Nakia & the Never Not Now (performance & record signing)

Earlier this month, when Shinyribs serenaded Waterloo Records, emotions ran heavy in the knowledge of the group’s final live appearance at that location. Expect no less from Nakia. A semifinalist on The Voice and perennial Austin City Limits television show attendee, the South Austin soul man runs deep through the local scene lore. No surprise, then, that his swan song at Sixth and Lamar – Waterloo will relocate several blocks north this summer – services one of his finest recorded moments. Signal, inspired by Eighties synthpop, pulses his rich and deepening croon atop a lithe bed of electro delectables for maybe the best fit in decades, as aided by new band the Never Not Now. – Raoul Hernandez