Post Malone Hits A Swish At No. 5.

The North Texas music scene has really come into its own the past 12 months. There hasn't been a year in recent memory when so many local artists appeared on the Billboard charts, played Saturday Night Live and other late night television programs, or otherwise appeared in the national spotlight. Here, as we've done in years past, we're highlighting what we think are the 100 best songs locally-tied of the year. The thing is, as far as this list is concerned, we're judging the quality of the songs irrespective of the popularity of the people putting them out — meaning, you're just as likely to have a song by a Grammy-winning act sandwiched between a couple of high school bands. Hey, it's just more interesting that way. Also keeping with tradition, we'll be rolling out the list in smaller, more digestible portions every weekday through the end of the month, complete with embedded streams of each. We think that gives each of these more than deserving acts a little more shine, and it also gives you a little more time to really check out each of these high quality tunes — including, presumably, a few that you may have missed upon their initial release.

There are few things as exciting in music as catching a brand new artist on the rise in a live setting. It's a legitimate thrill — and not just because, should that act go on to greater things in the longer term, seeing them “way back when” can be a nice feather in a regular concert attendee's cap.

No, a large part of the excitement is that no one really knows what to expect. As such, these showings tend to reveal as much about the audience as they do the artists on stage. They're incredible captures of time and place.

Truly, there's only one given in these scenarios: The act on stage probably doesn't have too much material to cull from.

Such was indeed true in late May as 19-year-old Grapevine native Austin Post performed his first-ever honest-to-goodness concert in Dallas at Trees, pretty much immediately in the wake of his breakout as Post Malone, the much-Internet-hyped rapper/singer behind the undeniable smash, “White Iverson.” At the time, with only a handful of Soundcloud uploads to his name, Post Malone had to resort to both opening and closing his show with the song upon which he earned his rep.

Thing is, that was exactly what everyone in the room hoped would happen.

See Also:
The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 100 to 81.
The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 80 to 61.
The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 60 to 41.
The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 40 to 26.
The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 25 to 16.
The Top 100 Local Songs of 2014.

Yes, that night was an exciting formal hometown introduction for Post. But the dude's been killing it all year. Following the initial success of “White Iverson,” this young buck from Dallas' suburbs went on to separately collaborate with one-time rivals Kanye West and 50 Cent, earn a cosign from Diplo, be remixed by Rick Ross, sign a record deal with Republic Records and book a tour with Fetty Wap, alongside whom he also performed at Kylie Jenner's 18th birthday party.

Compelling as all those milestones may be, though, none of them really compares to the magic Post first captured with “White Iverson,” at least from an outsider's perspective.

The song has wholly ridiculous premise — Post got his hair braided, laughed to himself that he thought he looked like a white Allen Iverson, then wrote a song about it — but it's about as incessant an earworm as you're ever likely to hear. It charms by being simultaneously boastful and self-effacing, much in the same way that it allures by blurring the line between rap and R&B. The fact that it's brimming with winking references to a whole slow of star NBA players doesn't hurt, either.

It is, as Post himself notes within the track, a swish.

The Full List: The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015.

