Tuesday 18 Jun
OKG Newsletter
Stephen Carradini
Cake — Showroom of Compassion
'Prolonging the Magic' + 'Fashion Nugget' = must buy
Rock
Stephen Carradini
Cake is all done trying to make new fans. Content with the listeners they’ve got, they decided to make a fan’s album.
Starlings, TN — How Dark It Is Before the Dawn
Easily the most crushingly sad album I've heard this year
Ugly no more
The last hurrah of The Uglysuit appears
Music
Stephen Carradini
Oklahoma City indie-rock band The Uglysuit broke up last year, leaving behind an unfinished album and a fan base spread across the nation. But after some late-night mixing and mastering sessions, the nine-track album, “Awwww, Shucks …” will make it to ears across America sometime this year.
Steven Drozd — The Heart Is a Drum Machine
A Flaming Lip goes solo for soundtrack work
Indie
Stephen Carradini
The Flaming Lips are incredibly self-contained; the members rarely do side projects. So it’s with great interest that multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd’s score for the music documentary “The Heart Is a Drum Machine” appears.
Fold me now
With a new album co-written by a superstar novelist and plans for more experimentation, Ben Folds will rock the suburbs as long as they exist
Music
Stephen Carradini
Ben Folds with Street Corner Symphony
7 p.m. Tuesday
Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N. Main, Tulsa
www.cainsballroom.com, 918-584-2306
$32-$34
Stone lithographs tell wordless stories
Works of Oklahoma's Katherine Liontas-Warren on display
The Radio Dept. - Passive Agressive: Singles 2002-2010
Trendy sounds from before the curve
Indie
Stephen Carradini
Dreamy, fuzzed-out psychedelic pop has been given a resurgence lately from both the chillwave people (à la Neon Indian, Baths, Houses, etc.) and from the pop/rock end (Best Coast, Dum Dum Girls, etc.). But before all of those bands, there was The Radio Dept.
The Morning After Girls — Alone
Reverb-heavy, song-lite rock
Rock
Stephen Carradini
Reverb’s been going through a revival lately. After the raw guitar tones of grunge killed the reverb pedal for the better part of 20 years, it’s been coming back everywhere.
The Del Toros — Come Down
Rock
Stephen Carradini
Informed equally by ’90s rock and modern pop, Tulsa-based The Del Toros infuse each of the 10 tracks on “Come Down” with a sharp sense of melody and a clear vision. Each of the songs is incredibly friendly to the ear, which is good — you’ll have them with you for a while afterward.
Jonny Burke — Distance and Fortune
Folk fares better than rock
Folk
Stephen Carradini
Ever since Dylan went electric, folk and rock have had an uneasy back and forth relationship. Some who excel at one find they fail at the other. Some can do both.
U.S. Royalty — Mirrors
Vital folk celebrating the Midwest
Folk
Stephen Carradini
One of the best love letters I’ve ever heard to the beauty of the Midwest is Rich Mullins’ “Calling Out Your Name” (who, despite being a solidly Christian artist, counts indie mainstay The Mountain Goats among his many fans). Quickly climbing the list is “Equestrian” by U.S. Royalty, off their new album, “Mirrors.”
Broken Records — Let Me Come Home
More emotional Scottish rock!
Indie
Stephen Carradini
Having fallen head over heels for Frightened Rabbit in 2010, I was more than excited to hear another emotion-laden Scottish band when Broken Records’ “Let Me Come Home” was passed my way. The album did not let its Scottish brethren down.
Colin Stetson — New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Vastly unusual in an incredibly good way
Indie
Stephen Carradini
Some musicians want to make you dance. Some musicians want to make you rock. Some musicians want your money. Some musicians want to make you think.
Foxes in Fiction — Alberto
Good tunes hiding in reverb
Indie
Stephen Carradini
The chillwave bubble has not yet burst. No matter how many dudes appear playing dreamy, reverb-heavy ambient pop, there are people ready to snap it up.
