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2/29/2024
Third Man Records & CREEM announce two-day SXSW party w/The Spits, Pylon Reenactment Society & more
12/13/2023
AUSTIN PSYCH FEST Announces 2024 Lineup: Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, Alvvays, The Black Angels, Chicano Batman, Witch (J Mascis), Blondshell, Earthless & More - April 26-28
LEVITATION AND RESOUND PRESENTS ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF
AUSTIN PSYCH FEST
APRIL 26-28, 2024 • THE FAR OUT LOUNGE • AUSTIN, TX
COURTNEY BARNETT • ALVVAYS • KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS • THE BLACK ANGELS • ALL THEM WITCHES • CHICANO BATMAN • WITCH • DEHD • BLONDSHELL • PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS • FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS • EARTHLESS & MANY MORE!
WEEKEND PASSES & SINGLE DAY TICKETS ON SALE HERE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15 AT 10AM CST
Artwork by Catie St. Jacques
AUSTIN PSYCH FEST LINEUP:
FRIDAY, APRIL 26
COURTNEY BARNETT • CHICANO BATMAN
PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS
NO VACATION • LIDO PIMIENTA
LEVITATION ROOM • TROPA MAGICA
BRAINSTORY • ORIONS BELTE
SATURDAY, APRIL 27
THE BLACK ANGELS • ALL THEM WITCHES
WITCH • FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS
EARTHLESS • L.A. WITCH • HOOVERiii
MINAMI DEUTSCH • GHOSTWOMAN
SUNDAY, APRIL 28
ALVVAYS • KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS
DEHD • YELLOW DAYS • STILL CORNERS
BLONDSHELL • MIKAELA DAVIS
& MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!
VISUALS & INSTALLATIONS BY MAD ALCHEMY, TV EYE, DRIP//CUTS
Stay tuned for additional lineup announcements + kick off and night show lineups!
AUSTIN PSYCH FEST will be held April 26-28, 2024, in its original single location format and Spring timeframe with an intimate setting and two stage lineup at South Austin’s The Far Out Lounge – an outdoor venue with a 100 year history. Austin Psych Fest brings the old school vibe of the original event back outdoors and under the stars and oak trees in the venue's sprawling backyard. The lineup offers up an international slate of psych rock, dream pop, and indie rock, with a nod to the 1960s golden era of psychedelia and an eye toward the future. The trees, stage, and venue will be drenched and dripping in the liquid light and visuals of video artists Mad Alchemy, TV Eye, and drip//cuts. Festival founders The Black Angels will be debuting a new visual experience at APF’24 in collaboration with TV Eye.
LEVITATION Presale*: DEC 14 at 10AM CST HERE
PUBLIC On-Sale: DEC 15 at 10AM CST HERE
* For LEV’23 or APF’23 ticket customers
Austin Psych Fest began in 2008, as a DIY event produced by The Black Angels and friends, and quickly expanded over the years into an international destination for the underground music scene. The event was renamed LEVITATION, in a nod to the Austin’s psychedelic rock godfathers The 13th Floor Elevators, who reunited to play the event in 2015. Austin Psych Fest returned in April 2023 celebrating its 15 year anniversary with a 3 day throwback to the original multi-stage, single venue format - bringing an intimate gathering on the Spring side of the calendar, and LEVITATION in the Fall. APF is here to stay, taking over The Far Out Lounge the weekend of APRIL 26-28, 2024. APF honors the city’s 1960s psychedelic rock heritage and brings it into the here and now - bringing tripped-out sounds to an appropriately laid-back South Austin setting.
Since Austin Psych Fest’s inception, organizers have sought to create a thriving center for the independent music scene locally and internationally, in the home of psychedelic rock: Austin, Texas.
To keep up with updates and for additional information, keep up with Levitation on Instagram here.
