Category: Live music

Levitation France adds new artists to 2018 lineup.

Levitation France has added a few more artists to their 2018 lineup.  The Soft Moon, Flavien Berger, J.C. Satan, Rendez-vous, Sextile, the Blank Tapes, and Prettiest Eyes are all now on the bill.  Tickets are still available for the festival and it should be lovely in Angers in mid-September.  I’m happy to see the Soft Moon on the bill, as they always put on a good show, and Flavien Berger is a rather good DJ / electro artist indeed.

Keep your mind open.

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A Place to Bury Strangers release new single, “Too Tough to Kill,” and U.S. summer tour dates.

A Place To Bury Strangers Share “Too Tough To Kill” Video
Watch Here

North American Headline Tour Begins This Week

Pinned Out Now On Dead Oceans

[still from “Too Tough To Kill” video]
A Place To Bury Strangers are sharing a video for new single “Too Tough To Kill” from their recently released album, Pinned. The director Colin Marchon says, “The project is a kind of America-sploitation video in response to the frustratingly stagnant state of the country. The song felt like the perfect context to speak to that. Technically speaking I don’t really consider myself an animator. It just feels really fun and cathartic to cut up images that speak to me or make me laugh and play with them in front of a camera. The editing is a little more complicated but as a full time commercial filmmaker the medium is just a very easy outlet to let out my subconscious after work.”
Watch A Place To Bury Strangers’ “Too Tough To Kill” Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjc6-ALiRb4
 
For well over a decade now, A Place to Bury Strangers— Oliver Ackermann, Dion Lunadon, and, officially, drummer Lia Simone Braswell—have become well known for their unwavering commitment to unpredictable, often bewildering live shows, and total, some might say dangerous volume. They don’t write set ists. They frequently write new songs mid-set. They deliberately provoke and sabotage sound people in a variety of cruel yet innovative ways. They can and will always surprise you.

Pinned, the band’s fifth full-length, finds A Place To Bury Strangers converting difficult moments into some of their most urgent work to date. It’s their first since the 2016 election, and their first since the 2014 closing of Death By Audio, the beloved Brooklyn DIY space where Ackerman lived, worked, and created with complete freedom. It’s a clear and honest statement of intent, not just for everything that follows, but for this band as a whole.

A Place To Bury Strangers will tour in support of Pinned beginning this week. A full list of dates is below.

Watch:
“Too Tough To Kill” video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjc6-ALiRb4
“Frustrated Operator” video – https://youtu.be/FMY04c8yrZE
“There’s Only One Of Us” video – https://youtu.be/ZkRebfgTLNc
“Never Coming Back” video – https://youtu.be/rij8qYpT1S0  
A Place To Bury Strangers Tour Dates:
5/24/18 Washington, DC – DC9 w/ Prettiest Eyes & Buck Gooter (tickets)
5/25/18 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery w/ Prettiest Eyes & Thrushes (tickets)
5/26/18 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade w/ Prettiest Eyes & Lacy Jags (tickets)
5/27/18 Asheville, NC – The Mothlight w/ Prettiest Eyes & Lacy Jags (tickets)
5/28/18 Atlanta, GA – The Earl w/ Prettiest Eyes & Nest Egg (tickets)
5/30/18 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa w/ Prettiest Eyes & Trashlight (tickets)
5/31/18 Houston, TX – The Secret Group w/ Prettiest Eyes  & Narcons (tickets)
6/01/18 Austin, TX – Barracuda w/ Prettiest Eyes & Xetas (tickets)
6/02/18 Dallas, TX – Club Dada w/ Prettiest Eyes & Dendrons (tickets)
6/03/18 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger w/ Prettiest Eyes & My Education (tickets)
6/05/18 Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf w/ Prettiest Eyes & Heather Trost (tickets)
6/06/18 Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar w/ Sextile & Strange Lot (tickets)
6/07/18 San Diego, CA – The Casbah w/ Sextile & Keepers (tickets)
6/09/18 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent w/ Sextile & Prettiest Eyes (tickets)
6/10/18 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall w/ Sextile & Prettiest Eyes (tickets)
6/12/18 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios w/ Sextile & Tender Age (tickets)
6/13/18 Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret w/ Sextile & Dopey’s Robe (tickets)
6/14/18 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile w/ Sextile & Haunted Horses (tickets)

10/12/18-10/14/18 – Joshua Tree, CA @ Desert Daze (tickets)

Pinned artwork
Keep your mind open.
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Caroline Rose releases new single, “Bikini,” off acclaimed album and adds more tour dates for 2018.

