ATX Gen Next

Pleasure Venom: “Lose It”

As Love Austin Music Month starts to lull, we’re at the final offering fromAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program and ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person. Punk groupPleasure Venom has certainly helped to make this iteration of ATX Gen Next pop out compared toprevious versions, thanks topowerful verses chock-full ofpolitical views and vivacious arrangements that pack a serious punch.

You’ll be able to enjoy some of Pleasure Venom’spunk on vinyl later this summer when ATX Gen Next comes out on wax. For today though, toss out the predictability and get vicious with Pleasure Venom on the lengthy-yet-evolving “Lose It”!

Quentin And The Past Lives: “I Am The Gun”

We’re in the final seven days of Love Austin Music Month and in the home stretch ofATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person, which features this year’s roster fromAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program. Quentin And The Past Lives especially shines among ADP 5’s Class of 2022, thanks in no small part to the canned heat unleashed by The Past Lives’ eponymoustattooed and often half-nude frontman,Quentin Arispe. The group’s got some exciting opportunities coming up, including a SXSW appearance and a Half Time performance for MLR Austin in late May. But before you catch Quentin And The Past Lives in person, trot along to the alt-rock-soul trigger discipline of “I Am The Gun”!

TV Temple: “Wild”

With freezing temperatures in the forecast and the trauma of last year’s statewide blackout all-too-fresh in memory, many Texans just want to fast-forward to sandier summer times. Well, at least in the musical world you can do just that with Austin “beach-alt” duo TV Temple, who’re still in the standalone single phase of their career. As such, the sunny indie-psych-rock that characterizes “beach alt” is largely undefined as of yet, and”Wild”, the second of TV Temple’s two tracks on ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person, definitely lets a little more loose than its predecessors.

Natalie Price: “Butterfly”

At the top ofLove Austin Music Month we re-introduced you toAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program and their new compilation ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person. ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person features a dozen original songs from six Austin artists, including indie-pop/Americana-folk aficionado Natalie Price. This guitarist, vocalist, and kalimba-enthusiast began to seriously forge her songwriting path with 2019’s Through the Fog and has clearly matured even more in the short time since then. That sense of progressive metamorphosis is hopefully a longstanding trend for the burgeoning singer and her blossoming career, so enjoy some new Natalie Price at no cost (while you still can) with “Butterfly”!

Anastasia Hera & The Heroes: “Like I Am”

Anyone who’s heard Anastasia Hera can tell that she’s a big proponent of Black activism, making her a prime candidate for the spotlight on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This native Austinitecemented her charismatic sense of verbal cadence early on by memorizing King’s iconic “I Have A Dream” speech at a young age, andin 2015 Hera founded CAKE, a non-profit that empowers girls and women interested in musical performance. Anastasia Hera & The Heroes shared two new singles as part ofAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program and their 2022 compilation ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person including a luminous piece of R&B-funk perfect forLove Austin Music Month,”Like I Am”.

Nemegata: “Te Vi”

Houston trio Khruangbin’s been getting a lot of kudos for their blend of world music and ’70s-style psychedelia, but Austin three-piece Nemegata and their own timeless sound may very well become their nemesis. Nemegata makes extensive use of Spanish and Muisca in their tracks and effortlessly alternates between neo-traditional rhythmsand effects-drenched psych-prog-rock, as heard on their 2020 debut LPHycha Wy, produced by Beto Martinez. The banddropped their live album Changua Sessions, Vol. 1 last year andjust played at Empire Control Room with Superfónicos, but as Nemegata climbs the ranks of must-see Austin acts, their latest achievement is landing inAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program. Nemegata’s shared two new singles for ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person, so celebrate Love Austin Music Month with the truly eclectic ingenuity of “Te Vi”.

TV Temple: “June 3030”

Right around this same time last year, guitarist Ben Root and drummer Emma Berrigan had finally put their “beach-alt” sound as TV Temple on streaming platforms, making their eponymous place of worship easily accessible no matter the static. But instead of just feeding the figurative idiot box, this Austin duo’s chosen quality over quantity with a mere three studio singles to their name as of now. However that limited output’s made TV Temple a prime candidate forAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program and wouldn’t you know it – they’ve now got two new contributions toATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person. TV Temple’s first offering, “June 3030” will instantly transport you out of these chilly January days and right into a summer mindset with sunny strumming, tantalizing harmonies, countermelodies, and augmented alt-rock rhythms that’ll keep you on your toes – even ankle deep in sand

Anastasia Hera & The Heroes: “Illusion”

We’re already one week intoLove Austin Music Month but’ve only scraped the surface of ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person – the new compilation fromAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program. One of the more well-known contributors is native Austinite Anastasia Hera, whose early inspirations of ATCQ, Jay-Z, and MLK Jr. helped shape her verbal abilities and penchant for progressivism. Fast forward to the top of the last decade, when Hera released her mononymous debut Pretty Color Bad News and again to 2015 when she launched her female-empowering non-profit CAKE, showing off her polymath talents as an effortless R&B/Hip-Hop performer and as an organizer, respectively. These days Anastasia Hera’s got the support of her backing band The Heroes, who elevate her already-soaring vocals to an even higher plane and toss a little bit live funk flavor into the mix. Anastasia Hera & The Heroes find themselves in good company onATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person, which releases on vinyl later this year and features two incredible originals from Hera, including the synth-funk-soaked and harmony-heavy “Illusion”!

