The compilation is packed with hip-hop heavyweights like Kanye West, Pusha T, Talib Kweli and Wiz Khalifa. Also making appearances are the remainder of the Wu-Tang Clan, R&B singers Corinne Bailey Rae and Mable John, and indie rock band The Black Keys. First things first: You can’t really go wrong with Wu-Tang, whether it’s a […]
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Wanda Jackson — Unfinished Business
Here she builds on the success of last year’s The Party Ain’t Over, her collaboration with Jack White, but unlike that effort, this album is raw, spare and constructed to showcase the Oklahoma-born-and-bred Jackson’s prodigious gifts. Ample credit goes to Justin Townes Earle, who produced this 10-song collection of blues, country, gospel and soul covers. […]
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‘Grease’ girl
Although Olivia Newton-John earned her stripes well before starring in 1978’s Grease and released her debut album an entire decade before 1981’s Physical, odds are that when you think of the Australian pop star, you think of one of two things: black hot pants or a leotard. Despite those benchmarks, she has performed nonstop for […]
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Corn’s new crop
Based in Weatherford, Green Corn Revival never has boasted a stable lineup, but even a massive lineup shake-up this past spring put the group on pause. Six months later, the alt-country act is enjoying a bit of a revival itself, and bandleader Jared Deck believes it’s the finest incarnation yet. “It’s the trust I have […]
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Killing them softly
Photo: Clark Deal Oklahoma City’s Kill the Reflection has come a long way. What began as a trip-hop group in 1999 has morphed into a post-punk band that does moody with the best of them. Heavily indebted to Joy Division and Interpol — yet inspired by acts as varied as Deftones, Iggy Pop and Sade […]
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Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d City
The album, which Lamar labeled as a “short film,” tells the story of his life as a good kid in the mad city of Compton, Calif. He raps about trying to avoid temptations, including women, drugs, alcohol, violence and revenge. However, even the good kids succumb to temptation from time to time. The disc twists […]
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Reid all about it
Lots of guys get in trouble with their girlfriends for eating in bed. Norman singer-songwriter Kyle Reid was in the doghouse for building cigar-box guitars there. “Sawdust would get everywhere, including in my bed,” he said. “It didn’t bother me very much, because the sawdust reminded me of the work I had done that day, […]
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Whitey power
Photo: Clay Abbott While many critics are quick to label Whitey Morgan as part of the new breed of “outlaw country,” a movement begun in the 1970s by the likes of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, he is just as quick to put that dog down. “I don’t think there’s really any outlaw country these […]
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Back in black
For rockers Gooding, life as touring musicians isn’t just about the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. It’s also about financial literacy. Wait, what? “Isn’t it the least rock ’n’ roll thing in the world? Shouldn’t I be carrying around a guitar and a bottle of Jack?” said Gooding, guitarist/singer and unimonikered namesake of the […]
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Lost Empires — Death and Evil Beasts
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal;mso-outline-level:1″> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal”> From the title alone of its new EP, Death and Evil Beasts, you get a feeling of where this six-song affair is going: This ain’t no Taylor Swift. Clocking in at around 20 minutes, the disc covers a lot of ground, musically. The old-school punk noise of […]