Fort Worth Weekly - News, Entertainment, Restaurants, Music

In terms of sheer productivity, the past 12 months will be remembered as a pivotal moment in Fort Worth music. Everybody and their dog put out an album, EP, or song –– and 99 percent of them were bona fide, full-fledged, non-homemade productions. The ones that weren’t (Drug Mountain’s S/T, Fungi Girls’ Seafaring Pyramids) couldn’t have been done any other way.

On the fame-o-meter, the past year has also been pretty exceptional. A lot of local artists licensed their songs for use in TV and movies, The Burning Hotels made a performance cameo in a major motion picture, Telegraph Canyon got props in Rolling Stone, and, thanks mainly to KXT/91.7-FM, you can now hear a lot of 817 artists’ music during drivetime. Several bands broke up, but a couple got back together, most notably Calhoun and Garuda, and several good-looking new outfits popped up (see: all of the nominees for best new artist plus White Mountain and Bravo Zulu).

You can say a lot of things, but you can’t say the 817 sucks. If you don’t think there’s enough “challenging” music here, you clearly haven’t heard Hentai Improvising Orchestra, Pinkish Black, Dove Hunter, Drug Mountain, Secret Ghost Champion, Eyes Wings and Many Other Things, Raging Boner, Poison Apple, The Phuss, Breaking Light, loop12, Shuttle, Zanzibar Snails, Black Dotz, The Shadow, JoCo, Rotundus, or Shortwave Death System. If you think the scene lacks a charismatic poet type, you haven’t met Kevin Aldridge (Chatterton), Peter Black (The Orbans), Clint Niosi, Luke Wade, Tim Locke (Calhoun), or Sam Anderson and David Matsler (Quaker City Nighthawks). If you think there’s a dearth of hip-hop-influenced stuff, you haven’t heard Browningham, Rivercrest Yacht Club, Quamon Fowler, Dru B. Shinin’, Immortal Soldierz, Royal South, Nice Major, or Keite Young.

And if you think that not enough people are going to shows, well, you just need to get out more. –– Anthony Mariani

SONGWRITER(S)

Calhoun frontman/lyricist Tim Locke and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Roberts know how to craft delicate indie-pop with rock sensibilities and showcase light, gentle builds, everything sweetened around the edges by touches of slowly ascending/descending steel guitar or synth washes. The band will release its next album, Heavy Sugar, in a few weeks. Nathan Brown is a musical institution around here. We’re glad to have him –– and his endearingly cheesy ’80s-flavored synth R&B –– back from an Arkansas sojourn. Songs like “Snugglebug” practically dim the lights and throw you a kimono. For roots-rock fans, honey-brown ’70s-FM darlings Chatterton are the best of both worlds: excellent tuneage, equally excellent lyrics. Frontman Kevin Aldridge’s penchant for poignant turns of phrase is matched only by his band’s expert chops. When David Matsler isn’t busy playing guitar and singing with the Quaker City Nighthawks (also nominated for Americana/Roots Rock), he writes solo tunes just as worthy of praise. Matsler’s unique talent for thoughtful wordplay, understated compositions, and striking melodies all come together memorably. Keegan McInroe sings like he was born into the wrong century, with a baritone that’s woozy, ribald, and rambling. But his eccentric arrangements, which slide organically into disparate genres and styles, are definitely here and now. Har Herrar, Justin Spike produces acoustic-driven music that’s part autobiography and part cutting social commentary. His debut album, This Knowledge, employs a refreshing use of structure that makes each new track sound like he’s going out of his way to approach it from a new angle. — Cole Garner Hill

EXPERIMENTAL

Eyes Wings And Many Other Things played only a handful of concerts in 2009, but the psychedelic duo’s recorded output is prodigious. In a span of just eight months, the reclusive combo of Colin Arnold and Sean French released three stunning, evocative records. The delicately layered sounds are out of time and place — enigmatic and transcendent. Cleburne’s Fungi Girls have done it all. They played SXSW, released their debut album to national and international critical praise, and booked their first West Coast tour — most bands would be satisfied to check off just one of those achievements in a year. Never mind that the trio’s members share an average age of 17. The rural surf rockers’ idyllic songs of escape and erudite knowledge of rock ’n’ roll songcraft make for some Grade-A ear candy. Hentai Improvising Orchestra’s music is grounded in genres such as free jazz, krautrock, psychedelia, ambient noise, and jamming, but then again, it isn’t. No real structure guides the band’s hallucinatory, free-flowing excursions. Secret Ghost Champion fluidly blends diverse genres –– progressive rock, psychedelia, folk, and pop –– with striking emotional depth and often all in the same song. But unlike many avant-garde acts, SGC never hides behind effects. Instead, the band lets its feverish finger-tapping guitar solos and grandiose, sweeping arrangements do the talking. The songs on Pareidolia, the debut release from Breaking Light (a.k.a. Kavin  Allenson), are atmospheric, warm, and ambient –– with a sci-fi bent. Layering his guitar’s warped melodies with loops, multi-stage delays, found instruments, and natural sounds, Allenson produces music that could be the soundtrack to your next vision quest or New Age retreat. Alan: The Universal Answer is Both grafts orchestral instrumentation onto a core of indie, modern emo, and prog-rock. The songs are meticulous and heartfelt journeys, made cathartic by frontman Chris Hardee’s soaring pipes. — C.G.H.