Raoul Hernandez

Hot Summer Nights: The Austin Chronicle Party Thursday 18, Empire Control Room & Garage Free local music festival Hot Summer Nights boasts

After last month’s kickoff, “Austin’s last single-screen movie theatre” Eastside Cinema and go-to record shop End of an Ear continue ENDSURROUND, a mash-up of local bands and essential offbeat films. On this pairing, perfectly fuzzy ATX bubble-grungers On Being an Angel – led by EOAE vinyl-slinger Paige Applin – play ahead of John Cassavetes’ devastating tour de force

Scions of pioneering music-makers rarely outdo their parents – Ziggy Marley, Natalie Cole, Inhaler’s Elijah Hewson – but Trevor Church might have his old man beat. Alongside Ronnie Montrose, Sammy Hagar, (uncle) Denny Carmassi, and Bill “The Electric” Church, Seventies rockers Montrose set the template for Van Halen: superstar guitarist, producer Ted Templeman, Warner Bros. Records. Trevor’s Cali valley quartet Haunt rides galloping NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) on March’s

Sharp, clean, and pleasantly pop-sided for a contemporary punk band, Barcelona-based Fuera De Sektor shined up all four tracks from 2022 EP El Mundo Sigue for the Eighties-inspired shimmy of May’s Juegos Prohibidos

What kind of anime girlie would I be if I didn’t acknowledge the lads, the legends, FLOW? Their career, it seems, was built specifically for my childhood and teen years. Unlike the cartoons of the West, Japan has a, shall we say, more enthusiastically music-forward approach to their animated opening themes. FLOW is one of the most recognizable with their punk-inspired J-pop making absolute stadium anthems of the openers of Naruto (“GO!!!,” “Re:member”) and Naruto Shippuden (“Sign”), Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods

Since leaning into her easy throwback twang with 2021's Daddy’s Country Gold, Melissa Carper has been on a roll. New album Borned in Ya continues to mine her distinct retro country sound, but cut with a deeper soul influence that can swing from tongue-in-cheek humor to gut-wrenching yearning beauty. Co-writes with fellow Wonder Woman of Country Brennen Leigh and deft covers like Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" all drip in the upright bassist's crooked drawl, simultaneously unique and timeless. Waterloo provides the preview of Carper's official local release at 04 Center on Sept. 7. – Doug Freeman

Cooling temperatures mean no reasons not to go out and see some music

Mitski, Childish Gambino, Lucinda Williams, and others worth hearing

Get out and get spicy this weekend

Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. & the M.G.s), Los Yesterdays, and DJ Mahealani