Concerts

Lydia Ainsworth, Phoebe Bridgers, L.A. Salami, Valerie June, Let's Eat Grandma and others sing us quiet songs on hotel beds and in art installations during SXSW.

In the Optic Obscura installation at SXSW, Hakim sings some psychedelic soul music for outer-space performed in a room that looks like outer-space.

This fierce and lyrical guitar player writes playful instrumental music led by hooky vocals — but there is no voice, just the human-like twang of a glass slide on a guitar.

Vocalist and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow's interpretive tribute to Charles Mingus aligns with the Afrocentric current that flows through underground hip-hop, avant-R&B and psychedelic soul.

Surrounded by long-hanging optical fibers, Ainsworth sings a stripped-down version of the slow-burning "Afterglow" accompanied only by an upright bass and light percussion.

In a hotel room near midnight, Bridgers shares a lullaby for the lost. You can't help but hang on for dear life.

Sylvan Esso, the duo of Nick Sanborn and Amelia Meath, drew cheers for their soon-to-be-released new material during NPR Music's annual showcase in Austin.

Watch the utterly unique Ukranian band play a quiet, contemplative lullaby that reminds us that we have "time to laugh and cry, time to live and die."

A Tiny Desk Concert as intimate as it gets (that's saying something). Just Sampha, a piano and three heart-wrenching songs that seem to double as coping mechanisms.

In a church courtyard, Mendoza's yodel swirls in Diaz's gritty croon as the two songwriters perform together, on each other's songs, for the first time.