Charles Martin's Blog, page 13

If you’re looking for a little more screamo in your indie rock … Naturalist – Friends EP Review

Naturalist Friends EP

Thursday, Sept 3

Tour kickoff

Dope Chapel

115 S Crawford Ave in Norman

Within the first 20 seconds of their new EP, Naturalist unleashes a jarring declaration of their unlikely hybrid of low-key rock and raw punk styles. The OKC band’s distinct sound plays better than one might initially imagine. It doesn’t hit all at once, but draws the listener in with some familiarly tender guitars and atmospherics before walloping the ears with a raw, uncompromising bout of shouting, restrained just enough to form coherent words. These are the lead vocals, and they pull the listener through a heavy dose of angst and despair over the course of the record.

The instrumental elements have their distorted moments, but for the most part, Friends appears to relish in its contrasts by keeping the swirling alt rock vibes coursing under the overt lead vocal tone. This dynamic brings out unexpected dimensions in each.  There are a number of other vocalists featured on the album as well, bringing a welcome variety that serves to bridge these contrasts.

One of the striking aspects of the Friends EP is the track titles, heavily hinting at its conceptual intent. They are all one word and read, in sequence, “I Wish You Were Here.” Each of the five songs explores its word in the context of the album’s overarching themes of religion and relationships. While the tortured vocal delivery ensures that there are some painful thoughts and feelings at the heart of these songs, they don’t always translate into words. The lyrics here aren’t always as poetic as they might aspire to be, but there are a few moments that feel profound within their context of the clever structure of the album in full. For instance, the track “Here” ends in a poignant refrain that posits heaven and hell as concepts on Earth rather than places at a distance. It’s one that lingers well after the record has ended.

This is an album crafted with passion and meaning from the ground up, and it shows through in the performances. If you’re looking for a little more screamo in your indie rock or a little more introspection in your hardcore, this is well worth checking out.

Friends is available digitally on bandcamp and iTunes.  You can also follow them on Facebook and ReverbNation for upcoming show dates.

Artists Explore OKC’s Secret Life

The Secret Life of the City

A group exhibition curated by romy owens

Presented by Downtown OKC, Inc.

Opening Reception: Tuesday September 1, 4-6pm

Closing Reception: Thursday, February 11, 2016, 4-6pm

Invited Artist Gallery in the Underground (map here)

Artist and curator,  romy owens (who spells her names and gives quotes in all lower case) invited the Oklahoma City community into the downtown tunnels for a photographic exhibition entitled OKC125. She was surprised by how many visitors remarked that they didn’t know of the existence of the underground network of pedestrian passageways webbed beneath downtown.

“i thought: what are the other secrets that the city holds?” says owens, “i asked eight artists to interpret that concept however they wanted using digital media.”

The Secret Life of the City, an exhibition in the Invited Artist Gallery in the Underground in downtown OKC, is comprised of eight small billboards. Analyzing the unseen, this show features digital design work by Dylan Bradway, Erin DeMoss, Kris Kanaly, Paul Mays, Jason Pawley, Kathleen Shannon, Stephanie Shilling, and Sam Washburn.

Kathleen Shannon, “IN THESE THINGS,” color copy, wheatpaste, birch plywood, 2015

Applied to the walls using wheat paste, these eight designs relinquishe the clean aesthetic we are used to from computer screens, taking on instead the texture associated with traditional street art and billboards. Each four foot by eight foot panel is created using tiled prints of the design on copy paper. Showing the evidence of the hand, the tiles do not always match up exactly, with sporadic bubbles and wrinkles from the labor-intensive process.

Sam Washburn, “Animals in Suits in the Streets,”color copy, wheatpaste, birch plywood, 2015

One thing viewers won’t see in this exhibition is iconic imagery of OKC. Instead, these eight artists explore a variety of themes involving unknown aspects of the city, including astrological readings, hidden culture, private lives, fantasy, and the biological.

From abstract and meaningful to whimsical and nostalgic, these mini billboards reveal details to be found every day around Oklahoma City.

The Underground tunnels are already home to several permanent art installations, but the increasing frequency of rotating art exhibitions, in part thanks to owen’s curation, is not only helping to increase the visibility of art in the city, but also increases awareness of the underground itself. owens has expressed her hope “to further the conversation about art in public places” and to ”make the underground a downtown destination.”

