Slift – 7th Level Music

Top 25 live shows of 2022: #’s 10 – 6

It’s time for the top ten live shows I saw in 2022. These shows were mind-bending in multiple ways.

#10: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Levitation Austin / Stubb’s – October 29th

This was the second of two sold-out shows from KGATLW at Stubb’s. The line to get into this show stretched for almost three blocks. The crowd was fired up and the prolific psych-rock Aussies played everything from thrash metal to electro. It’s amazing that they can keep so many different types of songs in their heads.

#9: A Place to Bury Strangers – Chicago / Empty Bottle – May 30th

It’s always good to see APTBS. Their shows are like endurance workouts that push you into a runner’s high. This was the first time I saw them with the new lineup and they seemed even louder than they’d ever been. The Empty Bottle could barely contain them.

#8: Moon Duo – Levitation Austin / Feels So Good Records – October 30th

This was the loveliest show of the year, and the most hypnotizing. Playing in their “Lightship” projection box stage, Moon Duo would become lost in the light show that beamed from behind them, onto the screen around them, and into the audience. I’m not joking when I tell you it was trance-inducing. You had to be careful not to zone out and fall onto the floor.

#7: Osees – Levitation Austin / Hotel Vegas – October 28th

I’ve never seen Osees put on a bad show, and this one, albeit a shorter set than normal, was another solid performance. It was the second of their four-night residency at Austin’s Hotel Vegas, and the crowd was the perfect size – not so big you couldn’t stretch your arms, and not so small that you felt bad for the band. The weather was also about perfect. All you needed was a light coat, a hat, and a drink and you were ready for the mosh pit.

#6: Slift – Levitation Austin / Elysium – October 27th

This was the best set of the entire Levitation Austin festival last year. It was also the last show of Slift’s U.S. tour, and they unloaded everything they had left in the tank, and then borrowed from the audience’s tank, and then somehow still had enough to leave orbit. I was surprised Elysium was still standing afterwards. It spoiled us a bit for the rest of the weekend, because no one could top it.

Up next, the best five shows I saw last year, which include some legends.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin 2022 recap: Day One

This year’s lineup for Levitation was stacked. Osees playing all four nights, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard playing twice, Slift coming in from France, The Jesus and Mary Chain coming in from the UK? Sign me up.

Day One (Thursday) started, as usual with a stop at Pelon’s for some Tex-Mex and then over to Stubb’s for the first three-band set we’d see over the weekend. Opening the festival for us were the post-punk trio Automatic, who had only improved since we’d seen them at Levitation France four months earlier. They also had some of the best sound mixing of the entire weekend.

A lot of people loved Automatic’s set. We saw plenty of people carrying new Automatic tote bags and wearing new band shirts afterwards. Up next was Detroit’s Protomartyr delivering a powerful set of urgent post-punk. Afterwards, they announced a surprise show at the 13th Floor bar down the street the following night.

The Stubb’s show ended with shoegaze giants The Jesus and Mary Chain, who, despite having problems with a distortion pedal, put on a good set of classics and new material to a loving crowd who thought they sounded great without the faulty pedal.

That didn’t end our night, however. We walked over to Elysium for the sold-out show featuring Slift – the cosmic metal band from Toulouse, France. Anticipation was high for the set, and they did not disappoint. The raw power coming from them in the small venue was almost overpowering at some points. They were drenched with sweat by the end of the first song, as was most of the audience. It was the end of their U.S. tour and their first time in Austin, so they poured out all the gas in the tank they had left for the crowd. Theirs was the best set of the night.

It was a great way to open what would be a fun four days. Up next would be a return to Hotel Vegas for the first time in years, the sexiest set of the weekend, and a band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see live.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Slift – Ummon

There are times when YouTube’s algorithms make a good call. Ummon, the latest album from Slift, is a good example for me. I kept seeing this record and live performances by the Toulouse, France cosmic rockers in lists of suggested videos. I finally gave Ummon a listen several months after it was released and was about knocked over by how damn heavy it is. The cover image of a naked man dragging a massive sword across what looks like a hot asteroid sums up the heft of this album pretty well.

The title track opens the record with guitars and drums sounding like ancient warriors taking armor off racks and strapping it on before charging over a drawbridge to repel invading ogres…on Titan. The lyrics about an army emerging from the Earth’s core (“Set the controls for the Earth’s surface. From the night we have waited. Bring the fire to your sleeping brothers.”). How much more metal can you get? “It’s Coming…” is a bright, shining epic tale of a white city in heavens that rushes to greet us. Is it a song about death? Probably, but it’s lets us know that death is a cosmic journey we will all find fascinating…and loud and crazy if the song’s end is any indication.

“Thousand Helmets of Gold” has Slift leaving the Earth for better times in space (“We’ve left this world of violence. Stars aren’t that far at all.”), propelled there by the power of rock riffs. What lies there in space? Well, according to “Citadel on a Satellite,” it’s a “calm and serene vista of wonders” where “time signifies nothing.” I can’t argue with that, or with the psychedelic guitar solo that weaves throughout the song. The way it softly drifts out and then slaps you awake with “Hyperion” is stunning. The song is about either an ancient warrior or an elder god – or both – and epic enough for either.

“Altitude Lake” is a psychedelic tale of a warrior seeking a mystic sword in a forsaken land of mist and mystery. The track moves back and forth between hypnotic jams and epic shredding. “Sonar” is a cool instrumental suitable for your next video game session or late night drag race with a UFO. “Dark Was Space, Cold Were the Stars” is a tale of death told by a groovy bass line, spacey synths, lock-tight drumming, and booster rocket guitars. “Aurore aux Confins” (“Dawn at the Edge”) is another wild, trippy instrumental that sounds like a laser refracted through a lava lamp.

“Son Dông’s Cavern” is a short, trippy affair that leads into the Oh Sees-like “Lions, Tigers and Bears,” which clocks in at thirteen minutes and eighteen seconds – and it’s worth every moment of that running time with its massive riffs, guttural vocals, and wild drums as they sing about a cosmic race of lion-pulled chariots across the cosmos to usher in a glorious age throughout the universe.

Ummon is an impressive piece of work, and one of those albums that makes you say, “How are three people putting out this much sound?” I don’t know the answer. My guess is that they tapped into some sort of cosmic energy well while meditating in a cave full of ancient crystals placed there by aliens. You’ll understand this when you hear it.

Keep your mind open.

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