Central Texas top stories for May 09, 2023. Daniel Perry sentencing hearing. Del Valle ISD pay raises. Search for new Austin Energy GM. Hutto city council runoff. Kyle growth plan option input. ACL lineup announced.
ACL Fest
KUT Afternoon Newscast for October 17, 2022
Central Texas top stories for October 17, 2022. Not summer arrives. Austin City Council candidate forum. AISD electric bus plans. Texas crypto power concerns. Indentifying human remains. Weekly COVID report. Austin FC advances. ACL Fest 2023.
R&B’s Diminishing Dominance
In this episode, Confucius and Fresh break down what happened to R&B as a dominating force before debating whether or not Austin City Limits Music Festival has “gotten better” at showcasing rap in recent years.
On Hip-Hop Facts you’ll hear about Lil Jon’s double distribution of the “Yeah” instrumental, birthday boy Ginuwine’s real name, and the first of many Belly film trivia tidbits.
Fresh’s Unpopular Opinion goes meta when he defends the significance of The Breaks itself for playing local artists.
And no news from Confucius this week; Instead he talks up his headliner comedy gig this Wednesday at The Pershing, hosted by Fresh!
Dehd: “Control” (ACL Fest Pop-Up)
Oh boy, after two long weekends out at Zilker Park, we’re betting the vast majority of fest-goers are dead tired after Austin City Limits. Not us though! Our impeccable multimedia team’s been hard at work turning around an exclusive batch of intimate, backstage performances, starting today with Dehd. Six years since their eponymous debut, these Chicago indie rockers dropped their fourteen-track fourth full-length Blue Skies back in late May. Post-Blue Skies, Dehd’s been dominating a tour that extends to Scandinavia and the UK before a three-night New Year’s Eve wrap-up back in their hometown’s Empty Bottle.
That tour included a couple pit stops here in town for our humble festival, and following the first of two Sunday afternoon performances on the T-Mobile stage, Dehd was kind enough to treat us to something a little more stripped down than what the rest of the fest got. Rather than double down on their usual dose of decibels, instead Dehd took a minimalist approach for the arrangement of Blue Skies‘ short-but-sweet anxiety-inspired album opener, “Control“
Las Añez: “Como Si Fuera Yo” (feat. Lido Pimienta)
The gate’s are open and Austin City Limits Music Festival 2022 is a go! And here just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month will be Latin-American music-melter Lido Pimienta. Born in Barranquilla, Colombia and raised in Ontario, this Toronto-based singer-songwriter has spent the past twelve years infusing flavors like Bullerengue and Cumbia with synth-driven art-pop. Pimienta’s 2016 Polaris-winning LP La Papessa catapulted her into international awareness, but just as she was heating up for the Miss Colombia tour in 2020, COVID crushed her plans.
Fortunately for us fest-goers, Lido Pimienta is slated to play ACL 1:30PM tomorrow afternoon on the Barton Springs stage. As a visual artist and curator that just launched her variety web show Lido TV, extravagant outfits are the norm when Pimienta performs, so gorgeous music aside it’s sure to be a festival-defining spectacle. Want a preview? Pimienta’s latest finds her teaming up with Bogota twins Las Añez for a cruise-ready cross-cultural composition, “Como Si Fuera Yo“.
How to Run a Modern Day Taqueria
Learn from two Chingonas making it in the taco world including Lis Mariscal, Veracruz All Natural and Victoria Elizondo, Chef/Owner of Cochinita & co. Moderated by Taco Journalist, Mando Rayo. Recorded live on the podcast stage at Austin City Limits Festival 2021.
Calder Allen: “Bend of the River” (ACL Fest Pop-Up)
As the grandson of Lubbock-raised creative polymath Terry Allen, singer-guitarist Calder Allen has been raised with a set of songwriting sensibilities that few have been privy to. But despite that huge leg-up heritage-wise, Allen only made his live band debut just a couple weeks ago with Charlie Sexton during the first Sunday of ACL Fest.
Calder unleashed a batch of previously-unheard Americana originals, leaving the Tito’s Handmade Vodka Stage thirsty for much more from this poet extraordinaire beyond ACL. So while we all eagerly await to hear Calder Allen again, appreciate the fact that this up-and-comer doesn’t need a backing band to give a great performance, as evidenced by a stripped-down rendition of his earliest compositions, “Bend of the River”!
David Ramirez: “Friends Forever” (ACL Fest Pop-Up)
Since the salad days of KUTX, Austin songwriter David Ramirez has been a major staple of our airwaves. And David’s growth alongside ours over the years makes us feel like we’ve got a special bond between us. So imagine our elation when this six-time Studio 1A veteran visited us backstage at ACL Fest and treated us to a preview of an unreleased track all about his preference for platonic pals, “Friends Forever”!
