Navy Blue Breaks Down His Reflective New Album ‘Ways of Knowing' ![]() “It’s called ‘Serial Killer.’” As they left the stage with the sun just starting to set, they had the satisfaction of having played the living hell out of their early-evening set. “This next song is about my childhood,” Kivlen deadpanned. Some of that energy might have come from the fact that Sunflower Bean is without a record deal for the first time in years - they sounded like a band with something to prove. Olive Faber’s drumming was ferocious, and Cumming and singer-guitarist Nick Kivlen were locked in together, playing hard and fast. “I just met you, take me home,” she growled on another called “Teach Me To Be Bad.” These songs had a new edge of anger that suits Sunflower Bean well, and a little danger, too. “Safety is a lie,” singer-bassist Julia Cumming spit on a song called “Lucky Number. No problem: They came out strong with a blistering set of seven brand-new, unreleased songs that leaned into the heavy side of their sound. Sunflower Bean is a band that’s used to working its tricks at night, but unexpected circumstances in the form of a storm warning forced the New York trio to go on early with the sun still out at Stubb’s. Sunflower Bean played a full set of unreleased material at Stubb’s. He did it all in a voice that rang out with extraordinary force and vitality. His pointed social critiques often came wrapped in personal stories: On “Tyler, Forever,” he delivered a poignant eulogy for a friend on “Chain Sooo Heavy,” from his 2021 album For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her, he drove home a deft metaphor about the burdens an individual can carry. In a white tee with the radical slogan “STAND UP, SHOOT BACK” and a bandana, Dixon rapped relentlessly over a tight band whose drums, keys, bass format recalled the Roots at their hardest-hitting. (Named after Toni Morrison’s classic trilogy of novels about the Black experience in America, the album is due out in June.) Onstage at Stubb’s on Thursday afternoon, he translated that vision with a raw urgency that was breathtaking. Virginia-raised, Chicago-based artist McKinley Dixon has an ambitious vision, as anyone who’s heard an early copy of his upcoming album Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? can’t wait to tell you. McKinley Dixon performed songs from his ambitious new album. It was a mesmerizing gig that provided some much-needed respite from the frenzy of the day, the festival, life as a whole, etc. ![]() ![]() It’s a feat to be able to conjure such dangerously high emotions smack dab in the middle of the day, but Tomberlin did it effortlessly, delivering consecutive gut punches as she belted lyrics like “You paid for lies to be made truth/Does that fuck with you?” from “stoned,” and “I know I’m not Jesus/But Jesus, I’m tryin’ to be enough” from “born again runner” (both from her impressive 2022 album I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This…). ![]() The soft-spoken singer took the outdoor stage with just her droll humor and guitar - with which, she shared, she’d finally been reunited after five months in a repair shop - and delivered a performance with vocals so crisp and songwriting so sincere it cut straight through the muggy air. Tomberlin Shines on a Muggy Afternoonĭespite the sluggish humidity signaling the impending storm that took over Austin on Thursday afternoon, there was no chiller place to be than in Tomberlin’s audience at the Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Empire Garage and Control Room. Here are the best things we saw on day three of SXSW 2023. But it had already been a full day of exciting new sounds before the storm hit - and when the clouds lifted at 11 p.m., there was more to come. on Thursday threw off what was shaping up to be SXSW’s biggest day: All outdoor events after that hour were canceled outright (including some highly anticipated sets, like Lil Yachty at the Moody Amphitheater), while other showcase schedules got all jumbled up. A freak thunderstorm that hit Austin around 9 p.m.
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