The Austin City Limits Music Festival may have dominated the start of October, but it’s Levitation (formerly known as Austin Psych Fest) that will bring the month to a raucous close across a bevy of venues, including the Mohawk, Cheer Up Charlies, Stubb’s, Hotel Vegas, Empire, and Scholz Garten. Check out our recommendations below.
By the way, four-day passes and a handful of individual shows are sold out, but there’s still plenty to get in on at the fest.
The Sword at Empire Control Room & Garage – Wednesday, October 27 Austin’s own The Sword, who recently returned from being on hiatus, is playing Levitation’s kickoff party this Wednesday, October 27 at Empire Control Room & Garage. Joining the celebrated metal act across two stages will be an equally good (and diverse) set of rock acts, including Red Fang, Nothing, Starcrawler, Frankie Rose, Here Lies Man, and Enumclaw. Tickets for this show are $25.
The Octopus Project at Scholz Garten – Thursday, October 28 Head to Scholz Garten this Thursday, October 28 for a bill that’s topped by The Octopus Project and features support from locals Deep Time and Botany, plus NYC’s Moon Kissed. For those seeking a lineup with acts that have quality pop sensibilities, this one is definitely for you. Tickets are $20.
The Black Angels at Stubb’s – Friday, October 29 Levitation creators and local purveyors of psych rock The Black Angels are set to headline Stubb’s this Friday, October 29. This is a huge bill that also includes Kikagaku Moyo (from Tokyo, Japan), A Place to Bury Strangers, Ringo Deathstarr, and Ami Dang. Bring earplugs. Tickets for this show start at $45.
Andy Shauf at the Mohawk – Saturday, October 30 If you’re wanting something a good bit quieter than the rest of the festival’s offerings, then you should hit the Mohawk this Saturday, October 30. Both of the acts on the bill, Canada’s Andy Shauf and locals Sun June, have put out intimate (and fantastic) albums this year. Tickets for this show are $26.50.
Japanese Breakfast at Stubb’s – Sunday, October 31 One of 2021’s biggest, most celebrated albums is Jubilee, and it’s from Japanese Breakfast. Don’t miss the acclaimed act at Stubb’s on Halloween, Sunday, October 31, alongside Sasami and locals Sweet Spirit. General admission tickets are $37.50, and there’s also a deluxe option available at $137.50.
Golden Dawn Arkestra at Empire Control Room & Garage – Sunday, October 31 Local label Space Flight Records is throwing a party to wrap up Levitation on Sunday, October 31. The lineup is massive, with Golden Dawn Arkestra headlining and support provided by Calliope Musicals, Kalu and the Electric Joint, Billy King & The Bad Bad Bad, Think No Think, Sailor Poon, Urban Heat, Buffalo Hunt, Jank Sinatra, and Galactic Protector. Expect a costume contest, interactive art installations and more. Tickets are $27.50.
Only in Austin does recording in a tin can create excellent sound. Specifically, this "tin can" is a 1955 Spartan Imperial Mansion trailer, a spacious mobile home converted into a relatively cramped studio. But the unconventional setup is no match for producer and engineer James Westley Essary.
Essary and his videographer brother, Brantley, have been using the space to build up their inner circle of musicians, capturing intimate performances in professional recordings available on YouTube. Live From The Tin Can premiered its second season on April 15, 2024, and is looking forward to a long string of diverse performances to come. Right now listeners can enjoy Ron Gallo, David Ramirez, Vondré, John Calvin Abney, Angel White, and more on the YouTube channel.
First up this season was Worn-Tin (an amazing coincidence of a name), performing "Hard Ease," "Bitter," and "Kid Changed," a pleasantly lackadaisical series of alt-rock romps, somehow squeezing in two drum sets. Worn-Tin, like many other artists this season on the YouTube series, performed live at South by Southwest in March. The festival, along with the concurrent Luck Reunion, brought a wealth of artists to the Live Music Capital, so the Tin Can crew took advantage of the easy scheduling.
