Despite influences that stretch far beyond Texas, The Point. feel inseparable from Austin. The trio filters psychedelia, Saharan guitar music, and cumbia through a jam-band looseness that reflects the city’s anything-goes musical DNA. The result is a laid-back but deeply intentional sound—worldly in scope, grounded in groove. On their recent album Maldito Animal (Deluxe Edition), the band expands its palette even further, shaping a collection that plays like a well-worn crate of global discoveries distilled into a singular voice.
The group’s roots run deep. Guitarist Jack Montesinos and organist Joe Roddy first crossed paths in 2017 as junior high students, bonding over Hammond B-3 jazz and the Texas blues of Freddie King. Both were already fixtures in local clubs, cutting their teeth in venues long before they were old enough to order a drink. Roddy absorbed the blues from his father, Ted Roddy, frontman of Teddy and the Tall Tops, and a harmonica player who logged sessions with area stalwarts. Montesinos, meanwhile, was playing blues nights at Historic Victory Grill by the age of ten, his father literally hauling his amp into rooms filled with veteran Texas players.
Ironically, their first collaboration veered away from roots music. As teenagers, Montesinos and Roddy immersed themselves in beat-making, producing tracks for local rappers and teaching themselves the ins and outs of home recording software. It wasn’t until the isolation of the pandemic that they returned fully to their instruments, eager to build something tactile and immediate. An early release captured that transitional moment, blending programmed rhythms and samples with chorus-drenched guitar and vintage organ tones.
The final piece fell into place with drummer Nico Léophonte, a Toulouse native who relocated to Austin in 1997. Decades older than his bandmates, Léophonte balanced life as a taxi driver with stints behind the kit in rockabilly outfits while operating his own recording studio. His arrival pushed the project decisively toward a live-band ethos, adding rhythmic muscle and a deep well of experience to the younger duo’s restless curiosity.
Originally issued in May 2024, Maldito Animal marked a creative leap—melding the trio’s shared blues foundation with dub textures, jazz interplay, garage rock grit, and studio experimentation. Roddy’s organ swells and weathered vocals intertwine with Montesinos’ guitar lines, which nod as easily to Ethiopian jazz phrasing as to Texas blues fire. Léophonte’s drumming anchors it all, shifting from reverb-soaked pulse to sharp, kinetic drive without breaking the spell.
Still in their mid-twenties, Montesinos and Roddy already carry a lifetime’s worth of musical detours—through rap, soul, jazz, and bedroom pop. With Léophonte’s steady hand, those influences coalesce into a sound that feels borderless yet unmistakably rooted in Austin’s thriving, cross-pollinated scene.
Today, Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the video for the band’s single “ITIS,” 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. Filmed in a way that looks like old VHS footage, the video capture this talented crew’s chemistry and easygoing, humorous approach to their sound and image. We also see them cruising around Austin and hitting some classic spots while hanging around with their dog, grabbing brews, and of course, jamming a bit. There is a rambunctious yet lighthearted energy to the tune that they manage to capture in the video.
Jack Montesinos describes the inspiration and process behind the tune:
“Me and Joe made the melody up out of a jam at a dead gig in Austin 3 years ago, we heard a clip from that gig later and decided to add other ideas to it. It’s named after our first SoundCloud beat tape, which was made in tribute to Anthony Bourdain shortly after he passed.”
WATCH:
