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Plan of action

Crowds at a Dillinger Escape Plan show can expect to hear booming drums, roaring vocals and heavy guitar played at breakneck speed. And maybe, if you’re lucky, the cruel snap of bones. “A Dillinger show is always unpredictable … and always full of bumps and bruises,” said guitarist Ben Weinman, who is wrapping up rehab […]

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Fill the Void

The film zeros in on a Haredi (which means “those who tremble before God”) Jewish population living in modern-day Tel Aviv, Israel. Amid celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim, a family mourns the death of Esther (Renana Raz, Munich), who dies giving birth to her first son, Mordecai. Esther’s death sends a shock wave of […]

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Boyz to Men

The music made by Oklahoma City’s The Hitt Boyz isn’t exactly what founding members/guitarists Will Ogletree and Adam Thornbrugh intended: to be the next At the Drive-In or Mars Volta. Instead of fighting what came natural, the two decided to roll with the punches. “We wanted a high-energy, punk-rock band, but when we started writing, […]

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5 WTF Facts About Justin Bieber

1. The spelling feature of the layout program Adobe InDesign does not recognize “Bieber” as a word. It does, however, suggest “babyish” for a replacement.   2. Bieber employed a full-time “swag coach” to teach the teen “different swaggerific things to do.” On a related note, the U.S. Department of Labor calculates the current unemployment […]

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Juggin’ out

The Great American Jug Band Photo: John Thomas For calling itself The Great American Jug Band, the Norman-grown group is conspicuously light on the jug part. “We own a jug,” front man Will Gardner said. “We just don’t have anyone to blow into it.” But really, the jug always was meant to be more than […]

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‘Vital’ signs

Eleven years in, and few alternative bands can claim the sort of consistent success and stability that Anberlin has. With six successful studio albums and tours with 30 Seconds to Mars and Taking Back Sunday under its belt, the group has enjoyed a smooth ride. “A lot of bands can’t keep together a year, let […]

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Gimme the Loot

Equally affable as they are gruff, Sophie and Malcolm hustle the streets by day. By night, they’re a relentless tag-teaming duo. Literally, they tag the streets of New York, leaving their mark as would-be graffiti masterminds. When some Mets fans start spray-painting over their turf, Sophie and Malcolm come up with the idea to break […]

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Full steam ahead

Photo: Tess Baez Seventeen years is a long time for anyone. For a rock band, it’s an eternity. Yet things haven’t gotten stale over the course of Traindodge’s nearly two decades together, thanks in part to a willingness to evolve that finds the Oklahoma City act chugging along as strong and excited today as it […]

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New frontier

Lord Huron Photo: Ben Schneider One gets the feeling that as inspired by Bob Dylan as Lord Huron ringleader Ben Schneider probably is, John Wayne might be just as influential. The cinematic compositions harken back to the golden era of Westerns, and even with a dash of Bollywood and stroke of lush, Northern landscapes (a […]

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Son also rises

Music just isn’t as political as it used to be, but don’t tell Jay Farrar. The Son Volt front man is a revivalist in many senses, writing songs from a different time and place than most other acts operating at the moment. There’s one figure, in particular, who has had a profound effect on Farrar’s […]

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