Autumn weather may be in full swing, but this weekend, 70,000 music fans flocked to the musical (and actual) capitol of Texas for one last burst of summer: the 2011 Austin City Limits Festival. Over a hundred artists played on one of the festival’s eight stages, and VH1 photographer Julie Ruiz was on site, following the sounds and snapping pictures of Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, and seventeen others—including three of the can’t-miss sets we recommended. Before this weekend, we thought we were all festival-ed out, but looking at this gallery gives us all-too-fresh pangs of jealousy.
The Mercury Prize announced its twelve-album shortlist of the best British and Irish albums released between July 2010 and July 2011 earlier today, and Adele and PJ Harvey are the leading nominees—at least according to British bookies, who gave 4-to-1 odds for each of the two artists. Both have been nominated for a Mercury Prize before: Adele in 2008 for 19 and PJ Harvey three times, of which she won once, in 2001, for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Other nominees that have gotten some traction with United States artists include British rapper Tinie Tempah and Jamie Lidell-via-dubstep soulster James Blake, who played at this weekend’s Pitchfork Music Festival.
The closed-door judging process for the Mercury Prize, founded to be a “Booker Prize for music,” is best explained in a 2003 Guardian piece. The shortlist ranges from the obscure and localized (localised?), like King Creosote & Jon Hopkins‘s Diamond Mine, to, well, Adele. The nominees also span ages, from neophyte rock bands like Everything Everything to UK mainstays like Elbow. And despite some of the left-field nominees, the prize’s short history has British favorites of ours like Suede and Pulp, so we’re curious who will walk away with the prize in September.
Before the plane lifted off for a flight back to NYC from Austin’s South By Southwest Music Festival, the airline attendant joked via loudspeaker: “You all look so hip and cool.” Some passengers laughed, but probably no one disagreed. How could a flight with members of TV on the Radio be anything else? In fact,the packed plane felt like a microcosm of the festival itself, where thousands of bands, industry executives, celebrities and music fans worked and played for five days at parties in clubs, bars and makeshift venues like parking garages.
If you’re not in the music business, you may have never heard of Benny Blanco. But there’s no way you haven’t heard his music. As a writer and producer, he’s helped create some of the biggest pop hits in recent years, including Katy Perry‘s “Teenage Dream” and “I Kissed A Girl,” Britney Spear‘s “Circus” and Ke$ha‘s “Tik Tok.” Benny is also in Bangers & Cash, a duo with Spank Rock that produced a raunchy EP based on 2 Live Crew samples. Benny isn’t performing at SXSW (he’s just attending), but we’re interested to find out who’s on his short list.
If you’re into witch house, whatever that is, then you may already know the new producer/DJ duo CREEP, which recently released Days, an EP featuring vocals by the xx‘s Romy Madley Croft. It seems no one knows quite how to label CREEP, but the Brooklyn-based duo, featuring Lauren Flax and Lauren Dillard, say the genre that most closely represents their music is trip hop. Regardless, it’s clear the Laurens have listened to plenty of Goth and industrial in their day. The duo’s debut video is dark, sexy and sinister – just like their music.
Like Lady Gaga, SXSW artistNeon Hitch is an eccentric-looking singer and songwriter who makes danceable pop. Unlike Lady Gaga, she has a legitimately eccentric background. Neon Hitch (real name, not made up by a producer) grew up traveling in a Gypsy caravan with hippie British parents and performed as a trapeze artist in circuses and freak shows. At 16 she ran away to India without ever having gone to school, but not before her dad gave her CDs by Michael Jackson, Madonna and the Spice Girls — three of her biggest influences. How Neon went from circus act to co-writing Ke$ha‘s “Blah Blah Blah” to signing with a major label for a solo debut (no release date yet) is beyond us. But it’s a good thing she’s excelling as a pop star. Her resume would be a mess without it.
