Thursday 23 May
 
 

IndianGiver — Plafond EP

If you were to peruse the “About” section of IndianGiver’s Facebook page, you’ll notice how the instruments attributed to each of the Oklahoma City band’s five members are described with downright flippancy: Dylan Jordan plays “sticks & animal skins,” while Jazzton Rodriguez earns his keep with “shanties & loud noises,” and so on.
05/22/2013 | Comments 0

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
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Music

Ray of might


A re-energized Sleepy Sun shines on with more focused doses of psychedelic rock.

Joshua Boydston April 18th, 2012  

Sleepy Sun with White Hills and The Gentle Art of Floating
8 p.m. Sunday
The Conservatory
8911 N. Western
conservatoryokc.com
607-4805
$8-$10

Sleepy Sun followed the same path as many fellow psych-rock outfits when it came time to record the band’s third studio effort. That road led to Joshua Tree National Park, and the group found itself intoxicated by the California desert.

“We stayed at Hicksville Trailer Palace, which is basically a bunch of vintage trailers around this recording studio,” singer Bret Constantino said. “There’s activities, a pool with underwater speakers and a great jukebox, fire pit and a Jacuzzi on top of a tower. It was a great creative outlet in that sun. It worked its way into the record, even if I can’t tell you exactly how.”

Oddly enough, the result, Spine Hits, may be Sleepy Sun’s least trippy effort to date, with tracks falling more in line with diet-psychedelic grooves of My Morning Jacket or Lou Reed.

“We tried to write songs for this record,” Constantino said. “It became more about conveying an idea or feeling within a shorter time span. That was a conscious effort to write songs as opposed to finding songs out of jams. Lyrically even, there’s a conciseness we didn’t have before.”

The San Francisco-based Sleepy Sun’s prior well-received efforts (Fever and Embrace) garnered it spots opening for Arctic Monkeys and The Black Angels, and soon, the band found itself spend ing every minute on the road. That grueling schedule and creative differences led to the departure of vocalist Rachel Fannan, who lent a feminine touch to the otherwise macho stoner tracks.

Spine Hits — which hit shelves last week — is the first album without Fannan, but Constantino and company embraced the situation with open arms.

“It didn’t change much in terms of how we work together, but also, we did leave space for her before,” he said. “Knowing that there wasn’t going to be a female voice — musically, there’s not the same dynamic, but we kind of wanted to prove to ourselves that the band is about these members, the ones who have given up everything to be a part of it.”

Summer festivals and European dates will follow Sleepy Sun’s current tour, which stops Sunday at The Conservatory, and Constantino is enthralled with what the future holds.

“It’s pretty wild what we do,” he said.

“This is pretty fucking cool that we are still doing it. I’m excited to share what we made. It’s a beautiful thing for me.”

 
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