May 3, 2015
The ‘Live Music Capitol of the World’, Austin, has been keeping it weird for years now with Austin Psych Fest, celebrating the best in psychedelic music. For 2015, the festival, which has expanded to such places as Paris, elevates into Levitation at Carson Creek Ranch, Friday-to-Sunday, May 8th to 10th:
FRIDAY, MAY 8th
| Reverberation Stage Tame Impala, 12:15 AM From Perth (QRO photos at a home) in Western Australia (QRO photos at a hometown festival), comes the psychedelic rock of Tame Impala (QRO live review), touring off of 2011’s Innerspeaker (QRO review) & 2012’s Lonerism, whose critical acclaim has won them fans across the world (QRO photos at a festival), and a headlining spot at Levitation (QRO photos). |
 |
| Spiritualized, 10:30 PM After the demise of the space-rock Spaceman 3, Jason Pierce stayed in the stratosphere (thanks to an inanimate carbon rod) as Spiritualized (QRO live review). He had been performing 1997’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (NME’s Album of the Year) in full, but Spiritualized (QRO photos) comes to Levitation (QRO photos at a festival) behind 2012’s Sweet Heart Sweet Light. |
 |
| DIIV, 9:00 PM Brooklyn shoegaze outfit DIIV (QRO live review) – previously known as Dive (QRO photos) – come to Levitation, after releasing debut Oshin (QRO review) in 2012. |
 |
| Also: Mini Mansions, 7:30 PM Ringo Deathstarr, 6:15 PM – QRO spotlight on Hundred Visions, 5:00 PM Sungod, 3:45 PM |
 |
Elevation Amphitheater The Soft Moon, 11:00 PM The Soft Moon (QRO photos at a festival) have a post-post-punk sound that’s been called ‘Post-Apocalyptic’, and come to Levitation behind this year’s Deeper. |
 |
| White Fence, 9:30 PM The more psychedelic-pop White Fence (QRO photos at a festival) teamed up in 2012 with Ty Segall (QRO album review – also of Fuzz, see below) for Hair, and now he comes to Levitation. |
 |
| Also: Holy Wave, 8:00 PM The Holydrug Couple, 6:45 PM Willie Thrasher & Linda Saddlebeck, 5:30 PM White Manna, 4:15 PM |
 |
Levitation Tent METZ, 1:00 AM Both loud and skilled, METZ (QRO live review) come ready to rock and impress at Levitation (QRO photos at a festival). |
 |
| The Sword, 11:30 PM Bringing the metal is Austin’s own The Sword (QRO live review). The heavy metal band has previously opened for the likes of Metallica (QRO photos on tour with The Sword) and Motörhead (QRO photos), but can more than hold their own (QRO live review). Their last record was 2012’s Apocryphon, but they’re promising a new record, so watch out (QRO live review)! |
 |
| Lightning Bolt, 10:00 PM Before there was the plethora of wild guitar-and-drums duos that there are today, there was Lightning Bolt (QRO photos) – a bass-and-drums duo known for guerilla-style shows who put out their seventh noise-rock LP, Fantasy Empire, this year. |
 |
| Indian Jewelry, 8:30 PM Houston’s Indian Jewelry made a name for themselves in the chillwave genre, thanks to sonic experiments and seizure-inducing live shows. |
 |
| Also: Survive, 7:15 PM Mr. Elevator & The Brain Hotel, 6:00 PM Hollow Trees, 4:45 PM |
 |
Campground Stage Symbol, 2:30 AM Flowers of Hell, 1:40 AM Cloudland Canyon, 2:50 PM Sans Soleil, 2:00 PM Wire Nest, 1:10 PM RF Shannon, 12:20 PM Airplane Mode, 11:30 AM |
 |
SATURDAY, MAY 9th
| Reverberation Stage The Jesus & Mary Chain, 12:15 AM After gaining notoriety for their short and violent sets, The Jesus and Mary Chain (QRO photos at a festival) split in 1999 only to be reunited back in 2007. The band (QRO photos at a festival) has released a slew of power punk albums in the ‘80s and ‘90s but have yet to release anything new. |
