Hot Summer Nights: The Austin Chronicle Party
Thursday 18, Empire Control Room & Garage
Free local music festival Hot Summer Nights boasts plenty of mosh pits and dance parties, but The Austin Chronicle’s kickoff party starts things slow with a showcase of Central Texas R&B. “Hip-Soul” artist David Shabani anchors his chill rap flow with sultry guitar and melancholy piano, while Daniel Fears backs his soulful croon with classical strings (check last month’s Close to Home EP, recorded by a BIPOC orchestra at the Draylen Mason Music Studio). On latest track “Love Me,” meanwhile, Moody Bank$ trades her smoky alto for a playful Erykah Badu homage. Austin Music Awards-nominated DJ Kay Cali kicks off the show. – Carys Anderson
Hot Summer Nights: TV’s Daniel, Queen Serene, Borzoi, Prehuman
Friday 19, Chess Club
It’s hard to tell whether or not Daniel Fried is doing a bit. The singer fronts TV’s Daniel with the rock & roll bravado of a prep school graduate, wearing three-piece suits and chatting in between songs about sold-out shows at the Moody Center (no way, right?) before launching his band into an updated take on classic rock theatrics. Before this free show’s irreverent midnight headline, Prehuman plays shoegaze songs from last week’s debut 7-inch, noise rock veterans Borzoi pummel sonic fury, and Sarah Ronan and Matt Galceran trade vocals in Queen Serene, a post-punk quartet both minimalist and murky. – Carys Anderson
Softcult
Friday 19, the Ballroom
Citing influences across My Bloody Valentine, riot grrrl zines, and modern bubble grungers like Soccer Mommy – Softcult isn’t your uncle’s shoegaze, as seen in of-the-times titles like “Another Bish” and “Gaslight.” Canadian twins Phoenix and Mercedes Arn-Horn, disenchanted with label treatment of their past pop-punk band Courage My Love, launched re-debut Year of the Rat on Easy Life Records in 2021. One EP later, the self-produced Ontario “riotgaze”-ers take Bay Area alt-grungers Present (see April LP Silver Lining) on tour. – Rachel Rascoe
My Education/Theta Naught: SoundMass III
Friday 19, Carousel Lounge
A pair of post-rock ensembles combine to make a glorious noise for the ongoing Sound Mass series. Inaugurated in 2010, the collaboration betwixt Austin’s long-running instrumental wizards My Education and Salt Lake City’s acid spacenaughts Theta Naught weaves the former’s elegant drama and the latter’s thick psychedelia into a series of mesmerizing soundscapes on the forthcoming Sound Mass III. ME guitarist Brian Purington will exchange the winter of his current New Zealand home for his hometown’s sweltering summer while TN flies in from Salt Lake, making this rare concert one that will turn the walls of the Carousel inside out. – Michael Toland
Superfónicos
Waterloo Records, Friday 19
Singular moment, this in-store performance and record signing. Full-length bow Renaceré marks a decade locally for Colombian funk septet Superfónicos. Album producer, studio owner, and scene centerpiece Beto Martinez acknowledged the comparison of Superfónicos to his local Latin music seeders of a quarter-century, Grupo Fantasma: “I see that,” he texted. “The parallel of a collective, existing between and among the traditional and contemporary, but also drawing from it all – past, present, future Latin and beyond. We were Chicanos from Laredo, with a shared heritage in culture and music. Superfónicos are the same but Colombianos. Austin brought them all together much like it did for us.” – Raoul Hernandez
Lamb of God, Mastodon, Kerry King
Saturday 20, Circuit of the Americas
Notching a quarter-century, Richmond, Va., groovecore kings Lamb of God serve up 2022 pandemic flex Omens, their ninth LP overall. Atlanta proggers Mastodon, meanwhile, counter with an even earlier COVID response, eighth disc Hushed & Grim (2021). Now, stir in Slayer godfather Kerry King and his solo debut featuring Death Angel lung collapser Mark Osegueda. The guitarist’s known all parties since day one: “Really cool that I have so much history with them and now these guys are giving me my first American tour,” agreed King. “[Now it’s come] full circle, and we’re all still friends, and it’s going to be a good time.” Find further quotes in our interview with King. – Raoul Hernandez
