Live Music to See This Weekend

Embrace the sonic powers of summer starting tonight with this live music matrix decoding. To help winnow down the hordes of local concert listings, we’ve flagged a few of our favorites.

FRIDAY

Good Friday with Magna Carda

Mohawk
Fri., June 23, 8pm

Having pushed their partnership with 101X to full house, Austin hip-hop staple Magna Carda hosts and performs a fifth edition of Good Friday. The live band phenomenon fronted by Megz Kelli welcomes Dallas’ introspective and skillful lyricist Bobby Sessions, who dropped his uplifting sophomore album Grateful in February. With an album arriving in July, lively indie/alternative rapper Zeale takes a break from his heavy touring crawl for a hometown verse. ATX standout MC/producer hybrid Kydd Jones released a trillwavy Homecoming EP in March, featuring Houston’s Kirko Bangz on “WRU.” – Kahron Spearman

Fit for an Autopsy

Come & Take It Live
Fri., June 23, 7:30pm

Headbangers, brace for arthritic necks and punctured eardrums! Jersey City’s Fit for an Autopsy blasts politically minded deathcore from The Great Collapse, joined by Brooklyn’s trending black metal experimentalists Tombs and their new album The Grand Annihilation. Long Island progs Moon Tooth and ATX blazers Beyond the Dead, Chernobyl the Secret, and Chronologist open. – Michael Toland

Future, Young Thug

Austin 360 Amphitheater at Circuit of the Americas
Fri., June 23, 6pm

Coming off back-to-back Billboard No. 1s Future and Hndrxx, Atlanta rapper Future now transcends what our own reviewer noted in a 2015 ACL review: “Copious amounts of cough syrup, cannabis, and Auto-Tune can make Future’s delivery damn near unintelligible at times.” Fellow ATLien Young Thug recently released a weirdo trap/country/R&B crooner hybrid album, Beautiful Thugger Girls, while Canadian rapper/singer Torey Lanez is nearing completion of a follow-up to his 2016 debut I Told You. Florida rapper Kodak Black celebrated his recent release from jail by dropping “First Day Out.” – Kahron Spearman

Etana

Flamingo Cantina
Fri., June 23, 9pm

Jamaican reggae songstress Etana debuted in Florida R&B group Gift but quickly returned to Kingston after experiencing the exploitation in that industry. Returning to Rastafarian principles, her 2008 solo bow The Strong One preached self-sufficiency and spirituality that continues a decade later on newest single “Look to You.” – Isabella Castro-Cota

Songwriters in the Round

Hogg Auditorium
Fri., June 23, 6:30pm

KUTX and the Cactus Cafe wrangle four top troubadours in the round for this year’s Summer Set fundraiser. Oklahoma pianoman John Fullbright maintains an honorary Austinite status for frequent shows including Jimmy LaFave’s swan song and standout talent. Local song bleeder David Ramirez impresses with introspective and vulnerable tunes, while scene peer duo Kevin & Dustin Welch pass equally visceral songwriting from father to son. – Doug Freeman

SATURDAY

Morbid Angel

Come & Take It Live
Sat., June 24, 7pm

Death metal pioneers Morbid Angel roar in anticipation of an upcoming album, while Long Island vets Suffocation, Boston new schoolers Revocation, Atlanta grinders Withered, and Austin blasphemers Whore of Bethlehem writhe first. – Michael Toland

WEPA Cumbia Roots Festival

Kenny Dorham's Backyard
Sat., June 24, 4pm

Across the Americas, the shuffling rhythm of cumbias remain as ubiquitous as its styles are varied. Organized by local Colombian cantante Kiko Villamizar, this first-of-its-kind festival highlights traditional roots of the beloved genre, which synthesizes African, indigenous, and European influences. Prior to their set, Trapiche de Colomboy offer a workshop on how to make your own gaita, the flute at the heart of the headlining Colombian ensemble. Bulla en el Barrio brings Afro-Caribbean flavor by way of New York, and Villamizar, Wache, and La Frenetika dish out what’s cooking in the ATX. – Thomas Fawcett

Daybird Local Music Series

Various locations
Sat., June 24, 1pm

City of Austin’s midday music series closes with a fourth weekend of free local shows, 1-5pm. Top picks include Phil Spector-style dream poppers Star Parks paired with indie folk quintet Belle Sounds (3ten ACL Live), and country charmer Corey “Croy & the Boys” Baum performing at the Visitor Center with rhythm 'n' twang gang Texassippi Two (602 E. Fouth). Soulful singer-songwriter Aaron Stephens and swing/jazz ensemble Golden Hour Quartet prep happy hour (Speakeasy), Shawn Pander and Dave Messier spin Americana for a not dissimilar demographic (Cedar Street), and Austin's School of Music Rock Camp showcases at the Home of the Blues (Antone's). – Kevin Curtin

Knife in the Water

Hotel Vegas
Sat., June 24, 7pm

KITW has played only a handful of local shows since releasing its first proper album in over a decade, March’s Reproduction, lending an air of significance to each live appearance. Brooding, understated, slowcore pop imbued with pedal steel twang, the Austinites’ cerebral moan requires live immersion. Returned scenester Will Courtney’s thoughtful, carefully written Americana and righteous garage rock from the veteran Crack Pipes cements the bill. – Libby Webster

Green Velvet

Kingdom Nightclub
Sat., June 24, 9pm

Few Chicago house anthems remain as instantly recognizable as “Brighter Days,” and even fewer DJs strike as distinct a look as Curtis A. Jones. Operating since the Nineties under the monikers Green Velvet and Cajmere, his green mohawk has iconicized stages the world over for fans hungry to hear foundational tracks “Flash” and “Preacher Man.” London tech house up-and-comer Latmun opens. – Dan Gentile

SUNDAY

Poi Dog Pondering

3ten Austin City Limits Live
Sun., June 25, 8pm

Hatched in Hawaii and long based in Chicago, expats Poi Dog Pondering made their mark just up the block from 3ten at Liberty Lunch. During the late Eighties, the Frank Orrall-led collective packed the airy former venue with genre-hopping musicality. They’ve become even more dance-oriented since then, artfully incorporating electronic and soul elements on 2015’s Everybody’s Got a Star. Local pop songstress (and Hawaii-era PDP alum) Abra Moore also performs. – Greg Beets

Nails

Barracuda
Sun., June 25, 8pm

Sunday’s deep South bill hopscotches from Oxnard extremists Nails blasting catchy hate metal from 2016’s acclaimed You Will Never Be One of Us to Atlanta metallic hardcore crew Criminal Instinct and Aussie punks Human Garbage. – Michael Toland