Photo by Eli Whitney; artwork by Kel Brown
Austin’s Riders Against The Storm turned a lot of heads with its debut EP in 2013, winning back-to-back Band of the Year awards from the Austin Chronicle. The husband-and-wife team behind RAS, Qi Dada and Chaka, have also kept busy with their monthly dance party Body Rock ATX in the intervening years. Earlier this month, they celebrated six years of Body Rock, punctuated with a dance-ready My KUTX playlist.
Now comes RE:Mixtape, something of a love letter to RAS’s favorite songs and artists from the past few years. As the name implies, it’s a remix album, featuring new verses over samples from songs by Alabama Shakes, Ibeyi, and more. “RE:ACT” even doubles down on the Austin connection. A warped version of “Spectrolite” by Bayonne (formerly Roger Sellers) plays underneath RAS, merging hip-hop with electro-pop.
RAS celebrates the new mixtape with a show tonight at the Sidewinder. Below, you can download “RE:ACT” and watch the video for “RE:AL,” featuring a reworking of Alabama Shakes’ “Don’t Wanna Fight.”
–Art Levy
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