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Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

JaRon Marshall honors the documentary The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 by christening his latest set of recordings as The Black Power Tape, released just yesterday. In the film, Goran Hugo Olsson pieced together years of rediscovered footage recorded by the Swedish National Broadcasting Company, covering the Black Power and anti-war movements. It’s candidness and relevancy inspired Marshall to present his own musical narrative in four parts:  Rage (“Last June”), power (“Power”), pride (“FORWHTITSWRTH”), and peace (“Beginning of The End”). The introspection becomes external expression.

Marshall feels the connections between funk, neo-soul, jazz, hip-hop and R&B, all vital elements to his creative process. From all of this springs a fresh talent that crosses genres. At age 26, he plays keys for Black Pumas, has performed at several international music festivals, and is making waves with recent releases,\ The Gold Tapes: Vol. 1-3, and now The Black Power Tape.

Coming up – JaRon Marshall & The Collective are the featured guests on Monks Jazz Livestream at 7:30 p.m. Central tomorrow night, Sunday September 27, on YouTube. This one comes very recommended.

-Image courtesy of the artist.

Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

Having a foggy memory at best, thanks to years of endless music absorption, your Austin Music Minute host has some wires crossed when recalling exactly when I first heard The Sour Notes. Their 2010 release It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty figures prominently, thanks to “Do-ers and Say-ers.” But even before then, there were repeated plays of “Holy Terror” from their 2009 LP Received In Bitterness. Then again, revisiting the band’s 2008 debut, The Meat of the Fruit, brings back a flurry of memories.

Through line-up changes, highs and lows, one hell of a discography – including an album of Sour Notes remixes by fellow Austin artists, loads of press and endless touring, The Sour Notes are still creating like mad. These days, founding members Jared Boulanger and Amarah Boulanger perform as a trio with drummer Jeremy Harrell. And, finding time to pause during the pandemic like so many of their musical colleagues, they’re using this moment to reflect on their career. Join The Sour Notes for an all-Sour Notes Video Retrospective at 10 p.m. (Central) tonight, Wednesday September 2, on Austin Music Television Channel 16 and at AMT’s website.

-Video image art courtesy of Jared Boulanger.

Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

Yesterday’s Q&Q live stream with …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead on Facebook had a little bit of everything for the ultra-fan. Jason Reece, Conrad Keely and AJ Vincent (who hovered in the back on a studio computer screen, social-distance style) shared tour stories, venue memories, thoughts on concept albums, how playing live stream shows feels, tidbits on all the goods, really. Like, “Will You ever do Worlds Apart in its entirety?” 

And…there were the basic…basics: “If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be?” 

Laughter erupted. “That sounds like hell,” Reece chuckled.

“Oooh man, that’s brutal,” Keely said. “What a brutal question. It’d be an album called Spotify.”

“Lou Reed‘s Metal Machine Music,” Reece chimed in.

Vincent had no earthly idea, and rightly so. I mean, how does one even begin…?!

But that’s the best part of Q&A’s with your favorite band, riffing back and fourth and having fun with it, which is exactly what the guys did, all in anticipation of this evening’s big event. This is the third Trail of Dead livestream show during the pandemic, and the longest livestream set to date, including many rare and never-before-played songs. The show starts at 8 p.m. (Central) tonight, Friday August 14, live from the Mosaic Sound Collective studio.

You can get your virtual ticket from Trail of Dead’s website. Click on the AUGUST 14 date on the right. Twenty percent of ticket sales will be donated to select independent record stores across the U.S., which are struggling to remain open because of COVID-19. And Trail of Dead merch is also available.

-Photography by Michael Minasi for KUTX.

Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

This is magical. No two ways about it. Delve deeply into an ethereal experience made orchestral with beautiful voices and layers of strings, horn, organ and percussion placed within some undefinable cinematic landscape. Dwight Smith presents poetry lovingly created with extraordinarily-placed sounds – unusual in the fact that the arrangements of these new songs cannot be stiflingly placed within one single genre.

Ghost Town Atlas, featuring a few familiar talents contributing to the songs, including Molly Burch, Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski, is a compellingly beautiful portrait with a distinctive voice reaching beyond any singular definition of folk. Join Smith for his album release show tonight at Cheer Up Charlie’s, 901 Red River, sharing the bill with Daphne Tunes and Food Group.

