Thursday, April 23, 2026
The Cosmic Clash

Review

Mike CosmicPremiereReview

Song premiere: Austin music scene veterans Mean Jolene drop single Private Plane today

Mike Cosmic Cota 463 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Veteran Austin power-pop and garage-rockers, Mean Jolene release a new single “Private Plane” today.  The track is on their up and coming third studio album, Play Nice, recorded and mixed at Estuary Recording with John Michael Landon. The song’s theme “fantasizes about a return to innocence — reflecting on escapism as a form of self-preservation and how this can directly conflict with the desire to grow and overcome adversity.”

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Touche Amore Mohawk Merry Mike
Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: Punk rockers Touché Amoré celebrated ten years of Stage Four at Mohawk

Robert Dean 523 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

One of the greatest joys of live music is when you can tell the band is having a blast. There’s an explosive connection when the music and the people collide. And for Touché Amoré, they came out swinging at the Mohawk, celebrating their masterpiece Stage Four turning ten.

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Baroness Radio East Justin Clark
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Philly Sludge legends Baroness stopped at Radio East on Friday

Case Cockrell 502 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

The band, Baroness came into Texas on the circumstances of opening for Louisiana sludge legends Acid Bath in Dallas, but the great folks at Resound Presents couldn’t let them leave Texas without an Austin appearance. With longtime drummer Sebastian Thomson having to opt out days before travel, the band had to find a fill-in drummer to stand in for the run. Despite this, the veteran Georgia born, Philly-based quartet arrived at Southeast Austin’s Radio East and delivered a jam-packed show.

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St. Vincent 6 Luck Reunion Drew Doggett
Drew DoggettLive MusicReview

Live music review: Luck Reunion moved at a different speed to close SXSW 2026

Drew Doggett 572 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

After a week of SXSW, time starts acting strange. Days blur. Nights stretch. Everything feels loud, urgent, and time is slightly out of reach. Luck Reunion on March 19 at the tail end of Sx (a day after closing night) somehow felt like the opposite of that while still being every bit as packed and overstimulating. It was dusty, crowded, sunbaked, and full of movement, but it moved at a different speed. Less like a comedown and more like an oasis. A long exhale at the end of a marathon

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Acid Bath 2 Houston Justin Clark
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Acid Bath headlined killer extreme metal bill in Houston

Case Cockrell 999 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

The 2025 reunion of Louisiana hardcore metal legends Acid Bath has been triumphant, as it heads into its second year of gigs featuring stacked lineups and fans showing up by the thousands to experience it. At White Oak Music Hall near the Houston Heights area, a diehard crowd showed up ready to experience the short-lived yet massively influential out-of-the-swamp sludge kings. Acid Bath’s reunion tour is going on a year strong. Each show features extreme metal legacy acts and rising underground metal hardliners. For the March 28 stop, Acid Bath brought Houston brutal death metal outfit Stabbing, H-Town black metal institutions Necrofier, legendary Oakland power trio High on Fire, and Tampa death metal legends Obituary. A bone-crushing lineup of all proportions, this gig didn’t lose its hell-raising spark until the last note.

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Redd Kross 29th St Ballroom Troy Gonzales
Live MusicReviewTroy Gonzales

Live music review: Redd Kross and their Rock n Roll Party swept through Austin

Troy Gonzales 566 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

On March 27, longtime L.A. indie rockers, Redd Kross brought their “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party” to the 29th St Ballroom on a somewhat chilly Austin night. During a run Steve McDonald has dubbed their “Victory Lap” tour, the band is continuing the momentum they achieved in renewed adoration for their latest self-titled album (sometimes referred to as the  “Red Album), recent documentary, Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story, and their memoir, Now You’re One of Us. We were lucky to have gotten member Jeff McDonald back for this show as he had been sidelined by a contagious virus for a couple of dates, forcing the band to become a power trio. While fans might have been disappointed to not get McDonald for their show, I’m sure Redd Kross would have won us over easily had gifted player not made it to Austin.

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Author & Punisher 2 Far Out Lounge Justin Clark
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Author & Punisher delivered relentless spectacle to Far Out Lounge crowd

Case Cockrell 634 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

The industrial hardcore underground thundered into Austin on Sunday March 8, bringing a stacked bill to South Austin’s The Far Out Lounge and Stage showcasing some of the genre’s heaviest and strangest acts. Author & Punisher, the project of San Diego’s Tristan Shone, employs custom “drone” and “dub” machines. Formerly a solo act, Shone now collaborates with guitarist Doug Sabolick (A Life Once Lost, Ecstatic Vision). With a table of unique contraptions, Author & Punisher delivered a relentless spectacle to a Sunday night crowd.

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Puscifer Bass Hall Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Experimental rockers Puscifer played Bass Hall on their Normal Isn’t Tour

Case Cockrell 1044 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Maynard James Keenan is 61 years old and still works with three bands, releases music at a steady rate, and still tours the globe like he’s 31. From fronting the progressive metal behemoths Tool, hard rock supergroup A Perfect Circle, and on Tuesday, March 24, at Bass Concert Hall with experimental rock stage spectacle-makers Puscifer, Keenan and his meticulously chosen associates take on his utmost creative oddities with undeniable passion. Like his outsized arena outfit Tool, Puscifer has maintained consistent membership throughout their history that sculpts a well-oiled machine that showcases Keenan, English co-vocalist Carina Round, and multi-instrumentalist Mat Mitchell, feeding the loyalists once again with their latest studio record Normal Isn’t for their 2026 tour that demonstrated no creative burnout – and a statement on the current concert industry itself.

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Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

SXSW review: Robots, driverless cars and rad bands (Lime Scooter not included)

Robert Dean 984 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

This SXSW was the year of the Lime scooter for me. I also took a driverless Waymo and saw a robot bartender at Faregrounds on Congress Avenue. Kicking off SXSW this year, I was not optimistic about what the festival had become in its ever-quaking need to feed the techno-masses. I did not enjoy being waved at by a clanker. Nor did I love taking a driverless car. Seeing so many robots delivering food, taking people to and from, it was not for me. Big no. 

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Osees by Drew Doggett
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: The best music we saw at SXSW 2026

Case Cockrell 1153 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

The 2026 edition of South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival launched last Thursday with its inaugural all-concurrent format. Conferences ran from kickoff Thursday to the following Wednesday. The festival allows attendees to discover new acts, revisit favorites, and expand their horizons. Miles of walking and a steady food truck diet defined a packed SXSW featuring both legacy acts and emerging stars. The Cosmic Clash team covered highlights throughout the event and wanted to share what stuck out to us over the long week of music. Despite a shortened music schedule and no second weekend, there was plenty to see as we navigated around Austin throughout the seven-day expedition. 

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