onal Pt. 3,” even he’s not so sure, relying on guest stars (Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Nas, et al.) for each of his album’s 18 tracks. This head-on collision of identity yields a real crisis: one of adhesion. There’s a lot of anger brewing here, but the tracks render much of it superficial. Numbers meant […]
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Tulsa’s Harmonious Monk specializes in jazz, optimism
Tulsa-based jazz band Harmonious Monk is spreading the good vibes of God, Miles Davis and the hippie nature of wonderment. “When we play, what is most important is that we are brothers sharing time and thoughts,” explained drummer Andrew Owen Bones. “Jazz might crawl up inside itself like a Gollum to speak about nothing […]
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Norman’s Syke! covers Eighties rock classics
Even if it is a tongue-in-cheek Eighties cover band, Syke! is an act to be taken seriously. “It was like lots of other bands that ever start: It was everybody sitting around and drinking,” said drummer Doyle Dodd. COVERING BASESThe only influence the band collectively could agree upon was The Cars, but singer […]
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Don Peris – Go When the Morning Shineth
From Pennsylvania came the cold and The Innocence Mission. “Bright As Yellow” on the “Empire Records” soundtrack may have been the highest level of notoriety the dream-folk band achieved since beginning in the late Eighties. The band fell somewhere between adult contemporary and cult status with classic-rooted compositions tailor-made for NPR segues. Today, from a […]
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Norman venue Studio 360 hopes metal music is here to stay
Studio 360 is Norman’s home for metal: grindcore, death metal, heavy metal, black metal, thrash and anything heavy enough to which one can start a bar brawl. Originally doubling as a private-party venue and recording studio, Studio 360 became a venue when co-owner Vance Phillips recruited Ryk Weston to promote and book bands heavy […]
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Scotty Karate breaks out with unique punkabilly sound in OKC
You’ve got to be bold to include your appearance on TV reality show “Elimidate” as a resume builder in music, but with a name like Scotty Karate, boldness is probably just second nature. But the episode, which showed Karate throwing pizza on an arrogant competitor, shouldn’t dissuade anyone seeking out his high-energy honky-tonk. The […]
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OKC’s The Stringents rock out with classical instruments
While artists such as Elvis Costello and Sting recently have dabbled in classical music, four classically trained Oklahoma City musicians have joined forces to form what they call a “rock string quartet.” The brainchild of longtime friends Sarah Wilhite and Jenn Mills, The Stringents came to life in 2006 and quickly began winning over […]
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Tom Brosseau-Grand Forks
L oveless Tom Brosseau’s fifth release is a thematic tribute to the Grand Forks, N.D., which flooded in April 1997, displacing some 60,000 residents; 10 years later, Brosseau mourns for his hometown’s suffering while celebrating its elasticity. It’s an honorable effort, and his heart is in the right place. If only it weren’t so understated. […]
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Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass/Various artists-Whipped Cream & Other Delights Re-Whipped
Shout! Factory Every music collection needs at least one cover sporting a model in a Reddi-wip bikini. Chances are, your grandparents have one in the form of Herb Alpert’s classic 1965 album “Whipped Cream & Other Delights.” But a much more revealing one adorns that album’s 40th-anniversary remix collection, appropriately subtitled “Re-Whipped.” While not […]
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17 Pygmies-13 Black Birds
Trakwerx 17 Pygmies have been away for 17 years, but the 10-member 2006 version of the California consortium has returned younger than yesterday to produce its best work yet, a 30-track, two-disc beguiling behemoth. Even if you discount the fact that disc two is 13 versions of the same song, done in wildly differing ways […]