Greg AckermanLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: 13th Floor hosting art and music benefit for SIMS Foundation Saturday with Satalights, Semihelix and The Stayres

This Saturday, 13th Floor on Red River is hosting a SIMS Foundation benefit featuring art and live music by Austin musicians at the venue. Live music by Satalights, Semihelix, The Stayres with tunes by DJ Dead Flowers will begin at 8 p.m. In addition, four musicians; Conrad Keely (And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead), Anna Troxell, Ruben Mendez and Wes Coleman will be presenting their visual art for sale, all to benefit The SIMS Foundation, a music mental health organization that provides mental health and recovery services to Austin area music industry members and their dependent families.

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Music NewsOpinionRobert Dean

This Party Sucks: Long Live The Lost Well

When you come up in the DIY rock and roll underground, the community that goes with the music is everything. Unlike most sub-genres of humanity, two punk rockers and a guy in a Slayer shirt will typically find something to talk about over a cheap PBR. The places that house those shared interests are important. These spots are somewhere for the weirdos to hang out, to hear their weird bands, and champion their outsider passions, are crucial for people to feel like they belong somewhere. To hoist drinks in their air in both celebration and sadness. There is often more than people drinking together in a bar. Instead, it’s the social glue that keeps people’s hearts and minds together, too. People like us, we bond over a Crass tape, or get excited about those annual Motorhead parties. Our culture of rock and roll is a brick of our identity and when you’re the kid with the Black Flag sticker on your skateboard who becomes the adult with the son in a Stooges shirt, you take shit personally when it comes to the things that helped craft your identity.

That’s why losing The Lost Well sucks so hard. 

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AlbumReviewRobert Dean

Album review: Spare Parts by Austin act Buzz Electro features loud guitars and nasty riffs

Guitars should be loud, and riffs should be nasty. The drums should sound like they hold the keys to the entryway to hell. Luckily, Buzz Electro got the memo. On their newest record, “Spare Parts,” the band gives it their all as one of the acts in Austin doing their best to be the loudest, horns up, drinks spilled version of rock and roll out there.

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ReviewRobert DeanSong

Song Review – Anyway You Like: Tied Up is one of Austin’s Newest to Check Out

Taking the hip-hop approach by dropping singles one at a time, Tied Up recently gave us their newest, “Anyway You Like,” on the heels of their prior single, “Gun.” Both are wicked glimpses into what the band will give us moving forward, which says a metric fuck ton, considering they only have two tracks out for public consumption. And those two tracks do not play. This is the rock and roll you want;

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: A Hot Summer Nights ramble through the weekend with great local acts

Another Hot Summer Nights in Austin has come and gone. Twice a year, the Red River Cultural District holds a cover-charge-free, street-wide event that features mountains of Austin talent and beyond in both a January and July edition at venues such as Mohawk, Chess Club, Empire Garage & Control Room, Swan Dive, The 13th Floor, Elysium, and more. For each festival edition, an eclectic lineup that spans all genres invades Red River for thousands of attendees to get a helping of great, local talent, new and old. During the festival weekend, programming lasts from the early evening to closing time to give local music fans a taste of what makes the Austin music scene one of the best destinations in the country.

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Brian HillsmanLive MusicReview

Live music review: Hot Summer Nights Thursday lineup with Moody Banks, David Shabani and Daniel Fears at Empire Garage

Empire Garage is one of the many participating venues, and their opening-night Hip Hop, R&B, and Soul showcase Austin Chronicle party on Thursday evening did not disappoint with performances by Moody Banks, Daniel Fears and hip-hop artist, David Shabani.

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AlbumGreg AckermanReview

Album review: Sprawling Post Rock project Sound Mass announced third album and Texas mini tour

When our friends with Austin band, My Education and Salt Lake City’s Theta Naught told us a new album was coming ten years after the release of their second collaboration, it was a bit of a surprise it took that long to make the follow-up to Sound Mass II: Spiritual Docking. It was particularly perplexing given that the recording sessions for this release, entitled Ampersand were made in 2019 not long before the worldwide pandemic put a stop to pretty much everything including collaborations between awesome post-rock bands. 

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Cage the Elephant came back from five year hiatus with Young the Giant at Moody Center

When a band like Cage The Elephant moves out of their place of formation for England, you know they intended to live up to their titular mission statement. Kentucky-born Cage The Elephant is many records removed from super-hit “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked,” becoming one of the mainstream’s most hard-hitting arena rock and roll acts while churning out a discography with inarguable depth that carries the torch for contemporaries such as The White Stripes, Beck, Modest Mouse, and The Black Keys. On Thursday night at Austin’s downtown basketball arena, as Melvins’ Buzz Osborne would call a “Non-venue,” the Kentucky-England band pumped out 80 minutes of virtually banterless cuts that saw the six-piece outfit tearing through their accomplished career of steady but worthwhile material. An eclectic audience made their way to the Moody Center for the Friday eve show.

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Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Seven bands to see at Hot Summer Nights July 18-20

Hot Summer Nights in the Red River Cultural District in Austin, is yet another RRCD-sponsored event that features countless local artists performing across the downtown area. Each showcase will not charge a cover at the door, meaning dozens of free showcases akin to the annual Free Week, which takes place the first week of each January. Hot Summer Nights will take place July 18 – July 20 and will feature over 140 acts from all over Austin and surrounding areas.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: The Black Angels rocked the new Stable Hall in San Antonio last week

The Black Angels headed to San Antonio to give their Central Texas fans a blueprint of what will come in their 20th year. The Black Angels have stayed plugged into the depths and hardliners of the indie scene, and their relevance and expertise in the underground music sphere have been an inspiring force due to their many years in the business. The Black Angels delivered a smoking set at Stabile Hall on Friday, June 28 in San Antonio for their Central Texas fans, which saw Austin and local SATX supporters alike flocking to the new(ish) Stable Hall venue to witness a masterclass in Texas Psychedelia. 

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