Jack Anderson

Having already provided both trumpet and keyboard for Wild Child as well as Austin’s Cake tribute group Icing, Matt Bradshaw is fully equipped to ignite the next phase of his songwriting career. You can expect a string of singles in the coming year that’ll encompass Bradshaw’s bold ’80s-inspired synth-soaked solitary hype-up aesthetic, and you can also expect to add his Walker Lukens-produced premiere, “Whatever It Takes”, to your own personal heavy rotation playlist!

---

–Jack Anderson

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

You’ve still got a couple days left of early voting in Texas, and even if you’re the type to wait until Election Day, Bay Area group Roots & Tings has the perfect track to get you through whatever lines you may encounter. It’s only been two months since Roots & Tings released their debut All of This, an album that thoroughly demonstrates their unabashed brand of socially conscious, Caribbean-tinged hip hop/reggae fusion, but R&T has already followed it up with an absolute knockout.

Be sure to check out the Headnodic remix featuring Rico Pabon when you can, and if you haven’t made a plan to vote quite yet, don’t worry; it’s still not too late for “Election Time”!

---

With the winds as high as they are in Austin right now, there’s no excuse not to fill your sails and cast away. Enter the Live Music Capital’s leading authority on yacht rock, Alex Chod, and his appropriately-christened vessel YATTE. YATTE (“YAH-tay”) has an uncanny ability to emulate and evoke sounds of the late ’70s and early-mid ’80s while interjecting a bit of modern wit and self-aware sarcasm every now and then.

Last Friday YATTE apprised their loyal crew of listeners with the reveal of their upcoming album Sweet Shelter, and this announcement came alongside a new Steve Winwood-esque single and animated music video, created by Chod himself with the magic of Blender. You’ll see Chod become the cartoon captain that he’s always internalized and the nostalgic high you’ll get from “Spirit Calls” is guaranteed to make you want to blow the dust off your old N64 cartridges and desperately dig through boxes to find that ever-elusive RGB adapter.

---

–Jack Anderson

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

As the son of Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, California-born and now Austin-based songwriter Elijah Ford has had the spirit of rock n roll coursing throughout his veins, even before he began touring with his father’s group Fuzz Machine at age seventeen. Collaborators have seemed increasingly keen on working with Ford, whose company has been enjoyed by the folks like Ryan Bingham, Juanita Stein, and most recently The Killers touring member Jake Blanton.

Blanton and Ford’s creative partnership is set to culminate with a dual effort LP sometime next year, preceded just last Friday with the release of its lead single, “The Line”!

---

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

---

---

It’s no secret that we here at KUTX adore Jackie Venson. This native Austinite’s take-no-grief principles matched with an infectious personality is perfectly encapsulated in Venson’s distinct brand of guitar-driven blues and soul, making her music a must during quarantine.

Jackie Venson hosts My KUTX tomorrow night at 6PM and today our multimedia team has unfurled a comfy counterpart, capturing the singer in her natural element (and joined by Dexter the corgi) as she wisps with cicadas on a gorgeous acoustic rendition of “Back To Earth” – off of last year’s Joy album. 

---

Credits:
Musician: Jackie Venson; vocals, guitar
Cameras: Michael Minasi; Edit: Michael Minasi; Audio Mix: Jake Perlman; Producer: Deidre Gott

---

 

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

Multi-instrumentalist/engineer David Butler and singer-songwriter Matthew Brue launched their Austin-based duo MISSIO not too long ago, and since their 2017 debut they’ve quickly accrued international acclaim thanks to their seductive strain of alternative indie electronic. Tomorrow MISSIO drops a new LP, Can You Feel The Sun, radiating with excellence across its ten phases of carefully calculated arrangements and robust structures.

MISSIO will showcase the album in its entirety on Saturday with two complete performances via livestream, and if that’s not enough to entice you, Esoteric of Czarface lent his vocals to one of the record’s lead singles, so lather up some sonic sunscreen ahead of the release with “Vagabond”!

---

-Photo: Alexandra Thomas

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

Though they’ve only been around for a couple years, Austin funk-soul collective Honey Made has a shared lifetime of experience. And while they’ve got no trouble recalling the sound of icons like James Brown or Sly & The Family Stone, Honey Made’s fresh take on the soul genre is anything but saccharine.

