Cory Graves
St. Vincent Appreciates Her Grammy Win, Sarah Jaffe Preps a New EP and Killa MC Hates Your Lists.
Much has been made of Beck's Album of the Year win in the days following Sunday's Grammy Awards ceremony. And we certainly don't wish to add to the clutter of Kanye West opinions that are surely bogging down your Internet experience in recent days. Still: We don't want to gloss over the awards entirely, given that so many people with local ties took home trophies.
In an especially classy move, St. Vincent, who was not at the ceremony to pick up her “Best Alternative Album” award in person, sent out a heartfelt letter to her email subscribers detailing the hardships of her early days on the road and thanking her fans and collaborators, including Midlake's McKenzie Smith and producer John Congleton. If you want to read the whole thing — and you should — head right here.
Meanwhile, St. Vincent's fellow Grammy winner, Symbolyc One, who earned his second trophy thanks to his work with Sarah Jaffe on Eminem's MMLP2, followed hsi win up by briefly locking down the top two slots on iTunes' songs chart with a pair of tracks he co-wrote with Madonna.
Of course, he didn't stop there, either. Turns out, S1 also remixed a song from Jaffe's 2014 Don't Disconnect LP, which will appear on that local performer's new VISIONS EP, which will formally earn its release in conjunction with her show this Friday the 13th at Trees. The EP will also include remixes from Mystery Skulls and Blue, the Misfit, as well as a new Dividends track and a new, McKenzie Smith-produced song that also features Sam Lao and Zhora.
Download cards for the EP will be available at the Trees show, where Jaffe will perform alongside Sam Lao and Blue, the Misfit. The set times listed by the venue for that show appear to indicate that all three will be on stage at the same time, so it's probably safe to assume this isn't going to be a standard three-act bill.
Speaking of Blue: He'll stay busy the month. In addition to performing at our own three-year anniversary bash at the Double Wide on February 26, he's also performing on February 20 at Texas Theatre. That bill will also feature Buffalo Black, -topic, Lord Byron, Ark the God Given MC, Lily Taylor and the first-ever solo set from X, the Misfit. The special behind-the-screen performance will follow a screening of Spike Lee's new joint, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, a film that features Buffalo Black on its soundtrack and in its trailer.
The aforementioned Zhora, meanwhile, just released a new cover of Pet Shop Boys' “West End Girls.” Stream the perhaps-too-faithful take on the '80s synth pop classic below.
A bit more refreshing is the newest single from Sudie's forthcoming debut EP, which is now slated for an April release. Check out classically influenced bit of experimental electro-pop that is “Bruise” below, then check her out live when she performs at our anniversary party.
Speaking of up-and-comers: A Southlake-raised rapper who goes by the name of Post Malone is earning some buzz for his just-released “White Iverson” jam. The now-L.A.-based emcee got tons of love from various outlets these past few days, with former Central Track scribe and current Observer writer H. Drew Blackburn even going so far as to declare the song “the best rap song released this year that wasn't made by Kendrick Lamar.” High praise, to be sure, but kind of hard to disagree with. See what the hype's about below.
Similarly, Jason Corcoran, who records under the moniker Gaston Light, tried his hand living in Los Angeles for a time, too. Now, back in Dallas and recently clean, he's getting set release a new Gaston Light LP on February 17, via Idol Records. Stream the first single below.
In more new release news, Dallas' LEV passed along a new electro-pop track called “Shadow,” the first taste from a forthcoming EP. Here's that one.
And winding down the new MP3 overload is Unmarked Graves, whose newest song comes from its second album, which will be available at the band's rare, mid-week album release show tomorrow night at Rubber Gloves. Check out and/or grab a free download of “I'll Haunt You” below.
Speaking of release shows: Other ones coming up on the horizon include Party Static's on February 14 at Three Links: Claire Morales's on February 21 at Rubber Gloves; NEONNOAH's on February 27 at The Prophet Bar; and The Demigs' on February 28 at Dan's Silverleaf.
There's also a handful of new videos deserving of some attention this week.
For starters, there's Jonas Martin's Oh Jee Nam-directed clip for the Chokecherry Jam cut “You're So Blues,” which plays out like a hilariously creepy/romantic take on the end of Fight Club — y'know, where Ed Norton's character realizes he was Tyler Durden all along.
Meanwhile, This Will Destroy You's new “New Topia” video is an animated clip that thematically resembles the cover art of 2014's Another Language LP.
Then there's Plain Jane Francis and Tony Q's new, Clerks-inspired video for their collaborative track “The Way.” It's a simple but effective clip, made more impressive with the knowledge that it is the pair's 20th video release in the last 20 weeks. How is no one else taking notice of this fact yet?
Still, maybe the best video of the week comes courtesy of Killa MC for his new, Blue, the Misfit-produced track “The List,” which the rapper says will appear on his forthcoming Gate Keeper LP due out sometime in the spring. The clip, which rails against list-centric journalism and especially the lists that don't count him among DFW's best rappers, was directed by Jeremy Biggers, who was also responsible for Blue's “Alive” video that we were so enamored with last year.
Even better news? All these new songs we've mentioned might soon have an outlet beyond White Noise — or any other web-based locale — to be heard. Texas Radio Hall of Famer and former Morning Zoo host John Rody recently got FCC approval to launch a low-power, all-local radio station in Fort Worth. When the station eventually goes live, its signal will only carry 10 miles, although listeners from Dallas and beyond will still be able to listen to the station's web stream if they want.
Elsewhere: Bob Dylan referenced the classic “Deep Ellum Blues” song in his 30-plus-minute MusiCares “Person of the Year” acceptance speech; Baring Teeth went track-by-track in discussing its latest album with the Toilet OV Hell blog; Salon referenced the Toadies in its list of '90s bands that deserve a second chance; Seryn's long-awaited sophomore LP is now streaming in full, here and former Dallas Distortion Music co-founder Matthew Vickers, who slipped into a coma following a car crash last March, is about to be released from the hospital, but is happily back to his old Facebooking-about-the-music-he-loves self right here under his new Black Cat Music brand.
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