Song of the Day

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October 24, 2022

Pale Dian: “Misanthrope”

By: Jack Anderson

Back in my day if you wanted to be one of the first to lay eyes on a new music video, you basically had to stay locked onto TRL. And if you wanted your music video to get played, you probably had to have an industry contact in the early internet era. So no disrespect to Carson Daly, but our ability to showcase Austin visuals freely is all thanks to you.

And since our Fall Membership Drive steers near to Halloween, skies are grey and pallor is back in seasonal fashion. Which brings up to Pale Dian. Spearheaded by visceral vocalist-synthesist Ruth Ellen Smith, Pale Dian purveys a Post-Punk-meets-Shoegaze style that’s been deemed “Nightmare Pop”. Since their 2016 debut Narrow Birth, these bleak dissociations have trickled across time and genre, in way where a Roy Orbison collaboration with Cocteau Twins wouldn’t be unheard of.

Like a double-exposed dream dipped in desire and doused in delight, Pale Dian dropped their sophomore follow-up Feral Birth yesterday. The band celebrated with a record release last night at Hotel Vegas two weeks before their upcoming appearance at the Galveston Art Festival. But you won’t need to make a beach trip to enjoy Pale Dian’s off-kilter optics; today they’ve unleashed a one-of-a-kind counterpart to Feral Birth. Animated by longtime Richard Linklater collaborator Wiley Wiggins (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, etc.) “Misanthrope” will momentarily transport you out of the beginning-of-week mindset so you can turn on, tune in, and drop out to watch reality melt.


Episodes

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May 16, 2024

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Back in the day, if you were to walk around downtown, you’d hear one predominant sound spilling out of at least every other 6th Street venue: blues rock. But as the landscape of the “Live Music Capital of the World” has evolved and diversified, frankly, so has the state of blues rock itself. And if […]

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May 14, 2024

Genuine Leather: “Getting Used to the Feel”

For a lot of self-made bedroom producers, lo-fi isn’t just a creative choice; it’s a necessity. Yeah, not everyone has the technical prowess, access to equipment, or funding to match the pristine masters of their commercial radio contemporaries. But when lo-fi folks like that gain the resources to make the leap up, it’s hard to […]

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May 13, 2024

Big Bill: “Emotions”

If you’ve kept posted on Austin quartet Big Bill, you know they’re in somewhat of a post-pivot position. Yeah, after years of establishing their space in the oddball-deadpan-art-punk sector, Big Bill pulled off a risky switch to more of a ’90s-style indie rock sound with their Summer 2022 full-length Public Freakout Compilation. And while we’d […]

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May 8, 2024

Honey Luck: “Red Line”

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May 8, 2024

Jomo & The Possum Posse: “La Quinta”

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May 7, 2024

Steel Gemini: “Only Freak”

If you’re a fan of that synth pop section of indie electronica in the ilk of Goldfrapp, Grimes, and CHVRCHES…there’s a relatively recent artist right here in town that’ll absolutely scratch that itch. And that’s Steel Gemini, the Austin-based project of singer-songwriter-producer Joy Baldwin. Ever since her December 2022 debut, Baldwin’s been a real joy […]

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