100. Terrence Spectacle — “King's Cup”
99. Tunk — “Scarface The Rapper”
98. Lil Ronny MothaF — “Circle”
97. Denim Wonder — “I Love My City”
96. Sin Motivo — “Sintomas”
95. Kevin Aldridge — “Winner Leaves Town”
94. Sarah Jaffe — “Vision”
93. Coach Tev — “Omens (ft. Drugs, The Model Citizen & Rei Altru)”
92. Bummer Vacation — “Silver Hands”
91. Danny Cainco — “In My Bed”
90. Dove Hunter — “Dream Catcher”
89. GHETTODSKO — “It's Like That”
88. Toadies — “In the Belly of a Whale”
87. 87. Sad Cops — “Allen Road Park”
86. Essay EyE — “Day Da Day”
85. Astronautalis — “Sike”
84. The Azealia Project — “Chameleons”
83. Rhett Miller — “Most in the Summertime”
82. Botany — “Jotu”
81. Ghoulfive — “Materialistic”
80. VIDEO — “New Immortals”
79. No Touching — “Any Minute”
78. Damaged Good$ — “FCKBOY JIHAD PT. 1”
77. Jarvis Hodges — “Ball Out”
76. Hate Your Friends — “Whooda Thunk?”
75. Blessin' — “Eileen”
74. Birds of Night — “Asleep in the Pine”
73. Parquet Courts — “No, No, No!”
72. Bobby Sessions — “Black Neighborhood”
71. Larce Blake w/ Masego & BeMyFiasco — “SwingInLove”
70. Sudie — “Van Morrissey”
69. Buffalo Black — “High Noon”
68. Zane Williams — “A Song tor the Folks That Stole Our Van and Trailer”
67. Colton Carlyle — “Stalker”
66. Smoke Paint — “Chastity Belt”
65. Pinkish Black — “Brown Rainbow”
64. KoolQuise — “Cupid's Handgun”
63. Nick Jonas — “Jealous”
62. Skagg Philips — “Problems in Japan”
61. Brave Young Lion — “Girls”
60. Plain Jane Francis and Tony Q — “Silent Sounds”
59. Valise — “Charlie Gray”
58. Siamese — “Savage High”
57. Vandoliers — “Runaway Sons”
56. Claire Morales & Jena Pyle — “Strange”
55. Rhett Miller & Madison King — “Feel Like Fallin' in Love”
54. Nervous Curtains — “Devastator”
53. The Outfit, TX – “All Bills Paid” ft. Devy Stonez
52. These Machines Are Winning — “Kuru”
51. St. Vincent — “Bad Believer”
50. Snow that Product — “AyAyAy”
49. Kacey Musgraves — “Pageant Material”
48. Neon Indian — “Slumlord”
47. War Party — “Nolo Mori”
46. Conner Youngblood – “The Badlands”
45. Radioactivity — “Silent”
44. Birds of Night — “Dark”
43. A.Dd+ — “The Rhyme and The Rhythm”
42. Color TV — “Cadillac”
41. LUWUM — “The Band”
40. The Outfit, TX — “Wild Turkey”
39. Doug Burr — “White Night — Black Light”
38. Jake Paleschic — “When it is Played”
37. Party Static — “Mr Sexypants”
36. Pearl Earl — “Karaoke Superstar”
35. Lower Dens — “To Die in L.A.”
34. Selena Gomez — “Good For You”
33. Brack Cantrell — “Corpus Christi”
32. Demi Lovato — “Confident”
31. Herrick and Hooley — “Skeletor vs He-Man”
30. Dripping Wet — “She's Not Mine”
29. Maren Morris — “My Church”
28. Andy Pickett — “Don't Bro Me”
27. Post Malone — “Tear$”
26. Leon Bridges — “Smooth Sailin'”
25. Pyramids — “In Perfect Stillness, I've Only Found Sorrow”
24. War Party — “Teenager On Drugs”
23. Vincent Neil Emerson — “East Texas Blues”
22. Shaun Martin — “One Big Party”
21. Telegraph Canyon — “Why Let it Go”
20. Felix — “Ain Afraid”
19. Neon Indian — “Annie”
18. The Warden — “Our Town”
17. St. Vincent — “Teenage Talk”
16. Erykah Badu — “Cel U Lar Device”
15. Dead to a Dying World — “The Hunt Eternal”
14. LEV — “Shadow”
13. G.U.N. — “Johnny Cage”
12. Jonathan Tyler — “To Love Is To Fly” (feat. Nikki Lane)
11. Picnictyme — “Burnin Up”
10. Radioactivity — “Battered”
9. Andy Pickett — “It Happens Every Night”
8. Reagan James — “Blue”
7. Demi Lovato — “Cool For the Summer”
6. Erykah Badu — “Hello” (feat. Andre 3000)
5. Post Malone — “White Iverson”
4. ?????
3. ?????
2. ?????
1. ?????

Cover photo by Kathy Tran.

8322_2

8322_3

8322_4

8322_5

8322_6

8322_7

8322_8

8322_9

8322_10

8322_11

8322_12

8322_13

8322_14

8322_15

8322_16

8322_17

8322_18

8322_19

8322_20

8322_21

8322_22

8322_23

8322_24

8322_25

8322_26

8322_27

8322_28

8322_29

8322_30

8322_31

8322_32

8322_33

8322_34

8322_35

8322_36

8322_37

8322_38

8322_39

8322_40

8322_41

8322_42

8322_43

8322_44

8322_45

8322_46

8322_47

8322_48

8322_49

8322_50

No more articles