OKLAHOMA CITY – Usually, we’d think of the summer season as the expected annual period for album releases, as the kids enjoy lighter workloads and more disposable income and the bands ready a warm season touring schedule.
But I think we’re all aware by now that OKC artists don’t really play the rules.
So maybe that’s why the year-end months are gearing up for a veritable flood of new album drops from bands covering a wide swath of OKC’s musical landscape, including indie, psych, emo, jazz-pop, and country folk.
But, of course, I’m not just here to put these new album releases on your radar.
There’s more, because we all know that a band can’t drop a record without the now requisite album release show, that most joyous and important celebration of the herculean effort it takes to create and release a full-length offering in the age of streaming singles and daily content.
Writing, recording, and completing an album is all tough enough as it is, so to add all the booking, rehearsal, and prep for a release show on top is no small feat. And it’s often is one of the most triumphant moments for an artist both capping the creation process and kicking off the record’s new public life at the same time.
So before you get these new albums in your ears, and before you read all my thoughts and breakdowns of them in this very column, get these shows on your calendar so that you can celebrate this remarkably rich season of creation alongside the artists themselves.
Skylily / Sky Hemenway – Resonant Head – Friday, November 14th
You’d be hard pressed to find a more confident or assertive voice in the realm of gently emotional and creatively layered indie-pop than OKC’s Sky Hemenway, who recently adopted the moniker Skylily for her musical output just before dropping her debut “Dirt Angel” last week.
It’s an album of floating, dreaming, heart-on-sleeve anthems, and because it’s out and streaming right now, you’ve got plenty of time to learn all the words to sing along at the official release show this Friday.
For times, tickets, and more information, visit resonanthead.com.
Brainwasher – Resonant Head – Friday, November 28th
The newest committedly psychedelic spin-off from the Flaming Lips camp, OKC’s Brainwasher sees longtime Lips touring members Tommy McKinzie and Matthew Kirksey striking out as a duo and infusing their electro-heavy psych-pop with a healthy dose of dark, 90s-style trip-hop on their October-dropped debut “39 Lightyears from Heaven.”
So the hypercolor lights and liminal space aesthetics of Capitol Hill’s Resonant Head make for the perfect environment for them to finally celebrate the album’s release properly a full month on, and with support from recent raucous rock standouts Lover Girl, no less.
For times, tickets, and more information, visit resonanthead.com.
Ben Quad – Beer City Music Hall – Saturday, November 29th
One of the most explosively popping bands from the OKC scene, epic, guitar-shredding emo kids Ben Quad are lately blowing up across the country and generating some serious – and welcome – attention for our city.
Their new LP “Wisher” – the quartet’s first since signing to legendary emo label Pure Noise Records – stands to be their biggest release ever when it drops this Friday, the 14th. But the real party’s set to be on the 29th at Beer City when these hometown heroes officially celebrate the album’s release in front of what’s sure to be a packed house of like-minded pop-punk rabble rousers.
For times, tickets, and more information, visit beercitymusichall.com.
Donovan Funk – Resonant Head – Friday, December 5th
OKC art-rock hero Donovan Funk’s last full-length offering, “Subjective Reality,” was one of the highlights of 2022 for its shocking emotional depth and boundary-smearing willingness to explore the perimeters of alternative, indie, grunge, and glam simultaneously.
So it’s no wonder that his upcoming “For a Moment, I was Warm” is generating some serious anticipation here. But there’s an added element of buzz surrounding the new album because it’s also set to be Funk’s last under his own name as he winds own the Donovan Funk brand in favor of developing and focusing on new projects.
All of which means that the December 5th release show will be carrying some especially loaded weight, not only as a celebration of the new record, but a potential sendoff to this iteration of Funk’s musical identity.
For times, tickets, and more information, visit resonanthead.com.
Rachel & Griffin – Blue Door – Saturday, December 13th
After cutting their full debut album live on the Blue Door stage back in June, wild-eyed indie/country/folk couple Rachel Lynch and Griffin Wade will return to the scene of the crime to finally launch the finished product into the world.
The album itself was recorded live to capture the duo’s barely contained bantering and communal, kicked-back stage energy, so you can be sure to expect even more of the vibes, laughs, and singalongs to celebrate the drop.
For times, tickets, and more information, visit bluedoorokc.com.
Bee & the Hive – Resonant Head – Saturday, December 20th
When breakout jazz-pop quintet Bee & the Hive dropped their full-length debut “That’s Cute!” all the way back in April, they celebrated with a star-making, post-storm Main Stage set at the Norman Music Festival, but never got the chance for a proper release show.
Well, that all finally changes next month when the now multi-state-spanning band returns to one of their very favorite stages to celebrate the album right and to lay the groundwork for a new phase of one of OKC’s buzziest (pun fully intended) young bands with rumblings of a possible new single debut.
And surely it’s not too much to ask for them to slip in a sax-ified pop-punk holiday carol, right?
For times, tickets, and more information, visit resonanthead.com.
You can find out about local music and performance happenings in the OKC metro weekly in this music column by Brett Fieldcamp. | Brought to you by True Sky Credit Union.
Brett Fieldcamp is our Arts and Entertainment Editor. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for 15+ years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
