live music

Sound Mass at Levitation 2015
AlbumGreg AckermanReview

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

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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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Cage the Elephant 2 Moody Drew Doggett
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

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

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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

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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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The Black Angels at Stabile Hall
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

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

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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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BLACK ANGELS - ROGER HO 2 - LEV23
Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: LEVITATION 2024 music festival lineup and schedule is out

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Austin-based psychedelia collective Levitation has announced the 2024 edition lineup and schedule of their multi-venue festival to take place in downtown Austin over Halloween weekend. The festival will retain its four-day format, featuring venues in the Red River Cultural District and other parts of Austin. The event runs from October 31 – November 3.  Each day of programming will contain multiple shows at various locations throughout its duration, including; Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre, Mohawk, Empire Garage & Control Room, Elysium, The 13th Floor, and the new addition of downtown EDM favorite, Kingdom. 

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Of Montreal at Mohawk
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Art Rockers Of Montreal returned to Mohawk on Tuesday

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For Of Montreal’s sold-out Austin performance at Red River Cultural District stronghold Mohawk on Tuesday, the summer Texas crowd was ready to sweat it out for yet another triumphant performance showing a masterclass in art and both moody and jovial rock and roll. Of Montreal is classified as a member of the multi-regional Elephant 6 musical collective, which hosts the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, and Elf Power. With all the bands in this sector sharing a love for the trippiness of the 1960s, Of Montreal packs countless mannerisms of stage show glory. 

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SIMS Saturday June 29
Greg AckermanLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Local acts play SIMS Saturday this weekend at Love Wheel Records

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This Saturday, June 29 Jeremiah Jackson, Et Ceteras and Psychic Seatbelt (solo) play SIMS Saturday at Love Wheel Records 4-7 p.m. The performances are free. You can RSVP here. The quarterly event benefits SIMS Foundation, the mental health organization that supports local music industry workers and their dependent family members with mental health and recovery services.

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Robert Earl Keen Lyle Lovett 41 at 100
Live MusicReviewScott Rollins

Live music review: Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library

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Through an uninteresting and unimportant turn of events I found myself invited to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library for a series of events called “41 @ 100”. The George and Barbara Bush Foundation presented this celebration to celebrate the 100th birthday of President George H.W. Bush. Though a graduate of Yale, President Bush was approached by Texas business and the college as a location for his presidential library. The only event I turned out for was a concert. The combination of A&M grads Lyle Lovett (class of 79), and Robert Earl Keen (class of 78) on June 14 was impossible to pass up.

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Adrianne Lenker Paramount marquee
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Songwriter Adrianne Lenker sold out the Paramount Theatre

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Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker has served as one of the leading charges in a new age of independent storytelling through song. The Minnesota native and Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter brought her acoustic tour to Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin for two sold-out performances, following suit to multiple capacity crowds with her full band throughout the years of their short but prolific existence. The intimate, candlelit historical setting of the theatre, where you could hear a pin drop, created a unique connection between Lenker and her audience, making for a thought-provoking experience of songs new and old on the June 10 second evening. With the release of her latest solo album, Bright Future Lenker has delivered yet another heart-wrenching gauntlet of tunes, sure to draw the misty eyes of all the indie Gen-Zers and Millennials in attendance

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Idles at Moody Amp
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: England’s Idles delivered wild night at Moody Amphitheater May 21

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Sometimes, chaos is laced with love. Bristol, England’s Idles have been shooting off musical mortar shells since 2009, and each new release has seen the English band building off the previous. If you’re a fan of post-punk, hardcore, dance-punk, or anything punk rock-related in new music, Idles is a band that will strike a chord with your music listening holes. On their latest album, Tangk, Idles enlisted the help of Radiohead’s right-hand man, Nigel Godrich. The result was a more dialed-back, calculated effort from the group, touching on hints of dance music and soft rock cuts that aren’t without the England band’s carefully calibrated  ballistic nature that their rabid fanbase has become accustomed to.

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Grandmaster at Gala
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: The Grandmaster Orchestra Gala at Stateside Theatre promises more annual events

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May is a big season for any city like Austin. College students are closing the book on school, prom kids are, well, prom-ing, and the city of Austin has its usual everyday festivities going in full force. Austin’s Grandmaster Orchestra has been at it for over a year, assembling a lineup that spans some of the best artists the local music sphere offers. The members of the Grandmaster ensemble, honorably dubbed “Zealots,” take their leader, the Grandmaster’s mission, to heart. The local nonet, turned duodecet for the Austin act’s album release show at Stateside Theatre in downtown Austin, featured a star-studded bill that delivered musicianship and auras of longtime friendship that showed a pivotal moment for the Austin music scene of the current era

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