One of the greatest music festivals in the world recently returned as a championship contender when they released their lineup for 2013. Lately, the festival seemed to rely mainly on its prestige alone. After all, it is a festival that spans over 11 days and has more than 800 acts performing on 11 different stages. The festival is a vision of the great late mayor of Milwaukee, Henry Maier, who wanted a massively relative festival that would compare to the joyous Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. He started the tradition that became Summerfest in 1968.
The lineup has been lacking the innovative music that the youth and many more have gravitated towards in recent years. This year after they released their headliners at the Marcus Amphitheater I had mixed feelings. So I was a little skeptical when I received the E-mail that their complete lineup was out but said, “What the hell” and clicked the link. To my astonishment, I was really impressed. One thing that stuck out in my mind was that they got some major electronic, Indie rock and alternative rock acts. All whom are currently relevant in their respected industries. This list includes Pretty Lights, Diplo, Empire of the Sun, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeasayer and MGMT. They did this while still including a lot of the older talent (Alice Cooper, 311, Foreigner and Billy Idol) and mixing in many more talented up and comers.
Another thing you have to appreciate about Summerfest is the variety of music that they bring to the many ears attending the festival. They have done a great job blending country, pop, blue grass, electronic, rock and even a little bit of hip hop into the lineup. A few other artists that would be worth seeing are: Capital Cities, Atmosphere, Trampled by Turtles, Robert Delong, Matt & Kim, AWOLNATION, Imagine Dragons, Taliban Kweli and Cake. If you are the least bit interested after reading this head over to summerfest.com/lineup for a complete listing of this year’s lineup.
It’s already been a year since the release of this album, but it’s still worthy of my short review here. It’s rare that a modern rock band can breakthrough into my collection so effortlessly, but with All Hour Cymbals Yeasayer did it. Yeasayer has put together an album of effortless ethereal, psychedelic experimental rock that pulls you in at every twist and turn.
MIND INVERSION 