We Asked Writers to Review Bands They'd Never Seen Before at Hot Summer Nights
Fresh looks at Grace Sorensen, Witches Exist, Vermin the Villain, Ariel & the Culture
Reviewed by Nayeli Portillo, Wayne Lim, David Brendan Hall, and Genevieve Wood, Fri., July 28, 2023
Despite gridlocks caused by Cruise-brand driverless cars unable to hang a left at Seventh and Red River, fans happily circulated among the wealth of gigs on the Red River Cultural District strip for Hot Summer Nights. Among the freebies last weekend, four writers caught artists they'd never seen before from Austin and around Texas. Find their fresh perspectives below. (Or, check out a recap of the Chronicle's Hot Summer Nights show here.)
Grace Sorensen Skates Through Velveteen Grooves
Closing out the hip-hop-heavy KUTX Summer Jam showcase inside an ultra-soupy Stubb's on Friday, up-and-comer Grace Sorensen coursed through a 40-minute set dense with exquisite sounds that simultaneously drew from the past and looked toward the future of R&B. A live quartet of keys, guitar, bass, and drums provided some much-appreciated sonic heft as Sorensen flexed her artistic and vocal range, from vibey pop to neo-soul. Think H.E.R. meets Ari Lennox. She crooned over velveteen grooves ("Miss Majesty") and chromatic ear-candy riffs ("This Isn't Love"), promptly hushing the clattery audience into a more attentive gaze. She only briefly broke character during a cover of Ashanti's early-Aughts chart-topper "Foolish" to gleefully shimmy along to the track's instrumentals as the front row hyped her up.
"You guys know that one video of the cholo riding his skateboard to this next song?" asked Sorensen, referring to TikToker Nathan Apodaca, who found internet fame after uploading a video of himself lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" while skating down a highway in Idaho. "That's like, my perpetual mood. So I'll be singing that for you guys tonight," she said as the band smoothly segued into a twangy rendition of the 1977 megahit. The 20-year-old concluded her set some minutes before midnight with the irresistible "Digits." Surprise guest MC Megz Kelli of much-lauded local hip-hop duo Magna Carda joined Sorensen onstage and jolted the audience into motion with an utterly flawless verse. – Nayeli Portillo
Witches Exist’s Psychedelic Concoction Comes to a Boil
If witches exist, they probably hid backstage at Mohawk's indoor space on Saturday night, secretly helping stir up this namesake quartet's swirling concoction of 11 songs. If not, the 44-minute set only testified to the Austin noisegaze band's hypnotic prowess. Flicking on the flames at 10:57pm, a warbling synth flung open the doors to a barrage of expansive riffs and thunderous drums in "Worms Against Humanity." Led by multi-instrumentalist Jackson Baker's ethereal vocals, the foursome's chords swelled into a hazy vortex. They slowed into the drowsier atmospherics of "Garden" before pivoting to the twangier, post-punk-infused "Double Homicide." Following unreleased tracks borrowing from the acid-tinged Sixties, synth-led number "Hell" ironically proved dreamiest, two-thirds through their set.
Like their mysterious launch on Instagram last year – eight posts with dark imagery accompanied by cryptic captions across four months, before finally announcing an August band debut – the soon-to-be 1-year-old fourpiece kept up an enigmatic front, with Baker only ever pausing between songs to repeat the band's name. Diving into two final tracks still packed with roaring distortion, drummer Derek Ivy and bassist Anthony Day paired relentless fills with hurtling basslines, while Baker and guitarist Jimmy Mercado slung astral riffs across the room. The quartet's raucous energy came to a gurgling boil onstage, before fizzling out into a wavering transmission of feedback. – Wayne Lim
Vermin the Villain Wields High-Grade Hip-Hop Hubris
Amidst Hot Summer Nights' Sunday comedown, San Antonio-based rapper Vermin the Villain (aka Lord Verm) won over a modest-sized crowd by flipping the script to deliver a fierce come-up at Mohawk. Taking the stage with his face obscured by a half-black, half-white balaclava, short curly hair emerging from the cutoff top, the Laredo-bred artist unleashed an 11-song flurry. The bangers imbued with more boom bap than one might expect from the younger generation. Backed by fellow Laredoan Dave Montoya on live drums, Verm wasted no time asserting technical prowess, pingponging between turntable scratching, busting beats on an MPC, and rapping at breakneck speed reminiscent of Blackalicious MC Gift of Gab – with obvious nods via wordplay and grit to MF Doom and Wu-Tang Clan.
Not to mention the Doom mask and Wu W rings worn on each hand, those influences were especially evident during two new tracks, "Lust" and "Greed," off an upcoming concept album based on the nine circles of hell depicted in Dante Alighieri's Inferno. As if those acrobatics weren't enough, the MC revealed himself as a prolific jazz pianist, manning the keys for an instrumental cover of Herbie Hancock's "Tell Me a Bedtime Story," then wrapping his set with aptly titled fast-rap attack "Coltrane_001." (To boot, he also held down drums for following act Ariel & the Culture.) Verm is a high-grade example of how to wield hip-hop hubris: back it up beat for beat, rhyme for rhyme with the skills to match. – David Brendan Hall
Wallflowers Bloom for Ariel & the Culture’s Catchy Cumbia Pop
Sunday night, 100 degrees, 8pm: Folks with any common sense could be found at home, nursing their hangovers or preparing for the upcoming workweek. Nevertheless, an intimate but dedicated crowd convened at Mohawk to celebrate Ariel & the Culture's first return to Austin since South by Southwest, and the Latinx-focused ¡Eso Es! festival in December. Headed by Jason "Ariel" Bobadilla, the Dallas-based indie project hit the gas pedal early and never let up for a sweltering 45-minute set. Combining dance-ready cumbia drum lines with bedroom-pop guitar stylings, the tight threepiece gave Bobadilla the opportunity to flex his R&B-infused vocal chops. On "Tú y Yo," the vocalist burst into a full-blown Justin Timberlake falsetto on the half-English, half-Spanish ode to a distant lover.
The early evening crowd was timid for the first half of the show, opting to hang in the back of Mohawk's spacious outdoor patio. "First one to take a step forward, I've got a gift for you," encouraged Bobadilla, revealing a pack of Spongebob-themed Go-Gurt pouches from behind his back. The tactic broke the ice just in time for the criminally catchy "Dame Tu Amor," an equally fresh and nostalgic blend of Latin pop and Nineties hip-hop. Couples and friends twirled under the dawning pink sunset, wallflowers no longer. Don't fret if you missed Sunday's performance: The crooner returns to Austin on August 5 for a Hotel Vegas performance alongside Chicano rap collective CHROMA. With or without Go-Gurt pouches, Bobadilla is sure to charm. – Genevieve Wood
