Austin Psych Fest took over outdoor venue Far Out Lounge this weekend for a three-day expedition into the far reaches of sound.
The fest was founded in 2008 by members of psych rock band The Black Angels and has contributed to what many consider another psychedelic renaissance in Texas.
The fest’s definition of “psychedelic” is expansive and ever-evolving. Thirty artists from around the world convened for this year’s installment, with sounds ranging from post-rock to cumbia, shoegaze, electronica, surf rock and beyond.
In 2014, Austin Psych Fest was renamed Levitation after a song by Austin psych-rock pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators. Now, thanks to a revival of the original name, adventurous music lovers get both fests, with Levitation held in the fall at venues in Red River Cultural District and APF at Far Out in the spring.
APF has undergone various changes over the years. Austinites speak with fondness of its days held at the Carson Creek Ranch before severe weather destroyed the property and cancelled the fest last minute in 2016. The fest went on hiatus the following year, returning in 2018. Then COVID came and disrupted the sonic vibrations once more.
This was APF’s third year at the Far Out Lounge, which serves to recreate the magic of its Carson Creek Ranch days and return the fest to its former glory. The fest also has the unique format of zero overlap between bands on two separate stages. This was a gathering for true lovers of music, who were there to truly listen.
Day One
The festival weekend kicked off with a whip crack thanks to the spaghetti western sounds of Federale. Montreal post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor conjured sacred and somber tones with its set on the main stage.
Longtime Austin experimental electronic band The Octopus Project followed next, taking the opportunity to debut cutting-edge new material during its standout performance of theramin, looped vocals and digital chaos.
The band made a striking image against the tripped-out visuals of TV Eye Media, which was responsible for the psychedelic backdrop for each set of the weekend.
Then, it was back to the main stage for another well-known post-rock band Explosions in the Sky, which originated in Austin in 1999. Other performances on day one included Kadavar, Black Mountain, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter and Blackwater Holylight.
Day Two
Saturday brought an 11-hour day of groundbreaking music. Alex Maas, lead singer of The Black Angels, performed his solo project with bandmate Jake Garcia and Javier Alonzo, a member of Mediterranean psych-rock band Mohama Saz, on electric baglama.
Geordie Greep, frontman and lead guitarist of UK band Black Midi, delivered a high-octane jazz explosion with theatrical vocals and complex musicianship giving the effect of “Oops! All jazz breaks.” Portland indie-pop band STRFKR continued the theatrics with confetti cannons and dancing astronauts as it performed some of their best known songs, including “Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second.”
Former Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon followed on the main stage, showcasing her experimental new sound while sporting a shirt that read “Gulf of Mexico.” The set featured many tracks from Gordon’s 2024 album The Collective, which combines spoken word over industrial beats, with interludes that even include nu-metal riffs, talk box and AutoTune. Other Saturday standouts included Color Green, Dummy and Wombo.
The night ended with New York experimental electronica act Darkside, which ushered congregants through moments of electro-sanctity, jazz, pulsing dance breaks and reverb-drenched grooves.
After leading the crowd on a journey inward, the band shook us awake with a screed on the American deportation machine, the genocide in Gaza and the complicity of specific Texas companies.
“ICE is terrorizing people in this land,” said electronic musician Nicolás Jaar, who has Palestinian ancestry. “No future without land back.”
Though the harsh break in the zen drew mixed reactions from the crowd, it marked the most overt acknowledgment of the current political climate all weekend.
Day Three
Sunday kicked off with the only San Antonio band on the bill, Garrett T. Capps and NASA Country, whose cosmic cowboy brand of radical inclusivity brought a country-fried approach to psychedelia. Legendary 1970s Peruvian psychedelic cumbia — or chicha — band Los Mirlos followed on the main stage, getting bodies moving and providing another standout performance.
As if that didn’t provide enough of a history lesson, Dean Wareham played the music of his influential ’80s proto-indie band Galaxie 500.
“I’m still meeting people who just discovered the band,” Wareham told the Current after his set. “It’s pretty cool that people are listening all these years later.”
After Wareham, Mystery Lights exploded onto the smaller stage with the most energetic performance of the weekend. All-female California band La Luz followed on the main stage, layering gorgeous vocal harmonies over a sound that’s been dubbed “surf noir.” Holy Wave and Yo La Tengo were up next, followed by female-fronted ’90s alt rock band Boa, which hails from the UK.
Dinosaur Jr. closed out the weekend, performing its 1994 LP Without a Sound in its entirety. Note for note, the band sounded like it did when it recorded the album, which includes the Billboard-charting track “Feel the Pain.”
The weekend resolved at the Levitation Room, an after party inside The 13th Floor, a club which Black Angels member Jake Garcia, a San Antonio native, co-owns.
