Athens, Georgia. A fertile ground for breeding world famous bands like the B-52’s, R.E.M., of Montreal, and Drive-By Truckers. Now, humbly moving their own way up the ranks is hey, nothing. The emo-folk duo, originally from Atlanta, are, for better, or worse, writing music that is much more raw and reflective than what you’d expect from a pair of 19-year-olds. But when life comes at you too early, too fast, and too hard, music can be an excellent form of therapy, conversation, and community.

Like a lot of folks to have grown-up too fast, humor is another form of therapy, and Tyler Mabry and Harlow Phillips are adept at folding that humor into their lyrics and on-and-off stage charm.

“Barn nursery” is about the stages of grief. We’re taken through the narrator’s journey, not only through lyrics, but through the emotional states of the music itself. The tempo in particular stands out, as the beat is kept perfectly in time to the natural rhythm of rumination while the vocals take center stage.

hey, nothing plays 3Ten tomorrow night.

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Over the last several years, Kenneth Frost has made his mark in the Austin underground scene with his band the Cuckoos, a group that blends classic rock sentiments with neo-psych and club beat attitude and punctuation. Now Frost is stepping into a new project, a six-piece outfit called Blush Fantasy. Blush Fantasy is like a fresh look back in time. The beats dance somewhere between the disco floor and 80’s clubs (much like Chromeo) until the power chords cut into to plant you a bit more in the 80’s, but now you’re in an entirely different club, still dancing, but not asking too many questions. You’re here for the ride! It’s a true celebration of all of Frost’s favorite influences. Even his vocals are like David-Bowie-meets-Michael Hutchence.

“Dreamboat” features Hey Cowboy’s Sydney Harding-Sloan joining Frost on the mic, setting the scene and creating an ethereal, fog-machine like mysticism. She is the mysterious dreamboat, and she will be seen and celebrated.

You can see Blush Fantasy tomorrow night, March 27th at Hotel Vegas, and this Saturday, March 29th on the indoor stage at Mohawk.

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Austin’s Julian Neel grew-up in Lubbock surrounded at home by the music of artists like Joe Ely and the Flatlanders. Then he spent the last half of the 2010’s on the road with Molly Burch touring the US and Europe. All the while, he was fronting his own band, and he released his debut album Call the Mountain in 2020.

After years of getting his music thirst quenched, Neel filled his cup with the vines of entrepreneurship co-managing the popular Austin wine bar Lolo. But, two cups can be filled at the same time, and Neel has never stopped writing. What musician can?

Neel is back with the heavyweight-studded EP Gallery Show. Members of Chaparelle, Voxtrot and Tele Novella along with members of Weyes Blood, Devandra Banhart, and Tim Heidecker’s bands fill out the record. Neel at the lead takes us through a series of vignettes spanning a motely cast of characters and situations in a small, non-descript Texas town. Each story is given its due time as the EP maintains a leisurely pace, not dallying, but appreciating and exploring.

The characters exist somewhere between the Lynchian and Tarantino spheres, illustrating a place and time that seemingly only perfectly exists within itself, and we’re being treated to a peek inside.

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Austin’s Nick Garza is Texas music personified. The 13th-generation singer-songwriter uses his baritone voice to add an extra layer of salve to his beautifully-crafted songs that embody not only Western music, but plenty of notes and nods to various Texas-centered genres like Tejano. He’s even collaborated Texas with music stalwarts like Augie Meyers and Los Texamaniacs. And it’s not just Austin who’s locked-in on Garza’s inevitable rise as the singer-songwriter has garnered praise from music critics and lovers all over the state.

Garza’s latest EP Silver to Hold is a three-song release that includes Colter Wall’s harmonica player Jake Dillon Groves on the title track, joining the rest of Nick Garza’s Get Along. “Silver to Hold” is a slow, rich waltz that perseverates on lessons learned and the advice that follows. And Garza’s vocals alone will keep you transfixed and heeding.

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The last day of Spring Break deserves a real party, doesn’t it? Well, Chinese American Bear has the honey pot for just that.

Classically trained Anne Tong immigrated from China with her family when she was around six years old, and after moving around several states in vastly different parts of the country, the family settled in Spokane, Washington. Concurrently, Bryce Barsten’s Spokane-based family were part of the global “llama boom” of the 90’s that hit the US specifically in the Pacific Northwest. These two singular life experiences eventually brought them together in matrimony and music.

