Infinity Song, Softcult and Hot Summer Nights are the highlights of this week’s crucial concerts: Out with the Freedom – Music

Moody Bank$ (Courtesy of the artist)

Hot summer nights: The Austin Chronicle party

Thursday, 18th, Empire Control Room & Garage

The free local music festival Hot Summer Nights offers plenty of mosh pits and dance parties, but The Austin ChronicleThe kickoff party starts slowly 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 underscores his soulful lilt with classical strings (see last month). Close to home EP, recorded by a BIPOC orchestra at Draylen Mason Music Studio). On her latest track, “Love Me,” Moody Bank$ trades her smoky alto vocals for a playful homage to Erykah Badu. Austin Music Awards nominee DJ Kay Cali opens the show. – Carys Anderson

Hot summer nights: TV series Daniel, Queen Serene, Borzoi, Prehuman

Friday 19th, Chess Club

It’s hard to tell if Daniel Fried is there or not. The singer fronts TV’s Daniel with the rock’n’roll bravura of a private-school graduate, wearing three-piece suits and chatting between songs about sold-out shows at the Moody Center (that can’t be right, can it?) before launching his band into a modern take on classic rock theatrics. Before the irreverent midnight headline of this free show, Prehuman plays shoegaze songs from last week’s debut 7-inch, noise-rock veterans Borzoi fire up with sonic fury, and Sarah Ronan and Matt Galceran take turns on vocals in Queen Serene, a post-punk quartet that’s both minimalist and somber. – Carys Anderson

Photo by Kayleen Widdoes

Soft cult

Friday, 19th, Ballroom

Softcult cites influences from My Bloody Valentine, riot grrrl magazines and modern bubble grungers like Soccer Mommy – it’s not your uncle’s shoegaze style, as can be seen on contemporary tracks like “Another Bish” and “Gaslight.” Canadian twins Phoenix and Mercedes Arn-Horn, disappointed with the labels’ treatment of their former pop-punk band Courage My Love, launched a new debut Year of the Rat on Easy Life Records in 2021. One EP later, the self-produced “Riotgaze” musicians from Ontario take the old grungers from the Bay Area (see April LP Silver lining) on tour. – Rachel Rascoe

My education/Theta Naught: SoundMass III

Friday 19, Carousel Lounge

Two post-rock ensembles unite and create a wonderful sound for the ongoing Sound mass Series. Launched in 2010, the collaboration between Austin’s long-time instrumental wizards My Education and Salt Lake City’s Acid Spacenaughts Theta Naught weaves the elegant drama of the former and the dense psychedelia of the latter into a series of mesmerizing soundscapes on the upcoming Sound Mass III. ME guitarist Brian Purington will trade the winter of his current home in New Zealand for the sweltering summer of his hometown, while TN will fly in from Salt Lake, making this rare concert set to turn the walls of the Carousel upside down. – Michael Toland

Courtesy of Waterloo Records

Superphonics

Waterloo Records, Friday 19

A unique moment, this appearance in the store and the book signing. Renaceré marks a decade for local Colombian funk septet Superfónicos. Album producer, studio owner and scene centerpiece Beto Martinez echoed the comparison of Superfónicos to fellow local Latin music seeders of a quarter century, Grupo Fantasma: “I see that,” he wrote. “The parallel of a collective that exists between and amidst the traditional and the contemporary, but also draws from everything – past, present, future Latin and beyond. We were Chicanos from Laredo with a shared cultural and musical heritage. Superfónicos are the same, but Colombian. Austin brought them all together, as it did with us.” – Raoul Hernández

