As Women’s History Month comes to a close this Sunday, we assure y’all that we’ll keep featuring the countless talented women of our fair city all year ’round. But March 2024 does end with a unique spectacle this weekend, thanks to a fierce feminine force who’s already left her historic mark on Austin’s steadily diversifying music scene. And that’s Qi Dada, one half of the husband-and-wife hip-hop duo, Riders Against the Storm, one of KUTX’s very first Studio 1A guests and some of...

It’s well-known that we here at KUTX have a soft spot for Alejandro Escovedo – a love affair that’s lasted far longer than we’ve even been a station. So it’s our due diligence to let you know that Señor Escovedo does have a new record entitled Echo Dancing dropping this weekend. That said, we’re not just talkin’ up Al today. No, we gotta jump in and tip our hat to Escovedo’s returning tour mate, Mr. James Mastro. A fellow pioneer in the early days of punk rock, this...

If you’re already planning out your weekend and want to offset the Sunday scaries with some fresh visuals, consider checking out a three-act bill that coincides with a music video premiere. The ringleader behind the affair is Nakia, the mononymous grifter of Austin’s vibrant blues scene. With only two records to his name at the time, Nakia started off the 2010s strong as a semi-finalist on The Voice‘s inaugural season. That’s absolutely an accolade worth bragging about, but nothing...

Few people are as effervescent about their passions than those from Florence. But we’re not talking about the tiny Texas town about half an hour north of here. No, we mean the Tuscan capital that gave us cultural heavyweights like Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Gucci, Cavalli, and more.Well, in a testament to “you can take the woman out of Italy but you can’t take Italy out of the woman”, Austin multi-hyphenate Giulia Millanta‘s pace of polymath output raises her profile towards...

The taste-ranging genre gastronomy of our latest Scholz Garten lineup alone made it one for the books. And that A.M. affair simply couldn’t have been complete without SPRINTS. Because…yeah, the pairing of a Dublin four-piece – garage grit, post-punk precociousness, and all – against a full KUTX crowd at one of Texas’ oldest venues was exactly what you’d expect: a pre-St. Paddy’s blast. SPRINTS just made Letter to Self public this January, and the eclectic, confessional record has...

We’re still recovering from the flood of foreign artists that turned our fair city (and Scholz Garten) into an international exhibition last week. And if that worldwide melting pot of genres is best embodied by any SXSW 2024 performer, multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab definitely makes the short list. Born in London, Gallab spent a chunk of his childhood in Sudan and the remaining rearing in Ohio. The Buckeye State’s rich punk culture rubbed off on Gallab, whose multi-faceted talents...

Shoutout to everyone who caught our Scholz Garten live series last week for SXSW, either in person or over the airwaves! But if you didn’t turn out or tune in, don’t fret; we’re taking the next few days to recap some key performances. Starting off today with Brooklyn’s Kassa Overall. This Grammy nominee is about as expert as it gets when it comes to drumming, yet by stepping behind the mic or into the producer’s chair, Kassa’s not just sequestered to the rhythm section. After landing a...

Just in the past year alone, there’s been an impressive (and welcome) rise of AAPI representation in Austin’s music scene, chiefly in the sector of R&B/pop/hip-hop. And we’re not just referring to promqueen, francene rouelle, or anyone else in that mHART roster. No, we’re talking about ttt, pronounced “Triple-T”. Vocalist-songwriter Trung Tran was born in Vietnam and raised in Houston, where the city’s distinct hip-hop character found its way into Tran’s creative course. After...

We’re not really squealing on ourselves when admitting that we here at KUTX love yacht rock. And given our ties to the university, it’s also no secret that we like to shine the spotlight on UT alum. So today we’re giving y’all the best of both. We’re talkin’ about singer-songwriter/guitarist Nick Teale, a former longhorn now based out of Louisville. Teale’s proven a steal in terms of widespread appeal, thanks to his zeal for everything from Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson to Iron...

When you operate all the way up until the witching hour, there’s no such thing as bad weather for sunglasses. So if you’re a degenerate lowlight reptile like us, we’ve got the perfect tint for you on the verge of severe thunderstorms this weekend. We’re talking about Polarizado, the solo songwriting project of Austin producer/multi-instrumentalist Felix Bergman that dates back to 2018. Already a veteran of too many styles to list here, Bergman refers to his style as “Cult Americana”,...

Punk is a young person’s game, no doubt. Because while the counterculture spirit, tattoos, and tinnitus stay ’til death, even punk rock pioneers eventually mellow out towards “refined tastes” once they get comfortable on the other side of the hill. Case in point: Ian MacDougall of The Riverboat Gamblers fame, who first broadened his genre horizons with Broken Gold alongside fellow Gambler Patrick Lillard over a decade and a half back. The offshoot’s initial indie punk prospects shined...

All-day unofficial hangs, boozy activations, and making new friends with your line neighbors are great and all…but for us the biggest joy of SXSW is that fast influx of international acts. Artists who might not ever consider the U.S. Southwest for their previous tours instead flood our city with tons of show options, which always makes staying in Austin this week well worth it. So we gotta give a big shoutout to Elle Shimada, who, on top of juggling vocals, dance routines, turntables,...

