In its sixth year, Black Fret continues to hit high watermarks as an organization; the deluge of financial grants to Austin artists continues while an expansion into Seattle is also underway. Black Fret founders, Matt Ott and Colin Kendrick, are now seeing their nonprofit surpass over $1.5 million in payments to artists. The Black Fret Ball, the nonprofit gala where grants are awarded, took place this Saturday at ACL Live and, as usual, it was a vibrant display of Austin’s diverse social scene.

The gallimaufry of musician mentors, donors and grant recipients at the Black Fret Ball is almost as entertaining as the show itself. Austin musicians are interwoven between local philanthropists and industry titans, creating a unique and rare scene in Austin.  The show itself featured brief but ebullient performances from Go Fever, Cilantro Boombox, Ley Line, The Watters and a knee-buckling performance from Tje Austin.  

In an act of good faith, The Black Pumas, who were slated to receive a $20k grant, deferred their grant money in order to boost all $5k recipients to receive $7k instead.  The local funk/soul band has been on a tear playing sold-out shows and just recently was nominated for a Grammmy for ‘Best New Artist’. The beauty of Black Fret is that any of the newcomer recipients can easily be on the same trajectory to national recognition as the Pumas; examples like Shakey Graves, Sweet Spirit and Bright Light Social Hour have paved the way for upstarts to dream big.

Some of the grants elicited heart-warming reactions when given, most notably Sydney Wright and The Watters, who were emotive and appreciative upon receiving the grant. With over 15 performing artists, the Black Fret Ball is an exciting and eclectic sampling of all genres of Austin music. With Black Fret’s growth, there seems to be much more on the horizon for giving back to the Austin music scene and beyond.

-Lee Ackerley

Young and ambitious, JackLNDN has a wizard-like ability to transform a room. The native Londoner has been playing sets and creating music at a breakneck pace that even his more experienced peers cannot keep up with. While Indiana-based rapper, Freddie Gibbs, performed through a cloud of smoke at Empire’s outdoor stage, JackLNDN invited an understated yet dedicated crowd to his set on the indoor stage. 

Local opening DJ, Ben///Jester, deftly set the mood for the crowd with samples and remixes of tracks by Bob Moses, Parcels and Bonobo. The youthful DJ orchestrated a dance party with assiduous attention to detail and endeared the crowd to his upbeat vibe by curating a gentle ebb and flow of danceable tracks. 

While the DJ openers made sure to limber up the Austin crowd, it was JackLNDN who would prove to be the tipping point in making Saturday a memorable night. While JackLNDN’s bedrock is firmly rooted in house music, he switches the lenses of which his music flows from pop to jazz to progressive.  Sliding through hits like “All I See”, “The Feels” and “Never Get Enough” – he kept his audience on his hook with an incessant barrage of grooved-out chord progressions. 

Playing late into Saturday night, JackLNDN showcased an incredible voice and a sharp skillset of playing keys while simultaneously mixing his own music. An entertaining light show with intricate visuals only added to the lounge atmosphere that continued a slow burn of sexuality throughout the night. While many in the audience were in constant movement for over 3 hours straight, the mollifying effect of the music unburdened the crowd for a cathartic release.

-Lee Ackerley

The Coathangers, a punk rock band from Atlanta, headlined at Barracuda on a Friday during Levitation. First thing that comes to mind when you think of a  coat hanger? If you’re thinking DIY abortions, you got it. This 3 piece female outfit arrive at the venue early to sound check and shoot the shit. Meredith, the bassist, and Stephanie, on drums, were there to answer some questions. Check out the interview at the end of the article. 

They went on at 12:30am. The show was loud and fun and upbeat. Julia, lead vocalist and guitarist, takes the stage in a raspberry beret. One of the funky features of Levitation is the wild fashion that walked the streets. Everyone looks like they are in the band, and this weekend revealed that berets are back. 

They progress through the set with only a few pauses to laugh or banter between songs, or ask Karen to bring them all shots of tequila. The played mostly songs off their new album released this year, The Devil You Know. As the band loosens up with tequila, so does the audience begin to jump around and get hyped along just in time for “F the NRA,” an anthem that sounds exactly how it sounds. Fuck yeah. 

For the final songs, the ladies rotated instruments clockwise: Meredith moved to drums, Stephanie moved to vocals, Julia moved to bass for “5 Farms.” Stephanie on vocals was a visceral affair, her rapping raspy voice stirred the crowd into a mild mosh marked by jumps and stomps in unison. The audience shouts along to the liberating (and existential) chorus: “Can’t take it with you/ Nobody gets out alive.” 

