Waxahatchee Walters Downtown, April 20

Katie Crutchfield has the kind of voice that people notice right away. Now recording and performing as Waxahatchee -- named after a creek about an hour southeast of her hometown of Birmingham, Ala. -- Crutchfield's songs can be giddy, eerie or confrontational; whatever mood suits her disarmingly frank lyrics, really. A prolific musician since her late teens, the twentysomething singer-songwriter (who now lives in NYC via Philadelphia) first appeared on the indie cognoscenti's radar with Waxahatchee's second album, Cerulean Salt, which earned her a best-of-2013 nod by the mighty Pitchfork.

It also made Crutchfield labelmates with the likes of Arcade Fire via Merge Records, who earlier this month released the equally unpredictable and enjoyable Ivy Tripp. "I have thought of it like this," Crutchfield says in her official Merge bio. "Cerulean Salt is a solid and Ivy Tripp is a gas." (Another bullseye; it is a gas.) If you read this early enough Monday, Cactus Music is selling tickets to this show for a flat $10. With The Goodbye Party and the Lories.

Skunk Fest Union Tavern, April 20

Marijuana may still be illegal in Texas (for now), but we doubt that will stop all that many people from celebrating stoners' highest of holy days. (Legislation aside, pot has never exactly been that tough to come by in these parts.) Monday, leave all the designer weed to all the snobs in Denver and Seattle and sample some homegrown bud-friendly tunes at Union Tavern in Clear Lake, where the air has always smelled kind of funny anyway. Playing your kind hosts, as it were, are the men with the "Positive Minds," Houston reggae-rockers Tydings, as well as homeboys Sullivan's Vessel, Pasadena's the High Mile, Corpus' Jahseed, Austin's Kapsize and Dickinson-based visual artist Christopher Morphis, who will be painting on-site. Puff, puff, give, y'all.

Making Movies House of Blues, April 22

Kansas City may not be the first place that comes to mind when genre-hopping Latin bands come to mind, but Making Movies are doing their best to change that; of Panamanian and Mexican ancestry, they sing in both English and Spanish. With Los Lobos' Steve Berlin aboard as producer, the young quartet's debut album A La Deriva pushes the parameters of rock en espanol beyond the borders established by Carlos Santana et. al with a dusting of Cuban son and jazz. Striking, highly listenable music that makes an impression in any language. With La Santa Cecilia.

More shows on the next page.