Sweet Limb

Sweet Limb: “Who’s This”

Support for KUTX’s Love Austin Music Month coverage comes from Eldorado Cafe, embracing a community of folks who believe sharing food and music feeds the soul.

While one taste may be in the name, the latest from Austin’s Sweet Limb is savory and brimming with umami. Historically, Sweet Limb founder Chris Robinson has performed with a band, but his new EP The Pastel Noise is all him, venturing into more experimental sounds and introspective lyrics, making the new direction more than a metaphorical artistic manifestation.

On “Who’s This,” Robinson takes a look in the mirror and proudly pontificates on his new, self-confident stride while reflecting on the journey that brought him there. Proving you don’t need density to be deep, these two-and-a-half minutes wrapped in a minimalist yet head-bopping groove are a sweet mantra you can use during your own regularly scheduled reflecting glass time.

Sweet Limb plays KUTX’s Free Week show tomorrow, January 9th at Stubb’s Indoors at 9:45PM.

Sweet Limb: “Who’s This”

The Pastel Noise EP is out today.

Sweet Limb: “Good For You”

Hip-hop, like any genre, can serve many purposes: not only can it grip your soul with stories of regular people trying to make a living in their country that’s been institutionally designed to work against them, but it can also grip your soul in a soft way, with a mantra: a meditation on a promise. And it’ll make you feel real good.

Austin quartet Sweet Limb brings hip-hop back to its core: talented creatives who realize they’re at their best when creating together. Blending inspirations from your favorite poetic 90s hip-hop groups to Stevie Wonder, “Good For You” is almost like a prayer. A steamy, sensual proclamation to just be good to your beloved. The piano melody really falls in line with the rest of the rhythm section, driving the backbeat while Chris Robinson’s smooth vocals lay out for you the acts of service that come with his love. Trust me, you’ll be directing the music video shot-for-shot in your head during this beauty.

Sweet Limb: “Meditate” (feat. Norman BA$E)

No matter how talented an individual vocalist is, the addition of live instrumentation can really elevate a performance to the upper tier. Like can you imagine if Rage Against the Machine was just De La Rocha spitting over pre-recorded tracks with a DJ instead of their legendary full-band energy? Us neither.

So we’re not really going out on a limb when we say that Austin four-piece Sweet Limb has a pretty swell thing going for them. The project started off over a decade back as a solo outlet for singer/rapper Chris Robinson but really took off post-COVID when Sweet Limb branched out to include bass, drums, and keys. Thanks to Robinson’s seasoned Frank Ocean-esque verbal skills, killer grooves that fuse multiple styles, plus the intentionality of their arrangements and proven understanding of dynamics in live settings that’s gotta pull plenty of new listeners, Sweet Limb’s been getting some admirable streaming traction just from releases over the past couple months alone.

Well, just in time for a few unofficial SXSW appearances over the next week (this Sunday afternoon at LuxeArt Agency, next Monday at Coconut Club, and next Thursday at Full Circle Bar) Sweet Limb released their first full-length Thank You For Not Snitching last Friday. Clocking in at a hair under half an hour, Thank You For Not Snitching packs ten tracks of black talent you’ll wanna tell everyone about, made in collaboration with local scenesters like KUTX favorites Ben Buck, Breadcouch, and Norman BA$E, who lends his production chops to the LOW KEY EP holdover “Meditate”. Like an alternate Persona 5 composition recut to capture a jazzy, placid Austin aesthetic, “Meditate” is a great way to clear the mind going into another work week on the verge of South By.