Song of the Day

Song of the Day > All Episodes

January 30, 2023

Sam Shaffer: “Sup?”

By: Jack Anderson

Seasons are changing and wintertime migrations are abound. But here in the Live Music Capital of the World, we’ve learned that there’s an influx of musicians from other musical metropolitans year-round. One of which, Ohio-raised multi-instrumentalist Sam Shaffer, recently hopped down here not too long ago. After a handful of albums and countless performances with Chicago psych three-piece Faintlife, Shaffer relocated to the Lone Star State in late 2021, right around the same time he recorded his solo debut EP, Quiet Delta. Shaffer kept the momentum from the windy city by writing and recording and first-full-length Valley of the Living Water, which swept through last September. This dozen-song collection offers some pretty honest indie-psych-folk sonics, secured by Shaffer’s velvety vocals and largely unadulterated by post-production effects. That last bit is obviously more impressive live in concert, cold weather be damned. For a Chicagoan like Shaffer, these temps won’t do much to deter him from putting on a killer show 10PM tomorrow night at Hotel Vegas, opening for Sunrosa and Guma. Take today to familiarize yourself with the Valley of the Living Water, and be sure to greet Shaffer on Tuesday evening with one of two questioning song titles off the LP, “Sup?”.

Episodes

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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April 17, 2024

Myia Thornton: “Never Good 4 Me”

Unlike the legendary machines of Stax and Motown who relied on a ton of well oiled cogs to make any R&B singer into a star, these days the new blood has to do everything themselves, talent agent or not. And while not everyone can be Prince or D’Angelo in terms of multi-instrumental discipline, bringing something […]

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April 15, 2024

Felt Out: “Crash Inside It”

When we last geeked out over Austin’s Felt Out, we broke down their foundation as that of auto-tune innovators on the cutting edge of alt-pop. And following the first anniversary of their second full-length Until I’m Light, that’s clearly still the case for these multi-instrumentalist-producers. They still sound like a next generation Imogen Heap. Their […]

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