Jack Anderson

Mr. Linen: “I Got You”

Way back in 2016, Austin producers Andre Cantave, Dave Madden, and David Messier released a pooch-smoochin’ love letter of sorts for KUTX Host Emeritus John Aielli with their eponymous lead single, “Mr. Linen“. We all pretty much thought the same thing; it’s wacky but catchy, cute but well-made, and we’d be lying if we said we didn’t want more.

A half decade later, Mr. Linen has fulfilled that wish with their summer-ready debut LP Stay Cool, toting a fun-loving yacht-pop style that’ll command any boat-appropriate playlist. Stay Cool sets sail just in time for July 4th weekend, and Mr. Linen celebrates with a virtual livestream at 6PM Central Time via their Facebook page. At one song over the traditional 8-track packaging, the French bulldog that is Mr. Linen clearly is a beast that can’t be fully contained, but that spare original is one of Stay Cool‘s finest given its place as the album closer (not to mention its ability to recall ’70s soft rockers like Kris Kristofferson and Loggins-Messina), “I Got You”!

Cautious Clay: “Karma & Friends” (At Home)

For folks hip to the playlist heavyweights of KUTX and, well, most NPR Music stations, the name Cautious Clay should be pretty familiar. Dating back to his debut single “Cold War” in the Fall of 2017, this Brooklyn singer-guitarist has brewed up a seductive concoction of R&B, hip-hop, and soul, with a delicate vocal delivery that’s sure to elicit a swoon or two.

On the Studio 1A veteran‘s latest release (and first full-length), Deadpan Love, Cautious Clay once again invites a strong sense of electronic production into the mix. But that doesn’t mean Clay can’t still rock it acoustic when he wants to. Check out an intimate, stripped-down set recorded at Orchard Studios in New York that Cautious Clay taped just for us right before Deadpan Love dropped, including some of the album’s strongest contenders, “Agreeable”, “Shook”, and “Karma & Friends”.

Jesse Beaman: “Immerse”

If you’re the type of listener who thinks talking, singing, and traditional song structures are all just a bunch of noise, you’re probably a fan of ambient music. Enter Austin multi-instrumentalist/composer Jesse Beaman, who’s recorded and toured the globe thoroughly under the handle My Empty Phantom for the past decade. Beaman’s laid out a resplendent blend of experimental rock and minimalist ambient, a style that’s naturally earned him film scoring opportunities for the likes of National Geographic.

In the past few years alone Beaman’s co-founded the production company and record label MAX / MIN, along with Interpol’s Brandon Curtis, who produced and recorded Jesse Beaman’s new LP, Mira, at his Vermont studio. You’ll be able to experience the full vision of Mira on July 16th, but feel free to turn on, tune in, and drop out early with the aptly-titled “Immerse”.

Palms Station: “I Don’t Know The Way To Your Heart”

Back in the ’90s, L.A.’s Hillel Tigay gained a reputation as ‘Dr. Dreidel’ in the satirical hip-hop group Member of the Tribe. Needless to say, some time has passed and some tastes have changed. Tigay’s since moved up from MC of M.O.T. to Musical Director of L.A.’s IKAR and has even more recently taken a leap further, transitioning into his solo singer-songwriter project Palms Station.

Though Tigay’s only got two tracks out as of yet, Palms Station gives you an instant commute back to the soundscapes of the ’80s and cools you off with modern psych-pop flourishes in the same ilk of Tame Impala or Dear Boy. With a new animated music video for his sophomore single out today, Palms Station is clearly capable of keeping cool in the summertime, so treat yourself to the breeze with “I Don’t Know the Way to Your Heart“!

Abram Shook: “Delusion”

After studying jazz in his longtime home base of Santa Cruz, California, songwriter-visionary Abram Shook took to the road and spent time in Boston and Portland before heading here to Austin. Soon after, Shook earned the distinction as our April 2015 Artist of the Month, thanks to his colorful aesthetic, make-it-look-easy performance prowess, and tightrope balance between soft-spoken lyrics and hard-hitting arrangements.

This Friday the three-time Studio 1A veteran has something new for fans to sink their incisors into, Velvet Teeth, an impressive array of psychedelic jazz-pop compositions that’ll leave you (as the kids say…) shook. The LP’s preceding singles all share the same mellow energy and give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from Velvet Teeth, such as “Delusion”, whose chill groove and subtle sonics floss between seductive and intoxicating.

Hiatus Kaiyote: “Red Room”

You’ve probably caught “Get Sun” a couple times on our airwaves and recently wondered, “when is HK gonna drop a new LP?”. Well, today, commemorating their first full decade together, Melbourne’s Hiatus Kaiyote just issued their third full-length, Mood Valiant. True to its name, Mood Valiant hears Hiatus Kaiyote taking a concentrated approach to their jazz-funk chill-out symphony, with each extended jam showing as much forethought as their more concise companions.

All in all, Mood Valiant is best experienced in its entirety, so that Hiatus Kaiyote can score you in and out of conscious thought, but if you need a quick intro to what may very well be your favorite record of 2021, look no further than “Red Room”!

