Cory Graves
This Week, Erykah Badu Meant One Thing.
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.
When Erykah Badu does just about anything these days it becomes national news. That goes double when she teases the release of a new mixtape by reimagining one of the hottest songs of the summer.
That's exactly what Mama Dallas did this week, putting her own spin on Drake's “Hotline Bling,” much to the delight of most everyone. It should also speak to the power of Badu that the track's producer, Zach Witness, landed in the No. 2 spot.
It makes Erykah's first No. 1 finish atop our weekly, local music power rankings, her 11th overall. That's good enough for third all-time behind Leon Bridges' cool 14 and Sarah Jaffe's even dozen.
She's just one of many huge names in the top portion of this week's list. Not far behind, for instance, is Neon Indian who, along with The Outfit, TX, played to a packed crowd at The Bomb Factory as part of this month's Red Bull Sound Select show.
Then there was former Disney stars Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez, the former, who caused a stir with an impromptu makeup-free/clothes-free photo shoot in Vanity Fair, and the latter, who will drop her much buzzed about sophomore solo record tomorrow. Likewise, Nervous Curtains and Sleepin' Rattlers will celebrate the release of new albums tomorrow, and Blank-Men will celebrate theirs on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Justus was the featured guest on this week's episode of Burning Bridges; Slim Gravy, Larry g(EE) and Riverboat Gamblers dropped new singles; and AV the Great and Spooky Folk are working on new charitable efforts out Denton way.
(Also receiving votes this week: Sleepin' Rattlers, Dead Flowers, G.U.N., Pearl Earl, The Polyphonic Spree, Brandon Fxrd, The Warden, Will Johnson, Saint Clair, Vandoliers, Kirk Thurmond, Seven Benjamin, Son of Stan, Sarah Jaffe, Moon Waves, SoMo, Toadies, Whyte Noyze, Dezi 5, Siamese, Lord Byron.)
