Notable music and moments, listed by some Austin music notables

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

We asked local and national musical types for the shows, events and releases that highlighted 2007 for them. Some ranked their picks, others just gave some lists:

Britt Daniel of Spoon

Favorite albums of 2007:

• Handsome Furs, "Plague Park"

• Black Joe Lewis, "Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears"
• LCD Soundsystem, "Sound of Silver"
• Bright Eyes, "Cassadaga"
• Feist, "The Reminder"
• Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black"
• Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible"
• Wilco, "Sky Blue Sky"
• Low, "Drums and Guns"
• The Ponys, "Turn the Lights Out"

Favorite songs:

• Handsome Furs, "The Radio's Hot Sun"
• Amy Winehouse, "Love is a Losing Game"
• Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black"
• The Ponys, "Double Vision"
• Feist "My Moon My Man"
• Bright Eyes, "Hot Knives"
• Arcade Fire, "Ocean of Noise"
• Wilco, "Impossible Germany"
• Interpol, "Mammoth"
• LCD Soundsystem, "Get Innocuous"
• John Vanderslice, "Time to Go"
• Back Joe Lewis, "Bitch, I Love You"
• White Stripes, "Icky Thump"
• Low, "Breaker"

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Snoop Daniel at 104.9:

• 1. UGK performance at Fox and Hound during South by Southwest
• 2. Common instead of Amy Winehouse at the Austin City Limits Music Festival
• 3. Reopening of Austin Music Hall
• 4. The demise of the Backroom (where most local hip hop acts performed)
• 5. Kanye West almost going platinum in a week with "Graduation"
• 6. Emergence of ME Television
• 7. Emergence of Ghostland Observatory
• 8. VH 1 and MTV using Austin as its base city for reality shows ("Pick Up Artist," "Dismissed," etc.)

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Phil Waldorf, Dead Oceans Records

• Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible"
• Blitzen Trapper, "Wild Mountain Nation"
• Eric Malmberg, "Verklighet & Beat"
• Cass McCombs, "Dropping the Writ"
• Eugene McGuinness, "The Early Learnings Of ... "
• Jens Lekman, "Night Falls Over Kortedela"
• Spoon, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
• Tobias Thomas, "Please, Please, Please"
• Vampire Weekend, blue cd-r
• Robert Wyatt, "Comicopera"

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Rick McNulty, KUT DJ

• Bettye LaVette, "The Scene of the Crime"
• Amy Winehouse, "Back To Black"
• Iron & Wine, "The Shepherd's Dog"
• St. Vincent, "Marry Me"
• Esbjörn Svensson Trio, "Tuesday Wonderland"
• Alice Smith, "For Lovers, Dreamers & Me"
• Simple Kid, "2"
• White Stripes, "Icky Thump"

• and two reissues: Sly & The Family Stone, The entire Epic catalog

• Miles Davis, "The Complete On The Corner Sessions"

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From the staff at End of an Ear Records:

• 1. Best Live Show: Howling Hex at Emo's Lounge
• 2. Best Album: Robert Wyatt "Comicopera"
• 3. Best Club: Emo's
• 4. Best Reissues: Betty Davis CDs (Light in the Attic)
• 5. Best unknown local band: Montoya

• 7. Best in-store: Thurston Moore during South by Southwest

• 8. Best and most overdue DVD release — "The Films Of Alejandro Jodorowsky" box set (includes his soundtracks).
• 9. Rick Reed's EMS Synthi demonstration at Ceremony Hall
• 10. Best Music Monday at the Alamo : "My Name Is Albert Ayler"

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Adrian Quesada of Grupo Fantasma, Brownout and Ocote Soul Sounds

• 1. Brownout CD Release Party. This was one of the most fun gigs of my life; it felt momentous (to us at least!).
• 2. Rehearsing for a week with Prince in L.A. for the ALMA Awards. This was crazy and felt we like we aged 20 musical years in a few days.
• 3. Prince's Golden Globes after-party. This was a legendary party not only by our standards but apparently by Hollywood standards as well. Star-studded and whatnot but most importantly we had the place rocking like an old house party while set up in the corner of a hotel room suite. People were climbing speakers and freaking out. J. Lo was dancing right in front of us.
• 4. South by Southwest showcase at Emo's Annex with Grupo Fantasma, Antibalas, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, the Budos Band and Ocote Soul Sounds. Amazing night of music with extended musical family.
• 5. Playing James Brown's "Soul Power 74" in London with Prince, Maceo Parker, etc., with Maceo Parker taking the famous sax solo and Prince getting the crowd to chant "Gruuuuu-po!"
• 6. Grupo Fantasma "Austin City Limits" taping. We flew in from a few hours before aforementioned L.A. rehearsals and surprisingly rocked it on no sleep.
• 7. Ocote Soul Sounds' Austin City Limits Music Festival set. We don't perform much , especially not on big festival stages, but this felt just right.
• 8. Rockit party 7 with Afrika Bambaataa. We made this dream come true and rocked the stage with this hip hop/breakbeat legend.
• 9. Watching De La Soul with the Rhythm Roots All Stars. I hadn't seen a sick hip-hop show in a long time.
• 10. Finally finishing Ocote Soul Sounds' new album "The Alchemist Manifesto."

