Austin City Limits Announces Their TV Taping Lineup For Upcoming Season

Austin City Limits is celebrating it's 35th year on the air. The PBS series boasts an incredible lineup this year, featuring numerous diverse performers. The full list of confirmed performers for Austin City Limits tapings include Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Kenney Chesney, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper and Relentless7, M. Ward, Andrew Bird, Madeleine Peyroux, St. Vincent, Heartless Bastards, Okkervil River,and Band of Heathens.

"We had high hopes for our 35th anniversary, but never expected to pull together a season like this" said ACL producer Terry Lickona. "We've scored major coups with some of the biggest names in rock and some of the best touring bands in the world. And we're excited to continue to showcase the best new and emerging sounds wherever they come from, including some of the hottest bands making waves in Austin and beyond. After three and a half decades it seems like everybody still wants to stand on that stage and be a part of ACL history."

Exact broadcast dates, additional confirmed performers and news of other exciting events planned for this special 35th anniversary season will be unveiled in the coming weeks. ACL features a blog if you'd like to stay informed and also a newsletter you can sign up for to receive email updates.

Austincitylimits.org features performance clips, extended interviews and photo galleries from spotlighted artists and archival footage of historical performances from the great stage of Austin City Limits. The show is broadcast in dynamic high definition and 5.1 surround sound on PBS HD channels where available and airs nationally on 97% of the country's PBS stations. KLRU is Austin's PBS affilatiate by the way.

Last year, we were lucky enough to attend the My Morning Jacket and Duffy tapings and we were blown away by the fantastic sound and intimate setting. Hopefully we'll be at some of the great tapings they have this year!

ME Television to Rebroadcast SXSW Performances This Entire Weekend

Andrew Bird

ME-TV, Time Warner channel 15, will repeat some shows taped during SXSW. Rebroadcasts, in a continuous 6-hour block, start at 6pm today:

Hour 1: M.Ward; BLK JKS

Hour 2: The Features; Wild Yaks; First Communion Afterparty

Hour 3: Akron/Family; Love Language; Gomez

Hour 4: Andrew Bird; Razorlight

Hour 5: Elliott Brood; Peter, Bjorn & John

Hour 6: Pete & the Pirates; P.J. Harvey and John Parish

This block of performances will continue every 6 hours throughout the weekend (midnight, 6am, noon, etc.)

(Via Austin 360)
(Photo Credit: Jim Bennett)

Register to Win Tickets to See Andrew Bird at ACL Taping During SXSW

Via the ACL Blog:

Austin City Limits celebrates the creative impulse of the eclectic by welcoming Andrew Bird to Studio 6A. Evolving at a furious rate, Bird includes rock, pop and electronica influences in his polyglot stew, issuing acclaimed albums like The Swimming Hour, Weather Systems and The Mysterious Production of Eggs. In 2006, Bird released Armchair Apocrypha, his most celebrated LP yet, and his first to hit the Billboard charts. Now, with his latest album Noble Beast, Bird brings his knockout stage presence to Austin City Limits for his debut performance.

Bird will perform on Wednesday, March 18, at 8PM. We are giving away 50 pair of Space Available. Enter between now and noon Tuesday. Winners will be chosen at random from all entries. These tickets do NOT guarantee admission. Register here for Andrew Bird tickets.

[Andrew Bird Official Site]

[Andrew Bird Myspace]

Also catch Andrew Bird at ME Television Studios on Friday, March 20th at 1:30PM for FREE. More details here.

(Photo: Cameron Wittig)

Andrew Bird on Shoot The Player (Videos)

Late last year, Andrew Bird visited with Shoot The Player, a site we've mentioned a few times before. We finally got around to posting the Andrew Bird videos. He filmed two videos, the first one for "Plasticities" and the second for "Happy Day". Very cool, check them out for yourself.

You can catch Andrew Bird at SXSW. He's playing a FREE show at ME Television studios on Friday, March 20th at 1:30 PM. You might want to stay all day cause there will also be performances by Peter, Bjorn & John, M. Ward, and PJ Harvey & John Parish.

