Improvement Movement, the social betterment campaign/prog-rock quartet/non-denominational cult from Atlanta, GA, have made a new record just for you and your modern day malaise. It's called Your Perfect Real Life, because, well, there's a lot going right these days, right? Arriving August 21, 2026 via ATO Records, Your Perfect Real Life is prismatic, angular, jumpy, and eccentric. It's sure to inundate your ears, corporeal form, and spiritual body with equal parts unadulterated bliss and realist catharsis, or, in other words, as much good as you can reasonably feel these days. Set in a world of chaos where the news seems to be perpetually recounting stories of planes falling out of the sky, urban wildfires, the uncanny nature of a southern snowfall, and schlepping ads that feel plucked from a sci-fi movie, Your Perfect Real Life makes an earnest case for embracing life's relentless unpredictability. Animated by the band's baroque take on the angular harmonies of grunge, the record's eleven tracks sprawl and simmer, enlivened by the Improvement Movement's novel employment of dynamics, sticky melodies, four-part harmony, and a treasure trove of experimental instruments. If you've ever found yourself enraptured by the lush harmonies of Fleet Foxes, the theatrics of early Genesis tracks, or the candid intimacy of Art Garfunkel, Improvement Movement may be for you. Improvement Movement is a democracy, and so they say, "things move slow." That may be true for the internal machinations of the band, but their output has been quite regular. Each member of the band, who have largely been eschewing definition, are songwriters and instrumentalists who have spent the better part of a decade in the fertile DIY scene in Atlanta, GA. In that time they ve been swirling, relatively undisrupted, in their own primordial ooze and rubbing elbows with folks from the no wave, punk, improv, and free jazz scenes. "Atlanta is about as DIY as it gets," they say. "We've got some of the most killing musicians in the world all spread out on these kinds of islands of urbanization. There's always something new." That said, the band hasn't been in Atlanta much lately; they were on the road relentlessly over the last two years, supporting Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Iron & Wine, Houndmouth, and Khurangbin. When it came to making a new record, the slog of touring had to be reckoned with. "It was a gauntlet, trying to live day by day. There was no room for anything with too much premeditation." Playing live that intensely meant inhabiting the music in a new way, with each venue and room animating and amplifying different energies and dynamics. When it came to making a new record, the band-composed of Tony Aparo, Clark Hamilton, Marshall Ruffin, and Zach Pyles—began considering how to expand their sound and process to reflect those experiences, culminating in a record that’s higher-octane than their previous offerings, but slightly darker and more frenetic. “We all have a disposition where we’d like to be positive, ” they say, noting how their 2024 sophomore pursuit Slump focused in on the minutiae of personal friendships, relationships, and the noble pursuit of right relation. Your Perfect Real Life takes a wider view, reflecting on timely yet universal themes of mundanity, futility, fear, and acceptance. The band took a uniquely holistic approach to composing its songs, describing how they sought to write from their instruments in a way that could reflect the synergy they found playing live night after night. “All of us are songwriters before instrumentalists, so we wanted to make this record as instrumentalists, ” they say. The result? A record that sounds more like a band organically animating their ideas all together on the fly, held together with their uncanny cohesion born from lengthy touring stints. It’s a sound that’s caught a lot of ears in recent years–with posts of the band’s live sessions garnering millions of views across the internet and a wellspring of critical praise. The record opens in the lush sheen of the moody, breakup-inspired “Still Cold.” “We ended up talking about a lot of different experiences that qualify as bittersweet or melancholy, including the idea that anything good happening in our lives right now takes place against the ominous backdrop of a world that seems ever angrier and more chaotic. ” It’s a sentiment that persists through the driving, anxious “Carry On, ” a high-energy watermark of the record fit with raucous, jolty percussion, and chamber vocal harmonies. “Common Place” unwinds in an uneasy Escherian cycle of chords, lamenting at “the loss of third spaces and the communities that once filled them, ” resolving at each chorus before descending back into its spiralic verses. The sunny, soft-rock ballad “I Do” presents the record’s core circumstance— ”all we’ve got is a rock and a hill” —while “21st Century” emerges with angular guitars and orchestral stabs depicting a technocratic future. Improvement Movement has found a way to work through the weight of it all by singing together—in fact, they’re group-singing evangelists. In an ideal world, “every home would have a piano in it and everyone should be singing, ” not as an escape, but as a way to alchemize our personal and collective trials. What they achieve with this approach is a certain singularity: “we all have different voices and timbre, and so the music ends up being an amalgamation of our disparate interests and sounds. ” The collective effervescence of sharing and making art in community is one of the most life-affirming experiences we have. It makes sense that a band set on bridging our brutal realities and the catharsis of art-making is so plugged into that source. With Improvement Movement in our ears, we may as well keep pushing that rock up the hill, singing in unison. Don’t delay, join today!

