Austin City LimitsWe’re pleased to announce that Austin City Limits will be live streaming our upcoming tapings with Jason Isbell, Dawes and Austin’s own Black Angels around the world. Tune in to the ACL YouTube channel at 8 pm CT on Aug. 19 for Isbell’s rocking literary Americana, Aug. 25 for Dawes’ shimmering folk rock and Aug. 28 for the Angels’ rumbling psychedelia. See you there!
Summer may be pounding Austin with triple-degree temperatures, but we’re still excited to have new ACL tapings to announce. First up is Dawes on August 25. Currently touring in support of their recently released third album, the acclaimed Stories Don’t End, Dawes are evolving into one of America’s most beloved young bands working today. Having already toured with the likes of Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and Mumford & Sons, among others, and gracing the stages of the country’s most prestigious festivals, Dawes’ appeal crosses all age barriers and has no boundaries. To make Stories Don’t End, the band traveled to North Carolina and worked with producer Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Norah Jones), resulting in their most diverse and accomplished record yet. Both Relix and American Songwriterput the band on their recent covers and Rolling Stone called the album “quietly gripping,” and “deceptively gleaming.” Paste noted that it’s full of “their most intricate music to date, full of colorful detours and surprising instrumental flavors” and the NY Daily News declared that it “both recalls a classic era and speaks to any.”
On Sept. 13 we welcome fun. The New York trio had a whirlwind year last year, releasing an inescapable brace of singles, the success of which contrasts with the band’s humble beginnings. Singer Nate Ruess formed fun. after the demise of his previous band, the well-regarded but commercially unsuccessful The Format, inviting Andrew Dost of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff of Steel Train to join him. Aim & Ignite, fun.’s first LP, received critical nods, but it was their second album that put the band over the top. Some Nights boasts the massive hits “Some Nights,” “Carry On” and the monster “We Are Young,” singalongs that ably demonstrate what The New York Times called “grandiose pop tunes with complex structures, soaring hooks, and pensive verses.” The group also won its first Grammys, for Best New Artist and Song of the Year for “We Are Young,” earlier this year.
Two great artists, two great tapings – we hope you can join us.
Far more than just the latest British import, Emeli Sandé reiterated why she’s a rising star during her first Austin City Limits taping. The Scottish singer/songwriter has already conquered her native soil with a brace of hit singles and her debut album Our Version of Events. Given her strong songs, ability to connect immediately with a crowd and, of course, her fabulous voice, it quickly became clear why the States are swiftly falling under her spell.
Sitting at the piano after taking the stage, Sandé launched into one of her hits – the dramatic, bitter ballad “Daddy.” The song’s brooding tone was a bit of a feint, however – once she stood up and took her mic in hand, Sandé dispelled the clouds with a brace of upbeat anthems. “This song is all about good intentions,” she remarked by way of preface to her huge U.K. single “Heaven, “and I hope that you woke up with them this morning.” The gospel-tinged “Free” – another British hit, with electronic band Rudimental – and the quiet, piano-and-strings ballad “Clown” continued her themes of empowerment. A reggae beat wove through the romantic “Where I Sleep,” which also became the first song to include call and response with the crowd. Indeed, audience participation is clearly a must for Sandé – she engaged the house to clap along with “Breaking the Law” and made the people her backing choir on the defiant declaration “My Kind of Love.” Only the sparse heartbreak ballad “Suitcase” – performed almost solely by Sandé and her bass player – contrasted with her messages of honesty, inclusion and a positive attitude. It was a contrast the audience obviously didn’t mind, given the enthusiastic reception it gave the song.
Sandé closed the main set with her biggest anthems yet, all originally collaborations. A number one U.K. hit with British producer/rapper Professor Green, “Read All About It” started as a piano ballad, before the rest of the instruments crashed in to make it a real lighter-waver. She closed with her two collaborations with producer Naughty Boy: the new single “Lifted,” which folded in elements of electrobeat dance and segued directly into the British top 10er “Wonder,” which rode an Afrobeat groove and the chorus “We are full of wonder” into the biggest call-and-response with the audience yet. By the end of the performance, the crowd had joined Sandé and her band in making the “W” sign with their hands – a true sign of her ability to remind us that we’re all in this world together.
