Dig into all of our favorite songs from Austin artists in 2026…so far!
EddieAngel – “PAYASO”
Don’t take your eyes off EddieAngel. You can’t, really.
– Trina Quinn, Host / Social Media Manager
So much emotion in this beautiful gem from the much-anticipated CHICANO BLUES EP. With a spectacular voice far beyond his years, Angel Estrada delivers a ballad that sends you over the damn moon. There’s also something about the delivery of this single that feels so much like an old-school El Paso vibe. Trust me. La pasión y el dolor…
– Laurie Gallardo, Host / Austin Music Minute Producer
Angel Estrada is a native Austinite; I grew up just down the road in San Antonio. But I’ve no doubt regarding cross-pollination between the two music scenes (SanAnto gave us Doug Sahm, after all.) I’d love this yearning song on its own merits, but I love it even more for the way it echoes the old-school Chicano soul of S.A. bands like the Royal Jesters. Go Spurs Go.
– Jacquie Fuller, Assitant Program Director
Speaking of insanely good sonics, holy smokes does Angel have the pipes to propel the instrumental arrangement on this tune into full blown passion. And the sense of dynamics, man; the way it cools down after every chorus and then heats up to that boiling point of an outro…chef’s kiss.
– Jack Anderson, Senior Producer
First time I heard this song, I was like daaaaaaang, this is some good s#@!
– Marnie Castor, Host
“Hey Baby Que Paso, I thought I was I was your only…”, pretty sick first line (and nod to Texas Tornados); Eddie croons effortlessly on this incredible heartbreak track. To me, he’s got a Frank Ocean meets Juan Gabriel vibe that I really love. Looking forward to more from him.
– Rene Chavez, Engineer
Valice – “Drive On“
These kids graduated from UT a couple of years ago and have garnered a nice following. This song rocks, is totally unpredictable and doesn’t sound like their other songs. And those songs don’t sound like their other songs either. So refusing to pick a lane works sometimes!
– Matt Reilly, Associate General Manager
Sounding like an alternate theme song to the Cruis’n USA or Out Run arcade games, the newest single from Austin five-piece Valice is the sonic equivalent of doing a burnout in your pixelated Ferrari Testarossa with a sexy someone in the passenger seat. “Drive On” is the second track from the band’s upcoming album to make it into rotation here at KUTX, and it’s the perfect song to kick off an epic summer road trip. As a two-time SXSW performer and 2025 Sonic Guild grant winner, we expect 2026 to be a big year for Valice. Drive on!
– Peter Babb, Digital Producer
Grandmaster – “Life Arrow”
Grandmaster has more band members than Wu-Tang but that doesn’t stop them from continuing to release great music. Representing the Austin Music Experience extremely well, this single shows that their innovative style and P-Funk influences still shine bright, and yes, loud.
– Confucius Jones, Host of The Breaks
Grocery Bag – “Stop Calling Me Out”
There’s nothing all that serious about this Austin four-piece. I mean, really, who calls their band ‘Grocery Bag’? But resting somewhere between Bobby Fuller, early Kinks and ZZ Top, this nonsensical riff-rocker sidles up close to garage-rock nirvana.
– Jeff McCord, Host What’s Next
Gran Moreno – “Temple of Fire”
Delivers fire directly into the soul. My favorite memory of our April 2026 KUTX Artist of the Month will always be the way they woke the crowd up at Scholz Garten at 8-something in the morning this last South-By. Los hermanos Rodriguez, Ricardo and Christian, build a massive sound as a two-person operation, thunderous and heavy like a headspace where Hendrix and Sabbath might converge with Aztec god of fire Xiuhtēcuhtli to set the world ablaze.
– Laurie Gallardo, Host
Keepsake – “Battlebots“
Once at Wheatsville, I complimented the 20-something-year-old cashier’s Cocteau Twins t-shirt. “Thanks,” she said, “It was my mom’s.” I died a little inside. Dear Reader, I’m old. Austin band Keepsake is not. But their atmospheric, Twins-inspired sound affirms that the kids are alright.
– Jacquie Fuller, Assistant Program Director
Bayonne – “Multiphase”
Austin’s own Roger Sellers has been at this for over a decade, but this might just be his finest 3 minutes yet. Whistful & melancholic but all wrapped up in a hypnotic trance of a melody. Wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Tame Impala’s Currents, but hey, that’s just fine indeed.
– Adrian Healy, Host
Bayonne’s new single, “Multiphase,” was several years in the making; growing out of an unused synth loop that eventually inspired the beautiful, piano-centered track we get to share today. It is a somber, if hopeful, song that explores the multitude of emotions we go through when faced with the unimaginable loss of a loved one. With more than a million streams in the few months since its release, Bayonne is obviously reaching fans far beyond his hometown.