Lamb of God, Mastodon, Kerry King

Saturday, 20th, Circuit of the Americas

Richmond, Virginia-based groovecore kings Lamb of God celebrate a quarter century and showcase their pandemic flexibility for 2022 omentheir ninth LP overall. Atlanta prog band Mastodon, meanwhile, counter with an even earlier COVID response, the eighth disc Quiet and gloomy (2021). Now Slayer godfather Kerry King joins the band on his solo debut with Death Angel lung-collapse artist Mark Osegueda. The guitarist has known all the parties since day one: “Really cool that I’ve been involved with them so much and now these guys are giving me my first American tour,” King agreed. “(Now it’s) come full circle and we’re all still friends and it’s going to be a good time.” For more quotes, check out our interview with King.– Raoul Hernández

Photo by John N. Adams

Infinity Song

Sunday, 21st, 3TEN ACL Live

Many first became aware of sister band Infinity Song while scrolling through clips of soaring five-part harmonies, Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” spot-on outfits, and later the viral original “Hater’s Anthem” during the pandemic. It turns out the home-schooled mind-melders had already been performing at Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain for more than a decade, which led to them signing to Roc Nation in 2016. After making soft-rock raves and ABBA/5th Dimension comparisons cool again, the now four-piece released its second album Metamorphosis completed last month. After the stop in Austin, the Boyd siblings have a few more dates as the opening act for Lake Street Dive.– Rachel Rascoe

School of Rock AllStars (Courtesy of 3TEN at ACL Live)

School of Rock

Tuesday, 23rd, 3TEN ACL Live

“At the end of time there was a man who knew the way, and the writing was written on the stone.” Yes, I have every text of this epic story of conflict and betrayal from the family classicSchool of Rock memorized. And yes, I have no regrets. This timeless story of getting back at the man is an invaluable lesson for kids to never be afraid to be themselves, while also teaching some sense to so-called authority figures so that kids can find their own path to happiness. The film became a bona fide phenomenon, inspiring real music programs for youth ages 8 and up. The School of Rock AllStars, comprised of just 1% of the students who enter the program, are coming 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 join the AllStars onstage.”– Cy White

Priya Ragu: The Roads to Santhosam Tour

Tuesday, 23, Parish

When I came across Priya Ragu, it was more of a coincidence. How is not as important as what – what I heard, what happened to me when I heard it, what I have done over the past few years to miss this young lady. The Swiss-born Tamil musician offers a refreshingly surprising blend of traditional Tamil soundscapes with nineties-inspired R&B, hip-hop and soul. Last year’sSanthosa is more than a novel concept. It is a beautiful blend of cultures that illustrates with utmost accuracy the adage that music is universal. Drawing more heavily on her cultural heritage, Ragu created a promising look at the future of music in her second album. With the same sonic energy as contemporaries like MIA and Majid Jordan and newcomers like Raveena, Priya Ragu is riding a wave of cross-cultural experimentation that I am so grateful for. Accompanying her is Monterrey-born DJ Suxxy Puxxy.– Cy White

Catch MsGold on Friday at KUTX Summer Jam at Stubb’s (Courtesy of MsGold)

by Derek Udensi

Peso Feather

Friday, 19th, Moody Center

A growing crowd of excited fans crowded 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 maximum that day, but the regional Mexican music star will return to town in a much larger Moody to promote his new album.EXODO.

KUTX Summer Jam

Friday, 19th, Stubb’s (inside)

The breaks Radio show co-hosts Aaron “Fresh” Knight and Confucius Jones are bringing their summer hip-hop/R&B event to Hot Summer Nights for the second year in a row. This year, J. Mill, MsGold, Norman Ba$e and Street Peach are joining the cast.

Tony Shhnow

Thursday, 25th, Antone’s

Despite his status as a member of Plugg’s 2020 band Mount Rushmore, the Atlanta-born Shhnow attacks a variety of beats. His first project of 2024,Out of the forestcontains hardly any advertising, while last year he made an unusual attempt to express his experiences with romance (Love streak). Freshly released mixtape#No one else is entirely produced by Shhnow himself, who will also be opening for Florida rapper Robb Bank$ at the Texas Smoke Connection on July 19th.

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