I feel like tomorrow night's show with Estelle at Antone's is completely under the radar. You probably remember Estelle from her hit song with Kanye West, American Boy but this U.K. songstress has continued to release great music since then. The current tour is in anticipation of a full-length LP called All of Me, which is due out on the 28th. In the meantime, Estelle has released a series of singles including her latest, Wonderful Life. Unfortunately, those of us in Austin don't have an "Adult Urban" radio station so artists like Estelle, Jill Scott, and Anthony Hamilton don't enter our consciousness as much as they should.
For a place that calls itself the "Live Music Capitol of the World," Austin's radio is severely lacking. Generally speaking, you won't hear music from most of the artists who perform in Austin, on Austin radio. That's one of the reasons I am so obsessed with platforms like Spotify or Rdio, where you can find all of Estelle's newest singles as well as her earlier work. Tickets to see Estelle at Antone's are still available and to be honest I don't expect the show to sell-out even though it really should.
Estelle - Wonderful Life video via YouTube
I really don't want to harp on this point but wouldn't it be great if Austin had a station that played music like Estelle? Last year I saw Raphael Saadiq in a partially filled Stubb's and it made me sad to realize that there is no market for artists like him in Austin. We have a diverse population and people in this city have very diverse tastes in music but you won't hear Sade or John Legend on any Austin frequencies. That's why it is so tricky when those artists perform here, the show's promoters have no outlets to advertise on. The tweens who listen to stations like The Beat want to hear dance music not slow-jams, besides that station plays the same 15-20 songs on a 2-3 hour rotation. Seriously, tune to 102.3 RIGHT NOW and I can bet you'll hear Rihanna's We Found Love within 10 minutes of finding the station on your dial. I know this sounds like hyperbole but I tested the theory and it was the 2nd song I heard. I don't mean to single out The Beat, 101x, KLBJ and most other radio stations in the United States are dying dinosaurs who need to wake the fuck up and realize how much they suck.
In any case, this post is about Estelle not the pathetic state of modern day American radio. You should go see her tomorrow.
Estelle - Thank You video via YouTube
