Without consulting the track listing, I tried to associate any of its 13 songs with the visitors. Not counting the needlessly 10-minute cover of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” with Erykah Badu’s vocals, I was able to place one. My point? This is not a collaborative album in the true sense; this […]
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Montu — Bloom
Opener “Dock Ellis” is a doozy at nearly nine minutes, although it never overstays its welcome. John Barkley flexes his muscle here with keyboard work of Stevie Wonder pedigree, while Jon Godsy is equally impressive with the bass line throughout. “Shama Pt. 1” and “Skip Dickson” borrow from lo-fi purveyors Toro y Moi and Ariel […]
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The gap
Credit: Nathan Poppe Although less than two years old, the Oklahoma City Southern folk act Black Canyon already is a whole new beast. “Black Canyon has changed a lot over the past six months,” front man and founding member Jake Morisse said. “Things are getting a lot louder.” There’s a fairly simple explanation: Founding member […]
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Cusp — Nothing Proper
Cusp succeeds in the way that Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes do: creating songs that sound like concentrated moments of life rather than just pieces of art. There’s nothing artificial about Nothing Proper — only true beauty to relive in each passing song. Rapp studies vocal performance at ACM@UCO, and it shows. His […]
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Don’t Go in the Woods
The first feature as director for longtime fine actor Vincent D’Onofrio (Kill the Irishman), Woods is as ambling as the five young musicians — one of whom is blind — who drive their van to a forest for a songwriting retreat, where the following things are not allowed: booze, drugs, girls, phones and common sense. That […]
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Various artists — The Rock ’n’ Roll Dreams of Duncan Christopher: Songs from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
Starring and written by Jack Roberts, the movie centers on an aspiring musician who moves to Tulsa to make it big singing karaoke. Naturally, the soundtrack dishes out a heavy dose of Oklahoma indie-rock heavyweights, and the album is a solid showing of all the talent the state has to offer. Ryan Lindsey’s airy, acoustic […]
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Aw, Swell
Jonathan Weiner When Nick Diener and his brother formed punk act The Swellers as teenagers, they didn’t know what they were doing. “When we were kids, we had these guitars and we wondered what it would be like to be rock stars. So we formed a band,” guitarist and singer Diener said. “I didn’t know […]
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Vesper recipe
With two albums surveying themes of hope, redemption in Jesus, and supernatural healing to their name, it’s no surprise that The Vespers are a band of Christians. But are they a Christian band? A closer look at the college-aged siblings’ output and business acumen suggests they’re aiming for the former. “When we got together, we […]
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Hey, Mon!
While his fellow students spent a week recovering from their rowdy spring breaks, Oklahoma City emcee Damon Johnson spent that time recording his debut mixtape, titling it 7 Days, of course. “I got back from spring break and told everyone I was going to put out a mixtape in a week,” Johnson said. “Starting that […]
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The SweetWater — Moonshine
The final product is ’90s rock in Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots, something that fans of Taddy Porter and Kings of Leon will appreciate. Much like The Avengers, each member is given the chance to play the hero over the course of the 10-track effort. Singer Adam Banner lets his pipes roar in opener “Get […]