Genre-Bending Trio Khruangbin Bring Captivating A La Sala Tour to Ascend Amphitheater Tonight, Sept. 30

Made up of bassist Laura Lee, guitarist Mark Speer, and drummer DJ Johnson, genre-bending and acclaimed Houston, Texas trio Khruangbin first formed in the early 2010s, after Lee and Speer had previously met and collaborated around Texas, and served as backing players for electronic artist Yppah, before deciding to make music together full-time and bringing Johnson into the mix on drums. Named for the Thai word for airplane, the band has, from the start, always been one of the most wholly unique, ambitious, and genre-agnostic acts in modern rock, pulling influence from psych rock, dub, soul, and international stylings like classic Thai rock and funk, and even Iranian pop. Largely instrumental for the first several years of their career, the band’s 2015 debut, The Universe Smiles Upon You, earned immediate acclaim, with 2018 followup, Con Todo el Mundo, cementing them as an essential new act, as their live show too drew massive praise and earned them spots opening for major artists and at festivals around the world. Khruangbin have remained prolific and consistently subversive over the last half decade, continuing to experiment with new sounds and themes which transcend any one genre, language, or rigid aesthetic, dropping a couple more full-lengths, 2020’s Mordechai and fantastic new effort A La Sala, in addition to a host of live and remix albums, as well as some collaborative works- adding more vocals to their prior instrumental-leaning stylings- like 2022 LP Ali, with Vieux Farka Touré, and a pair of EPs with fellow Texan Leon Bridges, 2020’s Texas Sun and 2022’s Texas Moon.

One of our favorite live bands over the years, we’ve seen Khruangbin graduate from local clubs like The High Watt, The Basement East, and Marathon Music Works, to bigger rooms like The Ryman and Brooklyn Bowl, to major fests like Pilgrimage and Bonnaroo (where we last caught them over the summer), and now, to their biggest Nashville headliner yet tonight, Sept. 30 at Ascend Amphitheater, where they’ll headline in support of A La Sala with fellow experimental, jazz and world folk influenced singer-songwriter Arooj Aftab. Khruangbin have, from the start, always been an absolutely captivating and unpredictable live force, and now that their stage production has become as epic as their musical ambition, their live show is even more essential. Tickets are still available for tonight’s performance- their first Nashville headline in a couple of years- right here; don’t miss out!

Khruangbin and Arooj Aftab perform tonight, Sept. 30 at Ascend Amphitheater. The show is all ages, begins at 7:30 p.m. (doors at 6:30 p.m.), and tickets are available for $54.35-99.45.