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April 25, 2024

Nick Taylor: “Dead Land Future”

Uncategorized

By: Jack Anderson

For native residents of cultural music hubs, the locale’s unique opportunities tend to be taken for granted. But for folks from comparatively podunk parts of the country, the prospect of a potentially transformative emigration is too good to pass up. Yeah, you can draw parallels to those poor Okies’ desperate westward flight from The Grapes of Wrath, but fortunately the chance of success for musicians is a lot higher than that of Depression-era protagonists.

So let’s talk Nick Taylor, whose sylvan Southeast Texas upbringing indoctrinated with country icons like Patsy Cline, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson. His tastes expanded to include classic rock and jazz, and the latter inspired a love of singing in high school. But the jazz bug bit it and quit it in some sense, since Taylor quickly ditched a formal degree in favor of the autodidact approach on guitar. And after acclimating to Austin, Nick Taylor put together a band, starting getting paid gigs, and apparently caught the right pairs of ears. We say that because Nashville producers ended up inviting Nick to “Music City, U.S.A.” to give his debut album that added Americana authenticity.

With that regional authority backing him, Nick Taylor only started sharing his stuff on streaming this year. Those singles have been coming out at roughly a monthly pace, incrementally revealing a fuller picture (seriously, check out the individual single artwork) of his introductory LP Not Alone in the process. Ahead of the record’s release on June 21st, plus a show 7-9PM tomorrow night at Austin Eastciders and again 6-8PM next Saturday at Frontyard Brewing out in Spicewood, Nick Taylor’s just gifted us the full-length’s fiddle-fueled fourth lead offering.“Dead Land Future“ was inspired by college days spent navigating a tightrope of Texas farmland master’s studies and hands-on agrarian labor, matching Nick’s rich baritone as he beckons us to find new ways to survive. Societally, it sure can feel like the buzzards are circling, but for Nick Taylor’s promising career, this is clearly only the beginning, no matter where he finds himself next.

April 11, 2024

Street Peach: “Heavy”

Uncategorized

By: Jack Anderson

If we’ve learned one thing from Destiny’s Child, it’s that vocal groups aren’t always limited to one breakout singer. Even if fate favors one over another in the long run. And that’s kind of lining up with how we see some of the expats from former Austin R&B trio Keeper.

See, while Keeper’s Yadira Brown has kept busy with longtime collaborator BoomBaptist through The Vapor Caves, her fellow Keeper co-founder Lani Thomison only started picking up speed with her solo project Street Peach in the past few months. As we already heard in Tomison’s work with Keeper, Street Peach’s techniques blend R&B, soul, and choral, plus (as you might’ve guessed from her handle) some extra urban sex appeal as well. Sure, Street Peach’s introductory standalone, “Qiller”, has kept us as sated as possible since May 2020. But truthfully, we’re already licking our lips over news of a full batch this fall.

That basket arrives this October in the form of Street Peach’s debut EP, Monarch, a seven-song spreading of wings created alongside producer Willie Green. And following Monarch‘s first offering that’s already enjoyed consistent spins on recent episodes of The Breaks (mid-February’s “Caroline”), another nubile installation just landed in our lap. “Heavy” lays the seduction on thick, thanks to delineated drums, drizzling synths, and a Sylvia Striplin-style chord progression channeled through a killer chorus guitar groove – one that makes the bed for Street Peach’s featherlight vocals. And those steamy conditions forecast for next week? They could get you sweatin’ juuust right for when Street Peach heats up the stage 7:15PM next Thursday at Hotel Vegas ahead of Daphne Tunes.

February 25, 2024

Byron Hurt and Althier Eady, pt. 2 (Ep. 13, 2024)

In Black America

By: John L. Hanson

This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. concludes his conversation with writer and filmmaker Byron Hurt and Althier Eady, granddaughter of Lee and Liza Hurt, discussing the development and production of Lee and Liza’s Family Tree, Hurt’s documentary film about the history of the Hurt family.

February 23, 2024

A Case For Curiosity Part II

Two Guys on Your Head

By: Rebecca McInroy

Have you ever wondered about something but didn’t ask about it because you thought it was something you should already know about? You may have worried someone might think less of you for not knowing. It turns out that that happens more often than we’d like to admit mainly because of subtle judgments we may have received early in life. However, curiosity is a vital part of what it means to be an intellectually flourishing human so how can we ensure we are nurturing curiosity in ourselves and others?

In part II of A Case For Curiosity with Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about strategies to cultivate curiosity.

January 21, 2024

John Saunders and Irv Cross (Ep. 8, 2024)

Uncategorized

By: David Alvarez

This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. presents a look back at African Americans in sports broadcasting in 1987, featuring interviews with the late John Saunders and Irv Cross, pioneers in television sports analysis at a time when African American broadcasters were rare.

January 3, 2024

The Midnight Stroll: “You Can Escape”

Uncategorized

By: Jack Anderson

Often the main ingredient in supergroup concoctions is a set of sonic similarities between the members’ preexisting independent projects. Other times, their territories barely border on each other, and yet the chemistry between the individual players is too good to pass up. So no, we’re obviously not talking about Lulu.

Instead, it’s The Midnight Stroll, a somewhat unlikely union between Ghostland Observatory frontman Aaron Behrens and Heartless Bastards lead guitarist Jonas Wilson. The Midnight Stroll began ten years back as a strictly solo venture for Behrens while GLO was on break, but after recruiting Wilson as producer and music director, it dawned on the pair to lean on their strength as equals. Wilson’s idiosyncratic interest in analog and homemade technology helped dictate the duo’s rock sound on 2015’s Heartbreak Boogaloo and 2017’s Western Static, before Ghostland beckoned Behrens back in 2018 and Wilson took up six-string duties with the Bastards. In the six years since then, we haven’t heard a peep from The Midnight Stroll. That is…until today.

This morning Wilson and Behrens rejuvenated the jaunt with “You Can Escape” a standalone single shared by Wilson’s own Mr. Pink Records. Its simplistic percussion rhythm lays the groundwork for Wilson’s grunge-ingrained guitar, stargazing synths, and Behrens wiry, weightless vocals, all for an empowering piece of retro-style alt-rock. So if Hump Day’s got you feeling like the walls of life are closing in on you, take this three-minute break to remind yourself…you can escape.

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