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Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

All this week, Song of the Day exclusively brings you artists playing SXSW 2018 (official and unofficial) 

Caroline’s back! And this time she’s got a loaded bag of tricks exploding with different sounds and moods to match any and all of yours. Track-to track her sophomore album Loner shifts between smoother indie pop gems and shorter, edgier dance anthems. “Bikini” lands squarely on the latter, and as Caroline herself puts it, “it’s my riot grrl feminist surf punk anthem.” A venom-tongued song about the suffocating standards the entertainment industry puts on the female-identifying and the toxic quid pro quo they’re expected to not only accept, but be grateful for, Rose cleverly pens these riot grrl lines to surf-rock-meets-rockabilly sounds that slap your ear hairs with Wanda Jackson flair in a 2018 head space.

Caroline Rose SXSW Dates
Wednesday, 3/14 || Austin Festival Express Day Party
Wednesday, 3/14 || Stubhub Next Stage **
Thursday, 3/15 || Vinyl Me Please: Rising SXSW Showcase **
Friday, 3/16 || Antone’s **
Saturday, 3/17 || Brooklyn Country Cantina
** indicates SXSW official showcase

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

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

All this week, Song of the Day exclusively brings you artists playing SXSW 2018 (official and unofficial) 

If folk noir is a genre, Montreal’s Common Holly — real name Brigitte Naggar — has got it wrapped around her capo. Making use of the white space between layers and breaths, Naggar’s album Playing House is the product of introspection and experience, a meditation on taking what life gives you in stride and using the experience to better arm yourself for the future. “Nothing” specifically takes on the emotional fallout of romantic love and having to make the mature, though difficult, decision to leave someone be in order for them to heal, even if it kills you. Her writing is that of a young sage, coming from a personal and contemplative place that is unparalleled wisdom without pontification. The song’s theme and sonic landscape are reminiscent of Margaret Glaspy’s Emotions and Math EP — dark, emotional, and complicated– but Naggar’s softer perspective allows her to maintain a sound and voice all her own, highlighted by her minimalist use of her guitar and full use of her voice, harmonizing with herself in a way that at the same time feels haunting and beautiful. Her music might make you a bit sad and pluck at some of those heartstrings you worked so hard to silence, but one thing you won’t feel is alone.

Common Holly SXSW Dates
3/14 || Sports Day Records
3/15 || After the Gold Rush VI
3/15 || Brooklyn Vegan
3/16 || Music For Listeners
3/16 || Pop Montreal
3/17 || Biker Gang Booking

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

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

All this week, Song of the Day exclusively brings you artists playing SXSW 2018 (official and unofficial) 

 Photo by Félix De Portu 

Pulling you off the wall, through a time warp, and onto an 80s dancefloor are local indie heartthrobs TØMA. Imbibing heavily from the fountain of British new wave and noshing a bit on the sounds of contemporary groups like Phoenix , co-frontdudes Waldo Wittenmyer and Henry Johnson share a songwriting soul, juxtaposing charming harmonies and high-energy melodies with deeply emotional lyrics, usually concerning affairs of the heart. Now with a couple releases under their belt, the quartet (filled out by bassist Dillon Randolph and drummer Stijn Dobbelaere) is moving towards capturing their fun-if-not-anachronistic energy with a series of singles and music video releases. Their newest single wastes no time getting to the core of their sound, hitting you full-on in the face with poppy synth bloops and a bass line that grooves. Everything that comes after is classic, danceable, tasty TØMA.

Check out TØMA’s 2017 Studio 1A

TOMA SXSW Dates
Tuesday, 3/13 || Hole in the Wall Day Party
Tuesday, 3/13 || Empire Control Room
Thursday, 3/15 || Ginger Man
Thursday, 3/15 || Hole in the Wall
Thursday, 3/15 || 21st Street Co-op
(all shows are unofficial)

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

Song of the Day

By: Jack Anderson

For the next two weeks, Song of the Day exclusively brings you artists playing SXSW 2018 (official and unofficial) 

Amassed around the offerings of Austin-based songwriter and visual artist Blair Robbins, local four-piece Ama hasn’t faced much difficulty winning over listeners with their brand of distorted, noise-heavy rock. Though three of Ama’s four hail from the original Milezo lineup, Ama’s aural landscape provides something much different. Complementing the work of legends like Neil Young, Courtney Barnett and Elliott Smith, Ama’s sound wanders from stark ambience to country swing to soulful grooves and pop melodies all in the same session.

Ama dropped their debut EP Losing Less late last year, and today they unveil their sophomore EP, Trilogy – three songs each with an accompanying painting created by Robbins. Ama celebrates the release of Trilogy tonight for free at the Electric Church alongside Batty Jr., Daphne Tunes, Why Bonnie, and The Stacks. Ama also gets unofficial with it next Saturday at The Fest For Last – another free show at Hole in the Wall featuring a solo performance from Ama’s Blair Robbins as well as Sphynx and Chakra Khan. Get a glimpse of Ama’s sound right now with the centerpiece of Trilogy – a tune about overcoming reservations and embracing romance – “Love Demons”.

