Music

Luna Luna's newly-local status keeps on giving, including a recent Harry Styles cover and an upcoming ACL Fest debut. As noted in the Chronicle earlier this year: "We’re now home to the swoony, extra-smooth sounds of bilingual synth-pop quartet Luna Luna, recently relocated from Dallas. Originally the solo project of Colombian-born songwriter Kavvi ... August album Flower Moon loops in bassist Ryan Gordon, drummer Kaylin Martínez, and vocalist/keyboardist Danny Bonilla. The groovy effort rides 2000s R&B flare alongside the salsa and bachata Kavvi grew up on."
TC Superstar, exuberant synth-pop troupe lead by vocalist Connor McCampbell, consistently stun with precision-choreographed contemporary dancers. This outlet reviewed 2021 sophomore effort As Seen on TV, writing, "As TC Superstar's previous LP followed will-they-won't-they high school sweethearts, the Austin music/dance group's third album takes on a concept similarly steeped in American myth: the television ... Exuberant group vocals and a chipper pace move the sometimes chilly synthwave into brighter, warmer, Seventies pop/rock territory."
Mama Duke may be the first artist to lyrically predict a cover appearance in this paper with the lyrics of 2020 track “Ghost,” in which the queer rapper declared "watch me manifest the front cover of the Chronicle." Mission accomplished last month, where the Palacios, Texas native reflected on her debut LP: "Ballsy is who I had to be to survive, to make it as a female in hip-hop. I've never even registered that until now. [Early on] I always had to defend myself, whether it's for being a strong woman or being queer. I always felt like I had to have my fist up."
KindKeith represented the keyboard-centric musical guise of Keith Galloway Jr., Ft. Worth native studying at UT-Austin's jazz program. Following swoony pandemic recording Take What You Need, this paper applauded the maestro’s latest last month: "The six-sided Don't Talk to Me >:( spins more sonically experimental, tonally complex, and ... fun. Opener 'COOL' is an insane 85 seconds, going from electronic to dreamy indie R&B to jazz-inflected while harping on a sound bite: 'Better lose that energy!'"
McPullish, local dub connoisseur, packs collaborations with noted vocalists General Smiley and Tippa Irie alongside production for Texas favorites El Tule and Brownout. On 2020 Lone Wolf McDub, the Chronicle noted "superior drum sound and enchanting leads like the cinematic melodica on 'High and Lonesome.'" Keep up with the local polymath on his own Charlie's Records.