By David Okamoto, KERA Commentator
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-660886.mp3
Dallas, TX –
At number ten is All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky. Part progressive-rock, part avant-garde, this Austin instrumental band blends elegance with bombast, creating riveting soundscapes that can only be described as beautiful noise.
Number nine is the jangling Exciting Opportunity by Austin singer-songwriter Beaver Nelson, who, like John Hiatt, continues to prove that middle age and fatherhood don't dampen the rock 'n' roll spirit so much as it deepen it.
Doyle Bramhall Sr. lays it on thick and heavy on my number eight choice, Is It News, which surrounds his meaty drums and craggy voice with dollops of distortion, echo and even airport flight announcements. The result is a whole new kind of Texas blues.
Bloggers went ga-ga over Dallas singer Annie Clark, who released her quirky debut album Marry Me under the pseudonym St. Vincent. On my number seven favorite, the former Polyphonic Spree member zig-zags from Brazilian pop to ethereal cabaret, coming across as an artist who takes music, but not herself, seriously.
And then it seemed like everyone went ga-ga over Austin band Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which, despite its weak title, comes in at a strong number six. Clocking in with ten songs in 36 minutes, the album comes frighteningly close to Beatlesque pop perfection, balancing melodic grandeur and brooding introspection on such songs as "Finer Feelings" and the irresistible "The Underdog."
Austin's Gourds used to be just a frenetic bluegrass jam band, but they embrace both maturity and mid-tempo rhythms on my number five pick, Noble Creatures. On such soulful tracks as "Promenade" and "How Will You Shine?", they channel Levon Helm and Van Morrison, resulting in a sound that is ragged around the edges but sublime at its heart.
At number four is Fishboy's Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll. Smart and smart-alecky, the Denton band concocts a head-spinning rock opera about searching for the perfect song with the ghost of Buddy Holly but ultimately wins you over with its giddy, irreverent spirit, best captured on "Taqueria Girl".
Lindale's Miranda Lambert has brought a refreshing dose of Lone Star grit to Nashville. The pistol-toting, anti-tee-totaling narrators on my number three choice, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, make the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl" sound like a valentine. But her real charm surfaces when she wears her guarded heart on her beer-stained sleeve.
At number two is Arts Magnet graduate Norah Jones' subtly subversive Not Too Late. On the surface, this seems like just another pretty phase - but her haunting, atmospheric compositions are imbued with a darker mood and politically charged metaphors that could even be detected over the gurgle of frothing milk at Starbucks.
But my favorite Texas album of 2007 is The Stage Names by Austin's Okkervil River. Piloted by leader Will Sheff's untethered singing - which careens from a confessional whisper to a confrontational yelp - their unsettling anthems are cinematic in scope, breathtaking in their literacy, and over the top in just the right places - in essence, everything great rock 'n' roll should be.
David Okamoto is a content production manager at Yahoo! in Dallas and a former contributor to Rolling Stone and ICE magazines and the Dallas Morning News.