Golden Ones Attempt to Revive Rock ‘N’ Roll with “Hot Lunch”

Golden Ones, a rock band from Tulsa, released their debut EP, Hot Lunch, on Bandcamp earlier this year (April 19th) and it’s definitely one for the books.

The EP is electrifying; pure rock combined with punk attitude make for an invigorating listen from start to finish. It’s familiar in that their influences are recognizable (elements from David Bowie, Alice Cooper, etc. are very much evident in the songs), yet every bit of it is refreshingly original and new.

This EP isn’t for picking apart. There are no meanings to piece together and decipher. Everything is fairly straightforward. Instead of toying with elaborate metaphors, layered melodies, and clean vocals, the band implements clashes and growls and rebellious behavior – everything that can be found in a classic rock song.

For Golden Ones, it’s all about how the music makes you feel; surface deep lyrics that give Sarah Dickenson an excuse to show off her powerful and wailing voice find themselves unable to measure up to the electric instrumentals. Instead, the music rains down on the listener, a wave that refuses to be denied; and yet, upon its abrupt departure, it leaves the listener gasping for more with parched ears.

Each song is pure rock’n’roll. There’s a flair to the grinding and growling of the instruments, a hint of drama mixed in the melodies, that brings out the rebel in the artists. From grizzly discussion of the underbelly of glamorous rock in the opening track, “Cycle,” to the glitzy love song that is “Ain’t Nothin’ Better,” the collection relates to every aspect of a dream rock star life.

The EP consists of five songs. The band released one of them, “Ain’t Nothin’ Better,” earlier in the year as a single to give us a taste of their chosen sound. The five are all that the band has released as of yet since their conception in 2017. However, despite their shallow catalog, the band admitted in an interview with Preview 918 that they have a decent arsenal at their disposal but were choosing to work on live shows while slowly releasing a couple of singles before actually recording new music.

Golden Ones will be playing tonight, June 14th, at Soul City in Tulsa at 9 pm. Check them out on all social media and music streaming sites and make sure to listen to Hot Lunch.

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The Sweet Talkers Break Out with “Electric Affair”

Oklahoma City band The Sweet Talkers released their debut EP, Electric Affair, today, May 31st. It was recorded with Johnny Manchild, who will be making an appearance to play keys for one of the songs at their next performance. The band describes themselves as Alt-Rock and New Wave with influences from The Killers, New Order, and Joy Division.

Continue reading “The Sweet Talkers Break Out with “Electric Affair”” →

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Cavern Company’s “So This Is Happiness” is Emotional and Optimistic

On May 11th, Cavern Company released their latest EP, So This Is Happiness. The EP consists of five songs – three of which were remastered versions of singles released in 2018 – that journey to the heart of happiness.

The first song, “Falling,” does its best to pump up the listener. The opening of the song swims in optimism, dance elements beginning early. The point is to get the listener ready for the rest of the EP; “Falling” is a preview for the following songs. The repeated, “We’re not ready, but we’ve already started,” puts them ahead of the usual climb, showing them skipping past the usual acclimation period of an album and jumping straight into the good part.

The song discusses not being ready to fall in love but also not really being given a choice. Instead of fighting it, however, the person dives in with the mentality of “it’s already happening, so there’s not stopping it.”

The next track continues with that positivity. “Enough?” can be completely explained by one line found in the third verse: “I keep on breathing for now, I keep on breathing for now.” The song describes breaking free by living one day at a time.

“God Willing” follows the two dance-heavy songs with a more crooning ballad. While it isn’t necessarily a slow song, it does introduce a heavier theme. “God Willing” is absolute emotion; it’s an apology for not treating a past love as well as they should have. However, keeping in theme with happiness and positivity, the song becomes a reflection that ultimately leads to moving on.

Instead of jumping back into the quick paced, dance-y songs that the EP opened with, “Rising Tide” is placed strategically to ease the listener out of the reverie “God Willing” placed them in. It goes straight into the final song, “Body Language.”

After all of the optimism in the other songs, the promotion of staying positive, “Body Language” brings the listener back down to Earth. The song is a call for honesty. “Now you’re doing fine; body language tells me otherwise,” shows them calling out the other songs for claiming this new happy life when there are other darker tones to them. The chorus consists of the singer promising not to let them hide behind false positivity.

So This Is Happiness is an EP that shows a progression towards happiness. It encourages optimism while assuring that it is okay not to be happy yet. Combining pop-infused rock with dance elements and clear vocals, Cavern Company provides a perfect melody that speaks just as loud as the lyrics.

Check out Cavern Company on all social media and music streaming sites. Be sure to listen to So This Is Happiness.

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Hoarseman Shifts Focuses in “Annihilation”

Last month, Hoarseman discussed his new album with us – and at midnight, May 10th, Annihilation dropped.