CAROLINE ROSE PRESENTS “BIKINI” VIDEO;
https://youtu.be/MZYtOBkICDg

EXPANDS HEADLINE TOUR IN SUPPORT OF LONER
AND ANNOUNCES FALL TOUR SUPPORTING RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISE

Caroline Rose has been winning over fans and selling out shows all over the country on her first ever headline tour since releasing LONER this past February via New West. As described by Pitchfork, Rose “uses her mordant wit to confront serious subjects, exorcising trauma with hooks and humor” throughout LONER. It’s an idea masterfully executed with previous singles “Money,” “Soul No. 5,” and “Getting To Me,” recently recognized in the New York Times Magazine’s “New Sentences” column. Today, Rose presents this notion further with the “Bikini” video, which she self-directed along with the “Soul No. 5” video and explains below.
“A lot of my aesthetic tends to be very tongue-in-cheek, so I wanted to take a serious subject, in this case misogyny, and just sort of turn it around to laugh at it. I think satire can be used as an incredible tool to take the power away from the powerful when necessary. It was important to me to make sure the video was body positive. When we think of ‘girls in bikinis,’ the tendency is to see tall white models with perfect bodies. I knew that would be missing the point of the song.

I take a lot of influences from films, and you can see a lot of Almodovar’s influence here. I had a pretty concrete idea to make the video bright and cheerful, kind of like a mix between old TV performances in the ’60s and ’70s and The Price Is Right-esque game shows. Almodovar is a master at using visuals to enhance a serious story. The colors he uses are a lot like the characters–vibrant and flamboyant. Here, I utilize something similar as a creative device to enhance the absurdism of a realistic situation.”

Rose continues on the road in support of LONER. Several more dates have been added to the previously announced June tour and she’ll tour Europe and the UK in July. She has also been added as support on the September Rainbow Kitten Surprise tour. All dates are listed below. Additionally, Rose has been named WXPN’s “Artist to Watch” for May. Her performance at WXPN’s World Café “Live at Noon” airs tonight.

Watch Caroline Rose’s “Bikini” Video –
https://youtu.be/MZYtOBkICDg

Stream Caroline Rose’s LONER –
http://geni.us/crloner?track=pr
                              
Watch/Listen/Share:
“Soul No. 5” video – https://youtu.be/zzIfmtKSLTE
“Money” video – https://youtu.be/NcOPz7Kby1A
“Getting To Me” – https://youtu.be/9JV4wU9Axsk

Caroline Rose Tour Dates:
Fri. May 18 – Gulf Shores, AL @ Hangout Music Festival
Sun. May 20 – Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn
Mon. May 21 – Knoxville, TN @ Open Chord Music
Thu. May 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer ^
Wed. May 30 – Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage ^
Fri. June 1 – Nelsonville, OH @ Nelsonville Music Festival
Sat. June 2 – Toledo, OH @ Maple and Main Festival
Mon. June 4 – Davenport, IA @ Redstone Room
Wed. June 6 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Thu. June 7 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge
Fri. June 8 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
Sat. June 9 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Tue. June 12 – Seattle, WA @ The Sunset
Wed. June 13 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Fri. June 15 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
Sat. June 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Moroccan Lounge
Thu. June 21 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Jr.
Fri. June 22 – Dallas, TX @ The Rustic
Sat. June 23 – Houston, TX @ The White Oak Music Hall
Mon. June 25 – Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads
Tue. June 26 – St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House
Wed. June 27 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
Sat. June 30 – Woodstock, NY @ The Colony $
Thu. July 5 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Fri. July 6 – Paris, FR @ Espace B
Sat. July 7 – Belfort, FR @ Eurockennees Festival
Mon. July 9 – Brighton, UK @ The Prince Albert
Wed. July 11 – Manchester, UK @ Gullivers
Thu. July 12 – London, UK @ The Victoria
Sat. July 14 – Bern, CH @ Gurtenfestival
Thu. July 19 – Benicássim, ES @ Festival Internacional de Benicassim
Fri. July 20 – San Sebastian, ES @ Dabadaba
Sat. July 21 – Fitero, ES @ Barranco Festival
Thu. Aug. 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
Fri. Aug. 3 – Portland, ME @ State Theater %
Sat. Sep. 15- Sun. Sep. 16 – Burlington, VT @ Grand Point North Festival
Wed. Sep. 19 – Rochester, NY @ Abilene Bar and Lounge
Thu. Sep. 20 – Lancaster, PA @ Tello 360
Fri. Sep. 21 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
Sat. Sep. 22 – Sun. Sep. 23 – Franklin, TN @ Pilgrimage Festival
Mon. Sep. 24 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Jefferson *
Tue. Sep. 25 – Norfolk, VA @ Norva Theater *
Thu. Sep. 27 – Richmond, VA @ The National *
Fri. Sep. 28 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre *
Sat. Sep. 29 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head *
Mon. Oct. 1 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom *
Tue. Oct. 2 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre *
Sat. Oct. 6 – Providence, RI @ The Strand *
Mon. Oct. 8 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls *
Thu. Oct. 11 – Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall *
Fri. Oct. 12 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s *
Sat. Oct. 13 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre *
Mon. Oct. 15 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Elevation at The Intersection *
Wed. Oct. 17 –  Bloomington, IL @ The Castle Theater *
Sat. Oct. 20 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *
Sun. Oct. 21 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom *
Tue. Oct. 23 – Oxford, MS @ Lyric Theatre *

