Indie
Zach Hale
Feathered Rabbit is kind of a throwback band. Unlike most others in the digital age, its increased exposure has come by way of a bedazzling live presence and the ensuing word-of-mouth.

Electronica
Joshua Boydston
Lots of adjectives can be used to describe mad-pop scientist Dan Deacon’s back catalog: zany, fun, disorienting, loud, clashing, dysfunctional and dizzying.

Rock
Joshua Boydston
Few things help a band out more than finding a big brother to help it navigate the treacherous waters of the music industry. Stillwater’s Other Lives has found its in Radiohead, for whom they opened on a recent tour.

Country
Joshua Boydston
Few musicians ever get the chance to forge their own path, blazing musical territory previously unexplored. Stillwater singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave is one of them, helping etch out a place for the Red Dirt genre within the scope of American music.

Hip Hop/Rap
Ryan Querbach
Lupe Fiasco, trying to rebound from his disappointing third album, Lasers, has released his highly anticipated fourth album, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1.

Rock
Joshua Boydston
It’s taken four years since Mind the Fox’s formation for the Oklahoma City rock outfit to finally offer a full-length debut album, but from the sounds of Songs for the Needy, it’s been worth the wait.

Hip Hop/Rap
Ryan Querbach
Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music crew have finally dropped their long-awaited compilation album, Cruel Summer. It has its moments, but overall falls short of the high expectations that come with any Kanye project.

Rock
Joshua Boydston
Who needs Red Bull, 5-hour Energy or a Thermos of coffee when you can consume Oklahoma City rock act Two Snakes’ EP, Cut Them Down, in less than 10 minutes? It plays like an adrenaline shot: quick, ballsy, addictive.

Indie
Joshua Boydston
There really was no way for Animal Collective to match Merriweather Post Pavilion, widely considered the best album of 2009. It’s damn near impossible to bottle lightning twice, especially with the caustic and combustible ingredients the psych-rock band uses to build its ambitious opuses, in which indie electronics meet space rock.

Pop
Joshua Boydston
After the aughts’ rush of bands with stellar debuts they were never able to match, there’s been a refreshing trend lately of building up to the masterpiece.

Pop
Joshua Boydston
As clichéd as it is easy, it is nice to stop and smell the roses once in a while. Nocturne is the aural equivalent.

Hip Hop/Rap
Ryan Querbach
Philadelphia-hailing rapper Privaledge, who is known more locally for his affiliation with Oklahoma City Thunder superstars Kevin Durant and James Harden, released his new mixtape, JoeWorld, last week. The project, a free online release, does not disappoint. 

Pop
Joshua Boydston
The cover of the seven-song EP Let’s Brighten It Up is a telling one. Oklahoma City’s Matt Stansberry is midbounce, dressed in a tailored suit and black-rimmed glasses à la Elvis Costello or Buddy Holly, clutching what looks like a bright-red Les Paul guitar. Stansberry is true to form, as polished and accomplished as ever, and his new band, The Romance, adds a little pep to his step.

Rock
Joshua Boydston
Some music is meant to be studied — sat down with for extended periods of time with each subsequent listen revealing another layer to savor.

Rock
Joshua Boydston
Yukon’s Fablecar seems to have emerged from whatever year the Pixies and U2 would have crossed paths with David Bowie. It’s a big, ambitious, self-titled debut, one that stands tall more often than falling flat. Even the missteps are forgivable, as it’s refreshing to hear a young band take a swing at something wholly original.