I think my favorite part about living in Pittsburgh and keeping up with the music scene here is making annual year end lists of my favorite local music (if you’re curious, here are my 2009 and 2010 lists). I used to take the Steel City’s music scene for granted (especially during college) and assumed every other moderately sized metropolitan area in the region had a similar, or possibly larger, independent music community. But, after three years of really listening to (and subsequently analyzing) tons of music that was in some way, shape, or form born and bred in Pittsburgh, I’m pretty damn confident our music scene can stack up with any other city’s in America.

Just from looking at and listening to the music featured on the list below, it’s evident there is no singular Pittsburgh “sound.” Whether its the indie rock being played at the Brillobox and Mr. Small’s, the underground punk of The Shop, 222 Ormsby, and Mr. Roboto, the shredding metal at the 31st Street Pub and the Smiling Moose, the hip-hop of the Shadow Lounge and Z Lounge, or the electronic music mecca of the VIA Festival, I think we can all agree Pittsburgh’s music scene is currently flourishing. With that in mind, The Top Steel City Tracks of 2011 is my attempt to capture all the disparate sounds of Pittsburgh into one, condensed, twenty song list, with no ranking hierarchy or further explanation.

Also, if you think I missed something (and I most certainly did) please feel free to blow up the comment section with links to music, upcoming shows, or videos. Check the list after the jump.

1,2,3 – “Work”

The 58′s – “Outta My Mind”

B-Free Da Misfit – “Kewn”

Big Hurry – “Gets Me Low”

Big Snow Big Thaw – “Brackish Water”

Boaz – “Do It For Ya”

Boca Chica – “Afternoon Tea”

The Cynics – “I Need More”

Dazzletine – “Skin Period”

Donora – “Boom Boom”

Ennui – “Coconino”

Good Sport – “Pushover”

Legs Like Tree Trunks – “Pushover”

Mac Miller – “Donald Trump”

Majeure – “Solar Flare”

New Shouts – “Hung On You”

Shade – “Waves”

Sistered – “God Save the Child Brides”

White Wives – “Spinning Wheels”

Wise Blood – “Nosferatu”

Big Hurry

Doused in shimmering guitar work and bass riffs, Big Hurry’s Gets Me Low ignites quickly to burn twice as bright for half as long. The short-burst, five-song EP has fiery lead singer Kelly Tobias and arena-ready drummer Dani Buncher unleashing searing performances that continue smolder with each listen. The beautifully anthemic title cut is a keeper, a dynamic indie rocker that effortlessly earns its track-one status. By Patrick Bowman

Greazy Duzit
Mucho Greazy (self-released)

Tongue-twisting emcee Greazy Duzit steps out of the shadow of Pittsburgh-based rap group Shindiggaz with his debut release Mucho Greazy, a hard, heady blend of esoteric street poetics and blistering underground beats. Keeping pace with Greazy’s hardened flow is Shindiggaz’ DJ Thermos, who produced much of the album, crafting dense tapestries of off-kilter samples anchored by varying drum patterns. Standout “The Name of That Tune” has the duo at their razor-sharp best. By Patrick Bowman

Run, Forever
The Devil, and Death, and Me (Solidarity Records)

Run, Forever’s full-length debut, The Devil, and Death, and Me, is a rough-and-tumble rocker, filtering Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run through decades of beer-soaked garage punk and just enough religious imagery to keep the proceedings on the edge of an existential crisis.  And while the track “A Sequence of Sad Events” reduces existence to just that, it possesses the dimensions of a life-affirming anthem, full of throaty calls to action and desperate demands for something more. By Patrick Bowman

Big Hurry, on the other hand, could rock the dance floor regardless of a slick, house techno makeover. What they manage to accomplish with their Silver Screens Remix EP, currently being sold only at the group’s live shows, wouldn’t necessarily be classified as transcendent, but that isn’t the point.  By splicing the DNA of the original EP with just the right amount of techno production flourishes, the simmering sexpot swagger Big Hurry is known for increases in stature while being nudged into an alternative electronic dimension. Tracks after the jump.

Best of show here probably goes to “Paper Trails (South Side Machine Mix)” for enhancing the already ephemeral atmosphere of the original track by allowing Kelly Tobias’ vocals, riddled with echo, to be front and center, backed by spacey drums, synth blips and a muted guitar riff.  “Tell Me (Midnight Movie Mix)” reveals a slower version of the remix that appeared on the group’s MySpace profile last summer, lumbering forward with the syrupy haze of a 3 AM ecstasy crash.

“Radio (Scott Simons Mix)” is the most purely danceable song of the bunch, filtering Tobias’ voice through a shimmering wall of Auto-Tune (maybe?) effects while bumping along with vintage 80′s keyboards and a beat worthy of Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”.

All in all, it’s a solid day’s work for Big Hurry. By turning up the club ready vibe of Silver Screens to eleven, indie kids all over Pittsburgh will be dying to get a hold of these tracks on the dance floor.

Big Hurry w/ Satin Gum and Dj Gordy of Title Town @ Brillobox 3.26

Big Hurry – “Paper Trails (South Side Sound Machine Mix)

Upstart Pittsburgh indie dance swingers Big Hurry plan to release their first EP Silver Screens this Saturday at the Brillobox along with local rock stalwarts Landline and Casino Bulldogs.  I’ll monitor my hyperbole for the rest of the article, but I can’t help mentioning I’ve been waiting for new tracks from Kelly Tobias and co. since their live show way back in February.

