We all like to party — some of us maybe a little harder than others. But no matter the degree to which you do it, we can all agree that partying of all stripes is just flat-out better with music. And that’s why some of Oklahoma’s fastest-rising musicians — among other things — will be flowing through the shindig we’re throwing Saturday at OKC’s Blue Note Lounge, one of the city’s most revered and historic music venues.
Here’s what we have on tap:
Sardashhh (9 p.m.)
(Photo: Joshua Boydston)
There’s a reason Sardashhh’s Vol. 2 was voted as the best local album of 2014 by certain individuals: Instrumental hip-hop this adventurous, this masterfully assembled, doesn’t come around too often, no matter your geographical coordinates. One of the crucial anchors of the fast-rising Safari Collective, Sardashhh’s soulful, sample-heavy beats hit as hard and penetrate as deep as any producer this side of Madlib. As Joshua Boydston put it in the Oklahoma Gazette last month, “It’s life in music with all its ups and downs, a racing flash of your past before your eyes that makes you all the more excited for the thrill ride laying ahead of us all.”
Rachel Brashear (10 p.m.)
ACM@UCO product Rachel Brashear brandishes her guitar in a diverse — yet always affecting — fashion. Whether through piercing riffs that recall Fugazi and Liz Phair in equal measure, or with soulful, delicate strums — as demonstrated by her lovely acoustic covers — Brashear displays a technical songwriting acumen that draws from and extends well beyond her years. But perhaps her music’s most alluring element is her smooth-yet-biting vocal aptitude, which veils any perceived lightness in favor of a sound that is often downright chilling.
Deus Eyeslow (11 p.m.)
Of the many prospective rhyme-spitters set to emerge from Oklahoma, few, if any, have a ceiling as high as Norman emcee Deus Eyeslow. With the aid of producer Shawny C — whose ‘90s-indebted beats occasionally recall a murkier, 808-driven DJ Premier — Deus put out a supremely head-bobbing mixtape in last year’s Lyrical Voodoo, and he has no intention of slowing down in 2015. Explosively acrobatic and diverse flows like his are usually the talk of the town in hip-hop hotbeds, and it’s only a matter of time before Deus’ does here.
IndianGiver (12 a.m.)
(Photo: Todd Scott)
Within the 2014 Oklahoma music landscape, IndianGiver made one of the most significant leaps forward with its Understudies EP, four songs that were as patently expressive as they were challenging. Eight months later, the modest five-piece is putting the finishing touches on its fervently anticipated follow-up, which those in the know have described as another significant creative progression. With a live performance that does justice to, if not eclipses, the band’s recorded material, the degree of blissful harmonization and gaping guitar swells to be on display Saturday is anyone’s guess.
