Austin Psych Fest 2014 - Top 10 Picks

The 7th Annual Austin Psych Fest starts this Friday, May 2nd. Black gold, Texas tea. CJLO Radio DJs Kelly "Feed Your Head" Belfo from Beat the World (Saturdays at Noon) and Stephanie "She's Not There" Dee from Champions of the Local Scene (Wednesdays at 6 PM) are flying out to the Carson Creek Ranch by the Colorado River to report on all three days of the festival. Yeah, the trip to Austin is on their dime, but the girls know it's totally worth it because this year's line-up is a force to be reckoned with. Headlining acts include The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, Loop, The Dandy Warhols, Pink Mountaintops, and psychedelic-pop legends The Zombies! Be sure to search for our hashtag #cjloAustinPsych on Twitter and Instagram starting May 1st for up-to-the-minute festival coverage.

But first! Here are Steph Dee's picks for bands to check out at Austin Psych Fest this year.

--

Festival-goers are always so excited about the headlining bands. Hey, don't get it twisted because I am too, but my time at CJLO has always been devoted to the under-appreciated part time punks that play pop songs your new boyfriend's too stupid to know about. Sure, the indie-pop cultural references I alluded to in the last sentence may not apply to the music you'll hear at Austin Psych Fest, but dearly beloved let's get through this thing called life. Electric word "life", it means forever and that's a mighty long time, but I'm here to tell ya... there's something else: My Top 10 Picks for wicked bands that you may not know, but just gotta catch at the Carson Creek Ranch this weekend! 

*The venues and show times listed below are subject to change.

ELEPHANT STONE (Thursday, May 1, 9:00 pm @ the Mohawk)

The peeps who can make it to the Mohawk on Thursday are in for a grand spiritual awakening when Montreal-band Elephant Stone bring their unique flavor of psychedelic pop to the Psych Fest pre-party. Expect tambourine-rolling percussion and jangle-heavy guitar vibes mixed seamlessly with elements of shoegaze and Indian classical music. Join the band as they explore the depths of the Hindu tradition through the use of rad instruments including the dilruba and tabla, and get ready for an awe-inspiring performance when front-man Rishi Dhir sits cross-legged and rocks out on his honest-to-goodness sitar.

SHANNON & THE CLAMS (Friday, May 2, 5:45 pm @ the Reverberation Stage)

Oakland, California trio Shannon & the Clams kick off the fest on Friday with their raunchy blend of doo-wop and '60s RnB-inspired garage rock. This is a show that'll get you twisting and shaking in the hot Austin sun, so be sure to bring plenty of water 'cause you're gonna need it! You might want to bring a shovel too, because you're definitely going to dig (see what I did there?) Shannon Shaw's surly voice, Cody Blanchard's mad-guitar style, and the rock with skin and bones beat of Ian Amberson's drum. If you're a fan of vintage style and gritty tunes, then Shannon & the Clams is the band for you.

CIRCUIT DES YEUX (Saturday, May 3, 12:45 pm @ the Elevation Amphitheatre)

Indiana native Haley Fohr, the singer-songwriter and driving force behind Circuit des Yeux, began her career as part of the lo-fi experimental duo Cro Magnon when she was just 17. Her work soon evolved into a solo endeavor where Fohr developed her own eerie and witchy musical style, complete with a hallowing voice said to rival those of Nico and Antony Hegarty. Five releases and a subsequent move to Chicago (where she shared an impromptu studio with Cooper Crain from Cave) has lead to her latest full-length, Overdue (self-released on vinyl last October), a lush and refined composition of synth, reverb, and brilliant operatic voice experiments. Carson Creek campers will want to wake up nice and early this Saturday and head on over to the Elevation Amphitheatre when Circuit des Yeux takes the stage at peak sun time. 

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN (Saturday, May 3, 2:30 pm @ the Levitation Tent)

"Spiritual Montrealers" Yamantaka // Sonic Titan released their sophomore album UZU (Paper Bag Records, 2013) around All Hallows' Eve last year, and the vibration was palpable on island right across the Saint Lawrence river. People of Austin, listen to the album and prepare yourself for a skillfully-crafted prog rock opera complete with elements of doom metal, drone, and the psyche of 13th Century Japan. The lead single "One", with its rocking Iroquois chant, is a stunningly beautiful jam you can dance to in anticipation for the show. Partners in Noh Wave Alaska B. & Ruby Kato Attwood and the YT // ST collective play the Levitation Tent Saturday afternoon, and festival goers can expect an impressive performance complete with theatrical costume and face paint, thunder, lightning, and dragons.

