Song of the Day

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September 17, 2024

Inesse: “On My Way”

By: Jack Anderson

Outside of theater, choir’s typically stereotyped as the vehicle for churning out stars of the next generation. Which makes sense, since it gives you all the essentials to become a singing sensation: allowing harmony to become a natural instinct, blending your voice convincingly alongside others (even in chorus), and most importantly for future potential, maximizing those big solo moments.

So we don’t exactly need to digress when introducing y’all to Austin-based vocalist Inesse Chichou, better known by her mononym Inesse (and that’s “E-ness” for uninitiated). Inesse began climbing the creative ladder through choir, and following a pivotal performance at Carnegie Hall under choral legend John Rutter, broke that focus to recenter on her solo prospects. In that realm, Inesse’s full-bodied, effervescent, and inherently feminine style falls somewhere between Jazmine Sullivan and Alicia Keys, all the while differentiating her voice from the rest by leaning on the exotic, traditional, and often dark Arabic elements of her Moroccan upbringing.

And after her October 2023 debut, Inesse has been putting the work in for 2024; following up four luscious standalone singles, Inesse dropped her freshman collection It Was Good…While It Lasted just a couple weeks back. Revolving through six cylinders of seductive originals (each produced by a different collaborator), It Was Good…tears down the gate between turn-of-the-millennium megastars and modern era heavyweights for a thoroughly unrestricted R&B-soul experience. Yeah, even though Latin R&B is a Goliath of the industry right now, the acoustic guitar-coated EP ender “On My Way” is a little less Latin American and a lot more south of the Mediterranean. “On My Way” instills a certain sense of sultry urgency, all anchored by GRAHAM.‘s gripping beat that drips with swagger, co-writer Elijah Ford‘s cohesive contributions, and of course, Inesse’s immaculate vocal intervals.


Episodes

October 11, 2024

flipturn: “Rodeo Clown” (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

Between the big Texas sky, the sprawling space of Zilker Park, all the dust that gets kicked up across the festival grounds and cowboy hats abound, ACL Fest sure can feel a bit like a rodeo right here within the city limits. And heading back to the fest, Weekend Two of ACL 2024 certainly won’t […]

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October 10, 2024

The Beaches: “Blame Brett” (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

The second Friday of October is upon us, and Austin City Limits Music Fest is about to be in full effect once again. And in the interim that is this Thursday, we got a twofer for ya: a reflection on last weekend and a hint on what to expect for this next one. So although […]

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October 8, 2024

Chaparelle: “Bleeding Hearts” (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

Ask anyone about their favorite ACL Fest performance and there’s no telling what answers you’ll get. But we’re willing to wager that if you ask anyone below the age of thirty, “did you catch Chap-“, there’s a good chance your interviewee will enthusiastically finish your question with, “Chappell Roan?! She was awesome!” Yeah, there’s no […]

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October 8, 2024

Mon Rovîa: “crooked the road.” (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

When it comes to exposure for international acts here in Austin, you typically think of SXSW. But time and time again, ACL Fest has shown great global flavors, even if the artists in question are quartered stateside. A perfect example? Mon Rovîa. Songwriter Andrew Lowe was lucky enough to escape his moniker’s namesake in the […]

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October 7, 2024

Allwax: “Waves”

Heads up. Because our amazing multi-media team has been collecting so many great pop-up performances at ACL Fest, we’re gonna be sharing some of those with you over the next couple weeks. But before we dive in, we’d be remiss if we didn’t shine the spotlight on a fresh local release, no ACL tie-in necessary. […]

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October 4, 2024

Tish: “Burning Up”

We’re barely a week into October, everyone’s spooky season decorations are going up, excuses to miss Thanksgiving are already stewing…and we’ve still got highs in the 90s here in Texas. Autumn is a bit ablaze. Just goes to show you that life’s a…Tish? At least, Tish is a big part of life for one particular […]

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October 3, 2024

Ram Vela & the Easy Targets: “Life Is Rigged”

Everyone benefits from the empowerment of self efficacy. And nobody wants to scrape by each day facing a sealed fate. Those truths must have at least subconsciously fueled the landmark success of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which endures as a surprisingly hopeful narrative despite its status as a relentless “hard R” sci-fi action flick. But […]

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October 2, 2024

Lindsey Rose Black: “One Of Your Girls” [PREMIERE]

As we noted yesterday, it shows real strength to unearth the passion of a certified classic by revitalizing it with a version well outside its initial genre. So we do have another cover today, but this one belongs much more to a contemporary catalogue. Which is frankly a great strategy for appealing to…shall we say…less […]

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