power pop Archives - KUT & KUTX Studios

Everyone benefits from the empowerment of self efficacy. And nobody wants to scrape by each day facing a sealed fate. Those truths must have at least subconsciously fueled the landmark success of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which endures as a surprisingly hopeful narrative despite its status as a relentless “hard R” sci-fi action flick. But as we’ve hinted at, you don’t need to be Sarah Connor going up against Skynet to appreciate the importance of altering a timeline.

Heck, with their latest single even Ram Vela & the Easy Targets have revealed themselves as optimistic revisionists. Over more than half a decade purveying power pop and alternative rock, the Austin quartet’s rarely strayed from themes of modern disenfranchisement, tough truths, and reality-aware humor. So if you feel the “no fate but what we make” principle of T2, you’re gonna love “Life Is Rigged”, on speakers, headphones, or in person for the single release show 8PM tomorrow night at Chess Club following openers Flags at 7PM.

We could totally see “Life is Rigged” playing over the end credits of T2 in an alternate, carefree timeline where James Cameron grew up as a West Coast skater. But T2 tie-ins aside, “Life is Rigged” is rich with that late ’90s/early ’00s intersection of angst, disillusionment, and pop culture references, aided in no small part by killer performances from each of RV&ETs four players, especially those full chorus “HEY”s in the hook.

Forty years after its original run, it truly feels like a piece of the ’80s is back with an attitude. And no…not just in terms of inflation, world conflicts, or a war on drugs; it’s the music too. Sure, there’ve been countless contemporaries who’ve incorporated a retro aesthetic into their modern sound, but we’re talking more about stuff that makes it hard to distinguish when it actually came out.

Take for instance Autogramm. The Vancouver quartet (with members also hailing from Seattle and Chicago) just wheeled out their third full-length Music That Humans Can Play last Friday, and just glancing at the cover, you can tell exactly which decade they’re trying to fit in with. Hell, even the title touches on that lovable Gen X-era sarcastic apathy. Made in the wake of their 2021 sophomore No Rules, MTHCP was a pandemic-stricken re-evaluation of the group as a whole, and goddamn are we happy Autogramm decided to stick with the program and add guitarist Lars Von Seattle to their ranks. Just like their 20th century predecessors, Autogramm’s transformed from artsy punk into synth-driven new wave and power pop, which, as mentioned before, makes this new material hard to separate from the authentic ’80s OGs.

If you happen to be in Western Europe next March, you’ve got ample chances to catch Autogramm live. If not, we recommend spinning Music That Humans Can Play in its entirety, whether or not you’ve got an old-school speaker setup because at a hair over a half hour, Music That Humans Can Play – true to its title – is plenty accessible. Shoot, you could probably get away with slipping the full album into your favorite ’80s playlist and no one would second guess that it came out this year. And that’s thanks to its big and bold production – processed to kingdom come but bearing the same simplistic formulas of chart-toppers like The Cars and Gary Numan. So without much more than the actual release date to convince us this record isn’t a long lost relic, if you love the ’80s, you’ll “WannaBe” in close company with Autogramm’s latest.