Rapper and artist Vincent Martinez, also known as Emcee Eats, performed for about two dozen people on the third-floor deck outside his East Austin apartment a few weeks ago. The sun worked its way down over the horizon; insects buzzed; Eats spit out verses at high speed, at points right into the faces of friends gathered to watch the show.

Some people shook their heads along with the beat, a couple danced — nothing unusual. Another member of the crowd, Chris Kim, followed Martinez around the small porch with a camera. That's not unusual either; people often tape shows. Instead of heading straight for YouTube, however, at least some of the footage is headed for television.

Kim, along with Randy Reynolds, a musician known for his band Leatherbag, produce "Hardly Sound," a new show focused on Texas music.

"Hardly Sound" airs on the first Monday of each month at 11 p.m. on KLRU-Q (KLRU's more locally focused station). Unlike "Austin City Limits," the station's famous live music program, the show takes a documentary approach, mixing interviews and first person, often personal narration in with performance clips.

"The killer with music shows in general is that people aren't going to watch an episode unless it's a band they know or like," Kim said. "I want to create ‘Hardly Sound' fans. I want someone to watch an episode, decide whether they like the style, not because one band interests them above another, but because they like the show as a show."

On the first episode, which aired on Labor Day (it's still available online at video.klru.tv/program/hardly-sound/), Kim follows Austin band the Bye and Bye as they record and perform around town.

During part of the episode, he accompanies Bye and Bye front man Jeff Somers, who studied biology in college, into the woods on a birding expedition; they talk about identifying mushrooms and Somers relates how the death of a friend inspired him to return to music after some time off. The show ends with Somers saving a turtle he finds flipped on its back.

If that doesn't sound like the typical music documentary, it's because Kim doesn't particularly care for them. Ultimately, he says, he would like to direct full-length narrative features.

"When the documentary stuff came along; I don't find it that fun, frankly," he said. "I was inspired by various other stuff, like Werner Herzog and ‘This American Life.' There's this other way to tell these stories, it's still nonfiction, it's still a documentary, but you're having fun with it; it's more creative."

Despite the nontraditional approach, there is still music. On an upcoming episode featuring Austin-based band Royal Forest, Kim, Reynolds and the band go up in a small plane over West Texas for a performance. "Getting the song back was the real payoff," Reynolds said. "I was terrified it was going to sound terrible."

Kim and Reynolds also will profile Austin rock band the Bad Lovers and multi-intrumentalist Ralph White during the first season.

They're also raising money via Indiegogo (www.indiegogo.com/hardlysound ) to continue what Reynolds sees as an opportunity to introduce viewers to the growing world of music in Austin and elsewhere in Texas.

"As a music fan, I try to keep up with music in general, and it's incredibly hard," Reynolds said. "I'm trying to treat the subject of each show as kind of a liaison of what's going on around them."

Grulkefest a success. Grulkefest: A Celebration of Brent, a tribute to late South by Southwest Music's creative director Brent Grulke, raised more than $75,000, SXSW announced Monday. All proceeds will go to an education fund for Grulke's 7-year-old son, Graham.

The event took place Sept. 8 at ACL Live, and 1,298 people purchased tickets to see Doctors' Mob, Fastball, Glass Eye, the Reivers, Sixteen Deluxe, True Believers, the Wannabes and Wild Seeds perform in honor of Grulke, who died Aug. 13 of a heart attack. Organizers raised more money through a silent auction.

To read more about Grulke or to donate to the education fund, go to sxsw.com/brent-grulke.

ACL Fest autographs. Alabama Shakes, Father John Misty, Metric and Michael Kiwanuka are among the artists who will meet fans and sign autographs at the Waterloo Records tent during the Austin City Limits Music Festival next month. For the complete list and schedule visit the music source blog at Austin360.com.

Jack White to tape "Austin City Limits." The former White Stripe and 2012 ACL Fest headliner will tape an episode of KLRU's "Austin City Limits" at 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, at ACL Live. (His fest set is Saturday, Oct. 13, in Zilker Park.) The show typically holds an online ticket drawing for tapings a week or so in advance at acltv.com. This will be White's second appearance on the show. His first was with the Raconteurs in 2006.

Contact Peter Mongillo at pmongillo@statesman.com; 445-3696.