Today we received word that everyone's favorite thrash band that knows how to work through their feelings have created their own music festival. Entitled the Orion Music + More, the event will take place on June 23rd and 24th of this year in Atlantic City, New Jersey. more ›

On a low stage surrounded by hay bales, the Black Angels reverbed the night away with their saturated signature sound. more ›

As Austinites dream of cooler fall-like temperatures, JanSport and VICE are providing an opportunity to pretend we're bundled up singing 'round the campfire this Friday night. For free! more ›

In a move that should pierce through the onslaught of SXSW news this week, The Reverberation Appreciation Society and The Black Angels have announced that the fourth installment of the Austin Psych Fest has moved from the Mexitas Event Center to the legendary Seaholm Power Plant April 29-May 1. more ›

Forget the Blackest of the Black tour…this show has all the color-sucking darkness you need. Dubbed the Dropout Boogie Tour, this jaunt features the Black Angels and Black Mountain pillaging clubs around the country. Austin’s Angels have had a strong year so far, releasing Phosphene Dream, their best album yet, on the revived Blue Horizon label and scoring an appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman. The current tour isn’t a victory lap, though - it’s only a warmup for the next round of triumphs. more ›

• Texas -- home of the oyl bidness and Texas “T” -- is a Green-power leader?
• We had no clue The Doors played their last full show in Dallas!
• The man behind the marketing of the new Black Angels album “Phosphene Dream” is the same guy who helped write the pop-classic, “I Want Candy.”

When applied to music, the word psychedelia immediately brings to mind not only the 60s, but a certain sound represented by pioneering albums like the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Love’s Forever Changes - albums with an orchestral bent, an expanding of rock’s textural consciousness, an enhancement of rock/pop melodies with instruments outside of the usual guitars/bass/drums/occasional organ setup. It’s all about expanding your mind, man, and it can only be a positive thing to connect yourself to the rest of the universe. Even if no one takes the phrase “flower power” seriously anymore, psychedelic rock is still often joined with to the concept of peace and love as catalysts for change. more ›

This year's lineup is a cross-reference of pretty much every modern sound that could possibly fall under the "psychedelic" banner. more ›

St. Vincent, Annuals, The Black Angels, Golden Arm Trio, Colourmusic, The Spinto Band, Pepi Ginsberg, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, and Grampall Jookabox are just a few of the many acts already confirmed by SXSW for this year’s edition of the annual festival. more ›

Photos courtesy Briana Purser. more ›

Famously dissipated Austin songwriter Roky Erickson lived up to his name tonight, playing a tight set of blues-fueled rock n roll to a receptive crowd at the smallish Austin Ventures Stage. more ›

Two days after SXSW kicks off and our city becomes a living, breathing conglomeration of people from all walks of life, Austinist presents Local Music is Sexy at the PureVolume Ranch. Past Local Music is Sexy events have showcased acts such as The Black Angels, Brothers and Sisters, The Lemurs, The Corto Maltese, Black Before Red, and IV Thieves to name a few. Last year, we remember dancing the night away to Car Stereo (Wars)’ mad mash-ups, drinking free Red Bull (among other things), and having a go at the sweet Wii set up in that little lounge at the location. All in all, an excellent time. more ›

Psychedelic music came of age in Austin in the 60’s thanks in large to The 13th Floor Elevators and the emergence of The Vulcan Gas Company as a community and a venue to support the genre. (Check out this site for a history.) The Vulcan Gas Company (316 Congress Ave.) shut its doors in the 70’s but lately there has been a renewed interest in the era in part due to Scott Conn’s Dirt Road To Psychedelia documentary. The Black Angels must also be blamed thanked for this rejuvenation; the local outfit has paved the way for a new generation of psychedelic acts with their impressive 2006 release, Passover. A full-length follow-up is expected this May. more ›

Sonic Boom (a.k.a. Peter Kember) makes his 2nd appearance in Austin within the last six months at The Mohawk on Saturday. Since our city regularly hosts acts numerous times in a year, this might not seem too extraordinary. But this is no ordinary act -- Sonic Boom was once part of the legendary British outfit Spacemen 3 whose psychedelic innovations influenced many of the bands you might listen to today. more ›

While a great deal of lip service is paid to “Keeping Austin Weird,” how did Austin manage to get so weird, anyway, and how far have we strayed from that great flashpoint of weirdness, the sixties? This special installment of Music Mondays at the Alamo Drafthouse will answer all this and more, with a presentation of the film Dirt Road to Psychedelia by director Scott Conn. more ›

Fun Fun Fun Fest captured more than a few hearts last December on a cold winter evening with a three-stage-pronged attack that provided ample genres for everyone in attendance. Some of the stand-out acts included Spoon, The Black Angels, The Octopus Project, Peaches, and Prefuse 73. This year, the fest is back, bigger than before, and a month earlier to boot. November 3rd and 4th will see Waterloo Park transformed into a musical carnival featuring... more ›

