This is fine.
Team ATH ventured out into the cold and rainy evening to make one last go of it all. With tons of acts all about town, I feel like we did a great job covering Levitation in its entirety, so it was good to wrap it all up with one final night of great music.
The ATH team split up on Saturday, as we all had different musical agendas; JWags was bouncing all around the downtown area, hustling to catch as much as possible, while Nathan headed to the Far Out for a day filled with traditional psychedelic sounds. Check out how our days went!
While Nathan was solo on Thursday, the ATH crew rolled deep on Friday night with a full crew hitting almost every venue offered by Levitation Festival. While the rain dampened spirits a bit to start the evening, things ramped up once the skies cleared and we took full advantage of the full variety of musical styles on the lineup. We covered a ton of ground and saw a plethora of bands, all which you can read about after the jump.
I left my day job early to go get in on the action at Levitation 2023, heading out to the Far Out Lounge to catch a handful of great guitar acts from the 90s take the stage; it was there where I was greeted with a reminder of what a nightmare festival pricing can be. Let’s be real, a $13 Miller Lite draft? $20 parking when there are no other options in proximity? I mean, I get overhead, and a convenience fee, but for real, fuck that. Shitty decision making out there, and kind of soured me in the setting. Don’t even get me started on one food option, and it being outside the venue.
With Levitation now just ONE day away, we are trying to cram in as many last minute previews as we can before heading out the door tomorrow afternoon. Our preview and interview today comes from one of our favorite new bands to emerge in the scene recently, New Orleans based Video Age. After the jump you can find the full interview along with details on set times and new tunes to check out.
This week is the week! Hoping that I’ll be able to catch Pachyman this week, as I’ve been super jamming to his latest LP, Switched-On. It’s a collection of Latin influenced dub, with hints of indie and psychedelic grooves…and to be honest, a sound that’s probably more obscure than it deserves to be. So, we reached out, caught up…and here we go!
It’s here ladies and germs, it’s officially time for another festival here in Austin as things for Levitation festival kick off on Thursday and run through Sunday. Your friendly ATH team of course has made plans for tons of coverage with some previews and interviews to get you prepped and excited for the long weekend ahead. As part of our preview process, we continue today with a quick interview from long time ATH favorites Shannon and The Clams. Hit the jump for the interview, set times, and some tunes.
Next week is Levitation; it’s also the week of Video Age‘s new LP hitting the streets! Why would that matter? Well, you actually get both together, at the band are part of the festival’s line-up! But, let’s put that aside for the moment, and listen to the group’s latest single on Away From the Castle. This one’s a true slow burner, crafting nostalgic pop vibes through the first minute and a half, then dropping in a sick beat to get a little bounce beneath your feet. They flesh the track out too, letting some little vocal samples and washes of electronics kind of crest in the middle of the tune, all of it reminding me of thoughtful pop like Radio Dept. or Red Sleeping Beauty. If, like me, you’re coming to the festival next weekend, be sure you’ve got the band on your radar, and if not, grab the new LP from Winspear.
Party people. That ACL thing is over and done with for real so now it’s time to direct your attention to the festival that the ATH crew REALLY gets amped for. In just about a week and a half, the entire town will be getting down and cruising downtown for Levitation Festival. As we tend to do for this thing, be ready for a slew of previews, interviews, playlists, and band recommendations. For now, hit the jump for a few updates from the festival along with all your links for ticket purchasings and whatnot.
Sure, this new track from Indiana’s Wishy popped up yesterday, but seeing as the new group featuring Kevin Krauter is making their way to Austin in a few weeks we wanted keep the band in your thoughts. Kevin’s sharing lead songwriting duties with Nina Pitchkites, who takes over the vocals here, giving the song the melodic backbone that allows the noisiness to swirl and spin about. On one hand, its sort of working with bedroom pop tendencies, offering up a sweetness that feels intimate; the flip side of the coin is the incessant push forward with noisy notes shooting off like fireworks in and out of the core. Paradise EP is out December 15th via Winspear.
