One of the last great alt-rock acts to make any kind of mainstream waves before Internet killed the CD star, The Dandy Warhols are back’ well, sort of’ in the label retrospective, “The Capitol Years: 1995-2007.” The 15-track collection rounds up the finest of their tenure with Capitol Records. Hot diggity dog! Perhaps not coincidentally, […]
rock
Posted inMusic
The Boom Bang — Bummer Camp 7″
Oklahoma City’s noisiest quartet will release its full-length debut sometime next year, but it sounds like The Boom Bang just can’t wait that long. On Sept. 17, the band teamed up with Guestroom Records to put out a 7-inch that, hopefully, is an early indication of what we can expect in 2011. At four songs, […]
Posted inMusic
Snake Lightning’ Venom Shock
It’s probably impossible to describe “Venom Shock” more aptly than one of Snake Lightning’s Facebook fans. “It’s like The Darkness mixed with the ‘South Park’ dudes,” a follower wrote a few days after the 10-song album was unleashed on iTunes earlier this month. That’s exactly what the Oklahoma City act sounds like. The rock-comedy duo […]
Posted inMusic
Feel Spectres — Feel Spectres
And that seems to be where Oklahoma City’s Feel Spectres is getting its cues. The quartet’s self-titled debut, courtesy of local label Nice People, is 37 minutes of purist indie-rock goodness, the sort of music you heard the cool college kids in mid- to late-’90s sitcoms listening to. Even better, the album follows a sort […]
Posted inMusic
Eden Sharmaine – Our Fathers
What has 14 hands, seven instruments, and one new album with decidedly progressive rock and punk roots? Answer: Eden Sharmaine, an Oklahoma City six-piece that dropped “Our Fathers” in early April, a disc that sounds like the rock ‘n’ roll offspring of Muse and Lostprophets. The 10-song record lives in the musical world of arcing […]
Posted inMusic
Somerset West – The Golden Land
Oklahoma’s Somerset West recently released its full-length debut, “The Golden Land,” which has miles more character than the quartet’s 2009 “Lucerne” EP. There’s a lot to like about “The Golden Land,” but the most appealing parts of the nine-song debut are also the most distracting. “The Great Mistake” is a song about reconnecting. Singer Kyle […]
Posted inMusic
The Righs – Roses
The Righs sound like a bar brawl between a local laborer and a sailor on leave. Part pirate crooners and Celtic punk rockers, the metro sextet’ singer/guitarists Nate Williams and Jackson Smith, mandolin player Omid Nowrouzi, fiddle player Jian Azimi, bassist John Slawson and drummer David Johnson”? recently released “Roses,” a follow-up to its 2008 […]
Posted inMusic
Mudvayne – Mudvayne
Intense, thrashy metal is usually not associated with the color white. Thus, I was confused when I noticed the entirely blank art of Mudvayne’s newly-released self-titled album Mudvayne. Then I noticed the attached blacklight. Every piece of art, from the cover to the lyrics to the inset tray art, is only visible while shining the […]
Posted inMusic
Five Finger Death Punch – War is the Answer
The heavier and louder a song by Five Finger Death Punch is, the better it is. This is a direct relationship; if you rank the songs on this album on a scale that starts at “several dudes got teeth knocked out in the pit” and ends at “several lighters were raised,” you’ve ranked the songs […]
Posted inMusic
The Cribs – Ignore the Ignorant
The Cribs were originally so passionate and earnest about their rock that they injured themselves during live shows. While seeing them open for Death Cab for Cutie I saw the lead singer rush back to his microphone stand, overshoot the entry and split his lip wide open on the microphone. He didn’t flinch and continued […]