Dallas’ Deep Ellum district serves as the centerpiece of the city’s arts and entertainment happenings. This weekend, Sept. 26-28, the neighborhood hosts the third annual installment of the Index Festival, which will feature over 100 bands and artists spread across three outdoor stages and six surrounding indoor concert venues. Boasting an eclectic lineup, with acts ranging the genre spectrum from hip-hop and electronica to country-tinged folk and old-school punk, Index Festival offers countless ways for attendees to customize their daily schedule. Here are five acts, we’re excited to catch in person here at Glide.
1) Future Islands: Sure, the Letterman performance put them over the top, but these Baltimore-based, North Carolina-bred, synth-poppers have been stopping audiences cold in their tracks for years now. Each of their four studio albums showcase earnest lyrical musings on heartbreak, loss, and reflection all filtered through slinky and irresistible beats that demand rhythmic attention. Live, they pull no punches, making it easy to see why ol’ Dave was blown away at the band’s Late Show performance.
2) Foxygen: These stony, psych-rock purveyors are about to bring forth their third studio album next month. If it’s anything like the previous two, listeners can expect to be treated to whimsical and kaleidoscopic ditties filtered through layers of trippy, garage rock, DIY-styled madness. Live, the band sounds fantastic, but their often wildly predictable and sometimes unhinged shenanigans offer a spectacle not to be missed.
3) White Denim: This four-piece outfit will be playing on their native Texas turf where their raucous guitar-based sound should fit in perfectly with Saturday’s late-afternoon sun. There’s no better band on the bill to sit back and enjoy with a cold beer and fist in the air. A bit jammy, a bit experimental, but always loud and forceful, the band’s recent material from last year’s Corsicana Lemonade should particularly resonate with the crowd.
4) Dan Deacon: Long renowned for his participatory and improvisational live shows, Deacon’s music sucks one in with its’ blistering assault on the senses. His last album, appropriately titled America offered forth thoughts on Deacon’s complex relationship with his native company filtered through more of a rock-oriented filter. As he has also recently been dabbling in film scores and smartphone apps, there’s no telling what kind of basis he’ll use for his late Sunday afternoon outdoor set.
5) Joe Pug: A former theater major at UNC-Chapel Hill, Pug has lived the wandering life of his trobaudor influences. Like Townes, Earle, and Prine, this Chicago-based singer-songwriter has logged the miles back and forth across the US, playing his literate, folk-minded songs to increasingly larger audiences and greater critical acclaim. A songwriter’s songwriter, Pug’s starkly, arresting tunes should hold up well in the late-night confines of Club Dada, one of the festival’s intimate indoor venues.
Tickets are still available for this weekend, head on over to the festival’s website for more info!
