Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Black Pumas

AlbumBrian HillsmanReview

Album review: Hard Proof dropped third LP Code Noir last month

Austin’s hometown jazz-funk collective, Hard Proof, released their latest album, Code Noir, in early February. The all-star Afrobeat collective released their third studio record followed by a Continental Club album release party. The recording is a listen that is bound to get you up and dancing in living room. It may be their best effort yet. 

Read More
Greg AckermanMusic News

Tony Congas Cruz: The Best Damn Percussionist I Ever Knew

So is Tony Congas Cruz’s passing this week on December 4, 2021. Tony was the best damn percussionist I ever knew. Cruz was best known as the conga player for award-winning Afrobeat band, Hard Proof.

Read More
Greg AckermanReview

Best Austin Albums of 2019

Two years ago, over 400 albums were released by Austin artists according to Kevin Curtin at
The Austin Chronicle. Curtin then released a list of Austin’s top 200 records. His point? The musical bar is set so high in Austin that half of that momentous number of releases were deserving of some kind of mention in a year-end list. While we applaud him for the effort in producing a massive list of worthy albums, we’re keeping it simple with a more manageable collection of best Austin albums we loved listening to in the past year.

Read More