Pleasure Venom: “Severed Ties”

As the nation marks one year since a high-profile socio-political event,Love Austin Music Month continues with theAustin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program and one of our city’s most politically outspoken punk bands Pleasure Venom. Fronted by fierce vocalist and unapologetic lyricist Audrey Campbell, Pleasure Venom’s been seeping its way into all the sub-genres of punk rock since their 2016 debut EP Hunt, and landed the group a supporting spot on tour with ’90s rock icons Garbage.

Unfortunately Pleasure Venom’s had to pull their free week shows due to COVID-19, but with an abundance of societal fodder at her disposal, Campbell sure as hell hasn’t stopped writing. ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person features two new singles from Pleasure Venom(including the pace-shifting”Severed Ties”) that’ll assure you of their dynamic durability and take-no-guff discourse more than a half decade since their start.

Quentin And The Past Lives: “Friends”

As Love Austin Music Month marches on, we continue our coverage of Austin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program‘s new compilation, ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person, with Quentin And The Past Lives. Quentin’s eponymous quintet may be a relatively recent endeavor but their high-octane brand of funk-infused pop-rock (polished with plenty of harmonies, dynamic virtuoso vocals, and daring arrangements) has already scored the group sold out shows beginning in Spring of last year.

Quentin And The Past Lives performs tomorrow night at Hotel Vegas as part of free week and you can get amicable with this ATX Gen Next collaborator early with the first of their two new studio singles, “Friends”!

Natalie Price: “Tell Me”

Austin Music Foundation’s Artist Development Program has just entered their fifth year and in honor of Love Austin Music Month they’re releasing their third record, ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Person – recorded at The Bubble and produced by Chris “Frenchie” Smith and Einar Pedersen. The album officially drops mid-January and the vinyl edition is out this Summer, but we’ll be featuring the compilation in full over the next few weeks, starting today with Natalie Price. Raised in a pious, almost-anti-music Dallas household, this self-taught singer-songwriter’s done a pretty bang up job of fulfilling her indie-folk-Americana dreams, having released her debut EP Through The Fog in 2019. Price’s bare arrangements of kalimba and vocals have always made for a gorgeous blend, but for her two tracks on ATX Gen Next, she’s got a full band to pack an even bigger punch, as heard on “Tell Me”!

Stone Wheels: “Nothing More, Nothing Less”

With Valentine’s Day this Sunday, we’re just about halfway through Love Austin Music Month. For the past couple weeks we’ve partnered with Austin Music Foundation to help showcase their compilation, ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Lockdown and today AMF releases Side B of the collection. It’s the same cast of characters from Side A but re-structured into a new experience.

Driftwood “cosmic Americana” outfit Stone Wheels wrapped up the record’s first half with their concoction of ’70s-era country and ’60s-style psych and returned for the penultimate offering on Adventures in Lockdown, “Nothing More, Nothing Less”. So give Side B a spin when you can, and let Stone Wheels roll you out of the work mindset and into a chilly weekend.

Aubrey Hays: “I Wanna See This Through”

It’s only Day Two of February but we’re already knee deep into our collaboration with Austin Music Foundation for Love Austin Music Month, continuing today with multi-instrumentalist Aubrey Hays. You might not be able to find much from Hays online right now, but you can still gather how gifted this singer-guitarist is just from the skills heard on her sole Spotify single, “Isn’t It Enough”.

Toting a dynamic that’s both delicate and assertive, Aubrey Hays is set to release a new standalone single this Friday but you can hear it a couple days early on the first half of AMF’s ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Lockdown with the incandescent indie rocker, “I Wanna See This Through”!

Deezie Brown: “Billy White Shoes”

It’s officially February, putting us at a lovely junction of both Black History Month and Love Austin Music Month. In celebration of the latter, KUTX has partnered up with the Austin Music Foundation to help shine the spotlight on five rising Austin artists, starting today with Bastrop-born hip-hop heavyweight Deezie Brown.

Filling out the pocket between Southern Hip-Hop and Funk, Brown’s been propelling his standing in the local scene and beyond with each new single and began making some of his biggest impacts after the 2018 album, Judith. Deezie Brown’s got his sophomore record coming set for release this summer, and finds himself in good company on Austin Music Foundation’s new two-part compilation, ATX Gen Next: Adventures in Lockdown, making an unforgettable first impression for listeners (be they new or returning) on Side A with “Billy White Shoes”!