An outstanding bill all around. Doors at 9 p.m. Very recommended.

-Photography by Nathan James Wilkins.

Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

There is something unmistakably devastating about a kind of beauty that leaves one unsettled, unnerved. This is one of the only ways your humble Austin Music Minute host can describe the music of Cross Record.

Austin-based songwriter, vocalist, musician and death worker Emily Cross has a key to unlocking depths that are rarely visible from the surface. Your ears and mind are compelled to dive into the darkest waters to explore difficult emotions, or the oldest lessons rarely learned the first time around. But you’re drawn toward it, a singular truth to haunt you forever, even if it fades over time.

Before embarking on a September tour, Cross Record performs on an outstanding double bill featuring another much-beloved AMM favorite, Lomelda, tonight at Radio Coffee and Beer, 4204 Manchaca Rd. The music starts at 8 p.m. Very recommended.

-Photo courtesy of the artist.

Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

Behold this dynamic duo to keep your ears out for, combining a beautiful sound with just the right tinge of something slightly dark. Of course your Austin Music Minute maven digs this.

Robin Alice (that’s a duo, not a person) began as a meeting of musical minds on a movie set. Songwriter and actress Kelley Jakle and Jeff Hortillosa (Whiskey Shivers) crossed paths during the filming of Pitch Perfect 3 – and technically where Jakle and Horti played their first songs together. They continued their collaboration via email, and reunited in Austin to get their ideas recorded. With contrasting backgrounds of pop/rock and bluegrass/Americana, respectively, the two artists forged a common thread of melody and harmonies.

Robin Alice celebrates the release of their debut EP, Here and There, with a show tonight at Radio Coffee & Beer, 4204 Manchaca. The magnificent Lex Land’s project of funereal folk-core (your elder-goth AMM host is ECSTATIC), One Big Dark Room, starts out the night.

Say it with me: One. Big. Dark. Room. The music starts at 8 p.m. Recommended.

Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

Keep those walking shoes on. You still have a lot to cover as you pound the pavement to some great performances tonight during South-By. The Austin Music Minute humbly offers you this little cross section of recommendations:

-The Chicken Ranch Records showcase at Valhalla, 710 Red River, includes AMM fave Mr. Lewis & The Funeral Five, LA surf punks Thee Idylls, New Delhi electronic artist Komorebi and more.

-A world/Latin/urban music showcase at Speakeasy, 412 Congress Ave., includes performances by Columbian bands Los Gaiteros de Ovejas, La Mojarra Electrica, singer Mabiland and more.

–Self-Sabotage Records hosts a showcase at the Museum of Human Achievement in East Austin, featuring Little Mazarn, exhalants, Daniel Francis Doyle and others.

–LIZZO is on the bill for a showcase at Stubb’s, 801 Red River, which includes King Princess, Car Seat Headrest, Cherry Glazerr, and Durand Jones and The Indications. 8 p.m.

-Photo of Mabiland courtesy of the artist.

Austin Music Minute

By: Laurie Gallardo

The celebration of Austin-based artists continues with #LoveAustinMusicMonth. KUTX is front and center with extra love for local artists across the board.

The bill mentioned on today’s Austin Music Minute is something special because it brings together different generations – classic Austin with a couple of badass music veterans, and a rising star in the local scene. They all share the line up tonight at The Continental Club, 1315 S. Congress Ave. It’s a cross section of what makes our fair city pretty damn cool:

-Not for the faint of heart, or easily-wounded egos. Which is exactly how it should be, damn it. He’s been called a poet, a razor-sharp master of sociopolitical commentary, acerbic, brave, and on fire. James McMurtry tells it like it is, and shows no mercy. Again…as it should be.

-Three-time Austin Music Hall of Fame inductee, former True Believers band member alongside Alejandro Escovedo, as well as a member of Austin’s first punk band The Skunks, a survivor, and all-around fantastic songwriter, Jon Dee Graham aims straight from the heart.

-His first gig was at the age of six at the Austin Music Awards. His debut release Foreign Fields (2015), recorded with his band The Painted Redstarts, scintillates with a breathy, dream-pop/rock-out aesthetic. William Harries Graham‘s new album JAKES comes out Feb.22.

Doors open at 9 p.m., and the music kicks off at 9:45 p.m. So recommended.

-Photo of William Harries Graham courtesy of the artist.