The record opens, appropriately, with what sounds like a garbled FM transmitter over some pillowy synth pads, eventually yielding to a pulsating dance rhythm and a hypnotic bass fuzz. The duo dabbles in the nostalgia of ’90s electronica throughout the EP’s 28-plus minutes, but it maintains an experimental edge and just enough peculiarity to keep […]
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Prettyboy — Dejvická
Abello long has been one of the most talented pure vocalists the state has to offer, but after dabbling in indie folk for a few years (and Christian music in his teens), he’s fully embraced what is an obvious penchant for ’80s-soaked pop tunes. It suits him well. Recorded in the Czech Republic, the two-track […]
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Breezy Burnz — Product of My Enlightenment
While he recalls Odd Future and Childish Gambino (“Beautiful,” “Rappin’ Ass”) in some moments, and Drake and Kendrick Lamar (the remarkably produced “Everything I Want,” “Ask Me If I …”), Burnz is very much his own rapper. He’s a lewd and crude dude — cheeky at moments, more thoughtful in others — but seemingly most […]
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Skating Polly — Lost Wonderfuls
But it’s not that these girls are so young, or even that they’re so good at such a young age. Rather, what makes Skating Polly — and its sophomore LP, Lost Wonderfuls — such an anomaly is how brazenly Mayo and Bighorse embrace their youth, weaving a playful, seemingly innocuous sense of melody through unabashedly […]
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Formidable fest
The Joy Formidable Photo: James Minchin Hailing from the United Kingdom, The Joy Formidable hardly hides what type of band it wants to be: U2. The group plays a similar bold brand of alternative rock. Since forming in 2007 and spending a few years packing that big sound into small to mid-sized clubs, the band […]
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Trading places
Between being a band, helping manage a record label/recording studio and maintaining a full-time day job, time management is crucial. Maybe that’s why Josh Griffin and Jonathan Eldridge — the two-man crew behind Oklahoma City blues-rock outfit The Trading Co. — have taken to writing songs and playing shows at the same time. “We’ve done […]
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No Justice — America’s Son
For the record, the film is a back woods action-revenge thriller starring Kevin Sorbo. That perfectly suits the bluesy-rootsy tune with lines like, “Who you gonna call when it gets rough” and “Where you gonna run when the river runs dry,” sung with a passion that would go great with a couple of roundhouse kicks. […]
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Royal rush
For the guys of the Nashville-based Blacklist Royals, 2012 was a bad year. “2011 was really good for us,” said Nat Rufus, lead singer and guitarist, noting the group was coming off its debut disc and the Warped Tour. “And then 2012 happened. We had all these new songs written and the plan was to […]
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Horse Thief — Grow Deep, Grow Wild
Horse Thief is not a psychedelic folk band, like its members want you to believe; the Oklahoma City quintet plays trendy indie pop with some earthy guitar tones and lyrics that occasionally make mention of geography. Self-affixed or otherwise, labels aren’t necessarily indicative of artistic worth, yet framework and context are crucial in determining whether […]
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Ever so Slightly
Nearly 20 years in, and California’s Slightly Stoopid is still on top of its game. The reggae-punk fusion act released its seventh studio album, Top of the World, last August to its highest Billboard chart position to date. “It’s amazing. We’re living a blessed life,” guitarist, bassist and singer Miles Doughty said. “I don’t know […]