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Song of the Day

By: Jack Anderson

Seven years since first seeing the shared potential between two fellow Berklee students, Holiday Mountain is back once again! We’ve learned since 2011 that vocalist-keyboardist Laura Patiño’s proclivity towards the stylings of Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse couples perfectly with drummer-producer Zander Kagle’s extensive knowledge of Latin, reggae and of course – electronic music. From the get-go, Holiday Mountain enthralled audiences with their live shows in Austin and beyond, eventually releasing their first studio album in 2015 with You Be You, Part One, following it up with 2016’s SHIA. Holiday Mountain left the live music capital and are currently bringing down the house in Brooklyn and packing in tour dates left and right. In the midst of all of Holiday Mountain’s activity, Patiño and Kagle have followed up their standalone single “Crawl Back” with the premiere of a brand new song that’s upbeat, uplifting and overall smile inspiring – “All Night”.

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

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

A name like Rosie & the Riveters paints a fairly specific image in your head. You think of a vintage sound, a majority or completely female outfit, and some sharp-tongued lines in songs with a lot of real talk. If that’s about what you’ve got in your head, go all in with that hand because that’s exactly what these Canadian female dynamos deliver. Back with their sophomore LP Ms. Behave, the trio returns with each member more developed individually and more gelled collectively. Their stark difference in approach to this album is reflected probably the most in the lyrics. Their debut featured a lot of songs that were positive and inspiriting, but the 3 or so years between the albums afforded ample time to contemplate the state of womanhood on all scopes. The result is an album chock full of acid-laced lines and thought-provoking perspective. “Ms. Behave” epitomizes all of this.

“Ms. Behave” appears on Ms. Behave, out April 6th and available now for pre-order.

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

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

When you hear Austin’s Midcentury, you’d swear their discog was several albums deep. Their sound is developed and carefully crafted in such a way you’d think they share neurons, and the members gel so well together, it feels like you’re listening to a band that’s had it down and together for years…just the sort of perks you enjoy when you are in a band with your buds and you have been playing together for years (in several bands). These righteous dudes stopped by our Studio 1A last week in support of their debut album Modern Nostalgia–an incredibly accurate title. Taking spheres of yacht, indie, and classic rock and funk and orbiting it around a 21st-century center of energy, the danceable grooves are augmented by Bruce Smith, Jr’s deep and carrying vocals and punctuated by the 80’s-inspired sax stylings of Leslie Matthews. Just try to sit still.

“Warrior” appears on Modern Nostalgia, out now. Check out the rest of their Studio 1A here.

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

Song of the Day

By: Jack Anderson

Based out of New York (as opposed to Olden York) the up-and-coming four-piece Olden Yolk releases their debut self-titled this Friday. Initially conceived in 2012 by fronting vocalist and instrumentalist Shane Butler as an outlet to channel single songs, visual art as well as touring and releasing albums with the band Quilt but after the release of a split-record with Weyes Blood in 2014, Olden Yolk became the collaborative entity it is today.

Their “dysfolkian” aesthetic is undeniably infectious but words don’t do Olden Yolk’s sound justice – there’s no need to hold out a WHOLE THREE DAYS – get in there with a free download of Olden Yolk‘s lead single “Vital Sign”!

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

Song of the Day

By: Jack Anderson

Local bilingual folk-pop figure Gina Chavez is returning with a new EP – one that not only commemorates a significant sonic shift but indeed twelve years of unprecedented love. Already bestowed with nine Austin Music Awards, an NPR Tiny Desk performance and frequent tours as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department, Chavez and her 6-piece band, currently known for their acoustic Latin aural accoutrements, have steamed up their sound with a transition towards smooth pop-peppered soul. That transition is manifested in the upcoming five-track EP Lightbeam – due for release later this summer. Lightbeam features some of Chavez’s most personal lyrics to date, alluding to her journey of falling in love with and eventually marrying another woman as a Catholic Latina living in Texas. Chavez is already booked for performances in Kyrgyzstan and the UK as well as SXSW 2018, but you can enjoy some of the new stuff right now with the recently released single,  “Heaven Knows”.

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

Song of the Day

By: Jack Anderson

Eager to kick off the weekend with brand new tunes?! Native Texan Matthew McNeal released his sophomore full-length album Good Luck today – thirty four minutes of analog excellence recorded with Israel Nash’s band right here in the Lone Star State. Good Luck will warm any digitally-produced -drained listener with it’s soft -rock sensibilities. McNeal stops by KUTX’s Studio 1A next Wednesday but get right to it with a free download of “Run”! Good Luck trying not to rock out to this one.

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

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

Photo by Michelle Waggoner

The young and talented-beyond-her-years Bonnie Montgomery comes strolling with purpose out of the dust of a small Arkansas town and onto the rising country scene. Her music is of a different time, but her progressive lyrics (don’t worry, she talks about the classic country cases too) offer a refreshing update to the sometimes less-than-savory stories and lines from the outlaw country songs of yesteryear. Inspired by Willie Neslson’s Phases and Stages album and recorded in Dale Watson’s own Ameripolitan Studios right here in Austin, Texas, Montgomery’s sophomore album Forever picks up just where her debut left off, this time forming a concept album about life, the proverbial road, and “the mysticism of West Texas.”

“No More,” is like an outlaw country anthem for the #metoo movement. Implementing pop-country influences from an era more Yoakam than Lynn or Cline, Montgomery tells it like it is with an appropriately sharpened tongue. “You treat me just like trash…I’ve seen this before…I ain’t gonna be your woman no more.” Backed with a catchy arrangement and a satisfying amount of fiddle, this song is the song all the proud country women should be shouting and singing along to over and over and over again.

“No More” appears on Forever, out now via her website.

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

Song of the Day

By: Taylor Wallace

Despite being made-up of two married couples, the controls of the Blushing machine are (wo)manned by the wives. Kicking it back to 2015, Christina Carmona had a written a number of songs she knew were ready to be brought to life, but she needed a band and more immediately, a singer. Turning to friend Michelle Soto, the two formed a band and began the quest to fill out the instrumentation, which they ended-up finding perfectly in the men who introduced them–their spouses, longtime friends Jake and Noe. Together they recorded Christina’s songs and released their debut EP in 2017. Now, their follow-up EP Weak is much more collaborative, a reflection of time writing and playing together with the people you’re most intimate with.

“Bound” epitomizes the Blushing brand. A dream-pop wind-tunnel that has plenty of drive and momentum, but takes pockets of time to slow down and let the layers air out and feel their way around each other, all with Soto’s lofty vocals serving as the eye of the tunnel. Waxing and waining between the soft pockets are fuzzy storm clouds of layers and layers of shoegazey-tastiness.

“Bound” appears on the EP Weak, out now via Austin Town Hall Records. Check out the rest of Blushing’s Studio 1A here.

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