Levitation and Austin Psych Fest are two annual multi-day music festivals developed and produced by The Reverberation Appreciation Society . Starting out under the name Austin Psych Fest as a single-location, three-day festival, the festival was renamed Levitation in its eighth year to celebrate Austin’s psychedelic rock pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators . For many of its earlier iterations, the festival was held at Carson Creek Ranch in Austin, Texas . Under the Levitation moniker, the festival eventually transitioned to a four-day festival spread out across many traditional venues in the city of Austin. Starting in 2024, the organizers now run both festivals every year under their respective monikers, with Austin Psych Fest held in the spring at a single location and Levitation held in the fall as a multi-venue festival.
39-501: Inspired by the creative explosion of the 1960s, as well as by festivals such as ATP and Primavera Sound , they set out to create their vision of a music festival. Over the years, this independent festival has grown to an internationally acclaimed, full weekend event that attracts attendees from all over the world. The Reverberation Appreciation Society is a creative collective composed of Rob Fitzpatrick, Oswald James, and Christian Bland and Alex Maas of The Black Angels . In addition to
78-608: A feature-length documentary about the festival named All Tomorrow's Parties . It premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, and then premiered in the UK at Edinburgh in June. In October 2009 the film was screened at a number of 'one night only' UK theatrical screenings also featuring live music from Les Savy Fav , who feature in the film and have long been mainstays of All Tomorrow's Parties line-ups. In 2010, ATP announced "I'll Be Your Mirror",
117-545: A new firm, Wilwall, but this also experienced difficulties, filing late accounts, incurring significant debts, and was subject to court judgements related to debt. A concert at Alexandra Palace from the rock band Grizzly Bear was cancelled, as was its urban festival, Jabberwocky, the latter only 3 days before the event was due to take place. A festival hosted by Drive Like Jehu was to be held in Prestatyn in Wales in 2016, but this
156-765: A number of concert films. I've Got Levitation documents the 50th anniversary reunion of The 13th Floor Elevators at the Levitation 2015 music festival, the band's first performance in 45 years. The documentary, directed by James Oswald and Jack Henry Robbins, offers an immersive glimpse into the festival with interviews and performances by The 13th Floor Elevators, The Flaming Lips , The Black Angels, Jesus And Mary Chain , The GOASTT ( Sean Lennon ), Thee Oh Sees , Fuzz ( Ty Segall ), Mac Demarco , Lightning Bolt , Night Beats , and others. The film premiered at Alamo Drafthouse on April 25, 2018. Austin Psych Fest: Beyond
195-467: A number of modern festivals, embraced a variety of artistic genres. Most festival events featured art exhibitions and cinema programmes (in the US, ATP collaborated with Criterion to present cinema highlighted by appearances from Paul Schrader and Jim Jarmusch), and others featured spoken word performances, stand-up comedy, and book clubs. In 2007 the curators allowed festival-goers to pick the line-up by organising
234-632: A series of events to take place in cities around the world named after the B-side to the original 1966 "All Tomorrow's Parties" single by the Velvet Underground. These events still involved a curator choosing all the music and films that play at the event, but without the holiday resort accommodation. The first event took place in Tokyo, Japan in February 2011. Significant past performances at ATP festivals include
273-533: A series of gigs, and the following year Hampson unveiled a new line-up of the band with himself as the sole original member. Loop were formed in 1986 by Robert Hampson (vocals, guitar), with his then-girlfriend Becky Stewart on drums. Stewart was later replaced by John Wills ( The Servants ) and Glen Ray, with James Endeacott on guitar. Their sound was influenced by Krautrock and No Wave influences and relied heavily on three chord riffs . Initially releasing records on Jeff Barrett's Head label, their first release
312-516: A statement from Robert Hampson. The line-up included the original Gilded Eternity era members Robert Hampson , John Wills, Neil Mackay and Scott Dowson. In November 2013, the band played their first comeback show and also co-curated the final holiday camp edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands, England. Wills, wishing to focus on his own musical projects, left the band and
351-615: A voting process for all ticketholders in the months running up to the event, and this was repeated in May 2009. The 2007 festival took place at Butlin's Minehead . In the years before 2013, when ATP announced they were ceasing to hold residential festivals in the UK, the festival took place up to three or four times a year in the UK (in May and then in December for the 'Nightmare Before Christmas'). UK festivals were planned to recommence in 2015, moving to Pontins Prestatyn. In 2009, Warp Films released
