Each week, WKNC compiles a list of charts and adds.  Here are the Afterhours charts for this week.  You can tune into Afterhours programming Tuesday and Wednesday nights starting at 8pm.

Live Nation will be presenting Band of Horses at The Ritz here in Raleigh on Wednesday, May 8th! All this week, WKNC will be giving away tickets, so tune in for your chance to win. Tickets for the show will go on sale this Saturday, February 23rd here! WKNC would like to thank Live Nation for their continued support.

Tune in to WKNC all this week for your chance to win tickets to awesome local shows! Just be the correct caller (919-515-2400) when the DJ asks for it to when a pair of tickets to the following local shows:

Monday, Feb 18 – Black Francis with Reid Paley @ Cat’s Cradle

Tuesday, Feb 19 – Speck Mountain with Humble Tripe @ Kings Barcade

Wednesday, Feb 20 – Menomena with Guards @ Motorco Music Hall

Thursday, Feb 21 – Netherfriends with Canine heart Sounds @ Pinhook

Friday, Feb 22 – The Toddlers with Black Zinfandel and Savage Knights @ Kings Barcade

Sunday, Feb 24 – Foxygen with Naked Gods @ Local 506

I had the great opportunity of being able to interview the duo, Bastinado. They released their album “The Hard Six” at the end of September. It’s done quite well here during WKNC Afterhours, placing in the top 10 most played for weeks.

What makes this act very special and unique is their combination of the extremely old and cutting edge. Joseph B. Carringer has been playing the didgeridoo for over 15 years and Josh Harris is helping lead the way into a new era of insturments by performing with a Reactable Table. This odd combination results in intriguing house and dance music that you will not hear anywhere else.

Their album is free for download from their Facebook. They have also produced a very interesting short documentary about their group and the insturments they use, it is a great watch for anyone wanting to learn about the Reactable Table. It can be watched here on YouTube.

They were very nice guys and I’m glad to have gotten the chance to speak with them.

-Muta

Each week, WKNC compiles a list of charts and adds.  Here are the Afterhours charts for this week.  You can tune into Afterhours programming Tuesday and Wednesday nights starting at 8pm.
TOP TEN:
1 TENSNAKE In The House Defected
2 ROBERT DELONG Just Movement Glassnote
3 FALTY DL Hardcourage Ninja Tune
4 KRIS MENACE Features Compuphonic
5 COLIN EDWIN AND JON DURANT Burnt Belief Alchemy
6 TRUST TRST Arts And Crafts
7 BLUE FOUNDATION In My Mind I Am Free Reconstructed Dead People’s Choice
8 OFFSHORE Bake Haus Big Dada
9 ETIENNE DE CRECY Essentials Pixadelic
10 SUBMOTION ORCHESTRA Fragments Exceptional

Adds:
1 GOLD PANDA Trust Ghostly International
2 IAN POOLEY What I Do Plant Music
3 LUSINE The Waiting Room Ghostly
4 THOMAS AZIER Hylas 001 And 002 EP Bundle Hylas

Thursday, February 14th- Art Lord & the Self-Potraits, GOOGOOLOO, and Lonnie Walker at Kings Barcade, 9pm

While there are many great shows this week that can all be seen here at the Rock Report, there is one show that rises above all the rest. As you probably know, we here at WKNC worship the North Carolina bred synth-pop fanatics Future Islands.  But what you might not know is that Future Islands was not the first endeavor of Samuel Herring, William Cashion, and Gerrit Welmers.  Before Future Islands, the three of them were in a band with Adam Beeby called Art Lord & the Self-Potraits.  They played their first show 10 years ago on Valentine’s Day.  The band toured vigorously around North Carolina as well as a tour with Dan Deacon up and down the East Coast. After 2 years of existence, they laid the Art Lord to rest and started Future Islands.

This Valentine’s Day, Art Lord & the Self-Potraits are getting back together for a 10 year anniversary of their first show to release a double LP retrospective off Friend’s Records entitled The Definitive Collection.  This release is their first vinyl release to date and compiles songs from their four albums.  The show is at Kings Barcade this Thursday at 9pm. Brian Corum opens with a special solo Lonnie Walker set followed by GOOGOOLOO. Art-Lord and the Self-Potraits will then close out the night which is sure to be one of the best shows of this year.  So grab your loved one and come on out to the show.

