What do a pedal steel-playing ambient artist, a kawaii Mexican pop singer, and a Waco R&B trio have in common? They all played South by Southwest on Tuesday, to surprising results. Hired gun for Liam Gallagher and Nilüfer Yanya, Joe Harvey-Whyte innovated the formidable guitar at a church; rising starlet Sofish hopped genres at Las Perlas; and smooth-singing boy band Smooth Nature filled the Riviere patio with slow jams and sax solos – among other highlights.
Smooth Nature Does It Old-School
BIPOC-boosting local nonprofit DAWA’s UNITY showcase opened Thursday evening with Boys II Men – er, Smooth Nature. Body rolling and outfit coordinating, the Waco-based trio – rounded out live by a drummer and bassist – wooed the Riviere patio with slow jams, rock instrumentation, and the occasional rap flow, always soulful but never afraid to break up the come-on with a sense of humor. Main crooner Marvin Alexander Jr. shared vocal duties with his little brother, guitarist Diarian, and his “brother from another mother,” Gerald Wilburn Jr., on sax, as they pulled from 2025 EP Love Story. Unsurprising for the genre, lyrics leaned on romantic platitudes (“my baby, my baby,” “lips like [candy] and strawberries,” for sure), but the artists’ undeniable stage presence, and thoughtfully curated visual aesthetic – sparkly chains, cowboy hats, and big biceps accessorized their all-black, open-vested getups – hinted at big-time, old-school boy band aspirations. Diarian and Wilburn took welcome solos, and a “Go Marvin! Go Marvin!” chant affirmed the singer’s MJ moves when he stepped into the crowd for a dance break. “Now that’s how you open a show!” DAWA founder Chaka Mahone cheered when the band wrapped. Agreed. – Carys Anderson
Joe Harvey-Whyte Paints a Pedal Steel Dreamscape
Mer Marcum and Joe Harvey-Whyte could not have set up Tuesday night’s showcase at Central Presbyterian more differently. Marcum’s opening set rang the sanctuary with a cacophony, the Brooklyn-via-Texas songwriter drawing dark breathy vocals atop her quintet’s low-end drone. New single “Body” provided the best cut from the artist’s upcoming debut EP, delivered with poignant, scarring power. By contrast, London pedal steel composer Joe Harvey-Whyte took the stage pensively with an acoustic guitar to start and led off the instrumental set with “The Tyburn,” from this year’s Langeleik collaboration with Norwegian Geir Sundstøl. Settling in behind the pedal steel, a spoken word clip from Richard Linklater’s Waking Life intoned into the heart of the performance: “Hey, you a dreamer? … They say dreaming’s dead, that no one does it anymore … I’m trying to change all that and I hope you are too.” Harvey-Whyte worked the effects board with his left hand as his right quivered across the steel in a slow melt from dirge to dreamscape. The 30-minute set unfolded with a Daniel Lanois wash as he looped in electric guitar and flowed layers over each other, holding the church rapt while the music drifted into Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’s “Pure Imagination” and finally back home again. A dream indeed. – Doug Freeman
Worlds Worst Reaches Out and Briefly Touches the Volstead Lounge
“Get too close,” Andrew Aronson of Worlds Worst told the packed crowd in the already-intimate Volstead Lounge. Guitarist and vocalist Aronson’s microphone was set up on the floor in front of the stage, practically touching the audience – and so did he, immediately dapping up an onlooker as the band began their showcase of headbanging post-grunge. Flanking Aronson were lead guitarist Jackson Wise and bassist Jake Philips, whose movements were exaggerated to the point of being Muppet-like. Wise made the most of his limited real estate, jumping on and off stage and playing to every direction of the room as his piercing guitar fills cut through the noise. The mustached Aronson mostly stayed put, his detached, stoner vocals mostly drowned out by the other instruments. The group also made the most of the space between the notes. They excellently executed tension and release, seamlessly shifting from the gentle, muted passages to loud, suspended bursts. The oddly Salt Lake City-based group had the crowd in their hands, summoning a mosh pit during fan favorite “Motor Mouth.” The short set – just 25 minutes of their allotted 35 – wrapped up with “Challenger,” from their 2023 self-titled debut album, leaving the audience wanting just a little bit more. – Joseph Gonzalez
Karina Galicia Beats Her Nerves
Karina Galicia leveraged a musical essential Tuesday night that four hours of Rolling Stone-curated Latinismo five days earlier at the stately home of Austin City Limits never approached: sheer guts. The Mexico City singer and her Stratocaster-slinging spouse filled dream Seventh Street mezcalaría Las Perlas in one of Galicia’s initial international forays and checked off boxes the weekend’s Future of Music showcase hardly considered in its masculine exclusivity – voice, vulnerability, courage. “I’m pretty nervous,” she admitted in these pages last week, yet came out both guns blazing atop “ONE SHOT,” from her cuddly, idiosyncratic, haunting 2025 LP bow Mudanzas. Effortless highs, a girlish midrange, and lower register gravitas, the Puebla rep fairly quivered “ME PERTENEZCO,” squeezing her eyes shut and repeating “I belong” over and over by way of abject manifestation. In Spanish, she gushed softly about overcoming paralyzing anxiety to sing before a room feeling warm and fuzzy on the house speciality, a glow extending to the stagebound focal point. “Am I your new favorite pop star?” she teased before acknowledging the vastness of Latin music and her rightful place within it. Mudanzas closer “Gracias” thus capped the full 45-minute set with a stilling openheartedness and irrefutable affirmation to the question at hand. – Raoul Hernandez
Sofish Proves She’s Built for Bigger Stages
After brief technical difficulties left a growing crowd buzzing with anticipation, budding Latin starlet Sofía López Jiménez, better known as Sofish, took the Las Perlas stage and immediately locked into a confident, high-gloss set. During her opener, “París (Junto a Ti),” she hopped a front-row speaker and slipped into the crowd, turning the performance into a shared dance floor as she urged everyone around her to move. The Guadalajara-born artist never strayed from that same shared, kinetic energy, moving in constant dialogue with the crowd as her show unfolded. Among the set’s standouts, she powered through the club-ready rhythms of “Ni Hao Bebé ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ,” nostalgic synth-laced “2016,” and edgy bass-driven cut “Kafka.” Live, her sound blended alt-R&B grooves, electronic textures, and dark pop, with flashes of French house that kept the energy lifted. The singer tore through “SHINIGAMI,” the multi-artist collaboration with EMJAY, delivering its rapid-fire verses with exacting clarity after playfully urging the crowd to open a mosh pit that unfolded into a full-on dance break – which she joined herself. “Me Caigo” wrapped the evening in a final burst of momentum, bringing the set to a satisfying close. With her instinct for connection, magnetic stage presence, and alt-pop flair, Sofish leaves little doubt that she’s building toward something bigger. – Miranda Garza