And with “Paper Trails” Big Hurry may have released their most accomplished production yet.  The track showcases a tumbling, slow motion percussion section, cascading guitars and Tobias’ trademark croon flooding in from various angles.  Similar to “Tell Me” from the group’s Myspace page, “Paper Trails”‘ tempo is set in a lower gear, a bouncy throb climbing toward a heavy conclusion.  Lust and intrigue, as usual, are present and smoldering, but the atmosphere is sagacious rather than sinister, with the chorus soaring into the stratosphere.

I think a casual observer of speed of the pittsburgh sound could argue that Big Hurry gets a fair amount of ink and I won’t deny it.  I often trumpet the importance of witnessing local bands settle into their blatant musical talents and Big Hurry are doing just that with grace and potency.  Can’t wait to hear the rest of the EP.  And as for you Pittsburgh, start paying attention.

Big Hurry – Paper Trails

Between receiving a glowing endorsement from Cindy Howes on WYEP’s RPM podcast, prepping their first official EP for release in the fall and crafting a slick, shadowy, sexy video for the raging “Save Your Breath,” Big Hurry have been making some power moves across the steel city.

After waiting anxiously for the band’s next move since February, the video (and the new track “Tell Me” posted on their MySpace) couldn’t have come at a better time.  Watching this fully formed, packaged and powerful document of Big Hurry’s swagger quickly reminded me that their blistering set in front of indie pixie LIGHTS and local dance punks The Sexes all those months ago was no dream.   The video’s little touches are the ones that make me smile, like the way it cuts back to the pounder of Iron City on the amp more than a dozen times, or how lead singer Kelly Tobias performs almost half the video with her back to the camera, occasionally glancing over her shoulder.

Like Donora’s video for “Shout” , “Save Your Breath” provides a simple, rocking personification of Big Hurry’s sound and atmosphere.  Sexy, dangerous and elusive, Big Hurry is poised to seduce the city.

Watch them open for the The Harlan Twins at their CD Release Party along with Mariage Blanc at the Brillobox on July 10.

This image obviously always asserts “sex” whether it’s plastered on an album cover, cut up into nano seconds for a music video or put on grand display in concert.  The perception of fleeting desire is extremely easy to nail, the sound of fleeting desire, however, is an entirely different beast.

Pittsburgh band Big Hurry have managed to bottle up the reverberating vibes of  temptation and cram it into a mysterious and exciting package.  Syrupy bass lines, drums black as tar and a glittering vein of synth run through their songs with a slow and engulfing fury. 

Their sumptuous sound fell across the Brillobox’s second floor last Wednesday night like ink spreading out over cloth as lead singer Kelly Tobias’ voice changed gears on dime.  With every verse, Tobias seemed to be giving the audience a tour of her range, traversing the scales with ease, hitting notes higher than expected and returning gracefully to the ground.  Throw in guitars that hustled with a swagger worthy of The Rapture’s Echoes and you have quite the simmering pot of intrigue.

“Save your breath for my mouth and stop all those bitter words,” Tobias sang on the dance floor burner “Save Your Breath” which oozed with a type of seduction that is so frequently and easily feigned.  But even as this lush moment of intimacy is realized, Tobias allows it (she is calling the shots by the way) to evaporate like steam, “remember this one night she said, our lies sting and burn.”

The raging tantrum of “Found Out” began with drums being plumbed from the depths of reverb, only to snap into clarity with a Zeppelin like menace.  Its beat is slower than “Save Your Breath” but has more purpose, with churning guitars and bass mutating into a hypnotic march.  Both songs howl, scratch and groove, leaving little room for contemplation or rational thought.  This music intuits the patterns of passion, celebrating impulse as cathartic release. This is not the illusion of seduction, it is the document.

You can’t help but appreciate how Big Hurry allow pleasure and pain to coexist so closely within their songs, knowing very well that temptation is best when its unstable, prone to smokey disappearing acts on a nightly basis.  It was exhilarating to hear this kind of hotness remain potent even after their show had ended.  Between “Save Your Breath” and the absolute stomping glory of  “Found Out,” Big Hurry have carved out a sound that  vibrates at the frequencies of desire, tapping the listener to remember those things they know they shouldn’t want, but crave nonetheless.  They have now left me intrigued as to where they will go from here, I will be eagerly awaiting their next move, anxious to see if they can keep the heat cranked up over the course of an entire album.

Big Hurry – Save Your Breath

Big Hurry – Found Out

Canadian synth pop princess LIGHTS makes a delightful concert stop in Pittsburgh on February 18th at the Brillobox, with local acts Big Hurry and The Sexes opening the show.  All three acts show off pretty, lead singin’ gals who, most interestingly, show a broad range of vocal stylings.  LIGHTS obviously comes off most polished, but earnest, catchy and compact.   Kelly Tobias of Big Hurry is a little more daring, channeling Karen O. during her more melodic, angelic phases.  Last but not least, Sarah (don’t know her last name) of The Sexes keeps it cool and collected, reflecting a female version of Julian Casablancas (and I mean that as a compliment) seducing you while putting back shots of whiskey and a pile of cigarettes in the back of the club.  It’s quite a line up of feminist power, and it looks like I will be making it out to this show, so hopefully I will have many wonderful things to report back.  In the meantime, here’s LIGHTS’ video for her latest single of her self titled EP “February Air” which has her gazing out of her Toronto window wantingly at an astronaut on a snowy night.  Oh wait, that’s not Toronto, that’s a cheesy space-opera set on a sound stage, I get those two so easily confused.

Check out the Shows page for more informaiton on the LIGHTS concert and other goings on in Pittsburgh.