Not many bands look forward to their first trip to Oklahoma as much as Fort Worth, Texas’ Skeleton Coast … although a quick listen to its spotless, self-titled debut is telling. The hazy, textured and delightfully out-there disc owes a certain debt to Oklahoma’s native sons The Flaming Lips, whom front man Bobby McCubbins notes […]
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Laura Leighe — The Laura Leighe EP
But it’s not like there isn’t good pop music being made, and one of the brighter spots is the angel-faced and -voiced Duncan native Laura Leighe, who seems more concerned with connecting to her listeners than selling them a product. Her EP’s opener, “Find Me,” is a saucy and masterfully produced single with a clever […]
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Searching for Sugar Man
Take, for example, Searching for Sugar Man. Currently up for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award and new to DVD, the doc introduces us to the saga of the one-named Rodriguez, a criminally unknown singer-songwriter from the early 1970s whose career sank into obscurity in his native United States, but whose influence proved monumental in, […]
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The Fabulous St. Knicholas Cage — Shit Surf
The four-piece might become a National Treasure if it keeps producing music as good as it does on Shit Surf; this five-track effort is pretty Kick-Ass, not once rolling Snake Eyes. Shit Surf departs off like a maddened criminal flying Con Air with “Duane & The Eddies” boasting a guitar lick that will melt your […]
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Ex marks the hot
Photo: Renate Winter Conventional isn’t really Ex-Cult’s thing. The Memphis punk outfit, which is set to perform Monday at The Conservatory, inked a deal with a hometown label within a remarkably short time frame and played its first show mere months after formation. In the time since, an unwavering deluge of momentum has hurled these […]
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Dewey Binns — High Character
Hailing from the decidedly unglamorous city of Lawton, Dewey Binns is the sort of blue-collar rapper everyone can get behind, but he’s just as book-smart as street-smart, as evidenced by this Steinbeck-esque collection of hip-hop vignettes. One gets the feeling that Binns rarely was satisfied with his first word choice, refining each line with the […]
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Michael Summers — More
Plus, I just like writing “Honky Cat.” This winning formula that has made Michael Summers the Michael Bublé of the 405 carries throughout the entirety of More. So slip on your finest cocktail dress, load up on olives and pour yourself a tumbler full of the perfectly blended tunes. “Secret Love Affair” is the way […]
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Dirty Red & the Soulshakers — Soul Shakin’
Opening with the innuendo-laden “Cornbread,” which makes you want to sop up all forms of sexual beans and greens, lead singer Eric “Dirty Red” McDaniel’s powerfully soul-drenched vocals and funky harmonica immediately let you know you’re in for a long, sweaty night. The pure, rolling thunder of “Shotgun,” with its impressionable refrain of “My shotgun […]
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Citizen Fred — Citizen Fred
After several listens, I’m still trying to process the idea behind it: Is the Oklahoma City act a joke band? Is it ironic art? Is it music to pump iron to? Or am I just overthinking it? Several songs are wonderfully hard-charged aggro-rockers that make you want to drive your beat-up ’Vette 110 miles per […]
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‘Hyde’ and shriek
Teal Wicks has it easy in Jekyll & Hyde — and not just because, unlike the musical’s star, she doesn’t have to fill two roles. No, playing Dr. Jekyll’s fiancée in the current national tour is a breeze because she’s not required to carry every scene. The actress spent the better part of 2011 being […]