Brandon Bales While most DJs work alone — think Skrillex, Deadmau5, Fatboy Slim — two heads have proven better than one for Oklahoma City electro act Crystal Vision. “It definitely helps when one of us is stuck. The other one always has an idea,” said Katie Wicks. “The joys of being a duo are that […]
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B real
The trio, which began as a quartet in 2003, is composed of Tré McCoy of Omaha, Neb.; Dele Olasiji of Norman; and Eric Hollowell of Davenport, Iowa. They met at a party in 2001, while attending college. “Four different states and we all happened to end up at the same party,” McCoy said. “The name […]
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JD McPherson — Signs & Signifiers
Producer Jimmy Sutton’s precise attention to past details is Mad Men–esque in its re-creation of rockabilly guitar tones, plunking upright jazz bass, and the way it captures Jonathan Doyle’s tenor sax and McPherson’s voice, which is the kind of durable instrument that made an army of slick-haired, suit-wearing bandleaders famous in the 1950s. It’s more […]
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‘Chicken Fried’ dudes
C. Taylor Crothers When country rock’s Zac Brown Band looked to record a follow-up to 2008’s platinum-selling smash, The Foundation, they heeded the advice of Les Brown, shot for the money and landed a pair of stars. “I remember when Zac had these songs, he was like, ‘Jimmy Buffett is going to sing on this […]
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Norman, rock well
Portugal. The Man More so than most bands, Norman Music Festival 5 headliner Portugal. The Man has done a lot of growing. Born from a disbanded hard-core act, it championed a challenging brand of rock in its inaugural years. At least that’s what critics and listeners called it. Truthfully, it was far less heady than […]
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You say Hello
It comes as a surprise that power poppers Hellogoodbye formed more than a decade ago. Forrest Kline — chief songwriter, lead singer and sole remaining original member — started the band in 2001 as he was finishing high school. He never expected to be featured on MTV’s The Real World, have smash radio singles like […]
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Ray of might
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 […]
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Beat it
The English Beat Eugenio Iglesias UPDATE: The English Beat will play ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan, at 9:30 p.m. tonight, Friday, April 20, since last night’s show was canceled due to rain. British ska legends The English Beat are as much a part of cinematic history as they are musical, what with being responsible […]
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Puff piece
Rainette Rowland Price Vernon is so proud of his roots, he wears them on his tattooed sleeve. The veteran musician spent years on the Hollywood Strip, playing for hire, but a desire to write and record his own music led him back home to Oklahoma, where he formed the upstart metal act Big Okie Doom […]
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Prehistoric powerhouse
Mastodon is great at naming things. Now touring behind its fifth album, The Hunter, Atlanta’s reigning prog-metal act stomped its way to critical-darling status by virtue of more than just formidable song sorcery. One can feel writers’ glee by reading reviews of the band’s sludgy, heady, unrelenting approach to rock that manifests in album titles […]