Wednesday, March 26, 2025

hardcore

Case CockrellLive MusicReview

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

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.

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Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: Not So Fun WKND with Trapped Under Ice, God’s Hate and more at Far Out Lounge

I bitch about Austin a lot—parking, traffic, rent prices. But every once in a while, the city gets it right. Not So Fun WKND at The Far Out Lounge March 8 was one of those moments. The all-day fest with Trapped Under Ice, Parade of Flesh, God’s Hate and many others took place at the popular South Austin venue.  An opening party was held Friday, March 7 at Sagebrush with Suburban Scum, Dmize, Creeping Death and more. Hardcore bands from across the country descended on Austin, turning the weekend into a cathartic release of bad vibes and raw energy.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: metal titans Helmet led triple bill at Mohawk Sunday

Last Sunday night in the Red River Cultural District, beloved downtown venue Mohawk held a legacy show that presented a gracefully aging spectacle from alternative metal titans Helmet along with opening help with talent from different heavy music spheres worldwide. For a show where doors had to open at a move-your-ass 6 p.m., the triple-punch bill made the best use of its time through acts to warm up for the deafening drop-tuned explosion of the long-running New York headbangers.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Sludge metal act Chat Pile pummeled Mohawk fans Sunday

A lot of Austin residents consider Interstate 35 to be an existential crisis. If you drive far enough north, you might eventually hit the cursed town of Oklahoma City. Even though most of us would never make such a wretched trek, the Oklahoma noise rock quartet Chat Pile emerges from the depths, delivering their socially aware brand of sludge metal for fans that have been indoctrinated into the music blogosphere from their spotty at best college dorm WiFi. On yet another frigid Sunday night in Austin, fans of the outspoken loud rock act packed out the Red River Cultural District stronghold Mohawk for a thought-provoking excursion that pummeled attendees’ eardrums as well as giving a powerful message of social reform

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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: Philly punks Mannequin Pussy rocked sold-out Mohawk in rain on 420 Day

Sometimes, we’re stubborn as Austin music fans. Austin’s Red River Cultural District venue Mohawk drew a sold-out crowd on a 420 Day  evening when the weather forecast threatened to do away with the night’s concert festivities. Luckily for fans of Philadelphia punk outfit Mannequin Pussy, folks were ready to have floods of fun as the rain poured down right as the Pennsylvania band took the stage.

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Ethan GuionInterviews

Interview: Dizasterpiece is busy spinning hardcore into the hip-hop mix

Covered in tattoos, usually sporting a band shirt from the early 2000’s hardcore scene, today’s interview subject, Dizasterpiece is a passionate, creative, realism-driven lyricist and hip-hop emcee from New Jersey, with deep roots in the punk and hardcore community.

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Brian HillsmanReview

Album Review: Metz to release Atlas Vending October 9

Metz’s new record, the follow-up to the Steve Albini-produced Strange Peace is Atlas Vending. The album continues in a similar trajectory as an angst-layered commentary on post-nuclear life.  The record is due for an October 9 release on Sub Pop Records. The new LP indeed picks up where their previous work left off, further establishing the Ottawa natives as a hardcore punk sub genre all their own.

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