kelly Hogan, moved from ringing folk rockers like “City Swans,” “Hold On, Hold On” and “People Gotta Lotta Nerve” to classic balladry like “Night Still Comes,” “Lion’s Jaw” and the particularly gorgeous “Calling Card.” She has a singular affinity for 6/8 time, adding subtle 50s-style melodies to songs like “That Teenage Feeling,” “Wild Creatures” and “The Pharaohs,” and added some funny power pop with the snarky “Man.” Case didn’t forget her roots, however, reaching far back to her earlier work for the countrified gem “Set Out Running,” which exploits the Patsy Cline side of her voice, and the classic beauty “I Wish I Was the Moon.” Despite it being a cover, Case was at her most emotionally vulnerable on Harry Nilsson’s understated ballad “Don’t Forget Me.”

It was an eclectic, brilliant performance that perfectly encapsulated where Neko Case finds her artistry circa 2013. We can’t wait for you to see it early next year – watch this space for broadcast details.

Indie rock, singer-songwriters, Americana and soul are great, and we love it all, but sometimes we just need a dose of face-melting rock & roll. Few bands provide that kind of cochlea-destroying good time as well as Queens of the Stone Age did for their first ACL taping. Main Queen Josh Homme has been on the show before, with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. (For that matter Queens keyboardist Dean Fertita last visited our stage with the Raconteurs.) But this is the first time he’s brought his main creation to Austin City Limits, and it was a mutual love affair from the first (extremely loud) note.

The quintet opened the show with the pole position track from its breakthrough Songs For the Deaf – “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire” blasted out on waves of drums and Homme’s instantly recognizable guitar tone. This wasn’t the only time the Queens shook the rafters – “Little Sister,” “My God is the Sun” and “No One Knows” (the Big Rawk Hit, played surprisingly early in the set) reveled in the band’s patented blend of singalong melodies and amp-frying roar. Not everything was about sonic wallop, however – the band wove an eclectic, open-minded musical approach into its distinctive sound, with special attention paid to its acclaimed new LP …Like Clockwork. “If I Had a Tail” and “Smooth Sailing” rode a hipshaking swagger, while “Make It Wit Chu” added a seductive slither that subverted the stereotypical sex rap implied by the title. “The Vampyre of Time and Memory,” “…Like Clockwork” and “I Appear Missing” essayed the Queensly version of power balladry, while “In the Fade” stretched into widescreen psychedelia. “I Sat By the Ocean” added a subtle early 70s David Bowie influence, like Ziggy Stardust filtered through Homme’s vision of acid rock.

The show ended as it began, with a blazing salvo from Songs From the Deaf. The guitar orgy that is “A Song For the Dead” ripped through classic blues metal at nearly hardcore punk velocity, ending the evening in a wave of feedback, Homme’s guitar hanging from the microphone. Queens of the Stone Age’s ACL set is what rock & roll is all about, and we can’t wait for you to see for yourselves when the episode airs early next year. Stay tuned.