Nathan Wright worries about technology. The social media plague corrupting our brains. The cold, impersonal algorithms dictating our daily lives. Even the recent pushes into AI-generated art. But as a musical artist in the modernized world, you either figure out how to embrace it or you get crushed beneath the wheels. “There’s a sort of […]
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Soundcheck: Stunna – Solid Gold
Rock and roll is alive and well. One just needs to know where to find it — Ada, in this case. This oft-overlooked college town is a hidden treasure of original music, from metal to folk to hip-hop styles. It figures that one of its major wayward sons would strike gold with his new band, […]
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Strange days
“There are times when I’m just like ‘Oklahoma, I love you,’” Bartees Strange said from Washington D.C. He’s been reminiscing about cheap Norman apartment complexes, sadly departed OKC indie venues and the surprising wealth of musical styles and identities in the local scenes, but it was a mention of Oklahoma’s pink evening skies that got […]
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Ornamental orchestration
Last year’s version of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s annual holiday tour was an outing unlike any other for everyone involved in bringing the visually spectacular concerts to audiences across the United States. On the one hand, coming off of 2020, a year in which the TSO tour could not happen because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was […]
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Surprise landing
When Jess Haney was asked to join Rainbow Kitten Surprise while the band members were in college at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, he certainly wasn’t thinking it would be a long-term commitment. In fact, as commitments go, it was as minimal as it gets. “I got into the band through Ethan,” Haney said, […]
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Soundcheck: John Fullbright – The Liar
Since its release at the end of September, John Fullbright’s long-awaited The Liar has carried avid word of mouth amongst loyal fans and genre listeners. Its 12 songs have gotten good marks in online music magazines, and the consensus is clear. Even though it’s been eight years since his last album, a practical eternity in […]
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Hood makes good
You may not be too familiar with Adam Hood just yet, but these days, a lot of movers and shakers in Nashville have come to know him well. He started performing live shows at just 16 years of age in his hometown of Opelika, Ala., and hasn’t stopped writing, touring and recording music. For two […]
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Tuning in Tokyo
Blueprint Tokyo might be something of a little-known name here in their home state, but they’re blowing up around the world. 100,000-plus streams on Spotify. Top 30 on the UK iTunes charts. Collaborating with top international producers like Mark Needham and Travis Ference. But if you look at their social media numbers, you’d really never […]
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Rocketmen
SLANDER have been on the dance scene for nearly a decade, consistently blowing up, garnering massive video views and streaming play numbers and collaborating with an exploding cast of singers and songwriters. They’re also just getting around to dropping their debut album. Even with a hugely successful back catalog of singles and feature appearances, the […]
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Halloween to the extreme
Without question, one of the modern Oklahoma music scene’s greatest institutions is My So-Called Band, the “mostly” 90s cover act that packs rooms and picks at nostalgia all over the state, prompting the kind of full-throated, drunken singalongs most major acts can only dream of. As raucous and radical as an average MSCB show can […]