Photo by Limalo

Austin’s Spencer Stephenson makes electronic music under the name of Botany, and there’s something very fitting to his chosen moniker. His songs feel like they were grown more than consciously constructed; they’re dense webs of sound instead of discrete parts. Stephenson’s immersive environments knit together psychedelia, hip-hop, and electronic strains, and at their core is a subtle emotional center, like a memory you can’t quite place or a dream just out of grasp.

Stephenson releases End The Summertime F(or)ever this week, his first album in four years. As our guest DJ, he shares an hour of music that continues to inspire him. From meteor showers to distant thunderstorms, a lot of these songs soundtracked his experiences with the natural world, another element in Botany’s own particular soundworld. Hear Botany’s My KUTX on Saturday, September 26 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime at the top of the page. Also, hear Stephenson talk about his new album, his recording techniques, and more with Soundfounder.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

[intro music: Botany – “Once We Die”]

1. Broadcast – “Echo’s Answer”

2. Four Tet – “Hands”

3. David Axelrod – “Song Of Innocence”

4. Caribou – “Pelican Narrows”

5. De La Soul – “Stakes Is High”

6. The Avalanches – “Two Hearts In 3/4 Time”

7. Colleen – “Your Heart On Your Sleeve”

8. Madlib – “Spanish Bells (High Dreams)”

9. Odd Nosdam – “Profane Bong Sue”

10. Semya – “Mysty Garden”

11. Boards Of Canada – “Bocuma”

12. J Dilla – “Bye.”

13. Botany – “Kirby Overworld Flip”

14. Pharoah Sanders – “Greeting To Saud (Brother McCoy Tyner)”

15. Duster – “Gold Dust”

Why Bonnie is September’s KUTX Artist of the Month. Photo by Andrea Garcia/KUTX.

Why Bonnie’s lush and intimate sound hits a high point on the Austin band’s EP, Voice Box. Their songs bob and weave, toggling between dreamy hooks and crunchy, guitar-driven fireworks. This week on My KUTX, singer and guitarist Blair Howerton takes the controls for a guest DJ set that digs into the band’s wide-ranging tastes. She focuses on new classics by Fiona Apple and Austin’s Jay Wile as well as enduring influences like the Magnetic Fields and Yo La Tengo. Hear Why Bonnie’s My KUTX on Saturday, September 19 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime in the player at the top of the page.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

[intro music: Why Bonnie – “Bury Me”]

1. Fiona Apple – “Shameika”

2. The Breeders – “No Aloha”

3. The Magnetic Fields – “Papa Was A Rodeo”

4. Jay Wile – “Real Bad”

5. Chris Cohen – “Monad”

6. D’Angelo & The Vanguard – “Till It’s Done (Tutu)”

7. Mount Kimbie – “Marilyn” (feat. Micachu)

8. SZA – “Anything”

9. The dB’s – “Judy”

10. Yo La Tengo – “Little Eyes”

11. Frank Ocean – “Self Control”

12. New Order – “Age Of Consent”

Photo by Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon/KUTX.

Last week, Austin’s Bill Callahan released Gold Record, hot on the heels of his 2019 double album Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest. Sonically, it feels like a spiritual cousin to Shepherd, favoring mostly acoustic arrangements and a band that can follow Callahan’s wandering voice. Gold Record keeps you on your toes. It features a protest song against bad protest songs, Callahan covering himself (the Smog classic “Let’s Move To The Country”), and the word “plenipotentiary” in a song about a wedding. He’s following his own path, and it’s a joy to see where he leads you.

This week on My KUTX, Callahan takes the guest DJ reins. His set features classic country, turn-of-the-century Greek folk, and more. Hear Bill Callahan’s My KUTX on Saturday, September 12 at 6 p.m., or listen anytime at the top of the page.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

[intro song: Bill Callahan – “Another Song”]

1. DJ Clent – “Saturday Luv”

2. Blind Blake – “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

3. Shelagh McDonald – “Mirage”

4. Gary Stewart – “Cactus And A Rose”

5. A. Kostis – “Stin Ipoga (In The Basement)”

6. Rosalía – “Catalina”

7. Will Beeley – “Telling Stories”

8. June Tabor – “The Old Man’s Song”

9. Jerry Jeff Walker – “I Love You”

10. Jake Xerxes Fussell – “The Rainbow Willow”

11. Johnny Paycheck – “The Outlaw’s Prayer”

Photo by Martin do Nascimento/KUTX

Greg Vanderpool’s music is often spacious, in sound, in content, in feeling. For the past few decades, the Austin singer-songwriter has steadily released solo albums and band efforts with Monahans and Milton Mapes, and these records all seem to sit somewhere on the horizon or the open road. Vanderpool’s folk and country-influenced core grounds the hazy sound, allowing him to do a lot more with increasingly less instruments.

Vanderpool’s new album, Sub Raton, turns further inward, but in a warm and inviting way. He explicitly wanted to make a record that sounds “like a whisper from start to finish,” using Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, and the Cowboy Junkies as his trail guides. Its spaciousness is a gift. Sub Raton asks for quiet attention, which maybe is the most subversive action in our frightening and frenzied times.

This week on My KUTX, Vanderpool returns as our guest DJ, offering a set of music that spreads out and travels somewhere distant, just like his own music. Hear Greg Vanderpool’s My KUTX on Saturday, September 5 at 6 p.m. or any time at the top of the page.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

1. Greg Vanderpool – “To Violet”

2. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Marie Knight & Sam Price Trio – “My Journey To The Sky

3. Alex Dupree – “Living The Dream”

4. Los Panchos – “Pense Que No”

5. Golden Aquarians – “Night Drive”

6. The Flying Burrito Brothers – “Sin City”

7. Jim James – “State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)”

8. Joe Tex – “The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)”

9. Water Liars – “I Want Blood”

10. Gabby Pahinui & the Sons of Hawai’i – “Pua Mohala”

11. Ramsay Midwood – “Rosco”

12. The War On Drugs – “Eyes To The Wind”

13. Greg Vanderpool – “Lay My Head Down, Kansas”

Photo by Stephanie Tacy/KUTX.

This summer, Spoon has stayed busy revisiting some of their earlier work. Their reissue campaign with Matador Records, Slay On Cue, brings the Austin band’s debut Telefono and follow-up Soft Effects E.P. to vinyl for the first time in almost two decades, alongside four other discography highlights. August 29 also sees the release of All the Weird Kids Up Front, a fan-curated best-of compilation and part of Record Store Day 2020.

This week on My KUTX, Spoon frontman Britt Daniel returns as our guest DJ to celebrate the reissues. He picks an hour of songs sung by some of his all-time favorite vocalists, from Amy Winehouse and John Lennon to Public Enemy and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Hear My KUTX on Saturday, August 29 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime in the player above.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

1. Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps – “Be-Bop-A-Lula”

2. Bob Dylan – “Subterranean Homesick Blues”

3. Sister Nancy – “Bam Bam”

4. Prince – “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker”

5. Public Enemy – “Welcome To The Terrordome”

6. Amy Winehouse – “Love Is A Losing Game”

7. Frank Sinatra – “Strangers In The Night”

8. Toots & The Maytals – “Pressure Drop”

9. Stevie Wonder – “I Was Made To Love Her”

10. Johnny Mathis – “Chances Are”

11. The Pretenders – “The Buzz”

12. Dee Dee Warwick – “You’re No Good”

13. Joe Strummer & The Latino Rockabilly War – “Trash City”

14. John Lennon – “I Found Out”