Last Updated on May 17, 2023, 9:15 AM | Published: May 17, 2023
There’s a lot to be made of OKC’s many cohesive scenes, genres, and sub-genres, especially within the city’s variously splintered rock worlds.
We have a passionate, hungry punk scene. We have a powerful, surprisingly robust metal scene. And of course, we have the increasingly successful and visible indie-rock/dream-pop scene, spun out of the kind of pseudo-psychedelics and ironic dissociation that the Flaming Lips writ large across OKC music so many years ago.
But step outside of those more easily defined and labeled rock styles and you’ll find that our city boasts some seriously adventurous rockers, from charging, energetic intensity to arena-ready new wave to some seriously boundary-pushing acts that outright defy categorization.
photocopy – “Wildcat”
A rumbling, split-second bass riff grabs you by the throat and drags you into this raucous post-punk bash from OKC’s photocopy.
An insistent, driving downbeat and a chugging wall of fuzz recall the heyday of alt-rock legends The Walkmen, only relenting when they fall into an undeniably nod-worthy half-time chorus that could almost be mistaken for a hardcore track.
It’s all punk-rock energy with a goth-rock attitude, and the band nails that combination, no easy feat considering that most of their output until now has been much more in line with the chill, synth, dream-pop style than anything resembling turn-of-the-century New York post-punk.
If this is an indication of where photocopy’s energy is headed, then we should all be here for it.
Follow photocopy online at @photocopyok on Twitter and @photocopyband on Instagram.
Big Weather – “Night Before Sunrise”
As one of the buzziest new acts in OKC rock, Big Weather have been riding a string of singles and increasingly high-profile city gigs, all with no larger album or EP anywhere in sight.
In fact, when I asked them recently if we should expect a full-length any time soon, the answer was essentially “probably not.” The singles game is working for them as they continue developing their sound and fine-tuning the already almost perfectly realized power-pop/arena-rock hybrid they’ve created.
The trio’s newest single cracks open with a massive snare kickoff and a synth-y fanfare pulled right out of the best early Killers tracks, and then settles itself into something a bit more groovy than “Breakfast Club” but a lot more chill and dramatic than “Family Name.”
As ever, it’s all glued together by singer Chase Kerby’s impressive pipes, not just because he can reach for the high notes and hold onto them, but because he’s dialed in the kind of restraint required to make those moments meaningful.
Follow Big Weather online at @bigweatherokc on Instagram.
Blue Morrison – “Bird”
When newcomers Blue Morrison dropped their debut single “Paul & the Devil” back in September, I called them one of the most interesting new acts on the scene.
The hotly anticipated follow-up “Bird” not only reinforces that, it pretty well doubles down on all the wacky, left-field antics and earnest commitment that made “Paul” pop.
The band invokes the same manic energy and choppy, stuttering riffs, but this time they’re laying down a genuine groove and playing it a bit looser, falling somewhere intriguingly between reggae and jam band.
Where “Paul & the Devil” called for easy comparisons to Talking Heads and Oingo Boingo with its tightened, crazy-eyed urgency, “Bird” actually feels more like crossing avant-pop with the effortlessly catchy, breezy 70s golden age of soft-rock.
Like if Looking Glass hit their heads really hard and wrote a song before the swelling went down.
Follow Blue Morrison online at @blue_morrison on Instagram.
SHIFT – “I’m Nowhere”
When upstart, prodigy prog-rockers SHIFT dropped their debut album “Timelines” last year, I was floored by the adherence to weirdo prog convention and how fully they’d embraced the most densely technical cornerstones of the genre while retaining the heart as well as the oft-forgotten fun and willful craziness.
But now they’re back with their first single since that album, “I’m Nowhere,” and for all their instrumental wizardry and technical prowess, the track hits you with an element you might not expect:
It’s pretty sad.
Rather than try to top the wild virtuosity of “Timelines,” the new track casts off any showiness and instead veers into something much more akin to modern minimalist jazz, using its quietly impressive instrumentation to decorate its quietly sad, lonely space.
The song tells of isolation and confusion, and of the inextricable connection between the two, top an ambient landscape of fluid, melodic bass and terribly effective impressionistic drumming.
The synthesizers that created an otherworldly wall of sound on “Timelines” simply twinkle and drip throughout “I’m Nowhere,” occasionally rising up to meet a swelling moment or taking a solo like crying out from the dark.
The members of SHIFT have assured me that they’ve been hard at work crafting something significantly different, more experimental, and more mature for their full-length follow-up to “Timelines.”
If “I’m Nowhere” represents the avenues they’re taking, then they just might pull off that promise.
Follow SHIFT online at @shift.band on Instagram.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 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.
