Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview: Growing and D.R.I. [Sunday]

What with the longstanding uselessness of ‘indie’ as a descriptor and the viral renown of Fun Fun Fun Fest (hell no, we’re not impartial- this is our home turf), shall we just start referring to ‘Orange Stage?’ “Yeah, met this guy for coffee the other day… what’s he like? Oh, grad student, into film, we met at the Farmer’s Market, you know- pretty Orange Stage.”

With album and track names that could easily double as titles for Color Field paintings, Growing belongs to the instrumental school of music that believes a band should be felt as much as heard. Growing’s roots nicely map out their sound, which is decidedly Brooklyn by way of Olympia. It’s evocative of babbling brooks and forest glens, the paths to which are all laid out in synth.

Fresh off their tour with fellow dronescapers and Fun Festers Fuck Buttons, Growing hits that intellectual ol’ Orange Stage at 12:30 on Sunday. For some, Sunday morning is a little too early for such mental excursions, but many of us grew up being brought to far less entertaining drone every single week. Growing’s latest album, All the Way, is a welcome double-shot of skittering, caffeinated fuzz so lithe and kinetic that we fully expect an electronic garden party.

Growing [Myspace][Official]

Artist Myspace

Orange stagers take note: Fun Fun Fun Fest derives much of its credentials from what could only be named the Black Stage, an uncanny gathering of punk and metal legends you won’t see in any one place anywhere else. ~~Even~~ Especially if your neti pot is the most hardcore element of your daily routine, take our advice and spend a few hours at the Black Stage this weekend; the carnage you’ll witness features the blue blood of many a noble music lineage.

One such act is D.R.I (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), one of the very first bands to fuse punk with thrash metal way back in the mid-80s. Their 1987 album Crossover, virtually gave birth to this eponymous movement. Among D.R.I.’s earliest tour experience is “Rock Against Reagan” with the Dead Kennedys.

Named after a recurring theme in the phrasing that vocalist Kurt Brecht’s father would use to throw them out of the house during/because of rehearsals, D.R.I. has exerted inestimable influence on other bands—most traceably Slayer—during a career arc spanning more than 27 years and still bending toward hardcore. Several D.R.I. albums are hailed as classics, so do yourself a favor and experience more than just what’s on that one Tony Hawk Playstation 2 game. D.R.I. takes to the Black Stage at 6:55 pm on the Sabbath.

D.R.I. [Myspace][Official]

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.