✔️ = Critic's Pick

✔️ Et Cultura Interactive Music + Art + Film Festival w/Son Volt/The Hip Abduction/TRC/Queen of Ex/William Tyler/Cloud Nothings/Waxahatchee/Slowdive/The Budos Band/more The music portion of Et Cultura technically kicked off last night with a Jannus Live set from St. Pete songwriter Kristopher James, but things really start to get charged up tonight when Jay Farrar’s post-Uncle Tupelo Americana project Son Volt brings its special blend of roots country and indie rock to headline State Theatre after an undersung yet very distinctive young voice of Nashville — William Tyler —brings one of 2016’s best albums (Modern Country) to open the show. Thursday-night activities at Jannus include a set from world music local boys done good (The Hip Abduction, playing Jannus), an old-school CL fave at Ringside Café (hip-hop collective TRC) and more, while the rest of the weekend features midwestern lo-fi rock darlings Cloud Nothings, shoegaze vets Slowdive, Katie Crutchfield-fronted Waxahatchee, Daptone Records darlings The Budos Band, NYC rapper Talib Kweli and more than a dozen other local and international acts. More information is available via etcultra.com. (Various venues, downtown St. Petersburg) INFO

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Storm-ing stages: Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield on friends, family and festivals like Et Cultura

Kranium Anyone questioning Kemar Donaldson’s klout in the music world need not look any further back than a month ago, when the 24-year-old Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer better known as Kranium showed up on the bill for Jay-Z’s star-stuffed, six-hour Tidal X benefit concert where Hova, Stevie Wonder, Kaskade, DJ Khaled and more played sets to raise money for Puerto Rico. Folks with even shorter memories can just find a video for “Want More,” on which Kranium joined rising R&B star Rotimi for a sensual, Caribbean-flavored affair, and anyone still confused can just whip out the Ed Sheeran remix of “Shape of You” to figure out what Kranium sounds like. The fact that this show is happening at a tiny club in Carrollwood is head-scratcher to us. (Whiskey North, Tampa) INFO

✔️ Fr33dback w/Firstworld/They Hate Change “Every time I make music I am trying something new,” Matthew Reisinger recently said in a video detailing his motivation for collecting and composing sounds for songs he works on at his day job as a sought-after sound engineer and night gig as a recording artist named Fr33dback. “At the end it all boils down to my love of sound and wanting to really express myself through it,” he adds. The crazy part is that Reisinger’s live show is just as interesting visually, and a tiny room like The Bends is the perfect place to watch glitchy visuals bounce off walls and the gorgeous chandelier that hangs in the back of the St. Pete nightlife hotspot. The 33-year-old will be joined by Firstworld for this show, and we hope the Miami chillwave composer born Kris Alvarez breaks out a new-ish single, “Easy Access,” before the night is over. Tampa-based duo They Hate Change opens. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO

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CL Premiere: "Refractions" from the debut EP by Tampa producer Fr33dback — listen

Scale the Summit w/Angel Vivaldi/Andy James Scale the Summit looks to show off how much it has grown since Chris Letchford (the only founding member left in the Houston prog-metal trio’s lineup) linked up with two new dudes (Charlie Engen and Kilian Duarte, who both joined in 2016) en route to crafting a new album — In A World of Fear, released in May. Jersey guitarist Angel Vivaldi — regarded by many as a “neoclassical metal” composer — brings his world-renowned chops and his latest album, Synapse, to open the show. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO

Wizards of Winter The Tran-Siberian Orchestra won’t be in town for another month, so fans of that rock spectacle might as well check into The Cap in downtown Clearwater, where The Wizards of Winer — a 12-member holiday-rock ensemble featuring former members of the TSO, Rainbow and the bands of Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent — will stage a show that’ll be long on TSO-esque music, but short on all the crazy-ass pyro and flying guitar solos. (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater) INFO

Tiësto There was a time when Tiësto was literally “the greatest DJ of all time” (that’s according to readers of industry rag MixMag). The 48-year-old, super-smiley Dutch house producer hasn’t really fallen from grace, and still headlines huge EDM festivals across the globe, which is why this nearly sold-out headlining gig at the tiny-for-Tiësto Ritz Ybor is such a head-scratcher. Enjoy the intimacy if you find your way in. (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO