Monday, May 12, 2025

Review

Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Swans evades fire code shutdown at Paramount, delivers two hour onslaught

Michael Gira’s multi-genre outfit Swans showed an Austin crowd that age is just a number on Sunday night at the historic Paramount Theatre down the street from the Capitol. For those unfamiliar, Swans is a New York band that has gone through various phases, line-ups, genres, and forms through the leadership of multi-instrumentalist, Gira since 1982.

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Live MusicMike CosmicReview

Live music review: Sparta Celebrates Wiretap Scars 20th Anniversary Tour at Parish

Sparta cruised into Austin’s Parish venue on July 26, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Wiretap Scars. This highly anticipated release came after their 2002 EP, Austere. Wiretap Scars was well received, particularly following the downfall of the critically acclaimed band, At The Drive-In. The breakup of At The Drive-In, due to musical differences, split the band into Sparta and The Mars Volta. Both bands definitely took different paths and crafted their own sound. 

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Hot Summer Nights 2023 delivered FOMO-worthy lineup to Austin music fans

Red River Cultural District’s Hot Summer Nights 2023 returned July 20-23 with a bill that was too hot (figuratively and literally) to pass up. With bands such as Exotic Fruitica, Grandmaster, Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band, and Nuclear Daisies all rounding out the lineup, HSN delivered a FOMO-worthy event that was not to be missed for local fans of a wide variety of musical genres from heavy to mellow.

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Greg AckermanReview

Live music photo review: The Wood Brothers played Red Butte Garden Thursday

New York City-based roots act, The Wood Brothers performed at Red Butte Garden Thursday in Salt Lake City. The trio consisting of siblings Chris (Medeski, Martin and Wood) and Oliver Wood along with multi-instrumentalist, Jane Rix are touring in support of their forthcoming release, Heart is the Hero.

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Austin act Being Dead enlisted friends to celebrate release of debut album

For Being Dead’s Bayonet Records debut, the Austin powerhouse act not only goes the distance, but torches any doubt that anyone might have had that Being Dead would miss the mark for their first full-length outing which was celebrated with a release party at Sagebrush last Friday. 

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Lil Yachty was an ardent completionist at his debut ACL TV taping

“I did what I wanted to do, which was create a body of work that reflected me,” Yachty explained in a Billboard cover feature. “My idea was for this album to be a journey: Press play and fall into the void.” This was his position before recording his debut Austin City Limits (ACL TV) taping last week. 

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Wavves brought their Summer shenanigans to Mohawk 

Since seeing frontman Nathan Williams’ strong attachment to the venue,  he likes to end each Mohawk appearance with a backflip into the crowd from the venue’s 2nd level overlooking the stage left, I was sure never to miss another show, including last week’s tour stop at Mohawk.

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Drone Metal legends Earth performed quadraphonic show at Oblivion Access Fest

Have you ever seen a show in a church? What about a show in a church equipped with a psychedelic light display while a classic drone metal band plays their classic album in its entirety? For Seattle’s Earth, the drone legends did just that, which included a performance of their classic 1993 debut album, Earth 2, in its full glory for the record’s 30th anniversary at Central Presbyterian Church.

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Against odds Lil Ugly Mane performs in Austin at Oblivion Access Festival 

Lil Ugly Mane, aka Travis Miller, has always been an elusive figure. The underground hip-hop world that Ugly Mane spawned out of might call the Virginia native an enigma, so much so that Lil Ugly Mane’s many pseudonyms meant to take the prolific music creator outside of the SoundCloud rap box that he was painted into with his breakout 2012 debut album Mista Thug Isolation.

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