Remember when MTV actually stood for “Music Television”? No? Well, the ORANGE Music staff does, and we’re still bitter about the change. At a ripe average age of just 20, we might be dating ourselves this week, but we consider these music videos game-changers in a field that is rapidly becoming a dying art.

Fame is fickle. Often the ones who are most worthy of the spotlight will go through their careers without ever reaching it. For some reason or another, these artists have yet to be embraced by the mainstream on the scale that we think they deserve. But at least we know they’re great, and our fingers are crossed.

One of the prerequisites for being a music writer is believing in your own impeccable taste. If we have the potential to influence the public’s perception and consumption of new music, we have to like stuff that doesn’t suck. Still, we’re only human, and we all deserve a few get-out-of-jail-free cards. We can hold on to our favorite guilty pleasures without owing anybody an explanation. It could be worse. It could be Nickelback. 

Not all great things go well together. Think peanut butter and Sriracha. But sometimes two things blend so beautifully that it's nearly impossible to remember life before the combination. Musical collaborations are no different, and we've compiled a list of artist fusions that are so seamlessly brilliant, they outshine the individuals. They're the peanut butter and chocolate of collaborations, if you will.

Honey bees fly in circles outside Quack’s 43rd Street Bakery, moving from the brim of Nathan Wilkins’ hat to the flowers behind Claire Puckett’s chair. Puckett props her legs up casually in Wilkins’ lap, and the insects create an enchanted, buzzing halo around the couple. Both musicians belong to different Austin-based bands — Puckett to Mother Falcon and Wilkins to Hikes. A budding power couple in the local music scene, Wilkins and Puckett are currently collaborating as the folk-inspired duo named Ponca.

This is an enchanted place. No, I don’t mean really cool or fun or eclectic - it’s literally enchanted. Things happen here that don’t happen in the real world. Each member of the ORANGE Music Staff has experienced that pivotal moment that changed their lives forever. It’s a blessing and a curse, really. No matter how mind-bogglingly awesome our celebrity run-ins or community festival experiences may have been, we are now forever spoiled, fully aware of the depressing fact that no other city will ever match the serendipitous beauty of Austin.

From punk to hip-hop, Austin has something for every type of music fan on any given night. Where the show takes place is almost as important as the performance itself. A venue’s ambiance can make or break a live music experience. The ORANGE Music Staff encourages all live music enthusiasts to find the venue that best resonates with them.

Sean Morgan’s mind wanders while he drives a flashy Lamborghini around the block of the tallest residential building in Texas. The 23-year-old University of Texas at Austin art student works as a valet for the sky-blue glass “behemoth” of a building, which looks out across Austin’s hills from the heart of downtown. Morgan is imagining a vivid party scene awaiting his return to the tower’s base, where “a fire hydrant is wrenched open and people are running through the torrent of water, hugging, slipping and swapping swigs of aged scotch and malt liquor.”

We get it. There are a million-and-one places to buy records and other assorted music memorabilia in Austin. But in a city that thrives off of music consumption and appeals to an enormously diverse demographic of listeners, finding a store tailored to one’s taste is easier said than done. To take the stress out of finding the right place to shop and put the emphasis back on the joy of adding a new item to the collection, the ORANGE music staff gives its picks for the top music stores in Austin.

Cover songs: one of the trickiest balancing acts in music. Artists face the tremendous pressure of putting their own stamp on a time-honored classic, while still paying homage to the original. Add extreme skepticism from purists to the mix, and it seems like a no-win situation for musicians simply trying to wear their influences on their sleeves. Still, against all odds, these artists’ renditions manage to not just make the cut, but even surpass the original versions in the eyes of the ORANGE music staff.

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