In past years, we’ve often lamented not being able to make the trip to Austin Psych Fest. (In 2009, Austin transplant Victoria Reynard even wrote a full review of APF2 for Portable Shrines so we could at least experience it vicariously.)
This year, a small group of us made the trip to Austin to observe first hand how our psychedelic brethren do it up down south.
Photo by Clarita Hinojosa
Austin Psych Fest 4 was held at the Seaholm Power Plant, an old art deco landmark that has been retired from producing actual power since the 1950s. The inside of the space was completely transformed for the occasion, with two stages set up to accomodate the 50-some bands who made the trek to Texas for our psychedelic consideration. (This year’s lineup was truly amazing…so many bands we were excited to see, all in one place!) We arrived on Friday afternoon just in time to catch Seattle’s own Night Beats deliver an inspired set of rock and roll with the help of special guest Chris Catalena (of The Tunnels and The Ghost Songs).
The Night Beats at Austin Psych Fest 4. Photo by Emily Pothast.
The next day, we caught Night Beats again, this time giving a performance at the Do512 Lounge, a small performance space that hosted small televised shows for several of the Psych Fest Bands (including The Meek, The Black Ryder and The Diamond Center. It was a great chance to see some of these bands in such an intimate setting. We couldn’t stay for long, however, because the afternoon was full of some of the bands we were most excited to catch: Cloudland Canyon, PONTIAK, White Hills, Lumerians, Young Prisms and The Soft Moon all played the second stage on Saturday, before SPECTRUM took to the mainstage for an epic, slow-building performance.
PONTIAK at Austin Psych Fest 4. Photo by Emily Pothast.
White Hills at Austin Psych Fest 4. Photo by Emily Pothast.
Lumerians at Austin Psych Fest 4. Photo by Emily Pothast.
On Day 3, we investigated some of Austin’s more exciting off-site attractions, including the amazing record store End of an Ear and Switched on Austin, an analog synth specialty store featuring immaculate modulars and vintage Farfisas as far as the eye could see. Again, we didn’t have much time because the afternoon was full of more bands we were dying to see: Denver’s Tjutjuna and Minneapolis’s Daughters of the Sun were standouts on the second stage. By the time Roky Erickson and festival organizers The Black Angels took to the main stage, their audience was completely saturated by the ear-splitting, soul-vibrating good vibes.
Switched On Music and Electronics, Austin's synth mecca.
Tjutjuna at Austin Psych Fest 4. (In Austin, bands can have beer on stage!) Photo by Emily Pothast.
Austin Psych Fest is a very special event. People were there to hang out and network as much as they were there to listen to (and play) music, and so in many ways, it seems like the fine folks at the Reverberation Appreciation Society have put together a spectacular alternative to SXSW for those most interested in music on the heady end of the spectrum. If I were to issue any criticism at all of this near-perfect event, it would be that the sound on the mainstage was a little thin compared to the second stage, which was like a full-body vibratory chamber. That and maybe the Pacific Northwest felt a tiny bit underrepresented. (Aside from Night Beats, were there any Northwest bands on the bill? Maybe it’s just their proximity to us, but I thought Eternal Tapestry felt conspicuously absent. Purple Rhinestone Eagle, Kinski, AFCGT and [ahem] Midday Veil would have also fit seamlessly into the lineup, and Master Musicians of Bukkake would have warped it, in a good way.)
Dan Brinner from Skully'z Recordz at Austin Psych Fest 4.
But Northwest psych fans may rest assured that our humble Portable Shrines Magic Sound Theatre Vol. I compilation was all over the fest, from the Night Beats’s merch table to the record booth provided by Skully’z Recordz from New Orleans. It will be exciting to see which psychedelic sounds bubble up from the Northwest underground in time for APF5.
For those of you who didn’t make it to Austin this year, we’ve got a couple of delectable local events in store this week featuring APF4 bands: Cloudland Canyon is playing on Monday, May 9 at the Comet (with Midday Veil, Magnog and Brain Fruit) and Daughters of the Sun are playing next Saturday, May 14 at the Josephine (with Ayahuasca Travellers, Magnog, and This Blinding Light). We’ve also been talking to some of the other APF4 bands who are planning to come up in late summer, more details soon.
