Song of the Day

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July 13, 2023

Silver Hour: “Star”

By: Jack Anderson

In 2018, when Texas native Kacey Musgraves released her landmark album Golden Hour she breathed new life into the term – one that typically describes those brief windows of sunrise and sunset that’s made for so many magic cinematic moments. But we’re willing to wager that “silver hour” is outside the bounds of most folks’ lexicon. The first meaning trails its golden counterpart – a fleeting period of post-sunset luminescence for waterfront communities. The second definition is a bit more morbid – used by healthcare workers in reference to the 30 minutes immediately before and after a patient passes away. And although there’s a common thread between those two – the sense of light at the end of a cycle – there’s also a Texas trio eager to make like Musgraves and give their namesake a glow up. Just like that reassuring glimmer on the onset of darkness, Austin three-piece Silver Hour started out early on in the pandemic between longtime friends as means of staving off the insanity of isolation and keeping the creative juices flowing. Since then, Silver Hour’s steered clear of genre constraints, instead incorporating everything from retro film soundtracks to funk, jazz, and hard rock into their vintage-meets-modern M.O. of songwriting. But now that Silver Hour’s bulked up their scene legs with their fair share of live shows, they’re finally extending their sound past the stage and onto the shores of streaming services. Ahead of their sophomore effort “Desert Doomer” that drops next Friday, “Star”is the shimmering first node for Silver Hour’s developing constellation of singles. Soon after a slide guitar intro that could segue into pretty much any genre, “Star” orbits Dark Side era Pink Floyd thanks to Jake Helpinstill’s drum fills, James LeBlanc’s bass licks, and Michael Moretta’s sweet-but-sinister vocals that hover above blues-inspired guitar chords, evoking the styles of Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and David Gilmour, respectively…albeit with a little bit of Black Angels on top due to a distorted six-string solo that soars through the bridge.

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February 19, 2025

Maddy Kirgo: “Spare”

New Orleans’s Maddy Kirgo writes music not only akin to the eclectic, all-embracing attitude of the Big Easy, but also to the sounds currently pouring out of its venues, or in her case, the buskers on the corner. To that end, her sounds simultaneously evokes the California country rock sounds of the nudie suit era […]

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February 17, 2025

MIEN: “Evil People” (Live In Studio 1A)

We all know that when an artist is featured on a song, it’s likely that they recorded it remote and sent the track to the main artist. But how does it work when you’re a quartet and only 2 of y’all live in the same place? To ask the members of Austin experimental psych band […]

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February 14, 2025

Kowloon: “Heart Begins With You”

L.A.’s Kowloon is truly a one-man operation. Songwriting? Him. Instrumentation? Him. Recording, production? Yep, all Kowloon. Backed by a full library of effects and music gadgets from various eras, Kowloon released a string of singles last year, demonstrating his affinity for the darkwave sounds of the 80s a la the Cure and Bronski Beat. Ahead […]

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February 13, 2025

Tommy Francisco: “Tommy’s Groove”

Even a piping hot bowl of tokontsu ramen can’t fully shake-off today’s bone chill, but maybe the headspace of partying on a yacht in Mallorca can. Austin native Tommy Francisco hit the scene in 2020 with “Fever,” giving him an international audience and proving his ability to blend his Latin and Indigenous backgrounds into a […]

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February 12, 2025

Serebii: “Verrans Corner”

Auckland, New Zealand’s Callum Mower, known as Serebii, has always focused on pushing forward. Forward musically, forward personally, and now, forward into naked vulnerability.   Serebii’s upcoming album Dime finds Mower at his most vulnerable. Historically, Mower has relied on his mastery of instruments and production with others, namely fellow New Zealander Arjuna Oakes, but […]

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February 11, 2025

Slept All Day: “Asteria”

Austin duo Slept All Day may be new on the scene, but don’t sleep on them. Together, the two create moving soundscapes a la Bonobo and Washed Out. And they use their vocals as an element of the scape instead of its driving force. And despite the electronic instrumentation and vocal effects, the music is […]

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February 10, 2025

Middle Satre: “Corrupted (Uncorrupted)”

Welcome! Today’s theme is vision and reimagining. After spending a childhood in Salt Lake City, Hunter Preuger moved to Austin to sow oats with his project Middle Sattre. The project quickly expanded into a six-piece…and then an eight-piece, and a year after the release of their debut album Tendencies, the experimental folk outfit returned to […]

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February 7, 2025

Death Palmz: “IL2H2LU”

I’ve heard your week’s woes, I know it’s been one, so Aunt Tay is here to deliver a little Friday elixir to shift you into weekend mode as you get ready to burn rubber in the parking garage. Austin’s Death Palmz is another project from Exotic Frutica, and if you’re familiar with the punk band, […]

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