Song of the Day

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July 14, 2023

The Crayon Set: “Sunlounger”

By: Jack Anderson

With excessive heat warnings dominating forecasts here in the American Southwest and little to do about it other than stay inside or lather on sunscreen and bee line towards shade, there’s no harm in reframing our seasonal misery by listening in on lighter summer sounds coming from across the pond. Enter Dublin five-piece The Crayon Set, who, as of now, like KUTX, have officially been around a full decade. While the quintet’s eponymous 2013 inception lies in indie pop, The Crayon Set expanded their genre color palette to include Americana and synth pop with 2017’s Lost Languages and 2021’s Downer Disco, respectively. So even though they categorize themselves as alternative pop, The Crayon Set’s clearly comfortable experimenting with a wide variety of stylistic pigments for their hook-heavy originals. Case in point: The Crayon Set’s first single since last year’s “Love Is a Real Place” and what’s so far their standalone offering of 2023. Although the band’s handle combined with a music box intro might make a for a knee-jerk reaction that this is a children’s tune, the music video for “Sunlounger” (which features clips from 1969’s La Piscine of Alain Delon and Jane Birkin rompin’ around and breakin’ all the pool rules) cue you into a much more mature nature. “Sunlounger”‘s meditative orchestral flourishes, sensuous boy-girl vocal harmonies, and sneaky psych guitar sound almost like a previously unreleased Damon Auburn-produced track from David Gilmour’s On an Island. It’s a sonic equivalent to what summer hedonism should look like as imagined by drizzly Dubliners, not a sweltering hellscape like the one here in Texas, so click “play” and start the siesta whenever you’re ready.

Episodes

July 30, 2025

Hide and Shine: “Can’t Wait to Catch Fire”

If you were going to try to stuff the new album from New York trio Hide and Shine into a box, it could only be a bento. The different sonic compartments, ranging from sunny indie rock to fuzzy post-punk to more meditative, goth-tinged post-punk, with the themes of metamorphosis and humbled ego pulling the meal […]

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July 25, 2025

LYNN: “Slow Dreamz”

Kileen-based rapper LYNN has bars for days and enough butter in her emotive, croony tunes to get Kerbey Lane through an Easter weekend brunch shift. By the time her debut EP Middle of Madness came out last year, she’d already added opening slots for CupcakKe and Three 6 Mafia’s DJ Paul, and the album landed […]

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July 24, 2025

J’Cuuzi: “Fame By Death” [Live In Studio 1A + Music Video Premiere]

All month long, we’ve had the pleasure of familiarizing you with one of Austin’s most ostentatious acts, J’Cuuzi. The dance punk duo of Gorge Bones and Trey Razeldazl have an insatiable appetite for the stage and pushing the boundaries of how they use it to their. Watching the faces of new audiences as they take […]

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July 23, 2025

Pedal Steel Noah: “Head Over Heels”

Austin’s Noah Faulkner, known on stage as Pedal Steel Noah, has garnered a global fanbase by harnessing the Gen-Z power of social media to share his novel pedal steel covers of music of all genres from all decades. This keen sense and talent have earned him fans like Jonny Marr, members of Duran Duran, Frank […]

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July 17, 2025

Dorio: “Plastic Heart” [Live In Studio 1A]

There’s something about every song by Austin’s Dorio, the duo of Chad Doriocourt and Rachel Rascoe, that’s just sweet, sticky, and timeless. It simultaneously takes me to a certain sunny side of the 90’s; my old, cozy, West Campus apartment; and some of the best new music I’ve been listening to all year. It’s also […]

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July 16, 2025

Andrew Vineski: “Today”

Austin pianist Andrew Vineski is the embodiment of modern vintage and self-confidence. Many artists these days will tell you their sound is inspired by a bunch of obscure musicians, or that they’re modernizing an existing sound. But I like a good subversion, and in the current state of new music, owning a love for the […]

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July 15, 2025

The Allergies: “So Real”

“Big, bouncy, and fat.” That’s how BBC Radio 6 Music’s Craig Charles describes the Bristol-based funk duo the Allergies. Formed by DJ Moneyshot and Rackabeat, the pair have celebrated hit after hit– and not just singles, but full albums — an especially impressive feat in the streaming era. Not to be confused with neo-soul and […]

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July 14, 2025

Nikkiesha McLeod: “Rush”

New York’s Nikkiesha McLeod has been running parts of the city the last few years between drumming in bands; formerly hosting and co-producing the BIPOC, queer musician-centered podcast When We See Each Other; and being a published author. Their story, however, goes back to Trinidad & Tobago, to a ten-year-old child joining their local steelpan […]

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