Titanfest, Auburn Alt Fest, more early fall festivals and music for September

“It wasn’t that long ago I was sitting there thinking to myself, ‘What’s the common denominator that brings everyone together,’” Auburn Alt Fest curator and Auburn Live co-founder Hunter Sumner ruminates in a recent Instagram reel, coming up with the unimpeachable answer of “food, beer, live music, good weather and good people.”

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You’ll get no argument here.

Billed as “a home for alternative culture in all forms,” and “a day to celebrate the music, art, local businesses, and people that make this community so special,” Auburn Alt Fest’s inaugural run features sets from five acts looping around the punk/hip-hop/alternative Venn diagram — including Grass Valley upstart indie act Dog Names, gothic dreampop wunderkind Steev & the Bitch Club, ebullient post punk ruffians Brudes, effervescent soul-tinged emcee Tsavo and razor edged hip-hop artist Raza. The event promises a variety of vendors, circus arts from Sierra Circus Collective, a skate pop-up, and they’ve even coaxed a collab beer release brewed specially for the event by the hop hurlers at Crooked Lane Brewing: the Auburn Alt Fest Ale, or “AAA” westy IPA. Count us in — and did we mention it’s free? (4 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, 1050 High St., Auburn. instagram.com/auburnaltfest)

Explosive hard rock and metal blowout Titanfest is back at Logoff Brewing for the third time, with the otherwise kicked-back Rancho Cordova suds parlor erecting a bustling festival grounds out on its back patio and hosting more than 30 acts touching multiple subgenres. Affable local Bullet For My Valentine/Lamb of God-influenced metalcore quintet TITVN, as always, are your hosts and DIY architects of this fervent affair, as well as the Saturday headliner. They’re joined on Saturday by Arsonists Get All the Girls, Desolist, Resider, Fervence, EternalBloom, Ashes at Last and several others, with thrash metal madmen Black headlining Sunday and flanked by Ambers Wake, A Dream About Home, the American Dream, Thumpdrag, Aetheriality and tons more (2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; $23.18 per day, $44.52 two-day pass). Friday’s opening slate is free and open to the public (6 p.m.), with Encore and Displaced Aggression joined by the youthful upstarts from School of Rock: Roseville (3054 Sunrise Blvd., Suite J, Rancho Cordova. titanfest.live).

We promise we’re not ignoring the square city block chock-full (chalk-full?) of artists contributing their designs to the streets of Fremont Park at the 36th Annual Chalk It Up Festival. But, since this is a music column, we’re laser-focused on the 15 local acts and familiar faces treating us to daytime sets on the festival’s cozy oak-shaded stage. G.I.R.L.S. Rock Sacramento troupe Wistera has the honor on Saturday morning at 11 a.m., giving way to Mojo Midas, According to Bazooka, quirky indie rock fixture Be Brave Bold Robot, Solidarity and venerable rabble-rousers Ghost Town Rebellion. Sunday treats us to Chalk It Up regulars and bouncing local rock kingpins the Brodys, flanked by Asesinos, Rose Lyon, Sol Peligro and Leaping Blennies. Monday’s finale brings Green for a Day, Richard March, Little Elvis and veteran troupe Sacto Storytellers helming the festival’s tribute to dearly departed local music figurehead and chalk artist Charles “Ground Chuck” Thomas, who passed just days after last year’s iteration of the festival (Saturday through Monday, 16th and P Streets. chalkitup.org)

Just to help you avoid the sort of phonetic flub likely also rampant at Khruangbin shows, the Deslondes is pronounced, we are to understand, as “dez-lawns.” If you’re trying to similarly pronounce the band’s namesake rue while immersing yourself in their native New Orleans, you either got lost looking for Vaughn’s, or you successfully stumbled upon a crucial artery of the city’s pulsating spirit in the Lower Ninth Ward – one of the many pieces of NOLA that serves as the lifeblood of this vivacious Americana alt-country folk/blues/soul troupe. Their spacious new offering, the mishmashing tribute album “Don’t Let It Die, Vol. 1” teems with adoration and reverence to the city itself, and serves as both a love letter to and time capsule of some of their more wider-known musical heroes (Johnny Cash, Swamp Dogg) and less heralded local muses (Kiki Cavazos, Nick Woods, Pat Reedy and others). The titillating and intermittently haunting record flows seamlessly into the Deslondes’ already expansive catalog – one which can routinely find a bustling vibrancy in otherwise jarring desolation, and forge a calming, eerie open space in the midst of pulsating city nights. Shana Cleveland (of La Luz) and Desiree Cannon team up to open (8 p.m. Sunday at Harlow’s; $26.4. harlows.com).