 |
| Primal Scream, 10:30 PM It’s going on thirty years now for Glasgow’s Primal Scream (QRO photos). After Bobby Gillespie left his drumming duties in The Jesus & Mary Chain (see right above) to take up lead vocals full-time in Primal Scream, the band helped build the British indie-pop scene in the eighties, before breaking through to the mainstream with 1991’s Screamadelica. They come to Levitation (QRO photos at a festival) behind 2013’s More Light. |
 |
| Thee Oh Sees, 9:00 PM Hailing from The O.C. (the name was original ‘Orange County Sound’, then ‘OCS’, then – well, you get the idea…), John Dwyer formed Thee Oh Sees (QRO photos at a festival) to put out his experimental, instrumental home recordings, but over seven records has morphed into a full band and a wild live show (QRO photos at a festival). Thee Oh Sees come to Levitation (QRO photos at a festival) behind the new Mutilator Defeated At Last. |
 |
| Night Beats, 7:30 PM Psych-soul garage combo (QRO photos at a festival) from Seattle comes to Levitation after touring the world (QRO photos overseas) behind their 2013 eponymous record. |
 |
| Also: Las Robertas, 6:15 PM The Blank Tapes, 5:00 PM The Well, 3:45 PM Heaters, 2:15 PM |
 |
Elevation Amphitheatre Earth, 11:00 PM Seattle’s instrumental outfit Earth began in the minimalist drone doom, and then reinvented themselves by adding a drummer and elements from jazz to folk. |
 |
| Also: Mystic Braves, 9:30 PM Spindrift, 8:00 PM Chui Wan, 6:45 PM Ryley Walker, 5:30 PM La Witch, 4:14 PM Gourisankar & Indrajit Banarjee, 3:00 PM |
 |
Levitation Tent Tamaryn, 1:00 AM New Zealand-born, New York-living vocalist Tamaryn (QRO photos) comes to Levitation. |
 |
| HEALTH, 11:30 PM Los Angeles’ own HEALTH (QRO photos) not only bring the noise-rock to Levitation, but are also known for their mash-ups, most notably with electronic dance duo Crystal Castles (QRO live review), though outdoors (QRO photos outdoors), they’re more ‘noise’ than ‘rock’. |
 |
| Also: This Will Destroy You, 10:00 PM The Black Ryder, 8:30 PM Vaadat Charigim, 7:15 PM Fever The Ghost, 6:00 PM Creepoid, 4:45 PM Ex Cult, 3:30 PM |
 |
Campground Stage Thousand Foot Whale Claw, 2:30 AM Dyn, 1:40 AM Chris Catalena & The Native Americans, 1:30 PM Amerikan Bear, 12:40 PM Relaxer, 11:50 AM Michael Garfield, 11:00 AM |
 |
SUNDAY, MAY 10th
| Reverberation Stage The Flaming Lips, 11:45 PM There’s a good reason The Flaming Lips (QRO photos at a festival) have been so popular for so long on the festival circuit (QRO photos at a festival), as there is no live show out there like a Flaming Lips live show (QRO live review). Confetti cannons, costumes, video screens, balloons from the sky, puppets, singer/guitarist Wayne Coyne (QRO interview) surfing the crowd in a giant plastic bubble – The Lips have it all (QRO photos), and expect them to take it even higher (QRO photos at a festival) as they play their umpteenth festival (QRO photos at a 2014 festival). Oh, and they’ve got some great music, too, from early nineties hit “She Don’t Use Jelly” to seminal The Soft Bulletin (QRO photos from top-to-bottom performance, at a festival), as well as 2006’s Grammy Award-winning At War With the Mystics (even put out a movie, Christmas On Mars – QRO review), and 2009’s Embryonic (QRO review) to 2012’s The Terror (QRO review). Plus they (QRO spotlight on) headlined both The Colbert Report’s ‘Pepsi Presents StePhest ColbChella ‘012 Rocktaugustfest’ (QRO photos) and Amnesty International’s ‘Bring Human Rights Home’ event last year (QRO recap). |
