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KUT and KUTX news and music podcasts for Austin, Texas and beyond

Archives for August 2020

Twice The Awesome

Okay, this is a lot. But how could the Austin Music Minute pass it all up?

You have a busy Thursday night ahead with two AMM-recommended live stream shows:

-You want your Waltzer TV. Waltzer (Chicago-based songwriter and musician Sophie Sputnik) plays host to a huge live stream event that just so happens to feature a lot of familiar faces in Austin music. It’s Waltzer TV Episode III, starring Boo Baby, Star Parks, Uncle Sexy and The Nephews, Carman A.D., Woes, Sir Woman, Sweet Spirit, Sun June, The Deer, Kaycie Satterfield, Horti, The Well, Moving Panoramas, Greyhounds and…holy hell. It’s Puddles Pity Party, making an appearance. What?! The live stream extravaganza kicks off at 8 p.m. (Central) tonight, Thursday August 13, on Facebook Live.

-Best front row seat in the house – your house. Stepping up to represent with the 2020 Black Fret Couch Session, a live stream show featuring Black Fret nominee Darkbird and recent KUTX Artist of the Month Jake Lloyd. Both are on – fire. Watch the show at 8 p.m. (Central) tonight, coming to you from the stage of 3Ten ACL Live on Facebook Live, and you can watch it again this Saturday, August 15, on Black Fret’s YouTube channel.

Please don’t forget to show your support for your favorite band(s). Buy their merch, or kindly request any Venmo or PayPal information for donations. And thank you, from your Austin Music Minute maven.

-Photos of Waltzer and Jake Lloyd courtesy of the artists on Bandcamp.

Texas Standard: August 13, 2020

Defunding the police: It’s gone from a phrase on a protest sign to a real discussion as cities finalize their budgets, we’ll have the latest. Also, Hispanic communities have been especially hit hard by the Coronavirus. But why? We’ll dig in. Plus a contact tracing technology experiment of sorts in a perhaps unlikely venue: the GOP convention. What it might mean for the general population. And one of the darlings of Sundance this year was a documentary about a bunch of Texas boys. We’ll have the story. That plus more on schools and COVID-19, today on the Texas Standard:

Pure Colors & Soul Food Horns: “Morning OJ”

When you toss a rhythm-driven producer with a full-blown horn section into a blender together, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the mix is gonna be good. I’m talking about Atlanta beatmaker Joey Tuholski, whose forte in instrumentals rooted in hip-hop, disco, jazz, and funk under the handle Pure Colors has made him a perfect match for multi-national brass/woodwind specialists Soul Food Horns.
SFH began adding their own flavors to Pure Colors’ palette back in April with their first collaborative single “Expanding Light”, but on their more recent offering “Morning OJ”, they bring the beach party to your home stereo, channeling Poolside and Neon Indian with a lyric-free dose of sonic citrus.

Armadillo Bonus: Blues, Jazz, and Funk

Join KUTX as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Armadillo World Headquarters, the music venue that helped put Austin on the musical map. In this bonus episode, hear first-hand stories about the blues, jazz, and funk greats that made the Armadillo such a live music destination: the supernatural abilities of Freddie King and B.B. King, the Pointer Sisters in their funk heyday, and the raucous welcome given to jazz icon Count Basie.

 

Black Myself

It is seriously awesome to witness the greatness of Our Native Daughters performing “Black Myself” in a socially-distanced set they shared on Instagram.

The track, written by Amythys Kiah, is the dose of gritty badass power that opens their 2019 LP Songs of Our Native Daughters. Kiah recently joined bandmates Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago) for this rousing acoustic rendition of the song. “You look me in the eyes/but you don’t see me,” Kiah sings in rich, powerful tones. It’s raw testimony, heart and soul, defiant within the all too-familiar scenario of being eyed with suspicion and fear because of skin color.

Timing is everything, and technology is fickle, but the band brought it on home on their IG with perfection. But can you imagine how glorious it sounds in person? Our Native Daughters played last year’s Newport Folk Festival, an experience that Kiah described as one of the most heartwarming and spiritually moving ones they’ve had. It was also the last show of their 2019 tour – and one hell of a way to end it.

