Local Music Notes 2006: Y'all Make Us Tired In That Good, Sweaty Way

Say what you will about the Austin music scene, if there's one thing we've got in spades, it's heart. And breakfast tacos. But that's another story altogether. Our bands can take any other city's bands on when it comes to sheer per capita productivity and playing out, never leaving their respective constituencies on the sidelines. And albums? Lordy, just walk into Waterloo Records and check out the local music section: 2006 was a banner year for local acts. Indie-Rock, Electronica, Folk, Psychadelia, Alt-Country, and all points north; our bases are covered. That being said, assembling a list of each and every band's offering is a daunting task in such prolific and diverse town, but we here at the Austinist thought we'd have a go at it and drop some major props where major props are due. Which is not to say we didn't miss a couple spots. We're just proud to be a part of it, and can't hardly wait to see what you guys have in store for us next year. -Joshua Huck

Here's to you, Austin music peoples.

Shearwater's Palo Santo is a dark and haunting breakthrough for Jonathan Meiburg and friends, and remains strangely over-looked as the year starts to come to a close. An impressive use of space, the wit to know when things need to be heavy and when they want to be soft, and a distinct taste of Mark Hollis afterwards makes this one a standout for 2006. The album barely missed our own Top 15 of the year (don't ask us why, we make mistakes too) but the band continues to gain popularity and recognition in various areas of renown around the web, as well as here at home. Naturally, we also recommend Okkervil's The President's Dead 12".

On the dark and brooding tip, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness's Fear Is On Our Side is more Joy Division than Talk Talk, and that's just fine: the results are stunning and we love that whole 80's darkness meets 00 stark. Of course if you'd rather, you could always just skip the brooding and black-on-the-outside-because-we're-black-on-the-inside thing and go see The Sword: this year has been pretty good for them, Age of Winters is a pummeling exercise in badassery that totally makes their font a mistake worth over-looking.

Speaking of bad fonts, we love Pink Nasty. Mold the Gold is simply beautiful, funny and brilliant (some of us will argue the same for Black Nasty's AIDS Can't Stop Me, but not in public) and we've enjoyed seeing her out so much this year, opening for the likes of Kozelek, chillaxing with Oldham, and getting the attention of NPR for a "Song of the Day" spot.

As far as great songs go, when we first heard Octopus Project's "Spiracle" (The House of Apples and Eyeballs), we couldn't leave it alone for days. Their cheerful "rooo!"s and impressive live shows will pave the way for a successful '07, we have no doubt. The upcoming year will undoubtedly be huge for Ghostland Observatory as well, if Paparazzi Lightning is any indication of what we can expect from them in the future. As any of you who have been to a GLO show know, it's about much more than songs when you fist-fight your step mom for that ticket.

Speaking of step moms! Ours loves Voxtrot, and her unquenchable thirst for EPs has been more than satiated this year thanks to Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives, Raised By Wolves and Your Biggest Fan. And in a year full of not-to-be-missed spin-offs, Van Fleet's Sparrow House and the Falls EP makes us swoon.

Barsuk's notice of What Made Milwaukee Famous' Trying to Never Catch Up was another highlight of the year for Austin music lovers who suffered from severe cases of WTF combined with RAD when the local favorites appeared on Austin City Limits with Franz Ferdinand -- unsigned, no less. On the subject of local bands that go from local love to national darlins seemingly overnight, we'd be remiss not to mention Sound Team (Movie Monster). As recently as 2003, Baird, Oliver & Co. were distributing cassettes around town and touring, and 2006 saw the release of their album on Capital. Not too shabby, fellas. Don't forget to check out Bill Baird's solo project, SUNSET}}}}}}}.

And who could forget local wunderkind Peter and the Wolf, whose album The Lightness made a huge impact on the music scene this year. Combining the work ethic of a mule turned badass and the musical devotion of an apostle made this year huge for him, and quite honestly, the genre of indie folk in general. We'd love to see a Peter and the Wolf and Brothers & Sisters (Brothers & Sisters) tour: both groups are bustin' ass to make indie rock, folk and southern folk a distinct matter to mess with in the future. As you probably know, however, Bros & Sis are on tour with ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, who are supporting their '06 release, So Divided. While the album itself left us a little thirsty, their live show still packs a punch.

Ever the local music champions, Austinist threw a giant pre-ACL bash again this year to celebrate the fest and our friends in the community. Local Music Is Sexy 2 was a huge success, in no small part because of IV Thieves and the new material from If We Can't Escape My Pretty. The LMIS bill was rounded out by Horse+Donkey, Loxsly, Till We're Blue or Destroy and yes, Brothers & Sisters. Our ACL party was also an excuse to love other Austin creative-types, as Car Stereo (Wars) and Stay Gold handled the turntables, and Super!Alright! and Sparrowhead helped with visuals.

As you might imagine, it's nearly impossible to absorb everything that happens in ATX, but we have made the most of 2006, dragging ass to three or four venues a night at times, leaning on each other's vomit or tear-soaked shoulders (we really thought the drummer was winking at us) to the next "must see" event. In our devoted but delirious haze, it's likely that we've missed an artist or band that released something this year, so please feel free to use the comments section to fill us in. Enjoy your New Year's celebrations music nerds: we're looking forward to 2007.