With the production help of Grammy winner Steve Berlin, Honey Made is set to take the lid off their debut full-length Brand New on November 6th, culminating with a virtual record release party that same evening (with 18% of proceeds going to the SIMS Foundation). The nine-piece glows across Brand New‘s ten tracks, drizzling with discipline, good taste, sincerity, and talent; just hear for yourself on the album’s title track!

---

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

When drummer Aaron Jaques first linked up with vocalist Benny Alley back in 2011, sparks flew right off the bat and the two didn’t waste any time establishing themselves with a series of recognizable remixes under the handle Bronze Whale. And for the past half decade, these auteurs have maintained complete control over their mixing and mastering process in addition to their artwork and promotion, surfacing sporadically with their unique hybrid of indie electronic arrangements and hip hop production.

But just in the past couple years, the fellas have been hungry for more, and as a result Bronze Whale’s process has since migrated towards that of more traditional songwriting, culminating in some one-of-a-kind originals. Just today Bronze Whale was kind enough to give us a KUTX-clusive first listen to their latest single, one that we think you’ll agree is far beyond just “Good Enough”!

---

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

Having started classical piano lessons at age four, those (figurative) ebony and ivory keys have stayed close to the heart of singer Roxi Copland. After dropping her debut EP in 2008, Copland built up an admirable reputation (and award recognition) across the Midwest with her hodgepodge of blues, jazz, and Americana. Copland’s since gone on to release another EP, a collaborative live album, a solo acoustic record, a pair of singles, and two full-band LPs, having released Bad Decision just before relocating to Austin, Texas.

Last Friday Copland showcased her wit and social awareness on a bluegrass-driven piece of satire, perfect for early voting season, “Daddy Don’t Do Politics”!

---

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

With lead vocalist, guitarist, and co-producer Omarr Escoffie behind the sonic steering wheel, Austin four-piece Omarr Awake has kept as busy as they can during quarantine. The quartet’s ever determined to push the boundaries of the rock genre and plan on doing so even further with the release of a new EP in the near future.

Tonight from 6:30pm-8:30pm Omarr Awake plays their first live show since March, celebrating their latest single release with a socially distanced outdoor concert at WTF Icehouse. And even if you’re content kickin’ it at home this evening, you can still dive into Omar Awake’s freshest track yet: a retro rock-soul tune whose prominent Moog work encapsulates the spaced out arrangements of the early-mid-’80s and lays the groundwork for Escoffie’s lyrical owning up to his erstwhile addiction and substance abuse, on “Maybe”!

---

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

While the social media world is consumed with Ocean Spray and Fleetwood Mac, Austin singer-guitarist Nick Diaz has just shared his own contribution to the aura of autumnal soft rock. It’s been a couple years since he’s released a new album under the name Buenos Diaz, and while 2018’s Gringo Novelas has tided us over for the most part, his steady stream of standalone singles reflects Diaz’s tireless perseverance, pandemic or not.

Last Friday Buenos Diaz dropped “Dream”, a surreal retro-style rock number that’ll definitely make you want to break out the longboard and cranberry juice throughout the weekend.

---

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

Native Austinite JP Pfertner got his start in 2009 fronting the rock outfit Built By Snow, but just as their success was boiling up, Pfertner shifted gears to become a solo bedroom producer under the handle Oh Look Now. Fast forward to 2020 where Pfertner’s taken yet another hard left turn, this time as Velcrowolf, showcasing his multi-instrumental talents and knack for lo-fi production in a way that almost mirrors the progression of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.

Faithful to the moniker, Velcrowolf is both fierce and easy to latch onto, and his debut album Destroyer of Batteries will make a great addition to your CD sleeve, be it physical or digital. Either way, you can wane off the Wednesday blues with Destroyer‘s inaugural track, “Walkman Wars”!

---

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

Born in Brooklyn and now bouncing between the Big Apple and Malibu, singer-guitarist Patty Smyth has spent more than a decade on the road with her backing band, kicking ass with her pre-existing catalogue of ferocious arrangements and fiery performances. But after nearly thirty years, this Grammy and Oscar nominee’s finally conceded to pleas for new material and returned with the appropriately-titled comeback It’s About Time.

Featuring two covers and six originals, this 8-track finds Smyth revitalized, completely in control of her element, and openly thankful for the relationships she’s kindled over time, namely on one celebrating twenty-five fulfilling years of marriage on “Build A Fire”!

