Photo: Tobin Voggesser American music’s evolving scope hasn’t played into the hands of many bands as well as it has for instrumental act Lotus. The collective of Deadheads with penchants for Aphex Twin and The Orb has ridden the rise of electronic dance music to sold-out tours and high-profile festival slots. “When we first started […]
songs
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
That’s what makes The Perks of Being a Wallflower so impressive. New to Blu-ray and DVD, it understands the excess of feeling that characterizes being a teenager, and it doesn’t prettify or minimize the trials faced by the shy and socially awkward kid sitting alone in the school cafeteria. Written and directed by Stephen Chbosky, […]
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In a ‘Huff’
Photo: Nathan Poppe A band’s first tour is a necessary evil. The drives are long; the rides … uncomfortable. It’s cheap beer and cheaper food with little to no sleep, just to play for maybe a couple of handfuls of people, returning home with not a dime in the members’ collective pockets. Oklahoma City outfit […]
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’Wood burning
A lot rides on a debut album: It’s the first — and sometimes only — chance to tell the world what you’re all about. Ramsay Midwood did just that with 2002’s spectacularly named Shoot Out at the OK Chinese Restaurant. “There were a lot of gunfights in Chinese restaurants in California … too much MSG […]
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Tiger beat
Photo: Nathan Poppe It doesn’t take long following in someone else’s footsteps to want to step out on your own again. Oklahoma’s Beau Jennings literally has been retracing the footsteps of famed Okie humorist Will Rogers over the past few years for his passion project, the film The Verdigris: In Search of Will Rogers, all […]
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Paul Williams: Still Alive
Both documentaries deal with a musician wrongly presumed to be dead; the difference here is that the love comes straight from the director, Stephen Kessler (Vegas Vacation), whose impetus for the project is purely, deeply personal. With all the extra layers removed, I began to feel it, too; his adoration for his subject is infectious. […]
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Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis
While undeniably watchable, the project is a pure puff piece. After all, it counts Lewis among its producers, so no way he’s getting treated with anything with less than kid gloves. Anything in his life that might be considered a boat rocker is absent: divorce, bankruptcy, Hardly Working, The Day the Clown Cried, etc. I […]
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A$AP Rocky — Long.Live.A$AP.
There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the freshman disc, especially since it leaked over a month ago. After just one listen, it becomes clear that Rocky has put together something special. Like Rocky’s popular mixtape, the similarly titled Live.Love.A$AP, this album features a collection of songs about everything from poverty and violence […]
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Boner jams
Not many bands look forward to their first trip to Oklahoma as much as Fort Worth, Texas’ Skeleton Coast … although a quick listen to its spotless, self-titled debut is telling. The hazy, textured and delightfully out-there disc owes a certain debt to Oklahoma’s native sons The Flaming Lips, whom front man Bobby McCubbins notes […]
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Laura Leighe — The Laura Leighe EP
But it’s not like there isn’t good pop music being made, and one of the brighter spots is the angel-faced and -voiced Duncan native Laura Leighe, who seems more concerned with connecting to her listeners than selling them a product. Her EP’s opener, “Find Me,” is a saucy and masterfully produced single with a clever […]