But not really. Name’s Matt. Stephen’s off to graduate school on full scholarship, so I’m the new blogger ‘round these here parts.

Quick hits: Leo. Favorite non-Flaming Lips local band is Colourmusic. I know the lyrics to“Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” back-to-front. Random fun fact: My brother is on a first-name basis with Dan Marino. I’m still looking to replace a big LCD Soundsystem-shaped hole in my heart. Taylor Swift’s first and second albums have been known to rattle the speakers in the privacy of my car, on occasion. Big supporter of dance rock.

Underrated: The Drive-By Truckers’ “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark”, dance rock in general, post-“Girls Can Tell” Spoon, Lost in the Trees, and the Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls.”

Overrated: Passion Pit, Animal Collective, My Morning Jacket’s “Z,” and probably James Blake, too, but you’d have to put a gun to my head to make me admit it. Also, everything U2's recorded since “The Joshua Tree”. Though let it be known that “The Joshua Tree” is so unbelievably good that you can’t possibly overstate how good it is.

Let’s get on with the vids, then.

Broncho rapidly ascended to the near-top of my fictional All-Okie Festival bill when I bought their debut album a few months back. Caught them at the Soundpony in Tulsa a little while ago and, sure enough, the Internet warlocks at Delo Creative were there with a butt-ton of camera equipment in tow. I think I speak for the entirety of this state when I say these guys are gonna make it big. And soon:

Novak Djokovic’s appearance in this hilarious video probably had at least a little something to do with his recent #1 ATP ranking:



Freaky, psychedelic, synthy chicks glow in the dark:



Like Stephen, I’m a proud Tulsa native and, save for Hanson, nobody’s name’s better-recognized in Tulsa than Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Their new “Race Riot Suite” received standing ovations at the Tulsa PAC last month:



Not unlike most of the planet, I really didn’t care much for Radiohead’s latest. I do, however, dig Nigel Godrich’s intimate “From the Basement” series and this frenetic, dual-drummer performance of “Staircase” is intense:  



Everything about Mastodon is massively awesome right now. Album art, track titles, and this puppet-stomping video for “Deathbound”:

And with that, I give you the song he loves more than most any in the whole, wide world:



Here’s one that buzzing across the blogosphere today: St. Vincent covering the heck out of ol’ Tom Waits. Astute fans of St. V’s (better known as Annie Clark) know this is far from the most exciting cover song she’s ever played. Also, she was born in my hometown and I have a Tulsa Driller-sized crush on her, in the interest of full disclosure:



Chapel Hill indie guitar legends Superchunk tossed a new/old video our way this week for the classic “Learn to Surf.” Let’s just say that their stage presence has neither increased nor decreased since 1998, nor have they apparently learned any new moves. How's that for consistency?



Not technically a music video, but it does feature OKC native Blake Griffin and former Sooner bulldozer Adrian Peterson, and is absolutely hilarious. That is, if you can stand Seth Meyer’s annoyingly glib grinning that introduces it:



—Matt Carney

Sunglassed, porcelain-skinned model: “OK, so I’m supposed to be riding this motorcycle in front of a green screen while a fan blows my luxurious hair back for nearly four minutes. What’s my inspiration?”

Music video director with English accent: “Right, beau’iful, pretend it’s 1986 and airy synthesizers are back in fashion, just like that spotted dress you’re wearing. You’re first riding through a heavily industrial-looking city on your way out to the countryside, feeling sunshiney pleasure as you finally escape to the clean air. Lean forward and back on the motorcycle, unlike anybody who’s ever rode a motorcycle before. Oh! Now look with back just a hint of fear in your face to make sure nobody’s chasing you! All right, you’re safe now — except you’ve steered off the country road and into a swirling, three-dimensional world of black-and-white patterns that look like they belong in cartoons from the 1980s. Now you’re getting showered with confetti! And cut!”

Ernest Greene of Washed Out: “Now do it all again, but way more chill.”

From last year’s very bizarre departure “The Age of Adz,” Sufjan Stevens gives stop-motion life to Royal Robertson’s deranged sci-fi art. Owners of “Adz” will recognize much of the paranoid schizophrenic’s strange work from the liner art that accompanied the album.

The video definitely illustrates Stevens’ odd fixation with Robertson, leaving us to wonder how it will affect the future of the baroque indie composer’s work. —Matt Carney

Local noise-rock/record store dudes Shitty/Awesome go all “Brady Bunch” on us with this one. I can’t remember if it was Jan or Marcia I developed a crush for when I was a kid and addicted to Nick at Nite.

Gotta be Marcia.—Matt Carney

While this speculation remains unconfirmed, the New York dance band’s sure to sell a bunch of albums this fall. Their fourth LP, “In the Grace of Your Love,” hits stores in September, courtesy of DFA Records.

The nearly 7-minute melodramatic disco banger “How Deep Is Your Love” is the album’s first single, and if it’s any indicator, “Grace” is going to absolutely slay the competition for album of the year.

Here’s why: The Rapture previously operated as a pretty stripped-down, manic, dance-punk band (see: 2003’s excellent “Echoes”) but “Deep” exhibits some aggressive sonic expansion. Included is a more earnest and theatrical lyrical arrangement as well as more nuanced use of keys and synths, where those were mostly used as solo instruments on previous Rapture records.

Somewhere, Justin Vernon’s beard trembles.

Anywho, M83 is another electro band slated for an ambitious fall release (a double-LP, in fact) that just so happens to have put out a terrific single to hype it.

“Midnight City” starts off sounding the way MGMT did on their first record — dancey and psychedelic on an epic scale. I’ve got a feeling that the French electro-poppers will be highly sought-after on next summer’s festival schedule.—Matt Carney

Anybody in Oklahoma City with their ears in even remote proximity to the ground have been hearing boot-stomping and hand-clapping the last few months.

The alt-country/folk-rock sounds are coming this way from Enid songwriter Jake Morisse, who starred in Okie videographer/photographer Nathan Poppe’s debut film, “Black Canyon’s Crossroads for the Restless.” After a bit of tinkering with the band’s sound, lineup and direction, Morisse recorded and released the debut on Bandcamp, which features Enid instrumental whiz and former Mayola frontman Riley Jantzen and Normanite Tyler Hopkins.

But most notable is Sherree Chamberlain’s contribution to the record; a graceful, soul-singing depiction of the female in the album’s Civil War-era romance. Expect a review in the Aug. 3 edition of the Oklahoma Gazette. But for now, you should definitely head over to the band’s Bandcamp page and download the album. Below is the trailer to the aforementioned film which —in the interest of full disclosure— I helped make. Enjoy.

The 2000s saw folk singers assemble indie-orchestra bands loaded with violins, cute musician girls and scruffy faces (Sufjan Stevens, Lost in the Trees, Austin, Texas's Mother Falcon).

Portland’s Typhoon just may have literally taken this sub-sub-genre as high as it’s ever gone.