(Cuz in Seattle, it’s Psych Fest all year loooooong!)
In Austin, they have this weird ball of light in the sky. They call it "The Sun."
This Saturday April 2nd we celebrate the release of our super deluxe double LP extravaganza of mind boggling sounds from beyond. An amazing 6 of the 18 bands featured on the album will be performing at the Lo-Fi Performance Gallery 429 Eastlake. I daresay one of the finest lineups we’ve had the pleasure to present. These are exact times so don’t miss out!
Spinning the finest zonked out gems all night in the lounge will be DJs Valerie”Explorateur”Calano, Dull Knife’s Adam Svenson and Garek Druss and the all-seeing DJ Eye. Projections by Aubrey Nehring, Darlene Nordyke, David Golightly and Ellie Dicola.
The record wont be in stores til Record Store Day April 16th so come down and score a copy now, along with some other very limited edition treats.
Rumors of its existence have been the stuff of underground legend for awhile now (and if you’re a regular at our DJ night at the Living Room, you might have even heard a sneak preview of a track or two, hot off the test pressings) but secrets this huge cannot be contained for long…
It’s official:
PORTABLE SHRINES MAGIC SOUND THEATRE VOL. I is available for preorder!
Curated by the Portable Shrines Collective, spearheaded by Translinguistic Other Recordings and distributed via Light in the Attic Records, Portable Shrines Magic Sound Theatre Vol. I is a massive double LP treasure trove of rare and exclusive tracks from 18 of the headiest bands currently working in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Vinyl only, deluxe gatefold packaging includes artwork by several of the musicians involved: Aubrey Nehring, Emily Pothast, Dewey Mahood, and Garek Druss, plus what might very well be the most badass poster Steve Quenell has ever designed.
Limited edition of 1000…these are not going to be around for long!
Street date is RECORD STORE DAY, April 16, 2011, however a limited number of advance copies will be available at our official RECORD RELEASE PRE-PARTY on April 2 at the Lo-Fi in Seattle. Stay tuned for lineup and presale info…
Celebrate the (hopefully) imminent arrival of spring with an evening Bacchanalian boogie and intense mind-manifesting space rock brought to you by Portable Shrines. Get down and space out.
For this week’s Magic Sound Theatre we have a special treat: DJ Beardomatic who some may also know as Jeffery Taylor from Wall of Sound records and such popular musical combos as Climax Golden Twins and AFCGT.
Jeffery starts things off right at 9pm so be sure and show up early cause you know he’s got the goods.
Then for the late shift DJ Eye will spin you into a stupor and send you home dazed and confused. Please join us for the finest in electrical sound stimulation. With projections by Portable Shrines.
Portable Shrines Magic Sound Theatre- Phantasmagorical synesthesia and audio visual incantations every 1st & 3rd Wednesday at the Living Room -1355 E. Olive Way on Capitol Hill.
This Thursday 9/23 Prince Rama return to the Vera Project almost exactly one year after their appearance at last year’s Escalator Fest (we are ahead of the curve as usual), this time with Deakin of Animal Collective. The AC’s Paw Tracks label has also released Prince Rama’s latest album Shadow Temple.
Come down and celebrate the Autumnal Equinox. The show is all ages. Tiny Light will be opening.
This weekend of the autumnal equinox is packed with esoteric wonders. Whatever you do, don’t stay at home! Go check out:
Tonight and tomorrow night (9/17-9/18) at the Josephine, Debacle Fest returns with a smorgasboard of experimental, drone, dark, out sounds including Dull Knife, Renee Hell, John Wiese, Yellow Swans’ Pete Swanson, Brain Fruit, Megabats, Thunder Grey Pilgrim, Du Hexen Hase, and Matt Carlson.
