The SweetWater — Moonshine

Rock
Joshua Boydston
Oklahoma City rock act The SweetWater works for something wholly unique in its full-length debut, and while it’s a tall order to hone down influences as varied as Queens of the Stone Age, Black Crowes and Alice in Chains, the band does an admirable job of it with Moonshine.

 

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Black Jack Gypsys — 3:1

Rock
Joshua Boydston

Oklahoma City trio The Black Jack Gypsys doesn’t engage in any rock ’n’ roll posturing in its debut EP, 3:1. It’s the real deal.

 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

JD McPherson — Signs & Signifiers

All 'Signs' point to excellence.

Rock
Matt Carney
If anybody in Oklahoma is most likely to capitalize on wide-audience distribution right now, it must be Broken Arrow’s R&B-flavored rocker JD McPherson, whose debut album, Signs & Signifiers, was re-released last week by Rounder Records.

 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Typist — Midwestern High Life

Rock
Matt Carney
A lot of frustration is unbottled by The Typist’s debut album.

 

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Kill the Reflection — Together ... Apart ...

Rock
Matt Carney
Somewhere between Depth & Current’s thematic explorations of living in a broken world and Broncho’s uptempo pop-punk resides Oklahoma City trio Kill the Reflection, minus the two previous bands’ shoegaze and pop.

 

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Cloud Nothings — Attack on Memory

Don’t be fooled by the title. This punk gem harkens back to days of plenty.

Rock
Matt Carney
It’s pretty tempting to call “Attack on Memory,” the latest album by Cleveland punks Cloud Nothings the work of a punkist, that being its obviously talented front man Dylan Baldi. That’s a compliment, I promise.

 

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Royal Baths — Better Luck Next Life

Mix the dirty blues, paranoia and ugly guitars, and you’ve got a winner of a sophomore album.

Rock
Matt Carney
It sounds Jeremy Cox and Jigmae Baer got the best of both coasts.

 

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Peach — Peachy-P

Rock
Matt Carney
Get it? “Peachy-P”? As in, “Peach EP”? Well, I thought it was kinda funny.

 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Black Keys — El Camino

Good job, whoever convinced Danger Mouse to loosen up a bit.

Rock
Matt Carney
Drummer and hilarious tweeter Patrick Carney recently explained DJ Danger Mouse’s (aka Brian Burton, the production half of Gnarls Barkley) role producing “El Camino,” The Black Keys’ seventh LP in nine years: “For this album, The Black Keys became a three-piece band.”

 

Friday, December 16, 2011

Zombie Vs. Shark — Wunderkind/Dogs & Guns

Rock
Matt Carney
Norman’s Zombie vs. Shark embody a lot of the purest tenets of rock ’n’ roll, the foremost being the long-standing premise that loud, rude guitar music is one of the best, most fun ways of waggling a middle finger in the face of The Man.

 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Depth & Current — Depth & Current

Norman guitar loudsmiths engineer an awesome sonic nightmare.

Rock
Matt Carney
I always enjoy conversations — be they digital or in-person — with Hook Echo Sound and Nice People Records owner/engineer/operator Chris Harris, mainly as he’s one of the Oklahoma music community’s few remaining people who speaks his mind forcefully and directly.

 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Crown Imperial — Crown Imperial

Rock
Joshua Boydston
Not much more than a year-old, Norman’s Crown Imperial already proves it’s a force to be reckoned with, on its self-titled debut. In just 16 minutes, the band flexes a knack for versatility, an eye for cohesiveness and an ear for massively addictive melodies.

 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Philip Zoellner Band — Lean On

Rock
Matt Carney
As far as straightforward, unpretentious, classic-sounding rock goes, Tulsa’s Philip Zoellner Band delivers with “Lean On,” Bad Company-inspired guitars and storytelling lyrics included.

 

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Lemma — Lemma

Rock
Matt Carney
Lemma’s self-titled full-length crackles to life with a big ol’ baritone and spaghetti-Western guitar — a brief harbinger of a rock album that draws its influence from a wide range of artists, R.E.M. chief among them.

 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Balkans — Balkans

Buzzy, noisy Atlanta band shows promise, guitar chops.

Rock
Joshua Boydston
Musically, I’m a sucker for many things. Chief among them is anything related to post-punk and garage rock. Bloc Party was my off-ramp from Linkin Park, while No Age and Wavves have dominated my total plays on iTunes for about two years now.

 

Monday, October 24, 2011