– Peter Babb, Digital Producer
Grace Sorensen – “Shirt”
The smooth, smokey, sultry vocals just do it for me on this one from Grace. She has a way of making you feel like she’s talking just to you.
– Fresh, Host of The Breaks
Adrian Quesada – Trio Asesino – “MF AF”
Everything Adrian touches is gold, (especially his retro-inspired instrumentals) and this piece of jazz-soul-funk fusion cut is no exception. Killer drum breaks, Alice Coltrane-esque harp, Donald Byrd-tinged horns. I mean, what’s not to like?
– Jack Anderson, Producer
This is as close to a jazz tune as you’re likely to hear in our general rotation. Leave it to the masterful Adrian Quesada to mix the various elements into a toothsome delight. Trumpeter Keyon Harrold, well-established in the jazz world, provides the secret sauce.
– Jay Trachtenberg, Host
Adrian Quesada – Trio Asesino –“JCC”
Think you know what Adrian Quesada’s new project sounds like? Well, you may be wrong, because the prolific Austin-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, & crate digger just dropped an instrumental album where he continues to follow his muse into the musical nooks and hot houses of simmering beats, psychedelic Chicano Soul, and arrangements that would make both Alice and John Coltrane smile. Quesada’s only mandate on “JCC” and his new Trio Asesino project appears to be, “does it BOP?!” And bloody Hell, does it ever!
– Marc Fort, Host
Magna Carda – “Slide
I’ve been a fan ever since I first worked with them, way back. Dougie and Megz have always had a knack for crafting inventive beats and rhymes that somehow feel exploratory and familiar at the same time. Live drums almost always pull me deeper into a production, and here they give the track an extra sense of momentum and grit. This tune settles into a spiraling, fuzzy groove that just feels right.
– Jake Perlman, Lead Engineer
Megz Kellie reminds us why she wore the crown for Austin Music Award’s Best Rap/Hip-Hop artist five years in a row with her ultra laidback flow – like a unique synergy of Ladybug Mecca’s effortless cool with the poise and confidence of Bahamadia.
– Ryan Wen, Host
je’Texas – “No Vacancy”
This sounds as near to mid-60s, Highway 61 Revisited-era Bob Dylan as I’ve heard in a very long time. A rip-off? Maybe, but this former KUTX Artist Of The Month certainly channels the pluck and rambunctious energy of Dylan’s early “folk rock.”
– Jay Trachtenberg, Host
The Animeros – “Danza de Los Saguaros”
Soulful Latin cumbia from another former KUTX Artist Of The Month. Perfect sounds for a summer dance party.
– Jay Trachtenberg, Host
White Denim – “(God Created) Lock and Key”
Somewhere on his way from Austin to his new home in Los Angeles, James Petralli picked up the hitchhiking ghost of Captain Beefheart. Apparently, in the afterlife, Beefheart absorbed the joy of Southern Boogie. All kidding aside, this is a blast of controlled chaos, rollicking from one wall of fuzz to another, overseen by a madman who has, at last, taken over the asylum.
– Rick McNulty, Music Director
The Opera – “Thrasher”
Thrasher fuses Trent Reznor’s industrial grit with Goldfrapp’s sardonic seductiveness for something you’d likely hear in an underground goth dance club in some former Soviet bloc warehouse district. You know, one of those places that might actually be a front for a vampire den. But if music for the hip undead isn’t your thing, The Opera’s debut, I Want This To Last, features a deep repertoire of darkness, especially Unwound’s brand of post-hardcore on the singles “Cinderblock” and “Slow Draw,” and even a sprinkle of deafening fuzz a la slowcore on “God’s Gun.”
P.S. I know this came out in 2025 but those late year releases always get forgotten in these kind of lists!
– Ryan Wen, Host
Touch Girl Apple Blossom – “The Springtime Reminds Me Of…”
Pacific Northwest Twee Pop Mecca K Records still knows how to pick ‘em, recently adding the Austin-based Touch Girl Apple Blossom to the list of bands, such as Built to Spill and Modest Mouse, that can call the label their first home. I will say though, while Touch Girl Apple Blossom has some of the sweetness of K Records founders Beat Happening, they sonically reminds me more of bands from K’s Kiwi-contemporary, Flying Nun Records, especially Denise Roughan’s stuff, but an alternate timeline where she collaborated with Felt, but with a Texas Americana angle. I don’t know man, this band is just good.
– Ryan Wen, Host
