experimental rock – The Cosmic Clash

Acid Mothers Temple 2 29th St Ballroom Troy Gonzales

Live music review: Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple at 29th Street Ballroom with The Macks and ST-37

November 10, 2025 Case Cockrell 1179 Views 29th Street Ballroom, Acid Mothers Temple, ambient music, experimental rock, garage rock, live music, post rock, prog rock, psych-rock, Review, ST-37, The Macks

Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple returned to Austin for their fourth local appearance in two years at the 29th Street Ballroom in the University of Texas campus area on Sunday, marking another stopover for the band’s constant touring schedule that often has seven shows in seven cities per week. Acid Mothers Temple is a prolific force in the world of psychedelia, bringing their noise-infused brand of the genre through the crossbreeding of progressive rock, drone, and krautrock. For this stop, Acid Mothers Temple enlisted the help of Portland, Oregon garage rock outfit The Macks and local Austin psychedelic institution ST-37.

Porcelain 3 Halloween Freakend Troy Gonzales

Case Cockrell Live Music Review

Live music review: Levitation Halloween Freakend day two got weird

November 7, 2025 Case Cockrell 838 Views electronic punk, experimental rock, Far Out Lounge, Haha Laughing, Halloween Freakend, hardcore, Levitation, Lightning Bolt, Lip Critic, live music, Machine Girl, noise rock, Porcelain, post hardcore, post-punk, psych-rock, Review

The second day of Levitation’s Halloween Freakend at the Far Out Lounge & Stage showcased the more experimental side of the current indie music landscape, marking the third installment of Austin festival programming in 2025. With the Rob Fitzpatrick and The Black Angels-run music celebration entering its second decade, the Halloween two-day mini fest served as an optimal finale to a year of buzzing amps, underground artists, and legacy acts. Following a long-awaited headlining performance from Swedish dance punk stars Viagra Boys on Halloween night, the second day tapped into something a little different for the music fans who scour the internet for the weird and nothing but.

Live Music Review Troy Gonzales

Live music review: Swans played final big sound performance at Mohawk

September 24, 2025 Troy Gonzales 2728 Views concert, experimental rock, jazz, Little Annie and Paul Wallfisch, live music, Michael Gira, mohawk, post rock, Review, Swans

Legendary experimental rock band Swans returned to Austin on September 10 to play Mohawk for what is being touted as the group’s final full band tour. in support of Birthing, their 17th studio album. Bandleader, Michael Gira has stated that the record would be the last “big sound” Swans album, with future releases from the band being “significantly pared down” and that it would mark his last album as the main producer of Swans. For music fans who made it to Mohawk earlier this month, it was a bittersweet moment from artists who have deeply influenced various experimental music genres since their inception in 1981.

Case Cockrell Live Music Preview

Live music preview: Six bands to watch at Austin Psych Fest 2025

April 17, 2025 Case Cockrell 4262 Views Alex Maas, Austin Psych Fest, Black Mountain, Christian Bland, Etran de L'Air, experimental rock, Far Out Lounge, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Gordie Greep, Kadavar, Levitation, Levitation Room, live music, Maya Ongaku, post rock, preview, Primitive Ring, psych-rock, Queen Serene, Ringo Deathstarr, rock n roll, stoner rock, Suuns, The Octopus Project

Levitation’s Austin Psych Fest will return to Far Out Lounge and Stage in 2025, coming with a stacked lineup that features acts from all over the world to commemorate its third Spring edition since the return to an annual Springtime, one-location, two-stages, no-overlap festival experience. The three-day festival will feature legacy acts and underground picks that showcase yet another year of reverberation appreciation from the homegrown Austin festival. To help audiences prepare for the event, the team at The Cosmic Clash has curated six bands to watch for the festival during the last weekend of April (25-27), including the kickoff and late-night shows after each day of music