—
You can check out one of the remastered tracks that will be on the upcoming release here. These songs were all remastered by Talk Normal’s Sarah Register.

Check out a synopsis from Samuel Herring of how Art Lord & the Self-Potraits came to be below:

“AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 1980’S, THE SPECTRUM OF MUSIC AND ART WERE BEING BLOWN WIDE OPEN. THE WORLD WAS CHANGING AND THE PEOPLE WANTED A STAR, AN ICON, TO CHALLENGE THEIR MODE OF THINKING. SOMEONE THEY COULD FOLLOW, WHETHER TO WATCH THEM ASCEND OR PLUMMET INTO THE HISTORY OF TEXTBOOK LORE.

AT THE AGE OF 18, LOCKE ERNST-FROST, WOULD BE SUCH A MAN. PROPELLED INTO BEING—LOCKE—THE SELF-PROCLAIMED, GERMAN LORD OF ART (FROM GERMANY, OHIO), THE NEW YORK ART SCENE BY STORM. GIVING HIS ONE OF A KIND VIEWPOINTS ON THE BANALITY OF LIFE, HE TORE APART THE AMERICAN POP CULTURE IDOLATRY, AND CHASTISED THE WORLD AUDIENCE’S FOOLISHNESS FOR FALLING FOR SUCH SIMPLE TRICKS.

HOWEVER, THIS PROVED TO BE TOO GREAT OF A CHALLENGE FOR THE YOUNG MAN. WHILE THE WORLD HERALDED HIM AS THE SAVIOR OF ART, HE REALIZED THAT HE WAS BECOMING THE THING THAT HE DESPISED. THE SPOTLIGHT WAS TOO GREAT, THE LEVEL OF OBSERVATION TOO HIGH. HE WANTED TO ESCAPE THE LIFE HE HAD CREATED. AND SO, AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 19 HE BANISHED HIMSELF FROM THE SPOTLIGHT, TO A BUNKER IN ZURICH, NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

FLASH FORWARD, FEBRUARY 2003, LOCKE ERNST-FROST EMERGES FROM THE BANKS OF THE TAR RIVER, IN THE SMALL, COLLEGE TOWN OF GREENVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA. IT HAS BEEN TWO DECADES SINCE THE ART LORD HAS SPOKEN, AND NO ONE KNOWS HIS NAME. THE MYTH. ERNST-FROST HAS BEEN IN SECLUSION FOR THE LAST TWENTY YEARS TRYING TO CRACK THE AESTHETIC CODE. HE HAS SPENT EVERYDAY, SINCE HIS RETIREMENT, DREAMING, SCULPTING AND PAINTING THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN THE WORLD. HIMSELF. AFTER BEING SET AWAY FOR SO LONG, HE BELIEVED IT WAS TIME TO FINALLY STEP OUT OF THE DARKNESS, AND SING TO THE WORLD HIS TALES OF WOE.

AFTER AUDITIONING MUSICIANS FOR HIS PROJECT, HE REALIZED IT WAS FRUITLESS. NO ONE WAS GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY FOR HIM. DETERMINED, HE GAVE LIFE TO THE ONLY BEINGS WHO WERE WORTHY TO STAND ON THE STAGE BESIDE HIM, FOUR TEARS DROPPED ON CANVAS, AND HIS SELF-PORTRAITS WERE BORN. TOGETHER, THEY SET OUT, LOCKE, #1, #2, #3, AND #4. FINALLY, THE ART LORD AND HIS SELF-PORTRAITS, COULD TELL THEIR STORY TO THE WORLD…HOW HARD IT IS, TO BE, SO GREAT.”

This Durham-based musical project takes its name from one of the most intriguing and diverse trees in the world.  It is the national tree of Madagascar, and it is impossible to find two that are the same.  Much of the same could be said for Phil Torres.  His music is a very unique blend of folk, electronic, and world music.  His music is driven by acoustic guitar, a plethora of percussive noises, a splash of melodic electronic noises, and his vocals which seem to be an instrument of their own.  His self-titled debut was released last year and already it has taken much of the Triangle by hold.  It is incredible how one man could have written, performed, mixed, and mastered such a complex album on his own especially since it is his first effort.

