Culminating in the Hot Sauce Festival, this weekend feeds your music appetite with spews of folk, rap, jazz, and a special Beto O’Rourke fundraising showcase.
FRIDAY
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
Bass Concert Hall
Fri-Sun., August 24-26, 8pm
There’s currently no hotter hand in Americana than that of Jason Isbell. The Alabama songwriter’s sitting on a royal flush following last year’s return to his full band with the double-Grammy-grabbing The Nashville Sound. Isbell’s pen cuts sharp and deep, slashing through tough issues, hard times, and emotional complexities with a clear uncompromising confidence and empathy. – Doug Freeman
The Mattson 2, Astronauts, etc.
Mohawk
Fri., August 24, 9pm
Galvanized by Jared Mattson’s lively guitar and brother Jonathan’s bopping drums, the Mattson 2 translate twin telepathy into visceral psych-jazz informed by electronica, surf, and punk. Desert trip opus Chaz Bundick Meets the Mattson 2 paired the Toro y Moi mastermind’s soluble harmonies with the brothers’ hallucinations. Bundick’s keyboardist, Anthony Ferraro, opens with psychedelic Latin-jazz as Astronauts Etc. – Jeremy Steinberger
SATURDAY
Beto Days Ahead
Cheer Up Charlies
Sat., August 25, 4pm
While Ted Cruz absorbs huge money from oil tycoons and gun-rights groups, his Senate race opposition has clearly won the support of Austin music. Saturday’s all-day Beto O’Rourke fundraiser finds 15 acts, including Israel Nash, Quiet Company, Lolita Lynn, Bright Light Social Hour’s Curtis Roush, and Löwin stumping for the skateboarding, guitar-playing, socially progressive congressmen. A $20 donation to Beto’s campaign gets you in. – Kevin Curtin
RAS Day
Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
Sat., August 25, 3pm
Three-time AMA Band of the Year winners Riders Against the Storm host their 5th annual RAS Day festival. Headlined by brilliant wordsmith Saul Williams, the diverse lineup includes Brooklyn MC Nitty Scott, Afro-futuristic bass duo Gato Preto, electro/Afrobeat group Trouble in the Streets, and the cosmic jazz of drummer Brennan Temple’s Temple Underground. RAS will also drop in for a set. – Kahron Spearman
Wiz Khalifa, Rae Sremmurd, Lil Skies, O.T. Genasis
Circuit of the Americas
Sat., August 25, 6pm
This summer’s stoney sequel to Rolling Papers stacks atop an already hazy stash of baked gems for Wiz Khalifa, while co-headlining brethren Rae Sremmurd promote their SremmLife-style via superfluous trap with whimsical debauchery. The kids will be out for Kimetrius Foose, aka Lil Skies, a face-tatted 20-year-old Auto-Tune crooner, while O.T. Genasis brings club classic “CoCo.” – Jeremy Steinberger
Wuki
Empire Control Room
Sat., August 25, 9pm
Formerly a member of dance rockers Innerpartysystem, producer/DJ Wuki, Kris Barman, got the electronic bug after listening to UK electronic legends the Prodigy. In 2016, he released remixes for the Chainsmokers’ “Closer” and Galantis’ “No Money.” Influenced by Detroit ghettotech and Chicago footwork, he delivered two underrated extended plays in 2014, Framework and Hot Talk, as well as the well-received Smalltown DJs remix with Astronomar. – Kahron Spearman
SUNDAY
The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival w/ Little Joe y La Familia & more
Fiesta Gardens
Sun., August 26, 11:30am
For decades, Little Joe y La Familia have synthesized Tejano with jazz, country, and rock & roll. Along the way, they and their frontman’s groundbreaking status has been bolstered by four Grammys, beginning with recognition for 1991 classic 16 de Septiembre, the first Tejano title to win in the Best Mexican-American Album category. – Alejandra Ramirez
Surf Psych City Twilight Hour
Spider House
Sun., August 26, 6pm
Long Beach native Jo Pausic’s wicked howling amplifies HiFiKid’s demonic folk pizazz, rejecting West Coast chic for dark garage braced with acoustic blues melodies and rumbling drums. Similar melancholy bellows from local surf rock trio Hand-Me-Down Adventure, while fellow natives the Gnomads flood the psychedelic beach day with reverb-drenched punk, and Post Modern Girls bring a feminine touch to the Strokes catalog. – Jeremy Steinberger
Vockah Redu
S.S. Saturnalia
Sun., August 26, 5:30pm
Bounce music was born out of Nola housing projects and youths from those complexes continue to ringlead the genre. Vockah Redu and crew offer breakneck twerk routines to four-to-the-floor romp beats that lubricate dance floors, whether in a sweaty club or on a boat along with surfy rockers Billy King & the Bad Bad Bad and deep housers Synthemesc. Tickets and info on Eventbrite.com. – Alejandra Ramirez
This article appears in August 24 • 2018.