390-542: Is held annually at Le Chabada in Angers , France . The first Levitation France was held on September 20–21, 2013, hosting a 17-band lineup including The Black Angels, Dead Meadow , Night Beats , Wall of Death, and The UFO Club. The second Levitation France festival was held September 19–20, 2014 and included Loop , Moon Duo, Woods , Allah-Las , La Femme , and Al Lover. Levitation France 2015 took place September 18–19, 2015. The Reverberation Appreciation Society has released
429-413: Is treated well and the experience is a generally pleasant one." Since then, Shellac had a longstanding involvement with ATP and were often referred to as their 'House Band'. Shellac were the curators of ATP at Camber Sands , UK in 2002 and 2012, co-curated in 2004 and also played at several other editions of the festival including its final UK holiday camp event in 2013. Albini said; We didn't like
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#1732917195954468-570: The Bowlie Weekender , curated by Belle & Sebastian at Camber Sands in April 1999. Artists, usually musicians (but sometimes visual artists like Matt Groening , whose line-up featured in the Observer's list of the ten best festivals of the year, or Jake and Dinos Chapman ) were asked to curate the festival by inviting their favourite performers to play. The idea was that it was akin to dipping into
507-647: The Colorado River (Texas) . The 2013 festival, the 6th annual festival, held April 26–28, was the first year for the festival to be held at a completely outdoor venue, as well as the first year to have 3 stages of music, camping, and a poster series featuring US and international artists. The seventh annual festival, held May 2–4, 2014, included 1960s legends The Zombies , as well as Panda Bear , The Horrors , Loop , The Brian Jonestown Massacre , of Montreal , The Dandy Warhols , The Black Angels and many more. In late 2014 The Reverberation Appreciation Society changed
546-861: The "Arc-Lite" single in 1989 and the third and final studio album A Gilded Eternity in 1990. The band played at the Reading Festival in 1989. The band split in 1991, with Hampson briefly joining Godflesh before forming Main with Dowson. Hampson's Main project was discontinued in 2006 and while he now releases under his own name in 2010 he announced the return of Main, albeit as a collaborative project with other sound artists. Wills and Mackay went on to form The Hair and Skin Trading Company , which last released in 1995. Wills now performs and records as Pumajaw . Loop recorded three Peel sessions for John Peel (11 August 1987, 14 June 1988 and 21 January 1990). A collection of these sessions entitled Wolf Flow
585-464: The 2016 festival were April 29 - May 1, 2016, and the lineup featured Brian Wilson performing Pet Sounds, Ween, Animal Collective, Caribou, Flying Lotus, Slowdive, Courtney Barnett, Sleep, The Arcs, Brian Jonestown Massacre and many more. The 2016 festival at Carson Creek Ranch was cancelled due to severe weather which caused significant damage to the festival grounds and infrastructure. In response over 20 concerts were organized in downtown Austin hosting
624-617: The Third Sound features footage from Austin Psych Fest 2013 and includes performances and interviews with The Black Angels, Roky Erickson , Clinic , White Fence , Acid Mothers Temple , and Tinariwen , among others. Other concert films released include APF 2012, APF 2011 "Live at the Power Plant," and APF 3, which features footage from Austin Psych Fest 2010. All Tomorrow%27s Parties (music festival) All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP)
663-528: The band performed with Hugo Morgan (bass) and Maskell (drums) from The Heads as well as Dan Boyd (guitar). They played at the Garage (London) and in the Netherlands. Their set featured a new song, "Precession". They also announced they would be playing ATP Iceland 2015. The band released a 4-song EP "Array 1" on ATP Recordings on 22 June 2015. In June 2018, the band played as part of Robert Smith 's curation of
702-507: The cattle call nature of unrelated artists playing in an un-curated fashion. We established the precedent that we weren't gonna play festivals...Most festivals, there's a competition to get the biggest names as headliners, then everybody else was whoever was on tour, and then the bottom rungs were filled with payola spots where labels would pay to get people added to a bill. ATP was entirely curated. Somebody chose every single one of those bands because they thought they were awesome. Also in 2001,
741-402: The curator's record collection, or as founder Barry Hogan described it, "ATP is like an excellent mix tape ". In 2001 rock band Shellac was convinced by Mogwai to play in their line-up. Frontman Steve Albini praised the festival, saying "They completely changed the festival game. Now the whole world has to operate under the knowledge that there are these cool, curated festivals where everyone
