July in Texas is… hot. The temperature climbed up quickly in May and has been inching ever closer to skin-evaporating heights of the sun. But thankfully there is reprieve indoors, sticking our heads in the melting freezer and listening to the four sets (okay, okay, playlists) that our dear friends from all around Austin made for the launch party of the second volume of the Gopher!

And the love we got from these awesomely attuned folks, well, it’s just something that needs to be shared. Y’know?  So here’s what’s what. Every Monday, for the next four weeks, we will publish one of the setlists that each of the masters of the music chose for the release, in whe order in which they played at the event. Best of all, you can get to know these excellent folks and their excellent projects, and even download the set so you can listen to it as obsessively as we are.

Without further ado, we kick things off with the inimitable Ron Berry*, who is the founder and Artistic Director for the annual Fusebox Festival — a ten-day hybrid arts festival presenting genre-defying artists from all over the world, with a focus on the live event. Originally from Houston, Ron has called Austin home for the past fifteen years.

Image shamelessly borrowed from Tribeza.com, credit: Lauren Smith Ford

Ron is a maker of dreams and everything we hope to become when we grow up. In this year’s Fusebox Festival, Ron and the F.F. team took over an abandoned power plant as their late night venue, filling it to the brim with programs of sheer amazingness. There was a broadcast staring contest. There were a hundred violinists. An exquisite corpse artwork room. Pecha Kucha night. Seriously, man.

Listen in, then take it with you!

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1) Texas -  Scout Niblett
2) Feet & Hands -  Fannypack
3) Tumbling Dice -  The Rolling Stones
4) Sunsesame -  Caribou
5) I’m Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You – Silver Jews
6) I’m 9 Today -  Mum
7) Bizness – Tune-Yards
8) Stanley vs. Hannah – Alamo Race Track
9) Still Sound – Toro y Moi
10) You Gotta Know -  Fannypack
11) Living Things – Komeda
12) Real Live Flesh – Tune-Yards

*not to be confused with the other Ron Berry