^ = with Maggie Rogers
$ = with Mitski
% = with Guster
* = with Rainbow Kitten Suprise

Praise for LONER:

“[LONER is] a wonderful, rollicking beast.” — MOJO

“LONER is a thrillingly odd take on pop, braiding her sardonic lyrics with
off-kilter songs that groove and groan.” —  Boston Globe

“Rose has a newly loosed imagination and a flair for exaggerating the absurdities we’re living with, and the way she’s put them to use is a timely gift.” — NPR Music

“With its mix of sunny melodies and acerbic wit, the material from her newly released LP,
LONER, was frenetic and freewheeling.” —  Rolling Stone

“In an era of endless, ear-numbing streams, LONER grabs your chin and commands your eyes.”
—  Consequence of Sound

“Rose is a fascinating person, and from DIY production trickery to her multi-role star turns in her videos, LONER represents her at her best.” — Stereogum “Artist to Watch”

“an often wickedly funny and winningly sardonic indie-pop act with lots of
surprising musical moves on her new album, LONER.” — Philadelphia Inquirer

“With her newly honed interest in producing, Caroline Rose has made an unwaveringly entertaining album filled to the brim with songs that are at once contemplative and coax the listener to get out of their seat and dance.” — Rookie

“Rose is a joy to behold . . . LONER whacks the listener swiftly upside the head with our red-clad protagonist’s winning charisma, leaving ya dizzy and begging for more.” — Under The Radar

“…a punchier, studio-powered pop sound, packed with danceable beats, prominent synths, big choruses and plenty of swagger. She remains unafraid of singing about serious subjects (capitalism, sexism, death, etc.) but on LONER, she delivers them through a bold, candy-colored filter that’s always intriguing and often irresistible.” —  Paste

Download hi-res press images and cover art –
www.pitchperfectpr.com/caroline-rose/

Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Keep your mind open.
[No need to put on a bikini for updates.  I’ll send them for free when you subscribe.]

Levitation Music Festival Recap – Day Four: Old friends, new friends, old habits, new stains

We started the fourth day at the Levitation Music Festival with another tradition – the Sunday gospel brunch at Threadgill’s restaurant.  It’s a pretty good deal, and the music always sound good.  The band there this year was the Levites, and they were having a great time.

The first band we saw at the festival was Acid House Ragas, which consists of DJ Al Lover on synths and beats and can-we-call-him-a-friend-by-now? Rishi Dhir on sitar.  They got the festival off to a nice start with meditative drone music.

Acid House Ragas at Stubb’s BBQ.

We left Stubb’s to grab a bite at the Moonshine Cafe, which serves “southern comfort food.”  Holy cow.  That was some of the best blackened catfish I’ve had in a long time.  After stuffing our bellies, we returned to Stubb’s in time to almost bump into Christian Bland of the Black Angels and Christian Bland and the Revelators.  This was the fifth time I’ve met him, and I thanked him again for the festival.  He and his bandmates help curate it, and I told him it was our fourth year there and we already had tickets for Levitation France in the fall.  He thanked me and was excited to hear we were going to the fall festival.  He’s always in a good mood whenever I bump into him.

We caught most of the set from the Brian Jonestown Massacre.  My wife flipped out when she realized band member Joel Gion was “the tambourine guy from Gilmore Girls.”  They put on a set to an always appreciative crowd, and frontman Anton Newcombe encouraged all of us to quit using pesticides in order to save bees.  We also met up with James from Ancient River and his wife, Nakia, while there.  We hadn’t seen them since 2014, and I hadn’t seen James since 2015 when he and his bandmate, Alex, played a gig in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  It was great to catch up with them and meet friends of theirs from England who were also at the show.

Brian Jonestown Massacre

Mr. Newcombe later walked through the crowd during the Black Angels‘ set, shaking hands with yours truly and many other fans.  The woman behind me gave him a big hug and her boyfriend also shook hands with him.  It made that woman’s night.  They talked about it for another ten minutes at least.

The Black Angels, as always, put on a great set.  They started with “Young Men Dead,” their usual closer, and kept tearing it up from there.  Lead guitarist Christian Bland shredded more than usual, and drummer Stephanie Bailey was once again an unstoppable beast.

The Black Angels

We headed to Barracuda to catch synth-punks POW!.  Unfortunately, we missed most of their set, but what we did hear was a fun and raucous.  Their weird cover of the Addams Family theme was a nice treat.

POW! in your face

Following them were Oh Sees, who I’ve been wanting to catch for years.  James told me he’d seen them perform the previous night and said it was an impressive, high energy set.  Sure enough, all the hype you’ve heard is true.   A mosh pit broke out within the first four bars and I was soon in it.  Various drinks were flying, people were crowd surfing, and my shoes were a stained, dirty mess by the end of it.  It was a great way to end the festival on a high note and leave us with enough energy and hunger to grab a late night pizza slice on the way back to our car.

Oh Sees

It was a nice return for Levitation Austin.  The town, and the festival, needed a good comeback.  Multiple people at the festival agreed with me that the vibe there is always good.  You don’t see or meet a lot of jackasses at this festival, which is always a plus (but, good grief, why are people still smoking cigarettes in 2018, and especially in the middle of a crowd?).

See you in France this fall?

Keep your mind open.

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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 Music Festival Recap Day Two: Scrambled eggs, scrambled brain

The second day of Levitation Austin was going to be a feast of bands from outside the U.S.  The number of international acts that play the festival every year is one of my favorite things about it.  I’ve discovered many great bands I wouldn’t have heard otherwise at Levitation Austin.

After a great brunch at the South Congress Cafe (which I couldn’t finish), the first of the six bands we’d see that day was Superfonicos – an Austin band of locals and Colombians who play a great mix of Afro / Colombian funk.  They played to a crowd that seemed to grow larger with each track, as more and more people walking by the venue came in to hear who was dropping all that killer groove.

Superfonicos kicking off the party.

Following them were musicians all the way from Algeria – Imarhan.  My wife and I have fallen in love with Tuareg music thanks to the Levitation festival, and this was our second time seeing Imarhan there.  A lot more people were hyped to see them this time than when we saw them in 2016.  It’s not that they were a bad band in 2016 – far from it.  It’s that they’ve been working hard, touring a lot, and have a fine new album (Temet) that’s getting a lot of buzz.  They had everyone moving and people behind me in the crowd were stunned by their bass player and lead guitarist.

Imarhan

Closing the night at Cheer Up Charlie’s were hometown heroes / aliens Golden Dawn Arkestra, who entered the venue through the crowd and billowing sage incense everywhere before they launched into a sun-worshipping funky freakout that had a packed crowd of dancing revelers all communing with other-dimensional beings.  GDA never disappoint, and some people we met that night (one of whom was in a psychedelic band out of Chicago) who hadn’t seen them before thought the set was one of the coolest things they’d ever seen.

We then went over to Barracuda to see Chilean psychedelic rock outfit Vuelveteloca.  Unfortunately, we missed the first half of their set, but what we did here was psych-rock as solid as the Andes.

NYC’s The Men followed, and they came out gunning.  In the first two tracks I thought, “This might be the closest I ever get to an MC5 show.”  They even played some Captain Beefheart-like stuff by the end.  They were loud and brash, which made the next set even weirder.

The final act we saw the second night was another Chilean band – Follakzoid.  I’d only heard a couple tracks by them before coming to Austin, and they were good ones that bordered somewhere between shoegaze and psychedelia.  I didn’t know what to expect from a live show, but I can tell you it about melted my mind.  They played two tracks and an encore.  The two tracks during their main set were about twenty-five minutes each of droning, repetitive (in a good way) space rock that is hard to describe.  Imagine synth bass and riffs combined with drumming from apparently a human metronome (considering how long he kept those beats going) and maybe five different notes played in different ways and with different effects and levels of distortion and reverb.  Sound weird?  It was – wonderfully so.  Sound like it shouldn’t be good?  You couldn’t be more wrong.  It was one of the best sets I saw all weekend, easily in the top three.

Up next, my wife tries to figure out the big deal about Slowdive, we bump into more musicians, and a laptop keeps giving someone fits.

Keep your mind open.

 

 

 

Levitation Music Festival Recap: Day One – Loose change, good rock, yummy noodles

It was our fourth trip to the Levitation Music Festival (which I still call the Austin Psych Fest now and then), and we were happy and eager to support it after the weather-battered and cancelled 2016 festival.  That took such a toll that the 2017 festival in Austin was also cancelled.  This needed to be a good bounce back for the Reverb Appreciation Society (who curate the festival) and the city of Austin.  The city still remembered the series of bombings that plagued the city just a month earlier, so the town needed a morale boost.  It worked.  The limited number of deluxe weekend passes (which allowed access to all shows across the four days) sold out in minutes.  No, I didn’t get any of them.  I, like most of the attendees, had to buy tickets for individual shows.

The biggest change for the festival this year was that it was no longer held at Carson Creek Ranch and its three outdoor stages.  The 2018 festival was held in multiple venues in downtown Austin – Stubb’s BBQ, Emo’s, Cheer Up Charlie’s, Empire Garage, Barracuda, Beerland, the Mohawk, Volcom Garden, and Hotel Vegas.  My wife said she preferred the festival this way, as it gave us more places to relax between (and during) sets and more options for food.  We rented an apartment via VRBO that was a ten-minute drive from the venues and the Spot Hero parking app became our best friend over the course of the four days.  We never paid more than $10.00 for parking for an entire night while in Austin.

I had five shows slated for the first day of the festival (Thursday).  The first was Ron Gallo.  I hadn’t seen Mr. Gallo and his crew since I saw them open for Screaming Females in a small Fort Wayne, Indiana show.   I was keen to see how big of a crowd they’d get since they’d achieved notoriety with their first record and toured with the Black Angels.  I’m happy to say they had a good crowd at Stubb’s and were a great opening to the festival.  They encouraged us to create our own reality and that everything will be okay.

Ron Gallo at Stubb’s BBQ.

We headed out for dinner after their fun set, and I started two trends that continued the entire weekend.  The first was finding pennies.  I found at least three every day we were in the city.  It bordered on bizarre.  I don’t know why Austin apparently has no use for pennies (and even quarters), but I’ll happily take them.

We ate at Daruma, a great ramen bar in downtown Austin.  We started the second trend of the weekend there – Meeting musicians.  A group of six sat at the bench-like table with us and we learned they were a self-described “gospel / hip-hop” band called Kings Kaleidoscope from Seattle who were playing in town that night.  We also learned there that our broth was probably made by the bass player and / or drummer for Holy Wave, who were playing a record release party that night.  We didn’t catch them, because we wanted to get back to Stubb’s to see Ty Segall.  We got back a bit earlier than we’d planned, and ended up catching Parquet Courts‘ set first.

Parquet Courts at Stubb’s BBQ.

They played a loud, energetic set, but it sounded like they were being heckled by multiple people in the crowd who either wouldn’t shut up between songs or kept yelling out requests.  A couple band members told them multiple times to cool it.

Ty Segall came to shred.  Every song seemed designed to burn the Stubb’s stage to the ground.  He had some problems with the lighting, however, and had to tell the light technician to change the lighting and stop strobe lights and projections because he couldn’t see the rest of the band from his position on stage.  My wife asked, “Shouldn’t all of that had been established in his contract ahead of time?”

Ty Segall at Stubb’s BBQ. That’s him shredding on the far right.

We missed his encore because we went to Barracuda to catch Virginia stoner metal powerhouses Windhand.  We got there about halfway through their set, and they were already melting faces.  My wife asked if the bass player’s hair covered his face because their music had melted it.  It was a reasonable question, considering how heavy their riffs were.

Windhand throwing it down like a titanium gauntlet at Barracuda.