Infinity Song
Sunday 21, 3TEN ACL Live
Many first caught on to sibling band Infinity Song via pandemic-scrolling through clips of levitating five-part harmonies, Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” absolutely on-point outfits, and, later, viral original “Hater’s Anthem.” Turns out the homeschooled mind-melders had already been performing at Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain for more than a decade, leading to signing with Roc Nation in 2016. After making soft-rock swoon and ABBA/5th Dimension comparisons cool again, the now-foursome released sophomore album Metamorphosis Complete last month. After the Austin stop, the Boyd sibs jump on a few dates supporting Lake Street Dive. – Rachel Rascoe
School of Rock
Tuesday 23, 3TEN ACL Live
“In the end of time, there was a man who knew the road, and the writing was written on the stone.” Yes, I have every lyric of this epic tale of rent and betrayal from family classic School of Rock memorized. And yes, I regret nothing. This timeless tale of sticking it to the man serves as an invaluable lesson for kids to never be afraid to be themselves, while also rocking some sense into so-called authority figures to allow children to find their own paths to happiness. The film became a solid and true phenomenon, inspiring actual music programs for youth ages 8 and older. The School of Rock AllStars, composed of just 1% of the students who participate in the program, come to 3TEN at ACL Live to showcase the future of musical talent. According to the official announcement, “House Band students from School of Rock Austin, Round Rock, [and] SW Austin will be joining the AllStars on stage.” – Cy White
Priya Ragu: The Roads to Santhosam Tour
Tuesday 23, Parish
When I came across Priya Ragu, it was very much by accident. How isn’t as important as what – what I heard, what happened to me when I heard it, what I’ve been doing for the past couple years to miss this young lady. The Swiss-born Tamil musician offers a refreshingly surprising mix of traditional Tamil soundscapes with Nineties-inspired R&B, hip-hop, and soul. Last year’s Santhosam is more than a novel concept. It’s a gorgeous blending of cultures that illustrates with the most gorgeous accuracy the adage that music is universal. Leaning more heavily into her cultural heritage, Ragu created in her sophomore full-length a promising glimpse of music’s future. With the same aural energy as contemporaries like M.I.A. and Majid Jordan and newcomers like Raveena, Priya Ragu is riding a wave of cross-cultural experimentation that I’m so here for. Monterrey-born DJ Suxxy Puxxy accompanies. – Cy White
Music Notes
by Derek UdensiPeso Pluma
Friday 19, Moody Center
A congregation swelling with eager fans wrapped around City Hall in the hopes of seeing La Doble P perform at the Moody Theater during South by Southwest earlier this year. Many left disappointed after capacity inevitably reached its max that day, but the Regional Mexican music star will return to town at a much larger Moody in support of new album ÉXODO.
KUTX Summer Jam
Friday 19, Stubb’s (inside)
The Breaks radio show co-hosts Aaron “Fresh” Knight and Confucius Jones integrate their summertime hip-hop/R&B event into Hot Summer Nights for a second consecutive year. This year’s occasion features J. Mill, MsGold, Norman Ba$e, and Street Peach.
Tony Shhnow
Thursday 25, Antone’s
Despite his status as a member of plugg’s 2020s Mount Rushmore, the Atlanta-bred Shhnow attacks a variety of beats. His first project of 2024, Out the Woods, barely features any plugg, while last year saw him take an uncommon stab at expressing his experience with romance (Love Streak). Freshly dropped mixtape #NoOneElse is entirely produced by Shhnow himself, who will also open for Florida rapper Robb Bank$ at Texas Smoke Connection on July 19.
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 July 19 • 2024.
