Song of the Day

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February 15, 2023

Space Tan: “I Don’t Wanna Die”

By: Jack Anderson

Maybe it’s this never-ending relay race of global pandemics, the collective cabin fever many of us endured during the recent ice storm, or just a gentle mist of malaise. Whatever the affliction, if the Milky Way’s main attraction is shining when you’re feeling imprisoned indoors, it’s always worth taking a couple of minutes to soak up some rays if you can. So with brighter days and clearer skies approaching with spring, perhaps it’s best to follow cues from our climate and embrace a sense of clarity.

Well, in the Austin rock realm, few indie-pop acts have managed to keep things as “clear” as Space Tan. Spearheaded by chief songwriter Gianni Sarmiento, Space Tan maintains transparency across both sonics and lyrics, leaving their melodies and messages ripe for in-ear radiance and emotional reflection. And on Friday, following up 2020’s Don’t Worry About Me and 2021’s Inti Raymi, Space Tan champions the obliteration of internal barriers on Prison Planet.

Prison Planet doesn’t want you to rot in a cell of your own inhibitions or deflective tendencies. Instead it incarcerates you in an energetic five-inmate gen pop of unconventionally inspirational indie rock, guaranteed to leave you re-evaluating any reservations you have for the coming year. Space Tan celebrates Prison Planet on March 3rd at Swan Dive for a joint release show with Domestic Tallboys alongside AMA and our January 2023 Artist of the Month je’Texas. And today, like an adorably deadpan indirect response to Youth Brigade’s 1983 call, Space Tan’s handed us a Strokes-esque testament to the value of life, “I Don’t Wanna Die”.


Episodes

May 4, 2026

Son Rompe Pera: “Reptilo”

Mexico City’s Son Rompe Pera, widely considered to be part of the impetus behind the cumbia-punk movement, have spread that gospel across 20 countries since 2019 (including a set at our SXSW Scholz Garten show in 2023 and a stop by Studio 1A last year). The group is currently on tour (their show last weekend […]

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April 29, 2026

Gran Moreno: “Aztlán” [Live In Studio 1A]

KUTX’s Artist of the Month Program is powered by Austin FC Raised in Mexico and newly transplanted to Austin, brothers Ricardo and Christian Rodríguez craft songs that feel like sonic mirages—equal parts groove, grit, and atmosphere. Their music lives at the intersection of distortion and introspection, where hypnotic riffs, heavy rhythms, and emotionally charged melodies […]

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April 28, 2026

Sweet Limb: “Dopamine”

Whether you’re on a dopamine detox or you’re getting your dopamine hit from visiting this website right now, Austin-based Sweet Limb’s latest single is for you. Over a sultry instrumental with twinkling accents and a thudding 808, Sweet Limb founder Chris Robinson offers to help you boost your dopamine – wink, wink. Sweet Limb releases […]

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April 27, 2026

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol: “Peaches”

It’s fuzzy, it’s doomy, and it’s relentless. The new single from Austin “doom-woppers” Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol keeps in stride with the group’s brand of metal-meets-melodic hard rock, giving you a two-and-a-half-minute riff bomb of what’s in store for their upcoming album Ca$h Grab, out later this year. The band is out headlining a packed […]

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April 24, 2026

Mean Jolene: “Private Plane”

The new single from Ausitn power-pop outfit Mean Jolene has it all: beautifully harmonized gang vocals with a 1960’s shimmer, 90’s female rock guitar hooks and grit, and an earnest look at the double-edged sword of escapism: a necessity for self-preservation pocked with a compulsion towards innocent complacency. And there’s something about the energy of […]

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April 21, 2026

Reyna Tropical & Xiuhtezcatl: “Camino”

Cumbia meets Afro-indigenous rhythms in this one-off from Mexican-American artist and activist Xiuhtezcatl and duo Reyna Tropical. Debuted last month at Vive Latino, one of Latin America’s biggest music festivals, the song “bridges the worlds of Indigenous wisdom, diaspora, community, Queer Love and Afro Mexico and the unity and pathways that these bridges are establishing […]

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