September figures to be a fine, fine month for fans of Jonah Matranga, be that of his formative post-hardcore rock juggernaut Far, and/or his long-running Onelinedrawing sonic vehicle. A sprawling new release from Onelinedrawing, “Rainbowmachine,” is due Sept. 18, and a few nebulizing emotional haymakers are already up on Bandcamp – its opening salvo, “This is a Warning,” is not just a clever name. We’ll comfortably postulate that a few of these new tunes slide into the setlist when Matranga takes the stage at Starlet Room on release day eve, under the newly minted moniker OneLOUDdrawing, but there’s other business to get to first – this new ramshackle group will be tearing through the entirety of Far’s seminal album “Tin Cans With Strings To You,” reviving the record on this its 30th anniversary. Fellow Sacramento royalty Kevin Seconds joins the party (8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17; $25.15. harlows.com)

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You’re probably familiar with the classic concept of a “battle of the bands,” but here’s a fun twist for Touchstone Brewing’s Battle of the Brewery Bands: all acts must feature at least one band member who is a current employee of a brewery. Among the bands on deck are jubilant Irish-themed trio Lions of the North (repping Backstage Brewing) Predator Dones (Fort Rock), Broken Chord Collective (Red Bus), NevrGivn (Oak Park Brewing), Public Pool (King Cong) and frisky, solar flaring indie rock standouts hotplug with the Touchstone home-court advantage. There will be a variety of vendors on site, with guest tap beer pours from participating breweries (1 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, 116 N. 16th St. Free; $30-$35; VIP upgrades available. eventbrite.com).

The pulsating River Rendezvous in year two is moving from its inaugural 2025 digs in Lotus to the Blue Mountain Event Center in Wilseyville, allowing for more attendees and a more neon-clad nocturnal lineup. The soaring Starchild Jr., also known as Garrett Shider, son of late Parliament/Funkadelic guitarist Garry Shider, takes the headlining spot. He’s joined by mischievous guitar-shredding figure and event curator Lazwell, psychedelic cumbia slinger Suikat, foothills rock mainstays Ryder Thieves, False Rhythms, Local Anthology, Richie Ledreagle, Trianna Fuerza and the Heavy Hitters and more with a cadre of DJs and electronic artists (Friday, Sept. 18, and Saturday, Sept. 19. eventbrite.com; instagram.com/the_river_rendezvous).

The second iteration of comedy, music and art mini-festival Park Fest – hosted by local comic Yaseen Mazin of Trainwreck Comedy – has the ever-present hip-hop/jazz/soul/fusion troupe LabRats performing along with the wistful autumn breeze indie folk of Dogpatch and folk singer Jayna, with a variety of local vendors and stand-up comedy performers on hand. April’s maiden voyage of this upstart fest was a springtime gem – we’re not sure who had the idea to turn a W-X adjacent soccer park into a festival ground, but we all reap the benefits if this is to become a regular happening (6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Street Soccer USA, 2408 Eighth St. $10. instagram.com/parkfest.sac).

Our pals at South Lake Tahoe’s flawlessly vibed The Hangar are in no rush to let their second year as a full-fledged music venue go quietly (and start the countdown until the “snow globes” get set up). They’re toasting the end of the season with seminal blues guitar wiz Tab Benoit’s “Soul of the Swamp Tour,” joined by Zac Schulze Gang (Sunday), a two night stand from jam circuit maestros Railroad Earth (Saturday, Sept. 19, and Sunday, Sept. 20), and a curtain call from fever dream inducing indie psych pop skyriders Cannons, on their “Everything Glows’ tour with Jesse Jo Stark on Wednesday, Sept. 23 (thehangarlaketahoe.com/music-events).

It’s no surprise to see the legendary Weezer traveling in fine company on their “Weezer: The Gathering” tour, in celebration of their newest self-titled record, released last month – still vintage, farm-fresh Cuomo & Co. after three-plus decades. But, rolling deep with indie rock/folk torchbearers the Shins and combustive alt-rockers Silversun Pickups? That’s borderline overwhelming. We’re here for it (7 p.m. Tuesday at Golden 1 Center. ticketmaster.com).

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