Ask a Local: Bryan Keplesky, Misprint Magazine

This winter, Austinist wanted to take some time to check in with some of our favorite local performers, artists and musicians to see what they enjoyed in 2008. Our request was simple: give us a few things that you enjoyed listening to this year, and feel free to include releases that might not have been released in 2008, but that found their way onto your turntable anyhow. We'll be sharing our own list too, but be patient and hear what some of our favorite folks thought was worthwhile in '08.

We can't imagine getting through the holiday season without bothering Bryan Keplesky about what he enjoyed listening to this year. As one half of the giant brain behind Misprint Magazine, Bryan has earned himself a notorious reputation as a sort of merciless rogue, drowning in a sea of irony, but as his art and design at Round Object proves, his insides are made of little more than CMYK conversion methods and copies of the Helvetica movie. Somehow amidst all this creative output, he manages to work as primary administrator at Shit My Jorts. Ask him all about it tonight at the Misprint holiday party tonight at Club DeVille. Here's what he liked in 2008:

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Festival Thyme. All the talk has been about how the Trail of Dudes have gone astray with their last few albums. Well I'm happy to say that the dudes have hauled their brass goggles out from storage and are getting back to what they do best: creating ridiculously detailed art-drawings of steam-powered airships and the Victorian-era groupies that populate them. Oh and they also brought back one of my favorite alternative spellings with their EP "Festival Thyme." Their FunFunFun Fest slot was just a warm-up for the headlining show at Red 7 a couple weekends ago. It almost made me like live music again.

School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms. What do My Bloody Valentine, Led Zeppelin and New Kids on the Block have in common? They're all bands that, once broken up, never should have gotten back together ever again. Fortunately School of Seven Bells did it right. The sisters on vocals/noise showed promise in On!Air!Library! a few years ago, but once people stopped listening to agonizingly slow neo-shoegaze called it quits. Now they're back and brought in some dude from Secret Machines. It's a winning combination.

Evangelicals - Evening Descends. These guys are from Oklahoma, so you know they're going to be weird. They even out-neckercheifed the Austin crowd at their show at deVille earlier this year.

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive. "Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer." Need I say more? Actually, I didn't even say that. The Hold Steady are one of the few active bands whose lyrics I pour over. Never trite, always honest. Everyone can find his or herself in a Hold Steady song. Their show at the Parish was one of my favorites of the year and I almost wanted to take my shirt off.

Foals - Antidotes. I've got to throw in one token Brit act, right? Foals sound like a band that originally played nothing but laptops, but got them all stolen and were forced to recreate their sound with real instruments. For the most part it works out nicely. Foals are a nice addition to the other bands across the pond that have affectations for adorable forest creatures, blazers and bi-monthly haircuts.

Artists whose albums I did not listen to this year:
Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Kings of Leon, Deerhunter, The Walkmen, Coldplay, 3 Doors Down