Friday, March 6, 2026

Portrayal of Guilt

Greg AckermanLive MusicPhotos

Live music photos: Hot Summer Nights featured Andrew Cashen, Semihelix, Portrayal of Guilt and more

The Red River Cultural District’s cover-free Hot Summer Nights event took place last weekend in venues all over the downtown neighborhood July 24-26. Nearly 150 primarily Austin-area artists took to the stage at Mohawk, 13th Floor, Elysium, Chess Club and a dozen other RRCD venues. This is the eighth year the neighborhood organization has organized the event which spawned from its original sister event, Free Week which takes place the first week of January each year. Resound Presents founder, Graham Williams is credited with originating that event while he was working as a talent booker at the original Emo’s on Red River and Sixth Street. featured in this photo story is Andrew Cashen and Disciples of Creation, shoegaze/psych rockers, Queen Serene, Pearl Z, Sexpop, Mujeres Podridas, Stop Motion Orchestra, Portrayal of Guilt, Semihelix and lots more.

Read More
Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Six showcases to see at Hot Summer Nights in Austin this weekend

Hot Summer Nights (HSN) in the Red River Cultural District of Austin is an annual RRCD-sponsored event that features hundreds of 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 every January. HSN runs July 24  – July 26 and will feature talent from all over Austin and surrounding areas. Venues participating in the event include Mohawk, Chess Club, Cheer Up Charlie’s, Empire Control Room & Garage, and The 13th Floor among several others. For the three days of packed, free live music programming, The Cosmic Clash team has curated a list of showcases we think attendees will want to catch while wandering the streets of Red River during the free festival. Hot Summer Nights will also feature participating food vendors to keep you full and energized throughout the event.

Read More
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.

Read More
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

Read More