Reviews - Austin Town Hall

Kilby Block Party 6: Thursday in Pics

May 27, 2025 brian.gray Leave a comment

I traveled up to Salt Lake City to take in one of the newish festivals that seems to be doing things right, Kilby Block Party. The lineup is one of the best of the year for my tastes, by far. Previous years, KBP was only two or three days; they hit four days this go round for a stellar group of artists to accomodate touring schedules with New Order, Yo La Tengo, Future Islands and Devo featured.

Click through, I have some thoughts and plenty of photos to peruse. If you were at the rail, see if you made the crowd shots. If you weren’t there, blast you favorite tunes by each artist and pretend.

Show Review: Austin Psych Fest

May 2, 2025 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

The group over at Levitation have been dominating the Austin landscape with incredible lineups for nearly two decades, and we were fortunate to be on-hand this year at The Far Out Lounge. The line-up did not have a single weak spot, and the weather was actually pretty great, all things considered (warm but not hot!). Take a jump below and read some thoughts on the festival and the acts on hand. Special thanks to Michael Maly for his photography gifts. Check more of his work HERE.

Show Review: Napalm Death + Melvins @ Emos (4.18)

April 22, 2025 Case Cockrell Leave a comment

It’s hard to shield yourself from the world’s current events in 2025. There are wars going on, a Russian-happy president in the Oval Office, and Elon Musk is our billionaire asshole-in-chief. For a band like Napalm Death witnessing the perils going on all over the world and their overseas allies going to complete shit in the US, they have a lot to say. Helping them deliver their message came sludge metal titans Melvins and long-running Wilmington stoner doomers Weedeater, a triple threat gauntlet that brought all the heavy – and more. The billed appearances on this run have been aptly titled the “Savage Imperial Death March Tour,” a fitting moniker for the traveling caravan of the long-running performing acts.

Hit the jump for more with fancy photos from Casey Chumbley.

Show Pics: Hey, Nothing @ 3Ten (3/28)

April 3, 2025 brian.gray Leave a comment

After a grueling run at SXSW 2025 a couple weeks prior, a pallet cleanser was due. Ryan and I headed out on a Friday evening to catch Hey, Nothing, a two human project out of Georgia making the dream of the 90s come alive. Along with them, we got the check out Sean Solomon‘s solo project. Sean is a member of Moaning and also a talented animator. It was a younger crowd, attending BECAUSE of social media, not in spite of, and I was happy to meet a new group of live music fans talking about traveling to see shows. Rad.

More on the show and PLENTY of pics to come. Click through, fam.

Show Review: MJ Lenderman @ Emos (2.6)

February 10, 2025 Michael Maly Leave a comment

Breaking up is hard to do, but it sure does make for good music.

MJ Lenderman’s lyrics aren’t sprawling, poetic pleas for understanding. Instead, they arrive as snapshots intimate, personal, and timeless observations of everyday life. Wrap that up nice and tight with music that echoes the highlights of a sound delivered within a newly appointed label aptly titled No Depression in the 90s, which found itself a successful hybrid of Americana and Rock, spawning the genre Alt-Country. Breathing life into its faded wake comes Lenderman.

“Coward cutting Joker lips into a rubber mask
Please don’t ask how I’m doing
Draining cum from hotel showers
Hoping for the hours to pass a little faster.”

Show Review: Cunningham Bird @ Paramount Theater (01.25.25)

February 1, 2025 jon.wagner Leave a comment

“Do you always trust your first initial feeling?”

This seemingly innocuous, yet thought-provoking question speaks to the nature of foresight and perception. Humans, by nature, are notoriously bad at predicting the future. Listen to your gut, the saying goes but our big brains often get in the way. Read more

Show Review: Sigur Ros @ Bass Concert Hall (10.04.24)

October 7, 2024 jon.wagner Leave a comment

On a balmy October Friday night, opposite the insanity of the first night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, something of another story altogether was brewing across town at the 40 acres. After skipping our fair city the last time around during this orchestral iteration, the Icelandic trio, Sigur Ros returned triumphantly to the University of Texas campus. The experiences between the Zilker park faithful in contrast those in attendance at the Bass Concert Hall could not have been starker. Here was the trio and their rotating accompaniment on their last show date of their 8-date orchestral tour in the US and in the process simply expanded time and altered consciousness. Adjectives and prose fail me to describe just how hauntingly beautiful, breathtakingly colossal, and overwhelmingly entrancing they can be when in form.

Track by Track: Nighshift’s Homosapien

July 26, 2024 nathan.lankford One comment

Trying out something new, as I’ve got about a week and a half before I get back to maybe reviewing some albums, like Nightshift‘s Homosapien. The record is out today via the generous folks at Trouble in Mind Records. Instead of doing some long form review, I’m going go after the track by track breakdown format. It’s also a reminder to me, and others that records are sometimes best enjoyed as a whole. Obviously if I’m writing about it, it’s good, so it has my seal of approval.

Stream it as you read all about it!

<a href="https://nightshiftgroup.bandcamp.com/album/homosapien">Homosapien by Nightshift</a>

Book Review: Depeche Mode’s 101 by Mary Valle

June 21, 2024 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

When digging into the vast catalog of books from the 33 and 1/3 series (Bloomsbury), you get all sorts of approaches to the discussion of an album. You’ll find the biographical, the narrative, the political, a “Behind the Scenes,” and even the autobiographical from time to time. When Mary Valle takes on Depeche Mode’s 101, she sort of skips around all the formats to craft her own approach, which is both successful, and not.

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The Donnas + Real Gone Music

April 21, 2024 RayRay Leave a comment

As many of you maybe waited in ridiculously long lines on Saturday for your Record Store Day gems and must haves, I thought it might be an appropriate time to focus on one of my favorite reissue focused labels who won’t gouge or pander to resellers. Of course I’m talking about the Orange, California based label Real Gone Music who have seen many features on these here pages over the years. They have been absolutely killing it recently with thoughtful reissues which won’t require 4am wake up times and certainly won’t drain your bank account. If you care to read on, hit the jump (I promise to keep it short).

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