Update: Top Ten Lists + Jonah Matranga (3/11!) + Black Crowes + Astra Heights (3/10) + Silverstein (3/7) + More

Yes, yes, yes. Had to skip a day or two since they actually went up, but here’s the deal on the new stuff, either way… I’m extremely proud, for one, to announce that our super-duper-official 2007 Top Ten Lists are now online. While most mags/e-zines/blogs do their best-ofs in the actual year, we here at SCR firmly believe in our music-nerd-obsessive little hearts that you can’t truly judge the year ’til it’s over, dammit. The people who run the Oscars know this; that’s why the awards show’s in Feb. In our view, then, all those best-of-ers who published their lists in ’07 and claimed to know The Real Deal were full of crap, ’cause the year was not yet done. They are but poseurs, and therefore our opinion is all that matters. (Or something like that.)

Anyway, this year we’ve doubled the size of the damn thing from the ’06 lists, with a full ten writers contributing — big “thank yous” go out to Dwayne Cathey, David Hanrahan, Brandon Hernsberger, Mel House, Henry Mayer, Danny Mee, Andrew Perkins, Bill Reed, & the lone stabilizing force of female-ness, Brigitte Zabak. It pretty much covers the gamut of things musical, movie, and otherwise, and we think it’s very, very good. Go read it now. No, really — the rest of this blog post will still be here when you get back.

Moving on… We’ve also got some fine, fresh new reviews up on the site, including Damon Murrah’s timely review of The Black Crowes’ new disc, Warpaint — read it here and revel in the fact that unlike some publications which shall go unnamed, our writer actually listened to the thing. Similarly, our writers listened to the rest of the reviewed discs, as well, ’cause that’s just how we roll. And several of ’em are also somewhat timely.

Jonah Matranga: More on this later on, but Jonah will be coming through H-town on an impromptu visit this next Tues., March 11th, and because of the short-notice-ness of it all, he’ll be playing at the warehouse/work space/studio of pal & SCR guy Mel House, located at 3612 Mangum Rd., #209. The show’ll start at 8PM or so, and as per usual w/Jonah, the cover’s on a “what can you pay?” sliding scale. I’ll definitely rave more about this in a day or so, but ’til then you can content yourself w/reading the review of his latest disc, And, here.

Astra Heights: Another crew that’s coming in from California, Astra Heights at least know their way around — they’re actually H-town expats of a year or two ago, having fled to band-friendlier climes out on the West Coast. This’ll be their “homecoming” show of sorts, opening for Nicole Atkins & The Sea, Papermoons, & Parlour Mob at The Mink on Mon., March 10th, and it promises to be very cool. Check out the review of their album here.

Silverstein: And lastly, these guys are swinging through town this very Fri., March 7th, playing at The Meridian with The Devil Wears Prada & A Day To Remember. Our review of the band’s latest isn’t super complimentary, unfortunately, but the band still shows some promise, I think, and if you’re into the whole post-emo Taking Back Sunday/Straylight Run/Jimmy Eat World cohort of rock, well, the band’s probably right up your alley.

As always, there’s plenty more up on the site, too; here’s the list:

New Feature: We Like Things, 2007: You will like them, too..

Reviews: The Black Crowes; Jonah Matranga; Astra Heights; Silverstein; Arise and Ruin; Guns Are For Kids; Little Brian; & Not So Quiet on the Country Western Front.

More to come, y’all, so keep watching…