Tear Dungeon 2 HV SXSW 2025 Troy Gonzales

Case Cockrell Live Music Review

Live music review: SXSW 2025 finished with Space Agency Booking, Webberville Block Party

March 24, 2025 Case Cockrell 4119 Views electronic musc, experimental rock, Gus Baldwin, hard rock, High On Fire, La Sécurité, live music, Matador Sphere, Play to the Plants, psych-rock, Review, Riverboat Gamblers, sludge metal, South by Southwest, Space Agency Booking, SXSW, SXSW 2025, Tear Dungeon, The Opera, The Thing, Webberville Block Party, YHWH Nailgun

Austin’s South by Southwest finished things up with countless showcases that made the last two days of the music festival a pick-and-choose affair that didn’t let up until the crack of 2 a.m. on Saturday night. For most festival goers, energy can run slim on these last two days, and seeing what you can before the festival’s end is essential to closing the book on yet another March festival edition. Here’s who we closed out our SXSW with on the final two days of our festival experience at Hotel Vegas for Space Agency Booking’s annual showcase along with a closing festival celebration at the Webberville Block Party followed by a return to Hotel Vegas to close out SXSW 2025.

Case Cockrell Live Music Review

Live music review: SXSW 2025 music week began with a wide range of musical styles

March 13, 2025 Case Cockrell 3737 Views classic rock, cold wave, Exotic Fruitica, experimental rock, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Grocery Bag, hardcore, Holy Wire, John Fogerty, live music, Mugger, Mulch Cult, My Son the Doctor, pop-punk, Population II, Porcelain, Portrayal of Guilt, post rock, psych-rock, punk rock, Review, Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol, rock n roll, Skloss, South by Southwest, SXSW, The Holy Temple, TVOD

The 2025 South By Southwest music festival kicked off on Monday and Tuesday this week, featuring artists from around the Austin music scene and worldwide. Each day of music starts at noon and usually continues until the 2 a.m. closing time for each day of programming. For the first two days of the SXSW music showcases, we rounded up some of our favorite acts that started off our music festival coverage with stops at Hotel Vegas, 13th Floor and Stubb’s BBQ to see bands with a wide range of musical styles from the hardcore noise punk of Exotic Fruitica to experimental act Skloss to legendary songwriter John Fogerty and back to the heavy psych rock of Frankie and the Witch Fingers. SXSW runs the musical genre gamut as our coverage attests.

Amanda Quraishi Premiere Song

Song Premiere: Starflake releases single Cuando Tomas (In My Head Again) today

November 20, 2024 Amanda Quraishi 3243 Views Cuando Tomas (In My Head Again), experimental rock, Jackie O'Brien, Juan Alfredo Rios, new music, song premiere, Starflake, The Bright Light Social Hour, Zac Cantanzaro

Now, O’Brien and his long-time collaborative compadres are back with a new song titled “Cuando Tomas (In My Head Again)” and it does not disappoint. Once again O’Brien (vocals, bass, guitar, Roland JX-8P, Wurlitzer) is joined by Zac Catanzaro (drums) and Juan Alfredo Ríos (electronic percussion), delivering a track that swings like a cosmogonic pendulum between the ethereal and the funky.

Greg Ackerman Live Music Preview

New Music: Matador Sphere drops new single August 23, announced Ulrika Spacek, Queen Serene show at 13th Floor

August 18, 2024 Greg Ackerman 2536 Views experimental rock, Fading Yellow, hypnogogic music, Matador Sphere, new music, psych-rock

Florida to Austin outfit, Matador Sphere (fka Fading Yellow) have made a big splash in Austin in a relatively short time. The band formed in Tallahassee but actually got their start in Austin, moving to the city before ever playing a gig or recording a song to make their push as a group in the Live Music Capital. On Friday, August 16 the group announced a new single, “Water Bug” which is coming soon to music listeners on all streaming platforms. For now, fans can hear this track as well as listen to their previous EP, Stereo Assessment which The Cosmic Clash wrote about last year.