Credit: Courtesy of Candy Riot

Free Press Forever w/ Candy Riot

Thursday 24, the Chronpound

With eye makeup like Robert Smith and a glamorous voice like Dave Gahan, Bobby Cheatham fronts Candy Riot with a perfect Eighties flair. Less dramatic is the synth rockers’ new LP Nico Loretto, where Holly Holt’s vibrant synths shimmer. The band soundtracks the Chronicle’s next Free Press Forever, our monthly at-home concert series created just for the donors who help us keep the lights on. In honor of Halloween, this gothy gig coincides with a costume contest – the winner gets a prize basket, plus their picture in our Oct. 31 issue. Chip in at austinchronicle.com/support for an invite to hang with the coolest journalists in town.   – Carys Anderson


Rock the Park: Superfónicos

Friday 25, Mueller Lake Park Amphitheater

Between weekends of ACL Fest, Superfónicos laid down an outdoor set on South Congress every bit as revelatory as a Tito’s tent takedown in Zilker Park. Colombian funk septet, the local rhythm train packed Guero’s outside stage to the tune of Renaceré, July’s full-length bow fusing South America to South Austin. “We realized we really needed to go from simmer to rolling boil,” emailed bandleader Nicolas Sanchez Castro this summer. Easily a top 10 homegrown LP of 2024, Renaceré ripples liberating Afro-beats and dreamy cumbias at Mueller Lake Park’s winning outdoor amphitheater for KUTX’s essential free, all ages concert series, 6:30-8pm.   – Raoul Hernandez


Jack Greenwood, Motenko (EP Release), Geto Gala, SKATELAND

Friday 25, Coral Snake

A talented gathering of just-to-the-left alt-R&B/pop artists comes together for Motenko’s latest EP release, with the breezy, soft soul in “Free Yourself” and “Screen Time” sure to be on the playlist. Jack Greenwood (Other Colors EP) offers catchy, playful tunes that end up in Capital One ad campaigns. Jake Lloyd and Deezie Brown’s Geto Gala project appears to be respawning, with their last offering coming in late 2022 with the excellent single “Champagne Wishes.” Dorian Williams II-led SKATELAND project offers pleasantly undiluted indie electropop that leans heavily into a specific suburban nostalgia.   – Kahron Spearman


La Santa Cecilia

Friday 25 & Saturday 26, Flamingo Cantina

Not to be confused with Costa Rica’s the Saint Cecilia, who recently played the first weekend of ACL Fest, this Los Angeles combo climbed a far bigger stage. Traditionally instrumented quartet shaking out cumbias, bossa novas, and boleros, indie missionaries La Santa Cecilia garnered a Grammy a decade ago now behind the timeless Spanish of singer Marisol Hernandez. On last year’s top shelf Cuatro Copas Bohemia en la Finca Altozano, the band holes up at a cantina for an intimate drink with, among others, this month’s Long Center ranchera pop Aida Cuevas, who guests on the intoxicating title track. Two nights, muchos tragos.   – Raoul Hernandez


Credit: Courtesy of Willie Carlisle

Willi Carlisle, Leo Rondeau

Friday 25, Sam’s Town Point

Willi Carlisle preaches big tent Americana, his shows a call to an open-hearted communion that absorbs the weary struggles of life and exudes a wonder at its complicated richness. The closest incarnation of Woody Gurthrie working today, the Arkansas troubadour delivers talking folk blue and sincere ballads that can strike simultaneously hilarious and harrowing. His third album, this year’s Darrell Scott-produced Critterland, reels in hard-time tales and outsider narratives as he seeks to forge a connection with the world with a deliberate hopefulness. Leo Rondeau returns to Austin to close the night and make sure the dance floor gets a workout.   – Doug Freeman


Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord 20th Anniversary

Friday 25, Monks Jazz

After a few years concentrating on bluegrass with Wayside Bluegrass and the Central Texas Bluegrass Association, Jon Lundbom picks his electric guitar back up to celebrate both his birth and the 20th anniversary of his band Big Five Chord. The Chicago-born, Austin-based eclectician is a master at stretching the boundaries of jazz, both avant-garde and not – check out the Chord’s most recent album, 2019’s Harder On the Outside to corroborate – and his distinctive take on improvisational harmonic structure has been sorely missed. The band includes saxophone greats Jon Irabagon and Bryan “Balto!” Murray, bassist Moppa Elliott, and drummer Dan Monaghan.   – Michael Toland


Not Bad Boogie

Saturday 26, the White Horse

Taylor Rushing’s Not Bad design studios has helped define the look of contemporary independent country, with his illustrations and show posters blending a Seventies Austin aesthetic with a modern melding of hillbilly and hippie. The day-long mini fest Not Bad Boogie follows suit. South Austin swamp swami Ramsay Midwood and Nashville’s Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears bring the psych-country jams while Erin Rae’s gorgeously moving folk from 2022’s Lighten Up and Logan Ledger’s immaculately smooth croon draping last year’s Golden State sweeten the evening. Local trio Sentimental Family Band round out the lineup, adding some Western swing to the Boogie.   – Doug Freeman


Credit: Photo by Nick Futch

Nick Shoulders

Monday 28, Sagebrush

Scrappy, eclectic Arkansas troubadour Nick Shoulders has a throat like a gramophone horn – singing, whistling, and yodeling with a timeless quality – but it’s his squirrely charisma that makes his show a double-certified good-ass-time. The rural songster, encompassing Western swing, midcentury country, and variety of folk styles, intersperses his trad music with wild banter that will make you squirt Code Red Mountain Dew out your nose. Last year’s fourth LP All Bad continued to build the Fayetteville entertainer’s catalog of clever country songs, while recent a cappella single “Apocalypse Never” rallies oppressed populations with the refrain: “Like the waters we will rise.”   – Kevin Curtin


