The Appleseed Cast - “Time The Destroyer”

SXSW 2024 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 4

Pairs Well With…Band of Horses, Sunny Day Real Estate, Minus the Bear

The last time The Appleseed Cast played SXSW was the first year I started writing about bands, now returning since thirteen years back and still honing their unique indie/math-rock sound. Even to get to the veteran band’s latest music brings us back five years, but that record, The Fleeting Light of Impermanence, holds up just as well as their 90s and 2000s material. Post-rock builds and texture punctuate The Appleseed Cast sound, grinding with energy while still mellowing away from hardcore rock. Instead, the Kansas-based band embrace dream-pop spaces amid driving percussion and riffs, creating a sound that is concurrently easy and busy. Going from heady to downright epic often in a single track, The Appleseed Cast embrace movement and invention while still digging down into a core, emo-folk zone. The Appleseed Cast is a great pick to close out SXSW, showcasing Saturday late-night at The Venue ATX for Graveface Records. (Kevin McStravick)