Sarah Walk: “The Key”

After taking the first step with her 2017 debut twelve-track Little Black Book, Minneapolis singer Sarah Walk hit a stride of orchestral indie pop rock arrangements, poignantly honest lyrics, and above all, an immensely moving vocal delivery with each performance. Walk rinsed and repeated with similar patterns and formulas for her sophomore full-length, Another Me, last August, showing that she can give the likes of Imogen Heap and Florence and the Machine a run for their money. But for her third record, Walk’s backtracked into stripped-down subtleties.

Her six-song EP simply contains three alternate versions of Another Me compositions, along with a cover of fellow Minneapolis native Prince for a wispy listening experience. simply drops tomorrow and today you can unlock its driving final single, “the key”!

Michael Cormier: “More Light!”

As drummer for Friendship and songwriter for Hour, multi-instrumentalist Michael Cormier‘s already made quite the impact on Philadelphia’s music scene. And that’s not even including his solo work that dates back to his 2019 debuts Days Like Pearls and M-F, which both introduced us to the inherent human nature of Cormier’s profound folk.

In the brief couple years since, Cormier’s furthered himself even more from distractions to fully focus on his latest artistic offering, More Light!!!. As you may have been able to guess from its triple punctuation, More Light!!! illuminates Cormier’s passion with a bit more psychedelic energy than its stripped down folk predecessors, and you can catch some of its shine early with its just-released title track!

Armlock: “Power Of A Waterfall”

In their salad days of jazz standards, Melbourne multi-instrumentalists Simon Lam and Hamish Mitchell first connected over a mutual disgust in the genre they rehearsed academically. Fast forward a full decade, where, following shared endeavors with experimental electronic in I’lls and Couture, Mitchell and Lam are now tackling a lo-fi indie-shoegaze sound as Armlock.

Armlock released their debut Trust today, a seven-song whose delicate sonics imply an air of simplicity, masking how masterfully produced this record truly is. The poignant lyrics’ll tear straight to your core and the soft-spoken melodies (like those heard on “Power Of A Waterfall”) will leave you feeling melancholy in the best way possible.

Jah Sun & The Rising Tide: “Rock Paper Scissors”

With summer entering full swing and live music quickly trickling back, seasons are certainly changing. And all the earthly elements seem to be pointing the same way, Jah Sun & The Rising Tide. This California-bred reggae project has been surfing through the states in promotion of their upcoming album Running Through Walls, wrapping up a month-long leg that launched in late May this weekend in Texas.

Jah Sun & The Rising Tide brings their polished Caribbean sound to Empire Control Room this Wednesday along with Massachusetts’ Mighty Mystic, drops another new single from Running Through Walls on Friday, and makes your Monday a lot brighter with their latest song and video, “Rock Paper Scissors“.

Tortuga Shades: “Revolving” [PREMIERE]

With Texas heat slowing us all down to a turtle’s pace and in search of a cool spot out of the sun, there really is no better time for Tortuga Shades. This Austin four-piece first built up their carapace of R&B-blooded alt-rock with the 2017 EP Migrations, following it up with a spread-out pair of singles for each subsequent year, respectively.

Now Tortuga Shades is scuttling towards the release of their sophomore record Revolving later this summer, but its title track (and music video, both out today) lets you get a peek under the shell early on…

S.L. Houser: “Mirror”

For three quarters of a decade Sara Houser’s been at the front and center of Austin indie pop quartet Löwin and has laid down session vocals and piano for fellow KUTX favorites like Walker Lukens, Golden Dawn Arkestra, Otis Wilkins, Spoon, and A Giant Dog. But despite her prominent role in Löwin and impressive catalogue of contributions, nothing has fully sated the appetite for a songwriter of Houser’s caliber…until now.

Refreshed by a pandemic-long break and revisiting the same joyous spark that her craft invited during adolescence, Sara’s re-emerged under the moniker S.L. Houser. The new solo project finds Houser truly writing for herself for the first time in years, and considering her matured prowess at this point, we can’t help but feel excited for this new chapter. Said chapter kicks off today with S.L. Houser’s debut single, “Mirror”, reflecting lo-fi alt-rock tones of the ’80s and ’90s to champion the power of women in the musical realm.

dreamgoth: “cant wait to die”

Claiming Austin as their local haunt, guitarist-vocalist Marshal Spaulding has built up a repertoire of primarily electronic music under the handle dreamgoth. But as one might expect from the moniker, dreamgoth does indeed dabble with the dark arts of dreampop and shoegaze in their more recent arrangements, soon to be heard on their new EP damien grey.

Dropping July 1st, damien grey digresses a bit from dreamgoth’s typical formulas, venturing into the pop realm with some subtle new wave production elements, but where Depeche Mode “Just Can’t Get Enough”, dreamgoth doles out dreariness on “cant wait to die”!

Sam Pace and the Gilded Grit: “Hot Blood”

Specializing in what they call “soul surrealism”, Sam Pace and the Gilded Grit stir up flavors of blues, rock, funk, and of course, soul into their glowing blend, anchored by the eponymous frontman’s rugged baritone voice. Based right here in Austin, Sam Pace and the Gilded Grit got their start nearly a decade back with their 2012 LP The Feelin’, and following their evolution across 2014’s Rapture and 2018’s Judgment Eve, the matured group is ready to re-introduce themselves in full force with a new self-titled full-length.

