Sound & Vision 2026: Meet the 4 Emerging Artists Playing Antone’s

Event

The Sound & Vision 2026 plan

When

Friday, September 4 · doors 7 p.m.; show 7:30 p.m.

Where

Antone’s Nightclub · 305 E. Fifth St., Austin

Lineup / admission

All ages · four-artist live showcase

Sound & Vision is a new two-day artist-development event presented by Daydream Believer Creative and supported in part by the City of Austin’s Live Music Fund. Antone’s says the four performers were chosen from nearly 100 applicants by representatives from The Orchard, Angry Mob Music, Bar/None Records and SXSW.

That makes the showcase more than a conventional four-band bill. The artists perform for a public audience and music-business professionals, then receive live and private feedback designed to turn a performance into concrete next steps.

Artist

Montclair

Sound

Austin alternative band · indie rock and indie pop

Montclair is an Austin band made up of half-siblings Casen, Anna, Jackson and Clay. Their Bandcamp catalog centers on Heart is Alive!, a 10-track album released in April 2025, alongside the Passing Through EP and the earlier Sunroom demo.

For listeners arriving fresh, Heart is Alive! is the cleanest starting point: it shows the group’s melodic, guitar-led approach before the live showcase puts those songs in one of Austin’s most recognizable rooms.

Artist

LeTrainiump

Sound

Pop and R&B · synths, funk grooves and high-energy performance

LeTrainiump comes from Mamou, Louisiana, and describes a sound built from modern R&B vocals, nostalgic synthesizers, funk rhythm sections and a late-1990s/early-2000s pop frame. Austin listeners may also recognize him from HAAM programming and previous local bills.

The project’s emphasis on movement and stage energy should make the Friday set a useful contrast with the lineup’s indie and hip-hop lanes—and a strong test of how a tightly defined live identity reads to an industry panel.

Artist

Kohanna

Sound

Singer-songwriter · full-band showcase set

Kohanna is the least extensively documented finalist in currently indexed Austin coverage, which is precisely why this showcase is worth noticing: discovery is part of the point. Her public artist pages collect original music, live dates, video and portfolio work without forcing the audience to approach the set through a prewritten narrative.

Antone’s lists Kohanna among the four finalists, and her public schedule lists a full-band Sound & Vision appearance. Start with the portfolio, then let the live set do the introduction.

Artist

Soto The Activist

Sound

Austin hip-hop · Underground Voices open-mic fixture

The Austin Chronicle describes Soto The Activist as a recurring presence at Underground Voices’ hip-hop open mics and highlighted the jazzy 2026 single “Cody Rhodes.” His current catalog also includes the 2026 album War on Drugs and earlier releases including Somber 66 and NO CIVILIANS.

Soto’s inclusion gives the showcase a distinctly local independent-rap perspective: an artist developing in Austin’s small-room and open-mic ecosystem now presenting that work to a cross-section of label, publishing, festival and distribution professionals.

Event

Saturday’s free roundtable, panel and mixer

When

Saturday, September 5 · 2–6:30 p.m.

Where

Upstairs at Antone’s

Lineup / admission

Free with RSVP · space is limited

Saturday shifts from performance to process. Doors open at 2 p.m.; artist roundtable consultations begin at 2:30, followed by an industry panel and audience Q&A at 4, then a networking mixer from 5 to 6:30.

The announced panelists are Tommy Borscheid of The Orchard, Ralph Torrefranca of Angry Mob Music, Emmy Black of Bar/None Records and Evelyn Gómez Rivera of SXSW. KUTX host Laurie Gallardo moderates. For musicians, managers and students, the free afternoon may be the highest-utility part of the weekend because it exposes how professionals assess and develop emerging work in real time.

Guide

How Austin musicians can make the most of it

Listen to each finalist before Friday, then note what changes in the room: arrangements, pacing, audience communication and transitions rarely register the same way on a recording. On Saturday, bring one specific question about your own next bottleneck—distribution, publishing, live strategy, positioning or team-building—rather than asking how to “make it” in general.

Follow up selectively. A useful introduction names the conversation, links one strong piece of work and proposes one realistic next action. The goal is not to collect every contact in the room; it is to leave with a clearer plan and one or two genuine professional relationships.