ACL 2008, Redux

Alright, alright. Another successful Austin City Limits Music Festival. Great tunes were heard, yummy food was consumed, an overabundance of queso was ingested, and the dust made a bit of a reappearance.

Here's a recap of the highlights and the lowlights:

Yeasayer - caught the tail end of these boys from Brooklyn. Having seen them twice now, I think they're more of an indoor venue band, but they can still bring it.

Vampire Weekend - the prepsters know how to put on a good show. A hot, sticky afternoon, a cold, sweaty beer, and some "Cape Cod, Kwaasa, Kwassa" - ain't nothing wrong with that. Plus, discovered that "Blake's got a new face".

M. Ward - maybe I was offput by the dust storm off to the side of the WaMu (yes, that WaMu) tent, but couldn't get too much into him. The boys went "in" and enjoyed the show more thoroughly, but I was digging the folding chairs at that point.

Hot Chip - I was all about the Hot Chip, but here's where the sound bleed was a bit of an issue. They just didn't seem loud enough.

Jenny Lewis - We headed over to catch the tail-end of Ms. Jenny "Short Skirt" Lewis. Not too bad, but not too memorable either.

Swell Season - While mellow, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening performance of the new band, formed by Glenn Hansard and Markéta Irglová of "Once" fame. Glenn is such a charming Irish bloke, and Marketa is just plain adorable. Would definitely see them again live.

Manu Chao - A great cap-off to Friday evening. Manu Chao brought a frenetic energy to the festival. We danced through to the end.

Old 97s - Saturday's start to the day with a little hottie Rhett Miller and the Old 97s. Enjoyable, but I actually prefer Mr. Miller's solo acoustic performances of many of the songs. Much more original sounding.

Frattelli's - We checked out the tail end of the Frattelli's - the cute bro trio from Scotland, and of iPod commercial fame. Their songs are uplifting, but best suited to running mixes.

CSS - We skipped off to dip in Barton Springs pool, which was much needed and completely restorative, but I was kicking myself for missing to much of CSS. They kick ass and I'm going to have to find a solo show when they're back state side. Bonus: CSS, which stands for CanseiDeSer Sexy, means "I'm tired of being sexy". Amen.

MGMT - These guys are definitely the band of 2008, but deservedely so. They kick ass, and take names. A racous - if young - crowd, helped the show along and the sound was just right.

Conor Oberst - He's not for everyone, but I really like Conor Oberst (also, performs as Bright Eyes). The kids got heart, and lyric-writing charts. He definitely doesn't break out of genre, but he's got stuff to say, so I'll keep listening.

Iron & Wine - These guys won points for being best show of ACL 2006, but this year they sounded a bit too spacey. I'll just keep my memories of yesteryear in tact and continue to listen to them in a dark room with my ear phones in.