---

–Photo: Melanie Dunea

Back when KUTX first started in 2013, one of early favorites was Austin singer Akina Adderley. But in the years since, Adderley’s devoted more and more of her time both as one third of retro “girl pop” trio Charlie Faye & The Fayettes and as the fearless orator at the head of world jazz group NORI, all the while continuing her legacy of bold, Afro-inspired vocals.

With early voting in Texas beginning tomorrow, Adderley’s unfurled her first solo single since 2012, once again boasting her gargantuan voice on a call to action that places Adderley in the pantheon of rock-soul champions like Aretha Franklin, on “Broke”!

---

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

---

Mélat is featured in ACL Fest 2020, Friday Oct. 9 at 7:45p. The Austin R&B singer-songwriter first played the Zilker Park fest in 2017.

---

NPR Live Sessions/KUTX – Shot in June 2020 by Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon, audio mixed by Jake Perlman

---

Though there’s an endless array of people claiming to “do it all”, Austin’s Mélat lives up to the expectation. This Studio 1A savant‘s pitch perfect vocals are just an introduction to the young songwriter’s already impressive discipline, which seems to mature with each new recording.

Back in June, Mélat treated the KUTX multimedia crew to a socially distanced pop up session right outside the George Washington Carver Museum alongside keyboardist Xavier Davis for an incandescent rendition of  “Happy Hour”, shot and edited by phenomenal Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon and mixed by the KUTX-quisite Jake Perlman. If that’s not enough of a star-studded cast for you, tune in to Mélat’s virtual ACL Fest tonight at 7:45PM and, if you’re so inclined, complement your free “Happy Hour” download with a pre-game drink before you virtually hit the park.

---

---

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

If you’re a longtime listener of KUTX then you’re already familiar with Kydd Jones, but in case you’re not, this Austin-based producer-rapper-singer maintains a steady output that navigates across the hip-hop spectrum. You’ll be listening to a track that sounds like early-’00s-era Madvillain one minute and the next you’ll hear one that evokes an aura not unlike modern day Frank Ocean.

Last Friday Kydd Jones launched a social media takeover of performing rights organization BMI, doing so with two new sleek singles from the double A-side Skate World, and even though both the title track and “No Smoke” ring in at just under two minutes, Kydd proves once again that quality supersedes quantity.

---

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

We all know Steve Aoki’s reputation as an internationally renowned DJ, but recently the thrill seeker’s downshifted just a bit from the nonstop globetrotting and beatmaking to found his Latin underground label Dim Mak En Fuego, shining the spotlight on rising artists like Venezuela’s Andrekza.

Born in San Antonio de los Altos and now based out of L.A., this flamboyant, mononymous creative director, photographer, and singer has a promising career ahead of her, especially if her debut R&B-pop single and music video “TÉ” is any indicator of what’s to come!

---

–Photo: Joshua Carter

Back in the late ’80s there was this post-punk quartet About The Poets, and while we haven’t heard from that iteration of ATP since ’88, the Wisconsin four-piece has recently re-emerged under the new handle A Thousand Plateaus.

Listening to their debut eight-track makes you question whether those three decades even went by, since A Thousand Plateaus maintains that early indie rock and cold wave style that made ATP’s understated alt-rock a must-listen in the first place. Keep your fingers crossed that this is only the inaugural landmark from A Thousand Plateaus, and bask in the time-transcending album opener from ATP’s eponymous rebirth, “Even The Sun Has A Dial”!

---

Born in Cuba and currently calling Paris her home, multi-instrumentalist Yaite Ramos Rodriguez has hit her stride as La Dame Blanche. This singer, flautist, and percussionist has kept the Afro-Cuban style at the core of her music, while incorporating strong elements of Cumbia, Reggaeton, Dancehall and Hip-Hop to promote female empowerment.

The latest from La Dame Blanche came in the form of her latest LP, Ella, a Spanish language tribute of sorts to Ramos Rodriguez’s mother through ten tracks of pro-women positivity. It’s a remarkable record that merits several listens and you can get started now with “La Incondicional”!

---

Well, it’s Flashback Friday and we’ve got some ’80s goodies for ya! It wasn’t all that long ago that Austin outfit Calliope Musicals contributed their fair share to Slack Capital 3, rounding out the 41-song mega-compilation with the benefit album’s final track.

And while quirky retro aesthetics have always been near and dear to these Studio 1A performers, they really hit it home on their rendition of Talking Heads’ “Heaven” when SC3 came out back in June. But today they’ve taken it a step further with a music video that’s just surreal and bizarre enough to match David Byrne’s aura, and you can get a first look in the link below!

---

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