Album review part deux: Ryan Thomas Becker’s Neighborhoof

The voice may be familiar, but his evolution as an artist continues to impress us with each new project.

I've said it time and again (though I try not to be too creepy about it): Ryan Thomas Becker is my single favorite musician to watch on-stage. His raw embodiment of honest-to-god rock comes so naturally, I often wonder if he has any idea how cool he is. Making good music is just what you do when you're Ryan Becker: Pick up a guitar and drop some knowledge.

RTB2

Ryan is most well known as half of Denton's RTB2 (though his work with The Slow Burners is also screwing with my head these days). His seventh solo album, Neighborhoof, is 10 original songs leaning closer to the saloon ballad spectrum than RTB2's blues-y White Stripes persuasion. His vocals tug against the jagged guitar and raw percussion. I'm certain he could knock a polyphonic beat out of any object he got his hands on (and I've seen him support this theory time and again on stage. You can tell he spent much of his childhood messing about with unexpected acoustics.)

Neighborhoof ebbs and flows between the energetic dirty rock he brings to RTB2 and the Southern ballads of someone who evidently spends a lot of time with George Neal . (I like their influence on each other, actually. It's interesting to listen to their projects evolving together). My favorite track on the album is the very charming, “Premaries,” a sweet duet that sounds like a music box. Think a whispery version of Matt and Kim.

Gutterth, the North Texas record label releasing Ryan Thomas Becker’s new album, said the “album takes the techniques found on Ryan’s older albums -- lo-fidelity recordings and found, experimental instrumentation applied to strong singer- songwriter based content -- and blends them with a higher fidelity sound.” How does this translate for the listener experience? Really well, actually. The album is great all the way through. Ryan Becker is by far one of the most talented musicians to come out of Denton in years. Neighborhoof will be what sets him apart not only here on the home front, but out representing the North Texas sound in the larger Indie rock scene.