Cory Graves
Thirteen Local Albums To Look Forward To In 2013.
Although 2013 just got underway a few hours ago, we're already looking forward to all the great local releases that the year is sure to hold.
If our list of 2012's best singles taught us anything it was that local music is on an uptick as of late, and, really, we never know what to expect as far as new releases are concerned. As we pointed out yesterday, so many of the bands that wound up releasing our favorite efforts of the 2012 weren't anywhere near our radar when the year began.
So, that's being said, it's somewhat impossible to forecast at this juncture just who will release our favorite albums of 2013. But we can give you the low down on 13 local releases we're still very much looking forward to just the same.
In April of 2011, Taylor Rea and Rob Bastien announced their intentions to split from popular folktronic outfit Ishi. Two months later, they released “Sunset,” the first single as the newly-dubbed Zhora outfit. Later in 2011, that track was joined by three others and released as an EP of demos. 2012, meanwhile, saw the group's lineup change; goodbye Bastien, hello three new guys (Ross Martinez, Logan Kelson and Taylor Cleveland). It also saw the band blossom into one of the city's more dynamic live acts. And yet the only new recordings we've heard from the band of late are covers of The Cure's “Just Like Heaven” and Wham!'s “Last Christmas.” All signs point to Zhora's full-length studio debut coming out sometime in 2013.
Ishi, on the other hand, didn't let the loss of Rea and Bastien slow them down too much in 2012. And with the additions of guitarist Rocky Ottley and vocalist Becky Middleton, Ishi's popularity continued to grow this year. Back in September, Ishi was set to release their anticipated sophomore effort, Digital Wounds. But, alas, that was not to be. The subsequent delay, which pushed back the album's release date to early 2013, in turn makes it one of this next year's anticipated releases.
But perhaps no local band had a bigger 2012 than Fort Worth duo Pinkish Black. The synth and drum duo won the Best Local Metal Act award in this year's Dallas Observer Music Awards, scored a deal with Century Media Records and wound up listed at No. 6 on Pitchfork's list of the year's 40 best metal albums. And, recently, the band has been recording their Century debut with Matthew Barnhart at Echo Lab.
Also working on her label debut is 24-year-old Fort Worth rapper Snow tha Product, who signed with Atlantic earlier this year. Before that record earns its 2013 release, we've already heard her December-released mixtape Good Nights & Bad Mornings, which spawned the singles “Cookie Cutter Bitches,” “Damn It,” and “Lord Be With You,” and will be re-released with an added collaboration with rap veteran Tech N9ne.
Several other Fort Worth bands have been busy as well. The Longshots have been working with Jordan Richardson, who not only was responsible for producing 2012's immaculate debut by psych-rock outfit Skeleton Coast but his own solo project, Son of Stan, as well. The Longshots recently leaked a rough mix of the single “Bite the Bullet” from their upcoming spring release.
The Longshots' previous EPs were released by Dreamy Soundz and Lo-Life Recordings, it should be noted. That label and collective have worked exclusively with Fort Worth bands to date, but that is set to change in '13 as Dallas indie-punks Sealion hit the studio in mid-January with producer Britt Robisheaux to record 10 new tracks. The subsequent release will come as a dual effort from Lo-Life and Dallas Distortion Music.
And, although Best Electronic Act DOMA winners Cutter recently went ahead and digitally leaked their half of an upcoming split with Denton's Vulgar Fashion, DDM also promises that the new year will see that effort released physically on colored cassettes.
Staying in Funkytown, Fort Worth Weekly's reigning Artist of the Year, Quaker City Night Hawks, gave Central Track readers an exclusive taste of their upcoming full-length earlier this year. Says the band, the soon-to-be-released Honcho will more closely represent the three-year evolution in the band's live sound.
And, as we've mentioned in this column previously, Polyphonic Spree and The O's raised in excess of $100,000 and $20,000, respectively, via Kickstarter fundraising efforts for the recording of their 2013 releases. With that much dough involved, it's fair to assume the bands will turn out high-level efforts. In any case, it'll be interesting to see what kind of albums these bands produce when money isn't an obstacle.
Also turning to that crowd-funding site this past year are Dallas' Missile, who are currently working on their debut full-length. As opposed to their previously released EPs, their 2013 effort marks the first time they'll be recording in a proper studio. Really, though, as with any new Missile release, the thing to really look forward to are all the quirky and extremely well-produced videos the album is no doubt sure to spawn.
Taking another approach, Air Review has been individually releasing the singles that would eventually make up their America's Son EP since 2011. Those songs, along with a handful of newer recordings, will be released as an LP titled Low Wishes on January 29th.
Just three days before that, dynamic hip-hop duo A.Dd+ will finally celebrate the release of that DiveHiFlyLo mixtape they've so masterfully been teasing for much of the past year and do so with a much anticipated performance at the Granada. Aside from frequent collaborator Picnictyme, the disk will feature production efforts from Black Milk and Grammy-winner Symbolyc One.
Finally, the onetime popular pop-punk trio Lucy Loves Schroeder recently played their first reunion show at Double Wide in seven years. And while most of frontwoman Sara Radle's stage banter was dedicated to sandbagging and frequently referring to what her and her bandmates were doing as being just a nostalgia thing, the night did provide one lone gem: In 2013, promised Radle, a new Lucy Loves Schroeder disk containing much of the live material the band never got around to recording during their initial run would be recorded and released.
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