It's been a big year for local acts. Big name bands like Spoon, Iron & Wine and Okkervil River made a huge impact on the independent music scene world-wide, while up and coming acts like White Denim and Moth!Fight! captured our attention at the indie rock water cooler all year long. As rising hopes and swelling egos swept the town alongside buzz and bravado, we parted ways with bands like SOUND Team and Clap!Clap!.

Reflecting on what occurred this year naturally gets us excited about 2008, and as we discussed earlier, there are several national acts that have great things lined up. What's on tap locally, you ask? Well, across the jump below you'll find a long list of bands to watch in 2008, and the most promising acts have already caught our attention in 2007. We're most excited about bands like Brazos, led by songwriter Martin Crane, who we expect to piece together an incredible album on Autobus in the upcoming year. After stellar performances during ACL weekend, we have no doubt they'll make an impact in the long term. Another surprise in 2007 that we are anxious to keep tabs on is Corto Maltese, an Arcade Fire-meets-Wolf Parade inspired band that specializes in impressively nimble guitar playing and arrangements that most bands in this town could take a cue from.

Ringo DeathStarr always remind us of early Jesus & Mary Chain, and that's a good thing: the Husker Du influence combined with the unaffected darkness and relentless appetite for industrial-sized walls of sound make us proud of Austin rock'n'roll again. We can't wait to hear what they do next. Speaking of local rock'n'roll making us proud, White Denim will release their first full-length in 2008, but you wouldn't know it based on the buzz they've gathered thanks to one simple little EP. Truth be told, it's not the EP that catapulted the band to the tips of everyone's lips in 2007, it's the irresistible live show: hopefully we'll be reporting some physically and emotionally draining tour dates in the near future.

Other bands we're interested in following in 2008 include The Strange Boys, who recently defected from Dallas and have generated their own fair amount of buzz thanks to newspaper covers and remarkable live sets. No album yet, but hey, that seems to be a trend for local success stories anyway. One band that will have an album is Shearwater, led by Jonathan Meiburg, who will release a new full-length on Matador sometime in 2008. Local favorites in the instrumental post-rock category My Education will release another album in June of 2008, called Bad Vibrations. Strange Attractors will put it out, and it will feature art (once again) by their dear friend Mark Pedini.

We're also hoping to see more good things for local singer songwriters like Mark David Ashworth, Leatherbag and Jude Ross and minimalist/ambient outfits like Loren Dent, Balmorhea, One Umbrella and Rick Reed. Electro-pop outfits like Magic Surprise tease us with perfectly crafted dance hits like "I Fkd Up the DX7" on their MySpace, but we can't promise a full-length or anything. Regardless, here's to stumbling into Beauty Bar some breezy summer Saturday night in 2008 and finding the floor filled, party-goers clapping along and getting sweaty to their Junior Boys-if-Junior Boys-were-writing-music-in-1973 tunes. Local DJs like Markus with a K and Car Stereo (Wars) will no doubt get their share of sweaty dancefloors come the new year, but let's cross our fingers for an Austin-centric mix or two featuring mash-ups or remixes of local artists: there's no better way to spread the word about all the great talent festering here than sharing some love.

In the psychedelic moonlit hotel room category, Headdress captured our attention in '07 with their album Turquoise, but more is in store: 2008 will bring another full album, a tour, and a film directed and shot by Chris Arnold. Thanks to Caleb for reaching out and letting us know about these exciting developments.

For all the rest on what happened in 2007 as well as up and coming bands in 2008, keep reading. To read what we reflected on and looked forward to last year, go here.

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Releases:
Some release information is based on disruptively designed MySpace accounts which may or may not lend themselves to actually distributing information.

