Far from it, in fact. “Thursday”’s a terrific R&B record, creeping and grinding along at a pace appropriate for a sequel to the menacing, borderline-nihilistic “Balloons.” What the second album (Tesfaye promised a trio by the end of the year — all to be downloaded online, for free) lacks is the cloak of enigma that […]
Matt Carney
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Divided no more
After years of dealing in the music business and playing with The Great Divide left him jaded, ornery Red Dirt musician Mike McClure is happy with his freedom. So why’s the band getting back together to headline at Stillwater’s College Days? “Money and whores,” he said with a wiseass chortle. “Naw, I honestly thought that […]
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Three for all
It isn’t especially often that three of a city scene’s most exciting live bands wind up on a single bill. But that’s Friday’s free show on the University of Oklahoma campus, and the competition’s set for “fierce.” For the blown-fuse vintage punkers of Broncho (right) ,that means sweating, riffing and mid-song crowd-surfing like never before. […]
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Sundress — Sundress EP
Oozy, woozy pop just gushes out of this EP’s six lush tracks, a decidedly more aggressive sound that’s spiked with some My Bloody Valentine guitar-playing and maybe just a hint of acid. Perhaps that’s why Wayne Coyne checked them out at The Loft in Dallas a while back and also why they opened a hometown […]
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Soundcheck: The Prids
The pair wound up in Portland, Ore., in 1999, where they started recording a certain subconsciously subterranean, guitar-driven music with catchy, but still literary lines sung boy-girl. And don’t forget the special ingredient: just the right amount of distortion. Last year’s “Chronosynclastic” draws all this musical influence in and emotes it over 15 years’ worth […]
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Kanye West and Jay-Z — Watch the Throne
Or … not. This marks three consecutive years of blockbuster hip-hop releases from these two guys who’ve built a close friendship around their megastar lifestyles, respective talents as artists (technical rap wizardry for Jigga, arena-blasting, prog-rap production from ’Ye), and incomparably massive ambition as pop stars. Kanye’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” prompted more sterling […]
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‘Yahu!
“I think, to be honest with you, most people have one thing to say,” Matthew Miller said. “They have one thing to put forward.” For Miller, better-known by his Hebrew and stage name, Matisyahu, that one binding theme is his Orthodox Jewish faith, an ever-unfolding struggle to grow closer to God. From this fount, he […]
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Hendrix in the West / Winterland
I have no doubts that the news of Merge Records’ forthcoming reissue of Superchunk’s 1994 classic, “Foolish,” has my friend George Lang at The Oklahoman nervously checking his inbox every four or five minutes, anxious to download that remastered 50 minutes of 90s indie-guitar glory. The re-done edition is accompanied by never-before-heard bonus material and […]
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Collections of Colonies of Bees — GIVING
How’s that, you figure? Well, COCOB’s taken instrumental post-rock where it needs to go by completely eliminating all the typical boring moments from their formula. “Giving” is a short album that’s constantly barreling forward and never stalled out by a single breakdown or pause, ethereal jam session, or instrumental solo. Even when the guitars, so […]
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Small Sur — Tones
Small Sur sounds nothing like any of these bands. Literally, nothing. They’ll probably never achieve the same level of notoriety, which is very sad. They’ve recorded the most beautiful, lovely slowcore folk music these ears have ever heard, but unfortunately, that particular sub-genre isn’t in high demand among audiences much larger than what could fill […]