Ama SXSW Dates

Friday 3/9 || EP Release & Art Show – Electric Church

Saturday 3/17 || The Fest For Last – Hole in the Wall

– Jack Anderson (Host Monday-Wednesday 8-11pm, Saturday 6-10am)

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

For the next two weeks, Song of the Day exclusively brings you artists playing SXSW 2018 (official and unofficial) 

Photo by Kate Blaising

Dropping on you like a new-wave charm bomb and exploding with as much color, attitude, and energy as your younger sister who threw-up rainbow-colored cake at your 9th birthday party comes Go Fever, a pop-rock-meets-new-wave outfit who, in just 2 years, has gone from obscurity to ubiquity– making the ascension from hopping on bills where they can to becoming a go-to headliner for almost any booker and venue in this city.

Equal parts charm and attitude is the magic formula here, brilliantly executed by their force of a frontwoman, Austinite-by-way-of-Australia Acey Monaro, who splices her charming melodies with razor-tongued, tell-off lyrics before letting it organically flow from her aura to yours and heimliching whatever pedestrian funk you’ve been choking on. All of Acey’s infectious songwriting is consistently delivered at the funkiest of standards thanks to her band, bulked-up with Sweet Spirit drummer Josh Merry and Star Parks’s Benjamin Burdick and Keith Lough. Go Fever have a new record coming out later this year (that we’ll be keeping our finger on), but today we kick it with one of their setlist standards, one you’re guaranteed to hear at at least one of their many, many shows this SXSW. A meditation on the emotional journey, for better or worse, from romantically being somebody’s everything to being nobody’s anything.

Check out Acey’s recent My KUTX guest DJ session and Go Fever’s Studio 1A debut.

Go Fever SXSW Dates
Saturday, 3/10 || NLand Surf
Monday, 3/12 || Do512 Strange Brew- Hotel Vegas
Tuesday, 3/13 || Spiderhouse
Wednesday, 3/14 || MGM Showcase- Lucille’s**
Friday, 3/16 || Nine Mile Records Showcase- Hotel Vegas **
Friday, 3/16 || OVRLD Party- Fine Southern Gentlemen
Saturday, 3/17 || Project ATX6 Showcase- Maggie Mae’s**

** indicates official SXSW showcase

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

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

For the next two weeks, Song of the Day exclusively brings you artists playing SXSW 2018 (official and unofficial) 

Hailing from the Okie lands of the North comes Norman Oklahoma’s BRONCHO, a high-energy garage-punk outfit whose sound and lineup have evolved throughout their 8-year, 3-LP history. The group’s sound has smoothed out as its filled-out, trading sharp-nosed guitar riffs and a gritty edge for buttery melodies and a more subdued, indie attitude that sets the guitar in the thick of the sound instead of driving it. BUT, as great as their newer sound is, the heart of the punk-rocker still beats on underneath, and we’re celebrating that classic BRONCHO momentum with this gem we dug out of our archives.

“Record Store” comes from their first Studio 1A appearance back in 2013 in support of their debut album Can’t Get Past the Lips. Ironically both anchored and driven by catchy guitar riffs laced with frontman Ryan Lindsay’s androgynous voice and loose enunciation, it’s garage-punk to increase your heart rate and curl your lip, wrapped in just the right amount of pop-punk to make it all stick in your head.

Check out the rest of that Studio 1A session here.

BRONCHO SXSW Dates
Monday, 3/12 || Hotel Vegas
Tuesday, 3/13 || Spider House
Wednesday, 3/14 || Parish**
Thursday, 3/15 || Bungalow**
Friday, 3/16 || Little Woodrows
Saturday, 3/17 || Mohawk
Saturday, 3/17 || Clive Bar**

** indicates official SXSW showcase

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

Song of the Day

By: Jack Anderson

Finding yourself furiously furrowing your brow at a lack of innovative dance music in your city? Open your eyes and ears to the self proclaimed prophets of funk and descendants of disco – the up-and-coming local five-piece Whiite Walls. Equipped with an arsenal of retro-80s grooves built atop modern production techniques, Whiite Walls is sure to get any dance floor moving and feed that energy back into their own performances for a gorgeous cycle of shared live energy. You can enjoy that live energy when Whiite Walls performs this Friday at Hotel Vegas and this Sunday at Spiderhouse part of All the Friends Ball (sponsored by KUTX 98.9). Feeling the need to satiate your four-to-the-floor fascination? Whiite Walls premieres their previously-unheard tune “Fine Fitting” right here on KUTX!

–Jack Anderson (Host Monday-Wednesday 8-11pm, Saturday 6-10am)

Song of the Day

By: Jack Anderson

Despite the possibility that they may be permanently trapped in a 1980s mindset, local trio Sphynx is always pushing their retro-modern sound to its limits. The three-piece had already endured seven long years of arduous touring before enjoying an auspicious 2017 in which Sphynx released two EPs, one full-length and opened for acts like ?uestlove and Walk The Moon across stages nationwide. Instead of taking a much-deserved breather, Sphynx is currently snowballing their concentrated energy with a six-stop tour in the UK before returning to their native Austin for several official SXSW gigs. Sphynx just dropped the first of what is to be a series of 2018 releases – a single that fits equally well in a modern synth-pop playlist as it would in the soundtrack of a Miami Vice episode – “Patterns”.

– Jack Anderson (Host Monday-Wednesday 8-11pm, Saturday 6-10am)