New Austin Music - May 3, 2025

Words by Joseph Rocket & Alyssa Quiles

Spring in Austin is always chaotic: thunderstorms, pollen, inexplicable sunburns, you name it. But this year’s chaos sounds really good. There’s been a flood of fresh music lately (and lately-ish) and we’ve been swimming in it, ears first.

Below are a few recent releases from Austin artists that stood out to us.

Some float.

Some punch.

Some gently tear your heart into little poetic pieces.

Either way, they’re worth a listen.

Slurp The World – “Pool Rudd,” “Plastic Leaf,” and “Buncle”(Rocket) Three new singles, three very different flavors, all from a group that seems intent on bending reality just a little bit.

• Pool Rudd feels like drifting through a Martian hot spring before being launched skyward by a geyser made of glitter and bass. It’s cosmic, dreamlike and weird in the best way.

• Plastic Leaf is the comedown: melancholic and slow-burning, like staring through fogged glass at something beautiful you can’t quite reach. Stick with it—it reveals itself gradually.

• Buncle tears the whole atmosphere apart. This one shreds with no regard for genre rules, just pure joy and distortion.

Taken together, these tracks show a band confidently moving in multiple directions at once—and somehow making it all work.

Redbud – All Chorus (Album) (Rocket) Redbud’s new album is warm, playful, and sneakily emotional. The album truly deserves it's own post, but highlights include:

• Pink Pear: That bassline grooves like it’s possessed by funk demons.

• Arvi: Midway pivot into Spanish takes it to a whole new level.

• To the Moon: Builds into a gorgeous floaty outro that feels like emotional gravity loss.

If you listen front to back, you’ll come out the other side a little softer, a little sparklier.

Macy Todd – “casualties & coca cola” (Rocket) A thunderstorm ballad for noir souls. Moody, cinematic, and devastating in its restraint. Lines like:

I can’t stop from speedin’ 

You can’t stop the rain 

Casualties and coca cola 

All over

The dashboard 

Collidin' with the dyin' of you

…stick to your ribs. It’s like driving through grief in slow motion.

Everrest – “Lie To Me” (Quiles) Ever feel like you aren’t good enough? So do Everrest.” Following the release of “Tear It Down,” the rock outfit get vulnerable with their latest track “Lie To Me.” Backed by echoing synths, the local 5-piece tackle feelings of inadequacy with longing vocals, and dynamic instrumentation.

Jelly Ellington – Glow (Album) (Quiles) Jonathan “Jelly” Ellington dropped his latest genre-spanning full-length ‘Glow.’ Written after tragically losing his home in a fire, Ellington delivers a culmination of his journey through healing and strength. Hitting everything from rock to disco, with a little bit of folk sprinkled in, listeners are enraptured in a sonic universe of diverse grooves and hypnotizing riffs.

That’s what we’ve been spinning lately. Let us know what’s stuck in your head—or don’t. We’ll just be here, floating in the sonic fog of Plastic Leaf and quietly crying to Lie To Me.