Song of the Day

Song of the Day > All Episodes

February 28, 2018

Marmalakes: “Not Gonna Control You”

By: Taylor Wallace

Photo by Katrina Barber

Marmalakes have been an Austin underground mainstay for the greater part of a decade, a household name with anyone who kicks it with the city’s indie scene. Formed through the friendship of lifelong buds Chase Weinacht and Josh Halpern, Marmalakes are folk-pop fun without sacrificing the integrity of their storytelling or songwriting, even when they’re slow and meditative. Their words are honest and their music is effortlessly smooth and endlessly interesting, like a good peanut butter that sticks in your head instead of your mouth. Pointing to the complicated and talented minds behind two of this city’s most warm-spirited musicians, their music has the singular ability to float about as soft, introspective indie-folk then appropriately inject growling electric guitars or bubbly keysmelodies to add texture to the Marmalake’s surface. At long last, following a handful of EPs and many, many shows and tours, comes the group’s long-anticipated debut full-length Please Don’t Stop, out in May. Their infectious tuneage is punctuated by their real-life energy, abundant in their live performances and heartily evident in their new video for one of the group’s softer, melodic songs, “Not Gonna Control You,” shot last week with KUTX’s multimedia team.

“Not Gonna Control You” appears on Please Don’t Stop, out May 11th via Austin Town Hall Records. Pre-order available now.

Upcoming (non-SXSW official) Marmalakes shows:

Sunday, Mar 9: Spiderhouse || All the Friends Ball
Thursday, Mar 15th: Kitty Cohen’s || Noisy Ghost PR & Graveface Records SXSW
Saturday, Mar 17: Butterfly Bar || w/ Carry Illinois and Star Parks
Sunday, Mar 25: Flat Track Coffee || Vinyl Party

-Taylor Wallace// Host, Thursdays 8p-11p & Saturdays 2p-6p; Producer, Eklektikos with John Aielli


Episodes

May 2, 2024

Mikky & The Doom: “Garbage, USA”

In most situations, if you got it, flaunt it. But in an industry that demands infinitely more from your ears than from your eyes, if the hottest person on the planet doesn’t have the pipes to match their looks, they probably don’t have a shot at succeeding as a singer. So let’s talk newcomer Mikky […]

Listen

May 1, 2024

Emily Shirley: “Morning Light”

It’s the classic end to an encounter. You meet someone new. Sparks seemingly fly. You have fun for a night. But when you wake up ready to tell your new boo you’d like to see ’em again…they’re long gone. Hell, and in the modern era, that might all happen on just on an app alone. […]

Listen

April 30, 2024

Grandmaster: “Castle Door”

Watch out, Golden Dawn Arkestra…there’s a new costumed collective in town, and they’re hunting for for fresh converts! But instead of frenetic Afro-inspired dance grooves, these fanatics have so far stuck to the slower side of ’70s-style jazz funk rock; think War whisked together with Steely Dan. Not that you’d be able to tell from […]

Listen

April 29, 2024

Trip Cigs: “Comeback Kid”

When a seasoned musician wades out of their genre comfort zone, you love to hear it. Because the technical expertise, jam stamina, and songwriting skills are already in place, but opening the gate to different inspirations and influences is always a welcome breath of fresh air. So let’s talk Rod Gator, who – as you […]

Listen

April 24, 2024

Viben: “Pablo Picasso”

Lyrics are a fickle field. You can be wordy as hell, hoping that at least one line sticks in listener’s minds. Or, you could just loop the hell out of some barebones sentences – guaranteed to have a lot more hypnotic staying power through sheer repetition, especially in the realm of dance music. Now let’s […]

Listen

April 24, 2024

Rett Smith: “Sunsets”

In terms of musical association, at least outside the world of film soundtracks, U.S. southwestern scenery often gets associated with country. But there’s a certain psychedelic quality to our regional deserts that we just love to see artists embrace. Folks like Rett Smith, based here in Austin, but bred out of West Texas, so you […]

Listen

April 23, 2024

Ruel Thomas: “I Am Today”

Any profession requires quotas…whether that’s how many tickets you write or how many kids pass your class. And when music is your source of income, the obvious metric to measure by is quantity of shows played. But as with any creative endeavor, there’s an opportunity to move the needle in many directions, which makes “success” […]

Listen

April 22, 2024

Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors: “Suffering”

The very nature of Americana is rooted in traditional music. But it also lies at the crossroads between folk, country, and rock. So if an Americana act decides to veer into new lanes, the choices are limited and somewhat predictable. And yet it’s still such a joy to hear an artist explore new sonic territory, […]

Listen