Keep your ears peeled for a solo album by Kiah, coming out next year. And make plans to catch a solo performance by Kiah on a live stream show presented by The Kennedy Center, on a bill that also features duo The Local Honeys. It kicks off at 3 p.m. (Central) tomorrow, Thursday August 13, on The Kennedy Center’s Facebook, YouTube channel and their website.

-Photography by Anna Hedges.

Texas Standard: August 12, 2020

Historic: Vice President Joe Biden picks his own VP. Senator Kamala Harris and the intersection of race and gender in American politics. Also, back to school this year is filled with stress and anxieties for all. A conversation about the challenges in special education during this pandemic. Plus, what is the recovery rate of COVID-19 and can we even really answer that question? And entertainment awards season is just around the corner. It’s usually fancy dresses and red carpets but it will look different this year, many hope in more way than one. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

How Madame Curie’s Philanthropy Continues To Inspire

By W. F. Strong

A couple of years ago, there was a photograph published on Twitter of a group of radiation oncologists in the radiation treatment room at MD Anderson, all women, under the hashtag, “Women Who Curie.” They were celebrating the legacy of Madame Marie Curie and her pioneering work in radiology that daily inspires their mission. 

As I looked at the photograph of the nine doctors at MD Anderson, I realized that Madame Curie’s legacy was far greater than Nobel Prizes and scientific advancement.  She added the benefit of opening previously closed doors in science and medicine to women. Madame Curie was not just perceived as a female interloper seeking equality in disciplines generally reserved for men, but she was also an immigrant, a double minority at the Sorbonne. She was ignored and pushed aside and denied lab space and vital equipment. She succeeded by virtue of an iron will and unrelenting genius.  

Few people realize she passed up Bill Gates-type wealth by not seeking a would-be priceless patent for radium, the element she and her husband Pierre discovered. She said the element “belongs to the people.” That act of philanthropy paved the way for institutes like M.D. Anderson, and her pioneering work for women served to staff them with brilliant professionals, too. Sometimes I wonder how much further along the human race would be now had we not denied education to half of us for most of recorded time.  

One little known story about Madame Curie is that she feared at one point that she would not be able to complete her degree at the Sorbonne for lack of funds. She had resigned herself to the idea that she would have to remain in Poland and live a life as a tutor or a governess. 

Then came the miracle. She received, unexpectedly, the Alexandrovitch Scholarship of 600 rubles – about $300. She calculated that it was enough, if she lived meagerly, with little heat and less food, to complete her master’s degree. She did, graduating first in her class. And that was just the beginning. She would graduate a little over a year later with another degree in Mathematics. As soon as she took her first job, from her first paychecks, she pulled out 600 rubles and paid back the Alexandrovitch Foundation for the scholarship they had given her. This had never happened before. The foundation was shocked, but as Madame Curie’s daughter said of her mother: “In her uncompromising soul she would have judged herself dishonest if she had kept, for one unnecessary moment the money which now could serve as life buoy to another young girl.” Now, that’s paying back AND forward.  

Madame Curie went on to be the first female Ph.D. at the Sorbonne and the first female professor as well. In addition, she was awarded not one, but two Nobel Prizes, in different sciences – the first person, male or female, ever to achieve that distinction.  

So as I looked at the photograph of the women she inspired at MD Anderson, I thought of Madame Curie’s influential reach across a century, across vast oceans. MD Anderson doctors have received the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award from the American Association for Women in Radiology four times in twenty years.  MD Anderson also maintains a sister institutional relationship with the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Cancer Center in Warsaw. Marie is still enlightening minds, inspiring the academically marginalized and healing the sick, even here in Texas. 

Ben Buck: “Yes Yes” (feat. NateTheeGreat & Zeale)

Though native Austinite Ben Buck has continued to mature as his legacy becomes more and more known, there’s always been a particularly juvenile charm to his aura. But looking past the tie-dye T-shirt, untamed hair, and blunts and 40s abound, Buck’s got an insane set of talents, be it with beatboxing, freestyling, or production. His skills and tenacity have impromptu landed Buck onstage with Wu Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah and more recently racked up some sincere praise from the man himself on a Freddie Gibbs livestream.

This die-hard creator and MPC master programmer clearly hasn’t let a little pandemic get in the way of his process, given recent news of his upcoming LP Speaker Bump Deluxe, which is sure to make its older brother KILROY proud. Speaker Bump Deluxe’s latest single, “Yes Yes” finds Buck making the most of his familiar cadence and free association rhyme style on a vicious, self-produced posse cut evocative of ’90s-era Busta Rhymes or Redman featuring fellow Austinites Zeale and NateTheeGreat. So like Buck says, “get ’em up and raise your cup” (responsibly).

