Eight Lineups to See at Levitation This Halloween Weekend

Alongside the April relaunch of joint event Austin Psych Fest, Levitation continues to hold down its Halloween weekend slot. This Thursday through Sunday, the homegrown festival welcomes a heavyweight slate of headliners including Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Flying Lotus, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Unwound. After rebranding from Austin Psych Fest to Levitation in 2015, the festival transferred to a multivenue format in Downtown Austin in 2018.

Returning Levitation venues to be drenched in liquid light include Stubb's, Mohawk, Empire, Hotel Vegas, Elysium, Parish, Antone's, and the 13th Floor. For the first time, the club-based festival will incorporate East Austin electronic hub the Concourse Project and South Austin outdoor venue the Far Out Lounge. Four-day GA passes run $440, while individual shows run from $17 to $67 at levitation.fm.

Those without passes can enjoy the new, free-entry Levitation Lounge, featuring DJ sets from lineup artists like Ty Segall, Blonde Redhead, Shannon & the Clams, and Die Spitz, as well as fest founders the Black Angels. Located at 809 E. Sixth, the space also hosts a pop-up shop from influential Chicago label Numero Group with "decades' worth of precious lost sounds." – Rachel Rascoe

Flying Lotus, Salami Rose Joe Louis

The Concourse Project, Friday 27

Alongside presenters like Numero Group and Desert Daze woven throughout the fest, Los Angeles-based label Brainfeeder's curation naturally works in a two-hour block from founder Flying Lotus. A veteran of Texas festivals due to sustainably epic live sets, the producer grandnephew of Alice Coltrane (see 2008's "Auntie's Harp") embodies the label's electronic, jazz, and hip-hop dimensions in his own famed, heady evolution. Friday pulls two more from the catalog: Salami Rose Joe Louis' flitty, fun takes on interstellar jazz influences upped acceleration on May album Akousmatikous, not to mention the Bay Area warper's work with Toro y Moi and Alice Phoebe Lou. Coming off his own 2022 Panda Bear collab, "Did It Again," Los Angeles' Teebs has made a name by imbuing beat music with bright dimensions. Beyond Brainfeeder, Broad City/The Eric Andre Show comedian Hannibal Buress' rap alias, Eshu Tune, pops up as a special guest. With FlyLo following Oneohtrix Point Never the night before, I doubt Eastside monolith the Concourse Project could have imagined more ideal electricity for their first-time Levitation participation. – Rachel Rascoe

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Panda Bear + Sonic Boom

The Far Out Lounge, Friday 27

Let the faux-fi reign! Auckland, New Zealand's Unknown Mortal Orchestra, the brainchild of principal Ruban Nielson, made a mark on the early 2010s with pioneering, compressed production that warped his guitar-forward pop with hooky melodies through a time machine. That has extended to his work on fifth album V, released earlier this year. Carrying on in the throwback vein, Panda Bear (Noah Lennox of Animal Collective) and Sonic Boom (Peter Kember of Spacemen 3) come together after their 2022 debut album collaboration Reset, which layered their vocals on top of Fifties and Sixties pop loops. – Abby Johnston

Alan Palomo (Neon Indian)

Empire, Friday 27

Alan Palomo touches back down in the Lone Star State following last month's release of his first LP in eight years, the electronic jazz-funk World of Hassle. A significant career moment for the Monterrey-born, Denton-educated Neon Indian bandleader – it's Palomo's debut offering under his own name and sees him mainly singing in his first language, Spanish. London indie trio Girl Ray brings new disco celebration Prestige from across the pond, with Dallas alternative R&B crooner Ariel & the Culture and local Latin-psych outfit Money Chicha also sharing the stage. – Elizabeth Braaten

Pallbearer, Grivo

The 13th Floor, Friday 27

Pallbearer's 2012 debut, Sorrow and Extinction, a smear of sludge and distorted textures, contends for one of the best doom metal albums of the decade. While brawny riffs fire on all cylinders like a bludgeoned bloodletting, the Arkansas quartet's catalog transcends beyond Black Sabbath pastiche. Their sophomore Foundations of Burden (2014) bottles pop-laden hooks and psychedelic Seventies prog, while last Forgotten Days (2020) grinds hacksawed solos and soars on 12-minute opus "Silver Wings." Other half of the bill, local trio Grivo threads reverb-washed guitars and whispered vocals on Omit (2022). – Alejandra Ramirez

Durand Jones

Mohawk, Saturday 28

Veterans of Austin's festival circuit, Bloomington, Indiana's Durand Jones & the Indications finally shucked down to the Louisianan bandleader on May's Dead Oceans solo debut. Wait Til I Get Overtestifies a deeply Southern accounting of Black tradition, strings and piano sweeping in opener "Gerri Marie," which sounds like an Atlantic Records duet session between Donny Hathaway and Nina Simone, with Jones inhabiting both sanctified parts. He tops a ridiculously progressive ATX roots stacking: Jalesa Jessie's soul rockers Chief Cleopatra, a DJ set from Black Pumas keeper Adrian Quesada, and cosmic R&B from Kalu & the Electric Joint. – Raoul Hernandez

Sonido Gallo Negro

Hotel Vegas, Saturday 28

There's no singular genre or culture driving the trippy and tropical instrumentals of Sonido Gallo Negro. The Mexico City octet pulls from cumbia, Peruvian chicha, Cuban mambo, American surf music, and even the cinematic sounds of Ennio Morricone for their bouncy, flute-and-theremin-spiked compositions. Levitation attendees are well versed in drippy visual projections, but SGN's set beams with live drawings from renowned illustrator Dr. Alderete. Their dance party unites an elite contingent of like-minded Texans: Houston psychedelic-electronic duo Gio Chamba, Austin vibe maestros El Combo Oscuro, and local indie-synth-cumbia favorites Como Las Movies. – Kevin Curtin

Amyl & the Sniffers

Stubb's, Saturday 28

For those keeping up with the barrage of tour snaps from Austin-based Die Spitz – specifically of vocalist Ellie Livingston fully aerial in red cowboy boots – those are from dates with Amyl & the Sniffers, who whisked the band away following their ACL Fest debut. The young Texans appear a perfect match for the sharp, throwback Aussie punk act, led by demonstrative singer Amy Taylor. At least enough to come up with some deranged inside jokes from the road. Inside this Spitz/Sniffers lineup sandwich lies the stadium-sized rock chug of Los Angeles group Militarie Gun. – Rachel Rascoe

Big Bill, Nemegata

The 13th Floor, Sunday 29

Imagine some kind of highly controlled experiment where you raised four people without any exposure to pop culture, then vaguely explained to them what a punk band is – "fast drums, vocals that are unmelodic and intense, distorted guitars" – and told them to form one. I think that band would be Big Bill. Topically, stylistically, and presentationally, they're enchantingly unusual ... and great. Their Sunday service closes out Levitation after the swaggering, big-beat, rock & roll of Billy King & the Bad Bad Bad – riding ripping new single "Heartbreaker" – and Colombian fusionists Nemegata, who process the deep roots of South America and the Caribbean into vividly progressive compositions. – Kevin Curtin