John Aielli is off the air after suffering a stroke.
Photo courtesy of KUT
John Aielli, host of the iconic KUT turned KUTX program Eklektikos has temporarily signed off after suffering a stroke earlier this summer. Taking over Aielli's weekday 6-9 am time slot will be Taylor Wallace, another longtime KUTX host.
In a station announcement, KUTX says that Aielli is at home recovering and "collaborating with his Eklektikos producer, Jack Anderson, on new and interesting ways to bring his unique voice and perspective to KUTX." A timeline for his return, however, is not yet available, a spokesperson confirms.
The radio station, which is housed on the University of Texas campus, has faced unique challenges when it comes to navigating the COVID crisis. Because it shares studio space with KUT's reporters, some KUTX DJs —including fan favorite Laurie Gallardo — have been off the air for months to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Things, however, are starting to return to the regularly scheduled programming. Gallardo returned to her weekday schedule on September 9, heralding local music and reminding listeners "that whatever we do, don't behave," Monday through Friday, 1-5 pm. The station also announced Paul Carrubba has taken over the Sunday 10 am-2 pm slot, while Confucius Jones, co-host of The Breaks podcast, will take up the tunes from 2-6 pm.
Other fan favorites, such as Susan Castle, Jody Denberg, and, of course, John E Dee and Rick McNulty, are back as well.
As for Aielli, we miss the "Eklektikos breezes" and Aielli-isms and wish him a speedy recovery. If you would like to drop Aielli a get well card, KUTX has set up a virtual mailbox for the Austin legend here.
Annabelle Chairlegs fell into a concept album this time...or did she wake up to it?
Austin-based singer-songwriter Lindsey Mackin, a.k.a. Annabelle Chairlegs, is coming to consciousness and greater prominence with her third LP, Waking Up, out January 30. The dreamy album is appropriately hard to pin down but easy to listen to, a continuation of what the local artist has become known for over her 12 years in Austin so far.
Waking Up contains four singles — "Heavy Sleeper," "Concrete Trees," "Ice Cream On The Beach," and "Patty Get Your Gun" — six more regular tracks, and two bonus tracks for 12 in total. This release is her first with Todo Records, which is based in Austin with photographer Pooneh Ghana as well as New York City with Simon and Meesh Halliday.
This album cover was collaged in real life and shot in floating layers, a video shared on social media revealed.Album cover of Annabelle Chairlegs
"This is the first time I've ever released anything with a label, and it's interesting to have perspective," says Mackin. "They all voted for ["Heavy Sleeper"] as a single. And I was like, 'No way!' ... That's one of the oldest songs I've written on the album. So I think I just had a lot of space from it, and I was kind of forgetting about her a little bit."
It seems fans partially have the label to thank for the stylistic diversity of this album, but it's also Mackin's calling card. Los Angeles guitar savant Ty Segall surely had something to do with it, too, as the album's producer. Experimental moments like a stiltedly panned vocal intro in "Waking Up," the opening track, and an electrical insectoid buzz in "Shoo Fly" are scattered throughout, making the sweeter side shown in tracks like "Above It All" and "Sally" all the more surprising.
"Ice Cream On The Beach," one of those gentler tracks, recalls late-aughts indie rock and dream pop, ushering in a nostalgic feeling early in the record. Mackin says it's "a very different track than I've ever released before," and she enjoyed the "hard turn" into "Concrete Trees," which memorializes friends and family who have passed away. For "Heavy Sleeper," the songwriter was picturing racing cars and Quentin Tarantino films.
Hardly any artist escapes replicating styles from earlier times, but Annabelle Chairlegs — on this album in particular — seems to consciously wink at decades of music history while fusing, but not fully blending them: a grimy hipster take on 60s pop, something sonically descended from The Go-Go's in the 80s.
Mackin attributes this sensibility to studying acting in college and developing a love for musical theater, in an explanation where she charmingly slides 10 years at a time from talking about Vaudeville to 90s grunge.
"I love, love, love girl groups — like, 50s, 60s girl groups, and things like that," she says.
With all these touchstones, the visual imagery, and the album's evocative title and cover art, it's hard not to call it a concept album. She also talks about wanting to "color or paint" her home state of New Jersey using sound.
"I had recorded a full album a few years ago ... and then as I wrote other songs, I was like, 'Oh, these are all starting to make sense in this world together,'" Mackin explains. "So I scrapped the other album and sort of ripped it in half. [I took] the same-world songs and put them together, and then the other half the album is some other [theme]."
The proto-album was called Heavy Sleeper, and in newer songwriting, more positive themes started emerging from the "more dreamy and dark" primordial abyss. Waking Up, then, was the natural evolution. "It kind of turned into more of a concept as time went on," Mackin says. "It's fun to think about that now."
Fans have a couple of weeks to soak up the album before the release show at Mohawk on February 13. Annabelle Chairlegs will also play a show in-store at Austin's Waterloo Records on February 4, and another at Austin Psych Fest on May 9. After that, she'll embark on a European tour.
Waking Up is available to purchase on vinyl or as a download via Todo Records at todomusic.net. It is streaming on major services, and music videos or a visualizer for all four singles are available on YouTube.
This album cover was collaged in real life and shot in floating layers, a video shared on social media revealed.Album cover of Annabelle Chairlegs