 |
| The 13th Floor Elevators, 10:00 PM For the festival formerly known as Austin Psych Fest, is there a more appropriate band that one of the original psychedelic acts, Austin’s The 13th Floor Elevators? Is there a more appropriate place for them to reunite than at Levitation? The group rose and fell in the late sixties in truly grand fashion, and while the various members have been active since then, such as singer/guitarist Roky Erickson’s solo career (QRO live review), this will truly be a momentous event. |
 |
| The Black Angels, 8:30 PM Austin’s great music scene has many dimensions, but the band that opened up the psychedelic side of the Live Music Capitol of the World is The Black Angels (QRO spotlight on) – oh, and they founded Levitation! The group (QRO photos), fronted by Alex Mass (QRO interview), bring the psych-rock of 2013’s Indigo Meadow (QRO review) and 2010’s Phosphene Dream (QRO review) to their festival (QRO photos outdoors at a festival), after playing America (QRO live review) & Europe (QRO photos at a European festival). |
 |
| Mac DeMarco, 7:00 PM Some artists toil in obscurity for years, even decades, but Mac DeMarco (QRO photos at a festival) is only just old enough to drink, and already has his debut full-length, Mac DeMarco 2, and reputation for wild live shows (QRO photos at a festival) that brings him to Levitation (QRO photos at a festival). |
 |
| The Ghost of a Saber Toothed Tiger, 5:45 PM Sean Lennon teamed up with his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl as The Ghost of a Saber Toothed Tiger (QRO photos at a festival) to spend more time together, and solidified it into a band with last year’s full-length debut, Midnight Sun. |
 |
| Also: Paperhead, 4:30 PM Tele Novella, 3:30 PM Ryan Sambol, 2:30 PM |
 |
Elevation Amphitheater Chelsea Wolfe, 11:00 PM Chelsea Wolfe (QRO photos at a festival) brings her drone-metal-art-folk mix to Levitation behind upcoming record Abyss. |
 |
| Also: Follakzoid, 9:00 PM Eternal Tapestry, 7:45 PM The Myrrors, 6:30 PM Samsara Blues Experiment, 5:15 PM Jeff Ziegler & Mary Lattimore, 4:00 PM Dallas Acid, 2:45 PM |
 |
Levitation Tent Fuzz, 1:00 AM Ty Segall (QRO album review) has worked with many others (such as White Fence – see above), and at Levitation teams up with Charles Moonheart as Fuzz. |
 |
| A Place To Bury Strangers, 11:30 PM Brooklyn’s own A Place To Bury Strangers (QRO spotlight on) challenge Spinal Tap for claim of ‘loudest band ever’, but AP2BS (QRO interview) are also skilled musicians, from their self-titled debut full-length (QRO review), 2009’s Exploding Head (QRO review), 2013’s Onward To the Wall EP (QRO review) & Worship (QRO review) full-length, and this year’s Transfixiation (QRO review). They (QRO interview) come to psych out Texas (QRO photos in Texas) after touring Britain (QRO live review in Britain) & continental Europe (QRO review on The Continent). |
 |
| Fat White Family, 9:15 PM Fat White Family (QRO photos at a festival) may have been banned from playing posh Somerset House in London, but Levitation ain’t for the noise-in-the-air crowd. |
 |
| Also: Nothing, 8:00 PM – QRO album review Zzzs, 6:45 PM Los Mundos, 5:30 PM Mugstar, 4:15 PM Baby Robots, 3:00 PM |
 |
Campground Stage Silent Land Time Machine, 1:40 AM New Fumes, 1:40 AM Gourisankar & Indrajit Banarjee, 1:30 AM Texas Bob Juarez w/ Graham Bonnar, 12:40 AM Burning Palms, 11:50 AM Botany, 11:00 AM |
 |
For festival website, go here: http://www.austinpsychfest.com/
Categories
Features
