Its imaginative storytelling qualities are effective at times and overwrought at others, as narrator g. Eddison — it’s unclear whether Mr. Eddison is an actual person or just a fictional device — cries woe over the generation his junior. Woody Guthrie’s an obvious influence, as the bluegrass band tackles the taboo with obvious language and […]
Matt Carney
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Finding J.O.Y.
Once the acid-tongued author of quite perceptive and often despondent and self-hating songs, sailing’s been smoother these days for Brooklyndwelling indie singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs, especially now that her Kickstarter-started third album, An Unwavering Band of Light, finally has hit the shelves. “I’m a lot happier and better adjusted than I was when I made […]
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Buffa-loaded
Since 2009, the Oklahoma Film & Music Office (OF&MO) has been our agent down south, working with local creatives, media and sponsors to turn that nice thought into a reality. What began as a modest, one-day showcase of Okie talent (that drew some 700 attendees) has grown into a multiday experience branded as the Buffalo […]
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Kill the Reflection — Together … Apart …
Unlike Depth & Current’s last-sane-man-on-Earth narrators, however, the characters residing in Kill the Reflection’s second full-length, “Together … Apart … ,” are just as fractured and disjointed as their environments. With “No Love at All,” we have such a song that opens with a bit of dour note-picking straight out of the Nirvana textbook. Singer […]
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Sleigh Bells — Reign of Terror
This stuff combines all my dirtiest, guilty-pleasure pop secrets into a single, distinct sound with a stylistic aesthetic to match (captured by the awesome bloodstained Keds album art). In fact, for funsies, why don’t we run through that checklist of cheesy things I love?• ’60s girl-group vocals from a super-hot lady? Yup.• Drippy Rick Springfield […]
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House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East
The loss was as unexpected as it was tragic. Shadid, born and raised here, was a true savant: a fluent speaker of Arabic whose ambition for storytelling heeded few warnings of danger. He caught a sniper’s bullet with his shoulder in the West Bank in 2002 and survived a well-publicized kidnapping in Libya last spring, […]
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Cloud Nothings — Attack on Memory
You may recall “rockism” as an accusation of obstinacy, fit for the kind of guy (called a “rockist”) who sighed relief at the sight of Dave Grohl trading guitar licks with Joe Walsh, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney at the Grammys just a week and a half ago. For a moment there, he thought, it […]
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Soundcheck: Woody Awards nominations
Back after a long year of rocking and rolling, hipping and hopping, twanging and clapping, Oklahoma Gazette’s Woody Awards are once again calling for nominations. You may nominate up to three bands in as many of the categories as you wish by commenting on this article with your picks (see the example below). Please be […]
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Linked in
Those crazy kids at ACM@UCO are always at it, what with their Bricktown music school, fancy recordin’ machines and whatnot. They’ve started so darn many bands, the school set up LiveLink, a spring concert series with at least five bands playing its Performance Lab. Five dates are scheduled through May 4, starting Friday. Check out […]
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Royal Baths — Better Luck Next Life
The two comprise Brooklyn’s Royal Baths, and their second record, “Better Luck Next Life,” shows an impressive self-assuredness, conviction and carefully crafted sound that seems only common among the calculating acts from New York these days (see: Sleigh Bells, Body Language). They’re also savage and unafraid of dissonant guitar noises, something they probably learned from […]