Catching Up on the Austin Scene: Adrian Quesada, Queen Serene + More
It’s been a busy few weeks down here in Texas, musically speaking, with tons of stuff getting released left and right, so wanted to be sure we got some news out that we’re stoked to jam to as of late.
Adrian Quesada – Boleros Psicodelicos
Adrian’s work is central to Austin’s heartbeat at the moment, be it Black Pumas or his other projects. As a huge fan of traditional boleros, and psychedelic music, this combination of the two is hitting right in the sweet spot. Plus, it’s getting picked up by every NPR station, so you know your dad and his friends will be talking about it.
Queen Serene – Better Things/Waiting Room
This band is one of the more exciting recent bands to pop up on the Austin radar, and their live set matches the jams. They just recently dropped this tasty 2 song morsel for our ears, and “Better Things” frantic art-punk energy is the perfect little jam for your day.
If I were to vote for my favorite listen this last week, it would be the new LP from Chronophage. Interestingly, they’ve taken their darkness and turned into this broad sweeping pop that seems fit for the underground sounds of the 80s. You gotta listen!
This group is the new project of our old friend Kevin Cavanaugh, and his new outfit is hitting the perfect guitar pop vibes on this one; I keep coming back to an early Surfer Blood comparison. Check out their brand new 4 tune EP!
Here we are folks, another Monday. We’re starting off the week, as we always do, looking back at last week’s hits, just in case our five followers missed a song or two. We’ve got new indie pop stuff from Red Sleeping Beauty and Jeanines, plus new tunes from long-time ATH faves, Stephen’s Shore. Then there’s a new Chronophage album on the way, so we’ve got that covered here too. It’s a quick little way to breeze into your week here, starting things off nice and light. Enjoy!
One of the reasons the Austin music scene can be so frustrating is the fact that 
It’s been a crazy year, and a depressing year, so perhaps we all retreated more into our record collections to seek out that fleeting joy. On my end, I spent a lot of time running/walking in the ‘burbs, so these are the records that played the most in my life…thus they are my Favorite Albums of 2020. The validity means little to anyone other than myself, but since you stop by, perhaps come by and check out my list!
Year-end lists (or “best-of”s as most people term them) are extremely hard for me to compile. I listen to (and buy) a lot of music from day-to-day & despite my best efforts truly cannot keep up with the sheer magnitude of quality recordings coming out each year – and 2019 was a pretty fucking great year for music. So here’s my best shot at compiling a list of my “10 Most-Listened-To” albums from 2019 (plus five honorable mentions). They’re in alphabetical order to avoid any sort of ranking, because honestly ranking something as “best” or assigning a numerical rating seems antiquated & frankly diminishes great art, IMHO. (Trouble In Mind Records releases are excluded, for conflict of interest, but it’s safe to say that anything we’d be investing thousands of dollars releasing is – in our opinion – worth your time). Hope you enjoy & possibly discover something new. Support independent artists & record labels!