Saturday Preview

Beat Box

Noon-8:45pm, Blue stage

NickNack (noon): Preeminent mover and shaker of Austin hip-hop, producer, DJ, and Crowd Control label owner NickNack kicks the fest off at noon with the moody/melodic instrumentals of Dearly Departed.

The League of Extraordinary Gz (1:05pm): This ATX hip-hop conglomerate, featuring members of Dred Skott, Southbound, and C.O.D., is the most exciting thing happening in Central Texas rap right now.

Devin the Dude (2:55pm): If it ain't broke, you know the rest. Houston's Devin the Dude has crooned off-color R&B laced with sticky beats and weed anthems for the better part of 15 years. Fans needing a fix won't be disappointed by this year's Suite #420.

Slick Rick (3:50pm): The welcome trend of rappers performing classic albums front to back (granted, GZA was a train wreck at last year's FFFF) continues with The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, the 1988 masterpiece wherein the London-born eye-patch-rocking Ruler raised storytelling over beats to an art form. Brush up on classics "Children's Story" and "Hey Young World" for sing-alongs.

Dominique Young Unique (4:50pm): Smart money says 19-year-old Tampa, Fla., fireball Dominique Young Unique will land on an M.I.A. track in a year's time. Like Rye Rye, Unique raps like she's amped up on Red Bull and helium over spastic club beats.

RJD2 (8:45pm): Producer RJD2 became an underground darling with the release of 2002's Deadringer, an instrumental opus that put him in the same breath as DJ Shadow. The Colossus (2010) finds the Ohio-bred beatsmith singing and playing percussion, but casual fans more likely will recognize his work from Nike ads and the theme song of Mad Men. – Thomas Fawcett

Metallurgy

12:40-4:45pm, Black stage

Three-year-old local grindcore quartet Hatred Surge (12:45pm) pits its musical trio against new vocalist Faiza Kracheni on minutelong blasts of lung excoriation, a vinyl pile of which was crowned last year with the group's Deconstruct LP and upcoming follow-up, Brutal Supremacy. Dallas thrash quintet Power Trip (1:20pm) plays it straight and comes off all the better for it on debut EP Armageddon Blues. Mountain man fiver Valient Thorr (2:30pm), led by "Valient Himself," spent its last decade in Chapel Hill, N.C., looking for members with the surname Thorr. Fifth LP Stranger, Thorr's fourth for Volcom, came knocking in September with ZZ Topisms. Municipal Waste (4:45pm), with a decade of straight-up Testament, thrashes out last year's fourth LP, Massive Agressive (Earache), the Richmond, Va., quartet's ultimate anger management. – Raoul Hernandez

Royal Forest

12:15pm, Orange stage

Tired of being mistaken for a similarly named act, Loxsly became Royal Forest earlier this year, but little else has changed for the local indie-pop outfit. Its self-titled EP, available for free download on MySpace, marries the Shins to the eerie wooziness of Sparklehorse, like an alternate installment of Dark Night of the Soul, behind the scientific abstractions of frontman Cody Ground. – Austin Powell

Woven Bones

12:50pm, Orange stage

Austin's Woven Bones churns out primal skuzz-rock with the efficiency of a drive-by. Over the past two years, the trio – guitarist/vocalist Andy Burr, bassist Matty Nichols, and stand-up percussionist Carolyn Cunningham – issued a series of grimy, increasingly rare singles and a full-length for Hozac, this year's In and Out and Back Again, before signing with Sub Pop subsidiary Hardly Art. – Austin Powell

Jeff the Brotherhood

1:25pm, Orange stage

Nashville brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall engage in guerilla warfare with their new project, Jeff the Brotherhood. Much like the guitar/drum duo's former band, Be Your Own Pet, the Brotherhood excels in 1970s denim-punk at high speeds, jam-packed into last year's Heavy Days. Forthcoming follow-up, We Are the Champions, ups the noise. – Audra Schroeder

