Norman Music Festival reveals 2018 headliners
Norman Music Festival will return in 2018 for its 11th rendition.
The free, annual downtown Norman celebration remains one of the biggest concert events in the state and runs April 26-28. Organizers revealed three new festival acts on Monday morning. Electronic pop duo Tune
Yards will headline the festival’s Saturday main stage. On Friday, rockers Parquet Courts will perform, and Thursday will feature the dreamy sounds of Japanese Break-
fast. The announcement combines the festival’s headlining history, nodding to the under the radar indie acts booked in NMF’s early years (of Montreal, Dirty Projectors) and the garage rock headliners (Thee Oh Sees, Cloud Nothings) of recent years.
As always, NMF also will feature hundreds of local and regional acts, too. The festival’s open call for bands continues and will end Dec. 15. For more information, go to www.normanmusicfestival.com/apply. Bouncing back Festival organizer Joshua Boydston said the festival has been prepping year-round for April’s concerts. He said he’s eager to see a featured headliner on each night of NMF.
“There’s been an emphasis on Saturday over the years,” he told The Oklahoman. “I’d like to see the festival grow. Saturday has gotten as big as it functionally could. I’d love to see that for Thursday and Friday.”
In 2016, roughly 100,000 patrons visited Norman for the threeday concert event. Attendance dipped in 2017
because of rain and cold weather on the festival’s last day, but Boydston noted the festival’s resilience.
“We have a rainy-day fund,” said Boydston, who helps book NMF talent. “It stinks to have
(bad weather), but luckily everybody has worked hard to make sure we’d be OK. The festival might not be here if it had happened in the early years.
“We still had a memorable, fun festival. We want sunny days and warm weather every time, but I guess 10 straight years of a late April festival means you’re bound to get one
of them rained on.”
Here’s to hoping NMF can weather the weather in 2018.
In tune
Merrill Garbus, of TuneYards, released her debut record eight years ago and is prepping a fourth full-length LP called “I can feel you creep into my private life.” It lands
in January via 4AD and marks the first time her collaborator, Nate Brenner, is listed as an official Tune-Yards member. The band’s glitchy, bombastic pop leanings nodded to the 1980s with the new single “Look at Your Hands.”
Parquet Courts has had a prolific output over the past several years, spawning multiple side projects and even instrumental recordings. The New York-based quartet also is taking its jaunty, freewheeling songs to the nearby LEVITATION in Austin, Texas, the same week as NMF. Last month, Parquet Courts released “MILANO,” a collaborative album with Italian composer Daniele Luppi and Karen O, of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Michelle Zauner, of Japanese Breakfast, introduced her debut album “Psychopomp” in 2016 and quickly followed up with this year’s “Soft Sounds from Another Planet.”
There’s elements of shoegaze, rock and electronic music swirling together in her heartfelt ballads. Check out her freshly released Tiny Desk Concert performance.