Sunday 19 May
 
 

Various artists — Never Give Up: Celebrating 10 Years of The Postal Service

Few indie bands have had the impact on current music that The Postal Service has. Even fewer have done so with only one album.
05/15/2013 | Comments 0

Big Worm — Bench All-Stars

Fans of the comedy classic Friday may recognize the name Big Worm, but the Big Worm behind Bench All-Stars is rooted not in South Central L.A., but on the streets of Oklahoma City.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Code 22 — Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!

The guys of Oklahoma City’s Code 22 seem like a likable group of fellas. Their latest release, Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!, is likable enough as well — so likable that on first listen, I took its clean, acoustic sound and clear, unstressed vocals as an alternative praise-and-worship band.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Eureeka — Polysynthetic Fields

It’s always refreshing to hear music that embraces its own eccentricity, yet presents it in an accessible and meek fashion. Eureeka — the Norman-based duo of Jordan Vargas and Devin Wahl — has tapped into this rarified air on its self-released EP, Polysynthetic Fields.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Tom Skinner — Tom Skinner

Sincerity is nearly dead in songwriting. The image of the earnest singer with eyes tightly shut and a crack in his voice as he plunges to emotional depths has become a joke.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0
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Music

Do the math


Alt-rock’s never-hibernating Minus the Bear seeks to add something awesome to your life. Go forth and multiply.

Joshua Boydston June 1st, 2011  

Minus the Bear with Skysaw and The Pretty Black Chains
7 p.m. Friday
Diamond Ballroom, 8001 S. Eastern
diamondballroom.net, 677-9169
$14 advance, $19 door

Minus the Bear

You couldn’t ask for a smoother ride than the 10 years alternative rock’s Minus the Bear has enjoyed. Each release has been bigger than the one before it, audiences have grown in number, and the band has weathered only one departure.

The closest thing the group has seen to any sort of adversity is writing and recording its latest studio album, “Omni,” without label support.

“It was a little nerve-racking, not knowing,” bassist Cory Murchy said. “But we all had the confidence that something was going to happen, and if not, we live in a time we can put records out on our own.”

Sure enough, the disc was snapped up quickly by Dangerbird Records (home of Silversun Pickups and Hot Hot Heat), and the Bear felt as comfortable as ever.

“We were confident we could find a home that fit, and we did,” Murchy said. “It was definitely finding a place that was artist-friendly, that cared about the art and the business time, whereas a lot of places can only seem to care (about) one of those things.”

When “Omni” debuted with the Seattle outfit’s strongest sales and chart positioning yet, its ascension continued. Instead of celebrating, Minus the Bear launched right back into touring, which they’ve done nearly constantly, and looked into another disc. The recently released “Hold Me Down” EP is available for free on the group’s website and continues its near-perfect string of annual releases.

“We want to stay relevant in people’s minds, so we try to get out something every year,” Murchy said. “It allows us to look at songs in new ways, too.”

The band has been taken with reinterpretations of its polished, altrock anthems, releasing a seven-track album of acoustic versions of old songs and a complete remix of its beloved 2005 LP, “Menos el Oso.”

“The remixes are fun, because we just ship them off to people and get these completely different visions of our songs, which makes us look at it in a different way as well. It’s neat to see our music through someone else’s eyes,” Murchy said. “There’s a little electronic element to our songs, the pedals, the samples, and we all love DJ and electronic music, so it felt like a natural progression and experiment. It’s really worked out.”

“Hold Me Down” contains one such remix — a fan-created reworking of “Omni”’s lead single — and sometimes, Minus the Bear thinks they did it better.

“The remix of ‘My Time’ is bitchin’. It’s bangin’,” Murchy said, laughing. “There are a lot of others that were just as good as the originals. Sometimes, I’d rather just listen to them.”

 
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