Credit: Courtesy of ACL Live

Gladys Knight

Tuesday 29, ACL Live at the Moody Theater

Seven-time Grammy Award-winning Gladys Knight was so good, so early, that Diana Ross allegedly kicked her off a Motown tour bus out of jealousy. The Atlanta native’s rich, dusky alto was first showcased fronting Gladys Knight & the Pips, with whom she first dominated the R&B charts, then recorded her first Billboard No. 1 hit, “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Going from strength to strength in a successful solo career, she scored a megahit with charity single “That’s What Friends Are For,” alongside Dionne Warwick, Sir Elton John, and Stevie Wonder.   – Kahron Spearman


Barbara White

Tuesday 29, Parker Jazz Club

If Instagram and YouTube are any indication, jazz is catching on with 20-and-younger somethings tired of digital electronics and widescreen pop anthems being screamed at them. Clearly hip to this wave, Parker Jazz has been sponsoring dulcet-toned teenage singer Barbara White since 2023. The classically trained young singer has been a regular feature at the club, particularly with Parker regulars the Copa Kings, as she develops her style. Taking the stage as a solo act, she’ll sing standards (find her version of “Besame Mucho” online) and will be backed by the Parker Jazz House Band, led by Parker impresario Kris Kimura.   – Michael Toland


Air Performs Moon Safari

Wednesday 30, Moody Amphitheater

If there was any doubt in 1998 that electronic music’s Big Beat era was coming to a close, Air’s debut LP, Moon Safari, landed to a collective and critical sigh of relief. Finally, we could turn the BPMs down a bit and just vibe. Influenced as much by Serge Gainsbourg as Kraftwerk, the duo reminded everyone what the French were always good at: effortless cool. The outdoor Moody stage is the perfect venue for the 25th anniversary of an album that encouraged listeners to look less at the dance floor and more toward the stars.   – James Renovitch


Soundscapes: Amos Cochran

Through November 22, ICOSA Collective

Local gallery ICOSA pulls an Emmy nominated composer for the next edition of their sound work series – played on the stereo system aimed at the Canopy Complex’s open-air breezeway. Amos Cochran, whose work hits at convergence of organic and in-organic instrumentation, brings two pieces for this installation. One, “Color Field Outside/In,” was inspired by the artist’s research into the Color Field movement – which held that color was as important to an art’s emotional resonance as figures. His second piece, “N.I. (Natural Intelligence),” developed as a result of Cochran’s musings on overconsumption. “I see this work as an abstraction of my overall relationship with technology,” the artist relays in his statement, “and how its consumption plays a crucial role in our societal psyche.”   – James Scott


Music Notes

by Derek Udensi

Street Peach

Friday 25, Cheer Up Charlies

Local R&B singer celebrates the release of her forthcoming EP, Monarch, on her birthday. Her latest single, “34,” incorporates a bit of self-reflection as another year around the sun approaches. Passiflora, Club Coma, and LeTrainiump support.

Coco and Clair Clair Credit: Photo by Nicole Steriovski

Coco & Clair Clair

Friday 25, Emo’s

Atlanta pop rap duo tours in support of their second studio album, Girl. Coming in at a swift 24 minutes, the August 2024 release contains juxtaposition aplenty across its nine tracks. Nonchalant jabs delivered with a conversational spin land like someone whispering insults directly into your ear. Then again, this pair is responsible for the line “the only bread you pussies get is a yeast infection” (2022 track “Bitches”). Toronto native SadBoi opens.

Gary Lindsey & the Pleasure Tide

Saturday 26, the Lost Well

This Saturday marks the popular East Austin locale’s last day of shows before concluding 11-plus years of operation on the 27th. Fittingly, Gary Lindsey & the Pleasure Tide come through for one final hoorah. The group notably played a First Saturdays residency on Webberville for eight years. Mötorhead tribute band Mean Machine punctuates the evening with two sets.

Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what’s happening now or in the coming week.

This article appears in October 25 • 2024.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

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Carys Anderson moved from Nowhere, DFW to Austin in 2017 to study journalism at the University of Texas. She began writing for The Austin Chronicle in 2021 and joined its full-time staff in 2023, where she covers music and culture.

As the Chronicle's Club Listings Editor, Derek compiles a weekly list of music events occurring across town. The University of Texas alum also writes about hip-hop as a contributor to the Music section.

James graduated from Columbia University in 2000 and moved to Austin a year later. Ever since, he has followed the arts and video game scene in ATX, editing and writing stories for the Chronicle along the way. Over his more than 20 years with the paper he has climbed the "corporate" ladder from lowly intern to managing editor.

James Scott is a writer who has lived in Austin since 2017. He covers queer events, news, and anything pertaining to Austin's LGBTQ community. Catch his work writing film essays for Hyperreal Film Club, performing in Queer Film Theory 101 at Barrel O' Fun, or on his social media platforms: @thejokesboy on Twitter and Bluesky or @ghostofelectricity on Instagram.

Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.

Kahron Spearman is a journalist and writer with bylines including The Austin Chronicle, Austin Monthly, Consequence of Sound, Texas Highways, and the London-based journal The Break-Down. He currently serves as Senior Editor at Atmosphere TV.

San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.

Doug Freeman has been writing for the Austin Chronicle since 2007, covering the arts and music scene in the city. He is originally from Virginia and earned his Masters Degree from the University of Texas. He is also co-editor of The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology, published by UT Press.