Dallas - DC9 At Night - "Best Local Releases: 2008" Archives

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: So Who Comes In At No. 1?

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Wednesday, Dec. 31 2008 @ 3:25PM

Assuming you've been keeping up with this blog, then, yep, you've seen me counting down my favorite local record releases of 2008, one record a day, for the past week and a half or so.

Well, it all comes to an end right here, right now. Below, a recount of records No. 20 through No. 2. Then, after the jump, the victor shall be revealed. (Don't worry: It's a real album; not something corny like, "We're all winners" or something like that. I'm not that much of a jerk.)

The Top 20 Local Releases Of 2008
20. Collin Herring - Past Life Crashing
19. Stumptone - Gravity Suddenly Released
18. Dove Hunter - The Southern Unknown
17. Febrifuge - A Short Instance Of Separation
16. Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights - Hot Trottin'
15. Toadies - No Deliverance
14. Record Hop - Record Hop
13. The New Frontiers - Mending
12. Fight Bite - Emerald Eyes
11. Lil Wil - Dolla$, TX
10. Dem Southernfolkz - The Message
9. True Widow - True Widow
8. The Theater Fire - Matter and Light
7. Centro-matic/South San Gabriel - Dual Hawks
6. Sarah Jaffe - Even Born Again EP
5. Mount Righteous - When The Music Starts
4. Calhoun - Falter. Waver. Cultivate
3. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt 1: 4th World War
2. Matthew and The Arrogant Sea -- Family Family Family Meets The Magic Christian
1. ??????

So who's No.1? Jump to find out.

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, The New Year, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: Matthew And The Arrogant Sea Comes In Humble At No. 2

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Tuesday, Dec. 30 2008 @ 3:30PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 2: Matthew and The Arrogant Sea -
Family Family Family Meets The Magic Christian

It's an oddball formula--invite all your relatives and friends to join you in a band, pretend you earned a six-figure record deal from a major, admit that you were lying about said deal, wait till the heat from that lie dies down and, when it finally does, finally release an album that shuts up any doubters--but, man, has it ever worked for Matthew and the Arrogant Sea...

On the band's formal full-length debut, Family Family Family Meets The Magic Christian, Mathew Gray has proven himself more than just some sort of zany Denton nutjob who can strum a few chords on an acoustic guitar. The songwriting here is damn near impeccable, both in its instrumentation and vocal harmonization.

Bonus mp3: Matthew and The Arrogant Sea -- "Mock Oragami"

Yes, it sounds like the Beach Boys and Fleet Foxes and maybe a little My Morning Jacket, but it also sounds, well, uniquely Matthew and The Arrogant Sea. And You can audibly hear how much the band enjoys creating songs through this gorgeous record of dense, lush psychedelic folk landscapes--and, really, there isn't a bad track in the bunch.

And given how much shine Denton's received in '08, this record stands as important for other reasons, too: This is a young group of talented musicians, who are proudly representing Denton's folk-heavy past while also managing to infuse their sound with a heavy dose of progression, too; Consider Family Family Family Meets The Magic Christian the first hallmark record in the discography of Denton's next generation of greats, a record against which all future Denton folk records should be judged.

So, no, it's not too bad for a debut. Not bad at all. Great, in fact. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: Erykah Badu Starts A War At No. 3

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Monday, Dec. 29 2008 @ 10:52AM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 3:
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War

In many regards, 2008 was Erykah Badu's biggest year yet. By releasing her first full-length studio album in five years, the queen of neo-soul returned to the spotlight and was received as quite the big deal--both here in her hometown and in other locales far and wide.

It seemed that, with the release of New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War, Badu's celebrity immediately launched beyond the realm of hip-hop and R&B stardom and into straight-up, no-questions-asked, all-around big-deal music star (the crossover approval she earned from My Morning Jacket, who Badu famously joined on stage at the Palladium back in August, no doubt helped her cause, at least a little).

But this disc is more than just a modern funk take or America's token urban sound du jour. New Amerykah serves as a poignant statement on the status of the country we live in, a political statement and cultural outcry about the haves and have nots and about the sometimes questionable future we've created for ourselves.

And it does more than simply point out these errors. It offers to flat-out fix them.