Back to their own instruments, they close the set with “Bimbo” and Julia has now introduced a squeaky toy. She squeaks the squeaker how someone would bang a tambourine, the squeaks complementing the satirical nature of the song as she laughs maniacally with her bandmates. See the music video once, and you’ll wish you were in their band too. 

The Coathangers give their entire selves to the performance. You can see the spirit of music pulsing through them as individuals but also through the band as a greater entity from beyond the ether. Saturday night at Barracuda was one of the most alive lineups of Levitation, and these ladies killed it with a class of their own coathanger design. 

-Mel Green

Do you ever feel fear when releasing music or art out into the world? 

Meredith: Not really because we do it for ourselves.

Stephanie: No, fuck no. Everyone’s going to have an opinion and you can’t control that. 

Did you have to cultivate that feeling within you?

S: It’s with anything else, I guess. If you live your life based on what other people think about you, it’s not much. 

What advice do you have for young punks?

S:  Do whatever you want but be nice. 

M: Just be nice! 

What artists inspire you the most?

S: Jesus. The good lord, Jesus. 

M: Julia and Stephanie inspire me. 

S: Yeah, my other Coathangers. We were inspired to start the band because of a lot of local Atlanta bands back in the day. It was Predator, The Hiss, Black Lips, Dear Hunter, Mastodon. That’s what helped us get the idea to do what we do now. 

There’s a lot of music in Athens, too, right?

S: What we joke about back home is that Athens is the musicians, and Atlanta is for people in bands. So, they do drum circles and stuff there and we just get drunk and play shit. 

Men I Trust, the Canadian dream pop quintet, co-headlined with Turnover at Emos on Wednesday night. Emma Proulx stood center stage on guitar, wearing an oversized taupe trench coat and her blonde hair pulled back in a dutch braid. The rest of the band, all hip men, horseshoed around her. The crowd greets the band with a hardy Texas welcome, and Emma Proulx’s soft sweet canadian accent sounds almost too delicate and beautiful to exist.

The band is punctual and well-rehearsed, achieving a neat and clean sound that’s also sexy. Although the band is modestly dressed, their sound is as sensual as it is mellow. Songs like “Show Me How” could be the soundtrack to losing your virginity on prom night. But remember, this is dream pop, so this is dream prom (that isn’t lame) and the dream mood is scarves over lampshades and hot candle wax. The notes fall and linger while her words crawl up the back of your neck, “show me how you care/ tell me how you were loved before/ show me how you smile/ tell me why your hands are cold.”

Tunes like, “You Deserve This,” keep the mellow mood smooth and groovy, complemented by the soft disco dance undercurrents of the next song, “Tailwhip.” For this tune, Emma jams with Jessy on bass, their instruments facing each other and the sounds audibly bouncing off one another and throughout the venue. This is the intangible, intimate magic of music because at this point, duh, the audience lost it with hoots, hollers, and yelps. Someone even collapsed at the left side bar – woah, mad whammy skills.

As much as I wished they played hits like “Seven” or “Lauren”, I also admire them for not. It leaves me thirsty for more of their music, and it conveys their confidence as a band. They’re not limited to their hits. Their new release from this year, Once Jazz, boasts 24 songs, some new and old rerecorded. All of their music is self-released which gives this dream pop band a punk edge. 

– Mel Green

From one night to the other during Levitation, the scene at Empire tonight feels drastically different but also the same. It’s still dark but dark rock, instead of dark wave dance, as Empire hosts a ticket of Sargent House Presents.

Emma Ruth Rundle is the penultimate performance of the indoor stage. The psychedelic grayscale light illustrations blanket over her body and guitar while the autumn breeze blows in feathering her bangs. Her silhouette is reminiscent of a young Stevie Nicks but her sound is uniquely her own. While the other bands of the evening fall on the heavy side of the spectrum, Rundle finds herself between metal and ethereal. Her voice soars from her trachea like a free bird or prey as she plays the goth folk anthem, “Shadows of My Name.”

The vibe of the night pivots beneath an undercurrent of rock as the heavy pull of her guitar and the war drum cadence of “Fever Dreams” spellbinds the audience into an amorphous bobbing of heads and knocking of knees. The subsequent song “Darkhorse” from her 2018 album, On Dark Horses, closes the set and seals the venue in a new covenant. With fests every weekend in Austin, one might forget that this is fucking Levitation fest and not just a regular Friday night on 7^th street. The covenant of Emma Ruth Rundle makes this evening at Empire a timeless place of memory blessed by the deities of goth folk n roll in which we can return. Levitation isn’t every weekend, but you can still levitate daily and harness the residual energy and adrenaline of the festival.