Tulsa Chillwave – Midnight Static Review

If music is meant to transport the mind and soul to another place and time, then leave it to Tulsa electronic act Midnight Static to show his listeners the way to the little oasis he’s crafted on his debut LP, Orange Sunshine. As the title suggests, it’s an album designed to be relaxing and positive and this is proven even further by visually descriptive track titles like “Kaleidoscope Sun,” “Synthesized Dreams,” and “Summertime Skyline.” He knows exactly where he wants to take the listener.

This is an instrumental chillwave record through and through. Between the peppered-in vinyl crackles and the retro synth sounds, Orange Sunshine is clearly meant to give off a throwback feel. Normally, one might expect an album like this in modern times to be entirely drenched in reverb, but there’s a welcome show of restraint on that front. The steady drum beats have a clarity that keeps the music from drifting too far into the subconscious as the soft, breezy melodic textures float into the sky. While each track adds its own mid-tempo groove to the mix, in the end, they all still swirl together like a distant memory of a summer’s day at the beach, and that’s not a bad thing.

The supply and demand for this kind of music will probably predestine Orange Sunshine to go unregarded by most audiences, especially given that there are no lyrics of any kind. It aims more to be an atmospheric backdrop, and though its ambitions feel safe within the chillwave/dreampop genre, it’s very well executed. Midnight Static displays some fine tonal chops for a full-length debut. This effort has proven that, with a good map, he can pinpoint exactly where he wants to go.

Orange Sunshine is currently available as a free download on Bandcamp, so if you’re looking for some positive, laid back mood music or just something to play in the background while working, it comes easily recommended. You might just come back with a few tanlines.

Orange Sunshine by Midnight Static

INAUGURAL LITERATI TWO DAY, THREE CITY WORLD TOUR!

THREE CITIES!

TWO DAYS!

SIX MEMBERS OF THE LITERATI TRYING TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!

EXPLOSION!

MOUNTAIN DEW* FLYING THROUGH THE AIR!

NINJA CHOP!

Let’s Make Comics at H & 8th w/ Natasha Alterici & Kristen Grace

7-10 pm Friday, August 28

815 N. Hudson in OKC

Let’s Make Comics at Speeding Bullet w/ Natasha Alterici & Kristen Grace

11 am – 1 pm Saturday, August 29

614 N. Porter in Norman

KC Zine Con w/ Charles Martin, Don Rosencrans, Marty Peercy, and Michael Martin

11 am – 7 pm Saturday, August 29

Uptown Theater 411 Valentine Road in Kansas, City, MO

Let’s Make Comics at New World w/ Natasha Alterici & Kristen Grace

2-4 pm Saturday, August 29

6219 N. Meridian in OKC

*Mountain Dew sponsorship of the INAUGURAL LITERATI TWO DAY, THREE CITY WORLD TOUR still pending.

 

 

“Tell the boys stories where girls are smart and strong.”—Dear Literati

“As a momma who’s raising her daughter to know about strong women and showing her that she can be a strong woman, in what ways can a momma of young boys do the same thing? As in showing the boys that women are strong too, and that they should be treated as such rather than as someone who is weaker. My boys are young but I just can’t help but think that if we raised boys differently, then maybe there’d be less guys who are abusive to women.”

When I read this question, my mind began reeling with the all different topics that would have to be covered in my answer. Consent, the wage gap, chivalry, inclusive feminism, the Bechdel test, rape culture, Planned Parenthood, dress codes—and just before I started to write back saying I couldn’t possibly answer this question without writing a 500 page parenting manual, my eye fell on my nine-year-old daughter sitting across the table from me, painting a picture of a girl in a red cape.

For fun, I read this question to her and asked what she thought. She immediately said, “Tell the boys stories where girls are smart and strong.” I watched her draw a superhero for a few seconds longer, made a mental note to ask for her advice more often, and then thanked her. I agree with my daughter. Knowledge of the issues can come later. Stories change us, shape us, and save us.

Starting now, in the stories you tell, read, and watch with your sons, always be striving for a mix of characters and perspectives: girl heroes (The Golden Compass), boy heroes (Big Hero 6), girls and boys working together as a team (The Secret Garden) or as part of a community (the Harry Potter Series), children from other countries and cultures (Sense Pass King), children who look different than most kids do (Wonder), stories about transgendered folks (I Am Jazz), stories about animals (Charlotte’s Web) and even stories about space aliens (E.T.).

As living beings, we have many things in common with one another. We learn this, if we learn it anywhere, by listening to one another’s stories.

