Cory Graves
This Week, Son of Stan's The Man.
Each week, we take a survey of the local music scene and try to determine which acts in town are really putting in work and seeing it pay off. Which bands have the most intriguing shows coming up? Which bands are getting the most press around town? Which bands have accomplished the most notable feats of late? Based off these criteria, three of our music writers submit a list to be weighted and compiled into a master list revealed each week in this here space. We like to think it's fairly revealing. Check out our previous Buzz Rankings here.
The past several months have certainly been busy ones for Fort Worth native Jordan Richardson, who has been pretty consistently flying back and forth between Los Angeles, where he mostly lives, and North Texas, where he's been performing show and producing albums for area acts such as Oil Boom and The Longshots.
But it's also been a fruitful few months — and especially this past week, which found the former Ben Harper drummer releasing his solo debut LP under his Son of Stan moniker, performing at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York and landing his first Dallas Observer cover story. Oh, and seemingly just for good measure, he'll add to all that a performance at the second-ever Index Festival in Deep Ellum tomorrow.
So, topping our local music Buzz Rankings will probably fall pretty low in Richardson's list of accomplishments this week. Alas, thanks to all of those other goings-on, that honor is his this week.
But it was a pretty big week for plenty of the other artists on this week's list, too. Just like Son of Stan, local outfits The Breakfast Machine, The Phuss and Ishi all made CMJ treks of their own. And, also like Son of Stan, a whole bunch of locals will fill out this weekend's two-day Index Festival. Among those Index performers are The Cannabinoids, Telegraph Canyon, Larry g(EE), Blackstone Rangers, Fox & The Bird, Pageantry, Rania Khoury, Sarah Jaffe, Baptist Generals, Air Review, Ishi, A.Dd+, These Machines Are Winning, Calhoun, Sam Lao, Sealion, Datahowler, Lord Byron, AV the Great and Blue, the Misfit.
But, really, the other big buzzing story of the week was the coming-out party for local super-duo The Dividends. The long-rumored collaboration between Grammy-winning producer Symbolyc One and indie darling Sarah Jaffe finally launched a new website this week, and it featured short previews of three songs from the group's upcoming debut EP. S1 also revealed to us that the duo is responsible for composing a song that will appear on Eminem's upcoming The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
Come to think of it, Jaffe's been quite busy herself lately, earning herself a second spot in this week's Rankings thanks to the help of an upcoming tour with Midlake, an Index Festival appearance, a limited edition Daytrotter LP, and the news that she'll soon be heading into the studio to begin work on her third full-length effort.
Similarly, Mark Ryan earned himself a pair of spots on this week's list as well. As his band Mind Spiders continues to receive national press for its just-released third LP, his even-newer Radioactivity project, which features his Marked Men bandmate Jeff Burke, received write-ups in outlets like Vice's Noisey blog and the Dallas Observer's DC9 at Night blogahead of its October 29 debut album release.
Elsewhere, This Will Destroy You headlines tonight's Red Bull Sound Select offering, St. Vincent will play an intimate church gig this weekend, Erykah Badu will appear at two local festivals in the coming days, and Drug Mountain will play its second reunion/benefit show in as many months.
(Also receiving votes this week: These Machines Are Winning, The O's, Blackstone Rangers, Sealion, Ice Eater, A.Dd+, Parquet Courts, Burning Hotels, Shuttle, DJ Blake Ward, The Relatives, Larry g(EE), -topic, Home by Hovercraft, Lord Byron, Jenny Robinson, Datahowler, Strange Towers, Fungi Girls, AV the Great, Blue, The Misfit, Quaker City Night Hawks, Telegraph Canyon, The Southern Renaissance ,Fox & the Bird, Calhoun, Goodnight Ned, Kaela Sinclair.)
Cover photo by Karlo X. Ramos.
