Musical Passport

5 international acts guaranteed to make waves at Austin City Limits Festival

Austin City Limits Music Festival has the difficult job of giving Austin musicians their fair shot at fame while simultaneously attracting noteworthy acts from across the globe. It's that down-home appeal the brand has maintained for more than a decade, though, that consistently draws in a smattering of standout artists from beyond U.S. borders — and 2013 will be no different.

We're not talking about the obvious choices – Phoenix, Muse, Atoms for Peace, The Arctic Monkeys and so on. These are the international artists to catch between the headlining acts, from indie crooners to psych-rock legends in the making:

Jake Bugg
Nottingham, England
Watch: "Two Fingers"

If he lived in Austin, he'd be an anti-mainstream darling. Having recently called Mumford & Sons "posh farmers with banjos," Jake Bugg has won over the likes of spitfire and fellow Brit Noel Gallagher. When he was just 19 years old, the unique highs and lows of his voice and nostalgic Brit-twang style thrust him out of high school (where he generally just cut class and smoked cigarettes) and into the spotlight.

Friday, October 4 | 5-5:45 pm, Austin Ventures Stage
Friday, October 11 | 5-5:45 pm, Austin Ventures Stage

Dan Croll
Liverpool, England
Watch: "From Nowhere"

Dan Croll earned rave reviews during this year's South by Southwest Music festival and turned heads as your standard hip, glasses-wearing, good-hair-having indie artist du jour. Looking beyond the buzz, you'll find that he cut his teeth as a musician in high school, training at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, founded by Paul McCartney. Croll's music can be described as electronic singer-songwriter (what combination isn't there these days?), with much of it grooving bombastically in all the right places. He does, however, occasionally go back to his roots, letting his falsetto shine against a single acoustic guitar.

Saturday, October 5 | 12:15-1 pm, AMD Stage
Saturday, October 12 | 12:15-1 pm, Lady Bird Stage

Little Green Cars
Dublin, Ireland
Watch: "Harper Lee"

Beautiful harmonies by a beautiful quintet of young Dubliners. Fittingly enough, Little Green Cars recently supported Jake Bugg on his 2013 UK tour. The band's tracks are robust and emotionally charged (as one would expect of a catalog of songs written by musicians between the ages of 16 and 20). Little Green Cars' debut album was produced by Markus Dravs, who also lent a hand on Arcade Fire's influential Neon Bible.

Saturday, October 5 | 4:30-5:15 pm, Austin Ventures Stage
Saturday, October 12 | 4:30-5:15 pm, Austin Ventures Stage

Tame Impala
Perth, Australia
Watch: "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"

Tame Impala rose to prominence with its second album, Lonerism, which delivers a steady, unconfined, rolling ride of psychedelic rock. Led by Kevin Park, who writes and records almost all Tame Impala tracks alone, the band set out with the intention of crafting a sound that would be the opposite of the sharp, angular rhythms of today's popular dance rock. Still, it's pretty groovy and has all the makings of a powerful live show, especially when coupled with the hypnotic artwork the band projects onstage during performances. According to Rolling Stone, Tame Impala is a better live band than Tool.

Sunday, October 6 | 6:30-7:30 pm, Honda Stage
Sunday, October 13 | 6:30-7:30 pm, Honda Stage

Junip
Stockholm, Sweden
Watch: "Rope and Summit"

Frontman Jose Gonzalez has certainly made strides as a solo artist, and his trio Junip has enjoyed modest success with a worldwide tour in support of its 2010 debut album Fields. There has always been a quiet, beautiful discomfort to Gonzalez's projects, and this year's self-titled Junip is no different. The melodic psych-folk guided by Gonzalez's even-keeled voice is, as Pitchfork so perfectly said, "music for making dinner or babies" — and there's nothing wrong with that.

Saturday, October 5 | 3-4 pm, Honda Stage
Saturday, October 12 | 3-4 pm, Honda Stage

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Austin City Limits Festival takes place October 4-6 and October 11-13 in Zilker Park in Austin. You can purchase tickets online.

Dan Croll is among the up-and-comers from overseas making waves at this year's ACL Fest.

Photo courtesy of Dan Croll

Dan Croll is among the up-and-comers from overseas making waves at this year's ACL Fest.

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Movie Review

The Invite delivers smart, sexy laughs with an all-star cast

Photo courtesy of A24

Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton in The Invite.

Once upon a time, well before scandal embroiled him, Woody Allen made great comedies aimed at adults. That type of film - which is different from the raunchy, R-rated comedies of the 21st century - has fallen out of favor in Hollywood, but as the new film The Invite proves, when done well it can be as funny as anything else out there.

Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) are an unhappily married couple living in San Francisco. As we meet them, Joe has arrived home to Angela preparing for a visit from their upstairs neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz), who have moved in relatively recently. Their impending arrival starts a new round of arguing between Joe and Angela, something they can barely contain once the other couple comes to their door.

What proceeds is a getting-to-know-you process that is mostly awkward as Joe and Angela continue sniping at each other while Hawk and Piña put in their two cents in a much calmer manner. A sticking point between the two couples - the loud sex Hawk and Piña have on an almost nightly basis - turns the film on its head with an unexpected invitation.

Directed by Wilde and written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the film is a fast-paced chamber piece that takes place almost entirely in Joe and Angela’s apartment. Wilde, the writers, and the actors speed the story along not with action but through almost non-stop dialogue that often has the characters overlapping each other’s lines. The rapidity of the speech fuels the humor of the situation and establishes the differing personalities of each person.

Sex is very much top of mind for each of the characters for most of the film, but the filmmakers approach the topic in such a way that it never feels salacious. Each of the characters is a rational adult who can talk about sex in a mature manner while also acknowledging their unique feelings on the matter. And it’s the discoveries each of them makes along the way that brings about the most comedy.

But, like any comedy for adults, the film also has a dramatic tilt to it, and Wilde edges the story back-and-forth between the two tones extremely well. Joe and Angela fighting is played for laughs at times, but the sadness of their relationship comes through loud and clear. Hawk and Piña are much more intimate with each other, but the funniness of their openness is juxtaposed with a depth that arises through their conversations.

In the 2020s, Rogen has managed to make the transition from goofy stoner to stoner with real acting chops. In a stacked cast, he is the one who sells every moment the best. That’s not to say that Wilde, Norton, and Cruz don’t measure up, though; each of them inhabits their respective roles magnificently. The four actors play off each other as if they had been working together for years.

While The Invite will likely play better to those who have experience with long term relationships, its insights - and occasional bawdiness - make it a comedy that can be appreciated universally. With four actors at the top of their games and a razor-sharp script made even better by some well-done improv, it proves that you don’t need to go low to get great laughs.

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The Invite is now playing in theaters.

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