Despite their influences ranging across the world, The Point. are a band that could only have started in Austin. Fusing psychedelia, Saharan guitar music, and cumbia with jam-band sensibilities, the trio creates a laid-back vibe that’s more than the sum of its parts. Their latest, Maldito Animal (Deluxe Edition), finds the band exploring new directions, the aural equivalent of a crate-digger showing off their collection, a panoply of taste culled into one source.   In 2017, guitarist Jack Montesinos and organist Joe Roddy met in junior high, bonding over their love of Hammond B-3 jazz and Freddie King’s Texas blues. Already seasoned performers at that ripe age, both teenagers found their footing in Austin nightclubs long before they could drink beer themselves. Joe Roddy learned the Blues from his father Ted, who fronts the long-running Teddy and the Tall Tops & The Naughty Ones, in addition to recording harmonica sessions with local legends. Montesinos also learned the blues under the wing of his father: at ten years old, he played at Historic Victory Grill's blues nights, holding his own against older generations of Texas greats. “My dad would have to carry my amp,” he told the Austin Chronicle in 2023.   And yet, when Montesinos and Roddy first met, their first project went a wildly different direction, making beats for local rappers and learning the in’s-and-out’s of GarageBand production. But, spurred by the isolation of COVID-19, the duo picked up their instruments again, itching to play live shows. Their first release, Phonkadelic, captures their sound at this quarantine crossroads: samples and drum machines nestled next to chorus-heavy guitar. Over the next couple years, coming out of the pandemic, the duo found drummer Nico Léophonte, rounding out the trio and jumping head-first into garage rock. Decades older than his musical companions, Léophonte moved to Austin from Toulouse, France in 1997. Léophonte produced The Point.’s first record.   With Maldito Animal, originally released in May 2024, The Point. set their sights further, combining their years of experience with new studio tricks. “Mrs. Kind Eyes,” the third single from the record, twists and turns its way through their musical journey. The track starts off with the reverb-washed drums of Jamaican dub, followed by the hum of Roddy’s organ. Roddy’s gravely-yet-relaxed voice kicks in as the guitar settles into the groove. About halfway into the track, the band takes a solo break, the call-and-response of jazz coming in at full force. While Montesinos’ guitar evokes the immediacy of Ethiopian jazz or Texas blues, Roddy’s swirling organ lines take cues from NRBQ or Booker T. Washington. Only in their mid-twenties, Montesinos and Roddy have lived many musical lives. Delving into the worlds of rap and soul, jazz and bedroom pop, the trio comes out the other end with a sound all of their own, but a sound that’s grounded in the many corners of Austin’s thriving music scene.   This summer, The Point. find themselves in an extensive touring schedule, bringing their abrupt, energetic fervor to stages across the country. They just finished a tour of Europe and return to the States supporting Uncle Lucius on a Colorado tour. They’re also performing at multiple festivals including Floyd Fest in Floyd, VA; Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC; and Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, TX.  On September 26th, via Spaceflight Records & Keeled Scales, they’ll release Maldito Animal (Deluxe Edition), adding two bonus tracks to the full-length record. —-- “Maldito Animal arrives as an expansive psych-rock blessing. Graced by the Grammy-winning hands of Leche House producer Beto Martinez (of Grupo Fantasma, Caramelo Haze, and Money Chicha), the shape-shifting trio's second full-length release draws from a globe-trotting repertoire of West African, Italian, and Colombian influences…. hurtles the trio into outer space, leaving us wondering what psychedelic planet they'll explore next” - The Austin Chronicle   “An awesome psych-rock gem”  - Worldwide FM