Ten years down the line in his career as Washed Out, keyboardist-vocalist Ernest Greene Jr. continues to champion an ever-evolving chillwave sound. The Atlanta-based auteur has been averaging at about one record every three to four years, rounding out this most recent cycle of creativity with Washed Out‘s fourth LP Purple Noon.

Purple Noon finds Greene sifting through familiar tides of indie funk fusion, dream pop, and hip-hop-influenced psychedelia with a sense of beach-read, market-ripe freshness throughout. Washed Out certainly won’t be getting diluted anytime soon, so top off your weekend with his Soundfounder interview, airing at 2PM today and again on Soundfounder’s Saturday night show at 1AM. And as you wade out of the work week, soak up some of the midday mauve on Purple Noon with one of its brightest highlights, “Time to Walk Away”!

–Jack Anderson

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KUTX Live at Home: Washed Out – Shot, edited and mixed by Ernest Greene for KUTX July 2020

KUTX presents Washed Out from the home studio of Ernest Greene in Atlanta, GA to your home. Purple Moon, the fourth album from Washed Out, drops August 7, 2020 on Sub Pop Records. 

Set: “Face Up” “Time To Walk Away” “Hide”
Musicians: Ernest Greene: vocals, keys; Cameron Gardner; drums; Dylan Lee; bass

It’s been a little over five years since singer-guitarist Spencer Garland was labeled a “Punk Rock Randy Newman” and began his stint at the front of Austin’s PR Newman. In the short time that’s passed, the group’s built up quite a following in Central Texas, thanks in no small part to Garland’s undeniable talent, lyrical candor, and overall mastery of the rock n roll genre.

Soon PR Newman just followed up their 2018 debut Turn Out with the sophomore LP Private Lives, self-recorded, produced and engineered by Garland himself and featuring fifteen previously-unheard originals. Making its appearance about a third way through the record is Private Lives’ second single, “Who Swept The Jungle?”, an examination of the relationship between idealism and the actual journey that goes into those pursuits and coinciding with a music video as well, co-directed by KUTX favorite Matthew Logan Vasquez.

–Jack Anderson

KUTX supports Austin music; your support makes KUTX possible. Donate today.

We’ve been keeping a watchful eye on Nané since their debut single “Always On My Mind” earned a heavy rotation spot on our airwaves late last Fall (and deservedly so). The group was born on the UT campus back in 2016 when singer Daniel Sahad first linked up with guitarist Ian Green, and soon Nané was having no problems selling out venues like Stay Gold, mesmerizing thousand-person crowds, and opening for Black Pumas and Bob Schneider.

A full record has yet to be announced, but last Friday Nané shared their fifth single, featuring an ensemble cast of credits: production by Grammy-winner John Speice IV, mixing by Chris “Frenchie” Smith, mastering by Cacophony’s Erik Wofford, and engineering from Adrian Quesada. They’ve reclaimed a Roy Orbison title just for themselves for a confidence booster and a friendly reminder not to take everything so seriously accept the goofiness in life’s banality even down to your individual core on “Blue Velvet”!

–Jack Anderson

–Photo: Renee Dominguez

KUTX supports Austin music; your support makes KUTX possible. Donate today.

Up to this point, Austin’s Aaron Miller is most easily recognized as one of three “frontmen” in the synth-pop trio Sphynx, who also moonlights as a wedding DJ. But especially with the way this year has been going, it shouldn’t come as too much a surprise that there’s a hard left turn coming.

Enter Josie Lockhart, Miller’s new solo endeavor that finds the experienced singer-guitarist stretching out past his comfort zone and into realms of indie rock, psychedelia, and Americana. For his upcoming debut, Josie Lockhart takes an otherworldly revisionist approach to the frontier myth of Manifest Destiny, providing an aural backdrop for Miller’s exploration of love, isolation, and grief across this new batch of originals. When this Josie comes home, he’ll treat you to What A Dream To Rise Awake From, but not before giving you a bit of dream pop petrichor mixed by Chris Coady (Beach House, Grizzly Bear, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), perfect for these unseasonably rainy days in the middle of a typically dry Texas summer, “Like Lightning”!

–Jack Anderson

KUTX supports Austin music; your support makes KUTX possible. Donate today.

Born in Chicago to Venezuelan parents, multi-instrumentalist Isabel Olive has become inseparable from a bi-cultural experience. Olive’s moniker of Half Gringa certainly stays faithful to that identity with a crossroads of indie rock and Latinx, first heard on her self-produced 2017 record Gruñona.

At the tail end of this month Half Gringa drops her sophomore album, Force To Reckon, with a bolder sense of dynamics and an infectious balance between Olive’s vocals and instrumentation 0ver nine originals. Force to Reckon is out August 28th, preceded by its latest single featuring fellow Chicagoan Gia Margaret, “Afraid of Horses”!

–Jack Anderson

–Photo: Rachel Winslow

Support KUTX’s ability to bring you closer to the music. Donate today.