THE HISTORY OF LEVITATION & AUSTIN PSYCH FEST:
Founded in 2008 as Austin Psych Fest by members of The Black Angels and friends, the independent event sparked a movement, inspiring the creation of similar events across the globe. Austin Psych Fest was renamed LEVITATION in honor of Austin’s psychedelic rock pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators, who reunited and performed at LEVITATION 2015 for the band’s 50th anniversary. The event has stayed true to its original mission - to be a hub for the psych rock scene - while expanding into the worlds of metal, electronic music, punk, and all manner of independent and underground music.
For over a decade, LEVITATION has delivered lineups that span psych, dream pop, punk, indie, metal, darkwave and electronic music – helping carry the spirit of 1960’s sonic experimentation into modern times. It’s a beloved record collection manifested into a 4 day weekend, with lineups that span continents and generations: a heady amalgamation of vintage gear, immersive light shows and visuals, buzzing amps, moody synths, good vibes and good times in Austin, Texas. LEVITATION returns for Halloween weekend – October 31- November 3, 2024.
The Reverberation Appreciation Society is the record label and creative collective behind the curation, artwork and aesthetic of Levitation and Austin Psych Fest. Since 2010, the label imprint has been releasing records with key bands in the psych and garage rock scene such as Frankie and the Witch Fingers and Night Beats, and kicked off its Live at Levitation archive series in 2021 with live releases from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Kikagaku Moyo, The Black Angels, Primal Scream and more. Levitation Sessions, the imprint’s live album + film series, captures bands like Osees, Ty Segall, SLIFT, Goat, Windhand, Dead Meadow, Death Valley Girls and more, performing in unique locations and pressed to limited edition vinyl. RVRB’s online shop offers an ever-expanding selection of LEV and APF official merchandise, limited edition vinyl from other labels, guitar pedals, turntables, art prints, one of a kind tie-dyes, and more.
RESOUND PRESENTS:
Austin Psych Fest is presented with Austin independent promoters Resound Presents. Composed of the team behind the legendary Fun Fun Fun Festival, Resound books and presents over 1000 shows in Central Texas each year. Resound is a small team of experts working to make live music awesome across the stages of Central Texas, one club at a time. With a primary focus on bringing artists to music venues and other unique locations in Austin and San Antonio, Resound offers booking for live music, comedy, podcasts and more, as well as creative marketing and design services for national and local touring musicians, artists and brands.
3/14/2023
LEVITATION SXSW set times + RSVP! + 25% off OSEES vinyl & merch
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3/13/2023
UK DUO ALASKALASKA SHOWCASES
UK DUO ALASKALASKA SHOWCASES
ALASKALASKA LIVE SHOWCASES:
MON 3.13 - LA, CA @ BARDOT / IT’S A SCHOOL NIGHT (tickets HERE)
WED 3.15 - THE COURTYARD / BRITISH MUSIC EMBASSY @ 5:30pm (rsvp HERE)
THU 3.16 - CREEK & THE CAVE / FOCUS WALES @ 11:20pm (rsvp HERE)
SAT 3.18 - WilliamSELLERS UNDERGROUND / AWESOME FRIENDS @ 1am (info HERE)
“GLASS” TOM VEK REMIX HERE
“LONG LASTING PLEASURE” (JAS SHAW REMIX) OUT NOW HERE
SEE LIVE VOLT SESSION HERE
ALBUM STILL LIFE OUT ON MARATHON ARTISTS HERE
Artist photo credit Tami Aftab
ALASKALASKA (pronounced “Alaska-laska”) announced their live dates in America starting with Los Angeles’ It’s A School Night on Monday March 13, and head over to Austin to play The British Music Embassy, FOCUS Wales and Sellers Underground showcases at SXSW in honor of their album Still Life which is out via Marathon Records (Lava La Rue, Courtney Barnett, Pond etc).
The last few years have seen the band–who rose up in parallel with both the South London jazz scene and the post-punk movement of Brixton Windmill before going on to open up for acts like Tame Impala, Nilüfer Yanya and Hot Chip–navigate new ways of working. See them play a live VOLT session HERE.
