Fun Fun Fun 2011 is still fresh in many’s minds, but the Fun crew is already plotting and planning their next smash hit festival for 2012. Mark your calendars for Nov 2, 3, and 4 in 2012 for the next weekend of Fun Fun Fun happening at the expanded grounds Auditorium Shores.

A limited number of “earlybird” ticket are to be released soon, and those who purchased tickets last year will be notified via email when they become available…sit tight.

Keep an eye on the Fun Fun Fun Fest site for updates and register to receive updates.

And watch this little diddy of a tribute to FFF Fest 2011

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 from Guerilla Suit on Vimeo.

Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 edition has come and gone, and while the dust has settled (literally), a look back at what has become one of Austin’s hottest festivals showcasing scores of indie bands sprawling genres that appeal to audiences as diverse as the festival’s lineup.

Relocating Fun Fun Fun Fest from the friendly confines of Waterloo Park to a much larger venue Auditorium Shores, was met by little skepticism by some of us who have grown to love the comfort and convenience of the smaller setup. A setup that gave us relief from the larger festivals that aren’t as quite as forgiving when trying to experience as much as you can at a festival with the ease of accessibility. Would FFF Fest still be able to maintain that feel that we’ve come to love so much about the event? Would the grown spurt be handled well enough technically and operationally that the quality of the fest not be compromised? And the dust? Most of us dealt with it years ago at ACL Festival and the thought of repeating the experience weighed heavy.

I should begin by stating that my approach to the festival experience has changed quite a bit over the past few years. Being that I really enjoy experiencing my favorite bands and live music in general in smaller venues, the idea of standing in a field in mid day watching a band run through a set that in some situations doesn’t replicate their club performance in many ways, just doesn’t appeal to me much. My approach to festivals is catch the handful of bands that I really do want to see and hope it translates well enough, and spend the rest of the time trying to experience other artists that might not be of extreme interest to me, but have built themselves a certain reputation or “buzz”. That, and catching up with peoples, and enjoying some beverages and the occasional tasty food offerings. Tasty food offerings a definite must at a festival and Fun Fun Fun Fest probably had the best selection of food that I have experienced at a festival.

I was only able to attend the last two days of the event, and as I entered the wind swept compound of Auditorium Shores, the dust was almost enough for me to consider my even staying for too long. The constant grit in my beverage, and the idea of trying to eat any food in the dust storm, played heavy on my mind, but the pending performance by M83 outweighed any decision to leave.

Throughout the course of the afternoon few bands achieved holding my attention for very long. The middle of the afternoon presented two, of which I was hoping to gain more interest in, tUnE-YaRdS and Ra Ra Riot failed to change any previous opinion that have on the recorded material. I know..gasp!

The pleasant surprise of the day, not really knowing much about the band was The Joy Formidable. I believe that there have been some comparisons to a local trio fronted by an axe wielding blonde front-woman, and understandable to a degree, but the energy, stage presence, and full band sound was impressive for such an early set.

M83 provided a great sounding set covering a fine selection of tracks from the band’s most recent release Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, but the band’s sound and visual performance would have benefited from a later set time after sunset.

Girls continue to impress as they blossom into a band that embraces the challenge of the larger stage with a sound that has evolved from quaint, quirky, cute jangly band from California into a full sounding rock band, incorporating a little psych with loud guitars.

This year my interest in the half-pipe and BMX ramp was a bit more than in the past, and it was a nice change of pace for shooting photography than the crowded photo pits where photo assigned wristbands at times sported nothing more than an iPhone for shooting. It’s great to see more interest by other media sources in the local fest, but the organization and security of the photo areas was a bit inconsistent.

In the interest of keeping this fairly short…

Sunday bands that failed to move my interest into to the plus category. Mates of State and We Were Promised Jetpacks. Always heard great things, but maybe on a smaller stage?

Kudos to Ted Leo for working through an almost non-existent voice and delivering his always infectious, high energy, sets of post-punk from one of today’s hardest working in the business.

Cannibal Corpse…that’s right. The opportunity to see something that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise, and what a weird, humorous experience. Not to offend anyone, but wow. And that guy must  pay thousands to his chiropractor to keep that neck in shape.

Consider me a new fan of Boris and once more impressed with the progress of Blonde Redhead in regards to their live show.

Sure, the dust was an incredibly unpleasant unfortunate part of the event. The reported exclusion of many of the local media photographers from the last two acts on every stage seems a bit of a slap in the face of the locals that have been supporting the festival since it’s infancy, and hopefully will be revisited next year.

The food was amazing, the lineup continues to grow and bring bigger acts, and the feel of the park still maintained it’s comfort while providing pockets of diversity that allows the attendee to experience something completely different in every corner of the park.