Phil Torres, in addition to fronting Baobab, has a MS in neuroscience and spent a year as a visiting graduate student in the philosophy department at Harvard.  He has just published his first book entitled A Crisis of Faith: Atheism, Emerging Technologies and the Future of Humanity.  Whitney Trettien joins Torres on-stage for live shows.  She is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University.  Despite their busy lives and amazing intellect, they still find time to wow us lesser mortals with their inspiring music.  They are a spectacle to see live as they loop guitars and synths over vocals complete with live drumming.  In addition to the music, Torres also makes some interesting videos to accompany some of his songs.

Baobab can be seen touring at various venues around the Triangle.  With a double album release party coming up on the 22nd with Virgins Family Band at the Local 506, we can look forward to some great things ahead.  This album, aptly titled BAYOHBAHB, will be released by Hand Eye Records. After playing for a year now with these first batch of songs, we can expect Torres’ restless spirit to have somehow found a way to improve upon his already perfected craft of beautiful, percussive acoustics with complementing electronics.  With a project that started for Torres as a retreat from writing his book, we can only hope that Baobab has become as important to Torres as it has to the Triangle music scene.

http://baobabtheband.com/
http://baobabmusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/baobabtheband

Check out the interview and in-studio performance with Phil Torres accompanied by the Virgins Family Band below which also included some exclusive premieres off the upcoming album BAYOHBAHB.

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This was my first opportunity to see Jeff Mangum and I jumped at the chance to see him by purchasing my ticket months before the show. Although this will not be his final tour, he does not plan to return to the same cities he has already played during this solo acoustic tour. This might explain his decision to play the quaint little Brooklyn Arts Center in downtown Wilmington.

The show was opened up by folk rock duo, Tall Firs. After their set, Jeff Mangum took the stage and the crowd was elated. His performance was very stripped-down with just his voice and guitar. Although he kept apologizing for having to ask his sound guy to continuously tweak the levels after every song (he admitted to skipping the sound check earlier that day) nobody really seemed to mind. I think his almost neurotic behavior about the quality of the sound made everyone appreciate him a little bit more. Jeff revisited songs from all of Neutral Milk Hotel’s albums including “On Avery Island,” “Everything Is,” and the most famous “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” His raw voice echoed off the refurbished cathedral ceilings while he carried out the last word to the lyrics “Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all,” sending chills down my spine.

Jeff would switch between a number of different acoustic guitars surrounding him on stage (I counted five) and you were able to hear a new perspective to the songs. With this raw performance, you could listen with a newfound appreciation for the lyrics. Jeff thanked the crowd several times throughout the evening for coming out to see him by explaining that he was still just used to just playing for his friends in a living room. Even though he has been playing these same songs for the past sixteen years, sometimes at huge venues, I get the feeling that this was the atmosphere he prefers. I can’t wait to experience another heart-felt performance from Jeff Mangum.

Double Barrel Benefit 10 is quickly approaching. If you haven’t had time to check out the bands yet, I have made a Spotify playlist that includes a couple of my favorite songs from each band (except for The Lollipops and Some Army who are not on Spotify). So please check them out so you can sing along with us at Double Barrel this weekend. As always, tune in to 88.1 WKNC to hear these artists as well as other great artists all day.

Check out the playlist here!

Here are the songs in the playlist in addition to some songs you should check out by the artists who are not on Spotify.

Night 1
Wolves by The Lollipops
I Love You by The Lollipops
Teenage Lions by Jenny Besetzt
Always by Jenny Besetzt
Rise by Lilac Shadows
Bloodworth by Lilac Shadows
I’ll Survive by JKutchma and the Five Fifths
There’s a Light on by JKutchma and the the Five Fifths

Night 2
Open Wide by Oulipo
Build It Up by Oulipo
Servant Tires by Some Army
We’ve Been Lucky by Some Army
Crying Only Counts the First Time by Wesley Wolfe
Crying/Laughing by Wesley Wolfe
Friday Night by Spider Bags
Simona La Ramona

The Bridge Bus

The Bridge Bus, a nighttime shuttle connecting Durham and Raleigh, will be offering FREE rides both to and from Double Barrel Benefit for all our listeners who would rather not make the drive. While normally at a minor expense, The Bridge Bus has graciously offered their services to WKNC to help ensure that every listener who wants to attend Double Barrel can make it. In order to ride the bus for free you’ll need to present your ticket to that night of Double Barrel Benefit when you board. It’s all the incentive to buy your ticket in advance! The bus picks up from locations in Durham and will take them directly to the Pour House Music Hall. For the complete schedule, please see below.

