One of the bright young stars of Austin hip-hop has just recently followed up a heavy quality first track (which we liked a lot) with a second, dropping “Only Rapper Alive” a couple weeks ago. Like a pink-hazed dream of a song, “Only Rapper Alive” features some glistening warm production from Eric Dingus, one of the co-owners of Dream Sequence Records and a Texan musician whose tracks regularly pull down 40k+ listens on SoundCloud. Now, metrics don’t make a track good automatically, but that’s tremendously more than most popular groups in Austin ever get. Hell, quick math says the average number of listens on Dingus’ last 10 posts on SoundCloud is exactly 57,212.3, a number that is higher itself than most decently well-known Austin acts get across their entire online catalog.

For a rapper with two tracks out, Plato III is also pulling down both big numbers and big attention himself. This big response from the net is interesting considering Plato’s firm and well-thought-out stance as something different than and a bit critical of most rappers (what a lot of his two existing tracks are about), but really it’s not surprising at all considering his obvious talent for wordplay and musicianship.

A jazzier-affair than career-opener “Natalie Portman,” “Only Rapper Alive” is somewhat of a stream of consciousness style rap, with Plato talking through his own and some other possible perspectives on life and everything from money to fame to strugglin’ to survive to death itself and the afterlife. There’s a lot of info to process in this one, but the gist is that Plato is a deep thinker who sees through the facade of the entertainment industry and the self-absorbed modern life, but who is also not just hating on those things and instead offering a balanced and mature perspective that’s all wrapped up in really pretty, catchy music. And we’re damn into that.

Get on our cultural plane and watch for new Plato III with us at his Facebook here, and put some Austin talent in your ears below.

Later this week we've got a piece droppin' on our latest Artist Poll tiers Slooom (that's the "people who tied" kind of tiers btw, not the stacked thingies), talkin' about their drip-beat beautiful new video "Honey," but as a bit of a prelude to that, here's a new track by CAPYAC, the other big project from (the producing half of Slooom) Delwin Steven Campbell along with Eric Peana. This track is called "How I Feel" and it takes that classic and classically reworked "Feeling Good" hook and turns it into silky fun sexfunk glory. That's future sexfunk glory, if you want to get specific about it, and "How I Feel" is an immediate hip-mover with its quick-picked melody and bright organ backbone folding right into a big, hip-hopped, chopped-up song that you do wanna get down to. We've already known that CAPYAC has that true smooth funkdisco thing, like they vampired it right outta the 1977 Bee Gees, and CAPYAC obviously also has their modern elements of beat construction and electronic instrument-use right on point too. However, with "How I Feel" it's just been real good and confirmed- we now also know that, undoubtedly, CAPYAC is making the sexiest, smoothest music in Austin at this moment. Thank you CAPYAC for being so clear in your claiming of the throne. It's nice to have questions settled so easily.

Legendary NYC drummer Skoota Warner has played with everyone from Santana to Biz Markee, and “Vignettes” is his second solo album. It features DJ Logic, Hot Tuna, and, in the new single “Still In Love,” the famous freestyle juggernaut C-Rayz Walz. The drumbeat is dusty and raw, the kind any MC would love to slay, and C-Rayz crafts an intimate narrative crammed with brilliant lines like, “Why would I listen to lies. . .when you are the truth that I envision?” The album speaks to Warner’s eclectic tastes and styles. This video will speak to your heart. - BrokeMC

We’ve been waitin’ to post this one y’all. Malik is a rising, top-quality Austin hip-hop artist that we brought you a bit about not too long back, and he’s also a nominee for our Artist of the Month, primarily because he’s on a goddamn high octane productive roll right now.

As part of said roll, Malik has been firing a veritable arsenal of creative endeavors out at the world, so far including the following:

A solid as hell single — “On My Own,” which we profiled in March
A mixtape — The Prerequisite, dropped last month and which has amassed over 6000 listens across its 8 solid tracks in that time on Soundcloud (that’s a big deal, most of the bands we post here barely get that in a year)
A fucking video game — The Chase, a pixelated chaser based on a dream by Malik and out for iOS and Android for absolute free
A soon-to-be dropped music video- “Breakaway,” from the new album and released July 5
An upcoming album — The Principium, primed and ready to be launched at the world on July 12

It’s rare for a local artist to drop even a couple things at once, much less content at this breakneck rate. I mean, who drops a damn video game as a musician? It’s a pretty simple runner game, but The Chase has a great style of pixelly desert goodness, and it also serves as a way to get an early listen to some of Malik’s music from the upcoming album. Produced with game creator and composer Emily Meo, The Chase is without a doubt one of the most creative and engaging ways to reach an audience that we’ve ever seen from any musician, much less a local one.

