Things have always been evolving for Norman six-piece The JonBear Fourtet, whose name was fossilized before two more members hopped aboard. They’ve given up on keeping up with the additions. “Got to land on something and stick with it at some point,” said drummer Nathan Harwell. Name-change refusal aside, Darwin would be proud; the band’s […]
Music Features
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Zounds! What sounds!
On a brisk March night during the tail end of downtown Norman’s art walk, founding members of Zanzibar! Records huddled outside a storefront, discussing the difficulty of starting a record label in the digital age, all while splitting a 12-pack of Blue Moon and giving directions to manic, roaming Flaming Lips fans in search of […]
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Ray of humanity
Ray Bonneville’s latest album is titled “Goin’ by Feel,” and there couldn’t be a better summation of the Canadianborn roots artist’s life and approach. Inspired early on by country music, blues and pre-Beatles pop, he remembers pressing his ear against his grandmother’s furniture-size radio in the 1950s upon hearing that oldfashioned twang. Soon, he got […]
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Komeback
News of bands reuniting for a show, a tour or an album is almost always met with anticipation and jubilation from the music-loving public. Bands like Kustom Kar Kommandos are the reason for the “almost.” “We annoyed as many people as we could back then,” said vocalist John Manson. “There were probably a few people […]
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Check! Check!
The music mini-festival will take place Friday off Asp Avenue, between the Adams and Walker dorms on the OU campus. Seven bands will play throughout the day and into the night. Derek Knowlton, vocalist and guitarist for The Pretty Black Chains, said that it’s good for people to know what other kind of music is […]
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Who deserves a Woody?
Yes, the Oklahoma Gazette’s annual local music awards are back, and we need your help nominating the best acts for the prestigious honor. Nominate up to three bands in any of the below categories by commenting on this article with your picks. You may enter nominations for multiple categories in one post. Nominating twice in […]
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The Mountain Goats — All Eternals Deck
It seems like a quibble to say that the songs on The Mountain Goats’ new release, “All Eternals Deck,” are great, but they don’t fit together. But if you’ve heard the mastery that is “The Sunset Tree,” it’s hard to not want that total package every time. It should be noted that even if John […]
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Good Grooming
A guitar, by itself, is an amazing and beautiful instrument, but for musical swashbucklers looking to explore and find new sonic treasures, effect pedals provide limitless prospects. A true understanding of capabilities of guitar pedals figures in nicely with the distorted, effect-heavy alternative rock of three-piece Grooms, and when bandleader Travis Johnson found a side […]
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Quail hunting
Practice makes perfect, but Oklahoma City’s The Damn Quails don’t really need it. With three weekly shows across the metro area, they’ve got about all the playing time they could ever desire. “It’s interesting, playing every night,” said Bryon White, who comprises the folk-rock act with Gabriel Marshall. “It’s allowed us to play off each […]
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Astro boy
Astronautalis hails from what might be the last generation of indie hip-hop. The 29-year old Florida rapper came of age in the late ’90s as a bevy of underground artists emerged, seeking to redefine a mainstream style that’d become stuck in a locked groove of guns, drugdealing, bitches and boasting. Astronautalis, aka Andy Bothwell, honed […]