"South By's website is actually a great way to find out who was coming into town," says Brantley. "So we started thinking about things like, what is what is their sound like? What is their performance like, and will that translate into our space? ... [We] just started contacting managers: 'Hey, do you have a free morning, free afternoon? Want to come by?' The sessions only take about a couple of hours."
Although the Essarys are hoping to get more national acts into the Tin Can to boost views, their hope is that over time they can narrow their focus back to local artists. (The series premiere featured Austin band Kelly Doyle.) Beyond the view counts, these recordings are mutually beneficial; Artists don't just get exposure, but lasting high-quality recordings for free, and the brothers get to build a portfolio. Westley, who just goes by his second name in conversation, appreciates the stylistic challenge.
Producer and engineer James Westley Essary does the auditory impossible.Photo courtesy of Live From The Tin Can
"I get to create a little calling card, [and] they get a way to push their new record when they're rolling through town and on tour," says Westley. "As you put out records you get pigeonholed ... I want to make a punk record, and I want to make a metal record. I want to make a country record. So it allows me to be able to dabble in whatever I want — whatever we book in the studio."
Making these connections was Westley's main goal in creating the series during the pandemic. It'd been a loose idea at the producer's prior studio, with occasional shoots for social media. As we all remember, 2019 was not famous for its sense of urgency. But when the studio was "sold out from under" Westley in October, he got tired of hopping from one rental to another.
He bought the trailer in December 2019 and spent the following year working on it. The end of his work coincided with Brantley's desire to move back to Austin from Seattle, so the returning brother provided the property to park the trailer on. The rest was good, old-fashioned pandemic restlessness.
The Tin Can in all its metallic glory.Photo courtesy of Live From The Tin Can
"When you're on the road all the time, you're meeting new bands every day, because you have a different opener or something," says Westley. "And I was like, 'How can I bring that to me?' It's a lot of fun when there's not really any money involved. You're not dedicating a ton of time, necessarily, to it. Bands come here, they have a really great time, [and] it's really nice to be able to host them."
Of course, recording in such a small space has its challenges. Most of the solution was in arranging; not the music, but the musicians. Placing everyone just right minimizes the bleed of certain instruments into other microphones, and as long as the singer stays relatively still, the drums — the biggest culprit — mostly keep their sound to themselves.
Some issues are also fixed with slightly quieter playing, unintentionally creating a sort of sonic brand for the series. It's not all bedroom pop, but the combination of a cozy recording environment and slightly restrained volume makes for some homey performances. This also works nicely for Westley — isn't that happening a lot? — who says he usually prefers listening at home to watching in a crowd.
Still, live recordings add a certain spice to the music. Many music fans will attribute it to the organic mystery of musicians clicking together, but Westley thinks there's something else at play. There's no substitute for practice, and by the time musicians are making live recordings, they've probably played the song live dozens or even hundreds of times. That allows for improvements on the original ideas — sometimes ones that originated in the studio at the time of the first recording.
Ron Gallo squeezes into the Tin Can.Still from Live From The Tin Can
It's also an easy way to make additional income without writing more, he says. Brantley points out that live music has always been at the core of the business.
"Live music has been at the top for forever," says Brantley. "Now we've got artists selling out huge arenas. They're competing with the NFL; They're not competing with movies or TV as much anymore. ... So I love the opportunity to not just record live music, but also film it. You're getting a full experience of both the really compelling live recording [and] even more compelling video to watch them in their element — really playing it live rather than just in a box in the studio."
The next frontier for the Tin Can crew will be hosting live shows onsite. Westley will be in the trailer recording while the band plays outside, and eventually Brantley might start capturing video, too. Also down the pipeline are audio-only live recordings, so listeners can enjoy the tunes without relying on YouTube.
One episode featuring NOBRO from Montreal, Quebec, is out now, with more to come. Next up is Evangeline from Los Angeles. Follow along with Live From The Tin Can ("Like and subscribe," says Brantley with a smile) on YouTube.