Recommended Shows for Levitation Weekend

Parquet Courts

Thu. 26, Stubb’s, 8pm
This vital NYC quartet takes a right turn with "Wide Awake!," title track to their forthcoming Danger Mouse-produced sixth LP. Elements of Seventies Big Apple disco and salsa, it's more limbic than cerebral. New converts still get walloped by Andrew Savage and Austin Brown's apoplectic wordplay on pricklier passages like "Almost had to start a fight/ In and out of patience." – Greg Beets

Ringo Deathstarr

Thu. 26, Beerland, 12:30am
This Austin trio remains ridiculously loud behind a phenomenal drummer. Beyond that, they escape categorization, phasing between shoegaze, acid punk, ethereal pop, and neo-psychedelia with vocal tandem Alex Gehring and Elliott Frazier striving to sing over a triple-digit decibel mix. Better with age, start with 2016's fifth LP Pure Mood. – Kevin Curtin

Vuelveteloca

Fri. 27, Barracuda, 10:30pm
With 2017's Sonora, Santiago's Vuelveteloca join fellow travelers Föllakzoid and the Holydrug Couple in the upper tier of Chile's fertile psych pantheon. The tuneful trio's epic fuzzscapes summon coliseum-sized ambition with a calibrated blend of hold-and-release bombast and intriguing allusions to Krautrock. Standout drummer Juan Manuel Gili intuits the decisive weapon role.  – Greg Beets

Nick Hakim

Fri. 27, Empire Control Room, 11:15pm
Queens resident Nick Hakim translates the magical realism of his South American roots into what a late night should sound like. The Northwest D.C. native followed 2014 debut EP Where Will We Go, featuring jazz collective Onyx, with yearning full-length Green Twins. His psychedelic R&B induces fractured imagery, like a girl who smokes loosies with you while frying plátanos from the bodega.  – Clara Wang

Föllakzoid

Fri. 27, Barracuda, 12:30am
Dark matter drone from Chile pulses like tribal techno and wafts snake-charming melodies in the hands of Föllakzoid. This trio's 10-minute, largely instrumental moon missions – documented on six releases over their decadelong history – find guitarist Domingo Garcia-Huidobro's looping crystal riffs over patient rhythms. They're one of the finest modern Krautrock bands in our solar system. – Kevin Curtin

Omni

Sat. 28, 5:15pm, Barracuda
Seismically jittery and warmly scrappy, this Atlanta trio specializes in tightly compact post-punk. Sharp guitar from Deerhunter's former Frankie Broyles propels Philip Frobos' suave croon, assembling a wiry machine debuted on coiled 2016 bow Deluxe. Human interactions also puzzle together through the singer's deadpanned tales on sophomore release Multi-task, which sharpens the angles for combustible exhilaration like "Southbound Station." – Rachel Rascoe

La Luz

Sat. 28, Barracuda, 5:45pm
The L.A.-via-Seattle foursome makes sleepy, reverb-laden surf rock, angular guitars and keys softened by a balmy, atmospheric apathy. Shana Cleveland's breathy, cooing vocals and her bandmates' ghost-girl gang harmonies linger over slinking distortion, a Sixties-inspired, forlorn-pop sound both bright and melancholy. Forthcoming third LP, Floating Features, launches next month on Hardly Art. – Libby Webster

Chelsea Wolfe

Sat. 28, Emo’s, 7:30pm
Six albums into Chelsea Wolfe's work, her arrangements and sequencing grow more unpredictable and playful as the sound becomes embroiled in increasingly sinister landscapes. Like a sinkhole opening in the foundation of her folk noir, the L.A. singer abandoned the haunting, aching scarcity of albums past. On last September's Hiss Spun, her reverberating vox navigate orchestral goth-rock and oozing, black metal theatrics. – Libby Webster

Dallas Acid

Sat. 28, Mohawk, 9pm
The sui generis stage plot of Dallas Acid finds long-haired key pushers Michael Gerner and Christian Havins facing each other from either side, while Linda Beecroft intersects with her twopiece drum kit and gong that she'll strike and scratch. Ambient Eno acolytes, yes, but the local trio's modular meditations spank original with pop, dub, and Euro club influences. They're Austin's favorite synth band not named Survive. – Kevin Curtin

Om

Sat. 28, Mohawk, 11:30pm
During bandleader Al Cisneros' stint in the revived Sleep, Om has been quiet save for a live album in 2014. Silent ain't the same as dormant, however, as the Bay Area outfit – recently expanded to a trio with the recruitment of guitarist Robert Lowe – kicks off tour dates bringing its unique brand of spiritual doom to anyone seeking enlightenment. – Michael Toland

Dan Deacon

Sat. 28, Empire Control Room, 11:45pm
Baltimore-based Dan Deacon found a way to make rats control theremins with their scurrying for his original soundtrack to Rat Film, a documentary on Baltimore infestations. He recently scored a New York City Ballet piece by choreographer Justin Peck, and marked the 10th anniversary of fourth LP Spiderman of the Rings, happy hardcore to surf rock. – Christina Garcia

Baths

Sat. 28, Empire Control Room, 12:30am
Will Wiesenfeld wrote the theme song to Dream Daddy, the hookup game centered on hot, available gay dads. The soft pop earworm of electronic beats and gossamer effects is similar to his third studio album, Romaplasm, recalling a tranquilized Postal Service. The L.A. native mentioned an ambient music and yoga tour on Twitter. Test market ATX? – Christina Garcia

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Sun. 29, Mohawk, 8pm
After leaving the Bronx as a teen and finding New Orleans via freight train, Alynda Segarra began carving her own lineage in Americana. Through twangy folk, Segarra's voice – like that of Gillian Welch or Fiona Apple – has grown gutsy, confrontational. Defiant breakout LP, 2017's sixth studio effort The Navigator, delves into Segarra's Puerto Rican heritage and rails against gentrification. – Libby Webster

Black Angels

Sun. 29, Stubb’s, 9pm
Local psychedelic quintet the Black Angels battles an apocalyptic world on last year's fifth album, Death Song. While the Velvet Underground worshipers recaptured Sixties sonics on Indigo Meadow (2013), they retracted to the dark atmospherics of their debut album Passover, where peril and paranoia inhabit a violent world amidst droning white noise and ricocheted bullet riffs. – Alejandra Ramirez