Monday, May 5, 2025
The Cosmic Clash

Review

Willie Nelson Oh What a Beautiful World landscape
AlbumReviewScott Rollins

Album review: new Willie Nelson record Oh What a Beautiful World covers Rodney Crowell

Scott Rollins 188 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

I first heard “The Banks of the Old Bandera” when Rodney Crowell’s album The Houston Kid debuted in 2001. I love that record and still feel it’s Crowell’s most artistic and intellectually stimulating recording, which is no small observation. I felt “Bandera” sounded like a Willie Nelson song. It only took twenty-four years, but Willie covered this song, and eleven other songs penned by Rodney Crowell on his newest release Oh What A Beautiful World, which dropped April 25, 2025. If you clicked the link, you saw a limited edition white vinyl only available from Willie’s website.

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Austin Psych Fest Experience by Renee Dominguez for APF25--5
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

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

Case Cockrell 279 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

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. 

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Kruangbin Moody Amp Drew Doggett
Drew DoggettLive MusicReview

Live music review: Khruangbin Spins a World of Their Own at Moody Amphitheater

Drew Doggett 334 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Tuesday, April 22 at Austin’s Moody Amphitheater felt like it would never dry out. A curtain of rain blanketed the city in the early evening, forcing fans to huddle under trees and the few dry patches the venue had to offer. I, running from improv class on the other side of town, took respite under a bridge for 15 minutes before the rain subsided. By the time Khruangbin finally took the stage after a brief delay, the air was so heavy with humidity that it clung to your skin, like you could reach out and grab it. But the moment the band walked out, framed by three glowing window panels inspired by their newest album, A La Sala, the crowd roared like the sun had risen through the parted clouds, 9 p.m. in the evening.

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Austin Psych Fest 2025 Travis Trautt
April DawneLive MusicReview

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

April Dawne 361 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

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.

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Prison Affair Mohawk Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Barcelona act Prison Affair at Mohawk with Mujeres Podridas and Gus Baldwin

Case Cockrell 344 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Barcelona’s Prison Affair made their way to Austin to deliver a sparse yet potent dose of their overseas caffeinated “Egg Punk,” a genre gaining steam as a leading force in the crate-digging, vinyl-obsessed underground. For a Monday night at Mohawk in the Red River Cultural District, a homegrown bill took the opening reins for the international touring act, all bringing their highest octane for the blistering fury the Spanish trio brings to the stage.

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Meshuggah ACL Live Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Swedish metal legends Meshuggah packed ACL Live with Cannibal Corpse and Carcass

Case Cockrell 588 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Heavy metal music doesn’t get the spotlight as much as it should in Austin. Multiple stacked tours skip Austin and opt for San Antonio and Houston. For a near-sold-out crowd that flocked to downtown Austin to see legendary Swedish players Meshuggah, the metal gods made an exception for the live music capital. For Tuesday night at Austin’s premiere venue, ACL Live, the unbridled barrage of extreme metal didn’t let up across all three performing acts

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Ty Segall acoustic Parish landscape Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Haunting acoustic sets by Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin at Parish

Case Cockrell 512 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

y Segall and fellow songwriting partner Mikal Cronin shared an intimate acoustic bill on Sunday, April 6 at Austin East Side venue Parish, and the results were a haunting series of tunes to a seated crowd. A masterclass in both recording and touring, the duo pulled from various records that showed them presenting a side of them that we don’t hear that often. There was no electric guitar mania to be found, but something different was brought to the table by the two living indie rock overlords, and the results showed a realm of musical honesty and longtime friendship. 

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Agnostic Front 6 at Ballroom Justin Clark
Live MusicReview

Live music review: Hardcore godfathers Agnostic Front at 29th Street Ballroom

Robert Dean 551 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

This isn’t a shaking-fist, “it’s all changed” rant. It’s a look back at a community, a genre that changed my life. What I fell into at 13 is still going. Kids are still discovering punk and hardcore, and this music that once lived in bowling alleys, VFW halls, and anywhere with a slab of concrete is thriving. Seeing legendary acts like Agnostic Front on March 28 in Austin no longer requires the dues it once did through record shops and gatekeeping.

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Lauren Mayberry 6 Scoot Inn Drew Doggett
Drew DoggettLive MusicReview

Live music review: Lauren Mayberry begins captivating new chapter after CHVRCHES

Drew Doggett 722 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Lauren Mayberry has spent over a decade commanding festival stages as the charismatic front woman of CHVRCHES. I remember seeing her at Pitchfork Fest 2015, right after Mac Demarco, playfully pointing out the scattered cigarette butts left on the floor. The sound of CHVRCHES is filled with shoegaze-y synths, shimmering reverb and pulsating beats. But on February 26 at the Historic Scoot Inn in Austin, she stepped out in a new role as a solo artist.

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Tear Dungeon 2 HV SXSW 2025 Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: SXSW 2025 finished with Space Agency Booking, Webberville Block Party

Case Cockrell 878 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Austin’s South by Southwest finished things up with countless showcases that made the last two days of the music festival a pick-and-choose affair that didn’t let up until the crack of 2 a.m. on Saturday night. For most festival goers, energy can run slim on these last two days, and seeing what you can before the festival’s end is essential to closing the book on yet another March festival edition. Here’s who we closed out our SXSW with on the final two days of our festival experience at Hotel Vegas for Space Agency Booking’s annual showcase along with a closing festival celebration at the Webberville Block Party followed by a return to Hotel Vegas to close out SXSW 2025.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

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

Case Cockrell 1044 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

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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