Oblivion Access Festival (fka Austin Terror Fest) is an annual extended weekend festival that celebrates weird and underground music. This year, the festival runs from Thursday, June 15th to Sunday, June 18th, and it genuinely has one of the coolest festival lineups this year. Fusing big names in rap, metal, electronic, and more, I am stoked to see these artists head to downtown Austin for one crazy weekend. Here are our favorites from the weekend’s lineup.
RXK Nephew
Nephew is one of those artists that I find myself constantly quoting and worshiping on social media. His humorous and manic tracks have me constantly returning to his projects. Make Drunk Cool Again, Crack Therapy 3, and the more recent Till I’m Dead are some of the most engaging first listens I have ever had to listen to an album. If there is one song to encapsulate his energy, American Tterroristt might be one of the greatest rap songs of the past five years. I genuinely cannot wait to see this man hit the stage.
Duster
The revitalization of Duster through TikTok and other mediums could not happen to a more deserving band. To me, Stratosphere and Contemporary Movement are some of the core pillars of YouTube-core alongside Mort Garson’s Plantasia and Japanese artists like Casiopea and Tatsuro Yamashita. The slowcore trio’s first time in Texas is a great way to start the festival.
Earth
The coolest shows I saw in Austin were at the Central Presbyterian Church. This is where the band Earth will be performing their classic Drone Metal album Earth 2 in full to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Spirit of the Beehive
Entertainment, Death is one of the most underrated albums of 2021 and is one of the best acts to kick off Oblivion Access. The group’s music bounces between atmospheric and soothing Neo-Psych and dark and noisy Experimental Rock music. I have no doubt their show will be just as wild.
Have A Nice Life/Giles Corey
How do you describe 2008’s Deathconsciousness? Depressive, lonely, pessimistic, heavy, and nihilistic are a few words. Fantastic is another word. It is one of those albums that has grown more and more in the consciousness of the music world and is an insanely powerful Post-Punk album. In addition, the band’s Dan Barrett is also performing at Oblivion Access as his solo act Giles Corey which is a more folky spin on the band’s music.
Lil Ugly Mane
The festival Oblivion Access gets its name from the title of Lil Ugly Mane’s 2015 album. To classify the genre of Lil Ugly Mane is difficult because even though he is regarded as a rapper who got his start making Memphis Rap and Horrorcore, projects like Third Side of Tape and Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern bounce between Indietronica, Techno, Hypnagogic Pop, Noise, and many many more. Who knows what it will be like when he takes the stage, but it is going to be amazing.
clipping.
The music of clipping. is special. Fusing the dark lyrics of Horrorcore with elements of Industrial, Abstract, and Experimental Hip Hop creates a fantastic fusion of storytelling with some of the most engaging beats to be put on a Rap album. The Story series is a prime example of how far the group pushes the envelope of Hip-Hop.
Clams Casino
The godfather of Cloud Rap is notable for launching the careers of A$AP Rocky, Lil B, The Weeknd, Mac Miller, and more while also working with FKA twigs, Joji, Danny Brown, j-hope, Earl Sweatshirt, Flume, LUCKI, Vince Staples, Lil Peep, and more. He has created some of the most euphoric and ethereal beats in Rap music. This might be the most soothing set from this entire weekend.
Narrow Head
Bluntly put, Narrow Head’s 2023 album Moments of Clarity rocks. The band wears its influences of Smashing Pumpkins and Deftones on their sleeves, but instead of sounding like the Greta Van Fleet for 90s kids, it is a fantastic modern piece of Grunge music.
Chat Pile
I have grown to enjoy more recent iterations of noise rock like Daughters, Gilla Band, and Chat Pile which leads to me really enjoying the band’s debut album God’s Country. This is an album that beats you up, and I think I am okay with it because it is as insane as it is insanely good.
Tickets are available at http://oblivionaccessfestival.com and the entire lineup is available below
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