Song of the Day

Song of the Day > All Episodes

March 25, 2025

Julian Neel: “Mermaid of the Rodeo”

By: Taylor Wallace

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 Call the Mountain in 2020.

After years of getting his music thirst quenched, Neel filled his cup with the vines of entrepreneurship co-managing the popular Austin wine bar Lolo. But, two cups can be filled at the same time, and Neel has never stopped writing. What musician can?

Neel is back with the heavyweight-studded EP Gallery Show. Members of Chaparelle, Voxtrot and Tele Novella along with members of Weyes Blood, Devandra Banhart, and Tim Heidecker’s bands fill out the record. Neel at the lead takes us through a series of vignettes spanning a motely cast of characters and situations in a small, non-descript Texas town. Each story is given its due time as the EP maintains a leisurely pace, not dallying, but appreciating and exploring.

The characters exist somewhere between the Lynchian and Tarantino spheres, illustrating a place and time that seemingly only perfectly exists within itself, and we’re being treated to a peek inside.


Episodes

August 26, 2025

Jane Leo: “Goldmine”

Song of the Day has returned from vacation, and I can’t think of a better way to come back than with my favorite dance-pop group this city has to offer. We’ve been following the rise of Jane Leo since its origins, and since the last time we checked in with the duo, they supported indie […]

Listen

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 […]

Listen

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 […]

Listen

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 […]

Listen

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 […]

Listen

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 […]

Listen

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 […]

Listen

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 […]

Listen