As a treat leading up to the live shows, the duo is sharing a remix by Jas Shaw from their album closing track “Long Lasting Pleasure” HERE, and more remixes, such as a Tom Vek "Glass" HERE etc.
ALASKALASKA jubilantly adds: “We are beyond excited to be playing our first showcases in the US this March. As well as eating pie and visiting the old swimming holes, performing at SXSW is something we always hoped we’d get to do since starting ALASKALASKA, and it’ll be a privilege to finally get to play for and meet some of our fans in the states, which we’ve been waiting years for. Also, we are delighted to be sharing a new remix by our friend and Still Life collaborator, Jas Shaw, who has reworked “Long Last Pleasure”. His reinterpretation is powerful and dark and engrossing, building rhythmically on layers of a frozen vocal reverb texture. This will be the first in a short collection of reworks by close friends.“
The American showcase news comes after having supported Porridge Radio on a 13-date UK tour. Still Life finds writers and producers Lucinda Duarte-Holman and Fraser Rieley embracing a more free-form electronica while exploring the privileges associated with modern domestic existence and the pressures that come with technology, social media and climate change.
The celebrated album Still Life features singles "TV Dinners", "Still Life", “Glass” and "Growing Up Pains (Unni's Song)" and drew support from KCRW, BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne, Chris Hawkins and Tom Ravenscroft, BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders and Nels Hylton, BBC Introducing's Jess Iszatt and more. Produced by Jas Shaw (of Simian Mobile Disco), the album is full of digital sounds, drum machine and synth melodies cunningly sat beside rich, organic, acoustic instrumentation–a looping tug of war between existential dread and everyday simple pleasures.
While Still Life was never intended to be a 'pandemic album', it was ultimately realised and enhanced by this moment in time. Coincidentally, Duarte-Holman was already thinking about our habitual nature as a society and questioning what that means for us moving forward while doing the bulk of the writing, in its skeletal form at least, back in 2019. These themes were then exacerbated and further crystalised with the onset of the pandemic, a time that also meant ALASKALASKA were unable to get their regular supporting band in the same room, resulting in Duarte-Holman and Rieley embarking on a 24/7 endless stream of noise, soundscape, and consciousness that, like it or loathe it, only the 21st century 6G world can facilitate.
The limitations of that time allowed them to explore sounds they'd never quite had the freedom to play with, resulting in the band adventuring into more electronic soundscapes, creating a unique and infectious bed of indie-electronica in which their deeply reflective lyrics sit. Influences shine through both in a fluid exploration of genre and a tender, always-focused lyricism–it’s the methods of Björk, Fever Ray, LCD Soundsystem and Arthur Russell, and the contemporary melodies of Metronomy and Porches that excite them.
Praise for ALASKALASKA:
"They push everything right to the brink and then pull back at precisely the right moment" - Pitchfork
"'Growing Up Pains (Unni's Song) gives a tantalising glimpse of where their future could lie. Matching lucid pop elements to daring innovation, ALASKALASKA allow the song to become a portal to their own potential." - Clash
"The Dots is an outright success. It combines forward-thinking sound design with complex songwriting, and an astute taste for pop hooks with rich, intelligent lyrical content. It’s a joy to experience." - DIY
More about ALASKALASKA and Still Life
Four seasons of dawn chorus, panoramically framed by fruit trees and more analog synths than can comfortably fit in a cow shed-come-recording studio...the scene is set for the recording of ALASKALASKA’s second album Still Life. Ordinarily located in South East London, writers and producers Fraser Rieley and Lucinda Duarte-Holman were eager to get out of the city. Taking advantage of this rustic countryside scene, they were able to capture something uniquely their own.