It doesn’t matter whether or not lyrics are written before or after the instrumentation; there’s always room to build contrast between subject matter and sonic character. Like for each individual genuinely troubled by the texts of “Pumped Up Kicks” or “Semi-Charmed Life”, there’s a multitude more who just love what they’re hearing without second guessing the words or inspiration. Which proves you can appeal to the masses based on a great groove alone – without having to sacrifice any lyrical...

Swapping out lead singers can be risky for established listener-ships, but shaking up your sound can also reap some serious rewards and keep fans on their toes in the best way possible. So while not every band can boast a membership as eclectically talented as that of Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, or The Beatles, a little vocal variety does go a long way. And that’s where Austin quintet KONZI finds themselves today. KONZI’s been kickin’ it since the start of the pandemic – always with...

We haven’t even hit SXSW yet, but we’re already hearing hype for some freshly-minted, must-know Austin acts. And with another new arrival this morning, our ear drums feel especially touched by an angel. We’re talking about a four-piece whose fast ascent to their current status requires a bit of quick history. It started off a couple years back as Saturnia Pavonia, the solo outlet for Austin guitarist-singer-songwriter Laura Delarosa. Despite three lifelong multi-instrumentalists...

Over the past two months alone we’ve seen some pretty promising new names emerge from the Austin area, even if the artists behind the project have been in plain sight for some time. Take for example longtime live scene veteran Ana Zae, whose prior solo iteration Liza Day (Rose) first popped up in August 2020 with six soulful self-recorded originals. Heavy on the multi-tracked vocal harmonies but angled towards acoustic authenticity, those tunes told us everything we needed to know...

Once you hit your third or fourth full-length, you’re established. By album seven or eight you’re a heavyweight. But when your discography reaches its teens, the list of contemporaries to compare to starts running thin…and that’s the position Scott H. Biram is about to enter. With a catalogue reaching back to the turn of the millennium, this Austin singer-guitarist has officially been in the game for a quarter century, and two decades removed from a pivotal brush with death. Biram’s is...

No matter how talented an individual vocalist is, the addition of live instrumentation can really elevate a performance to the upper tier. Like can you imagine if Rage Against the Machine was just De La Rocha spitting over pre-recorded tracks with a DJ instead of their legendary full-band energy? Us neither. So we’re not really going out on a limb when we say that Austin four-piece Sweet Limb has a pretty swell thing going for them. The project started off over a decade back as a solo...

Austin may be a metropolis, but it’s still smack dab in the middle of Texas, football fanaticism, Western legends, vast landscapes, and all. There are a lot of artists who embody that Lone Star aesthetic, but today we’re tippin’ our hat to Scott Ballew. After his initial acts as football star and filmmaker, this central Texas troubadour is now living middle age to the fullest as a songwriter. Scott’s quick to point to his documentary work with Terry Allen as a pivotal moment in his...

It’s a total no-brainer. 2020 and quarantine conditions left countless with a bizarre bevy of time to reflect and be inspired, no matter how dire the world felt. And with a lot of those early-COVID-era compositions, the final products reached masses within the first year or two. But some of those existential episodes must’ve made others question what the rush even is, since some of those songs still won’t land in fan’s laps until they’re just right. It makes sense that Portland’s Anna...

We here at KUTX have kept a pulse on the local scene long and close enough to realize that we’re essentially tracking the progression of individual talents in real time. And though we’re admittedly quick to stick up for twenty-somethings who’ve bottled lightning for their debut releases, frankly there are very few youngsters that genuinely make us think “oh, they’re only gonna get better and better from here on out” each time we see them play live. Think about The Peterson Brothers,...

Over the past 40 years R&B’s only gotten more electronic, more reliant on post-production “studio magic”. And for the more recent half of that period, R&B’s also become so intertwined with hip-hop that the two genres are now almost inseparable. Thankfully, just like the recent retro-soul renaissance, there are still purveyors of real “rhythm & blues” who ascend past contemporary commercial trends and instead blend the best of classic and modern. And that includes Austin...

It’s a new week and nearly a new month so might as well break into some new music, right? Today we have the privilege of premiering the first-ever studio single from a fresh outfit – Tigers Eye. Like their namesake quartz, this quartet has a more exotic appeal than many of Austin’s other musical marbles, thanks to their mining of indie, surf, and psych. Tigers Eye’s spent the past year earning their stripes with a series of live performance videos, including several covers that tip us...

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again: we’ve been loving the recent ride of this retro soul-funk renaissance, especially with so much dynamite coming right out of the central state area. And today a new name emerges within that ongoing saga of nostalgia: Silver Skylarks. Fly like the birds, and slick like the cars, Silver Skylarks is the DFW duo comprised of songwriter Danny Balis and producer Jeff “Skin” Wade, born from early pandemic demos. Taking cues from the ’70s vinyl...

Once you get locked into a flock, life without group benefits sounds like a nightmare. And if you want to break away to steer your own migrations, you might just sacrifice a chunk of your following in the process. Not only that, there’s always the risk of ending up far from where you wanted. Yet it sure seems like singer-songwriter Eric Baker (formerly of Tomar & the FCs and currently behind keys for Shinyribs) has found the right fit with Wrongbird, which he founded as a solo...