Don’t forget that you can purchase your tickets to DBB 10 here!

As always, the Triangle hosts some amazing shows coming up this week including our annual Double Barrel Benefit. To see the full list of shows for this area check out the Rock Report. Here’s some of the best of the best.

 
Monday, January 28th- The Music Tapes at Cat’s Cradle , 9:30pm OR
Tuesday, January 29th at Duke Coffeehouse, 9pm

The Music Tapes is the experimental brain child of Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel and Elephant 6 and more recently Robbie Cucchiaro. The music features many non-traditional instruments including banjos and singing saws just to name a few. Their latest effort off Merge entitled “Mary’s Voice,” was recorded in a carnival tent which seems to infiltrate the music. The shows will be performed in a larger version of this tent. This show promises to be one of the more unique shows that you will ever see.

 
Wednesday, January 30th- Ty Segall, Ex Cult, and Gross Ghost at Kings Barcade, 9pm

If you know anything about garage rock, chances are you have heard the name Ty Segall. He has been a very busy man this past year. He released a solo album, as well as an album with the Ty Segall Band, and a third album with White Fence. Their seems to be no end to this young mastermind’s creative genius. In addition to these endeavors, he also managed to produce Ex-Cult’s brilliant debut who also makes the bill for this night. With the always amazing local favorites Gross Ghost opening, this show promises to be one of the hardest rocking and most energetic shows so far this year.

 
Wednesday, January 30th- Jeff Mangum with Tall Firs at Brooklyn Arts Center (Wilmington), 8:30pm OR
Thursday, January 31st at Neighborhood Theatre (Charlotte), 8pm

If you have yet to see Jeff Mangum, this is your chance. You never know which tour will be his last. Although some accuse him of still riding on the coattails of his now 15 year old fame when “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” took the world by storm, seeing him live will change your mind. The pure, raw emotion he brings to the stage with just a guitar and his voice seems to breathe new life into these well aged songs. Make the drive, it will be well worth it.

 
Friday, February 1st- Double Barrel Benefit X Night 1: JKutcha and the Five Fifths, Lilac Shadows, Jenny Besetzt, The Lollipops at The Pour House , 10pm
Saturday, February 2nd- Double Barrel Benefit X Night 2: Spider Bags, Wesley Wolfe, Some Army, Oulipo at The Pour House , 10pm

Double Barrel Benefit speaks for itself. Over the past 10 years, Double Barrel has brought to Raleigh the best local music acts from across North Carolina.  If the name doesn’t do enough for you just go ahead and check out more information on the line-up here. You don’t want to miss the 10th installment of Double Barrel Benefit.

 
Saturday, February 2nd- : Organos, Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores, Estrangers, Ghostt Bllonde, and The Spacemen at Tir na nOg and The Pour House , 1pm

This year’s Double Barrel features our second annual Day Party and Market. After its huge success last year at Tir na nOg, we decided to expand it next door to The Pour House as well. So come on out to check out some great local artisans and vendors selling their wares while enjoying some amazing local music.

Months after the tickets rapidly sold out, the weekend for A389 fest had finally come. I was stoked to say the least that I would finally get the chance to see Canadian hardcore legends Left For Dead, along with one of my all-time favorites, Weekend Nachos. This highly-anticipated event served as a birthday celebration for the owner of A389 records. Dom, A389 Records owner, is also a member of the hardcore band Pulling Teeth. The show was at The Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland.

The show opened with Sick Fix, a brutal female-fronted hardcore act from D.C. It was the first time I had ever seen them. Having been a fan of the demo and EP for quite some time, I was not that much into their new album at first, considering it’s pretty different in style. However, seeing them live instantly made me change my mind. The new material is definitely killer (out on A389 records). All of their stuff is great and I highly suggest them to anyone.

Pick Your Side played after Like Rats (who played a decent set). The vocalist of Pick Your Side is also the vocalist of legendary Canadian hardcore band Haymaker. Pick Your Side sounded a lot like Haymaker, but not nearly as brutal; however, I still enjoyed it. Their album is also out on A389 records.

Weekend Nachos stole the show (up to that point) with killer mosh riffs and brutal fast-paced power violence riffage. After many years of listening to Weekend Nachos, I was very excited to finally be seeing them. The crowd action was intense – arms were flying and I almost got kicked in the face about 50 times. They opened with “Pain Over Acceptance,” a truly punishing classic.