Chinese American Bear, simply, is wonderfully weird. Mixing the bubbly, whimsical nature of Chinese pop culture with more off-the-wall Western sensibilities of groups like Deerhoof or even a melodic Animal Collective to bring a bright, fun, bicultural party to the stage. And it’s a party we’re all invited to.

At their Scholz Garten performance, we learned the Chinese words and process for making dim sum and we got a reminder to not take ourselves too seriously, to let loose, and just feel fuzzy.

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Happy first day of spring! With sunny skies in the 70s and school out, let’s put an extra spring in that step.

Mexico City’s Los Eclipses are a cosmic duo. Blending many Latin music influences with singer Eva De Marce’s Franco background, a lot of their music feels like it’s created a rare new space in music: airy, psychedelic, French-Pop inspired music with bilingual lyrics and Latin roots. Like the cosmic distance between the lunar and solar eclipses, Los Eclipses encompasses all they are.

“Elodie” is a French-language tune wherein the speaker is lionizing the artist Elodie’s complex personality, talents, and burdens. A tortured artist on the brink. Feeling alone and misunderstood, the speaker is there to console Elodie, saying “Je veux embrasser tes blessures,” I want to kiss your wounds.  

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It’s Wednesday, baby, and we are halfway through our week of celebrating some of our favorite performances from last week’s KUTX Live at Scholz Garten, where over 2,000 music fans local and visiting came and celebrated with us.

“Contigo Quiero Todo” or “I Want Everything With You,” is one of Edgar Alejandro’s many captivating love songs. The L.A. musician by way of Guadalajara, Mexico was born into a family of mariachis, started composing his own music at thirteen, and now at twenty-three, his blend of mariachi, bossa nova, salsa, and other Latin music genres is being shared virally on platforms like TikTok and streamed over 100,000 times a month on Spotify.

And while that would be exciting for any emerging artist, these stats are doubly affirming to Alejandro’s mission to bring mariachi to the mainstream outside of Latin America. He brought this mission to Scholz Garten where he had an audience of hundreds positively captivated.

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As we continue our week-long celebration of our week at Scholz Garten where we raised over $20k for the Central Texas Food Bank, we turn our ears north and south to King Cruff. Raised in Jamaica, based in Montreal, and being Bob Marley’s grandson, Solomon Markey-Spence AKA King Cruff, furthers the family legacy with his own style.

 Blending everything from afrobeat to dancehall reggae, and contemporary pop, Cruff’s music and stage performance is an adrenaline rush straight to the soul. With all of that together, King Cruff calls himself in one word, “punky,” unable to be put in a box. It’s even in his name, as “cruff” is a Jamaican term for unambitious. The off-kilter dichotomy in the name represents the off-kilter dichotomy of his style. And it’s a damn party.

Cruff took the Scholz stage Wednesday morning at the tender hour of 10 AM, and this one-man show transported our audience to sleepy bopping to full-on boogieing. And now, we bring that boogie to you.

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Last week, the SXSW storm rolled in, and KUTX was part of the rolling thunder over part of downtown. 16 artists took the Scholz Garten stage across four days, and one of the standouts was Cork, Ireland’s Cardinals. While the band tends to dance around calling themselves post-punk, they do set themselves apart from their Ireland and UK post-punk contemporaries like Yard Act and Fontaines DC (who’s lead singer Grian Chatten calls Cardinals his favorite new band).

Cardinals oscillates between loud, animated guitar riffs and quieter, more vulnerable ruminations. And despite having released just one EP and a handful of singles, their dynamic sound is well-established. They brought that dynamism to the stage at Scholz Garten last week. In fact, this entire week of Song of the Day is dedicated to last week’s performances. So, here’s a St. Paddy’s Day gift from us to you.

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Austin native Elijah Delgado has been releasing his self-proclaimed indie rock lullabies since 2021. Since then, he’s performed with national acts like Sister Hazel and Dayglow and performed at Old Settler’s Music Fest and Utopiafest.

Since the release of his debut EP in 2021, Delgado has been sprinkling his audience with a few singles, now leading up to his second EP Moonboy, out this June. The EP’s first single “Hide + Seek,” showcases Delgado’s continued graduation in songwriting. A song about being honest with yourself when you know you’re off or simply falling behind, taking inventory, and using that information to do better and get back on track.

Playing tomorrow afternoon at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, here’s Austin’s Elijah Delgado with “Hide + Seek.”

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