March 2026
There is so much good music being made in Austin that it can be hard to keep up. To help you stay on top of it, we’ve pulled together some of the best new releases from local artists. Hear all of these songs on-air at KUTX 98.9 or online at KUTX.org.
Gran Moreno – “Temple of Fire”
Released via Ricardo Rodriguez January 16, 2026
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Rock n’ Roll will never die, we just need to touch some grass and remember it exists in meatspace where we sweat with and on other humans beneath the assault of several thousand watts of potential power. I’d like to thank brothers Ricardo and Christian Rodriguez for reminding me of that when they shook me out of my SXSW-induced stupor at 8 am with their raw Psychedelic rock at this year’s KUTX Live at Scholz Garten.
Our April Artist of the Month originally hail from Mexico City, and they’ve brought with them a forsaken style of heavy psych we haven’t heard since the Sword. I wouldn’t call their music heavy metal per se, but like the Sword, they took the psychedelic tint of stoner metal alongside the pummeling doom chords that sprang from the 3 remaining fingers on Tony Iommi’s right hand and transmuted it into their own unique, lyrically personal, storytelling-first strain of psychedelic rock. Even more impressively, they radiate the power of the aforementioned as a two-piece. Exhibit A: “Temple of Fire” from their debut EP El Sol.
It’s no surprise they’ve quickly become among the best heavy music acts in Austin, TX. Where they’re coming from and became the musicians they are today is at the epicenter of where heavy music has been embraced more than anywhere else in the world. Countless bands in the foreground of every major evolution of heavy music, like Metallica, Slayer, and Sepultura, have roots in Latin America, and we’re lucky to have Gran Moreno bring that energy back to Austin.
Shakey Graves – “When the Love is New”
Released via Secret Identity under exclusive license to Dualtone Music Group February 9, 2026
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Shakey Graves took DIY so literally that it would make Ian MacKaye blush, but like most iconic Austin musicians, it was exactly that resolute commitment to being himself and doing things his own way that earned him his legendary status. With ramshackle banjos and guitars, a homemade tambourine/bass drum made out of an old suitcase, and every appendage available to him, he carved out a uniquely weird kind of one-man, lo-fi, bluesy-folk-Americana that has, and will, endure as one of the defining sounds of Austin Music.
It’s been 15 years since Roll the Bones let the world in on one of Austin’s best kept secrets, but through the record deals, numerous sold out tours, Alejandro Rose-Garcia (Shakey’s government name) has never lost his independent spirit. “When the Love is New,” the lead single from his latest EP, On My Own, arrives with a music video he produced, directed, and edited himself, however the single’s dusky mood and deep abyssal sound shows while he may have made his name as a one-man band, his creative wanderlust will never allow him to be a one-trick musician.
Oh, and by the way, he’ll be at the KUT Festival May 1-2 for a talk, and a free show. You should come.
Magna Carda – “Slide”
Released via Magna Carda/To The Good People March 10, 2026
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Magna Carda were genre-defying in 2014 when they first brought their ultra-smooth, soulful melange of R&B, jazz, and rap with their sophisticated live arrangements and instrumentation to our ears. Now, but only with the benefit of hindsight, can we see they were also genre-definers. Alongside a generation of jazz and electronic musicians from London to LA, as well as R&B bands like the Internet, MC-producer duo Megz Kellie and Dougie Do innovated a refreshing and beautiful harmony of eclectic sounds that has since proliferated into every area of popular music.
And now, after nearly half a decade wait, we finally have a new LP. I’m not complaining – I’m thankful, especially because their 3rd LP inninoutcheamind is Magna Carda at their creative peak. On “Slide” Megz reminds us why she wore the crown as Austin Music Award’s Best Rap/Hip-Hop artist five years in a row with a laidback flow that feels like a fusion of Ladybug Mecca’s effortless cool with the force and confidence of Bahamadia. But it’s not just Megz and Dougie’s performance on inninoutcheamind that easily put in the running for best release of 2026 so far, it’s also because the record is an inspiring community affair with features from jazz and R&B artists that have reinvigorated the Austin Music Experience in their own way, like Grace Sorensen, Quentin Arispe, and Wyatt Corder of Big Wy’s Brass Band.
Leopold and His Fiction – “Misunderstood”
Released via NATIVE FICTION RECORDS March 13, 2026
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Daniel Leopold has done a lot of living in the 20+ years since he first began Leopold and his Fiction back in his hometown of Detroit. After settling in San Francisco for a time to study writing, he eventually made his way to Austin, TX, where he has become a stalwart of the Austin Music Experience – not just as the primary force behind his Detroit-born rock n’ roll band, but through his creative union with Jane Ellen Bryant as Jane Leo.
In last year’s EP Destruction, his first major Leopold and His Fiction release since forming Jane Leo, Daniel Leopold returned to his roots with the most refined iteration of his signature pop-minded garage rock yet. And while the latest single, “Misunderstood,” is similarly steeped in that frenetic Motown energy, it’s better described as a two-minute sonic distillation of his entire two-decade-long career in music. Imbuing the synth-forward approach he cultivated with Jane Leo with the raw energy of rock n’ roll, his literate lyrical stylings are in full force out the gate, opening the single with “Your sarcasm is draining all my venom,” with the attitude and swagger that could only come out of someone who was born swimming in the energy of one of the coolest music cities in the world.
Quentin – “HELLO DENIAL”
Released via Playing In Traffic LLC February 20, 2026
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Austin’s Quentin is as much of a visual artist as they are a performer. Ahead of the release of their upcoming album TOMGIRL, Quentin has released the music video for the gut-spilling “Hello Denial,” an anthemic art pop tune, smooth, groovy, and a little sultry before being punctuated with slightly fuzzed-out guitar chords, fueled by an electrically charged night that sent Quentin straight to their collaborator kinderr’s studio. As Quentin puts it, “sometimes when people aren’t honest about their sexual identity, they end up hurting people along the way.” The stunning video is another celebration of Quentin’s MO: creating spaces where power, identity, and honesty coexist with vigor.
