Song of the Day

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May 29, 2023

The Best Around: “Lie to Me”

By: Jack Anderson

When decades of dominos fall before some of your finest work, it’s hard not to feel like fate led you to this moment. Just look at Austin songwriter Camron Rushin, whose grandfather worked with Lefty Frizzell producer Jim Beck way back in the ’50s. Within Rushin’s generation, there’d been about a ten-year-long break between artistic projects, but once he started sharing sketches with multi-instrumentalists Todd Pruner and Jon Merz at the start of the pandemic, the foundation was laid for The Best Around. If you couldn’t guess from the trio’s handle or their cutout ransom note/collage visual aesthetic, they’re not brazenly boasting about their abilities; they’re more navigating life like triplet Daniel-sans perfecting their musical martial art one waxing tune at a time. In wearing belts of both performer and audience member, The Best Around show up to the ongoing competition that is our Live Music Capital with a diverse style of art-rock. Last Friday The Best Around rolled out their ninth studio single total and first of 2023, one that features harmony vocals from Emma Kate, percussion from Josh Halpern and mastering from Cacophony Recorders’ Erik Wofford. A melancholy masterpiece from its first downbeat through its pre-chorus falsetto and cosmic Americana instrumental bridge all the way to its concluding chord, “Lie to Me” might honestly be The Best Around’s very best to date.

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December 2, 2024

The Grapes & Friends: “Christmas With My Baby”

Thanksgiving and Black Friday are behind us and Cyber Monday is here. And in terms of the latter two, most of the shopping does happen online these days. But if you did pop into a store or two since last Thursday, you’ll agree: if it wasn’t already by the moment Halloween ended, Christmas music is […]

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December 2, 2024

dan levine: “a-frame”

It’s #GivingTuesday and pretty much anyone who’s a non-profit is crawling out of the woodwork and trying to stir up some financial love. And of course as a community supported public radio, we could always use a bit of help. That said, the nice thing about tossing KUTX a couple bucks is that you’re also […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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