The Veldt are having a moment. The Raleigh, N.C., band’s creamy mix of psychedelic guitar wash and muted R&B has been cited as an influence by Miguel and the Weeknd.

Before punk became a codified sound and style – an aggressive, post-Ramones genre of high-speed chainsaw guitar, minimal chord structures, and black leather jackets – it acted as an umbrella for DIY art and music under difficult (and usually hostile) circumstances. dBs linchpin Chris Stamey ascribed its birth to a NYC “petri dish” named CBGB.

Reggaeton puts you in a good mood. Its colorful pulses and infectious hooks dictate pause from a world wanting to push you down. Dominican rapper/singer Erickson Fernandez, aka Mozart La Para, led that trope Friday night at Half Step, leading a dance party for everyone within earshot.

Having bought into the idea that Austin could be a hip-hop city, noncommercial University of Texas frequency KUTX 98.9 took a calculated risk in handpicking Jared “Confucius Jones” Williams and Aaron “Fresh” Knight to host a Saturday night hip-hop show, The Breaks. The station saw it through Friday with an all-local, all-hip-hop SXSW showcase.

Sharing space with Stones Throw at the Empire Control Room on Friday night, the Clash + Vero True Social Presents showcase proved the more eclectic of the two. Running over five hours, the bill featured a wide-ranging stacking of velvet crooners, unconventional R&B songstresses, braggadocio bangers, and bubbly funk rappers.

There weren’t any cell phones on the dance floor at Kingdom on Friday night. The absence of that ubiquitous appliance beaming LED light into the club was triumphal. For once, people busied themselves by enjoying the moment, which included dancing to samples of Melle Mel’s “White Lines.”

Friday’s Korea Spotlight wins the award for most camera phones in the air at once. Notoriously well-attended year after year, the showcase found fans lined up outside the Belmont as early as 6pm.

Following a hushed sophomore roundup of re-recorded tracks on 2017’s Collection, Nashville-reared Sophie Allison emerges raw and pronounced with unhindered heartache on the Fat Possum-pressed Clean, previewed Friday night outside at Cheer Up Charlies.

Abhi the Nomad bounces around onstage like a second grader with ADHD and raps like a wigged-out Donald Glover. Recently signed to Tommy Boy Music, the 24-year-old son of an Indian diplomat, who moved to Austin last summer from France, played to a packed crowd at the Tap Room early Friday night in his SXSW debut.