Cory Graves
This Week, Leon Bridges Was The No. 1 Pick.
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, 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.
For the second week in a row, the fifth time this year and his sixth time overall, Leon Bridges tops our weekly, local music power rankings.
By now, seeing Bridges in the No. 1 hole should surprise absolutely no one.
This week's noise, however, comes for a pretty cool reason. Just as Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Marcus Mariota gets set to join an NFL team at tonight's draft, the QB also finds himself the subject of a two-minutes-long Beats By Dre ad featuring the previously Bridges unreleased tune “River.”
We expect you'll be hearing that one a lot in the coming weekend. We reckon, too, you'll continue to keep seeing Bridges top these here rankings fairly often for the foreseeable future.
Just behind Bridges this week was the Toadies, who charted on the strength of this week's Dia de los Toadies festival announcement, which also followed the release of the band's second beer, the Martin House-brewed Bockslider. Paired with those news bits came a few other interesting announces — like a new Toadies album called Heretics, the fact that their festival will feature the first shows from The Burden Brothers and The Buck Pets in many a year, and that the fest will also feature a 20th anniversary celebration of Hagfish's Rocks Your Lame Ass LP.
Just behind the Toadies this week is Sudie, who was the subject of a feature in this month's D Magazine.
Other local features this week included pieces on the up-and-coming producer Medasin and high school rock act The Azalea Project, both on the Observer's music blog. Also? Paul Slavens found his way onto Sports Illustrated's site thanks to some well-timed Rajon Rondo shade.
Acts buzzing off big shows this week: Kacey Musgraves, who'll play Billy Bob's tomorrow night; Plain Jane Francis & Tony Q, iill, Rat Rios and Orgullo Primitivo, who shined at Vice Palace's one-year anniversary bash; The Birds of Night and Doug Burr, which celebrated the release of their new LPs last weekend; and Pearl Earl and Dove Hunter, who'll do the same in the coming days. Elsewhere: Rhett Miller was hacked by ISIS; Jonathan Tyler released a new single; and Todrick Hall once again went viral.
(Also receiving votes this week: Hagfish, Ray Wylie Hubbard, TEAM*, Orgullo Primitivo, Poison Culture, Lily Taylor, Sam Lao, A.Dd+, Peace Scout, The Buck Pets, Troy Cartwright, Danny Diamonds, -topic, The Fieros, Symbolyc One, Fungi Girls, Bad Mountain, Post Malone, LEV, Zhora, Ronnie Heart, Dead Flowers, Mothership, Slobberbone, Black Milk, Radioactivity, Claire Morales, Cashmir, The O's, Party Static.)
