Fun Fun Fun Lists

Austin City Limits

by Austin Powell

TV Torso (Fri., 12:30pm, Orange stage)
Matt Oliver's Sound Team, version 2.0.

Ocote Soul Sounds (Fri., 3:05pm, Orange stage)
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra meets Grupo Fantasma.

Heartless Bastards (Fri., 3:55pm, Orange stage)
"The Arrow Killed the Beast" and other new epics from Erika Wennerstrom.

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears (Fri., 5:35pm, Orange stage)
Scandalous R&B.

Okkervil River (Fri., 6:30pm, Orange stage)
The Stand Ins read from Will Sheff's latest drama, I Am Very Far.

Spoon (Sat., 8:30pm, Orange stage)
Increasingly rare hometown show behind last year's divisive Transference.

10 Orange (Stage) Flavors

by Austin Powell

Canon Blue (Fri., 1:05pm)
Efterklang collaborator scores ambient orchestral pop with Rumspringa.

Passion Pit (Fri., 8:30pm)
Sentimental electro-pop with bedside Manners.

Future Islands (Sat., 1:20pm)
Baltimore neo-wave trio just released On the Water for Thrill Jockey.

Ra Ra Riot (Sat., 4:45pm)
If Arcade Fire still lived in The Suburbs.

Le Butcherettes (Sun., 1:20pm)
Feral garage rock with a heart blacker than Joan Jett.

Asobi Seksu (Sun., 1:55pm)
New York duo's Kraut pop translates roughly to "playful sex."

The Budos Band (Sun., 4:10pm)
Daptone Records' equivalent to Brownout.

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (Sun., 5pm)
Punk lifer still gets mileage out of last year's The Brutalist Bricks.

Architecture in Helsinki (Sun., 5:50pm)
Australian twee-poppers resurfaced with 2011's Moment Bends.

Hum (Sun., 6:45pm)
Reunited Chicago noise-pop act still sees "Stars."

Sing Me a Joke

by Richard Whittaker

Adira Amram (Fri., 1:45pm, Yellow stage)
New York's thrift store Peaches gets inappropriate with her piano and the "Mom Song."

Captured by Robots (Sat., 1:50pm, Yellow stage)
Remember those singing robotic critters when you stuffed your face at Showbiz Pizza Place?

Brian Posehn (Sun., 7:40pm, Orange stage)
Thrash obsessive may not burst into song, but he'll be humming "More Metal Than You."

Punk in Row (Black Stage Friday)

by Raoul Hernandez

Danzig Legacy (8:15pm)
Goth-punk mini sets of Danzig, the Misfits – with Doyle Von Frankenstein – and Samhain.

The Murder City Devils (7:20pm)
Seattle miscreants and 2007 FFF headliners always wreck the Transmission.

Thee Oh Sees (5:45pm)
S.F. garage kinetics "pummel and throb" on third 2011 LP Carrion Crawler/The Dream.

Ty Segall (5pm)
Bay Area garage bomb went singer-songwriter on Goodbye Bread (Drag City).

D Generation (4:10pm)
Jesse Malin's NYC glam punks, all five, for the first time since '99.

Back in Black (Stage)

by Raoul Hernandez

Doomriders (Fri., 2:05pm)
Converge bassist Nate Newton's Boston stranglers.

Dead Horse (Sat., 3:50pm)
Seminal thrashcore legacies infused metal with H-town syrup tempos.

Eyehategod (Sun., 4:30pm)
NOLA screamer Mike Williams is back in paperback with Cancer as a Social Activity: Affirmations of World's End.
Cannibal Corpse (Sun., 6:10pm)
Buffalo, N.Y., gore metallers are recording at Sonic Ranch outside El Paso.

Azz Everywhere

by Chase Hoffberger

Auto Body (Fri., 2pm, Blue stage)
Local DJ Thibault split for Brooklyn last year for an electro-dance Priest Party.

Big Freedia (Fri., 6:05pm, Blue stage)
NOLA's architect of azz.

Dan Deacon (Sat., 4:30pm, Blue stage)
Baltimore art-scene pioneer tweaks innovative.

Flying Lotus (Sun., 6:55pm, Blue stage)
Los Angeles trip-hop maestro hasn't landed after last year's Cosmogramma.

Hipster Runoff

by Chase Hoffberger

Yacht (Fri., 4:15pm, Blue stage)
July's Shangri-La, the fifth from this Portland, Ore., duo, succeeds LCD Soundsystem's pop-conscious funk.

MNDR (Sun., 3:35pm, Blue stage)
The Brooklyn DJ duo whipped up last year's E.P.E. strictly for the "C.L.U.B."

Baths (Sun., 5:10pm, Blue stage)
L.A.'s Will Wiesenfeld twists bedroom glitch-hop that splits the difference between DJ Shadow and James Blake.

I Thought This Was Stand-Up?

by Richard Whittaker

Dating Game (Fri., 4:10pm, Yellow stage)
The Dating Game's host Chuck Barris claimed he was a CIA hit man. Expect no less lunacy live with From Awkward to Awesome's unlikely cupids Vanessa Gonzalez and Creepy Tranny Voice.

What the Hell: Magic Stunt Show (Sun., 12:45pm, Yellow stage)
The deranged stunts of Houston maniacs the Calle brothers would kill lesser mortals.

The Kenny 'K-Strass' Strasser Yo-Yo Exstravaganza (Sun., 4:35pm, Yellow stage)
Yo-yo expert or genius master of guerrilla comedy à la Andy Kaufman?

Microphone Fiends

by Chase Hoffberger

Fat Tony (Fri., 12:40pm, Blue stage)
Houston RABDARGAB architect legitimizes hipster rap by balancing Jay-Z and Das Racist.

Black Milk (Fri., 2:45pm, Blue stage)
Detroit's J Dilla-inspired ingenuity aside, it's drummer Daru Jones who deserves credit for making Black Milk's live set one of the most exciting shows in hip-hop.

Childish Gambino (Sat., 7pm, Blue stage)
Conscious wit and diverse delivery earns this NYC-based do-it-all backpacker cred.

G-Side (Sun., 2:25pm, Blue stage)
Country-fried Alabama duo preach peace through the struggle on The One ... Cohesive.

Rakim

Sat., 6:10pm, Blue stage

Without Rakim, there's no Jay-Z, no Biggie, no Nas. The Long Island-born rapper was instrumental in rap's progression from school yard to the main stage. His rhyme patterns and lyrical proficiency proved MCs didn't have to play second fiddle to the DJ. Here are three essential raps.

"Paid in Full" (Paid in Full, 1987): With Eric B. in 1987, Rakim introduced storytelling to hip-hop, detailing the schemes he conceived in the paper chase.

"Casualties of War" (Don't Sweat the Technique, 1992): Members of the Five Percent Nation had more to talk about than "My Adidas," so Rakim slammed George Bush for Desert Storm.

"When I B on tha Mic" (The Master, 1999): Twelve years into the game and working with DJ Premier, Rakim's still the microphone fiend: "Make the record fly undetected by the naked eye." – Chase Hoffberger

Three Ways To See Chris Trew

Air Sex Competition (Sat., 3:30pm, Yellow stage)
Trew judges Austin's most sweaty as they make sweet, sweet, disturbing love.

Rap Battle Royal (Sun., 1:05pm, Yellow stage)
Bring your phattest rhymes, because Trew's alter ego Terp2It will make you feel, er, fine.

Chris Trew (Sun., 2pm, Yellow stage)
ATX improv genius in his natural habitat: one man, one mic, and a head full of off-kilter