The Briggs

1:55pm, Black stage

Rather than the Sex Pistols' "Friggin' in the Riggin'," Joey and Jason LaRocca have spent the new century chanting down lean, clean echoes of UK socialism ("Mad Men") when not cheerleading the home game theme song for both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Los Angeles Kings ("This Is L.A."). The SoCal punk quartet's "Silent Night (Not So Silent)" raises the hey if not the gabba gabba as well. – Raoul Hernandez

The Appleseed Cast

2pm, Orange stage

No scorched-earth policy in the Appleseed Cast's musical manifesto. Its sonic landscape is shaped with aural echo, mountainous crescendos, and ever-moving walls of sound. The Cast finds itself revitalized through latest CD Sagarmatha, a delirious tumble of beats, percussion, and ambient noise reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Radiohead. – Margaret Moser

Joe Sib

2:05pm, Yellow stage

Longtime SoCal punk mover 'n' shrieker Sib is best known for running the SideOneDummy label (the Casualties, Flogging Molly) and overseeing the 24/7 online anarchy of Complete Control Radio. He'll be performing his "broken word" monologue, California Calling: A Story of Growing Up Punk Rock. You thought Henry Rollins was a gas? Get Sibbed! – Marc Savlov

Strike Anywhere

3:15pm, Black stage

These Richmond, Va., punks' pedigree includes a track on the legendary Rock Against Bush Vol. 1 and a one-man megafan club in game maven Tony Hawk. Frontman Tom Barnett hollers with the best of 'em, but Strike Anywhere's secret weapon remains its East Coast four-through-the-floor crunch. – Marc Savlov

Anarchy Championship Wrestling

Saturday, 3:15pm, and Sunday, 4:05pm, Yellow stage

From Bob Mould's stint as a scriptwriter for World Championship Wrestling to Motörhead greasing Triple H's theme song ("The Game") and Tommy Dreamer embodying Alice in Chains' "Man in the Box," professional wrestling shares a dark, strange history with rock & roll. Over the past three years, Austin's Anarchy Championship Wrestling has carved an impressive local niche at Mohawk, hosting monthly knockdowns that, while not as gloriously violent as the original configuration of Extreme Championship Wrestling, is helping land the indie federation on the national radar (see "Industrious Anarchy," Sports, July 18, 2008). Led by founder and former wrestler Darin Childs, these veteran performers bleed for their art, eschewing the groundwork-oriented bouts that saturate the indie circuit. Better still, ACW has been known to bring in top-tier talent – Jerry Lynn, Chris Hero, and "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson – and remains the only promotion that could possibly coax the School Boy back into the squared circle. This weekend's two-day card thus far includes current ACW heavyweight champion Scot Summers, ACH, and leading ladies Rachel Summerlyn and Lady Poison. Expect tables, ladders, and chairs. Hardcore rules: Falls count anywhere. – Austin Powell

The Casualties

4pm, Black stage

Return with us now to the glory daze of ocularly menacing coiffures, leather, bristles, studs, acne, and insurrectionist punk rock fit for toppling governments and pissing off everyone else at your squat. Celebrating 20 years of sneery, anthemic outrage and alcohol this year, Jorge Herrera and his Jersey City cohorts are the closest thing to GBH now that GBH is, um, back together. – Marc Savlov

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

4:15pm, Orange stage

Ariel Rosenberg's all grown up, and latest LP Before Today presents him as a man. Live and on disc, APHG benefits from a full band that knows how to lay down a groove. No more Casio beats or four-tracks, just some sweet 1970s psych-pop-funk jams. – Audra Schroeder

Monotonix

4:30pm, Yellow stage

Hard to believe this Israeli power trio's been destroying clubs in support of 2008's Body Language EP and last year's debut LP Where Were You When It Happened? for almost two years. Live is the best way to experience their 1970s chugga-chugga and to watch lead firehose Ami Shalev climb on anything nailed down. A follow-up, Not Yet, is due in the new year. – Audra Schroeder

