Garage-pop duo Dadrock had a bloody good time during its debut Opolis performance roughly a year ago. “I was horribly sick that day and took too much Mucinex, which gave me a massive nosebleed right as we were doing soundcheck,” singer/ guitarist Kevin Lough said. “I was in the bathroom nearly passing out while [drummer […]
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Sweet Jaine
“I am in the process of booking places locally to play live. Honestly, I’ll play anywhere, anytime. I’ll play in someone’s living room,” she said. “I just need 5 feet to set up my keyboard. I just want to play music.” Originally from Florida, Savannah considers Oklahoma City her adoptive home. And it’s here where […]
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Toby Keith — Hope on the Rocks
For many years, on my late, lamented Colorado-based radio show, Damaged Hearing, whenever I felt like especially annoying the decidedly unpatriotic community-radio audience, I would sing along, loud and proud, to Oklahoma-born Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” Of course, the more I would sing along to the song, the more I […]
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Chud — Chud
Well, it might, actually. But the band’s music sounds as non-damn-giving as can be — in the best way possible. The rising hardcore enthusiasts steadily have ascended the local ladder with their blistering live presence — a barrage of piercing guitar riffs, staccato rhythm section and singer-guitarist Alex Barnard’s slobbery howl. The impression left has […]
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The Man with the Iron Fists — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
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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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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Shiny Toy Guns — III
It marks not only singer Carah Faye Charnow’s return to the band whose founders were born in Shawnee, but also a return to the New Wave synth-pop sound that made them famous. The opening trio of “Somewhere to Hide,” “Waiting Alone” and “Carrie” are just as synthsational as the band has ever been. “Carrie” is […]
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Lupe Fiasco — Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1
Despite the album’s title, Lupe’s new effort is far from patriotic. Throughout, he speaks critically of America and the country’s past and present actions, or lack of action. Problems he raps about include world hunger, violence, poverty, questionable military action, child molestation, racism and more. He criticizes politicians, religious officials and even other rappers. The […]
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Depth test
Photo: Laura Raczkowski Owning a recording studio and heading a small, Oklahoma record label gives Chris Harris, front man of local shoegaze three-piece Depth & Current, a certain perspective on what it takes to survive in the world of independent music: Namely, adapt or die. To that end, the Norman-based “nightmare-pop” band decided to include […]
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Affair of the hard
Photo: Chris Hultner The usual suspects of street punk brought the guys behind Violent Affair together: The Unseen, Broken Bones, Krum Bums and so on. But when it came time to record the Oklahoma City band’s latest material — the recently released, two-song EP, A Call to Arms — the five-piece sought inspiration through Nintendo. […]