Live music review: Screamo legends Orchid led stacked bill at Mohawk
Amherst, Massachusetts screamo legends Orchid came through Austin and led a stacked bill on January 20, a show that felt
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Porcelain
Live music review: Big Bill Ball 8 at Radio East offered accurate snapshot of Austin music scene
The eighth annual Big Bill Ball at Radio East in the Southeast part of town, marked another celebration of the Austin scene, offering a snapshot of local music in 2025 with a six-band bill featuring some of the best active acts in the Austindie sphere. For this year’s installment, the philosophical art punk mainstays celebrated the release of their new studio LP, Sick Myth. Continuing the Big Bill way of inclusive activism through comedic lyrical punchlines and a variety of punk rock angles, the one-day event gave attendees one of the most coveted evenings of live music in 2025 during Saturday night’s (November 22) gig at the southeast Austin backyard venue. The mini-fest was co-sponsored by famed photographer and show promoter, Pooneh Ghana for the annual showcase.
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Live music review: Levitation Halloween Freakend day two got weird
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.
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Live music preview: Halloween Freakend by Levitation is coming to Far Out Lounge
Levitation and Resound Presents have teamed up again for a Halloween weekend two-day festival in South Austin. The mini-fest will take place at The Far Out Lounge & Stage on October 31 and November 1, the current site of the Spring edition of Austin Psych Fest. The Freakend lineup kicks off on Halloween night with Bitchin Bajas, J’Cuuzi, Stereolab, Black Lips, and Viagra Boys arriving for their first Austin headlining excursion.
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Live music review: Unwound marked 30 years of The Future of What at Mohawk
On Thursday September 11, one of the 90’s most influential post-hardcore bands, Unwound played at the Mohawk as part of their ‘30 Years of The Future of What’ tour, which would see the band play their third album in it’s entirety. Admittedly, I had not seen them live during their heyday, but this time around I would not let the opportunity slip away again.
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Live music review: Coalesce Invented Your Favorite Band and You’ve Probably Never Heard of Them
One of the joys of the chaotic internet is that legendary bands never truly die—they just slumber beneath the surface, waiting to drag themselves from the muck like Godzilla and roar back into the stratosphere. Coalesce, the Kansas City hardcore pioneers who helped birth metalcore in the ’90s, has been one of those beasts. During my annual hometown pilgrimage to Chicago this July, I discovered Coalesce was playing with local post-metal heavies Pelican at the gorgeous Thalia Hall in Pilsen. Having not seen them since probably 2000 or 2001, I had to witness whether middle age had dulled their legendary violence.
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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 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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Live music review: Free Week Austin 2024 huge success as thousands attended
Red River Cultural District’s Free Week is an opportunity for Austin locals to get a dose of what makes the
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Live music preview: Deezie Brown headlines Mixtape Mashup at BLK Vinyl Thursday
Thursday’s Mixtape Mashup presented by The Loyalty Firm and The Cosmic Clash featuring Deezie Brown are neither of those things. It’s a free event open to the public to support SIMS Foundation, a mental health organization for Austin music industry workers and their dependent families.
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SXSW: The Madness of Day One
I ventured into the bucket head-wearing throngs for night one. Accompanied by my spiritual advisor, the comic Trevor Keveloh, we dared to see what this year’s SXSW festival had in store for us, even though it was supposed to be only the “tech week.”
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