Given its proximity to bars, restaurants and the curbside beverage stands that will adorn Main Street, you can’t be faulted for enjoying an alcoholic beverage or six at Norman Music Festival this weekend. You probably already know what you like drinkwise, but if you’re unfamiliar with some of the non-Okie acts on the bill, follow this handy guide.
Grand Marnier
La Femme, 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Main Stage
Like the Cognac-based liqueur, La Femme is a bold concoction with a wide variety of influences: synth pop, punk, psychedelia. It’s an acquired taste of sorts. Yet while the French-based band plays music with a darkened hue, theirs is a unique and largely rewarding musical experience that ought to translate well to a Main Stage audience.
Moonshine
Moreland & Arbuckle, 8 p.m. Saturday, Sailor Jerry Stage
Aaron Moreland and John Arbuckle — a guitar/harmonica duo from Wichita, Kansas — don’t just play the blues; they play the dirty, down-home, gonna-make-you-sweat blues. Along with new (and thus aptly named) drummer Kendall Newby, they pull from the genre’s early years while retaining a distinctly modern blues-rock sound. Like The Dead Weather or early Black Keys, it’s music that will appease traditionalists but with enough grime to sway even the most haughty skeptic.
PBR
Diarrhea Planet, 6 p.m. Saturday, Main Stage
Yeah, we know. That name. But there are other, better reasons to see the Nashville-based six-piece — for instance, the fact that they have four guitarists or that they have a song called “Ghost With a Boner.” If anything, it tells you that these guys like to have a good time, which is evident in their live show. It’s tantamount to a rollicking, fist-pumping power-punk party, one sure to incite its fair share of moshing, beer-throwing or — who knows? — perhaps an emergency trip to the nearest port-a-potty.
“Suicide” Big Gulp from 7-11
Zorch, 9 p.m. Friday, Opolis (outdoor)
There’s really no other way to describe Zorch’s music than with colors — all of them. Based out of Austin, the live show of the experimental project of Sam Chown and Zac Traeger is a relentless barrage of sound, but it’s not so much noisy as it is intensely melodic. Dizzying synthesizers and bombastically diligent percussion are the band’s weapons of choice, and combined with oddly momentous vocal hooks, it makes for an idiosyncratic — but above all fun — musical experience.
You don’t drink, but you do lots of other things
Dead Meadow, 8 p.m. Saturday, Main Stage
Few genres are as overused and meaningless as “stoner rock,” yet if anyone fits the bill, it’s Washington, D.C.-based trio Dead Meadow. The band has been playing its blend of sluggish blues riffs and hypnotic bass lines for a good decade and a half, flying largely under the radar in the process. On the surface, it’s music that seems destined for dimly lit, smoky clubs. But as the sun sets on Saturday’s Main Stage, Dead Meadow is just the type of band to seize the opportunity to blow your collective mind, sober or otherwise.
