Mark Farina turns Parish into a 90s electro-jazz club, Babes Fest returns to town on Saturday, and Austin’s best pizza-and-pint music venue turns five on Sunday.
FRIDAY
The Breaks Summer Jam
Barracuda
Fri., August 31, 7pm
KUTX’s hip-hop radio show, The Breaks, and EQ Austin donate 50% of ticket sales here to Austin nonprofit Kids in a New Groove. Releasing Move Me II: The Present in February, ATX R&B native Mélat headlines a bill that stacks fast-rising local talent, including alt-soulist Jake Lloyd, trap rapper Teeta, plus Kyle Lucas, Harry Edohoukwa, Deezie Brown, and J Soulja. Read more about The Breaks in this week’s “Playback.” – Kahron Spearman
Vivienne Styg
Beerland
Fri., August 31, 9pm
Salute cassette culture! This triptych reps the time-honored four-track demo aesthetic, from the Velvets-meets-rockabilly grunt of Houston’s Vivienne Styg to Chronophage’s Kim-Gordon-fronts-Crass skronkery and Choir Cherry’s blur-action meld of musique concrète and punk. Stay for the late-night return of Bat City Cinema with new loads of short 16mm weirdness. – Tim Stegall
Mark Farina
Parish
Fri., August 31, 8pm
Born out of the back room of a San Francisco club in 1992, Mark Farina’s fusion of Eighties hip-hop beats and deep house became its own style. The resulting mushroom jazz cassette series embraced rave culture by focusing on elements of downtempo, boom bap, Latin, and other soulful flavors. So was born his legend, a cornerstone of the Nineties hipster starter pack. – Jeremy Steinberger
GGOOLLDD
Empire Control Room
Fri., August 31, 9pm
Ggoolldd’s come a long way since their lighthearted debut at a Milwaukee Halloween party in 2012. The crowd couldn’t get enough of Margaret Butler’s croon, melding Lana Del Rey’s romanticism and Karen O’s punch. Today, their clout in the baroque pop sphere grows behind ample hooks clattering over exploratory synths, polished strings, and trap-leaning beats. – Jeremy Steinberger
Maceo Parker
Antone’s Nightclub
Fri-Sat., August 31-September 1, 8pm
Famed as James Brown’s first lieutenant in the Sixties, Maceo Park remains a force synonymous with the origins of funk. The North Carolina sax deity, 75, sealed his status throughout the Seventies with Parliament-Funkadelic and bassist Bootsy Collins. During the early Nineties, he finally came into his own as a solo artist with career-solidifying releases like Mo’ Roots in 1991 and Southern Exposure two years later. – Kahron Spearman
SATURDAY
Babes Fest
Mohawk
Sat., September 1, 8pm
Founded by UT grad Jane Hervey in 2015 to support Austin women in creative industries, BossBabes has thrown more than 50 events. Chulita Vinyl Club soundtracks four hours of local pop-up shops and music industry panels in the afternoon during day two of the fourth Babes Fest, culminating at night in Afrofuturist hip-hop duo Oshun and local soulstress Alesia Lani. From recent college grads fresh off April’s debut album Oshun to post-punk headbangers Pleasure Venom, sisterhood never looked so intersectional. – Clara Wang
Swass Nite
Barracuda
Sat., September 1, 9pm
Crowning an otherwise all-local punk and noise conflagration, Monterrey prole-punk quartet Ratas del Vaticano reunites for breakneck lo-fidelity that approximates being rolled down a hill in a trash can. Hardcore quartet Nosferatu inflames any pit with its blitzkrieg scree, while OBN IIIs rage full-on alongside throat-shredding hardcore metallurgists Criaturas, electronic static merchants Blank Hellscape, and dissonant punk warblers Choir Cherry. Prepare to bruise – Greg Beets
Bad Gyal
Empire Control Room
Sat., September 1, 9pm
Catalan reggaeton star Alba Farelo shot to fame in 2016 after dropping “Pai,” a trilingual version of Rihanna’s “Work,” while in college and working at a call center. The 21-year-old dropped synth-heavy album Worldwide Angel, produced by Dubbel Dutch, in March as a multilingual stew of dancehall and electronica. Trodding a middle ground between Spanish indie favorite and YouTube dancehall princess are melancholic hits like “Jacaranda.” – Clara Wang
SUNDAY
Leo Rondeau
The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co.
Sun., September 2
Austin’s best pizza-and-pint music venue turns 5 with Leo Rondeau lighting up the dance floor. Nashville’s loss rolls easy honky-tonk through a sharp nasal twang, the North Dakota Chippewa native having become a local staple serving up earnest ballads Down at the End of the Bar. Gritty country regulars Little Mikey & the Soda Jerks set the stage. ” – Doug Freeman
This article appears in August 31 • 2018.