Fun Fun Fun Fest captured more than a few hearts last December on a cold winter evening with a three-stage-pronged attack that provided ample genres for everyone in attendance. Some of the stand-out acts included Spoon, The Black Angels, The Octopus Project, Peaches, and Prefuse 73. This year, the fest is back, bigger than before, and a month earlier to boot. November 3rd and 4th will see Waterloo Park transformed into a musical carnival featuring... more ›

Danny Taylor and Simeon Coxe III created The Silver Apples in 1967 in New York City. With Simeon supplying the vocals and synth, and Taylor providing the percussion, the duo created psychedelic soundscapes accentuated by electronic beats. Their name was coined from a William Butler Yeats poem while musically, the duo employed all the tricks of the trade that might seem fairly standard now but were truly innovative at the time. Simeon utilized multiple audio... more ›

On the eve of ACL Fest, we're gonna turn off our laptops, put on our drinking shoes, and head over to the Mohawk, because Austinist is hosting Local Music is Sexy IV. An annual tradition since its inception in 2005 (back when the 'hawk was the Velvet Spade, and folks were still arguing over the smoking ban), Local Music is Sexy showcases a bunch of promising young Austin bands and DJs that we're most excited... more ›

Emo's is packing in approximately half of the bands in Austin this evening for a Bacchanalian orgy of rock and roll, Lone Star, and - with all due respect - poorly conceptualized tattoos. Silly tats aside, tonight is guaranteed to be a blowout, and whether you're looking to get familiar with some of the best indie that this town has to offer, or a long-time fan, you'll be sonically satiated come this evening. Here's... more ›

Although Hoot Nights and Tribute shows tend to occur frequently, Saturday’s extravaganza at Ruta Maya promises to trump all with an extensive lineup of local talent set to cover a variety of tunes recorded (or released) in 1967, known otherwise as the Summer Of Love. Get there early, even if the music does only start at the respectable time of 4:20 p.m. Full lineup below but we have to mention some of our favorites --... more ›

Pitchfork reports that Okkervil River have settled on Stage Names for their upcoming release (slated for August 7), featuring artwork by William Schaff (featured left). The album was recorded here in Austin with Brian Beattie and Jim Eno. Follow the cut below for the track listing and tour dates for the summer (hint: there's only three). The Chronicle has taken note of the Tonewheel Collective's recent Beerland extravaganza / farewell show. The news here, incidentally,... more ›

Hailing from Scotland, and pursuing melodious, riff friendly pop-rock, popup is coming to town for our beloved SXSW music festival. Their latest single, “Chinese Burn” has been blazing feverishly on our playlists lately but we would like to stop short in trying to sell them as the next big thing from across the pond, especially since NME (Issue dated 27.1.07) recently stated that Babyshambles would like popup to tour with them. And having Pete... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note It’s the time of year when thoughts might turn to mushy things, like Valentine cards and heart-shaped boxes of candy…and all the money that companies are raking in selling this sort of foofy-ness. My question to you is this: Would you like to know what truly says “love” with a capital L-O-V-E?... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Hello, sports fans! I was going to make a lame Super Bowl joke, but my knowledge of the sport is nil to be truly witty about it. One of the more shameful remarks I was heard to utter this week was, “Um…what teams are playing?” Nice. I think I’ll stick to radio. One... more ›

Tomorrow's your last chance to vote in the PLUG Independent Music Awards, the annual audience-juried awards event that recognizes the most promising artists and members of the independent music community. Beyond traditional music categories like Album of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and genre-specific awards, PLUG also celebrates everything from live venues and music festivals to internet radio stations and music blogs. This year, several Austin or Texas-based bands, stores, and organizations... more ›

Ask any mop-haired kid roaming the UT campus with clingy jeans and just a hint of bong water breath, and said youth will tell you By The End Of Tonight is the hottest thing since Malibu real estate. Lucky for him, and you, they're playing a post-extended-hiatus set at Emo's tonight. The Alvin, TX quartet render layers of messy, metallic instrumental post-rock into songs that meander towards catharsis like a lost baby deer wandering into... more ›

Seattle's public radio station, KEXP 90.3, has long been a bellwether of up-and-coming bands in the national indie-rock scene. This year, Austin groups took not one, but two spots in their Top 90.3 albums of 2006. Nestled in the top 20, our own beloved electronica exhibitionists Ghostland Observatory's Paparazzi Lightning took #16, while brooding psych-rockers The Black Angels' Passover took #6. Not only is this titillating news for the bands, outplacing indie legends like Yo... more ›

Emo's has made it onto Playboy.com's A-List of America's Ten Best Rock Clubs, chosen from among thousands of venues by musicians, music journalists and industry insiders. "One of the main venues for the annual South By Southwest booze-and-music bacchanal in the spring, Emo's remains at the center of this bohemian college town's vibrant music scene all year round," reads the gushing post, further clarifying that "the club's name is no indication of the genre... more ›

Say what you will about the Austin music scene, if there's one thing we've got in spades, it's heart. And breakfast tacos. But that's another story altogether. Our bands can take any other city's bands on when it comes to sheer per capita productivity and playing out, never leaving their respective constituencies on the sidelines. And albums? Lordy, just walk into Waterloo Records and check out the local music section: 2006 was a banner... more ›