Bonus mp3: Erykah Badu -- "The Healer"

On "The Healer", Badu sweetly suggests that the problems with the world and with music--and, specifically, with hip-hop--can be solved with the release of the right song (in this case, hers). Not surprisingly, it's the critical darling on an album filled with many other great cuts, including the disc's picture-perfect first single, "Honey" (which boasted an award-winning, Grammy-nominated video).

It all just felt...right. And comforting. Like, maybe, we'd forgotten about Badu--and, now that she was back, we regretted feeling that way. And, certainly, we didn't want to feel that way again.

Well, good news on that front: New Amerykah Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh is tentatively due for a February 17 release. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, Erykah Badu, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: Calhoun Pops In At No. 4

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Sunday, Dec. 28 2008 @ 12:40PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 4: Calhoun - Falter. Waver. Cultivate

It takes more than good songwriting to create a great disc: Everyone involved in it, along every step of the way, needs to be committed to the direction the disc is heading--and they all need to be on the same page, envisioning the same end result.

It's clear from first listen that Calhoun's Falter.Waver.Cultivate was one such blessed disc. Here, producer Stuart Sikes (who has worked with the likes of Cat Power and the White Stripes among others) has used a delicate brush to ensure that the songs from Calhoun frontman Tim Locke are presented just as subtly as Locke and his bandmates had intended them to be.

The songs are catchy and enjoyable takes on indie pop, but it's the nuances and the band's willingness to let the songs just be what they are--and not to blow them up into something bigger--that makes it such a find.

Bonus mp3: Calhoun -- "Apocalypse (A Love Story)"

At once heartbreaking and lifting, Falter.Waver.Cultivate is an 11-track trip through the uncertainties of the lives we lead--while giving due credit to the importance of the journey while en route to its end. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, Calhoun, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: Mount Righteous Happily Makes No. 5

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Saturday, Dec. 27 2008 @ 12:19PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 5: Mount Righteous -- When The Music Starts

Seriously: How much can you really enjoy listening to an album of marching band singalongs about childhood and perseverance and being happy with all things good in life? Well, in the case of the proudly Grapevine-bred, mostly unamplified, 11-piece Mount Righteous, quite a lot, actually.

How? Well, because When The Music Starts isn't trying to be anything that it isn't, for one. It isn't music for kids--it's music for adults who miss what it was like to be a kid. And, with this highly, highly enjoyable debut, Joey Kendall and friends have proven themselves quite capable of bottling up and repackaging all of the fleeting senses of childhood nostalgia.

Is it gimmicky? Maybe a little. But it's also a niche, and, unlike in the attempts of so many other locally-produced efforts this year, Mount Righteous has been able to find itself a fairly untapped niche. What, you know of another 11-piece act out there that can get a whole room smiling and dancing without any special effects and without anyone ever having heard of the band before? I highly doubt that.

Bonus mp3: Mount Righteous -- "Licorice Nights"

Disagree? OK, that's fine. I just feel bad that you had such a crappy childhood. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, Mount Righteous, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: Sarah Jaffe's Even Born Again EP Hits No. 6

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Friday, Dec. 26 2008 @ 12:09PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 6: Sarah Jaffe -- Even Born Again EP

A powerhouse of a talent, Sarah Jaffe's music is compelling because it so craftily stradles the line between the delicate and the confident. And here, on her first official release (even if it is just a six-track EP), Jaffe uses those intricate songwriting talents to announce her arrival in a big way.

It's the album of a 22-year-old who doesn't know she's 22; it's as if she's bottled up her emotions, sent them 10 years into the future, and asked her future self to write the score for her life. Only, well, that 22-year-old clearly has things under control on her own.

Although heavily reliant on Jaffe's vocals and acoustic guitar playing, Even Born Again is more than just another folk record: The title track is a sweeping, almost bombastic affair, and the surprisingly raucous "Under" utilizes a fuzzed out electric guitar and a plodding drum beat to great, almost Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-like effect.

Bonus mp3: Sarah Jaffe -- "Even Born Again"

It's a phenomenal debut. So much so that it's almost scary to acknowledge that this is, in fact, only the very, very beginning. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, Sarah Jaffe, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel's Dual Hawks Eyes No. 7

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Thursday, Dec. 25 2008 @ 1:50PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 7: Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel - Dual Hawks

Astounding for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its length (two discs, 23 tracks, 90 minutes of run time), Dual Hawks stands, to date, as the crowning achievement in the already impressive cap worn by Denton's Will Johnson and Co.

