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Various artists — Never Give Up: Celebrating 10 Years of The Postal Service

Few indie bands have had the impact on current music that The Postal Service has. Even fewer have done so with only one album.
05/15/2013 | Comments 0

Big Worm — Bench All-Stars

Fans of the comedy classic Friday may recognize the name Big Worm, but the Big Worm behind Bench All-Stars is rooted not in South Central L.A., but on the streets of Oklahoma City.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Code 22 — Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!

The guys of Oklahoma City’s Code 22 seem like a likable group of fellas. Their latest release, Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!, is likable enough as well — so likable that on first listen, I took its clean, acoustic sound and clear, unstressed vocals as an alternative praise-and-worship band.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Eureeka — Polysynthetic Fields

It’s always refreshing to hear music that embraces its own eccentricity, yet presents it in an accessible and meek fashion. Eureeka — the Norman-based duo of Jordan Vargas and Devin Wahl — has tapped into this rarified air on its self-released EP, Polysynthetic Fields.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Tom Skinner — Tom Skinner

Sincerity is nearly dead in songwriting. The image of the earnest singer with eyes tightly shut and a crack in his voice as he plunges to emotional depths has become a joke.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0
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Rev up


Changing hearts and minds one song at a time, Emma’s Revolution keeps fighting the good fight.

Chris Parker April 11th, 2012  

Emma’s Revolution
7 p.m. Saturday
The Blue Door
2805 N. McKinley
bluedoorokc.com
524-0738
$15-$20

One of good spirits and consciousness raising, Emma’s Revolution came to life in 2002, driven by the creative and romantic partnership of Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow. It took eight years for the fire to spark, but when it did, Humphries was blown away.

“I was really struck by the tremendous ease with which we could sing together,” Humphries said. “But I didn’t really know how the writing would happen. It came together so organically, it was really an enchanted feeling. It was almost like we couldn’t stop the songs from coming.”

The duo attempted many names before settling on Emma’s Revolution, a reference to the famed statement “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution,” credited to anarchist Emma Goldman. It’s fitting for an act that doesn’t adhere to folksinger rules.

“When we write these songs, we don’t write it necessarily with our guitar in our hands,” Opatow said. “We write the songs the way they sound in our head. We don’t feel limited by ‘We’re acoustic musicians, so we have to sound like whatever people’s idea of that is.’” Revolutions Per Minute, their fourth album, is an eclectic batch of tunes, culling from modern rock and bluegrass. The latter appears on “Occupy the USA,” a track that invites “the 1 percent in power, meet the other 99.”

Humphries wrote the cut last Oct. 6, just in time to get it on the CD, which came out the following month.

“When you’re doing social-justice music, that’s how fast time moves,” Opatow said, “so actions and the music need to move with it.”

Much of Emma’s Revolution’s music is a rallying cry meant to offer hope to those fighting the good fight.

“I would like us just as a culture to be a more attuned to how easily we can be manipulated by the powers that benefit from polarization,” she said. “People are more flexible, tolerant and resilient than we give them credit for.”


 
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