Song of the Day

Song of the Day > All Episodes

August 15, 2022

Phil Hurley: “Failing Heart”

By: Jack Anderson

In the state of contemporary recording, session EPs are a pretty refreshing concept. By limiting yourself to one space and removing any access to punch-ins, session records evoke the “one-take” magic of century-old methods, back when capturing an authentic live performance was the industry standard. Phil Hurley‘s experienced the best of both, having tracked with the likes of Fountains of Wayne and Lisa Loeb in Seattle before moving down here to Austin, where he’s had no hurdles acclimating to the “Live Music Capital”, thanks to the past dozen years of gigs with South Austin Moonlighters, Stonehoney, Gigolo Aunts, and Jimmy LaFave.

But as Hurley discovered, the one flaw with live recordings is that if you lose one element, you lose everything. His latest EP was nearly unrecoverable after a hard drive crash, and only dubbed The Firebird Sessions after a couple of music miracles brought it back out of the aether. The five-track came out in the dog days of mid-July, just in time to kickstart our country spirits back into action. And if you need to get the blood flowing diving back into the workweek, check out “Failing Heart”; it recalls the arena-ready pop-rock of ’80s-era Yes or Blue Öyster Cult, albeit with the distinctive Southern flair of Hurley’s Herculean pipes.


Episodes

November 29, 2024

What Elephant?: “Made Up Words”

Thanksgiving’s behind us and Christmas is on the way, so ’tis the season for white elephant gift exchanges, right? And depending on you or your family’s level of southern drawl, if someone’s ever suggested “white elephant?” as the next activity, they may have inadvertently uttered today’s feature. Because unless it’s a drift-caught quip to “don’t […]

Listen

November 27, 2024

The Delines: “Left Hook Like Frazier”

You know what they say: you can take the woman out of Texas but you can never take Texas out of the woman. It’s a bit of a moot point, considering the Lone Star State sure ain’t a shining beacon of women’s rights, and that sets natives up to become ex-pats. Still, it’s a sentiment […]

Listen

November 26, 2024

Isak Thomas and The Stoop Boys: “Miss Strut”

It’s T-minus 48 hours until prep for the big feast and other Thanksgiving festivities. And even though some always end up just getting some takeout, the Turkey Day hunger is munching on most Americans’ minds right about now. But if you’ve got your meal all planned out and are still in need of some soul […]

Listen

November 25, 2024

Muzeke: “New Man”

Like it or not, we are in the home stretch for 2024. So don’t be too surprised when you start hearing everyone talk about their lofty New Year’s resolutions in the coming weeks. But if you yourself need some extra solidarity to help turn a new leaf and hit the ground running in 2025, we’ve […]

Listen

November 22, 2024

Swimming With Bears: “Patient Disguise”

If you stop to think about it, there are really only two typical climate observations from astute Austinites. 1: It’s too hot and the sun is literally cooking us alive. 2: It’s too cold and the sun needs to come back ASAP. Yeah, we’re a special kind of simple southerners in our own way. But […]

Listen

November 21, 2024

Cloud Companion: “Who Took The Night Away”

Ever get stuck in between states of sleep? Ya know, that Inception-type trip where R.E.M. feels more like reality than when you actually rise? If so…far out, man. Us too. If not, we’ve got just the thing to try and replicate it: Cloud Companion. Now, the term “collective” gets thrown around a little too often […]

Listen

November 20, 2024

SKLOSS: “The Pattern Speaks”

A lot of self-proclaimed go-getters take full responsibility for their actions and efficacy. The motivation and blueprints to make changes in their lives is always at hand. For others though? They’ve got no opposition to looking up at the sky, acknowledging that the universe’s inner workings are beyond control, and just hoping for help from […]

Listen

November 19, 2024

Rojenka: “Dang Girlfriend”

We end up saying this pretty much every pass around the sun, but it ends up proving true every time: 2024’s been a big year for Austin music. Lots of project premieres and lots of studio recordings debuting on streaming. And that includes acts that have only popped up in the past couple months. A […]

Listen