KUTX supports Austin music; your support makes KUTX possible. Donate today.

KING Concert Live Stream

A bit of insight into the work put into Kids In A New Groove: The Austin nonprofit provides youth in foster care with mentorship through musical education and instruction. Though it’s undeniably exciting to see budding musicians learn to write a song or master a guitar, the decision-making skills and strategizing that come with it all are beneficial for youth in the long run.

To continue raising awareness of this work, Kids In A New Groove presents their ongoing KING Concert series. This week features an artist who performed at one of their KING Concerts two years ago, longtime Austin Music Minute favorite David Ramirez.

Catch the next KING Concert live stream show with Ramirez at 5:30 p.m. Central tomorrow, Wednesday August 12, on the Kids In A New Groove Facebook page. You can also make donations at this link to show your support.

-Photo courtesy of the artist.

Texas Standard: August 11, 2020

Half of Houstonians rent their homes but the city hasn’t passed protections against eviction in this current economic situation. We’ll take a closer look. Plus- to play ball or not. The field of college sports is starting to look very different as we near the start of seasons. And another uncertain future? American agriculture. Actually, the future looks certainly dire unless there are some changes. Then there’s school reopening. We’ll hear from a former U.S. Secretary of Education about why we have to try and how to do it safer. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Corduroi: “Slingshot”

When you’re as prolific a producer as Austin’s Cody Wilson, the ambiguous macro-label of “electronic music” simply doesn’t do the work justice. No, to best describe Corduroi you almost have to acknowledge the juxtapositions that dominate his process. As one half all-analog duo Trax Rebo, Wilson undeniably knows his way around patch cables, bit compressors, and modwheels, most recently heard on Corduroi’s Oceanarium and Wind Your Spring and yet digital songwriting is still one of the synth-enthusiast’s greatest assets. And given how ubiquitous the term “driving” has come to define beats, Corduroi’s spasmodic structures and near-anti-loop mentality prove less driving and more hurdling, like if Wilson was behind the wheel in Sorcerer or Fury Road.

The track record of curious counterparts continues on Corduroi’s upcoming EP Mazie, whose mood falls somewhere between psychedelic and bucolic like if someone had filmed El Topo on the set of Midsommar or recorded Martin Denny’s Exotica in the same basement as J Dilla’s Donuts. Corduroi’s uncompromising inertia soars throughout Mazie‘s seven songs and weaves textures across retro acid house, chill deep house, UK garage, glitch, ambient, and a little bit of classic trip-hop. The EP is out August 28th, and today you can sew yourself into Mazie‘s midpoint, a breakbeat buffet that harvests through fields of ’90s jungle and ’00s drum n bass, “Slingshot”!

KUTX supports Austin music; your support makes KUTX possible. Donate today.

A Tribute to Earl G. Graves, Sr. (Ep. 36, 2020)

This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. presents a 2001 interview with Earl G. Graves, Sr., an entrepreneur, publisher, and philanthropist who died April 6, 2020. Graves was the founder of Black Enterprise, a media company focused on black entrepreneurship and black businesses.

Master P is King

This week on The Breaks, Fresh and Confucius:

  • Touch on the influence and enduring legacy of Master P as laid out in the No Limit Chronicles.
  • Discuss Jaguar Wright’s sexual assault allegations against Common.
  • Talk about Zonnique’s pregnancy announcement to her stepdad T.I. on her new show The Mix.
  • In his Unpopular Opinion, Fresh argues that Austin artists are not entitled to support just because they are from Austin.
  • In his Confucius Says, Confucius warns intelligent people to not weaponize their smarts to demean others.

Listen to this week’s episode of The Breaks 

Let’s Do This

Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears were just at the start of their March 2020 tour when COVID-19 hit. It wasn’t long after that when the remaining tour dates were postponed. The band had also just premiered the badass “Five Dollars” via Color Red Studios, and were ready to take that fire on the road, dang it.

The band has laid low for the most part, but something great is brewing this week. Black Joe Lewis has (in their own words) their first live stream performance of the pandemic at 8 p.m. (Central) this Wednesday night, August 12, at Silverdoor Management’s website. Your virtual ticket gets you a link to the show.

