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October 16, 2024

DAIISTAR: “Velvet Reality” (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

By: Jack Anderson

It’s always super cool to see our KUTX Artists of the Month get some additional hometown love out at ACL Fest. Off the top of our head, this year we saw Kalu & The Electric Joint, promqueen, Chief Cleopatra, and West 22nd added to the lineup. On top of those, we were stoked to see our October 2023 Artist of the Month DAIISTAR get some well-deserved recognition in the stacked ACL schedule as well.

Considering the quartet only hit streaming last February, DAIISTAR is decidedly still in a dawning phase. But with the release of their debut full-length Good Time last September, the four-piece made their mellotron-tinged brand of noise-pop felt far across Austin and beyond. Between a pair of recent remixes, a standalone original that dropped right around SXSW, and a handful of appearances on the West Coast over the next couple of months, 2024’s been a busy year for DAIISTAR.

And that includes the Good Time they had opening up the Miller Lite Stage this past toasty Sunday at ACL. After which DAIISTAR took shelter from the sun, shades still donned, in the KUTX multi-media tent for an unconventional twist on their Good Time closer “Velvet Reality”. Alongside the Sonic Boom remix that came out in April, this low-volume rendition of “Velvet Reality” is a testament to the versatility of DAIISTAR’s songwriting and the absence of limits in the nuanced world of noise.


Episodes

April 3, 2025

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Texas band Chaparelle harkens back to a golden era of country with modern lyrics. What started as a mind-meld between Zella Day and Jesse Woods in 2023 not only evolved into a match on its way towards matrimony, but also into a trio, originally working with Beau Bedford in a producer role before he became […]

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April 2, 2025

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April 1, 2025

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March 31, 2025

Tiny Specks: “Danger Oso”

Fun’s not just for Friday anymore. Mondays need need fun too. Maybe even more than Friday…or Wednesday. And your dose of Monday dopamine comes from Austin’s Tiny Specks. Members Vanessa Gonzalez, Nikki Preciado, and Brian Cox have been members of many bands of many sounds over the years, but when the three came together, a […]

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March 28, 2025

Soft Bones: “Let the Sun In”

Bassist and singer Anastasia Wright has long been a part of the Austin music tradition of being part of about a dozen bands you’ve seen and heard of. Hong Kong Wigs, Tyler Jordan and the Negative Space, Black Basements, and the B-52’s cover band Mock Lobster. Additionally, she’s been running her own vegan catering and […]

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March 27, 2025

hey, nothing: “Barn Nursery”

Athens, Georgia. A fertile ground for breeding world famous bands like the B-52’s, R.E.M., of Montreal, and Drive-By Truckers. Now, humbly moving their own way up the ranks is hey, nothing. The emo-folk duo, originally from Atlanta, are, for better, or worse, writing music that is much more raw and reflective than what you’d expect […]

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March 26, 2025

Blush Fantasy: “Dreamboat”

Over the last several years, Kenneth Frost has made his mark in the Austin underground scene with his band the Cuckoos, a group that blends classic rock sentiments with neo-psych and club beat attitude and punctuation. Now Frost is stepping into a new project, a six-piece outfit called Blush Fantasy. Blush Fantasy is like a […]

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March 25, 2025

Julian Neel: “Mermaid of the Rodeo”

Austin’s Julian Neel grew-up in Lubbock surrounded at home by the music of artists like Joe Ely and the Flatlanders. Then he spent the last half of the 2010’s on the road with Molly Burch touring the US and Europe. All the while, he was fronting his own band, and he released his debut album […]

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