Song of the Day

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July 1, 2021

Cautious Clay: “Karma & Friends” (At Home)

By: Jack Anderson

For folks hip to the playlist heavyweights of KUTX and, well, most NPR Music stations, the name Cautious Clay should be pretty familiar. Dating back to his debut single “Cold War” in the Fall of 2017, this Brooklyn singer-guitarist has brewed up a seductive concoction of R&B, hip-hop, and soul, with a delicate vocal delivery that’s sure to elicit a swoon or two.

On the Studio 1A veteran‘s latest release (and first full-length), Deadpan Love, Cautious Clay once again invites a strong sense of electronic production into the mix. But that doesn’t mean Clay can’t still rock it acoustic when he wants to. Check out an intimate, stripped-down set recorded at Orchard Studios in New York that Cautious Clay taped just for us right before Deadpan Love dropped, including some of the album’s strongest contenders, “Agreeable”, “Shook”, and “Karma & Friends”.


Episodes

August 14, 2025

Team Trust: “Wuggis”

Team Trust call themselves art rock, which is somewhat fitting, but if we want to be specific, I’d call them quirk-punk. The Austin trio sounds a bit like Being Dead and your cool, Gen-X brother’s punk demos he recorded at home the summer before they wound-up on tour with Black Flag, opting for a rotisserie […]

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August 8, 2025

Russell Taine, Jr.: “Sidewinder”

Austin’s Russell Taine, Jr. blends indie rock with an Austin and Texas twist. It’s indie music powered by chords and melodies that you imagine being played at dusk in your cool friend’s backyard with a chain link fence and an oak tree in the background. It sounds like Hole In the Wall. Their latest single […]

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August 7, 2025

Tear Dungeon: “Kill For Health” [Live In Studio 1A]

Andrew Chasen. With the Disciples of Creation, he takes you to church. With A Giant Dog, he takes you church. Sweet Spirit makes you want to dance the night away, and Tear Dungeon drags you to the basement, ties you to the St. Andrew’s Cross, and says flogging and bastinado are for the faint of […]

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August 6, 2025

Jack Greenwood: “Four Walls”

Jack Greenwood’s new single is dance music for sad lads. On “Four Walls,” a song about feeling trapped, the Austin-by-way-of-Wisconsin singer and producer presents a fantastical escape, evoking the moodier side of the 80s synth. The opposing dichotomy works well here; what begins with sunny textures and a fun, melodic bass spirals into a manic […]

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August 4, 2025

Mae Powell: “Contact High”

Bay Area singer-songwriter Mae Powell‘s debut album on Karma Chief Records, Making Room for the Light, serves up a West-coast brand of vintage, pastel-colored, jazz-meets-indie-pop beauty akin to Atlanta’s Faye Webster. Her latest single “Contact High” has origins in conversations with Powell’s elderly neighbor about a song with the spirit of being high socially, but […]

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August 1, 2025

Celestine Gravely: “Kill the Heather”

Despite having a name that sounds like it belongs to a member of the Cramps, Austin’s Celestine Gravely‘s brand of rock is more attuned to the likes of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey, balancing the sounds of those eras and the power of their vocals with her own stamp of songwriting. You’ve got it all […]

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July 31, 2025

Allyse: “Lesson”

Austin’s Allyse crafts R&B-infused pop charms to pair with her sometimes self-empowered and sometimes vulnerable songwriting. The military brat fuses all of the cultural touchstones experienced throughout her childhood, her most sensitive song to date. “Lesson” is about just that, specifically lessons around relationships. How to not hurt others, how to be strong when you’re […]

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July 30, 2025

Hide and Shine: “Can’t Wait to Catch Fire”

If you were going to try to stuff the new album from New York trio Hide and Shine into a box, it could only be a bento. The different sonic compartments, ranging from sunny indie rock to fuzzy post-punk to more meditative, goth-tinged post-punk, with the themes of metamorphosis and humbled ego pulling the meal […]

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