Sam Pace and the Gilded Grit drops this Friday and the band celebrates this Saturday at Central Machine Works alongside Aaron Stephens and Nichole Wagner. And since that trademark Texas heat has finally shown up, there’s no better time to let “Hot Blood” keep you cool.

Indoor Creature: “Get Away” (KUTX Pop-Up)

For the past couple weeks you’ve heard plenty about our June 2021 Artist of the Month, Indoor Creature, a jazz-pop beast that’s evolved from a humble duo into a quaint quintet since their 2015 inception. And though Caleb Fleischer (keys/synth/sax/vocals) continues his tenure as Indoor Creature’s chief visionary, the effortless movement of interior specimen across the band’s third LP, Living In Darkness, has to be credited to the clockwork provided by all members.

After releasing Living In Darkness at the tail end of last month (and hosting My KUTX last week), Indoor Creature is set to celebrate their album release this Friday at The Ballroom. But if you’re still a little shaky on going out to live venues at this point in the pandemic timeline, you can still enjoy Indoor Creature in their natural habitat from the comfort of yours with a two-song session that includes both “Get Away” and “American Dream”!

fruit collective: “walk”

Though the restrictions of COVID-19 are cautiously lifting, certain social distancing implementations have proved fruitful for some. For example, before everyone got used to living behind their laptop and collaborating remotely, it wouldn’t have been all that easy to put together a trio whose members live in different metropolitan cities, but that’s exactly what happened with fruit collective.

The Chicago-Austin-Boston three-piece bears seeds of indie, pop, and R&B for their lo-fi harvest, transplanting the berries of the late Mac Miller and contemporary KUTX favorites like Clairo and Anderson .Paak into fruit collective’s fresh sound. We all know Friday is market day, so stock up on fruit collective for the weekend with the group’s gorgeous debut single, “walk”!

TEMPOREX: “New Lane”

Though he’s only in his early twenties, San Diego producer Joseph Flores is wise beyond his years. Under the moniker TEMPOREX, Flores has explored synth-y R&B soundscapes reminiscent of Prince and D’Angelo while approaching lyricism in a pop manner closer to what you’d expect from Paul McCartney. TEMPOREX first teased out a jazz-meets-electronic, Mac DeMarco-inspired sound on 2017’s Care but in the years that’ve since passed, Flores has worked up his A-game and hit a retro-future synth-soaked stride with his sophomore LP, Bowling.

Devoid of any gutter balls, Bowling aligns a whole alley’s worth of styles into a ten-pin package; it’ll make you dance, dig deep into emotions, and have you forgetting your troubles by the end of its final round. Bowling drops tomorrow but today you can check out your shoes early with the record’s latest single, the liquidly hip and stylishly self-aware “New Lane”!

Israel Nash: “Canyonheart” (Social Distancing Pop-Up)

A firm believer in the bucolic lifestyle, Missouri-born Israel Nash champions a contemporary brand of folk-Americana, dubbed “cosmic country”. With a voice that gives Neil Young a run for his money, plus mouth harp and six-string skills to boot, our September 2014 Artist of the Month has an innate ability to transport listeners straight out of city mindset and smack dab into an intergalactic pasture.

The Studio 1A veteran shares the wealth of his latest, Topaz, with a release show this Friday at Empire Control Room. So if your bond to nature could use some re-lashing, take a few minutes to breath in a passionate performance of “Canyonheart”, filmed last May on Nash’s own Dripping Springs property.

Sven Wunder: “Panorama”

Dating back to the heyday of film noir, jazz has always lent itself to an element of mystery. And for Swedish studio hermit Sven Wunder, jazz has allowed him to explore several eclectic satellite genres without relying on any concrete songwriting formulas, be it with the Anatolian rock and European jazz on 2019’s Eastern Flowers or the Pan-Asian elements heard on last year’s Wabi Sabi.

Regardless of where Wunder lands on the jazz spectrum, he’s set to continue the saga this Friday with Natura Morta, a cross-cultural full-length that examines humanity’s ties to nature and chips away at the walls dividing classical chamber orchestras and modern jazz bands at just under a dozen tracks. Natura Morta‘s sprawling sound isn’t the easiest to define on the whole, but there’s a timeless, nationless quality to the record’s latest single that recalls the oddities and fluidities of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, “Panorama”!

Loose Cattle: “Sidewalk Chicken”

Neither New York nor New Orleans are particularly renowned for their unbound livestock, but that could all change with Loose Cattle. With Michael Cerveris and Kimberley Kaye at the core, Loose Cattle first came out of the stable in 2011, and within that decade they’ve evolved from a duo to a quintet, from punk into alt-country, and just within the timeline of COVID, recorded their debut full-length.

Loose Cattle’s got the proverbial bull by the horns with the release of Heavy Lifting last Friday, rambunctious kickin’ out of the barn with its eleven rustic and sweltering originals including an urban twist on a fellow barnyard favorite with “Sidewalk Chicken”!