Os Mutantes

5:05pm, Orange stage

São Paulo, Brazil, 1966: Sérgio Dias and Arnaldo Baptista, with singer Rita Lee, transform their nation's psychedelic pop into "Tropicália," whose global ripples eventually reach Beck Hansen's beach a musical millennia later. Haih ... or Amortecedor ... (Anti-), 2009: Sergio Baptista, original Os Mutantes drummer Dinho Leme, and singer Bia Mendes lead their septet through Kurt Weill-ian carnival rock. Mind the brown acid. – Raoul Hernandez

Big Freedia

5:50pm, Blue stage

In a New York Times profile recently, Rusty Lazer, Big Freedia's DJ, equated the sissy bounce scene in NOLA to the punk scene of the 1970s, but in reverse: At Freedia shows, the women stand up front and the men are on the sidelines. In the last year, she's been everywhere, after close to a decade being a regional icon. The call-and-response lyrics and rapid beats cause involuntary azz shaking, so get it, girl. – Audra Schroeder

Cap'n Jazz

6pm, Orange stage

Brothers Mike and Tim Kinsella left their fingerprints all over Chicago rock in Promise Ring and Joan of Arc, all beginning with Cap'n Jazz. 1998 Jade Tree LP Analphabetapolothology was the quartet's only release, but they were prolific enough to fill two discs with youthful energy and pogo-worthy pop-punk. – Audra Schroeder

Dwarves

6:25pm, Black stage

Howler Blag Dahlia and axeman HeWhoCannot- BeNamed still front one of the most exhilaratingly self-destructive live shows you'll ever see. Part meteor strike in a detuned guitar factory and part performance art gone terribly awry, the Dwarves have spent a quarter century crawling up from the gutter to get into your head. – Marc Savlov

Delorean

6:40pm, Blue stage

Like Phoenix after a tranquilizer, Barcelona's Delorean crafts beautifully hazy electro-pop music that unfolds like a Mediterranean sunset. Formed in 2000, the fourpiece didn't make waves stateside until last year's Ayrton Senna EP. Delorean's third LP, Subiza (True Panther), delves into the ecstatic bliss of early Stone Roses, modern glitch-pop, and Italian house music, epitomized on instant classic "Real Love." – Austin Powell

The Vandals

7pm, Black stage

Urban Cowboy mockfest "Urban Struggle" ruled Rodney on the Roq the summer of '83, and their first lineup was immortalized in Penelope Spheeris' Suburbia. Although drummer Joe Escalante is the sole remnant of the salad bar days, these iconic Huntington Beach punk rock pranksters have lost none of their SoCal knuckleheaded charm. – Marc Savlov

Dâm-Funk

7:35pm, Blue stage

2009's Toeachizown (Stones Throw) was an alien transmission from L.A. musician/producer Damon Riddick, with one foot in funk's past and one in its cosmos. His hood pass remains intact with latest candy dish Adolescent Funk, a collection of songs he recorded between 1988 and 1992. – Audra Schroeder

Dirty Projectors

7:50pm, Orange stage

The Dirty Projectors have collaborated with David Byrne and Björk. Bitte Orca, the Domino debut from David Longstreth's Brooklyn theatre troupe, hits somewhere between those two influences, compacting avant-R&B, Afro-pop, and oddly syncopated vocal sculptures into something engaging and unique. More recently, the Projectors jammed with Black Flag's Greg Ginn and staged their 2005 mock epic, The Getty Address. – Austin Powell

MGMT

8:45pm, Orange stage

Precious few Grammy-winning synth-rock quintets can simultaneously name-check Brian Eno and backhand Lady Gaga these days, but MGMT pulls it off by creating spontaneous and consistent critical orgasms with every new release. Live, the Brooklynites craft sonic cathedrals of psychedlia-inflected sound from blasted bits of long-dead disco. – Marc Savlov