Sunday, January 20, 2008

Best of 2007

Well, Ok, everyone seems to do some sort of 2007 "best of" list, so OK, here you go. better late than never, eh? (p.s. - i am drunk)

2007 was an uh, interesting year for me, one of personal transitions, revelations, transformations, blah, blah, blah...

while i could easily come up with a top ten list of personal revelations for 2007, i really dont think anyone would give a shit, so here's my list of the top 10 performances i saw in 2007 (yeah, ok, no one gives a shit about this either, i know):

1. Chemistry Set, Calhoun (Club Dada, 1/11/08) - final show for Chem Set. on one hand, a glorious night due to the extended set by my favorite local band. on the other hand, deeply depressing since it's their last show. see below to view my opinions on this truly awesome band. stephen duncan is a musical genius, and the dallas music scene will not be the same without him. here's hoping he keeps making music, as he promised me. this evening was bolstered by an awesome set by calhoun, another one of my favorites.

2. tartufi (club dada, 12/8 and haileys, 12/9). truly transcendant live music experience. enough said. check. them. out.

3. o'brother, comrade, broadcast sea, pompeii, dignan, new frontiers, quiet company (haileys, 1/20). this was one of the first shows i went to, and it set the standard for months to come. this was where i was first introduced to pompeii, so it has to rank near the top, if only for that. but the new frontiers and quiet company sets ranked highly also. fantastic night.

4. method entertainment night at club dada, 8/18. unbelievable collection of fantastic bands in one night: greater good, chemistry set, calhoun, latture, and airline. nice job, solis.

5. paul banks (cavern, 7/21 and 9/29). you know i hate the fuckin cavern, but the absolute genius of paul banks transcended that shithole of a venue. this dude can write one hell of a song, and he's got the pipes to belt 'em out, too. absolutely phenomenal.

6. ra ra riot, red monroe (haileys, 3/13). fell in love with ra ra riot and their cello- and violin-playing. also rocked out to the exquisite red monroe for the first time. magical, even though eric stormed off the stage early cuz of hailey's awful sound problems.

7. rufus wainwright (nokia, 8/10). rufus has been one of my favorites for years, so to have him come to dallas (finally!) was such a fantastic gift. a truly beautiful, funny, entertaining evening. hate the fucking nokia, tho - $15 parking, $6 rumandcokes. fuck. you.

8. animal collective (granada, 5/26). ok, i wasnt even gonna go, but i won tickets from bigDlittled, and goddam, am i glad i went. no, i didnt enjoy every song they played, but when they played a song i dug, it was an exhilarating experience.

9. the whigs, wild sweet orange, calhoun (club dada, 1/16). this was when i was truly turned on to the greatness of calhoun, in addition to the other two outstanding acts. great night.

10. demigs, new frontiers, dear and the headlights (haileys, 8/1). tk fell in love with the demigs, which makes it easier to get him out more often so i dont have to go out alone, so this night has to rank up there just cuz of that. got to see new frontiers again and belt out 'mirrors' at the top of my lungs, too (poor tk). loved dear and the headlights, too. gooood night.

other bands i saw and dug in 2007, in no particular order...

stumptone
bosque brown
happy bullets
the felons
matthew and the arrogant sea
radiant
jd whittenburg
telegraph canyon
stavely
florene
swirve
record hop
the campaign
backflap
sean kirkpatrick
three fantastic
the dodos
tammany hall machine
quiet company
david ramirez band
1000 miles from home
the aimless never miss
robert gomez
hardin sweaty...
burning hotels
the gunship
million year dance

there's another list that needs to be compiled, and that's the list of people who have completely transformed my life in the past year, ranging from a new group of friends at work, to music-scene insiders who have managed to make me feel at home in a world that is completely outside my comfort zone. but that's a thing for another night, after waaay more vodker...

10 comments:

nimbusthegreat said...

hopefully 2008 will be a better year for both of us on the personal front. at least we've seen some killer shows this last year. btw, i'll be at dada again wednesday for nick luca show. come on out and i'll buy you a rum and coke.

bill h said...

Great list. It's very nice to include the Felons on this list of truly outstanding musicians. They have three shows coming up, Cavern this Saturday, Doublewide on 2-8 and Gezillig on 2-22. Come on out, so glad you are out and about in this really underrated music scene in our town.

Steve M said...

holy shite, nimbus - you know my weakness. seriously, tho - i was already planning on bein there. and dont i already owe you one?

see you there

Steve M said...

bill,

i can honestly say that seeing the felons was one of the highlights of my year. cant wait to see them again.

nimbusthegreat said...

nah, you never "owe" me one. i buy drinks for people i think are cool without the expectation of a drink in return. however, should you decide to return the favor, a cold blue moon will do nicely. :)

Hello said...

Nice to see the Demig's show made it. That was a helluva fun night, lot's of good tunes - tk.

Anonymous said...

So umm I notice the top show of 2007 happened in 2008. Is it the early favorite to also top your 2008 list? ;)

You already missed the top show of 2008 in my opinion. But thanks for hooking me up with the tickets. Les Savy Fav rocks the party. Real hard.

bill h said...

so, what did you think of Telegraph Canyon? I love Chris Johnson's writing and I thought the organ is really soulful.

Steve M said...

funny you should ask...





(um, see above)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, even considering the more limited # of shows I attended compared to you, I'd agree that the Chem Set show on 1/11/08 is #1 with a bullet. I absolutely love that band. I can't figure how they didn't make it big. I'm looking forward to Duncan's next set of tunes for sure.

I would say a very, very close #2 was the Paul Banks show. Another guy who has limitless potential. And that was just a fun night & weekend--it was the next day that the "boy toy" incident occured--easily the most exciting weekend I've had since my single days. Paul Banks is partially to thank for that.