Levitation Music Festival Recap: Day Three – Shoegaze, synths, and psychedelia

The third day of Austin’s Levitation Music Festival was off to a good start when we bumped into Rishi Dhir of Elephant Stone and MIEN at a vegetarian breakfast cafe and then the Men at the same place.  Mr. Dhir remembered seeing us at a small show in Pittsburgh and told us he and the other chaps in MIEN were a bit nervous about performing their first live show at Stubb’s BBQ that night.  We told him we were sure they’d rock it.  I also told Nick from the Men that they reminded me of the MC5, and he was a bit blown away by the compliment.

MIEN did indeed rock their first live show.  We heard their soundcheck while dining at Stubb’s (Where, by the way, the best deal is the all-you-can-eat menu.) and we again saw Mr. Dhir not long before their set.  We told him they sounded great, and they did during the full set.  They played nearly their entire debut album and their nervous energy only seemed to benefit the set.

MIEN in their first live gig.

Local synth heroes (and Stranger Things score creators) SURVIVE were up next and put on a deep, creepy set that was longer than they expected.  They kept thinking they were out of time, but they still had enough to play three more songs before they really were done.  It was funny to see them look offstage and ask, learn they had plenty more time, and then grin as they tried to figure out what to play next.

SURVIVE getting creepy.

Finishing up the night at Stubb’s were shoegaze legends Slowdive.  I was late to their party, but got on board with their self-titled return album after nearly twenty years of no new music.  There was a good-sized crowd there by this point and people went crazy for them.  Many professed their love for singer / keyboardist / guitarist Rachel Goswell, who seemed humbled by all the love.

Slowdive

They nearly leveled the place with reverb, fuzz, and dreamy rock.  My wife wasn’t sure to make of it.  She later told me it nearly put her to sleep, which I suppose is one of the goals of such ethereal music.

We then moved over to the Empire Garage to hopefully catch the last half of No Joy‘s set, but alas they had finished by the time we got there.  Dan Deacon already had a big crowd and was spinning up a wild dance party despite his laptop computer giving him fits and a vocal distortion pedal breaking.  He had the audience building a tunnel with their arms above their heads and dance through it until his laptop computer crashed.

Dan Deacon’s dance tunnel.

We left a bit early, and I later read on Twitter than Deacon smashed his laptop by the end of the show after it crashed yet again.

Up next, my wife freaks out upon seeing Joel Gion on stage, Rishi Dhir returns, and I get Red Bull dumped on me.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin artist spotlight: S U R V I V E

Another Austin band that will be melting minds at Levitation Austin this year is SURVIVE.  They play a cool, creepy style of synthwave that pays great homage to John Carpenter and they’re well known for their work on the Stranger Things soundtrack.  They’ll play the second set at Stubb’s BBQ on April 28th starting around 9pm.  This will be the show to see if you’re in the mood for something spooky at the festival.

Keep your mind open.

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Pitchfork Music Festival 2017: Day Two recap

We were happy to learn that the folks at Pitchfork Music Festival decided to open a second entrance on the east side of Union Park.  This saved us from having to walk around the park to get into the lone entrance (unless you were a VIP), and saved probably thousands of people from waiting in another long line at the start of the day.

The new entrance, located at Ogden and Washington, sent us straight into the poster and print exhibition.

Posters and prints everywhere!

We immediately noticed it was far busier than the previous day.  The weather was better, too.  It was sunny and just a tad humid, whereas it had been mostly cloudy on Day One.  The new entrance also put us near the craft and record fairs.

Clothes, jewelry, sunglasses, hats, one-hitters.
It’s a bunch of wrecka stows under one roof!

I’m curious to see how much prices drop on Day Three, as I’m sure all of the vendors would like to pack up as little as possible.

As for the music, we started off the day with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.  We managed to find a college housemate of mine in the crowd.  I hadn’t seen him in over 20 years, and it was fun to jam with him, his husband, and Mandy while Mr. Clinton and crew went nuts.  I was surprised when they ended their set with some trap music.  I expected more funk.  As my friend said, “They need to have about fifteen more people on stage.”  The group did include a foxy lady whose job was to stand next to the drummer and look sexy.  She succeeded on all counts.

Mr. Clinton is in the striped shirt. The foxiest go-go dancer / back-up singer I’ve seen in a long while is to his right. MEOW!

We had plenty of time until the next set we wanted to see, so we headed to the food vendors for drinks and snacks.  The festival organizers made another smart decision by not checking I.D.’s at the entrance gates (like they’d done on Day One, creating an even longer wait time to get into the park), but instead checking them by the tents where you bought drink tickets.  One extremely dry cider and two teriyaki chicken buns later, we were off to see Madlib.

Madlib not caring if you expected more bass or trance beats. He’ll play what he wants, and we’re all better for it.

