Crucial Concerts for the Coming Week

The Point Free Show

Batch Craft Beer + Kolaches, Friday 23, 8pm

Nowadays when someone tells me, "Holy shit, I stumbled upon the coolest band playing last night, they were called ..." the most frequent words to follow are "the Point." Descriptions of what they saw vary greatly, because the young duo of Jack Montesinos and Joe Roddy are unusually polygamous to genre and instrumentation.

The Point is, at heart, a jazz-fusion combo, but every record opens new lanes. 2020 debut iHOP sounded like bedroom-pop made by kids who were first chair in school band, followed up with a trunk-rattling instrumental homage to Houston hip-hop godhead DJ Screw. New EP Berto's Banquet – which finds Montesinos (a prodigious upright bassist) playing amped-up electric guitar and Roddy (who seems to play every category of instruments) on organ and synth bass – opens with uncaged garage psych, then delves into Andean tropical music, smoky neo-soul, and dub.

The recordings document a recent era in which they're backed by Italian drummer Alberto Telo, who plays with traditional grip and conjures exquisite accents. His chemistry with the Point has been so game-changing it's little surprise they named Berto's Banquet, which arcs with raw, one-take vitality, in his honor. – Kevin Curtin

A Very Merry Christmas Show

Parker Jazz Club, Thursday 22 – Friday 23

The Christmas spirit settles in for some hot jazz and cool tunes, as Parker Jazz caps off its month of Yuletide cheer with back-to-back nights. Singer, multi-instrumentalist, and club owner Kris Kimura leads the house band (pianist Ryan Davis, bassist Ben Triesch, drummer Jeremy Bruch, plus guest singer Jennifer Johnson) through dips into the extensive catalog of jazz Christmas standards. Davis pulls double duty, as his trio opens both shows with his take on Vince Guaraldi's beloved tunes from the classic cartoon "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Both shows start at 7:30pm; Courtney Santana follows with more Xmas cheer on Friday. – Michael Toland

Weed Martyr, Jane Leo

Hotel Vegas, Friday 23

When the world is at its most chaotic and dire, a hero rises, rallying behind a message that resonates for the times and unites people with a clarity of purpose. Here, that hero is Weed Martyr, and that message is "Guillotine Billionaires." The 2021 danceably doomy blast from the Bright Light Social Hour's alter ego project rakes out the detritus of the pandemic in a psychedelic jamming haze. Jane Leo, the synth-and-guitar combination of Jane Ellen Bryant and Daniel Leopold, sets up intoxicatingly dark, rippling New Wave pulses from this year's Big Life EP. Easy Compadre! kicks off. – Doug Freeman

Santiago Jiménez Jr.

Antone's, Sunday 25

For decades, sending Christmas tamales from here to my San Antonian mother in the Bay Area proved Grinchian: nearly insurmountable. Word is this conjunto summit from Santiago Jiménez Jr. at Austin's Home of the Blues will host some Mexican masa as the Alamo City's National Heritage Fellow and National Medal of Arts accordionist squeezes out a holiday miracle or two. As older hermano Flaco slows somewhat at 83, his younger brother by five years accelerated this year, releasing Tex-Mex feast Still Kicking! on Jesse Dayton's imprint Hardcharger Records in May. Gift this second annual Blue Christmas dance party to your favorite hoofers. – Raoul Hernandez

Ben Buck’s Speaker Bump Residency

Hole in the Wall, Tuesday 27

Ben Buck's new (iN)Sect Records-issued tape is titled B-Sides: Remixes and Flips (Vol. 1), but it feels like both a greatest hits and a scene sampler. Over 10 tracks of brash and banging hip-hop, 18 lyricists and producers command the mic or cut the mix. The beatboxer/rapper's communal impulses have shaped Tuesdays in December at Hole in the Wall with stacked lineups of emcees and rock bands curated by the local tapehead. This week hosts heavy drum 'n' bass duo MugDog, outspoken punks Transy Warhol, and a session of rap roulette. – Kevin Curtin

Lemmy Memorial w/ Mean Machine

The Lost Well, Wednesday 28

Booted from UK space rockers Hawkwind due to his erratic behavior, bass guitar lord Lemmy Kilmister formed Motörhead in 1975. Across the next 40 years, Lemmy's band churned iron horse exhilaration out of the very same slipshod excesses that had previously gotten him the can – thrashing in thrall to wanton aggression, terminal inebriation, and gloriously recycled blues riffs. Arguably rock & roll's definitive tribute act to its own raw dog spirit, Motörhead is a band ideally suited for loving mimicry no matter the speed-metal skill level. Luckily, tonight's returning road crew, Austin's Amplified Heat (in costume as Mean Machine for sets at 10:30pm and midnight) are Aces ... of Spades. – Julian Towers

Chief Cleopatra

Hotel San José, Thursday 22

Rock-tinged soul singer completes her Lounge Sessions twopiece at the South Congress hotel.

Jane Ellen Bryant

Geraldine's, Tuesday 27

Half of noir-loving Jane Leo performs solo a few days after the duo's Hotel Vegas supporting set for Weed Martyr.

Punk Rock Blow Out

Kick Butt Coffee, Saturday 31

Over 10 artists spanning two stages will ring in 2023 with seven-plus hours of music starting at 5:20pm next Saturday. Houston alternative band Escape From the Zoo headlines.

Bob Schneider's Great Big Spectacular

Paramount Theatre, Saturday 31

The former singer of the Ugly Americans "hand-picked" Primo the Alien and Big Skinny to open his annual New Year's Eve party.