Saturday 9/18, at the Sunset Tavern: Brooklyn psych-rock gods White Hills touch down in Seattle for the first time to perform with two of Seattle’s most exciting up-and-coming bands, Night Beats and This Blinding Light.
Also Saturday 9/18-Sunday 9/19: the Esoteric Book Conference, hosted by esteemed Ouroboros Press, returns to Seattle Center featuring a huge selection of, well, esoteric, occult, hermetic, magickal, alchemical, and otherwise mysterious books, art, and people. Performing Saturday night will be Seattle’s psychick tour-de-force Master Musicians of Bukkake with instrumental and chamber arrangements of material from their recent album Totem II.
Bridging the deep dark gap between the days of the Esoteric Book Conference, Emily Pothast and David Golightly of Midday Veil will be performing the all-night deep cosmic drone piece A Double Rainbow in Curved Air as part of the Face Time artist series hosted by the Hedreen Gallery at Seattle University on Capitol Hill. The show starts at 8 pm and lasts until 8 am, but you’re free to show up or leave any time. Bring a pillow and a blanket.
Wednesday 9/15 at the Living Room on Capitol Hill the first Portable Shrines Magic Sound Theatre psych DJ night with this weeks guest DJs Emily Pothast, David Golightly and Timm “Mood Organ” Mason of Midday Veil. Phantasmagorical synesthesia, and audio visual incantations every other Wednesday until they ask us to stop. Come get down. Free.
Just got a batch of excellent photos from Andrea Brunson, who documented Escalator Fest 2009 at the Lo-Fi Performance Gallery and the Vera Project. Escalator Fest returns in 2010 on October 22 and 23 at the Lo-Fi Performance Gallery in Seattle, WA.
Friday September 3, 2010 7pm at Elliott Bay Book Company Ralph Metzner will speak about the good old days of experimentation way back in the 1960′s.
Ralph Metzner, veteran (with Ram Dass and Timothy Leary, among others) of the experimentation with mind-altering substances at Harvard, speaks about his experiences in those early days, as chronicled in his new book, Birth of a Psychedelic Culture: Conversations about the Harvard Experiments, Leary, Millbrook and the Sixties (Synergetic Press). Ram Dass and Gary Bravo are co-authors. Co-founder of the Green Earth Foundation, Ralph Metzner also practices psychotherapy and is professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies. His many books include Alchemical Divination and MindSpace and TimeStream.
This Moonday July 26th we fill the Funhouse with molten puddles of oozing sonic mind-melt.
Tecumseh (PDX featuring Garek*story of rats* Druss)
Barn Owl (SF Thrill Jockey)
Tiny Light (w/ special guest David Golightly of Midday Veil)
Adam Svenson (Dull Knife, Du Hexen Hase)
Projections by Portable Shrines Light Show Society
Peaking Lights are on tour but alas I will have to settle for this fascinating film as they are not traveling to my mizrable and goshforsaken burg. Perhaps you are a luckier sort. Check out the whole “Sound Builders” series though it’s pretty nice…
7/27/10 – The Crepe Place, Santa Cruz, CA w/ Pocahaunted + Mi Ami
7/28/10 – Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA, w/ Pocahaunted + Mi Ami+ Late Young
7/29/10 – Muddy Water’s Cafe, Santa Barbara, CA w/ Pocahaunted + Mi Ami
7/30/10 – The Bootleg Theater, LA, w/ Pocahaunted + Mi Ami
8/2/10 – Echo Curio, LA w/Ged Gengras, Sun Araw, Metal Rouge, Robedoor
8/3/10 – Tin Can House, San Diego, CA – w/Metal Rouge
Kalling all kool kustomers- this friday at the Comet, it’s Mamma Casserole’s Rock and Roll Circus! featuring:
Purple Rhinestone Eagle, The Curious Mystery, Nudity, The Night Beats and Tiny Light
Projections by Portable Shrines and additional sounds from the one and only DJ Randy Travis
Starts 8pm, so show up early for tiny light and night beats. Please dress appropriately inappropriately…
