post rock – The Cosmic Clash

Austin Psych Fest Experience by Renee Dominguez for APF25--5

Live music review: Austin Psych Fest brought eclectic talent from across the psych spectrum

April 30, 2025 Case Cockrell 673 Views Alex Maas, Austin Psych Fest, Black Mountain, Blackwater Holylight, Cumbia, Dinosaur Jr, electro psych, Explosions in the Sky, Far Out Lounge, Federale, Garrett T Capps, Geordie Greep, Godspeed You Black Emperor, indie rock, Kadavar, Kim Gordon, Levitation, live music, Los Mirlos, neo-jazz, neo-psych, pop rock, post rock, psych-rock, Review, rock n roll, STARFKR, stoner rock, The Mystery Lights, The Octopus Project

The Spring installment of Austin Psych Fest returned last weekend to The Far Out Lounge & Stage for a three-day, two-stage, no-overlap experience that brought over 30 acts to Austin for an eclectic weekend of music from all across the trippy psychedelic spectrum. For 2025, the billed talent stretched its boundaries by bringing a diverse array of artists that catered to fans of Psych Fest past and present. Here’s what stood out to us over the weekend-long stand in South Austin.

April Dawne Live Music Review

Live music review: Friday at Austin Psych Fest with Explosions in the Sky, Octopus Project and Godspeed You Black Emperor

April 29, 2025 April Dawne 843 Views Austin Psych Fest, EITS, Explosions in the Sky, Far Out Lounge, Federale, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Jesse Sykes, Levitation, live music, music festival, post rock, psych-rock, Review, rock n roll, The Octopus Project

Austin has no shortage of music festivals and while most of them are amazing in some way, my favorite is Austin Psych Fest. This year, I caught Texas act, Explosions in the Sky, Austin’s The Octopus Project and Godspeed You! Black Emperor as well as some other worthwhile bands. This gem of a festival melted into Levitation (close second fave) and then split back into two different but equal festivals in 2023. APF is held at The Far Out Lounge, one of my favorite venues in Austin since the apocalypse.

Case Cockrell Live Music Preview

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

April 17, 2025 Case Cockrell 1055 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

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 1226 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.

Case Cockrell Live Music Preview

Live music preview: Austin Psych Fest announced masterfully curated lineup today

January 23, 2025 Case Cockrell 1280 Views Alex Maas, APF, Austin Psych Fest, Black Mountain, Darkside, Dinosaur Jr, Explosions in the Sky, Far Out Lounge, Garrett T Capps, Geordie Green, hard rock, Kim Gordon, Levitation, lineup announcement, live music, post rock, preview, psych-rock, punk rock, rock n roll, STRFKR

Levitation’s Austin Psych Fest will return to The Far Out Lounge & Stage in South Austin on April 25 – April 27 for yet another year of a masterfully curated lineup by famed booker Rob Fitzpatrick and Resound Presents. Since returning to a Spring edition on top of the regular Levitation Fall Edition, Austin Psych Fest has both stayed in touch with the current world of independent music at large and the roots of what made the festival the coveted phenomenon it is in the present day.

Greg Ackerman Music Video Premiere

Video premiere: SoundMass dropped first single off Ampersand – Let’s Get Doom

January 16, 2025 Greg Ackerman 1256 Views My Education, new music, post rock, premiere, progressive rock, SoundMass, SXSW, Theta Naught, Video

If you’re familiar with post rock and you’ve been around Austin for a minute then you may have heard of the group, my education, a long-running act who recently toured with Acid Mother’s Temple. You may be less familiar with their work with Salt Lake City band, Theta Naught called SoundMass which combines the two bands into one giant, symphonic post rock collective. The project dropped their first single from last year’s, effort, SoundMass III: Ampersand. The new video for the track, “Let’s Get Doom” introduces the new record to fans as it’s the first track on the recording.

Album Greg Ackerman Review

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

July 16, 2024 Greg Ackerman 1864 Views album review, Big Star Bar, Carousel Lounge, Lightning Bar, live music, Lonesome Rose, My Education, new music, post rock, rock n roll, Sound Mass, Theta Naught

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.

Greg Ackerman Interviews

Interview: post-rock act my education discusses EMKA, music industry and pizza

October 14, 2022 Greg Ackerman 906 Views EMKA, Interview, My Education, post rock

Austin post-rock act my education dropped EMKA today. it’s the band’s first record in five years. The record is the group’s eighth full-length album since 2001. They’ve also released 11 other records such as their collaboration with Theta Naught called Sound Mass in 2011.

Greg Ackerman Review

Live music review: Japan’s Boris destroyed Empire Garage, Megafauna played Chess Club after show

September 1, 2022 Greg Ackerman 1182 Views Boris, Empire Garage, heavy rock, live music, Megafauna, Nothing, post rock, prog rock, Review

Guitar-heavy noise rockers, Boris visited Empire Garage August 25 for a stop on their Heavy Rock Breakfast tour with support from Philadelphia’s Nothing. Needless to say, it was an evening of loudness that fans felt in their organs at various points during the intense, 15-song set headliners Boris delivered.

Greg Ackerman Review

Live music review: Japan’s Mono delivered first performance in the new Parish last week

April 19, 2022 Greg Ackerman 1240 Views live music, Mono, post rock, Review, The North Door, The Parish

Lauded post-rockers, Japan’s Mono played the first official live music performance at the new The Parish venue which had a soft opening over the weekend with Mono on Saturday and prog rock act, Battles filling the recently renovated room Sunday evening.

Greg Ackerman Review

Live music review: Semihelix had magical night at Radio Milk with my education and ThunderStars

October 26, 2021 Greg Ackerman 908 Views dream pop, live muisc, My Education, post rock, psych-rock, Review, Semihelix, ThunderStars

The unbridled bliss that comes when thing are aligned was present Saturday at East Austin’s Radio Milk Recording Co. The studio White Denim built is also a performance space that is truly special. It was the perfect spot to highlight the work Geannie Friedman of Semihelix has done with her new record, Recoil, which by all accounts is a hit with listeners near and far.