Sean Claes' Top Ten Austin Music Releases for 2010

The Top 10 Austin CDs I Listened to this Year

Those who have been following Notes From The Cubicle are aware that between September 2009 and September 2010 I took on a challenge to review one release from an Austin-based band a week for a year. At the end I reviewed 55 different CDs. Why 55? Well, there were 6 EPs in there and I count those as half an album. I have very strong feelings on EPs, which I discuss here (Click link).  

Anyhow. I thought since the year is wrapping up, I’d give you my Top 10 releases I reviewed this year. These are all Austin-based bands and I hope you have a chance to listen to each one at some point. I won’t explain my choices, but I’ll give you a link to the review which will do that for me. Also, if you’ve not heard that particular band, there’s a link to their site and, in most cases, a YouTube video of them playing live.

Now, this was a hard thing for me to cull down to just 10. I only review CDs that I enjoy, so every one of the 55 on that list is a keeper in my eyes. These are just representative of the ones that I find really, really stellar among really good CDs.

So, Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy this little ditty.

To see the reviews of all 55, visit this link - http://seanclaesdotcom.blogspot.com/2009/09/52-austin-cd-reviews-in-52-weeks.html

Listed in order of 10-1 with 1 being my favorite.

10. Bobby Bookout - Bobby Bookout

9. Eleven Fingered Charlie - Patterns

8. Lennon's Song - We Love, We Learn, We Grow

7. Trashy and the Kid - Songs In The Key of Blow Me

6. Alejandro Escovedo - Street Songs of Love

5. The Jeremy Miller Band -  Way Too Fast

4. Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C)

3. Terri Hendrix - Cry Till You Laugh 

2. One-Eyed Doll - Break

1. Dave Madden  - Open Eyed / Broken Wide

Dave Madden - Open Eyed

Dave Madden - Broken Wide

Thanks to all who make music for giving me the gift of hearing your craft. And thanks to all who read my musings for giving me a little home to share my thoughts and feelings.

God Bless you and keep you safe in 2011 and beyond.

Love,

Sean Claes

p.s. If you're interested, my new challenge for 2010-2011 is 52 Weeks of DIY Music Advice. Check it out and please give feedback.

Week 24 - Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint There Is No C)

(Week 24 of my 52 Austin CD Reviews in 52 Weeks) 

“I can say that Muddy Waters is as deep as William Blake.”

- “Down Home Country Blues”

Ray Wylie Hubbard

A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C)

Bordello Records

Ray Wylie Hubbard is the only person I know that can put as much passion into singing about the Apocalypse as singing about a wasp nest on his back porch. He takes a song about baptism as serious as one about banging pots and pans. With A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C) he explores these subjects and much more.

The title track is the classic song about life being a choice, this time in a very Edgar Allen Poe manner with a black sparrow coming to him in a dream. In “Drunken Poet’s Dream” Hubbard rhymes “gasoline” with “mescaline”  “scream” and “dream” and you can’t help but sing along. “Tornado Ripe” tells the story of a natural disaster. “Wasp’s Nest” is a crawling blues song about… well… wasps.  “Pots and Pans” is simplistic and amazing. “Every Day Is The Day Of The Dead” is one of the tracks he wrote for the upcoming movie he wrote called Last Rites of Ransom Pride.

It amazes me how Hubbard can grasp and sing about deeply religious themes in such a moving way. Between his raspy voice, the hauntingly beautiful music, and the words he chooses to paint the picture it’s an amazing listen. On A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C) he gives us two such tracks – the revival inspired “Whoop and Hollar” and “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” the song taken from the pages of Revelation. “Black and Red, White and Pale. Death and War, Famine and Pestilence. The end will begin with the sound of approaching hoof beats of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

The rock and roll song akin to his “Live and Die Rock and Roll.” “Rock and Roll’s A Vicious Game” is the killer “Loose.”  It’s actually a post-death memory of someone who never stopped living the “rock and roll” lifestyle. “Now the girl walked like she was on Bourbon Street. In those days she had grown men kneeling at her feet. She took to an old profession as a source of revenue. Now all she’s taking with her is a dress from Sacks Fifth Avenue.”

A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C) was released in mid-January and I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with Hubbard and interview him for the cover story of January’s INsite Magazine. You can read that story here - http://insiteaustin.blogspot.com/2010/01/ray-wylie-hubbard-110.html.

You know... it shouldn't surprise me that Hubbard can be so passionate about seemingly trivial things like wasps... he is the one who brought us "Snake Farm," "Screw You We're From Texas" and "Redneck Mother." All great songs by the way. For more about Ray Wylie Hubbard, visit his website - http://www.raywylie.com/

Ray Wylie Hubbard Feature from INsite - January 2010

The January 2010 cover story I wrote on Ray Wylie Hubbard is now up online at the INsite Magazine homepage. You may read it online there... or download the PDF here.

Or.. simply click on the image below.