Cory Graves
This Week, St. Vincent Shredded The Competition.
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.
Dallas' own Annie Clark — better known to the rest of the world as St. Vincent — has been everywhere as of late.
That much should come as no surprise: She does have a new, self-titled release to promote, after all.
Also not surprising? How killer Clark's rendition of the album's single, “Birth in Reverse,” was when it was performed live on The Colbert Report earlier this week.
So of course all this this added exposure has helped Clark land atop our local music Buzz Rankings once again.
On the other hand, what is pretty surprising is the fact that, in two-plus years of these rankings, this week marks only the second time St. Vincent has finished in the top spot. More surprising than the fact that she eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, at least.
New releases this week also helped The Longshots, The Orbans, Parallel Play, Street Arabs, Blackstone Rangers and Def Rain all score some votes in this week's Rankings, too. The Longshots and Def Rain, in particular, each received praise in Impose magazine and a handful of additional national outlets for their efforts.
As far as the other acts on this week's rankings are concerned, it was live performances that earned most everyone else their places. For his part, Vanilla Ice indeed headed up the biggest party in town this past weekend. That same night, Party Static, Analog Rebellion, Matchbox Tony and Zach Witness helped us celebrate our second anniversary at Dada. Jonathan Tyler, meanwhile, joined Billy Ray Cyrus onstage last weekend, holding down lead guitar and backing vocal duty during “Achy Breaky Heart.”
This coming weekend, meanwhile, will see Ishi and Zhora sharing a stage for the first time since the latter's original members split from the former act to start up a group to call their own back in 2011. Also on that bill at Trees? Home by Hovercraft, which made some news of its own this week thanks to an interesting new project with Austin's Borrisokane.
Elsewhere: War Party released the best area music video we've seen in quite some time; Mystery Skulls got remixed; and Sarah Jaffe and Son of Stan will kick of Shipping & Receiving's new South Main Saturdays series this weekend.
(Also receiving votes this week: Sealion, Pinkish Black, Analog Rebellion, Slobberbone, Dead Flowers, Pageantry, The Whistle and The Bells, Somebody's Darling, Memphis May Fire, AV The Great, Zach Witness, The Texas Gentlemen, J. Charles and the Trainrobbers, Tum Tum, American Werewolf Academy, Warbeast, Bad Mountain, Parallel Play, Auxiliary Voice, Fungi Girls, Drug Animal, Ronnie Heart, Bethan.)