[Shoot The Player]

[Andrew Bird Official Site]

February Instores at Waterloo Records

Waterloo Records has some great instores coming up in the month of February.  Ben Kweller stops by February 4th, Andrew Bird makes an appearance on February 11th, and Trail of Dead perform a set on February 17th.  Best of all these are all FREE.  They do start at 5 pm, so you might want to get there early to get a good spot.

Update:  Lykke Li was just added to play an instore on February 19th.

[Waterloo Records Official Site]

It appears Ben Kweller has gone a little country on his new album, Changing Horses.  He recently recorded a Daytrotter session, which has three songs from the new disc you can hear. Changing Horses drops on February 3rd via ATO.

Also, Kweller just played Letterman on Monday night. You can check out the video of him playing "Fight" here.

Kweller on the new record:

"I grew up bass-fishing, playing in creeks, and shooting BB guns," Kweller says. "Country music was the soundtrack to my life. It's still a big part of who I am. When Garth Brooks or Alan Jackson come on the radio, somethin' happens inside. Brings me back to the trees, back to pushin' cars out of the mud. Reminds me of my hometown."

On releasing a country album:

"I've been working on Horses for years." he says. "I wrote the first song for it when I was 16. Over time, I've collected these songs that fit together and wanted to release them together. I didn't want to try and fit them on my other albums one or two at a time."

On producing the record himself:

"I've learned so much from all the great producers I've worked with, from Ethan Johns to Gil Norton, and I just felt it was time for me to go in there and make the album the way I knew I could," he says. "I wanted it to feel really pure and direct. I wanted each instrument to sound exactly like that instrument, with very little treatment or alteration, to give it that natural, warm beauty that I love." [Via Paste]

[Ben Kweller Myspace]

[Ben Kweller Tour Dates]

Just yesterday, Andrew Bird released his newest album Noble Beast on Fat Possum Records.  The self-produced album consists of 14 songs recorded primarily at the Beech House, in Nashville, with additional recording taking place at various Chicago and Minneapolis locations over a five month period.  As usual, Bird handles violin, vocals, whistling and guitar, with back-up from live cohorts Martin Dosh (percussion, looping, keys), Jeremy Ylvisaker (guitar, bass, organ, shortwave) and more recently Mike Lewis, plus a supporting cast including Kelly Hogan, Todd Sickafoose, and the band Lonely Dear.

The NY Times has a great piece you should read about him.

Andrew Bird also plays the Paramount the very next evening (2/12).  His concert is just about SOLD OUT, but they do have obstructed view seats still available.  If you really want those seats, call Gettix.net at (866) 443-8849.  

Update:  The Paramount show is now SOLD OUT!!

Better yet just go see him at Waterloo instead.

Be sure to also check out a solo performance of Bird performing "Sectionate City" (off the Soldier On EP) on Nigel Godrich's "From The Basement" series.

Bird was also on Letterman last night performing "Fitz and Dizzyspells" from the new album.

[Andrew Bird Myspace]

[Andrew Bird Official Site]

[Andrew Bird Tour Dates]

(Photo by Sebastian Gabsch)

Trail of Dead's newest endeavor, The Century of Self will be released via their Justice Records imprint Richter Scale on February 17th, the same day as their Waterloo instore.  The cover for the new album was hand-drawn by frontman Conrad Keeley, and was done entirely with blue ballpoint pen.  The songs, "Bells of Creation" (which is amazing!) and "Inland Sea" were previewed on last year's Festival Thyme EP and hearken back to the Trail of Dead of old.  The forthcoming album was produced by Chris Coady (TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and features backing vocals from members of Yeasayer and Dragons of Zynth.

“The new songs are very personal,”says Keely. “Some of them are autobiographical. We’re building on everything we’ve ever done, looking back on our whole career and taking a lot inspiration from our early music. We continue to evolve the concept and try to incorporate new ideas. And there was no point on the record where we were trying to write songs you’d hear on commercial radio. We know that singles are driving the market, and we don’t care.” [Via Altsounds]

As we mentioned earlier this month, Trail of Dead will be performing at show during SXSW at Emo's on March 21st.

Stream "Bells of Creation" via RCRD LBL

[Trail of Dead Myspace]

[Trail of Dead Tour Dates]