Of course, it wasn’t truly over – Sandé and her band came back to encore “Next to Me,” her platinum Stateside single that had the audience on their feet and in the palm of her hand before it was halfway over. It was a stunning end to a stunning set. We’re eager for everybody to see it when this episode airs in the fall. Stay tuned.
Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sande makes her highly anticipated Austin City Limits debut on Sunday, July 7th, and we’re happy to announce the taping will be live streamed worldwide at 8pm Central Time. Fans can log on to ACL’s YouTube Channel to watch live video of Sandé’s entire ACL taping from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. We hope to see you there, literally or virtually!
We’re thrilled to announce a new pair of tapings for Austin City Limits: Jason Isbell on August 19 and the Black Angels on August 28.
Called “one of the greatest young songwriters we’ve got” by Blurt, Alabama native Jason Isbell first came to music fans’ notice in 2001 as a member of the Drive-By Truckers, acting as a major songwriting force on their acclaimed albums Decoration Day, The Dirty South and A Blessing and a Curse. He departed the Truckers and released his first solo album Sirens in the Ditch in 2007. Forming his own roots-rocking backing band the 400 Unit, Isbell garnered more huzzahs and fans with his next pair of LPs, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and Here We Rest. His new record Southeastern is his most personal and fulsomely praised yet. “Southeastern is pretty serious business,” notes The A.V. Club. “Then again, so is life and the one that Isbell has lived thus far is certainly worth documenting, especially when the songs supporting it are this stunning.”
Named in tribute to the Velvet Underground number “The Black Angel’s Death Song,” Austin’s Black Angels found themselves the spearhead of a new psychedelic revival soon after its formation in 2004. The band’s carefully crafted blend of melody and noise won over fans of both modern indie rock and old-school acid rock, and its LPs Passover and Directions to See a Ghost on the hip Light in the Attic label established it as a major force in underground rock & roll. 2008 found the band not only backing its spiritual godhead Roky Erickson for a pair of gigs, but also starting its own festival, the still-running Austin Psych Fest. Signing to the revived legendary label Blue Horizon, the Black Angels signaled a poppier direction with Phosphene Dream and its latest Indigo Meadow. NPR recently said of the band, “The music slunk through the crowd like an iridescent snake wrapping itself around each and every fan in the crowd, rattling its tail and hissing a slew of bittersweet, psychedelic nothings in the process.”
We’re excited to bring these artists to the ACL audience. Ticket details will be forthcoming – watch this space.
Mexico City duo Jesse & Joy is only now starting to break in the U.S., but for their debut ACL taping the sibling singer/songwriters performed their healthy catalog of international hits for a studio audience that knew them well.
After cheekily introing themselves with a recording of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” the pair and their band launched into the reggae-influenced pop of “Aqui Voy,” horns and harmonies flying. “Espacio Sideral” followed, a straightforward pop rocker that was the first, but definitely not the last, tune to have the audience sing part of the chorus unaccompanied. That song set the tone for the rest of the show, as Jesse & Joy rolled out a series of crowd-pleasing anthems and upbeat pop songs. “Me Voy,” “¿Con Quien Se Queda El Perro?” and “Esto Es Lo Que Soy” (complete with Jesse’s Big Rock Jump at the end) ratcheted the excitement up into the red, while the ballads “Me Quiero Enamorar” (“This next song is for anyone who’s in love, or wants to be,” remarked Jesse) and especially “La De La Mala Suerte” effortlessly swelled hearts.
Jesse & Joy left the stage after the rousing single “Llorar,” a duet between the two siblings. That wasn’t the end, however. The demands of the crowd for more brought the band back for three final anthems: “Chocolate,” “Ya No Quiero” and, fueled by call-and-response between Joy and the audience, the huge hit “¡Corre!” After tossing out a stuffed dog wearing an autographed T-shirt to a lucky patron and having their picture taken in front of the crowd, Jesse & Joy and band exited for the final time to the strains of the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark. If that seems self-aggrandizing, given the excitement level of their fans following this show, we’d say they earned it.
Jesse & Joy may not be as well-known in the States as they are in the rest of the world, but we guarantee that will change when this episode airs in the fall – don’t miss it!