Friday, March 6, 2026
The Cosmic Clash

Review

Calavera CATIL Justin Clark
Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: Cavalera Conspiracy played Chaos A.D. in full at Come & Take It Live

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I’ve seen a lot of bands do the whole “playing the seminal album” thing over the years. For a long time, the gold standard was Roger Waters doing Dark Side of the Moon—an experience that was incredible both visually and sonically. Despite being a much smaller affair, the Cavalera brothers gave that experience a run for its money, performing their masterpiece Chaos A.D. at Come and Take It Live on Friday, October 17. If you’re a Sepultura fan, this was probably the closest, tightest, and most raw celebration of that album you’re ever going to get.

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Osees 2 Hotel Vegas Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: garage rock behemoths Osees played Hotel Vegas residency

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Los Angeles garage rock behemoths Osees returned to Austin for their annual, (sometimes bi-annual) residency at Eastside live music stronghold Hotel Vegas over the last weekend. Continuing their regular Austin tour stop tradition with a discography that gets bigger with every calendar rotation. With a solidified lineup defining the current iteration of esteemed bandleader John Dwyer’s everlasting rein, the Osees delivered another weekend of the eclectic paradigm that set the standard for the dozens of psych punk groups that make the Dwyer-led company a source of everlasting influence. Despite being on the road to promote their latest release Abomination Revealed At Last, the West Coast berserkers only performed one song from the new release and ventured into a rare, deep cuts, setlist territory. 

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Wet Leg by Greg Noire for ACL Festival 2025 107024
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Eight artists that stood out at ACL Festival 2025

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Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Fest) 2025 weekend one on October 3 – October 5 marked another successful installment at Zilker Park, with an eclectic array of acts making their way to Austin for yet another October in the heart of the city. The talent performing featured acts from all over the world, bringing all genres to generations of music lovers who make their way to Central Texas by the tens of thousands for the musical extravaganza. Between legacy acts and rising artists, there was no shortage of spectacle to behold during the first weekend at the big park with a beautiful view of the city skyline. The Cosmic Clash team made their way to Zilker to capture the action and highlight eight artists that stood out to us throughout the first weekend of programming. 

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Unwound Mohawk Troy Gonzales
Live MusicReviewTroy Gonzales

Live music review: Unwound marked 30 years of The Future of What at Mohawk

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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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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Levitation 2025 ramble with Pavement, Mastodon, The Black Angels and more

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Levitation Festival 2025 took place September 26 – 28  and marked another successful installment in a new location, with more than 30 acts making their way to Austin for yet another Black Angels-sponsored party featuring talent from all over the world. With a new HQ at Palmer Events Center on Barton Springs Road, the convention center turned into Levitation’s psychedelic playground for three days over the last weekend. Each day of the event brought unique vibes that spanned the festival’s usual suspects, first-timers, and legacy acts, all of which helped bring the star-studded booked talent to life for the three-day, two-stage rager. The Cosmic Clash team made their way to the convention center for the weekend to capture the action and highlight every moment that stood out to us at Palmer.

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Acid Bath Levitation 2025 Drew Doggett
Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: Acid Bath, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol led Levitation 2025 metal day

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Hats off to the folks behind the scenes at Levitation Festival. They pulled off a diverse event at a little-used location to great effect. The Palmer Events Center sounded great and showed a lot of promise for what the festival can be in the future. Keeping parking at $10 a day was a smart move that kept fans happy. The food and drink options were crazy expensive, but I understand that goes with the territory of putting a festival on – but on the real? $19 for a brisket sandwich is banana town. Just walk down the street to Whataburger next year. 

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dandy_warhols_daniel_cavazos-13
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: The Dandy Warhols assert legacy at Levitation Night Show

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Portland, Oregon indie rock socialites The Dandy Warhols aren’t just surviving the volatile world of music, but thriving for the generations of vinyl collectors that hold them dear as a formative force that sparked a love of music and acting as a harbinger of an industry revolution. With countless tours under their belt, a relentless and boundary-breaking creative output, The Dandy Warhols have gone independent, away from the clutches of major label business and built their own studio for all Dandy endeavors since the turn of the millennium. For Austin’s 2025 Levitation Festival, the Pacific Northwest hardliners went to work to further assert their legacy with a Friday (September 26) late-night performance at Mohawk in the downtown, Red River Cultural District. For fans new and old, what the Dandys made for a career-spanning set of favorites and deep cuts alike. 

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Swans Mohawk Troy Gonzales
Live MusicReviewTroy Gonzales

Live music review: Swans played final big sound performance at Mohawk

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Legendary experimental rock band Swans returned to Austin on September 10 to play Mohawk for what is being touted as the group’s final full band tour.  in support of Birthing, their 17th studio album. Bandleader, Michael Gira has stated that the record would be the last “big sound” Swans album, with future releases from the band being “significantly pared down” and that it would mark his last album as the main producer of Swans. For music fans who made it to Mohawk earlier this month, it was a bittersweet moment from artists who have deeply influenced various experimental music genres since their inception in 1981. 

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Spoon-landscape- 4 Moody Amp Angela Betancourt
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Indie rock legends Pixies and Spoon played Moody Amphitheater

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Indie rock legends come in many forms. Whether you’re discussing the likes of Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, or Guided By Voices, someone in the room is going to eventually bring up The Pixies. Hailing from Boston and now entering their 40th year, the prolific songwriting of singer and guitarist Black Francis remains influential. For their 2025 North American tour, the Northeastern outfit enlisted the help of hometown heroes Spoon, making a sensible pairing of two leading musical entities in their respective birthplaces. For the Austin stop on the run, the double-headline bill made its way to Moody Amphitheater on Saturday, September 6, a sweaty occasion that made it all about the music. 

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King Yosef 29th St Ballroom Justin Clark
Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: King Yosef with Street Sects or How TikTok kids found real Industrial music

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The kids are all right. For a while there, it seemed like the industrial scene was dead as disco, but after catching Austin’s Street Sects open for King Yosef and Youth Brigade at the 29th Street Ballroom Wednesday night, it’s a fair take to conclude that something’s bubbling up in the industrial scene like it did with hardcore and punk, with waves of new, young fans finding the music, in part to being chronically online. The underground is finding its way, even if it’s via TikToks and Instagram blowing bands up – whatever, it’s better than Sabrina Carpenter

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Pigs x7 29th St Ballroom Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs delivered bone crushing riffs

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Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (or Pigs x7 to make things easier) has been on a steady barrage of bone-crushing riffs, a consistent stream of records, and travels throughout the world to deliver their flammable methodology of sludge metal to the masses. Fresh off the release of their 2025 full-length Death Hilarious, the Pigs quintet covers all their bases with down-tuned guitar strikes and relentless, raw vocal aggression. With Nashville alternative metal act Waxed in tow on this run of shows, the double bill wrapped their tour in Austin at the under-new-management 29th St. Ballroom, sending things off with a deafening display of power on Wednesday, August 27.

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