Give Tara Dillard a spotlight and a stage and she is set. Earlier this summer, the Oklahoma City-based singer-songwriter released her first single, “So Long,” on iTunes and Spotify, with plans to release a full EP soon. “I’ve just released the one single right now,” she said. “The whole EP project I’m hoping to finish […]
album”
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The XX — Coexist
The xx is the exception. The English band’s 2009 debut, xx, is a modern classic, lauded for its moody and sparse pairing of R&B and indie grooves. “Intro,” “Crystalised” and “Islands” all made splashes, and The xx went from 0 to 60 like that. So then comes the follow-up, Coexist, with the words “sophomore slump” […]
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Map quest
Having formed at a Chicago art school, alternative-rock outfit Maps & Atlases has never shied away from lofty goals or pushing itself creatively. In the early days, that meant making math rock fun. Now, it means channeling the members’ inner Marty McFly. “It’s tough to make an album that exists out of time,” singer and […]
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Still whipped
Photo: Joshua Dalsimer The planet is heating up, running out of fossil fuel and getting stingy with clean air and water. World nations seem chronically on the verge of global economic collapse. Crazed gunmen and suicide bombers make daily headlines. Literacy is down, obesity is up and Kim Kardashian is a household name. Humanity, meet […]
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Red-hot rock
Photo: Jason Tanaka Blaney When Ohio rock act Red Wanting Blue got booked to play Norman Music Festival this past spring, the band members worried about whether they’d be able to impress the crowd. “These people have seen everything,” lead singer Scott Terry said. “I’ve never been close to a tornado, but most of these […]
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Animal Collective — Centipede HZ
In direct contrast to, say, Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective thrives on being inexact, and to come so close to re-creating the formula nonetheless is impressive. Centipede Hz is not half as catchy; nothing resembles “Summertime Clothes” or “My Girls,” save for “Applesauce.” What you’ve got instead are nearly a dozen jarring pop songs that split […]
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Blondie has more fun
Blondie co-founder Chris Stein hears traces of his band in a lot of contemporary rock and pop, from Garbage to Lady Gaga. It’s an impressive range of influence for an outfit once considered the ugly duckling of New Wave acts toiling in the sweaty, steamy environs of New York’s CBGB back in the 1970s. “Assuming […]
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The way back home
Even superstars of country music need to find good excuses to come home. Trouble is, Norman-born Vince Gill can’t find enough of them. “My mom would probably echo that sentiment,” he said. “But you know, life’s busy: five kids and a career and life and all of that. It is hard to get back as […]
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Oh, yeah
This fall’s co-headlining tour between Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees finds both acts in new territory. Longtime favorites of the underground garage-rock scene, the groups are far more used to playing in venues that double as closet-sized dive bars or warehouse backrooms, but as they begin to command more sizable crowds, they find themselves […]
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We’ve been had
Coming up in the New York garage-rock revival of the early 2000s with bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol, The Walkmen have stepped out of the past decade looking no worse for the wear. Unlike most of their peers, the group has put out one critically acclaimed album after another, emerging as […]