Now what are the reported numbers and facts about FFF Fest 2011? Just released:

Check out the rest of our photos by Loren Root and myself…

Quite honestly, I’m not that familiar with much of Lykke Li’s music, but “Little Bit” from the 2008 Youth Novels recording has seen some serious spin time around my parts. Maybe because of the lyric “and for you I keep my legs apart, and forget about my tainted heart”? I can’t help it, I’m a guy. You have to admit, she is pretty sexy as well. I’ve been giving the music some serious consideration as well. I’m not that shallow. Curiosity sparked, so this young lady is on my list of artist’s to check out at this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest.

Lykke Li plays the Orange Stage Sat 11.5 @ 7:25

I had a wordy, descriptive post planned for recommending Murder City Devils as a must see at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011, then I came across this video from their 2007 performance..Let it speak for itself.

A rare opportunity to see this great band.

Murder City Devils play the Black Stage Friday 11/4 @ 7:20 p.m.

Ever seen the Black Lips perform? I haven’t, and the band has a pretty solid reputation for putting on what some might call an “interesting” show. Interesting enough, that they fled India in mid tour fearing that they would be arrested and jailed for “homosexual acts”…hmmm. Debauchery will ensue.  Can’t say that I’m much familiar with the music, but sometimes a band’s reputation strikes up enough interest warranting some attention. That, and I need to see what “Flower Punk” sounds like live.

Black Lips play the Black Stage (?) Sun 11.6 @ 7:50

It’s official, our little festival is all grown up. Can’t make it to the hottest ticket in town this weekend, but want to catch some of the action? You are one lucky pup.

FOUR STREAMS PROVIDE A DIFFERENT MUSIC EXPERIENCE CATERED TO YOUR FAVORITE GENRES – FROM INDIE, METAL AND PUNK TO HIP HOP, ELECTRO, & MORE

AUSTIN, TX (October 31, 2011) – Fun Fun Fun Fest and Pitchfork announced today that the 6th annual festival in Austin, Texas will be streaming live on pitchfork.com November 4 – 6, 2011. This will be the first time ever that the music of Fun Fun Fun Fest, one of the most progressive independent music festivals in the country, will be available to those outside of Austin, and live.

Unlike other music festivals with similar live streams, Fun Fun Fun Fest will present 4 separate streams with each tailored to different musical tastes, streamed live on one of the most widely read music websites in the world that reaches 3.3 million unique visitors each month. Like the Fun Fun Fun Fest stage setups, each stream will provide a different musical experience, from punk and metal to indie rock and electronica, from bounce and hip hop to competitions and comedy. Fans will be able to toggle the streams to cater to their favorite styles of music, thanks to smart, the quirky, irreverent car.

When asked about the new partnership, Pitchfork had this to say: “Fun Fun Fun Fest has absolutely become one of the great festivals in the country, one that shares the same spirit of adventurous booking and music- and fan-community focus that we bring to our own Pitchfork Music Festival and our other events,” said Pitchfork President Chris Kaskie. “Pitchfork has produced a number of live streams in recent years, and we’re thrilled to be producing the Fun Fun Fun Fest live stream this year, for the first time bringing the festival to music fans outside of Austin.”

Pitchfork Fun Fun Fun Fest Live Stream Schedule

• Friday, Nov 4th at 12:20pm Central
• Saturday, Nov 5th at 12:10pm Central
• Sunday, Nov 6th at 12:15pm Central

To check out the Fun Fun Fun Fest live stream on Pitchfork, go to www.pitchfork.com. The stream will begin at these times:

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I honestly felt that Girls were going to be one of those bands that put out one interesting album, exploring their creativity to the max with that album, and slowly fade into the indie-rock sunset. Gladly, I was wrong. The band continues to craft catchy, pill induced, California dreamin songs that lay claim to the fact that their creativity has only begun to peak. The bands most recent release Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is a shining example of this. Tapping into his personal experience with the Children of God cult, songwriter Christopher Owens explores a wide spectrum of themes musically and lyrically.

Girls play the Orange Stage Sat 11.5 @ 6:30

With the coolest festival of the year just a mere 2 1/2 weeks away, the tools to start planning your weekend at Fun Fun Fun Fest are now in your hands. Looks to be an epic weekend of music appealing to all tastes, creeds, genders, religion, and species…

Can’t read the tiny print? Go HERE

Not to start with one of the more obvious picks for this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest, but the opportunity to see this outfit founded by French artist Anthony Gonzales called M83 doesn’t come very often in these parts of the woods. A band that fuses ambient electronic soundtrack ready sounds with rock ambition, and the occasional electric guitar, M83 have stood strong for 10 years. The band just released what might be their most ambitious and inspired collection of recorded material on Oct 18th titled Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Gonzalez describes the newest tracks as darker and “very, very, very epic.”

