Animal Collective, Waka Flocka Flame, Dustin Lynch lead Columbia concert announcements

From mainstream country to trailblazing indie-rock, hip-hop to experimental sounds, Columbia venues have released a wide array of recent concert announcements.

Here are the four most significant:

Animal Collective, July 22 at Rose Park

Extending its Summerfest concert series, The Blue Note and Rose Music Hall present these icons of 21st-century indie rock. Animal Collective began releasing music, in some form or fashion, in 2000 but truly broke through with 2009's "Merriweather Post Pavilion." 

"Animal Collective have brought the celestial down to earth with each record, but they've never sounded simultaneously otherworldly and approachable quite like they do on Merriweather Post Pavilion," AllMusic's John Bush wrote, before comparing the band to Beach Boys and Mercury Rev.

The band's most recent record, "Time Skiffs," hit the atmosphere in February to mostly strong reviews. 

Dustin Lynch, Sept. 15 outside The Blue Note

Yet another Summerfest date delivers the Tennessee native and 2014 winner of the American Country Music Awards' top new artist prize. 

Lynch owns eight No. 1 singles on country radio, spanning so far from 2014's "Where It's At" to last year's "Thinking 'Bout You." February saw the release of his latest album, "Blue in the Sky," which features guest vocals from MacKenzie Porter, Chris Lane and Riley Green as well as a co-write with Thomas Rhett.

Lynch's latest effort in a "shiny, sunny vein," the album is "a collection of songs so cheerful they manage to make heartbreak seem not so bad," Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote for AllMusic. 

Waka Flocka Flame, Sept. 22 at The Blue Note

The rapper named Juaquin James Malphurs has been at it for nearly 15 years, compiling an impressively prolific resume filled with albums, mixtapes and guest appearances. 

"No Hands" and "Hard in Da Paint" are the most popular singles under his own name, but Waka Flocka Flame has also dressed up cuts by Machine Gun Kelly, Gucci Maane, will.i.am and more. And back in 2012, Pitchfork's Ian Cohen called the artist's 2010 release, "Flockaveli," "the single most influential gangsta rap record of the new decade."

September's date will benefit the veterans' organization Welcome Home. 

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Nov. 6 at The Blue Note

The veteran Canadian band was the true highlight of a thrilling initial artist announcement for this fall's Columbia Experimental Music Festival. For nearly 30 years, the band has exerted a gravitational pull on listeners with its alluring, atmospheric instrumentals.

The band's latest, last year's "G_d's Pee at State's End!" comprised a set of "wordless requiems for a saner world, pummelled home with elegiac feeling," Kitty Empire wrote for The Guardian. 

Other artists revealed for the forthcoming festival include European pianist Lubomyr Melnyk and the duo of Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer — with more to come. 

Find ticket details and showtimes for each date at https://thebluenote.com/