Maldito Animal and Beyond: The Point’s Fearless Path to the ACL Stage

The Point don’t start their sets with a bang – they kick off with little-to-no introduction, luring you into a transcendental ride through their genre-defiant imagination.  

“When we play as the Point, we play dangerously,” drummer Nico Leophonte explains. “We have no net. We just go for it every time. Sometimes we fail, but most of the time – now that we’ve been working together a while – we fail less and less because we just take chances, and we surprise ourselves.”

That reckless spirit is crystallized in their latest project: the deluxe edition of their 2024 album Maldito Animal. More than a re-release, the expanded edition marks a pivotal moment for the band. Featuring two new songs, the record doesn’t just showcase where they’ve been but reveals where they’re heading.

Fresh off a lengthy summer tour of Europe, prodigal guitarist Jack Montesinos, fellow twentysomething keyboardist (and son of rockabilly legend Ted Roddy) Joe Roddy, and industry veteran Leophonte (the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Bo Diddley) already have their eyes locked on their next big milestone: making their first appearance at ACL Fest on Sunday, Oct. 12, at 1:45pm. For the group, it’s less of a debut and more of a hometown rite of passage – the kind of stage they’ve been building toward since their earliest shows. 

“We really like, for lack of a better term, the Austin lore,” Roddy explains. “It’s cool being from and raised in a town that’s so good to their musicians. It’s provided an environment where people are less worried about sticking to something and are more down to experiment with sound because you have so many cool bands here. I think it definitely shaped the way we play live.”

“I just want to share a lot of different diverse music cultures with people, because if you can appreciate the art of other people then you can appreciate other people and understand them and not be so close minded .”

That open-minded energy, the spirit of mixing genres and taking creative risks, pulses through the Point’s body of work, from hazy 2020 debut iHOP and its hip-hop-laced 2021 follow-up Phonkadelic to 2022’s chicha-colored BERTO BANQUET and last year’s equally globe-trotting Maltido Animal. The trio’s West African, Italian, and Colombian influences are made grander on its deluxe edition thanks to freshly added tracks “Itis” and “OBIRWY.” 

“I feel like a lot of people find out about different music cultures through our band,” Montesinos explains. “I don’t want to take any credit for that. I just want to share a lot of different diverse music cultures with people, because if you can appreciate the art of other people then you can appreciate other people and understand them and not be so close minded if you like their music.”

In many ways, the Point aren’t just bending genres – they’re building bridges. Through fearless collaboration and a willingness to let instinct lead, the trio channel Austin’s creative spirit into something uniquely their own. Their shows may be sparse in playful anecdotes, but their music speaks in dialects that span a plethora of eras and cultures.

As Montesinos puts it, the Point are not a destination, they’re just the beginning of a trip.

“Hopefully we’re not the last stop for people,” he says. “We’re just the door to other things – we’re the gateway drug to other genres.”

The post Maldito Animal and Beyond: The Point’s Fearless Path to the ACL Stage appeared first on The Austin Chronicle.