Song of the Day

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February 8, 2024

Ash and the Endings: “Victor’s Trap”

By: Jack Anderson

In the eons since Prometheus’ divine theft, we’ve figured out that starting a fire from anything is better than completely starting from scratch, even if it’s a step up from a random damp spot to a ring of rock. It’s true; even if your last burn didn’t leave any charcoal, the ashes of the past can still kindle in new contexts. And that’s not just Camping 101. It also rings true for a local outfit.

And that’s Ash and the Endings, founded and fronted by namesake lead singer Ashton Chase alongside four embers…er…members. Ranging from quadruple digit sessions and concerts, to acting and penning theatre, to running a floral design company, each member’s background lends itself to Ash and the Endings’ eclectic style and ability to give old experiences new beginnings. Starting off with their eponymous Summer 2022 LP, this quintet’s continued to dust off nooks of psych rock, three-part harmonies and all, across their expansive alt-rock attic.

If you want to catch Ash et al live, they’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day 8PM next Wednesday at Far Out Lounge with openers Betty Benedeadly at 7 and closers NSFWho at 9. And although their latest studio offering doesn’t officially drop until tomorrow, the band was gracious enough to pry back the spring and let us crawl into “Victor’s Trap”. A perfect preface to Valentine’s Day, this reflection on intrinsic attractiveness, dating apps, and sex appeal in commercial music will easily infiltrate any ’90s grunge playlist. It might not be as romantic as a Victor Hugo novel, but it kicks off with a stirring bass line, that gears you up for gritty guitar, impressive vocal intervals, obliterating drums, and one heck of a long tail after a rolling cadence of a bridge. Not a fan of Ash and the Endings yet? “Victor’s Trap” might just snatch you up.


Episodes

February 20, 2025

Persona 749: “Stereo Girl”

From the hockey rink of the University of Utah to the mean streets of New York City comes Persona 749. After being inspired through music heard at college parties, Landon Langenbrunner and Che Landikusic started writing music, but without real direction, they were making music from a place of fun, playing around in the sandbox […]

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February 19, 2025

Maddy Kirgo: “Spare”

New Orleans’s Maddy Kirgo writes music not only akin to the eclectic, all-embracing attitude of the Big Easy, but also to the sounds currently pouring out of its venues, or in her case, the buskers on the corner. To that end, her sounds simultaneously evokes the California country rock sounds of the nudie suit era […]

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February 17, 2025

MIEN: “Evil People” (Live In Studio 1A)

We all know that when an artist is featured on a song, it’s likely that they recorded it remote and sent the track to the main artist. But how does it work when you’re a quartet and only 2 of y’all live in the same place? To ask the members of Austin experimental psych band […]

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February 14, 2025

Kowloon: “Heart Begins With You”

L.A.’s Kowloon is truly a one-man operation. Songwriting? Him. Instrumentation? Him. Recording, production? Yep, all Kowloon. Backed by a full library of effects and music gadgets from various eras, Kowloon released a string of singles last year, demonstrating his affinity for the darkwave sounds of the 80s a la the Cure and Bronski Beat. Ahead […]

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February 13, 2025

Tommy Francisco: “Tommy’s Groove”

Even a piping hot bowl of tokontsu ramen can’t fully shake-off today’s bone chill, but maybe the headspace of partying on a yacht in Mallorca can. Austin native Tommy Francisco hit the scene in 2020 with “Fever,” giving him an international audience and proving his ability to blend his Latin and Indigenous backgrounds into a […]

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February 12, 2025

Serebii: “Verrans Corner”

Auckland, New Zealand’s Callum Mower, known as Serebii, has always focused on pushing forward. Forward musically, forward personally, and now, forward into naked vulnerability.   Serebii’s upcoming album Dime finds Mower at his most vulnerable. Historically, Mower has relied on his mastery of instruments and production with others, namely fellow New Zealander Arjuna Oakes, but […]

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February 11, 2025

Slept All Day: “Asteria”

Austin duo Slept All Day may be new on the scene, but don’t sleep on them. Together, the two create moving soundscapes a la Bonobo and Washed Out. And they use their vocals as an element of the scape instead of its driving force. And despite the electronic instrumentation and vocal effects, the music is […]

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February 10, 2025

Middle Satre: “Corrupted (Uncorrupted)”

Welcome! Today’s theme is vision and reimagining. After spending a childhood in Salt Lake City, Hunter Preuger moved to Austin to sow oats with his project Middle Sattre. The project quickly expanded into a six-piece…and then an eight-piece, and a year after the release of their debut album Tendencies, the experimental folk outfit returned to […]

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