Songwriters draw their inspiration from a variety of things. Current events and relationships are usually high on the list, but things that make us laugh don’t typically scream, “Write a song about me.” Yet they do to Jonny Fritz, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter formerly known as Jonny Corndawg. He plays Thursday at Opolis. Fritz’s eccentric brand […]
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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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Over the Rainbow
Scott Booker, circa 1988 Photo: Scott Booker Today’s world is a virtual playground for music lovers. There’s no shortage of avenues to learn about breaking bands, download new songs or unearth a rare track. And there is little to no effort needed to find what you want or stumble upon the unexpected. All you need […]
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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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Copperheads — Apocalyptic Behavior
Turns out they were just gently working out the kinks on their hellacious debut LP, Apocalyptic Behavior, on Okie Dope Records. This is just as strong as anything like-minded contemporaries Ty Segall or Thee Oh Sees are pumping out, only truer to the wellspring of ’70s punk that inspired the garage revival in the first […]
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Best of Bond … James Bond: 50 Years — 50 Tracks
With Skyfall landing in theaters Nov. 9, this season is no different … except that Capitol Records’ Best of Bond … James Bond has something else to celebrate: five full decades of the screen franchise. Therefore, this set throws in another disc’s worth of music that make it worth replacing the last disc you bought. […]
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All systems go?
The situation surrounding city’s plans for new police, fire, dispatch and municipal courts information and computer systems — as well as allegations by a police captain against the city’s project manager overseeing the program — is the subject of a state auditor investigation. The investigation was forwarded by the city to the state auditor and […]
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Red-hot rock
Photo: Jason Tanaka Blaney When Ohio rock act Red Wanting Blue got booked to play Norman Music Festival this past spring, the band members worried about whether they’d be able to impress the crowd. “These people have seen everything,” lead singer Scott Terry said. “I’ve never been close to a tornado, but most of these […]
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JD McPherson — Signs & Signifiers
Producer Jimmy Sutton’s precise attention to past details is Mad Men–esque in its re-creation of rockabilly guitar tones, plunking upright jazz bass, and the way it captures Jonathan Doyle’s tenor sax and McPherson’s voice, which is the kind of durable instrument that made an army of slick-haired, suit-wearing bandleaders famous in the 1950s. It’s more […]
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Needle points
Who cares if you can list 10 bands named for odd animals and random fruit? I sure don’t. The point is, it’s imperative you let your musical tastes reflect what makes you happy, the stuff that makes you hum along or tap your toe. For example, I unabashedly love pop music — especially the ultra-tacky […]