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. Making his living as a taxi driver, he moonlit as a rockabilly drummer and runs a recording studio.
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.
Today, Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the band’s standout track “Itis,” which was birthed during impromptu jam one night at East Austin’s legendary world music nightclub Sahara Lounge. The resulting recording is a deeply funky tune that combines Afrobeat with psyched out Latin grooves. With no shortage of trippy sounds, the song is a true work of delightful weirdness that finds the band drifting into a technicolor wonderland of playful jams. We get elements of jazz, Brazilian, Cumbia, and even Zydeco all being cleverly incorporated into the free-flowing music that is supremely danceable. Ultimately, the tune captures this talented crew’s chemistry to make for the kind of music that begs to be experienced live.
Jack Montesinos describes the process behind the tune:
“Someone in the crowd captured on video a cool part that we played during the middle of the jam. We screen-recorded that video from their Instagram and wrote a song around that part. It’s called “Itis” because we had just eaten a ton of Bar-B-Que, which in turn gave us the Itis.”
LISTEN:
