Live Music to See This Weekend

Interested in a concert escape? Let the music team hand hold you through the city’s standout moments Friday through Sunday.

FRIDAY

DJ Shadow

Emo's
Fri., July 21, 8pm

For some 30 years now, California-raised hip-hop crate digger and producer Josh Davis has conducted business as DJ Shadow, perhaps ground zero of mainstream turntable culture. Even so, he remains remarkably unpretentious about what keeps him motivated: “Other people’s music.” “I became a DJ just to share the music with people, try to get them to redirect their focus and understanding about what rap music was,” explains Davis, 45, about how his hometown’s lack of attention to hip-hop informed his career choice. Shortly after our interview, Davis surprise released an explosive new four-track EP, The Mountain Has Fallen, which features rap icon Nas, eclectic MC Danny Brown, and Oscar-winning composer Steven Price (Baby Driver, Gravity). – Kahron Spearman

The Joe Jacksons

Hole in the Wall
Fri., July 21, 9pm

Take two parts of country stringers Weary Boys and one part of soul punks Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, and beat at high volume – serve raw and messy. Side effort trio of Lewis and Mario Matteoli returns after last year’s roasting single “It’s a Sin.” Cosmic Americana troubadours the Lonesome Heroes prove they Can’t Stand Still, but roll back home to headline with new tunes and harmony-rich sounds. – Doug Freeman

Honey & Salt, Basketball Shorts

The Electric Church
Fri., July 21, 8pm

UT student frequency KVRX 91.7 mish-mashes genre. Live, that commingles Austin trio Honey & Salt’s obsessive math rock and philosophical narratives; Basketball Shorts’ beloved, combustive garage rock and pop hooks; and Denton’s Dome Dwellers skewing avant-garde on off-kilter rock pushed forward by rapid, technical guitars and stop-start melodies. – Libby Webster

FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Matthew Sweet

3ten Austin City Limits Live
Fri., July 21, 8:30pm & Sat., July 22, 8:30pm

After flirting with mainstream success on 1991’s Girlfriend and 1995’s 100% Fun, Nebraskan Sweet expanded astride latter-day releases that include a series of compelling covers albums with Bangle Susanna Hoffs. Tomorrow Forever, Sweet’s first solo LP since 2011, traffics in metaphysical themes while maintaining big jangle. Tommy Keene’s 1986 brass-ring grab, Songs From the Film, didn’t make him a household name, but the Maryland native has delivered cultish power-pop ever since. – Greg Beets

Little Freddie King, Eddie Shaw

Antone's Nightclub
Fri., July 21, 9pm & Sat., July 22, 8pm

Antone’s pulls out the stops for the finale of its monthlong 42nd anniversary with New Orleans’ award-winning, 40-year Jazz Fest veteran Little Freddie King, who plays both nights. Early Friday puts the guitarist alongside Houston blues rocker Alan Haynes and Austin guitar prodigy Jake Andrews, who’s wowed locals since grade school. Headlining on Saturday is 80-year-old Howlin’ Wolf bandleader and saxophone legend Eddie Shaw. – Jay Trachtenberg

SATURDAY

Warbenefit for Bruce Corbitt

Texas Mist
Sat., July 22, 7:30pm

Former frontman of Texas speed metal legends Rigor Mortis and current leader of thrashaholics Warbeast, Bruce Corbitt retired in May after an esophageal cancer diagnosis ended his singing career. He continues to fight, and a wealth of ATX and San Antonio headbangers rally to help. Mobile power metalheads Immortal Guardian headline, with Shadow Spectrum, Black Thorn Halo, Flesh Hoarder, Last Judgement, Hanged Man’s Curse, and Chasing After Alice also raising horns. – Michael Toland

Experimental Electronics: Elevator Bath Somatic

Museum of Human Achievement
Sat., July 22, 8pm

Two homegrown labels specializing in synthetic sounds divvy up a showcase. Elevator Bath spotlights ambient soundscapes from Colin Andrew Sheffield and James Eck Rippie’s Essential Anatomies, and the haunted hum of Alex Keller and Sean O’Neill’s Kruos. Somatic proffers the gothic instrumentals of Jezzebeam and Lachane, sharing a self-titled split LP. Both labels boast the talents of veteran Austin electronics legend Rick Reed, who has his own split album with Sheffield and Rippie to offer. – Michael Toland

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Float Fest

Cool River Ranch
Sat., July 22 & Sun., July 23

Comes a time every summer here in Central Texas when all anyone can talk about is the heat. Triple-digit days on pace to shatter records, Float Fest couldn’t bob up at a better time. Wafting 2.5 miles in two-to-four hours comes rewarded afterward by top tier EDM (Zedd, Passion Pit, Girl Talk), rock (Cage the Elephant, Weezer, MGMT), and locals (Wild Child, Ume, Walker Lukens). – Raoul Hernandez

SUNDAY

Steve Dean Benefit

Saengerrunde Hall
Sun., July 23

Steve Dean’s been deeply ingrained in Central Texas music since the mid-Seventies, when his OK Records served as crucial annex to neighboring blues start-up Antone’s. Tireless preservationist of historic dance halls, he’s now fighting back brain cancer, so he hosts a living estate sale/potluck/benefit concert, 9am-10pm. Friends, admirers, and live music fanatics can dig through records, vintage threads, and music memorabilia to a live country and roots soundtrack, including the Paladins, Billy Bacon and Joe “King” Carrasco, Redd Volkaert, Susanna Van Tassel, Ted Roddy, and the Casa Loma Playboys. – Kevin Curtin