Unfortunately, we missed the set by Christian Bland and the Revelators, but we did get to Beerland to see Austin’s own Ringo Deathstarr.  They’re local shoegaze legends, and I’d wanted to hear them for a while.  Despite the Beerland sound engineer not being able to keep some microphone feedback in check, Ringo Deathstarr put in a solid performance.  Their drummer has serious chops.  I left wanting more.

Ringo Deathstarr at Beerland.

We got back to the apartment around 2:00am, which was another trend that would continue all weekend.  It was a good first night, and we were happy to be back.

Up next, a day of funk, garage rock, and Chilean psychedelic freak-outs.

Keep your mind open.

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All Them Witches’ summer tour starts today.

All Them Witches begin them summer tour today.  They’re playing with Primus AND Mastodon May 6th – June 3rd. Tickets are on sale now.  Catch them if you can.  They’re great live.

For a full list of tour dates, head over to AllThemWitches.org
MAY 3 • Rose Music Hall • COLUMBIA, MO
MAY 4 • Slowdown • OMAHA, NE
MAY 6 • Red Rocks Amphitheater • MORRISON, CO ^
MAY 8 • The Criterion • OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ^
MAY 9 • White Oak Music Hall • HOUSTON, TX *
MAY 10 • South Side Ballroom • DALLAS, TX ^
MAY 11 • Austin 360 Amphitheatre • DEL VALLE, TX ^
MAY 12 • Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion • ROGERS, AR ^
MAY 14 • BJCC Concert Hall • BIRMINGHAM, AL ^
MAY 15 • Nashville Municipal Auditorium • NASHVILLE, TN ^
MAY 16 • Fox Theatre • ATLANTA, GA ^
MAY 18 • Portsmouth Pavilion • PORTSMOUTH, VA ^
MAY 19 • Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater • CHARLOTTE, NC ^
MAY 20 • Red Hat Amphitheater • RALEIGH, NC ^
MAY 22 • Diamond Credit Union Theatre • READING, PA ^
MAY 23 • Artpark Amphitheater • LEWISTON, NY ^
MAY 25 • Cool Insuring Arena • GLENS FALLS, NY ^
MAY 26 • Bold Point Park • EAST PROVIDENCE, RI ^
MAY 27 • Maine State Pier • PORTLAND, ME ^
MAY 29 • Blue Hills Bank Pavilion • BOSTON, MA ^
MAY 30 • Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier • PHILADELPHIA, PA ^
JUN 1 • Stone Pony Summerstage • ASBURY PARK, NJ ^
JUN 2 • Pier Six Pavilion • BALTIMORE, MD ^
JUN 3 • Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk • BROOKLYN, NY ^
JUN 6 • Mascotte • ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
JUN 7 • Caribana Festival • CRANS-PRES-CELIGNY, SWITZERLAND
JUN 8 • Download Festival • NEWBURY, UNITED KINGDOM
JUN 8 • Best Kept Secret • HILVARENBEEK, NETHERLANDS
JUN 9 • Donnington Park • NEWBURY, UNITED KINGDOM
JUN 10 • Donnington Park • NEWBURY, UNITED KINGDOM
JUN 11 • AB Box • BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
JUN 13 • Backstage Halle • MUNCHEN GERMANY
JUN 14 • Nova Rock • NICKELSDORF, AUSTRIA
JUN 15 • Z-Bau • NUREMBERG, GERMANY
JUN 16 • Maifield Derby Festival • MANNHEIM, GERMANY
JUL 14 • Ballard Seafoodfest • SEATTLE, WA
OCT 14 • Aftershock Festival • SACRAMENTO, CA

^ w/ Primus and Mastodon
* w/ Mastodon and Mothership
TICKETS

Levitation Austin artist spotlight: Oh Sees

Otherwise known as Thee Oh Sees and OCS, Oh Sees are a wild psych-rock band whose lineup goes through changes seemingly with every record but the hard, driving energy of their music never alters.  Both of their Levitation Austin shows at Barracuda on April 28th and 29th are sold-out, but you still might be able to get tickets for their show at Austin’s Hotel Vegas on April 30th (which is a charity benefit show, no less).  These shows are sure to be nuts, so get to one if you can.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin artist spotlight: Pow!

Synth-punk weirdos POW! are playing Levitation Austin at Barracuda on April 29th at 10:50pm.  It’s a sold-out show at with them opening for Oh Sees.  They pay a quirky, catchy brand of electro-rock that I think will be a treat live.  I hope you can make it.

Keep your mind open.

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