Strangers Archives - KUT & KUTX Studios

I’ve said it before, but Austin quartet Russell Taine Jr. is about as cozy Austin as it gets. The kind of band you hear pouring out of a dark bar you might not have otherwise noticed. It sounds like that welcoming, sticky-sweet dive bar aroma.

Their new EP Ghost (out last month) is “shaped by an idea from French philosopher Henri Bergson that every moment we live is colored by every moment we’ve lived before.” Everything is everything and the landscape our lives changes with every lived experience. This philosophy is front and center on their single “Strangers,” layering this philosophy into the fabric of their southern rock meets 90’s indie inspired sound.

Russell Taine Jr. has an EP release show tonight at Captain Quack’s Soundspace on Menchaca Rd.

As streaming numbers become one of the defining metrics for success, you see a lot of young up-and-comers try to cover their bases by cranking out singles. Longer-standing, well-established acts, however, know that the “quality over quantity” builds stronger staying power.

Just look at NOLA-born indie-garage-pop duo Generationals, who first got started in 2008. With a decade and a half of experience and plenty of fans across the globe, they’re getting pretty close to reaching their namesake in terms of lifespan and impact. The pair’s fared well with a production technique of remotely collaborating – shaping songs one file share at a time – so in 2021 when Generationals went to track a new EP in Athens, Georgia straight to tape, it was already a trepidatious process. They listened back, weren’t thrilled with the results, and wisely went back to the drawing board.

The result is Generationals’ sixth full-length, Heatherhead, out this Friday. The LP’s a real case study in looking inward, defining what makes a certain brand of music great, and taking care to make sure the end product is far beyond listener expectations. In a final effort to familiarize us with Heatherhead before it drops, Generationals graciously introduces us to “Strangers”. From its initial ear-perking staccato guitar and hazy vibrato synth, straight to its driving daytime disco bass line and breezy, effects-tanned falsetto vocals, “Strangers” tosses chillwave into a caipirinha that’ll serve up the spirit of flirty summer fun all year-round – even when they stop by The Mohawk on September 8th.