Live music preview: Seven more bands to see at Levitation 2024

The 2024 edition of Levitation is coming up fast this Halloween weekend. Each year, Austin’s The Black Angels and trusted booking powerhouse and Festival Director Rob Fitzpatrick continue to deliver star-studded lineups and cutting edge acts that never disappoint local and out-of-town music fans traveling to Austin for the annual multi-venue programming. The Cosmic Clash team is here to provide another list of bands you need to see over the four-day festival takeover at venues all over the Austin area. Fans have the option of purchasing access to the entire lineup or purchase individual shows. Set times and tickets can be found on the Levitation website for fans to plan their daily excursions to see all the music they can throughout the weekend. 

Wine Lips – Parish – 11/2 

The Cosmic Clash team can’t recommend these Canadian indie punks enough. Toronto’s Wine Lips recently released their latest record, Super Mega Ultra, and have been a supersonic touring machine surfing the waves ever since. With infectious hooks and ripping guitar solos to back them up, the hard-living lyricism and attitude from Wine Lips has been making noise as a conditioned group that comes into their own from a different angle with each new studio release. With barnburners like “Eyes,” “Derailer,” and “Six Pack,” the up-north thrashers always bring the heat with their mosh-ready crowds that come ready to feed the energy right back in unmatched fashion. Wine Lips has made various Austin appearances in the past 18 months, but for their Fall edition of Levitation debut, they’re due for their most cathartic local performance to date. 

Grocery Bag – Hotel Vegas – 11/2

Los Angeles legends Osees, who need no introduction at this point, are returning once more to Levitation to deliver another four-day run. They are setting up shop at East Side staple Hotel Vegas per usual to give fans a widespread helping of their underground, hardcore act status that stretches countless studio albums of psych-punk expertise. For the third night of their mighty residency, local psychedelic shredders Grocery Bag will take the reins in an opening slot in their Levitation debut. Vocalist and guitarist Bella Martinez, guitarist Dillon Aitala, drummer Jimmy Mercado, and bassist Logan Kerman assemble to form Grocery Bag. Since releasing their debut LP Break You, the Austin act has been chipping away at the Austin scene block with countless gigs, various appearances at SXSW, and recently, a cross-country tour putting them on the map as a coveted Austin quartet. Grocery Bag has graced the main stage at Hotel Vegas before, so this gig will raise the stakes in the most righteous of ways. Grocery Bag is also slated to release their upcoming EP, Static Mirage on 11/2. 

The Dare – Kingdom – 11/2

Harrison Patrick Smith isn’t just an indie sleaze revivalist. The famed New Yorker has worked with Charli XCX, Water From Your Eyes, and Coco & Clair Clair while maintaining his new musical identity as The Dare since moving on from his long-running moniker as Turtlenecked. The recently released full-length What’s Wrong With New York? has propelled him to blogosphere fame, sparking viral coverage across the music journalism world. Taking influence from acts like LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes, and The Rapture, Smith is carving a new niche within the realm of rocking electronic music for people who just love to party until the throbbing, hungover sunshine shows up to shut everything down. It makes too much sense that The Dare will appear for a late-night DJ set at Red River’s newest dance club, Kingdom, to rock the night away until closing time. 

The Sword – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre – 11/3

Oh shit. They’re back. Austin stoner metal legends The Sword announced their disbandment in 2022 to explore other avenues. Singer and guitarist JD Croise moved out of Texas, guitarist Kyle Shutt has been dabbling in solo material, bassist Bryan Richie has been busy with Spaceflight Records, and drummer Santiago Vela III has appeared on various releases, notably Alex Maas’ solo record Luca. Upon the announcement of Levitation’s 2024 lineup, The Sword appeared on the bill as a headliner for the upcoming Fall festival. With multiple landmark releases such as Age of Winters, Gods of the Earth, Warp Riders, plus their recent Live at Levitation release The Sword has been paying homage to old-school doom metal, stoner rock, and classic rock of their formative years for the better part of two decades. The riff masters will appear alongside two-piece psych fuzz rockers Gran Moreno, Austin doom metalers The Well, sludge kings Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, and proto-metal legends Pentagram in a stacked bill that will leave attendees melted down to their bloodsoaked steel toe boots. This is going to be one for the books.

Editor’s note: watch for Case’s interview with The Sword, coming soon to TCC.

Slowdive – The Far Out Lounge & Stage – 11/3

Reading’s Slowdive is the centerpiece for all that is modern shoegaze. Since forming in 1989, the English guitar piledrivers are the reason countless new and old bands are plugging in to play to this day. Since reforming in 2014 after a lengthy hiatus, the English act has been hard at work on the touring circuit once again and has recently released a critically acclaimed studio album Everything Is Alive in 2023. Slowdive’s comeback has been long overdue, only to be thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic, among other things. Chief songwriter Neil Halstead penned all of the latest album’s tracks, making the UK outfit come back stronger than ever to play their famed music to a generation of fans that have never gotten to experience the sprawling walls of sound that Slowdive sculpts. The South Austin headlining set is sure to overwhelm the sound system that Slowdive plugs in their mighty instruments of effects-laden madness.

Queen Serene – The 13th Floor – 11/3

If you’ve been to an Austin Psych Fest or any other psychedelic rock-loving joint in Austin, you’ve probably spotted Queen Serene frontwoman Sarah Ronan wielding an instrument or standing behind a vinyl record-spinning DJ station. Ronan’s tenure in Austin has spanned many collaborators and influences across most of the local scene’s most beloved stages. Besides being a key figure in the local indie rock/shoegaze movement, Ronan has also appeared in the yearly tribute to The Velvet Underground showcase that celebrates the birthday of former Austin resident Sterling Morrison, who is recognized by local fans as a bona fide Austinite. For these tribute shows, Ronan can be seen taking over the role of German VU vocalist/tambourinist Nico. Since releasing their debut, self-titled LP in 2023, Queen Serene is already at it again, with an upcoming studio record to be released in the final months of 2024. This last-minute addition to Levitation will manifest with a performance at The Black Angels’ Jake Garcia’s Levitation HQ, The 13th Floor on Red River, for a late night set. Queen Serene has shared the stage with Austin hardliners such as Being Dead, Nuclear Daisies, Water Damage, and Thor & Friends, among others.

Illuminati Hotties – Parish – 11/3

For one of the closing performances of Levitation 2024, Los Angeles’ Illuminati Hotties will bring their bubbly hooks for fan singalongs that will bring feelings of ultimate catharsis. Frontwoman, guitarist, and chief songwriter Sarah Tudzin began her career as a studio engineer before launching Illuminati Hotties as her production resume continued to grow to stretch her song-crafting muscles before turning the project into a full-time live act. The freewheeling antics of Tudzin are impossibly fun, bringing lyrical themes of being the outcast, lost romance, and every problem caused by too many tequila shots and being caught up in the moment. With the latest release, Power, increasing the band’s studio album count to three, Illuminati Hotties has sounded more confident and emotional than ever. Don’t sleep on this one, Levitation heads. Tudzin and her delightfully fun dynamic ability will have the Hotties devotees closing down the Levitation festivities with a bang at the intimate Parish. 

Levitation 2024 is gearing up to another packed weekend. As The 13th Floor Elevators would say “We’ve got Levitation!!!”

Featured photo courtesy of Levitation by Pooneh Ghana