AM Syndicate Liberation
The Archibalds O Camellia
Attack Formation We Are Alive In Tune
Bee vs. Moth Soundhorn
Belaire Exploding, Impacting
Bellfuries Palmyra
Bill Callahan Woke on a Whaleheart
The Black Donna EP
Black Before Red Belgrave to King's Circle
The Black & White Years Black & White Years EP
Black Joe Lewis Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears EP
The Boxing Lesson Songs in the Key of C
Brazos A City Just as Tall
Brownout Homenaje
Car Stereo (Wars) The Bandit
The Channel Sibylline Machine
Chili Cold Blood Lips
Clap!Clap! You Love This
Cue Wedding Song
The Drawing Board Clear To The Far Side...
The Fever Dreams Tregan of Polycorns
Frank Smith Heavy Handed Peace and Love
Golden Bear To the Farthest Star
The Golden Boys Whiskey Flower
Grand Champeen Dial "T" for This
Headdress Turquoise
Horse + Donkey Horse + Donkey
iKiLLCars At Ease With Your Haste
Iron & Wine The Shepherd's Dog
Jungle Rockers Jungle Rockers
The Laughing Tiger Cry EP
Leatherbag Love Me Like the Devil
The Lemurs EP
Li'l Cap'n Travis Twilight on Sometimes Island
Lions No Generation
Lomita Downtown Mystic
Loren Dent Empires & Milk
Mark David Ashworth Viceroy
Moth!Fight! "Hopscotch" 7"
Moonlight Towers Like You Were Never There
Octopus Project Hello, Avalanche
Okkervil River The Stage Names
Opposite Day Safety First
Peel Peel
Red Leaves Disposable Parts
Peter & the Wolf Ivori Palms
Politics These Bridges Will Not Stand
Ringo Death Starr EP
Shearwater Palo Santo Expanded
Silver Pines Fort Walnut
Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Story Of The World's Affair
The Teeners S/T 7"
'Til We're Blue or Destroy This Train
Transmography Polydactyly
Voxtrot Voxtrot
White Denim Let's Talk About It
Wiretree Bouldin
Yellow Fever Cats and Rats
Zookeeper Becoming All Things
Zykos Keep It Light

Bands to Watch:

• LA Snacks, recording an album in January to follow up 2005's Brown, Orange, Black, and Gray.
• New Roman Times, recording in 2008 to follow up 2005's International Affairs.
• The Soldier Thread, who formed in 2007, released an EP called Fevers and Fireworks.
• King Tears, who will release two EPs and a full length in 2008.
• Jude Ross, just in general, because he's a great songwriter and should be making a killer record somewhere, even if he doesn't mention it on his MySpace.
• Basic, releasing an album in 2008.
• Shapes Have Fangs, who have a great live show (very very Shins-ish) and will hopefully commit some of this to tape in 2008, as well as ...
• Corto Maltese, who have nothing but good things on the horizon for them (and also need to get into the studio if they haven't already).
• Seaholm Electric, (formerly the Swells), who will release a proper album under the new name sometime in 2008.
• Cavedweller, who have some new demos marked "2008" on their MySpace, following up 2006's Best Version Of.
• Death is Not a Joyride, recording a new full length presently.
• Single Frame, who claim to be working on a new album as well, and have been playing shows here and there in 2007 much to the delight of Austinites old and young.
• Electric Mountain Rotten Apple Gang, who will burn you their 12 song CD if you ask 'em for it, but rely on the live set to promote their traditional bluegrass sound.
• Goodnight Fish (sounds like Lambchop, a good thing), who are working on a split with Lovely Sparrows as well as a follow up to 2005's Echo, Chime, and Slightly Rumble.
• Benko are also working on a new full length for 2008.
• {{Sunset}}, aka Bill Baird, will release a 15 song album on Autobus in 2008.
• Brothers & Sisters will release a new album in 2008.
• Shearwater will release their follow up to '06's Palo Santo in 2008.
• Cry Blood Apache will try to capture their unique live performances on tape ... right?
• The Strange Boys recently relocated to Austin from Dallas, and already have the town hot with anticipation. There's no official release yet, so keep an eye out.
• Mice & Rifles will be in the studio preparing a full length in 2008.
• Low Line Caller will release a full length in 2008.
• The Midgetmen are recording their third full length, which will drop after SXSW in 2008.