-Mel Green

Kurt Vile takes the stage at Stubbs casually and cool. His presence is always welcome in Austin, looking like someone you might bump into at the grocery store in Hyde Park with his long dark hair in his face and disheveled plaid shirt. His last show in town was December 2018 at Moody Theatre. The set list is similar to the last show here, playing mostly songs off his 2018 album Bottle It In, but it’s always refreshing to float along with his on and on lyricism and dreamy chord progressions.

The band opens the show with “Loading Zones.” Vile stakes his position as “a mayor of some godforsaken town.” The song’s story builds up to a repeated mantra: “I park for free,” because, yes, parking for free is the defining perk and achievement of political office. Imagine parking for free in Austin…I wonder if you can. 

There’s not much chat between songs as the band mellowly eases into each song. Of course, the audience lost it and sang along when Vile played “Pretty Pimpin’,” the hit that earned him significant cred back in 2015.

“Wakin’ On a Pretty Day” – the 10 minute ballad of loafing and loving on a pretty day – would have been the highlight of the show if not for the encore featuring the guitar player of Dinosaur Jr. Clouds of smoke puff into the dark atmosphere above, and the audience bobs and sways as Vile’s mumbly articulation of the song draws you into a new state of day: “Wakin’ on a pretty day, don’t know why I ever go away. It’s hard to explain my love in this daze.” Try playing this song first thing in the morning and just see what happens – maybe you’ll have a pretty daze, whatever that looks like for you.

Vile and the band brought up J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr to encore with the song of “Hunchback,” from Vile’s 2009 album Childish Prodigy. It was a playful, dreamy song to close the weekend of shows at Stubbs, with both grown men singing about being hunchbacks “floppin an flippin around like fish on the street/floppin an flippin around like a fish along the sand.” 

The band exits the stage, the stage lights come on and the crew starts breaking down. Some of the crowd will go off to the last of the Levitation shows, but some will go home and get ready for a return to their subjective reality. Levitation is its own reality for scenes and subcultures of Austin, and the Fest was an excuse to show up, look hot, and hear great music.

– Mel Green

A dreary Saturday peers in through the stained glass at Central Presbyterian Church. The gothic arches, the ribbed vaults, the red velvet cushions lining the dark pews, along with the incredible acoustics of the church make this one of the most beautiful venues in town, especially for shows worth sitting down. The gothic architecture enhances the dark but sensuous sound. Chelsea Wolfe stood center pulpit in a glowing white dress with puffed glowing sleeves hanging from her shoulder, surrounded by orange burning candles and a paganesque set design of concentric white stick circles looking like bones.

Wolfe opened with “Flatlands;” the familiar opening chords and gentle lyrics facilitated an instant communion of music and spirit. Wolfe’s ethereal voice washes over everyone, the elevated spirit of music through her instructing the spirit of the audience to meet above in the vaulted ceiling.

The acoustic opening song was not the softest of the set, instead it was when she stepped down from her podium to take a comfortable seat to cover Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock.” When two festivals collide! Wolfe’s cover gives new life and context to the Mitchell’s golden ode. Woodstock sings about the freedom of rock and roll and the inherent stardust in us all despite the violence and uncertainty of the world outside. As the community and constituents of Levitation, we are still golden we are still stardust and we are still trying to find our way back to the garden.

The church is full of punks and fringe society here to hear Chelsea Wolfe mesmerize with “Mother Road.” A band of blue lights fan behind her like a peacock display, the swirling haze as the eyes of each feather. Geometric shapes dance on top of the stained-glass loops and parabolas. Sargent House holding mass in a dim lit gothic church on a Saturday afternoon was another sweet moment of Levitation magic, and Chelsea Wolfe beautifully expressed herself as an individual and a conduit of the spirit.

– Mel Green

Photo: Casey Holder

If you’ve been plugged into the local Austin music scene, then you’ve heard of Christelle and you’ve witnessed her graceful come-up. She released Swim Team earlier this year and captivated everyone including the folks at Pitchfork who gave her album a glowing review. Since the album’s release in May, she’s toured, headlined her own show, and played fantastic sets alongside locals acts like Calliope Musicals at the Horror Disco this past Halloween, and now Levitation.

Bofale opened Thursday evening at Hotel Vegas, managing to facilitate an intimate performance in the midst a large-scale festival. The room was packed but her omnipresent vocals over the resounding chords made the room feel like a private show. Her songs sing of vulnerability and truth, for example, “Love Lived Here Once, speaks the universal language of heartache. Empathy brings us together, and so does Christelle’s smile. Although her songs transport you to emotional landscapes, her joy is grounding.

