Tune In Saturdays: Evangelicals

Well, it's official. There are at least two good things to come out of Oklahoma. No, it's not tornadoes and trailer parks. It's the Flaming Lips and a Norman, Oklahoma band they quite obviously influenced, the Evangelicals. While it's hard to be quite as weird as the lips, or as weird as they used to be anyway, the Evangelicals are full of oddity-infused psych-pop, some nice melodies and a grungy backbone. Good stuff.

From Stereogum:

"This is a great album, a big, sprawling, mess of a trip through the band's unhinged and unruly musical vocabulary. It's a strain of pop, no mistake there; but as made by kids from Oklahoma weaned on the Lips and Scooby Doo re-runs, on 8-bit pastimes and '80s bands (U2, the Smiths, even the Cure circa "Just Like Heaven" come through virtuosic singer-guitarist Josh Jones's home blend). Now take that mess of modifiers and run it through a kaleidoscope, and you've got the mighty first cut:"

Evangelicals - Skeleton Man (mp3)
Evangelicals - Another Day (video)