For over 13 years, starting in the 2006 Fall semester, Joel Guzman and J.J. Barrera have been conducting the Tex-Mex Conjunto class at UT Austin. The course gives students the opportunity to learn a repertoire of Texas-Mexican music, and for some, connect with their roots.
It was a quarter past 12 a.m. on a particularly lively Friday night when I made my way to downtown Austin. Last weekend, the second consecutive year of Levitation was in full swing and I was nothing short of ecstatic to experience a piece of the niche festival’s hypnagogic lineup. The edgy fuzz sounds of the band BRONCHO drew me to Barracuda’s outdoor stage for a moody psych-rock performance.
Levitation 2019 was incomparable. Underground metal, electronic and rock genres, hypnotic visuals and enough secondhand smoke to hotbox multiple outdoor venues; that’s just a snapshot of the festival.
As a first-time attendee, I swiftly came to understand how Levitation found its name — each performance was an idiosyncratic, transcendent experience. I might think the entire night had been a dream, had my ears not rang with surreal echoes for hours after I made my way home.
Amid lineup changes and concerns over their changed sound, the beloved Washington band played the Moody Theater with the same energy and love they’ve been delivering for a quarter century.
Kim Petras is the picture-perfect pop star. Precipitating the airwaves with feel-good singles that came together on her debut album, Clarity, solidified her place in the pop music landscape. Her exuding confidence and syrupy-sweet production is paired with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a hyper-feminine aesthetic. These features culminated a sold out show at Emo’s Nov. 3.
Frank Ocean’s irregularity when it comes to releasing content makes him a high demand artist. The two albums he released, Channel Orange and Blonde, have solidified their places as notable releases in the R&B music canon with both releases placing in the top 10 of Pitchfork’s “Best Albums of the 2010s.”
Dropping off singles here and there to high praise positions him as one of the greatest, yet mysterious, artists of our generation. It’s safe to say that whenever Ocean releases something, everyone goes crazy and he can do no wrong. However, with the opening of his new night club series Prep+, it flaws Ocean’s character and reveals that, he too, makes mistakes.
The four female artists leading the indie genre today all have something in common, and it’s not something you see in the music industry everyday. Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, and Clairo share a camaraderie that goes beyond a hello at a show or a few twitter interactions. The foursome provide support for one another and encouragement, go to one another’s shows, tour together, and derive inspiration from each other’s work - all while transforming the landscape of indie singer-songwriters. Even with different sounds, the common emphasis on deep, raw lyricism puts these women as the leading indie singer-songwriters today.
On November 7, Levitation returns to downtown Austin for the second year in a row. Featuring pioneers of the underground psych-rock and goth scene, like Angel Olsen and Deafheaven, the four-day festival illuminates the vitality and diversity of the live music capital.
A somber, lonesome feeling drifts in with the year’s first few cold fronts. It seems as though the dreary atmosphere carries a perplexing desire to seek a source of comfort. This year, Cigarettes After Sex emerged right in time, delivering misty, impassioned sounds in their most refined release yet. The cathartic dream-pop band debuted their second full-length album, Cry on Oct. 25, delivering misty, impassioned sounds in their most refined release yet.
Claire Cotrill’s intimate and repressed vocals sound as if she’s quietly singing along to her favorite song in the car. Her songwriting is unique in the sense that it's deeply personal to her; however, someone who listens to her can automatically relate to her story. The people who felt the most connection to her and her music conglomerated at the Austin venue Emo’s on Oct. 22 to empathize with Clairo’s vulnerable lyrics and finally hear the physical manifestation of her critically acclaimed debut album “Immunity,” released this past August.
