Malik Baptiste’s Statement of Self and Four More Songs From Austin Artists

"Paper Cuts" features new songs and music videos from Austin artists. Listen to our playlist on the @austinchronicle Spotify.

Malik Baptiste, “Who!?”

After unspooling his emotional DNA through a color-coded concept album in 2020, Malik Baptiste – perhaps the most skilled rapper/producer to call Austin home – went dark for 2½ years. But in 2023, he's been going off, releasing four singles that feel comparatively unfettered, yet more effective as statements of self … and his best work. The latest, with its banging beat, downtuned hook, and staccato sixteenth note flow, basically says: I'm back with a lot to prove, and this shit's easy for me. A closing ad-lib, "Let the story begin," nods to Kanye West mentor No I.D., who releases Baptiste's music on his ARTium label.
 – Kevin Curtin

Lost Patterns, “Dry My Eyes”

The first offering from the new duo of local mainstays Beth Chrisman and Silas Lowe as Lost Patterns settles squarely in the kind of laid-back, front porch picking perfect for a sweaty summer night. Lowe takes lead on "Dry My Eyes," the debut single from the band's upcoming eponymous LP, with his hard twang shaded by Chrisman's fiddle and harmonies. The expert playing is expected, but it's the sharp, easy lyricism throughout the album that truly shines, cutting tongue-in-check cleverness ("Saturday Night in Jail") with sincere yearning ("When the Nights Are Cold"). Two exceptional players combine to find their songwriting voice, together. – Doug Freeman

Explosions in the Sky, “Ten Billion People”

Turning 24 this month (revisit "Born on the Fourth of July," Oct. 24, 2003) Explosions in the Sky here teases its alarmingly titled September LP, which the press release addresses: "End marks the band's seventh, but not final, studio album." Indeed, ATX fireworks instrumentalists extend a new branch off previous growth, 2016's The Wilderness: skittering digital resonance powers classic post-rock. Nü Radiohead meets vintage Radiohead. Drum slap, key viscosity, and axe ecstasy populate "Ten Billion People," whose organic grandeur blooms immense and wondrous. Chris Hrasky, Michael James, Munaf Rayani, and Mark Smith still pop emotional uplift through celestial tones. – Raoul Hernandez

Holy Wave, “Nothing in the Dark”

A haunting, buzzing synth ushers in light, steady drumming and pointed, arpeggiating guitars on psych rock quartet Holy Wave's "Nothing in the Dark." Previewing their sixth album, Five of Cups, due in August via Seattle indie label Suicide Squeeze Records, the single douses Ryan Fuson's spacey vocals in rippling reverb before swelling into a cosmic explosion of fuzz. Despite the track's reassuring refrain ("Nothing in the dark to fear/ Where the shadows disappear"), its spooky music video directed by Vanessa Pla captures multi-instrumentalist Joey Cook summoning ghostly bandmates with a swirling candlelit séance in an empty house. – Wayne Lim

Moody Bank$ & Tony22, “Don’t Waste My Time”

Strung on soft acoustic guitar, Moody Bank$'s latest leans light and bubbly after the sure-footed, loungey R&B statements of 2022 record FEELING COLORS. A sing-along loop by Bank$ plays throughout most of the airbrushed pop pleasantry, instilling the déjà vu of persistent time-wasting relationships. Fellow Austin artist Tony22, having launched a seriously large following on a past YouTube presence, guests with a hyper-earnest verse mentioning both prayers and cop cars. Both acts sound about as smooth as the anime cover, or the stuffed animals Tony22 snuggles on social media. – Rachel Rascoe