Tuesday 18 Jun
 
 

New Zoo revue

As the bitter battle over management of the Zoo Amphitheatre played out in public last summer, Oklahoma City music fans may have worried whether the outdoor venue at 2011 N.E. 50th would be open for business this summer.
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Howard stern

Music always has been in Howard Pollack’s blood — maybe not onstage, but definitely behind the scenes.
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Graves encounters

Shakey Graves with Wild Child and Marmalakes
10:30 p.m. Thursday
The Blue Door
2805 N. McKinley
bluedoorokc.com
524-0738
$15
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Vulgar incident

Vulgar Fashion with Depth & Current and Quilted Cherry Podium
8 p.m. Friday
Opolis
113 N. Crawford, Norman
opolis.org
820-0951
free
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Music Made Me: Laura Leighe

Boyz II Men, II (1994)
I believe this was the first CD that I bought with my own allowance at Duncan’s local music store. It’s another really fun, soulful album — vocally, harmonically, musically outstanding. I remember lying on my bedroom floor and studying the lyrics, mesmerized for hours. I loved the singles, but my favorites were the opening track, “Thank You,” and the last track, their gorgeous, soul-grabbing rendition of The Beatles’ “Yesterday.” I was just learning about harmony at the time, and loved listening to their rich, thick, beautiful sound.
06/11/2013 | Comments 0
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Electronica

Washed Out — Within and Without


Has a band's name ever better captured its sound?

Matt Carney July 11th, 2011

Back in 2009, Ernest Greene recorded two of the year’s most widely praised EPs with cheap, airy synthesizers at his parents’ house in rural Georgia.

washedoutwithinandwithout

The end products, discovered on his MySpace page by excited bloggers, established Washed Out as a distinct house beat-driven sub-style in chillwave, contemporary to the likes of Toro Y Moi and Neon Indian. They also earned Greene a deal with Sub Pop.

So not long after the former dropped his excellent “Underneath the Pine” and Alan Palomo’s dalliances with The Flaming Lips, Greene has returned to the electronic spotlight with “Within and Without”, his debut LP assisted by Animal Collective producer Ben Allen (recent résumé spots include AC’s “Merriweather Post Pavillion” and Deerhunter’s “Halcyon Digest”).

Much to Greene’s credit, “Within and Without” retains his bedroom releases’ most distinct quality: their edge-less, lo-fi laptop approach to song construction. Each track here is anchored by a simple, steady-as-she-goes house beat and plodding bass that are covered with bleached sheet synths and whispery vocals that never really soar or even solidly manifest. They surround.

The beats hit hardest on the title track, eventually giving out to an electronic pitter-pattering fadeout, suggestive of raindrops on a lake. “Far Away” distinguishes itself here with some really intimate, murky lyrics evocative of a lo-fi take on The xx.

“Within and Without” adheres pretty strictly to chillwave’s modus operandi: looping, ’80s-influenced synth samples; moderate to high danceability; and lyrics so shoegazey that your two feet blur and twist into a single, liquid entity. —Matt Carney

And p.s. the album drops tomorrow, but if you hurry you can still stream it over at NPR Music.

 
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