Ask a Local: Chris Rose/Car Stereo (Wars)

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.

Chris Rose is better known around town as the prolific and tireless DJ Car Stereo (Wars), spinning hip hop and pop favorites regularly around town for eager audiences. His album, The Bandit, was released in 2007 on local boutique label Artifact Workshop. What does someone with their finger on the pulse of our inner dancers listen to when he's alone? Let's find out:

1. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin I didn't care about this album at all until I saw their phenomenal ACL performance this last September. Since then, I feel like I've been listening to it non-stop and it hasn't stopped getting better. Everything about this record is just chillingly and hauntingly perfect. It was a great late year discovery for me.

2. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive Bands like The Hold Steady just make me happy about music. When I try to describe them to friends that have never heard of them, I find myself always using a useless series of conditional phrases like "it's like....but not like...and kind of similar to...but not too much..." In the end, it's just refreshingly original, tongue in cheek, fun rock 'n roll. I would also really love to hear Craig Finn take on a second career reading audiobooks. I don't even care what they are (it could even be that awful Eat, Love, Pray book...), but with his lyrical punctuation anything can take on a whole new importance. I don't really have an explanation for why, but when I listen to The Hold Steady, I like to picture every song as a soundtrack for that gas card montage scene in Reality Bites. Wouldn't it be great if Winona Ryder was your Little Hoodrat Friend?

3. The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride I don't think anything really in particular stands out about this album to separate it from other recent Mountain Goats releases, but they're all just so solid and amazing that just the simple fact that there is a Mountain Goats album that's new this year is enough to already make it one of my favorites of the year. I think that John Darnielle might end up like Woody Allen: quirky, eccentric and such a continuously hard-worker that his huge library of work might not be fully appreciated until years later. Even if that is true, I feel privileged to be able to absorb as much as I can right now.

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