How's it so impressive? Well, for one, it shows the wide range of talents boasted by both of Johnson's projects, Centro-matic and South San Gabriel, each of which is given an entire album's worth of showcase time on this double disc, dual release.

The Centro-matic side? Well, that's pretty much what we've come to expect from the gang at this point. It's boozy, emotive bar rock with just a touch of Texas twang. The South San Gabriel half? Consider it a change-up from noted MLB fan Johnson--it's far more atmospheric and deliberate.

Bonus mp3: Centro-Matic -- "The Rat Patrol and DJ's"

In the end, Dual Hawks plays out like refusal to back down, like an open challeneg to all doubters: "Oh, you wanna pidgeonhole us? OK, well, listen to all this!" Only, far more mature. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: The Theater Fire's Matter and Light Hits No. 8 On The List

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 4:55PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 8: The Theater Fire -- Matter and Light

It's funny: You read press on The Theater Fire--clippings from other parts of the country, or, hell, even other parts of Texas--and you constantly come across the phrases "under appreciated" or "little known". Maybe that applies elsewhere, but hell, in DFWd, The Theater Fire is probably the worst-kept secret around.

And on the at-times rambunctious, at-times hilarious and at-times contemplative Matter and Light, the band's September-released disc, the seven-piece has crooked its heels even deeper into the soil of the area's music scene.

Bonus mp3: The Theater Fire -- "It's All The Same"

Written and performed from the dual perspectives of the band's two frontmen (Don Feagin and Curtis Heath), Matter and Light is a multi-faceted disc--one minute, the band's getting all Old Western noirish on your ass; the next minute, it's doing its best soulful funk take--but the one constant, the one thing The Theater Fire's sound has always boasted, remains the same: It's remarkable, and uniquely Texan, foundation. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, The Theater Fire, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: True Widow's Self-Titled Debut Comes In At No. 9

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Tuesday, Dec. 23 2008 @ 4:51PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 9: True Widow -- True Widow

It's ironic, maybe, that Dan Phillips' previous band was called Slowride; with its fast, spunky, punk-influenced tracks, very little of that band's catalog could realistically be set to a casual drive through a wintry setting. Slowride's music was angsty, and ready-made for a night of mischievous revelry. Instead, it's True Widow--the project that Phillips launched with Nicole Estill and Timothy Starks upon his return to Dallas after an attempt to pursue a career with Slowride in Massachusetts--that more deserves a moniker to conjure thoughts of meandering travels.

In a musical year that has been heavy on well-crafted dreamscapes (Fight Bite, School of Seven Bells, M83, etc.) in the pop realm, True Widow created an near-nightmarescape (but not quite that frightening) for those with heavier, shoegazier tastes.

Bonus mp3: True Widow -- "Sunday Driver" (More tracks available here.)

Hauntingly beautiful and brutal, but never unmelodic, the Matt Pence-produced True Widow is a debut of rare sonic depth and magnitude.

Is it flawless? Not quite, some looking for a little more pep might argue. But for those looking for pepless satisfaction, there aren't many discs as fulfilling a listen as this. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, True Widow, year-end lists

The Best Albums In Dallas Music, 2008: Dem Southernfolkz's The Message Checks In At No. 10

By Pete Freedman in Best Local Releases: 2008

Monday, Dec. 22 2008 @ 4:45PM

Editor's Note: Over the next 10 days, I'll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows...

No. 10: Dem Southernfolkz -- The Message

With a sound that blends a strong gospel influence with the stylings of Nappy Roots, Outkast and the production of Kanye West's early, soul sample-heavy beats, Dem Southernfolkz's The Message seemingly came out of nowhere to steal our attention in an otherwise Boogie-heavy 2008 for Dallas hip-hop.

And it had a good message to spread: The trio behind the group--Big Ben, Saturday Alridge and Kinfolk Jack--have plenty to say on The Message about family, about struggling through tough times, and about war (Big Ben just returned to Dallas after serving in Iraq).

Bonus mp3: Dem Southernfolkz feat. Skinny Deville -- "The Message"

Provocative, but never preachy, The Message is an eye-opening debut from an act well-worth keeping an eye on in the future. --Pete Freedman

Continue reading " The Best Albums In Dallas"...

Tags: Best in Local Music, Dem Southernfolkz, The Message, year-end lists