Live music review:  A Funky Levitation Full of Surprises or How April Spent the Fest

 Adulting is mostly a bummer, and Levitation weekend (September 26-28) coincided with a very important work event happening all day Saturday. Thankfully, the big boss sent an email to the team instructing us to do what we needed to do for self-care, leading up to Saturday. Perfect! I consider live music to be something that can soothe the beast, and from Tuesday through Sunday, I got my fill. It was a funky Levitation that was full of surprises.

Tuesday was HAAM Day, a very special day of free (donation-based) music all over town to raise money for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM). HAAM helps get health insurance to Austin musicians who would otherwise have no viable way to have health care benefits. We even had live music during our lunch break, and I hurried home after work to catch Como Los Movies and Superfonicos. Both bands were fantastic, and helped me get pumped for Levitation weekend at a new spot for the festival. 

Wednesday night, Levitation fans were hypnotized by the Saharan desert’s Mdou Moctar, and Thursday night, I experienced a little been-there-done-that-in-1982 Boy Harsher, before two solid dark wave dance sets with Johnny Jewel, and DESIRE at one of my favorite clubs in town, Elysium. All were official Levitation kick-off shows.

I went into Friday, super-stoked about the weekend and the prospect of hanging with friends from all over at a niché music fest for music snobs. Levitation was born from Austin Psych Fest and attracts attendees from all over the world who have an appreciation for psychedelic rock n’ roll. The Levitation folks understand that there are a lot of sub-genres of music that fit under psych rock.  Their line-ups reflect the diversity you’d want to see in a DIY festival.

The Levitation format has been club shows since the great Levitation rainout at Carson Creek Ranch in 2016. I’m excited that Levitation is back to this festival format.

I expected to miss most of Metal Friday because of work, but I had a ticket to see Rose City Band later that night at the 29th Street Ballroom, and I surprised myself by taking my big boss’s advice and blocking part of my calendar before heading to Levitation in time to catch part of Blood Incantation. They put on quite a show, and the audience had their horns up in agreement with the band.

Later on in the media lounge, a couple of dudes were starting to get their costumes on, dressed as wizards to go play some weird, Middle Eastern/Turkish-sounding music in a band called the Secret Chiefs 3. That was enough to pique my interest, and I headed out to listen from the artist patio. What I heard caused me to go right down to the outdoor stage and give them more than a passive listen, for which I was handsomely rewarded.

What I heard blew me away! Yes, they had a weird, Middle Eastern sound, but what Joe (their bassist) failed to mention was that they’re an instrumental band that leans heavily into the prog-jazz-funk-fusion zone that will spin you sideways, and then they drop the metal riffs in to round it all out. I couldn’t believe how great these guys were. Once you go read about them, it all makes sense. These guys have been around since the mid-’90s, with an always-changing lineup, including two really talented Mike’s: Mike Patton and Mike Dillon. They were tight, weird, groovy, and damn near esoteric. 

Considering I didn’t have any expectations for Metal Day, I was completely sideswiped by how good Secret Chiefs 3 were. I am now a fan. Love it when discovery zone turns into fandom.

Later that night, I drove across town to the 29th Street Ballroom for the much-anticipated Rose City Band show. I discovered RCB when they played Levitation in 2023 after listening to the Levitation playlist to check out bands and I really liked what I heard, and arrived early to Stubb’s the night they played.

I don’t usually like bands that seem like rip-offs of other bands, but I let it go. Maybe it’s a coincidence that they have a song that sounds note-for-note like The Grateful Dead’s “I Know You Rider”, maybe Ripley Johnson has started to mellow, maybe he started doing a lot of psychedelics, and maybe he wants to cash in on the jam genre like JRAD, whatever it is, I’m into it. Keep doing it. Check the clip from their recent Bowery Ballroom above show to get a taste. 

Moon Duo was cool, Wooden Shjips was even cooler, and Rose City Band goes hard the other way, proving psych rock is a wide net for a seemingly small genre. It’s psych-jam, and if a 75-degree sunset on a spring evening, while high on mescaline, had a sound, it might sound like Rose City Band. The sound was good, the crowd was really into them, and I think they were tighter and more interesting this time around.

I made it through my work event and caught Swervedriver and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, who stunned many of us by mostly staying on task and not fighting amongst themselves as they’re known to do. I did hear that Anton went through a couple of bus drivers before Austin, so maybe that satiated the urge. I know he loves Levitation / Austin Psych Fest and Austin. It was appreciated that the band was well-behaved and delivered a solid set.

 

The last set of the day was TV On The Radio. A friend burned me a copy of Return to Cookie Mountain many years ago, and I didn’t like it… At first. For the sake of this story, I wish I could remember when the tides changed, but I must have heard something I liked and thought, “Hmm, maybe I should give that TVOTR album another shot?” Put it into the CD player in my Suzuki Forenza and had my mind blown. You can’t get David Bowie to sing on your album if you’re not making some great art.

TVOTR jumped right into the set with “Young Liars” and then into the popular Phish cover, “Golden Age”. [That’s a joke. Settle down.] “Clap your hands. If you’re in the right place!” The sound was as good as it could be, a little in front of the soundboard, with plenty of room to dance. The setlist was a solid mix from six albums, which should have made everyone happy. They took time for some social commentary, and as usual, some of the trippy art during the show was made by the band members. Specifically, “Province” and “Wolf Like Me”, but I’m not sure if it was created by Kyp Malone, Tunde Adebimpe, or Dave Sitek, who is currently taking a break and not touring with the band, but is definitely making cool art. It’d been too long since I’d seen TV On The Radio live. That set was great and the perfect way to end an extremely long day.

Sunday Funday was summed up best by my houseguest visiting from NYC, who said, “I’m having a GRREAT DAY! Are you having a great day, April?”

I started my great day with Montreal’s Population II, who I first discovered this past spring during a Frankie and the Witch Fingers show at the 29th Street Ballroom, and knew that even though every joint and bone in my 50-year-old body was throbbing, I had to get a move on to catch at least part of their set. Caught the last two songs. Sad to have missed the rest as they were clearly primed and ready to shred for the fest. There weren’t many people there, so I hope the ones who did see it are now fans. Pop II are too good not to easily gain new fans at a music festival. 

Next up was the second loudest band I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing live, A Place to Bury Strangers. If you know me, then you know I’m a really big fan of this band and have seen them 11 times since 2010. They’re loud and I know they like noise, but there is usually a discernible melody and a bassline that is groovable, but this was like frontman and all-around bad-ass and sweet dude, Oliver Ackermann said, “Fuck it. Let’s turn it up to 15,” and that was that. My buddy and fellow writer for this publication, Case Cockrell, thought it was an amazing set, but I watched people leave with their ears covered like a fundamentalist Christian at a Frank Zappa show. Loudest band I’ve ever seen? My Bloody Valentine. I almost projectile vomited from the noise, without earplugs.

I saw many more bands over the weekend, but the two that deserve my mention are Mexico City’s Diles Que No Me Maten and Destroyer. My buddy Robert said he didn’t want to miss Diles Que No Me Maten, so I figured they must be really good. I verified Robert’s personal review after giving them a listen from the artist patio, and ran downstairs to really dig in. Mexican new wave, also described as experimental, but I’d say it’s great music to leave space in your soul, ears, and vibe for. I can tell they like Mogwai as much as they like The Cure by what they played during their set, and I hope they come back to Austin sooner than later. It could also be a sign that we all need to head to Mexico City to see them with a side of cultura and the best pastor tacos you’ve ever eaten. 

Destroyer brought the necessary dance-party groove that was missing from Sunday’s lineup, but I only listened from the artist patio, which, in theory, means I can’t count it, but they were good enough that it made me want to tell all of you about it and to listen to more of their music. They must have a helluva discography, because what I listened to while I was writing this review made me want to retract my entry. I’m going to go down a rabbit hole with the setlist and see what’s what. I can’t help that I like what I hear until I don’t. Look at my TV On The Radio mention, anything is possible. Music just hits different at different times. 

We’re lucky that in the sea of music festivals, Levitation exists. The people who made the festival happen did it for the love of the genre, the love of the bands, and to feed our minds with fuzz.

To APF/Resound/All of Production: The trippy tree with the projections by the mini-lake was a lovely homage to the trees along the water at Carson Creek Ranch. Thank you.

I can’t wait for Levitation’s Halloween Freakend!

Featured photo of TV on the Radio by Daniel Cavazos courtesy of Levitation