Photo: Doug Schwarz It doesn’t take more than a minute or so into Defining Times’ new record, Separate Tongues, to sense the intimacy, closeness and trust the Oklahoma City alternative band members must feel for one another. You’d think they’d been playing for a decade, not a year and a half. “It’s a brotherhood,” front […]
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Future’s so bright
Imagine for a moment that you’re perched atop a pristine body of water. As you gaze downward, ripples contort the natural world, and all of your tangible surroundings seem strangely elusive and engulfed in fantasy. The other side of that reflection? The world in which Future Islands live. Appearing tonight at Opolis, the Baltimore trio […]
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Perfect situation
Haters will hate, but of bands established in the 1990s, Weezer remains one of the most recognizable due to its sound: wailing guitar solos, harmonies owing as much to The Beach Boys as punk rock, and lyrics dripping with all the nostalgia and self-obsession teenagers could possibly muster. If fans, however, would rather not drop […]
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Ghost of a chance
Photo: Krista Spears Most parents aren’t thrilled about their kids playing in punk bands. The mother of Corporate Ghost drummer Max Harris, however, has fostered the entire underground scene by giving fledgling punk and garage rock bands a place to call home while honing their skill. “It’s provided a place for the punk and underground […]
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‘Poppins’ pops
Disney’s national touring production of the Mary Poppins musical is great, fun and colorful. Its cast is excellent, too, with one strange exception: Mary Poppins herself. As Mary, the magical nanny, Madeline Trumble was the only one who seemed overly showy, clearly putting on a performance, whereas the rest of the actors were much more […]
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Let’s get heavy
Black Skies Photo: Mutter It’s difficult to affix a name to a genre. As soon as one is figured out, two more subgenres spring out from under it. For example, “heavy metal” is an all-encompassing term for music that is harder and darker than your typical three-minute pop ditties. But beyond that are its ever-increasing […]
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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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Full ‘Circles’
Americana artist Greg Reichel describes his music as “very real and soulful.” And while many singer-songwriters typically use such terms to describe their sound, Reichel believes he goes out of his way to prove it. “I try to write with as much soul as I can, instead of just throwing a song together,” he said. […]
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‘Shout’ it out loud
Although we live in Oklahoma — Native America, as the license plates read — many people still believe the popular cinematic images of American Indians as tepee-dwelling folk clad in ceremonial headdresses and quick to dispense ancient wisdom while passing a peace pipe. It’s a stereotype that Lawton-born Kiowa/Choctaw screenwriter Steven Judd, co-writer of the […]
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Helio, you must be going
For a lot of bands, discovering that your studio’s been submerged under a foot of water would prove catastrophic. Such an undesirable dilemma was forced upon The Helio Sequence after the release of its breakthrough 2009 album, Keep Your Eyes Ahead. Yet, while the alt-rock act could have sulked knee-deep in the liquid that pervaded […]