The album was described to us as the “annihilation of everything political, environmental, and moral.” It is supposed to be the destruction of the high school version of Hoagland in spite of every attempt to hold on to that person.

All of this can be found in the music.

The album begins with a build up in “The Void” – lasting approximately a minute and a half, it only contains an instrumentals with no vox; this short bit is directly in contrast to the nearly eight-minute song that ends the album (“Harrison Burgeron”). The songs sandwiched between these two provide a range of emotions over a variety of topics.

Whether Hoarseman is bemoaning societal issues like in “Annihilation” or crooning about a relationship as he does in “She,” the emotions experienced jump from one to another. There’s frustration, sadness, anger, and a bit of apathy all wrapped in a twelve-song collection.

When we discussed the album, it was made clear that several of the songs were about a failing relationship. “Alive” seems to be one of them; the powerful question of “Isn’t this all you ever wanted? Isn’t this everything you asked for?” sounds like it could be someone asking their partner why they aren’t happy. However, after listening to the song several times, the meaning could double as the speaker’s confusion on his own unhappiness. It sounds like a story about someone chasing a dream and finding it wasn’t what was expected. All he wanted was this dream, and now he isn’t sure why he wanted it because it didn’t meet his expectations.

Several of the songs have a similar disposition of diverging interpretations. Previously released, “Millennial Whoop” has the surface meaning of a celebration of life, the “whoop” for youth, but the song contains the hidden story line of a burned out relationship. It’s a reflection of what went wrong, and it’s the hope that life will go on.

To put it simply, the album in its entirety is Hoarseman’s interpretation of life. Raw honesty is what reigns with special appearances from hopelessness and depression. The dance elements, upbeat moments, provide relief for the heavy topics, but the topics remain.

There’s so much to analyze. Each track is a new story, and there are twelve tracks. The melodies complement the lyrics, only adding to the analysis. Yet, at the end of it all, you just need to listen to the album. Let the music wash over you; make your own judgement. As Hoarseman insisted in the aforementioned interview, he wants people to interpret the music in their own way.

Make sure to check out Hoarseman on all social media and music streaming sites. Listen to Annihilation today:

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Lone Wild Releases Debut Self-Titled Album

On Friday, April 5th, Lone Wild released their debut album, Lone Wild. The album consists of fourteen songs and lasts about fifty-one minutes. Three of the fourteen songs included are a prelude (“Lone Wild”), an interlude (“Homa”), and a postlude (“Feel the Love”).

The entirety of the album can only be described as dance rock. With catchy, upbeat tunes and the hint of 80’s influence, the band throws themselves into the increasingly popular alternative pop genre.

Beginning with the prelude, “Lone Wild,” the album starts with distant voices speaking incoherently. Sixteen seconds later, “Danger Cat” begins playing. Lyrics describing hunting a “danger cat” are chased with steady beats and a suspenseful melody.

“Stranger Ways” is the next track to play. Dreamlike vocals paired with a swaying melody make for an almost seductive draw as the vocalist bemoans the movement of his partner.

The next few songs continue to employ the dance-rock, pop influenced style that bands like the 1975, Bleachers, and Bad Suns have found successful. The music is the kind that contains somewhat serious themes but hides them under a preppy dance blanket of sound.

“Wild Child” is the best example of that preppy dance blanket. From the start, feet are tapping and fingers are snapping. By the middle of the song, it’s pretty much a guarantee to be singing “I’m a wild child/you can’t tame me.” It’s the kind of song that deserves to be shouted while spinning in dizzying circles; it’s the kind of song that will eventually become someone’s anthem.

The following songs are the warm, spinning “Up with the Sun,” the warning of “Spitfire,” and the disco-reminiscent “Sequin Dress.” Each one of these is entirely different from the others, but they are all heavy on keys and inspire their own moves – whether the moves are the spinning of the sunny 7th track or the finger-snapping of a “spitfire” or the kind found at a disco.

“Homa,” the interlude, breaks up the songs with the recording of a phone call in a different language, one of their songs playing in the background. From what I can tell, there is no specific purpose of the split other than to give a background and some additional color. It does lead into the next song, “Seasons,” though.

One of the slower tracks off of the album, “Seasons” is a love song that compares love to different aspects of the seasons. The whole five minutes and sixteen seconds is a beautiful, wistful melody of someone yearning for a reunion with their loved one.

Much like the ending score to a movie, “Feel the Love” ties the whole album up in under a minute. The postlude brings images of the main character of a movie disappearing into the sunset to mind – the perfect “GOODBYE” or “See you later!”

Altogether, the album is beautifully done.

Check out Lone Wild on all social media and music streaming sites.

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