Photo: Neil Krug Unknown Mortal Orchestra is about as digital age as it gets. The Portland-based project, helmed by New Zealand export Ruban Nielson, has generated a substantial amount of buzz in less than three years of existence — largely because of a rigorous touring schedule in which the gasps for air are scant. Yet […]
songs
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Cosmostanza — Champs
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal;mso-outline-level:1″><span style=" Times New Roman” ,”serif”;mso-fareast-times=”” new=”” roman”;=”” mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:es-bo”=””> The gruesome twosome of guitarist Maxwell Moore and drummer Raney Aboud shows what it’s learned on the heels of August’s awesome Rad Vibes, yet knows to keep the things that made Cosmostanza so intriguing in the first place: sugary hooks, youthful energy. Champs […]
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One in Three
center Nathan Mickle “My parents always had a bunch of Frank Sinatra records lying around, along with Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr. … all of those guys I would sing along to,” Mickle said. “The records actually taught me how to sing before I even really got into it professionally.” A music career almost […]
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Holy Motors
Now that the French film is out on DVD and Blu-ray, it’s the next best thing to the theatrical experience we were denied. Love it or hate it, Holy Motors is nothing if not an experience. Carax regular Denis Lavant (The Lovers on the Bridge) is front and center of this weird, wonderful ride as […]
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Big time
Dominic Lalli and Jeremy Salken — the two minds behind electronic duo Big Gigantic — met while playing in various jazz and funk bands around the greater Boulder, Colo., area before rooming together and deciding to collaborate. Old habits die hard. “[Lalli] said, ‘I’m making these beats, and I want to play sax over it.’ […]
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ADD it up
ADDverse Effects, a new collective based out of Norman, offers something fresh to the growing hip-hop scene in Oklahoma. Drummer Boyd Littel came up with the idea after a last-second gig he played with vocalist Joshua “Fiji” Rehanek and a couple other musicians. With that show’s success, he recruited the current lineup, and the band […]
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The Grown Ups — Dark Hearts
Take “Catalina,” for example: the consummate portrayal of the group’s strengths. The song’s first half consists of a hushed guitar strum, sparkling piano and a steady, mid-tempo rhythm to guide them. It’s morose and contemplative in a way that’s almost reminiscent of the dampened grandeur Modest Mouse perfected on The Moon & Antarctica. Yet at […]
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Samantha Crain — Kid Face
Likewise, her music sounds like the kind of earthy Americana that could have emerged from any of the last five decades. Both her vocal efficacy and reverential know-how have been and remain a testament to the uncommon maturity of her skill set. But if anything was holding the Shawnee native back, it was her aversion […]
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Cave in
“They say no news is good news,” sing The Caves, and given the six-year gap between the Kansas City, Mo., band’s loose formation and the release of its first record, Duplexiaville, maybe they’re right. The Caves find its players abandoning their earlier ties to harder rock, instead spending their lengthy off-season honing sweet harmonies, subtle […]
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Amanda Earhart — Tell Me What You Want
Her debut EP, Tell Me What You Want, is characterized by funky, bright instrumentation with a mellow groove that harkens back to an age before Auto-Tune. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Earhart shows off an impressive vocal range throughout the six songs. Whether she’s singing low and level, like in “Tell Me What You […]