Madlib gave a master’s course in mixing and spinning.  He played a lot of tracks features different rappers he’s collaborated with in the past such as J Dilla and MF DOOM.  I geeked out when part of his visual display showed clips of the psychedelic movie Phase IV.

I caught part of  S U R V I V E‘s set, which was a neat blend of dark wave and film score music.  I saw more than a few kids at their set and figured they were probably jazzed to see the guys who made the Stranger Things score.  One man was tripping hard during their set and dancing like he was having a religious experience.  More power to him.

S U R V I V E gets bonus points for one of their members (far left) wearing a Goblin shirt.

We couldn’t get even halfway to the stage for A Tribe Called Quest.  The crowd for them was massive, and having P.J. Harvey on a nearby stage before their set only added to the number of people on the main lawn of the park.

A photo of a video screen. Mandy and I are somewhere in the back right of that crowd.

Nevertheless, we had a blast during ATCQ’s set.  They ripped through classic and new tracks, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad is still one of the best DJs in the business.

Representin’ Linden Boulevard.

The crowd around us was a bit low key, for reasons unknown to us.  One woman was wandering around asking random strangers if they had any weed to share.  A drunk man danced with Mandy and mumbled nonsense before learning I was with her and then freaking out a bit when he saw me.  I patted him on the shoulder and told him not to worry.

One of the best, and most bittersweet, parts of ATCQ’s set was the unmanned microphone on stage for Phife Dawg, who died last year from diabetes.  They still played his vocals, and even an a cappella version of one track that had the stage dark and only Phife’s vocals carrying across the lawn.  The band was big on “Dis Generation” and “Award Tour,” which they restarted twice.

It’s an award tour so far.

It was a fun way to end the day, but getting out was another story.  Pitchfork has VIP entrances and exits, but they don’t open these exits to everyone at the end of the day.  As a result, hundreds (at least) of us who figured we could get out through the east VIP exit were sent back through the record fair tents to the entrance and exit gate for the plebeians.  This gate still had a folding chair, a box, and some cattle gates across it that should’ve been moved before thousands of people started to leave.

Day Three will involve Derrick Carter, Ride, the Avalanchesand Nicolas Jaar.  Wish us luck.

Keep your mind open.

Pitchfork 2017 Day Two is in the bank.

Pitchfork Music Festival artist spotlight: S U R V I V E

Electronic rock act S U R V I V E (who, for some unknown reason, tend to spell their name with a space between each letter) are best known for having some of the composers of the Stranger Things soundtrack as members.  They create atmospheric and sometimes creepy instrumentals that instantly remind you of John Carpenter movie scores.  I’m interested to see how a live performance sounds from them.  They play Saturday afternoon at the Pitchfork Music Festival.

Keep your mind open.

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Pitchfork Music Festival announces full 2017 lineup.

Chicago’s annual Pitchfork Music Festival has announced its full lineup for 2017.  As usual, it’s an interesting mix of artists and genres.

At first glance, the most exciting picks for me are LCD Soundsystem, the Thurston Moore Group, A Tribe Called Quest, P.J. Harvey, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, SURVIVE, Nicolas Jaar, The Avalanches, Derrick Carter, and NE-HI.

Ticket prices have gone up at least $25.00 since the announcement and will go up more as the festival dates get closer, so don’t wait.

Keep your mind open.

Survive – RR7349

Do you need a score for next horror film? Looking for something to play in the cassette deck of your armored spike-covered car in a post-apocalyptic world? Need something to play through your earbuds while you search an alien hive or track down a masked killer? If so, Survive’s RR7349 is the album for you.

The band includes two of the men responsible for the Stranger Things score, so you can be sure this album of instrumental electro is full of 1980’s film score touches, John Carpenter influences, and love for Gary Numan.

“A.H.B.” opens the record, and is full of warped, weird synths that swirl like fog around your speakers. “Other” is ideal if you find yourself momentarily trapped in a summoning chamber built by an evil cult about to unleash some hellish thing on the world. It clanks, oozes, and slithers with deep, almost silent bass, and heavily synthesized vocals. “Dirt” has John Carpenter’s fingerprints all over it, as it sounds like a lost cut from the Prince of Darkness score.

“Wardenclyffe” might as well be the name of some Lovecraftian asylum, because it’s wonderfully creepy. Heavy bass synths and strange choral effects abound before manic keyboards take center stage. “Sorcerer” is the opening credits music of that cool time travel / medieval adventure VHS movie you watched in high school but have never been able to find since then. “Low Fog” is almost like a monastic chant. The thudding bass of “Copter” gives the song a sense of menace, and the taut synths almost wail at some points. I’m sure some film producer has bought the rights to “Cutthroat” by now, because it’s perfect for a 1980’s retro-style horror movie. You can’t miss the Halloween score influence.

This is a weird, creepy, and atmospheric record. Play it at your next cocktail party and feel how the room changes.

Keep your mind open.

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