Song of the Day

Song of the Day > All Episodes

November 22, 2019

Hikes: “Been Thinkin'”

By: Jack Anderson

Now wrapping up their first decade of intensive collaboration, Austin quartet Hikes has ventured into the realm of near undefinable. While “felt rock” was a placeholder label in the early years, dynamic elements of math rock, indie, folk, punk, pop, metal, shoegaze, and experimental are all on the table for these performance perfectionists, who are never fully comfortable with any tempo, rhythm, key, or time signature. In short, Hikes fittingly makes music that moves, and when you’re in a crowd of 100+ longtime fans, it really moves.

Hikes hasn’t been without their own personal hardships though, and a shared sense of compassion earned over past couple years of internal turmoil has fueled their latest LP, Mahal Kita. Featuring the return of Mother Falcon co-founder Claire Puckett to the original lineup and taking its name from the Tagalog translation of “I love you”, the nine tracks on Mahal Kita will make you fall for Hikes all over again. They’ll be playing tonight at the Barracuda alongside Mary Bryce and Black Belt Eagle Scout, but be sure to listen through Mahal Kita, starting off with the Puckett-penned album opener, “Been Thinkin'”!

Hikes celebrate the release of their new album with a party and show at Barracuda on January 17th with Christelle Bofale and The Kraken Quartet!


Episodes

April 30, 2024

Grandmaster: “Castle Door”

Watch out, Golden Dawn Arkestra…there’s a new costumed collective in town, and they’re hunting for for fresh converts! But instead of frenetic Afro-inspired dance grooves, these fanatics have so far stuck to the slower side of ’70s-style jazz funk rock; think War whisked together with Steely Dan. Not that you’d be able to tell from […]

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April 29, 2024

Trip Cigs: “Comeback Kid”

When a seasoned musician wades out of their genre comfort zone, you love to hear it. Because the technical expertise, jam stamina, and songwriting skills are already in place, but opening the gate to different inspirations and influences is always a welcome breath of fresh air. So let’s talk Rod Gator, who – as you […]

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April 24, 2024

Viben: “Pablo Picasso”

Lyrics are a fickle field. You can be wordy as hell, hoping that at least one line sticks in listener’s minds. Or, you could just loop the hell out of some barebones sentences – guaranteed to have a lot more hypnotic staying power through sheer repetition, especially in the realm of dance music. Now let’s […]

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April 24, 2024

Rett Smith: “Sunsets”

In terms of musical association, at least outside the world of film soundtracks, U.S. southwestern scenery often gets associated with country. But there’s a certain psychedelic quality to our regional deserts that we just love to see artists embrace. Folks like Rett Smith, based here in Austin, but bred out of West Texas, so you […]

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April 23, 2024

Ruel Thomas: “I Am Today”

Any profession requires quotas…whether that’s how many tickets you write or how many kids pass your class. And when music is your source of income, the obvious metric to measure by is quantity of shows played. But as with any creative endeavor, there’s an opportunity to move the needle in many directions, which makes “success” […]

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April 22, 2024

Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors: “Suffering”

The very nature of Americana is rooted in traditional music. But it also lies at the crossroads between folk, country, and rock. So if an Americana act decides to veer into new lanes, the choices are limited and somewhat predictable. And yet it’s still such a joy to hear an artist explore new sonic territory, […]

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April 19, 2024

Melotheory: “Breathe”

When you have roommates, at least good ones you get along with, group activities naturally arise around the house. For most folks, it’s watching TV, recreational smoking and drinking, or maybe the occasional board game. For musicians, however, having a practice space within eyeshot of your bedroom door is too good of a scenario to […]

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April 17, 2024

Rhythm&Truth and Sakari: “Bring It All Back”

We won’t say that successful collaborations should mandate a solo artist’s trajectory. But if something built together leaves people wanting more, it’s not a bad idea to get back together and sate those desires, right? Because what’s unachievable on the individual level often just needs to get catalyzed by some good collabo chemistry. So let’s […]

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