780-413: The end of 2007 ATP/R launched series of double 7" singles called Custom Made, which would feature bands choosing four songs; one something old, one something new, one something borrowed (a cover version) and one something blue (artists were free to interpret this as they feel). Artists to release singles in this series were Australia's The Drones, Britain's Alexander Tucker and America's Deerhoof. In 2002,
819-500: The festival changed venues 3 times before landing back at its originally intended location, The Seaholm Power Plant , and the festival would be the last concert held within the plant's walls. The 63 band bill was topped by Roky Erickson of The 13th Floor Elevators , Spacemen 3 offshoot Spectrum, Omar A Rodriguez group playing as The Mars Volta lineup, Crystal Stilts , the first performance from Black Moth Super Rainbow in several years, and The Black Angels. Austin Psych Fest 2012
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#1732917195954858-491: The festival exhibited a tendency towards post-rock , indie rock , avant-garde music , and underground hip hop , along with more traditional rock fare presented in smaller venues than typical stadium performances. It was at first a sponsorship-free festival where the organisers and artists stay in the same accommodation as the fans. It claimed to set itself apart from festivals like Reading or Glastonbury by staying intimate, non-corporate and fan-friendly. Another difference
897-596: The festival expanded to the US, and several events took place there in subsequent years. The organisation also became involved in booking stages at the Pitchfork Music Festival and the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona , Spain. In 2008, All Tomorrow's Parties ran their first East Coast USA festival, which took place at Kutsher's Hotel and Country Club , Monticello , New York . In January 2009,
936-502: The festival in Austin, the group has branched out into other cities beginning in 2013 with Levitation France and in 2015 with Levitation Vancouver and Levitation Chicago . The group also runs The Reverberation Appreciation Society record label and has curated events at Austin's SXSW , The Netherlands' Le Guess Who? , NYC's CMJ and NRMAL in Mexico City . The inaugural Austin Psych Fest
975-673: The festival took place for the first time in Australia, with events in Brisbane, Sydney and Mount Buller (in Victoria) all curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. The organisation that put on these festivals also promoted concerts in London and the rest of the United Kingdom, curated the yearly Don't Look Back concert series and ran the record label ATP Recordings . All Tomorrow's Parties, as with
1014-438: The festival's name from Austin Psych Fest to Levitation, titled after a track by Austin psychedelic legends The 13th Floor Elevators . The 2015 festival was held May 8–10 at Carson Creek Ranch. The lineup included The Flaming Lips , The Jesus and Mary Chain , Primal Scream , Spiritualized , Tame Impala as well as a reunion performance by The 13th Floor Elevators , the band's first performance in 45 years. The dates for
1053-528: The lineup and attendees. In November 2016, festival organizers announced that the festival would not be held in 2017, but would return in 2018. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic , the festival went on hiatus in 2020. The next year saw the hiatus extended by a year. Levitation resumed with its anticipated 2022 lineup. [1] Levitation hosted Kikagaku Moyo for their last tour in the USA. Created in 2013, Levitation France
1092-534: The organisation spawned ATP/Recordings, a record label originally created to bring out compilation albums related to its festivals. However the label eventually moved on from just doing compilations for the festival to sign and release singles and albums from artists including Threnody Ensemble, Bardo Pond, The Magic Band, Deerhoof, White Out, Death Vessel, The Drones, Fursaxa, The Scientists, Apse, Fuck Buttons, Alexander Tucker, Sleepy Sun, Spiritualized, Built To Spill, Autolux and most recently Tall Firs and Tennis. At
1131-498: The reformations of The Magic Band, Television, The Jesus Lizard, Sleep, and Slint amongst others. All Tomorrow's Parties also presented the return of My Bloody Valentine with a series of worldwide live performances throughout 2008, the London concerts of which were named Time Out London 's Gig of the Year. In 2012, the company running the events was put into liquidation , owing £2.6 million to its creditors. The company's directors set up
1170-454: The work of artists like the Stooges and Can , and helped to resurrect the concept of space rock in the late 1980s. The group split in 1991, with Hampson going on to form the experimental project Main with guitarist Scott Dawson, and Mackay and Wills forming The Hair and Skin Trading Company . In 2013, the 1989–90 line-up of Hampson, Dawson, John Wills, and Neil Mackay briefly reformed for