“Midnight City”, the first track from the album is a definite booty shaker. My interest in this live show grows day by day…

M83 play the Orange Stage on Sat 11. 5 (Time TBA).

Seems like all I’ve been posting about lately is Fun Fun Fun Fest, but I can’t help it…don’t have as much time as I used to to devote to this and Fun Fun Fun Fest is completely awesome. And it just got uber awesome with this full lineup just announced..

check it…

So, last year the Fun Fun Fun Fest officials held an entertaining press conference to announce the festival lineup, and this year they get creative once again. Word just went out that this year’s lineup will be announced via turntable.fm next Monday 8/1 beginning at noon. Not familiar with turntable.fm? It just happens to be one of the fastest growing music service on the web currently, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down anytime soon. Part streaming, part chat room, voting, and playing dj is what it’s about, and it’s set up through a Facebook portal. I’ll try to explain…

So, you log in with your Facebook account, set up your profile, even pick out a cute little avatar, and then you either start your own room or find a room with a theme that might interest you. In the room are dj spots where individuals can occupy and play music that they have loaded into their queue either from their own personal collection or from the options provided by turntable.fm. You can either hang out in the room and just listen to what the dj’s are playing or join in the mix if there is a spot available. There’s chat going on if you want to chat with the other folks in the room. You can vote on tracks giving them either a “lame” rating or an “awesome” rating. Room capacity is 200.

Now, Fun Fun Fun Fest has a room set up and I’m guessing that they are going to be dj’ing tunes from all of the festival artists to announce the lineup. Being that the room capacity is only 200, you better get there early. And if you haven’t set yourself up on turntable.fm, get in on the fun.

Here’s the link to the Fun Fun Fun Fest room: turntable.fm/fun_fun_fun_fest

Fun Fun Fun Fest leaks one more band today, and it’s a good one. Good friends of the Fun Fest, Murder City Devils will be making a rare appearance at the 2011 installment. And if you haven’t been paying attention, the lineup so far: Odd Future, Ra Ra Riot, Kid Dynamite, Okkervil River, X, tUnE-YaRds,  Brian Posehn, and M83…with much more to come.

Today is the last day to get your Fun 2 discount tickets as well, so save yourself some scratch and do it now.

The fine folks over at Fun Fun Fun Fest take no qualms when it comes to being as ambiguous as possible when it comes to hints and now leaks in regards to performers for this years fest. Take the following video which is supposed to reveal the first 5 artists leaked, through a series of nautical codes. HUH?

Well, if you didn’t make it out on your own..this is the short list covering what would appear to be one artist from each one of the various stages you’ll find at Fun Fun Fun Fest..

Brian Posehn, Okkervil River, Odd Future, M83 (yes!), and X

Stayed tuned for more leaks which should be coming soon, and if you haven’t gotten your tickets FUN 2 tickets go on sale this Thur, and they’ll go quick. GET THEM HERE.

Sure, Austin is known for SXSW and ACL Festival, but we all know what the best music fest in Austin is…Fun Fun Fun Fest. This year sees a change in venue, which I’m personally torn about, but it might work out to our benefit. Only time will tell.

Straight from The Fun Fun Fun Fest HQ:

FUN 1 On Sale Date YO!

The first round of on-sale tickets, aka FUN 1, are going on sale today at 6 p.m. CST. Shit is officially on! There are several reasons why you should take advantage of the Fun 1 ticketing option:

• THE BIGGEST PRICE BREAK OF THE YEAR
• There will be contests, giveaways, and P-I-P upgrades to our homies who snag tickets early.
• All the cool kids do it.

To be eligible for FUN 1, simply register at funfunfun.com and create a user profile.

And, because we love you so much, one lucky FUN 1 ticker holder will win a “Share The Fun Fun Fun” prize and get to fly in a friend for the festival! That¹s right, we know you have some poor friend in Chicago/Boston/Ohio/BFE that is dying to come party Austin style for a weekend and we have you covered. So start saving your tips and jump on this super amazing offer before all the FUN 1 tickets are gone!

You can expect that lineup announcements are just around the corner, and this guy..can’t wait. And if you need any incentive as to why you should jump on this opportunity…just watch the video.

From the Mind Of Adi comes video Pt 1, featuring interviews with Fun Fun Fun Fest artists Weird Al Yankovic, Wooven Bones, Royal Forest, and Magnifico. The Weird Al interview is worth the few minutes of your day. And being labeled Pt 1, surely indicates that there are more videos in store to stir up your Fun Fun Fun memories.

2010 Fun Fun Fun Fest Feature (Part One) from From The Mind Of Adi on Vimeo.