But what if your sons are not interested in those stories?

There are studies that tell us most men won’t read books by women, whether they’re making a conscious decision about it or not. It starts early—Joanne K. Rowling was so that boys would buy her books. Perhaps that’s why all the trailers for Mad Max: Fury Road disguised the fact that the movie is almost entirely about Furiousa and the Brides. In our culture, women read stories that are written by, and even solely about, men. We will watch movies and television about men’s lives and experiences. Men’s refusal to become invested in the stories of women is culturally learned. Therefore, it can be culturally unlearned.

If you start while they’re young, you can help your sons realize that girls, and their stories, are interesting and important. And boys who believe that the lives, struggles and achievements of girls are of interest will be more likely to become empathetic teenagers and adults. They will be young men who live and breathe somewhere outside the ugly grasp of Rape Culture. They will be men who are far less likely to abuse their girlfriends or wives.

Raising children who will become feminists is an enormous issue, and it helps to have resources. I check in with the following sites via Facebook, and they’ve been helpful starting places in educating myself, learning about issues and events happening around the world, and how to talk with children about them: Everyday Feminism, A Mighty Girl, Feminist Frequency, Feministing, and Women You Should Know.

Comixology chooses Heathen for the cover image of the Great Indie Comics newsletter.

“This riveting tale steeped in Viking myth is energetically illustrated and follows a socially-relevant hero’s journey.” – ComiXology

“Amazing…powerful, grounded fantasy tale with a feminist angle.” – JohnFialkov

Surprising Political Opinions of Animals in the Wild: Opossum

The Lost Cartoons of Jack Fowler – On OKC Education

London Cool in Film Row – Ripple Green Review

Ripple Green w/ OKC Ballet and Matt Stansberry and the Romance

7 pm Friday, August 21

Premiere on Film Row Center Stage

Lee and Sheridan in Oklahoma City

ripplegreenmusic.com

Free show

British swagger must be contagious because Ripple Green’s latest effort struts like nothing they’ve done before. After an extended stay in the UK last year as part of ACM@UCO’s exchange program, Ripple Green returned with a retooled sound, new recordings, and, it appears, a burning drive to rock Oklahoma City’s indie music scene.

All of this culminates in Timepiece, the OKC rock trio’s new four-track EP, which relishes in tight song structure and crisp sound design from beginning to end. Ripple Green has been compared to Sublime and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the latter makes especially good sense on this record—the title track has a chorus that could have been lifted straight from the RHCP catalogue. From the confident, vocally centered grooves of that chorus to the cool, familiar melodies of “Birds,” the three-piece band brings accessibility and catchiness front and center. The supporting guitars mostly blend in with other background musical elements varying from rock piano to airy vocal refrains, though there are occasionally moments given for them to shine. This is an album that owes more to a driving beat than a strong riff.

To listeners familiar with Ripple Green’s earlier work, this will likely come as a revelation. Previous EP releases found the OKC rock trio boasted long-form songwriting across progressive tempo and time signature twists and turns. In fact, one of those EPs only has three tracks yet clocks in at five minutes longer than Timepiece. The older music isn’t offered online by the band anymore, and if that isn’t enough to suggest a total rebranding, one needs only see the cover art for Timepiece. It pictures the band members as sleek, young contemporaries on a bare green background as if to introduce themselves for the first time.

This is a comparatively mainstream record, but Ripple Green’s sophistication ensures that it isn’t dumbed down. With the exception of an awkward moment or two on the sexually suggestive “Making A Man,” the lyrics remain conceptual and interesting, like on the superb chorus to “Timepiece.” There are also plenty of subtle modular musical changes over the course of any given song. “Birds” transitions seamlessly from an acoustic swing time to an electric straight 4/4 in its first minute, and the closer, “Marble Arch,” even throws in a delightfully screwy time signature a couple of times.

With the new fire carried back from Britain and the Okie-bred production work of Graham Colton (who himself journeyed through reinvention on Lonely Ones, his full-length from last year), Ripple Green have struck upon a cohesive, defining sound with Timepiece, and they’re wearing it with confidence.

You can pick up a digital or physical copy of Timepiece at Ripple Green’s official website, or if you want to give it a listen first, it is currently streaming on Spotify and Soundcloud. You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay tuned on upcoming show dates and projects.

The Lost Cartoons Of Jack Fowler-On Subtlety