It’s not uncommon for beloved bandleaders to spawn successful side projects. Jack White had The White Stripes and The Raconteurs. Maynard James Keenan had Tool and A Perfect Circle. Scott Weiland had Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. Antonio Laster may not have been the front man before, but the bassist for Stillwater favorite Mayola […]
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Kite Flying Robot — Solid Gold
Surprisingly, it’s marked not by excess, but by tasteful arrangements that result in strong pop songs. Anchored by mild-mannered electronic beats (think The Postal Service) and Nikolas Thompson’s calm, seductive voice, the songs reveal various parts and melodies at a leisurely pace. These unhurried tracks are long on a slinky, sunglasses-atnight-cool mood, and short on […]
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Scoop of Brahms
If you take a peek at the concert poster for Monday and Tuesday’s “German Romanticism” concert by Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma, you’ll find a dapper-looking German guy hanging out on it. It’s Johannes Brahms, whose Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, op. 26, will be performed. Wait, wasn’t Brahms a crazy dude? “It’s early […]
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Irate feelings
The sandy shores and clear water of Hawaii, the home state of the six members of Iration, help to bring life and inspiration to the band’s unique, reggae-rock blend. “I would describe it as feel-good music,” bassist Adam Taylor said. “It’s all around you and fits the lifestyle well, so it was natural for us […]
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John Lefler returns to his roots
Once a resident of Edmond, Lefler joined the emo rock band in 2002, but his own work veers toward power pop along the lines of Ben Folds and Crowded House. —Rod Lott
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Adele — 21
One needs go no further than opener (and single) “Rolling in the Deep” to hear the power and earnestness in her voice. A single look at press photo will show a thankfully (let me repeat, thankfully!) real-sized woman with a witheringly intense gaze. One performance is all it take to be wowed by her stage […]
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Duke Garwood — Dreamboatsafari
After hearing Duke Garwood’s chilled-out guitar ruminations “Jesus Got a Gun” and “Summer Gold” (the latter of which I featured on OKS), I was totally stoked for an album based around acoustic talking blues. Instead, “Dreamboatsafari” is mostly skronk-heavy blues/jazz disc with a couple mellow tunes thrown in. And when I mean skronk-heavy, I mean […]
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The Rural Alberta Advantage — Departing
Both tunes off “Hometowns” rattled and shook with a frantic abandon, despite the fact that they were both alt-folk songs at heart, and one of them was supposed to be depressing. Having gotten some of their spitfire out of the way, the band wisely eschewed an attempt at “Hometowns Pt. II.” They instead revealed “Departing,” […]
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Braids — Native Speaker
Because no new trends have appeared at all in 2011 so far, I was getting kinda worried that I was going to be stuck listen to trashy, lo-fi garage rock and pristine folk all year. Thankfully, Braids’ “Native Speaker” crossed my desk, and I’m feeling a bit more calm. Even if they don’t spark a […]
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Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata — The Hills Are Alive
Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata’s “The Hills Are Alive” is a cult album if there ever was one. The premise is bizarre: The awesomely acronymed BRO decided to reinterpret songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” in modern music genres, like Motown, prog rock, R&B, country, funk and more. Many of these tunes are original […]