Show some love! Get that band merch! And for a bit of inspiration, check out Black Joe Lewis doing “Face In the Scene” at a KUTX Studio 1A performance.

-Photo courtesy of the artist.

Texas Standard: August 10, 2020

Congress couldn’t agree, so President Trump picked up a pen. But what exactly will his executive actions over the weekend do? We’ll explore. Also, trial by Zoom: how a couple of cases in San Antonio and Austin could set precedent across the country. And the road to a vaccine. Efforts for a COVID-19 vaccine are moving much faster than usual. How’s that working? Also, schools are reopening and families are making decisions about whether and how to send kids back. We’ll hear from a few. And an East Texas man wins big in a lawsuit, and we’re not talking money. Those stories and more coming up on today’s Texas Standard:

Sasha K.A.: “Tumbleweed” (feat. Tom Meny & Lang Freeman)

Like many musicians in the early stages of aural addiction, Austin’s Sasha Klare-Ayvazian began playing in bands when he was only thirteen. Fast forward to today, where this multi-instrumentalist, composer, multi-Master’s recipient, and educator has scored for film, television, and a video game, and continues to lead the indie-folk ensemble American Dreamer and direct the Jazz Ensemble at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, on top of several other ventures.

But it was only in 2020 that Klare-Ayvazian made the big pivot to solo songwriting under the eponym Sasha K.A., releasing his debut full-length Family this past February. Family‘s proven to be solid jump-off point in K.A.’s career, whose saga continues with a set of collaborative singles, most recently with a discussion on COVID-19 kenopsia, one that’s become inseparable from Sasha K.A.’s typically busy performance schedule. The earnest Americana installment, “Tumbleweed” features Tom Meny and Lang Freeman and is sure to keep you rollin’ on through the week.

KUTX supports Austin music; your support makes KUTX possible. Donate today.

The American Songster

When it comes to the (re)discovery of early American popular music, the resources are endless wellsprings. Imagine this rabbit hole that hardcore music lovers eagerly tumble into, and made more exciting by musicians like Dom Flemons who bring renewed energy and interest into the stories of how this music came into being.

A Grammy Award-winning artist, 2020 United States Artists Fellow, and co-founder of Carolina Chocolate Drops, Flemons has a list of accomplishments that keeps on going: In addition to songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, he’s an Emmy-nominated actor, music scholar, historian, and – extra joy – record collector. All of the things. And speaking of records, Flemons released his third full-length this year, titled Prospect Hill: The American Songster Omnibus, a three-part treasure trove including Flemons’ original Prospect Hill album; his 2015 EP What Got Over; and some previously unreleased instrumental tracks under the title The Drum Major . (Today’s AMM featured the instrumental “The Songster Arrives,” and the track “My Money Runs Out.”)

Get in on the show this evening! Flemons is part of a big line-up featured on a Grand Ole Opry live stream show starting at 7 p.m. Central tonight, Saturday August 8, which includes Old Crow Medicine Show, Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings. You can see the live stream on Grand Ole Opry via Circle Plus.

-Photography by Timothy Duffy.

KUT Weekend – August 7, 2020

The Austin school district delays the start of the school year because of COVID-19. Plus, local election officials in Texas scrambling to find places to put polling places during the pandemic. And a flea market that brought cultures together for decades could be closed forever. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!

Subscribe at https://weekend.kut.org

San Antonio By Sundown

The Golden Roses are aching for those dance floors, with all the people stepping in time. The band keeps its philosophy simple: “We play, y’all dance.” And that’s how it happens.

Their music is a badass honky-tonk hodgepodge touched by lots of good stuff: Country, western swing, a bit of rock and a sprinkle of bluegrass. The Golden Roses have lit the stages of many an ATX hot spot, from The Broken Spoke to Ginny’s Little Longhorn, as well as many cool places in Nashville and Chicago.

Though they’re unable to perform to a packed room at this time, The Golden Roses are celebrating the release of their new single “San Antonio By Sundown” (featured on today’s AMM) with some help from South Austin dreamy dancehall Sagebrush – and a major shout-out to Denis O’Donnell for keeping the magic alive online. Check out The Golden Roses live stream release show at 8 p.m. Central tonight, Friday August 7, on the Sagebrush Facebook page.

-Photo courtesy of the artist.

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