Emily Shirley might be most recognizable here in Austin for her rolewith The Belle Sounds performing synth, piano, and vocals, but she’s also got plenty of other merits elsewhere. The classically-trained Connecticut native was the lead singer of Boston soul-breakbeat group Amun Ra for their two albums before moving to Austin a decade and half back. Shirley shared her debut solo EP Tiny Truths in 2010 before becoming a member of The Belle Sounds in 2013, then interspersed the full band energy with a solo endeavor once again by releasing 2015’s Duotone before joining The Big Fix in 2017.

Following the release of 2018’s Courage Up, Emily Shirley’s taken her pandemic-based time to focus on writing and recording a new set of singles, including today’s latest, “Survivors”. “Survivors” pays tribute to us Texans who toughed it out during the deadly freeze this past February and will warm your heart with its purposeful piano arrangement and incandescent vocals.

Like many Americana artists, Nashville native Sara Jean Kelley grew up with an adoration for nature and has since continued to explore how us humans interact with the world that’s grown around us, be it for better or worse. Kelley first put those thoughts on record with her 2013 debut The Waiting Place, revealing the singer-guitarist’s bleak-but-humorous honesty within her lyrics while showcasing her infectiously twangy guitar and vocals reminiscent of Lucinda Williams or Patti Griffin.

On the heels of her 2019 EP The Wild, Sara Jean Kelley’s set to share yet another rock-leaning meditation on the human condition and the laws of nature with Black Snake, out this Friday. Though Black Snake was tracked in just two days, you can hear how much care was put into these six rustic originals that’ll slither right into your heart without making you hiss, heard most recently with “Bleeding Stone”.

Though they’ve already proven their outspokenness as an anti-racist organist/activist, Stellar‘s passion is about shine in a separate-but-adjacent setting – folk music. The Austin-based singer’s style falls somewhere between Sinead O’Connor, Indigo Girls, and Joni Mitchell, framing candid societal commentary over enthralling instrumental arrangements.

Stellar releases their debut LP RAINBOW SHADOWS this Friday and shares it digitally via livestream that same day, and you can get a grasp on this record’s full spectrum of worldly reflections with a quick listen to the album’s societally-charged lead single, “Enemy”!

Previously under the name A Case for Brooklyn, the quartet Ladyfang has become a fabulous force of glitter, glam, and the like within Austin’s rock scene. Between their eye-catching outfits, less-than-reverent lyrics, and unpredictable nuances within their genre’s framework, Ladyfang’s kept us plenty entertained for the past half decade.

Ladyfang performs tonight at Empire Control Room and tomorrow evening at Indian Roller in celebration of their latest single, whose lush vocal harmonies and satisfying production techniques will keep you grinning to yourself in the mirror before you hit the town, “Narcissist”!

With an initial frame assembled from the demos of Janson Sommer in 2014, Futon Blonde has since reclined and extended for maximum listener comfort. Since finalizing the lineup heard on the 2016 EP Solid State, this Austin quartet’s proven time and time again that blondes do indeed have more fun, thanks to eclectic grooves that stand out against the otherwise predictable realm of indie rock sonics.

Futon Blonde’s trickled out a couple singles since their 2019 LP Uppercut, but they all pack a similar punch in their own right. Case in point: “Sisyphus Strut”, which taps into ’90s-era hip-hop production techniques to roll a boulder of indie-adjacent funk psychedelia, guaranteed to help you break out of any workplace monotony and push through to the weekend.

Summer may be far behind us but surf rock music is a good fit for all seasons, hot or cold. That’s common knowledge for Austin quartet The Avocados, who, like the fruit of the same name, have taken years to fully mature from their pit status all the way back in 2013. The four seasoned veterans of The Avocados each bring their own genre-specific spices to the table and spread them out across concise, easily-digestible surf rock soundscapes, plenty of which you’ll hear on their new LP, ¡Ensalada!.

¡Ensalada!‘s just about ripe enough to dig into, and drops this Saturday alongside a release show that same afternoon at Far Out Lounge. At just shy of a dozen tracks, the strictly instrumental experience of ¡Ensalada! will keep you cool-headed as you coast across whatever life throws at you, especially with tracks like “Flipside” that sound like they’d be right at home in the background of a deleted Pulp Fiction scene.

Back in his screwdriver and salad days, songwriter Matt The Electrician was somewhat of a local legend, coming straight off all-day shifts to open mics still in company attire. Matt’s occupational capacity as electrician is a thing of the past, but the title’s become inseparable from his musical character and internal creative circuitry.

Just last Friday Matt The Electrician shared his new LP We Imagined An Ending, highlighting the singer’s pristine vocal delivery, reflectively human lyrics, and hauntingly sparse acoustic guitar work. We Imagined An Ending also gave us a couple music videos, including the charmingly minimalist visual counterpart to “Night Owls” that make absorbing the nocturnal lyrics quite a bit easier than trying to adjust your sleep schedule into early bird-ism.

Unlike the similarly-named avian companion, Jenny Parrott has never needed to mimic anyone else to express herself. After moving to Austin a decade-and-a-half back, she fronted the Western swing three-piece Shotgun Party through three LPs and international tours, then got involved with folk rockers Loves It for two albums. Since then though, Parrott and her bilingual, triple-octave singing style have migrated into a soaring solo effort.

Jenny Parrott’s sophomore LP The Fire I Saw takes the cross-genre embers of her 2017 debut When I Come Down and turns the heat way up with intricate synth-work and some of her finest vocal performances to date. The Fire I Saw drops next Friday the 12th, and Jenny Parrott performs 7pm that same evening at Hole in the Wall, but especially with the rapid temperature drops in the past 24 hours, it’s not a bad idea to land a warm spot early with the record’s title track!

On an atypically gray and rainy day in Texas, we can all appreciate the warmth of some good indie-style illumination. And celebrating the 11th anniversary of their eponymous debut this weekend is longtime KUTX favorite The Bright Light Social Hour, the psych-pop connoisseurs who’ve graced both Studio 1A and KUTX at the Four Seasons with their presence in the past.

The beloved Austin four-piece takes their sweet-but-sinister sonics to the Mohawk this Saturday for a KUTX Presents event, but if you’re the type who can’t get enough water even in a downpour like today’s, check out a previously-unreleased accoutrement of The Bright Light Social Hour‘s 11th Anniversary Edition, the spellbinding “Ocean”!

Though she’s historically called Houston her home, after several LPs that navigate the many canals of jazz (including two in the bossa-nova-verse), singer Kristine Mills is about to actualize her international aspirations with a move to London. That pond-hopping dream becomes a reality only after the release of Mills’ aptly-titled new record, Looking Back. Moving Forward., which drops next Friday.

On the cusp of Looking Back. Moving Forward. Mills performs 7PM this Thursday at Parker Jazz Club for a single and music video release show, one that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home thanks to a livestream. But if you do plan on coming out, you’ll want to check out Kristine’s powerful pipes ahead of time with “Reach Out To Me” and the aforementioned music video for that jazziest of hues, “Blue Isn’t Blue Anymore“!