The Breaks Live at ACL Fest 2021
This week on the Breaks:
- Confucius and Fresh were out at the Austin City Limits Festival for weekend 2. You’ll hear their interviews with Austin artists Mike Melinoe and Sheila, recorded live at the ACLfest Bonus Tracks stage.
- In this week’s installment of Hip-Hop Facts, you’ll hear about the surprising connection between Megan Thee Stallion and Q-tip, how 50 Cent passed on Freddy Gibbs, Aaliyah’s intro to 4 page letter, how Rick James felt about MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” the story of Prince and Michael Jackson’s Bad and more.
- Confucius and Fresh discuss OG Ron C’s assertion that DJ Screw didn’t actually chop and screw beats.
- Fresh puts forth the Unpopular Opinion that Texas Hip-Hop deserves more appreciation than it is currently getting and should get its flowers now!
- In his Confucius Says segment Confucius says that even though he’s been a fan of comedian Dave Chappelle he thinks the comedian needs to shut the hell up.
You can hear the latest full broadcast of The Breaks Saturday night show.
Mike Melinoe: “Vacation” (feat. JaRon Marshall)
Born in Detroit and based right here in Austin, polymath painter-producer-vocalist Mike Melinoe is a must-see for this weekend of ACL Fest. The psychedelic-minded model enjoys an enigmatic aura and incorporates the best bits of pop, rock, and R&B into his genre-inclusive hip-hop style, conquering each new venture with remarkable verbal skills and outstanding flow.
Mike Melinoe performs at Austin City Limits Music Festival a quarter past noon at the Vrbo stage and to transport you right out of that mid-work-week mindset, indulge in “Vacation” featuring co-producer JaRon Marshall!
Riders Against the Storm: “Flowers For The Living” (feat. Clarence James)
Whether you’ve attended those legendary Body Rock ATX dance parties, celebrated the official RAS Day (August 29th), or seen their name pop-up on KUTX’s playlists, chances are you’ve heard of Riders Against the Storm. Since their 2013 eponymous EP, this eclectic hip-hop duo has continued to defy any expectations of the genre by incorporating a variety of worldly sounds, most recently on this year’s feature-stacked full-length Flowers For The Living.
These three-time Studio 1A performers and previous My KUTX hosts take the Tito’s Handmade Vodka Stage 1:30pm this Friday at Austin City Limits Music Festival, so in this proverbial calm before the storm, you can bloom alongside the boom on Flowers For The Living‘s title track!
Heartless Bastards: “Revolution” (KUTX Pop-Up)
One weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival is already in the bag but those famous flags are still flying high, so we’ve got another week of Austin artist coverage, continuing today with Heartless Bastards. Founded in Cincinnati nearly two full decades ago, this trio has transcended the expectations of traditional rock with flairs of folk, blue, country, and indie, beginning with their 2005 debut Stairs and Elevators and heard most recently on 2021’s A Beautiful Life.
We just revisited frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom’s 2018 My KUTX session ahead of these Studio 1A veterans’ upcoming ACL performance 2:30pm this Friday at the Lady Bird Stage. So we might as well return to a pop-up performance from Wennerstrom recorded right around this same time last year, “Revolution”!
Deezie Brown: “Amplifiers”
Though the bulk of his studio output has been relatively recent, Bastrop-born/Austin-based producer/vocalist Deezie Brown‘s already proven plenty of potential. Following up 2018’s Judith, Brown was a contributor on ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Lockdown and makes up one half of the R&B/hip-hop collaboration Geto Gala.
Deezie Brown’s got some new material in the works, and hopefully he pulls some of that stuff out when he performs 12:15pm on the Miller Lite Stage this Sunday at ACL Fest. Until then, you can tide yourself over with a real measure of Deezie Brown’s multifaceted power on “Amplifiers”!
Jade Bird: “Honeymoon”
Austin City Limits Music Festival is officially upon us, so for the next couple weeks we’ll be shining the spotlight on Austin acts that might not be as well known as some of the major headliners, but deserve just as much attention and praise. First up is Jade Bird, who after growing up in the UK has successfully flocked over to Austin without shedding any of her rebellious rock in the process.
It’s an exciting time for Jade Bird, who appears tonight The Late Late Show with James Corden and has her Austin City Limits episode airing next Saturday on PBS. That same Saturday Jade Bird opens up ACL Fest at 12:05pm at the T-Mobile Stage and today you can toss feathers with “Honeymoon”!
Jade Bird on My KUTX (2021)
Jade Bird on My KUTX (2018)
Jade Bird in Studio 1A (2017)
What Ever Happened To Austin’s Long-Running Aqua Fest?
For decades, Aqua Fest was an annual celebration in Austin. Then, it stopped. One ATXplained listener wanted to know why.