Crucial Concerts for the Coming Week

Mikaela Davis

Zoi Market, Saturday 16

More than just southern South Austin or “the Cabela’s part” of I-35, Buda’s got a rustic little Main Street, anchored by an old limestone building built way back in 1898. That structure now houses Zoi Market, a healthy grocery and natural pharmacy with an adjoining performance space – both owned by UtopiaFest organizers Travis and Noa Sutherland. The listening room’s provided a new locale for Austin bands and touring artists outside Austin’s direct orbit. Saturday’s concert welcomes Rochester, N.Y., native Mikaela Davis – whose elegant indie rock songcraft and captivating harp playing have cemented her as a Utopia favorite. A. Sinclair, expanding the aperture of life through emotionally resonant songs, begins proceedings. – Kevin Curtin

Knocked Loose

Following their raging sophomore LP, A Different Shade of Blue, with the current tour’s namesake EP A Tear in the Fabric of Life – a conceptual work exploring the bitterness of loss and grief – Knocked Loose presents their version of Midwest emo with guttural screams and chaotic breakdowns. Influenced by the sweet stylings in death metal, the Kentucky quintet extends the boundaries of hardcore, pushing the line to its very thinnest with abrasive riffs and grinding melodies. Accompanied by scene vets Movements, Texas’ own Kublai Khan, and punk newcomers Koyo, Emo’s is set for hours of headbanging and insane pits. – Alyssa Quiles

Curtis McMurtry

“My teachers taught me not to trust.” The ear-grabbing lyrical centerpiece of Curtis McMurtry’s slim, brooding “You Need Me to Betray You” does plenty to sell us on the young-but-wisened songwriter’s talents. Enough so that you almost don’t have to mention the family lineage and hard-to-miss last name. McMurtry’s stop at Captain Quackenbush’s Coffeehouse puts him on the stage that was once one of the hottest listening rooms in town (R.I.P. Strange Brew) for a performance that also serves as the debut event for the “You Need Me to Betray You” video. Creekbed Carter does the opening ceremonies. – Chad Swiatecki

Questlove DJ Set

On the back of his epic Academy Award and Grammy wins for Summer of Soul, a must-see documentary about the star-studded 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is back in Austin, whirling his eclectic tastes on the ones and twos. The Roots drummer has become an elite, highly sought-after live DJ, partly out of his encyclopedic knowledge of music from the Beatles to Parliament-Funkadelic to Def Jam releases between 1985 and 1990. Warming up for the Tonight Show bandleader, Austin’s own DJ Kay Cali will also be in the mix. – Kahron Spearman

Drain Gang

Existing outwardly only as ethereal sprites coursing through the deep web, Sweden’s mysterious, post-human boy band seemed for the longest time to confound the very notion of live performance. Should one have eardrums barricaded against contracting aural epilepsy from blindingly bright trance beats and Bladee’s, Ecco2K’s, and Thaiboy Digital’s piercingly high registers (that is to say, should one be younger than 25), their first world tour is not to be missed – if only for sheer improbability. Recent albums have seen the collective guide their alien aesthetic away from numbed-out, cloud-rap hedonism and toward a curiously earthen art-pop zen, perfect for digital springtime. – Julian Towers

Sarah Jarosz

Given enough quiet surrounding space, anything can look or sound like art. Sarah Jarosz stops you dead in your tracks with her subdued contemporary bluegrass style, but it’s not just space that makes her work feel like a center of gravity. The Hill Country-reared singer-songwriter, who enchants on mandolin, banjo, and ukulele, returns to Austin, a city where she trekked as a preternaturally talented “child prodigy” from weekly Wimberley jam sessions to live events that nurtured her. Now with 10 Grammy nods and four wins, the 30-year-old young master supports albums five and six, last year’s stunning Blue Heron Suite, and 2020’s World on the Ground. – Christina Garcia

J Balvin

Making rounds for his fifth album, Jose, José “J” Balvin continues his global ascent as Colombia’s international superstar and reigning reggaeton juggernaut. With albums like kaleidoscopic utopia Colores (2020), Bad Bunny summertime collaborative Oasis (2019), and pop diaspora Vibras (2018), he remains one of Latin music’s defining artists of the decade. Besides collaborating with Beyoncé on the ubiquitous “Mi Gente” and Cardi B on pop earworm “I Like It,” the prince of reggaeton sports a long list of accolades including four Latin Grammys and Latin American Music Awards, five Billboard Latin Music Awards, and two MTV Video Music Awards. – Alejandra Ramirez

This article appears in April 15 • 2022.