I love music, which means that I love year-end lists and SXSW Season. I have never had the chance to be at SXSW but I love watching many of the really, really cool live videos that come out of the event, especially those that come from the sidelines rather than the main stages. Here is one of my favorite bands, Seryn, performing “Ivory Black” for KUTX.
Well hello fine friends, one and all. As you may or may not know, I, along with my great friend Eldon, host house shows as the Habañero Collective (the website is more a place-holder on the world wide webs for house show announcements than anything else. But, to keep the masses interested and coming back for more, I use it as a Tumblr where I post things that fit my fancy). You can stay up-to-date with our upcoming events here (except for the Pawnshop Kings House Show which you can find here).
The other day, NPR Music posted a list of bands that they think should be bigger. We were super-stoked (you kids still say “stoked,” right?) to see Habañero Collect House Show Alumns Seryn listed. We couldn’t agree more and we’re excited to see NPR follow our lead in great music. Congratulations to Seryn. We are so excited to watch them take off in 2013.
Don’t believe the hype? Here is the band performing “Our Love” at the Thomas Listening Room, followed by “So Within”:
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I really, really love music. And I love to pass along music that I love so that you’ll love it too. I understand that you won’t love everything I love but I love that about music. We can all love what we love and love that other people love different music.
The musical partnership of Spune and Velvet Blue has produced two of my favorite artists of recent years; Doug Burr and Seryn. And, from what I’ve heard, it looks like they’re about to do it again.
The Dallas band Air Review is releasing their debut full-length album Low Wishes on January 29. Blending folk, Americana and Electronica and Pop, the band has a sound that’s at once comfortable (in a good way) and challenging (in a good way).
Stream the album on Bandcamp:
Check out the band perform “Low Wishes” on The Local Yokel Show
I used to do a podcast with a great friend of mine. It was called the Habañero Hour and we played a lot of music we liked and interviewed some of the people who made that music. We focused a lot on the relationship between Christian faith and artistic expression.
Then we stopped doing the podcast and started hosting house shows. If you’re not sure what a “house show” is; it’s exactly what it sounds like: we host concerts in homes. We’ve been able to meet lots of those people whose music we played and interviewed for the podcast but since then, the focus has become much broader. We want to help promote the arts in suburban Arizona. Good luck, right? Actually, we’ve been tremendously blessed to host some tremendous house shows (and we want to start partnering with all kinds of other artists as well but we’re not there yet).
In fact, we’re working on scheduling house shows for the Fall right now. We’ve already announced the return of David Ramirez and watch for more announcements soon. In the meantime, here are some great moments from past house shows:
Here are some of my favorite songs of the year. I decided to just pick ten and put them in alphabetical order. There was far too much great music this year to try and pick one song for the entire year. However, with that having been said, here are ten of my favorites (plus an honorable mention not in alphabetical order):
(Honorable Mention) David Ramirez: “Fires”
Adele: “Rolling In The Deep”
Alabama Shakes: “Hold On”
(By the way, if I had to pick a favorite song of the year, which I don’t), this would probably be it. Definitely a band to watch in 2012:
Chris Bathgate: “Big Ghost”
Bon Iver: “Holocene”
Cass McCombs: “County Line”
m83: “Midnight City”
Josh T. Pearson: “Country Dumb”
Seryn: “So Within”
Shabazz Palaces: “Swerve . . . the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir notwithstanding)
