Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 7:30pm

Smushie is the solo effort and childhood nickname of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Austin Koenigstein. A New Yorker by origin, Koenigstein moved to Chicago in 2019, where he has since distinguished himself with a volcanic live act and a torrent of self-produced material. Smushie’s music strikes at conventions of genre and tribe, at once casting an R&B pocket against wailing CBGB vocals, at any given show transforming folk numbers into pounding four-on-the-floor booty-busters, with the aid of searing guitar lines and a towering rhythm section. Rich in both humor and urgency, his songs leap into confrontation, touching on class divides, loss of innocence, bad-faith clowns, surreal landscapes, and the nuclear potential of a good time. His shows are, above all, fun. In 2023, Smushie released his debut album, Doofus Casanova, quickly following it up with two EPs and a collaborative LP. His sophomore solo full-length record is slated for release in early 2025.