Chris "Frenchie" Smith

Karima Santi: “Space”

No matter how immense a musical talent is intrinsically, sometimes resetting your surroundings can be the biggest catalyst to moving on up. Like, look at singer-guitarist Karima Santi, who cut her teeth in jazz, folk, and punk groups on the other side of the decade up in the Raleigh-Durham area. Sure, those bands kept Karima busy, and yet at the same time, none of them managed to quite suit Santi’s specific niche of styles and tastes. So by the time she moved down here to Austin, COVID creeping up behind, Santi’d already begun zeroing in on solo songwriting, releasing her streaming debut “You in 3/4” that August.

Since then, Karima’s repertoire of indie rock originals has reached the hundreds, and her connections with local industry heavyweights has only expanded after recording at feel flow studio back in 2021. Case in point: Karima’s recently collaborated with a dream team of Austin talent plus Grammy-nominated producer/engineer Chris “Frenchie” Smith at The Bubble to give her Mazzy Star-meets-Cat Power compositions their best set of legs possible. On top of that, she just made her SoFar sounds debut on Veteran’s Day.

So while it’s easy enough to admire Karima Santi in this still-fledgling phase, we can also appreciate the anxiety that must come from starting fresh in a new town with a lifetime’s worth of tunes in tow. And following October’s “Underwater”, Santi speaks to that unease with her deceptively downtempo latest, “Space”. Its overlapping guitars and unwavering drums forge an acoustic-electric garrison around Santi’s emotional vocals for a four-minute masterpiece of moodiness.

Marcus Morales: “Damned If You Do…”

For even some of the most talented, well-established artists, working with a new producer can really shed some divine light on sonics and take things to the next level. And there’s plenty of proof in today’s premiere from Marcus Morales. Both solo and alongside his backing band The Chorizo Grease All-Stars, this singer-guitarist has been developing his distinctive variety of ambient-psych-blues-rock and busting his hump here in Austin for the past decade and a half. Morales made his studio debut with two tunes in the summer of 2017, that, when paired together, really illuminate mastery over the light/heavy dynamic spectrum in Morales’ song structures and carefully orchestrated arrangements. That tasteful contrast really shined on Marcus Morales’ 2019 debut EP Bohemian Groove, albeit with a more-refined, harder-hitting sound. Recently, after flexing immense A Momentary Lapse of Reason vibes on last January’s “Headspace”, Marcus Morales has enlisted the help of producer Chris “Frenchie” Smith at The Bubble to glow up an already-great track. This precedes plans for a whole new string of singles on top of statewide tour stops and local residencies, all of which ought to feature Morales in top form. And today, Frenchie, Morales, and The Chorizo Grease All-Stars blew us away with “Damned If You Do…”, whose hard-blues-rock second-and-third act structure channels Johnny Lang, but whose processed lead guitar tones and sultry intro scream David Gilmour. As a result, this fine-polished psych-blues blend transcends decades and genre tastes for one of Morales’ strongest standalones to date. It’s not really a Catch-22; just go ahead and click “play” on “Damned If You Do…”.

Personality Contest: “Would You Like to Know”

So often when we’ve heard someone say, “it’s not a popularity contest”, the opposite turns out to be true. But here in the Live Music Capital, it’s perfectly clear that having a larger-than-life persona and being in vogue will get you pretty far. Enter Austin four-piece Personality Contest, who’ve been curating a style of indie-psych-rock that reflects on existential dread, finding your footing despite neglect, and those special little moments sprinkled across life. This February the quartet recorded their debut four-track EP at The Bubble with the help of Chris “Frenchie” Smith. The record drops next month, and there are a couple of opportunities to catch PC live between then and now (Thursday the 18th at Electric Church and Friday the 26th at The Green Jay). The EP’s second single (and lyric video), “Would You Like to Know”, landed yesterday, offering a glimpse into Personality Contest’s poignant lyrics and soft-psych arrangements that respect instrumental interludes by giving them the space they deserve.

Brian Wolff: “I Love You, Goodnight”

You might have fond memories of Fair City Fire, whose embers attracted a formidable following over their seven-year tenure here in Austin, even landing their own official day on August 31st, 2019. The bad news is that Fair City Fire’s called it quits. But the good news is that FCF co-founder Brian Wolff continues to stoke those creative flames with his newfound eponymous solo project.

With the help of producer Chris “Frenchie” Smith, this singer-guitarist has recently completed work on his debut EP The Punch, due out next Spring. You can expect some truly innovative originals from Wolff, who drew inspiration from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Jason Isbell, and Manchester Orchestra, and without beating Wolff to The Punch, check out the record’s lead single, “I Love You, Goodnight”!