When it comes to the music, Malik is riding quite high at the top of the list of up-and-coming local hip-hop artists. His commanding baritone flow and deftness on the wordplay front ride over dynamic production (his own) that creates songs that mesh pop elements and true rap like it’s not a hard thing to do at all (it is). Malik uses his voice as more than just a word-purveyor, turning his bars into a percussive instrument like the best rappers do, but he never neglects the content. Malik also never slacks on making the beats something fun to listen to, as opposed to focusing too much on the words, and the result is track after track of unique sounds and perspectives on life that you just wanna keep listening to.

It’s frustratingly common for a young hip-hop artist’s early work to go too heavy on one single front while neglecting others; maybe the beats or the song structure are killer, but the rapping is weak. Maybe they’re too pop, or, on the other side, too heady or aggressive over a whole album. There can be too much focus on the rapper’s ego and not enough real, quality perspective, or there could be too much of the same sound from one track to the next. In these cases, there’s usually one good track and the rest is a bunch of fluff to fill out an album.

But not with Malik. Malik’s music makes no rookie mistakes. It’s damn enjoyable music from one track through to the rest of the entire mixtape, it’s good from beat to voice to structure, and it presents a picture of a young man who has worked to become an expert at every layer of hip-hop music, and whose shit you like and you want to hear more from. That is as rare as it gets for a young artist, and it’s why we’ve nominated Malik for Artist of the Month (that, and his insane productivity of late).

You can get a listen goin’ on The Prerequisite mixtape below, find his game in the Apple and Android stores, and you can get more Malik in yer ears on July 12 when The Principium drops. You can also vote to the right, if you think Malik deserves some e-recognition for his fine, hard work. Get listenin’ Austin music heads.

The days are getting longer and the weather dude is telling me the temperature isn’t going to dip below 80 degrees anytime soon, so this could only mean one thing, What The Festival 2015 is right around the corner! This year marks the festival’s fourth go-around, and the folks that put this shindig together are gearing up Oregon’s Wolf Run Ranch for another successful weekend.

This festival has a little bit of everything. It takes place on a gorgeous campground about 25 miles east of Mt. Hood. There’s enough room to walk through a (glow in the dark!) forest, lounge on plush sofas, benches, and any other designated or non-designated chill zones, dance in a splash pool with a stage that pumps out beats all day long. You can attend workshops, go to yoga and all that jazz. And to top it off, you get to witness a slew of the top producers and DJs in the game.

Names like Big Gigantic, Griz, and Seattle’s ODESZA top the list of a funkafied lineup, and there is also a number of local acts and up-and-coming artists that fill out the three day extravaganza. This event is held in Oregon for good reason. There is plenty of Portland influence, especially on the music side, here is a list of local flavor:

Indubious – Electronic reggae, or reggae with electronics. Somewhere in the middle of that is the hard hitting duo from Ashland. A live bass player and keys/and synths mix beautifully in front of beats will go off in psychedelic tangents, but always find their way back to the traditional reggae songs they’ve been making for years.

Hustle and Drone – Synth pop straight outta Portland. H&D has seen a large growth of success over the past year. The songs they write have an indie rock influence and always hold a danceable beat.

Ernest Lovers w/ Pete Krebs – Quite a bit of a different pace than the majority of the lineup, but these are local legendary song writers. They will provide a nice break from the chaos and give your brain cells a minute to rejuvenate with some slow and melodic honky tonk.

EPROM – Bass heavy with a little bit of hip hop. EPROM is one of the most notable Portland acts on the list and is set to have a big summer. He makes his beats with old school drum and bass influences and touches and dabbles of dubstep and trap. It’s damn near impossible not to dance for this.

Solovox – Piano extraordinaire and beat maker. Carl Solovox knows how incorporate his refined piano skills and put them to use on a synthesizer. He’s been known to remix some classic rock and roll (Johnny Cash, AC DC, the list goes on) and always creates a dance party of epic proportions.

Barisone – Master of silk and smooth. Barisone has become a household name in the Portland community with a steady working relationship with FAK Wednesdays and Bubblin. His music is grounded in hip hop and R&B and will change what you thought you knew about the word “sexy.”

Device Grips – straight up dance funk – full band! The (relatively) new Portland band, Device Grips are making their name quickly with blues infused horn-heavy funk with a little bit of rap n’ roll to create some of the liveliest music out there. Don’t be the person that has to tell people a year from now that you missed this set because you were trying to get a burrito (nothing against burritos, but trust me on this one).

Lovebomb Go-Go Marching Band – One of the most extravagant acts you’ll see, ever. This band hails from outer space, I assume, given their space helmets and vibrant clad of silver linings that make up their uniforms. Who knows what they’re going to pull out for a festival like this?

Other notable local artists include: Chrome Wolves, Lincoln Up, Mr. Wu, Takimba, Trashcan Joe, PRSN, Tyler Tastemaker, Deafmind, Octaban, Hal-V & Space Case, Quarry, Laura Lynn, Computer Pham, Diablo, and Montel Spinozza.

Moral of this story: Get your tickets to What the Festival and try and catch every one of these!

-Colin Hudson