Following their debut album in 2019, they resurface into a new era embracing all the things that first put the band on the map, attracting the likes of Tame Impala, Hot Chip, Porches and Nilüfer Yanya for tour support slots. For Rieley and Duarte-Holman, writing began in 2019, pre-lockdown-era, although the subsequent alone together/together alone time added a new spin on ALASKALASKA's process of experimentation and fine-tuning. The band now push their foundational ideas further and explore the freedom of playing with new sounds. Duarte-Holman explains, “...with everything going on at the time, the restrictions led us to try working in a new way. The limitations were different, but meant we were able to adventure into a more electronic soundscape that we're really looking forward to expressing live."
Production on Still Life kick-started in August 2021 with producer and musician Jas Shaw (of Simian Mobile Disco), nestled in the idyllic Kentish countryside, opposing the somewhat grimier setting the album was written in. This collaboration, added to their ideas and maturing musical sensibilities, allowed the record to bloom into a beautiful, hard-to-describe thing that embraces a more free-form electronica. It also finds lyricist Duarte-Holman at her most contemplative,"... touching on themes of the beautifully mundane and the privilege of being able to recognise those things.” That is what a Still Life often depicts, explains Duarte-Holman, “...it can be a celebration of material pleasures or a warning of the ephemerality or overconsumption of these things - and of the impermanence of human life." If there's one thing the pandemic taught us, it's not to take anything for granted.
Lyrics are as wide-reaching as the sonic textures – “Growing Up Pains (Unni's song)”, written for Duarte-Holman’s close friend’s newborn, considers how it might feel to bring a child into today's world. "Look at you now, in a space age... earthquake, heartbreak, growing up pains..." depicts our intrinsic demand for interconnectivity at any cost, and our desensitisation to the bigger issues, like a looming climate emergency. The title track delves into the irony of connecting to each other through screens, though being largely used for our own vanity, distraction, or surveillance. There’s a gnawing frustration with the status quo of working life on “Glass” and a longing for the past on the aching “Simple”. Duarte-Holman describes “TV Dinners” as a stream of consciousness poem; the only track written during the first UK lockdown, and “the Eureka! moment in terms of threading Still Life together."
What matters most for ALASKALASKA is painting a sonic picture, making music that’s visceral. Something you can feel on your skin. The buzz of a bass. The shiver of a synth. Duarte-Holman describes the writing process as trying to musically realise a visual concept, such as the warm ultrasonic throbbing synth patterns in ‘Growing Up Pains’ to depict sounds inside a womb. “I describe a sound which may not be very obvious to anyone else, but luckily Fraser understands my language... then once a song is out in the world it can be whatever the audience takes it to be.”
Where their first full-length outing was a maximalist pop record, this sophomore release was more about removing the unnecessary and freeing oneself from stereotypical pop constructs. Saxophone graces us with welcome reappearances on tracks “Get Me High” and “Pressure”, albeit in a more reflective context, from session player and long-time friend, Will Rathbone. Keeping a fondness for their traditionally radio-friendly earlier tracks made with a live band, Rieley describes: “Still Life is big at times, but stays unconventional and very satisfying to me... we steered away slightly from anything too big or catchy.”
Following the album’s release, Rieley and Duarte-Holman plan to tap into their new interests and musical flexibility with their live shows: arranging the album with their full band, or an even larger formation, or perhaps playing more minimally together as a pair. Whatever the setup on stage, this new album finds ALASKALASKA in their most dynamic, boundless era yet. Primed to take Still Life beyond the studio, they're excited to share it with the world.
ALASKALASKA - Still Life out via Marathon Artists
1. Growing Up Pains (Unni's Song)
2. TV Dinners
3. Person A
4. Still Life
5. Pressure
6. Rise And Shine
7. Get Me High
8. Glass
9. Simple
10. Flowers
11. Long Lasting Pleasure
https://www.instagram.com/alaskalaskamusic/
https://twitter.com/AlaskalaskaBand
https://www.facebook.com/alaskalaskamusic
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