DESTRUCTION UNIT (Saturday, May 3, 3:45 pm @ the Levitation Tent)

"Punk-rock-tinged space madness" is one way to describe the music by the Phoenix, Arizona collective known as Destruction Unit. "Fuck yeah" is another. If you like filthy guitar fuzz with a side order of mind-altering repetition, book your plane tickets and fly to Austin immediately because Saturday at the Carson Creek Ranch is where you need to be. I stupidly missed the band play at Il Motore back in September, so this is a set I'm really looking forward to; and if their last album Deep Trip (Sacred Bones, 2013) is any indication, we have it on good authority that the music will be demented and catchy as hell. Sign of the horns, my friends.

THE OCTOPUS PROJECT (Saturday, May 3, 7:30 pm @ the Levitation Tent)

Fans of the whimsical and spacey side of psychedelic music will definitely want to watch Austin-natives The Octopus Project perform on Saturday. The band incorporates wacky little instruments like the Theremin and glockenspiel with synthesizers, looping, and sampling to provide a chill and modern science-fictiony soundtrack to your life. Their performance will be lots of fun too, as the band switches instruments quite a few times during the show, and sometimes even during the same song! Plus, if you're lucky maybe Yvonne Lambert will bring some hand-made stuffed animal kitties for you to hallucinate with while you take it all in.

BARDO POND (Saturday May 3, 6:45 pm @ the Elevation Amphitheatre)

I've been off the drugs and high on life for just about as long as Bardo Pond has been a band—but their dark, beautiful, and strangely shoegazy soundscapes elicit welcomed flashbacks to college-era LSD trips, witchcraft dabbles, and the evil genius of Aleister Crowley. The all-enveloping witch vibe is yours to experience when this female-fronted perfect fifth from Philadelphia hits the Elevation Amphitheare on Saturday evening. In the meantime, the track "Taste" from Peace on Venus (Fire Records 2013) is streaming on the Fire Records Soundcloud for your listening pleasure.

GOLDEN DAWN ARKESTRA (Sunday, May 4, 3:00 pm @ the Levitation Tent)

The 12-piece afro-psych jazz collective known as The Golden Dawn Arkestra is fronted by founding member Zapot Mgwana, a man rumoured to be a direct descendent of Sun Ra from Saturn. If Mgwana's supposed lineage doesn't pique your interest, perhaps his party of time-travelling musicians in "shimmering regal robes reminiscent of intergalactic kingdoms" and "cosmic" go-go dancers will raise awareness. Get ready to party with what I believe will be the raddest stand-out performance of the festival.

EARTHLESS (Sunday, May 4, 10:15 pm @ the Levitation Tent)

It took the maniacal laughter of a crazy long-haired dude on YouTube to turn me on to Earthless last Halloween, and now this San Diego instrumental psych trio tops my list of must-see bands set to play Austin Psych Fest on Sunday night. The track "Violence of the Red Sea" from their latest album is SUCH A JAM people, and why From the Ages (Tee Pee Records, 2013) didn't top the rock charts on CJLO I'll never know. Tisk, tisk! Listen to me and pay those charts no mind because we know what's what: pure, unadulterated electric blues. I'm going to eat up the candy orange lollipop vinyl in anticipation.

TOBACCO (Sunday, May 4, 12:45 am @ the Levitation Tent)

The word "groovy" is not an adjective used very often to describe the modern psychedelic sound, as the kids these days have deemed the term quite old-fangled, but an exception must be made in this case because the music of Tobacco is groovy as fuck. There's no other way to describe the bass-heavy infectious beats concocted by Pennsylvania-based artist Thomas Fec, the elusive figure from Black Moth Super Rainbow who performs under the moniker. Tobacco closes Austin Psych Fest on Sunday in the Levitation Tent, and my guess it's going to be quite difficult to lure people down from the supernatural ether after experiencing this synth-electro hip hop dance party.

--Stephanie Dee is the CJLO Magazine editor-at-large, host of Champs every Wednesday and Twee Time every Friday, and she likes to participate in having fun. Follow @tweegirl on Twitter and Instagram to study her itty bitty thoughts and migration patterns.