After Weekend Nachos were California power violence legends Lack Of Interest. Unfortunately, they were not even close to being my favorite band of the night. My friend, who had seen them other times, told me that it was certainly an off night for them. Regardless of whether or not they sucked, they played an Infest cover, which ruled.

Despise You, who came after Lack Of Interest, totally killed it. Despise You has always been one of my favorite power violence bands. When I saw them in Raleigh last year, I was not very satisfied. This time the crowd was crazy and the band seemed a lot more pumped to play. They played all the hits off their infamous old splits as well as tracks off their newest split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

After Despise You was the highlight of the night – Left For Dead. It was the first show since the early 2000′s (which was also a reunion show). Lack Of Interest was a band I came across randomly one day and immediately fell in love with. Their brutal and extremely raw approach to hardcore was something I quickly grew to appreciate. Right when they started playing their first song of the night, “Eight Floors Above,” someone jumped off the balcony and the floor became a sea of people. I found myself gasping for air at times because of the intense heat in the room. It was pretty much impossible to get to the front of the stage if you weren’t already there to begin with. It was definitely a killer show – anyone who didn’t nerd out on getting tickets within the 3 hours before they sold out definitely missed out.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures or videos of the show, but you can see a few clips at the follow links (I claim ownership to none of the following materials):

Left For Dead - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATHkS8tCsVI

Despise You - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olr2cuMQJ6A

Weekend Nachos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnZL3ypSJgU

-Possessed

Shuffle Magazine announced the line-up for Phuzz Phest 2013 today. Phuzz Phest is an annual, weekend-long music festival that takes place in Winston-Salem, NC. In its two years of existence, Phuzz Phest has featured some of the most talented local musicians as well as several of the best, but most underrated, indie acts from across the nation. This year the festival takes place April 4th through the 6th across downtown Winston-Salem. The line-up this year is the best we have seen in this still young festival. If only the bands that started with the letter “L” showed up, I’d still be there.

The festival this year features 32 bands amazing local and national artists. Although the day parties and after parties are still to be announced, past years have proven that these are just as incredible as the night shows of the festival. One of the most notable national acts this year are Baltimore’s Lower Dens who latest effort “Nootropics” left these psychedelic pop-rockers towards the top of many “Best of 2012″ lists. Other notable national acts include self-proclaimed baroque acid-rockers Invisible Hand, shoegaze noise-pop group Eternal Summers, and psychedelic punk group IYEZ. This festival also features some great local acts who have been receiving a lot of national attention such as garage-rock gods Spider Bags, orchestral-folk kings Lost in the Trees, and the ever-explosive, indie-rock favorites The Love Language. Other North Carolina champions featured are new Merge signees Mount Moriah and folk-favorites Hiss Golden Messenger. Triangle natives The Lollipops, Some Army, Airstrip, Lilac Shadows, Robes, and The Toddlers also make the list. With this very well-rounded line-up, this year’s Phuzz Phest promises to be the best yet. See the full line-up below.

 
Phuzz Phest 2013 Line-Up

Airstrip (Carrboro)
Alligator Indian (Asheville)
Blood Waves (Winston-Salem)
Bolmongani (Winston-Salem)
Burglar Fucker (Winston-Salem)
Dark Prophet Tongueless Monk (Winston-Salem)
Drag Sounds (Greensboro)
Elim Bolt (Charleston)
Estrangers (Winston-Salem)
Eternal Summers (Roanoke, Va.)
Hiss Golden Messenger (Durham)
Invisible Hand (Charlottesville, Va.)
IYEZ (Brooklyn)
Joint D≠ (Charlotte)
Kill Devil Hills (Brooklyn)
Late Bloomer (Charlotte)
Lilac Shadows (Carrboro)
The Lollipops (Raleigh)
Lost In The Trees (Chapel Hill)
The Love Language (Raleigh)
Lower Dens (Baltimore)
Motorist (Winston-Salem)
Mount Moriah (Durham)
Nightdogs (Brooklyn)
Robes (Carrboro)
Some Army (Carrboro)
Spider Bags (Chapel Hill)
Toddlers (Carrboro)
Torch Runner (Greensboro)
White Laces (Richmond, Va.)
Wilde Blood (Winston-Salem)
William Tyler (Nashville)