Catch one of her shows when you can. We can’t wait to see what gifts the universe holds for Christelle and her music in the near, near future. If you haven’t listened to Swim Team yet, listen to it and be the first to show your friends.

-Mel Green

Ambient synths, haunting vocals and an undercurrent of deep house all coalesce in NightFire’s rendition of “(I Put A) Spell On You”. Released right before Halloween, “Spell On You” is a seductive soundscape with entrancing vocals that deftly masks a brooding menace that builds steadily throughout the track. NightFire is the burgeoning bedroom pop project of Houston-based chanteuse, Rebecca Chirich, who began making music in 2014 but only recently began releasing her music. “Spell On You” is the first of a handful of singles that will begin to drop over the next few months, potentially culminating with a NightFire debut album in 2020. Understated and seemingly nonchalant, Chirich has succeeded in creating an alluring aesthetic with NightFire. Her intimate lyrics and pulsing beats are addictive as they are enjoyable.. Keep an eye out for NightFire live shows coming in 2020.

-Lee Ackerley

“Spell On You” is available on Spotify/Google/Apple/Amazon

Since the Flaming Lips last played in Austin in January, the lead singer Wayne Coyne has become a father. The Flaming Lips played at the Hi, How Are You Festival on January 22, 2019, a tribute for Daniel Johnston’s birthday who passed away in September. The Hi, How Are You Project, inspired by Daniel’s art and struggles with mental health, holds space for conversations about mental health and reducing the stigma of mental illness by doing so.

The Flaming Lips drew a crowd of freak folk lovers styled in all fashions. Next to me, a couple with green hair. One said to the other, “See, you can have green hair and still be successful.”

The band took the stage, two drummers with green hair, Coyne in a white suit with his black vest/holster and Steve Drozd in a rainbow cape. The set begins with “She Don’t Use Jelly.” With each crest of the melody, confetti cannons release with oversized rainbow balloons. The vaseline chorus and rainbow rain mixing with the real precipitation felt like reality bent Levitation, surrounded by people with green hair, face paints, sequin shoulder pads, capes, berets, tangerines. Meanwhile, a crop-topped man straddling a surfboard of jello shots rides the crowd. They played many of the same songs as they did in January, including the Daniel Johnston cover, “True Love Will Find You in the End.” Since Daniel’s recent passing, one could expect the cover to be melancholy, but, instead, the song rang through as a joyful anthem.

As is their staple now, The Flaming Lips toted the huge foil all capital letters ‘FUCK YEAH LEVITATION’ onto the stage. Coyne threw the letters into the hungry crowd, who disassembled the syntax, and letters surfed through the venue like alphabet soup. Confetti still seemed to trickle from somewhere even though the cannons stopped releasing songs ago. 

The encore was a little painful given that Stubbs was sold out, peoples’ bodies are touching, but Wayne rides into the audience on a rainbow unicorn with rainbow angel wings fluttering behind him. The crowd was so dense that event staff had to split the sea of people for his chariot to pass through. I don’t remember the song we sang – edit: it was “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 1” –  because I was levitating and seeing Wayne levitate on that unicorn, and really everyone levitating at that point even though unicorn took forever to make its dressage through the audience while the synth endlessly looped. What a lovely Levitation Fest.

-Mel Green

Photo: Casey Holder

One of the first acts of the festival, Devandra Banhart christens Levitation and sets the bar high for the weekend. Banhart commands the stage and all the audience’s attention with his charisma, confidence, and contagious mirth. (Shouldn’t Angel Olsen be opening for him?) While singing, he gesticulates and orients his wrist like a “Fancy Man,” and when singing this song he pours himself into microphone like an old crooner. Banhart, full of class and sass, will make you want to have him over for dinner and will make you forget that it’s 40 degrees out and drizzly cold. 

“I know it’s hot out there, Austin!” Banhart warms us with laughter,” I know it’s hot out there, but if we play this song well, really well, then in the next two months please go buy someone a pair of socks because people are cold out there.” What a beautiful preface to the following love song, “Shabop Shalom,” from his 2007 album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. They played it really well and if everyone at Stubbs that night could go buy someone a pair of socks, there would be less cold feet in Austin.  Along with “Never Seen Such Good Things” from 2013, Banhart playing songs off his older albums woke dormant parts of my soul. Amazing how music connects us not only to each other but also to our past selves. 

Amidst the play and whimsy, Banhart and the band introduced songs from their new album, Ma, with composure and tact. “My Boyfriend’s in the Band” features Banhart’s quintessential code-switching, the lyrics swimming between English and Spanish. The new album enchants with the same spirit at his previous projects. His magnetic presence is as inescapable as ever and amplified by his enduring sound.

– Mel Green

Photo: Casey Holder