You've heard it once and you'll hear it again: Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World.
Every single night of the week, all over town, Austin reverberates with the sweet sounds of local music. To highlight some of the great local acts you should support, we frequently share a list of five bands you need to hear. Welcome to Volume 49.
To see the full series, go here. We've been highlighting local bands for a while around here!
- Contributed by Casey Carter
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photo via bandcamp
Keyboardist and songwriter Keith Galloway Jr., billed as KindKeith, is on a roll. With their recent residencies at Hotel Vegas and Hole in the Wall wrapped up, Galloway’s forthcoming album On Love is poised to make waves across Austin’s music scene (and beyond, as the artist recently announced a move to Los Angeles). While the singles from On Love tease a more up-tempo experience, KindKeith’s more traditional soul and R&B chops are on full display in 2021’s Take What You Need. Songs like “Simple” communicate an interplay between nonchalance and romantic obsession, creating a kind of syncopated emotional rhythm. Meanwhile, synth glissandos create a feeling of soaring elation, which is grounded by a laid-back rhythm section and Galloway’s clear, expressive work on the keys.
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photo via instagram
Quentin Arispe contains multitudes, clearly thrown into relief by two of their 2024 releases, As Above and So Below. The former is a meditation on mortality and grief, full of simple but effective instrumentation. The latter is a collection of upbeat dance tracks. But while the songs on So Below are more immediately horny, they are no less introspective. The two releases play off each other beautifully, bringing to light different interpretations depending on the order in which you listen to them. Is So Below an escape from grief into the embrace of immediacy and pleasure? Or is As Above a retreat from the sensory overload of a party, like ducking into a quiet room to reflect and ask yourself the big questions? The answer is both, and neither.
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photo via instagram
Several points throughout Large Brush Collection’s debut LP, 2024’s Off Center, feel combative. Given that folk music has roots in protest movements, this doesn’t come as a surprise, but what makes songs like “Better Be” stand out are the clever ways in which vocalist Nora Predey weaves vulnerability and compassion into the narrative. On the surface, the song’s chorus of “better be - better be - better be…” reads as a command, implying that there’s an ‘or else…’ coming down the line. But the meaning shifts as the ear starts to hear the chorus become “be better - be better - be better,” Predey imploring the subject of the song to change their ways. This is Large Brush Collection in microcosm: intricate songwriting backed up by catchy instrumentation and a rambling, emotive attitude.
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photo via instagram
To call an artist ‘genre-defying’ can feel like a cop-out, and while it might be accurate to describe Lucía Beyond this way, doing so would be a disservice to the complex feelings evoked by the Austin DJ and songwriter’s music. Lucía even went as far as to mix and master all of 2023’s Airborne Fantasy: Unlimited herself to ensure that the specifics wouldn’t get lost in translation. The album trades in so many different musical languages it’s hard to know what to expect from the next song. Breakbeat rhythms feel right at home next to acoustic guitar ballads and ambient jams thanks to Lucía’s unique and cohesive vision.
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photo via facebook
The history of queerness in punk is long and winding, and the current plethora of LGBTQIA+ punk artists are keeping a decades-old torch lit - and making some damn good music while doing so. Dednamez feel very much like part of that story, blasting aggressive, unapologetic queer punk across Austin for the last several years. Belonging very much in the same conversation as other Austin upstarts like The Sword or Die Spitz, Dednamez bring incredible energy to every song they perform, occasionally sprinkling in pop sensibilities, pointing to the influence of ‘80s legends like Bruce Springsteen and INXS.
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