FPSF 2013 Lineup, Announced This AM

Boom. There it is, y’all — those crafty people over at {Free Press Houston} just released the lineup (so far, anyway) for this year’s Free Press Summer Fest. Take a look at the poster over there on the right, or check out the lineup online over here.

And yes, it’s pretty awesome. There’s literally something for every-freaking-body, from a rejuvenated Postal Service to legends Iggy Pop & The Stoogies to razor-sharp hipster rockers TV on the Radio to down-home soul rumblers Alabama Shakes to old-school SoCal punks Social Distortion to H-town rap icons the Geto Boys to low-key indie-folk-popster Cat Power to upbeat Brit-rockers Arctic Monkeys to wild-eyed Ukrainian-bred gypsy punks Gogol Bordello to — no, I’m not at all kidding — ’90s production crew Quad City DJ’s, aka Those Guys Who Did “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)” Nearly 20 Years Ago.

That’s just a quick cross-sampling, mind you, and there’s a lot more to be damn, damn happy about on the list. Personally, I’m psyched as hell to see Savannah psych-metal dudes Baroness are coming to town, having recovered from that awful bus crash in England last August, and I’m nearly as psyched to see Mavis Staples on the bill, as well — I mean, c’mon, how can I not get excited about the prospect of finally, finally hearing “I’ll Take You There” live and in-person?

There’s a great pile of local folks playing, too, naturally, a lot of whom haven’t played FPSF previously or are relatively new to the scene. It’s always good to see {Devin The Dude} on the bill, obviously, and seeing {American Fangs} in the blistering heat back in 2011 was pretty awesome. Oh, and I always kinda count Austin-dwellers Ume and The Octopus Project in with the “local” pile, too, since both bands have long, tight H-town ties (and are great, to boot)…

Plus, there’s {Young Mammals}, who I’m happy to hear are back from the almost-dead, long-unrecognized (yet awesome) street-punks {Blackmarket Syndicate}, stellar hip-hop outfit {The Niceguys} (if you’ve never heard “Mr. Perfect,” their single from back in 2010, you need to start kicking yourself right now, and go listen), sludgy post-grunge guys {Rivers}, ex-MacKenzies garage-rock quartet Mikey & The Drags, promising newcomers {Showers} and {Infinite Apaches}, and one of my absolute-favorite new bands, the furiously overfuzzed {Midnight Norma Lane} — I’m over the moon to see them get some well-deserved recognition.

Of course, there are some surprising omissions. A lot of tried-and-true FPSF veterans aren’t on the list, both local and not — no {Grandfather Child}, no The Eastern Sea, no {The Manichean}, and no {B L A C K I E}, for just a handful. But hey, it’s early yet, and if the schedule’s anything like it’s been these past few years, the 60-something bands and musicians announced so far are only about half of the whole pile.

phew. So, there you go; kudos to the FPSF organizers for upping their game yet again this year. We’ll be back soon with more detailed rundowns of the bands playing, like we’ve done in years past; in the meantime, just sit back and freak the fuck out for a while, right?