1209-464: Was 1987's "16 Dreams", with debut album Heaven's End following later that year. The band was then signed up by Chapter 22 Records. Loop returned with a more polished sound with the "Collision" single in 1988. A second album Fade Out followed in 1989, reaching No. 51 on the UK album chart. Endeacott left the band in 1988, Scott Dowson joined the following year. They changed labels again to Beggars Banquet subsidiary Situation Two , releasing
Levitation (festival) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-411: Was a UK organisation based in London that promoted music festivals , concerts and records throughout the world for over 10 years. It was founded by Barry Hogan in 2001 in preparation for the first All Tomorrow's Parties Festival , the line-up of which was picked by Mogwai and took place at Pontins , Camber Sands , England. Named after the song " All Tomorrow's Parties " by the Velvet Underground ,
1287-555: Was held April 27–29 at the east-side location of legendary music venue Emo's in conjunction with the Beauty Ballroom. The 5th annual festival featured a 61 band lineup including The Brian Jonestown Massacre , The Black Angels, and the Black Lips along with Meat Puppets , The Olivia Tremor Control , Thee Oh Sees , and Bombino , among others. The 2013 and 2014 festivals were held at Carson Creek Ranch in Austin, Texas, located on
1326-503: Was held April 23–25, 2010 at The Mohawk, a multi-stage venue on Red River. 41 acts performed, among them, The Raveonettes , Warpaint , The Gaslamp Killer , The Black Angels and 1960s legends Silver Apples . The 2011 festival was held on April 29-May 1 at the 1950s art deco Seaholm Power Plant , a decommissioned steam power plant on the banks of Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin that had been made temporarily available for events. Due to changes in city ordinances and construction plans,
1365-712: Was held on Saturday 8 March 2008 at The Red Barn in north Austin , featuring performances by The Black Angels, Ringo Deathstarr Horse + Donkey among others. In 2009, the festival was extended to three days and was held from March 13–15 at the Radio Room, a short lived venue on Sixth Street . The Seeds ' Sky Saxon performed with Shapes Have Fangs as his backing band and Austin psychedelic legends The Golden Dawn performed their 1968 album "Power Plant" in its entirety. The lineup included modern psychedelic heavies Dead Meadow , A Place to Bury Strangers , Wooden Shjips , The Warlocks , and The Black Angels. The third Austin Psych Fest
1404-637: Was moved to Manchester in England, before being cancelled. A few months later the company went in administration , and its scheduled festival in Iceland was cancelled. Loop (band) Loop are an English rock band, formed in 1986 by Robert Hampson in Croydon . The group topped the UK independent charts with their albums Fade Out (1989) and A Gilded Eternity (1990). Their dissonant "trance-rock" sound drew on
1443-587: Was released in 1992. Following the split Loop's official studio albums were re-released on their Reactor label. Some of the records featured cover versions of Suicide , The Pop Group and Can tracks. Hampson's MySpace pages referred to friendly pressure to again re-release the Loop albums and these were eventually released in November 2008 on the Reactor label. Loop reformed for 2013 and 2014 activities, as presented by
1482-578: Was replaced by Wayne Maskell. Loop then played in April 2014 as headliners of the Roadburn Festival , followed by more than 20 dates in the USA, headlining the opening night of Milwaukee Psych Fest 2014 at Cactus Club on 24 April. They concluded this comeback tour with the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona in May 2014. In November 2014, a new line-up emerged; still led by Hampson (vocal, guitar),
1521-1157: Was the line-ups being chosen by significant bands or artists, resulting in unorthodox events which often combined acts of all sizes, eras, and genres. The festival took place in the UK, US, Japan, Iceland and Australia, and was curated by the following artists: Deerhunter , TV On The Radio , Yeah Yeah Yeahs , The National , The Drones , Greg Dulli ( Afghan Whigs ), Jeff Mangum ( Neutral Milk Hotel ), Battles , Caribou , Les Savy Fav , Amos , Animal Collective , Godspeed You! Black Emperor , Jim Jarmusch , Pavement , The Flaming Lips , The Breeders , Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds , Mike Patton , Melvins , My Bloody Valentine , Explosions In The Sky , Pitchfork Media , Portishead , Psarantonis , Fennesz , Dirty Three , Thurston Moore , The Shins , Sleater-Kinney , Dinosaur Jr. , Devendra Banhart , Mudhoney , The Mars Volta , Vincent Gallo , Slint , Jake & Dinos Chapman , Stephen Malkmus , Mogwai , Tortoise , Shellac , Stewart Lee , Sonic Youth , Boards of Canada , Autechre , Modest Mouse , Cowboy Junkies , and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening . The festival had its origins in
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