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Paul Saucido, Latin Music Director and on-air host for ME Television:

• 1. Austin? Meet Latin Alternative – The biggest highlight this year has to be the slow ongoing education of Austin audiences to Latin Alternative music. Even Josh Norek from Nacional Records in L.A. has noticed the scene in Austin: "In general, our label Nacional sells more albums in Austin than Houston, Dallas and San Antonio combined. This is largely due to the fact that there is huge college population, good record stores (Waterloo and End of an Ear), good radio (KUT) and good television (METV)."
• 2. Grupo Fantasma + Brownout + Ocote = Adrian Quesada, thus a shoe-in for Austin musician of the year.
• 3. Video Killed Who? This year we saw local bands Maneja Beto, Boca Abajo, Frenetica, Vallejo, Bocastria and the wonderfully abnormal Montoya take their music to the cameras.
• 4. Rock y Roll Dia '07: I am biased, but I have to say, only our second year out and we got ambitious! Rock y Roll Dia '07 brought together Cine Las Americas, Austin Public Library Foundation, the MACC, ALMA and LUPARTE to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos and raise funds for their foundations.
• 5. Cosmica Artists: Maneja Beto hits the road with Los Amigos Invisibles, David Garza names Maneja his favorite band, Michael Ramos and Charanga Cakewalk perform masterfully at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. All Austin acts, all falling under the talented hand of Gil Gastelum, head of Cosmica Artists.
• 6. Tejano strikes back! With a state senator and a whole coalition behind the preservation of Tejano music, prayers were answered when "Tejano and Proud" debuted on 107.7 FM. Ratings soared, making the show No. 1 in the time slot (6 p.m. Sundays).
• 7. Girl in a Coma: San Antonio's female rock trio dazzled Austin all year long. Next up? European tour with Morrissey.
• 8. Xemumba Festival: Creator Brandon Badillo created a cool and sweaty music festival in the friendly confines of East Austin's Compound.
• 9. Upground: Amongst all the international Latin acts and the so-called buzz about the Mexican rock boy bands, it was East L.A.'s Upground who stole the spotlight.
• 10. Yo Heart L.A.!: In a rare outdoor Stubb's show for a headlining Latin Alternative act, Mexican bad boys Molotov were finishing out their farewell tour in the States, as label disputes and internal unrest took hold of the group. As Molotov's 13-plus years were winding up, opening act Los Abandoned — hailing from Los Angeles San Fernando Valley — were seemingly a band on the rise. In the same month (October), Molotov released a new album, admitting the "break-up" thing was a gimmick, and Los Abandoned quietly announced that after seven years as band, they were no longer. My heart broke as did many in the Latin Alternative world. The scene lost an incredible band. Those who came early to the perfect night at Stubb's didn't know they would witness a little bit of rock history. Adios Los, you will be missed!

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David Brown, KUT, Texas Music Matters, Austin Music Unlimited

• 1. Radiohead, "In Rainbows" (self released)
• 2. Wilco, "Sky Blue Sky" (Nonesuch)
• 3. Okkervil River, "The Stage Names" (JagJaguwar)
• 4. Lil' Cap'n Travis, "Twilight on Sometimes Island" (Glurp)
• 5. Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black" (Universal)
• 6. Future Clouds and Radar, "Future Clouds and Radar" (self released)
• 7. Spoon, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" (Merge)
• 8. The Small Stars, "Tijuana Dreams" (self released)
• 9. Bill Callahan, "Woke on a Whaleheart" (Drag City)
• 10. Iron and Wine, "The Shepherd's Dog" (Sub Pop)

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Paul Ray, KUT - Paul Ray's Jazz, Twine Time, Overnight

• 1. McCoy Tyner, "McCoy Tyner Quartet" (Mc Coy Tyner Music.)
• 2. Charles Tolliver Big Band, "With Love" (EMI.)
• 3. Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, "My Foolish Heart" (ECM)
• 4. Terell Stafford Quintet, "Taking Chances: Live At The Dakota" (Max Jazz)
• 5. Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts, "Taking the Scenic Route" (Palmetto)
• 6. Russell Malone, "Live At Jazz Standard" (Max Jazz)
• 7. Hal Galper, Jeff Johnson and John Bishop, "Furious Rubato" (Origins)
• 8. Steve Kuhn, Ron Carter and Al Foster, "Live At Birdland" (Blue Note)
• 9. Michael Brecker, "Pilgrimage" (Heads Up)
• 10. Sonny Fortune, "You and the Night and the Music" (Showplace)

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Jeff McCord, KUT - Music Director, Left of the Dial

Alphabetical

• 1. Terence Blanchard, "A Tale of God's Will" (Blue Note)

• 2. Manu Chao, "La Radiolina" (Nacional)

• 3. Ruthie Foster, "The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster" (Blue Corn)
• 4. Iron and Wine, "The Shepherd's Dog" (Sub Pop)
• 5. Li'l Cap'n Travis, "Twilight on Sometimes Island" (Glurp)
• 6. Monahans, "Low Pining" (Undertow)
• 7. Okkervil River, "The Stage Names" (Jagjaguwar)
• 8. Spoon, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" (Merge)
• 9. Wilco, "Sky Blue Sky" (Nonesuch)
• 10. Lucinda Williams, "West" (Lost Highway)

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Craig Stewart, SXSW/Emperor Jones Records

• End of an Ear expanding

• UGK at pre-condo former Fox and Hound space (trill over real-estate!)
• Pink Reason/Psychedelic Horse(expletive) Austin mini tour at Beerland/Sound on Sound
• Free Little Richard show at 40 acres Fest (University of Texas West Mall)
• Jay Reatard/Clockcleaner at Beerland
• Strange Boys finally putting out a 7" EP
• Three Six Mafia at Stubb's
• Ralph White's "Navasota River Devil Squirrel" CD and live at the Parlor or anywhere
• Devin the Dude "Waitin' To Inhale" CD
• Neil Young "Chrome Dreams II" CD