Levitation, Austin’s premiere psychedelic music festival is right around the corner, and as KANM’s resident psych-head I am lucky enough to get the opportunity to cover it. I have only been to Levitation one other time, in early 2018 where I was able to catch Panda Bear and Slowdive. It was a great time and I’ve been waiting for the return of this festival for quite a while. The schedule for this year is out and I’ve already made a plan of all the acts I’m trying to catch and cover.

Angel Olsen

I’ve been following Angel Olsen since a little after the release of My Woman back in 2016. I’ve always been mesmerized by her intimate songwriting and gorgeous voice. Her new album, All Mirrors, just came out about a month ago and is one of my favorite releases of the year. She really upped the production to create a lush and dense atmosphere for her songs to live in. It’s a really beautiful record and I look forward to seeing those songs live.

The Flaming Lips

I’ve been a casual fan of the Flaming Lips since I was a freshman in high school. “Do You Realize??” was (and still is) one of my favorite songs of all time. I remember listening to it on loop as I’d study in 9th grade. It wasn’t until recently that I started to deep dive into their catalog. I love how conceptual their records are and how willing they are to take risks. On this tour they have been performing their classic album The Soft Bulletin in full. While it isn’t my personal favorite Flaming Lips album (that would be Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots) it’s still one of their best records and I am excited to see it come to life. Hopefully they’ll play “Do You Realize??” as well.

Deafheaven

To be completely honest I still haven’t heard a bunch of Deafheaven’s music. I enjoy Sunbather quite a bit. As someone who is really into Shoegaze music I appreciate the way that Deafheaven has blended that genre with Black Metal, helping to pioneer the Blackgaze movement. Two of our former music directors, Ian Craig and Aaron Dailey were both big Deafheaven fans so as per their recommendation I’m going to be checking out some of their other albums and going to their show as I’ve heard they’re incredible live.

John Cale

I’m a huge fan of The Velvet Underground, they are probably the most important rock band of all time as they created music that would become the backbone for art rock, punk music, experimental rock, and pretty much all of indie music. At the center of their first two records was John Cale, an avant-garde music student turned into a rock star. To be completely honest I haven’t heard a TON of his solo work, so I’m ready to be quite surprised at his show. He has had a consistent solo career since he left The Velvet Underground after White Light / White Heat, hopefully his show will give me the push I need to start to dive into it. I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to see this legend. Anything could happen but I really hope he plays a song from The Velvet Underground & Nico as it is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Guerilla Toss

Guerilla Toss is the only act at Levitation that I have already seen. Last year I covered their show in Denton. I had the opportunity to interview a few members of the band. They were super nice and their show was incredible. Their music is already filled to the brim with energy but their live shows take that energy and crank it up to eleven. They just released a new EP titled What Would the Odd Do? and it’s great! I’m excited to see them work these songs into their set, hopefully I will get to interview them again and catch up with Kassie and the rest of the band. If you haven’t heard Guerilla Toss yet, listen to their new EP, it’s great. If you like New Wave, Punk, or Psychedelia I’m sure you’ll absolutely love it.

Written by: Micah GonzalezImage courtesy of Levitation Austin and www.levitation-austin.com