rrunnerrss (record release), Stella & the Very Messed, Cheetah Cheetah

rrunnerrss have been on something of a marathon album rollout, releasing four tracks of thoughtfully bedazzled, funky pop-rock a month before the project’s self-titled record officially hits the scene. Interdisciplinary artist and songwriter Michael Zapruder leads a quintet of veritable Austin all-stars in a psychedelic concoction of North African-inspired grooves, anthemic Eighties vamps, and sincerely poetic storytelling. On this comprehensive eight-track meditation on movement, Zapruder, who recently relocated to California to evade Texas’ increasingly draconian politics, puzzles over self-exile, home, upheaval, safety, and all the running back and forth that compromise requires. – Caroline Drew