Oddsac’s name, in my opinion, is very fitting. After witnessing the cinematic events unfold at the special screening at Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, Animal Collective’s “Visual Album” has left my mind opened with many odd impressions. (And no, I haven’t been doing any hard drugs. The good news is you don’t have to do drugs to “understand” the concept. I’ll explain later.)

Oddsac is an experimental film featuring psychedelic visuals and music by Animal Collective. However, don’t make the same mistake I did and assume it’s a string of music videos that mix seamlessly together for the entire fifty-four minutes. If I had to sum up my experience in one or two sentences, I would probably include the following phrases, “snippets of horror, Itunes visualizer, and classic Animal Collective sound.” All in all, I will admit I was a bit disappointed. The musical interludes of Animal Collective were short lived, pasted periodically amidst the chaotic splash of color, which at first were captivating, but then grew mundane. Instead of constant music, director Danny Perez, who worked closely with the band, chose to add periods of noise, crashes, screams, and everything in between.

Speaking from my film student perspective, I felt Perez’s strengths with Oddsac lay with his captivating live-action footage. There is a strong focus on nature itself, where we find the camera placed in the darkest of forests, beside the murkiest of waters, and stranded in a desert of stone. These are breathtaking spectacles, which are something to appreciate despite the confusion and short attention span of the film’s editing pace. After the screening, the audience was fortunate enough to hear from Danny Perez himself and the Geologist, electronic specialist of the band, who were present at the screening. Perez seemed to calm my uneasiness as I sought answers for the on-screen events. After an inquisitive student asked about the symbolism of the film, Perez reiterated his distaste for films that promote a message or agenda. Instead, the director expressed his view of the film as music. With music, a listener can hear the same song multiple times, but express different emotions each time he or she hears it. With narrative films, that message is locked into a single idea that cannot be manipulated or changed. Oddsac isn’t meant to press into a hidden or higher meaning. Instead, we can only open our minds to the film and take it for what it is.

For more information about future screenings, go to the film’s website.

With an unconventional Pack Howl concert this year, featuring College Humor comedians Jake and Amir with Dan Levy, many music enthusiasts were happy to hear that the 2009 NC State Homecoming concert would also be featuring a band. The fact that it was a local North Carolina band was an added bonus. The originally based Chapel Hill band, Roman Candle, will be performing on Lee field Friday November 6.

Roman Candle

The indie rock band formed in 1997, when Skip Mathney, along with brother Logan and wife Timshel attended UNC-Chapel Hill. The band has found their hometown a place for southern authenticity, a perfect environment for this family based band to set their roots in. However, inevitably enough, their talent and success could not be contained. The Rolling Stone magazine took notice and labeled them as a “daring band on the rise.” Roman Candle has also seemingly captured the attention of other media giants such as Paste Magazine, Boston Globe, and Pitchfork for their 2006 album release of The Wee Hours Revue.

The band, now currently based in Nashville, will be welcomed home on Friday. But before rocking out on Lee Field, Roman Candle will be hanging out at the WKNC studio at 2pm, where DJ Special K will be finding out what bright future is in store for this up and coming band. Listen on 88. FM or streaming online.

The long-time music critic for The News & Observer, David Menconi, has released the 2009 version of the “The Great 8“.  The Great 8 is an annual list of local music talent that shines above the rest.  This year’s list is wonderfully diverse, with acts from the classic indie format to the old-school 90s punk scene to screamo to hip-hop, and he even threw in a video game music guru (because everyone needs kick ass music to listen to when taking down Bowser).  Not to toot the “WKNC is better than your mother” horn or anything, but 2 of the 8 artists featured this year where apart of 88.1’s Double Barrel Benefit 6 line-up from this past weekend!  If you missed DBB6, you still have a chance to catch some of these bands at a special “Great 8 Showcase” concert at the Local 506 on February 13th, 2009 including 4 of the 8 bands featured (HNMTF, Lonnie Walker, Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies, and Double Negative). Here is the full list:

Jason Graves, Raleigh

There are people who do absolutely no work and get all the credit.  Jason Graves does not fall into that category, in fact, he is quite the opposite.  As a video game track composer, Graves says that it does not phase him that his work is simply the background sounds to a usually much more complicated and interesting video game (unless we are playing PaRappa The Rapper, arguably the worst video game of all time).  Graves says that his contributions add to the overall entertainment value of the product, and that can evoke a lot of pride.  Graves also says he tries to tell a story in the lyric-less music he creates and I must say, some of his stuff evokes very strong emotions for being merely background music.  My personal favorites are his Star Trek compositions…THEY ARE EPIC!

Lonnie Walker, Greenville/Raleigh

Being a Double Barrel Benefit 6 performer, naturally, Lonnie Walker kicks ass.  This down-home feeling rock/Americana band signed to Raleigh based Terpsikhore Records has been compared to artists from Bob Dylan to Modest Mouse.

Double Negative, Raleigh

This old-school, hard-hitting, punk rock compilation sounds like, in terms our friend Jason Graves would understand, a band pulled directly off the soundtrack of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.  Yes, I mean the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater from the Playstation/Nintendo 64 era.  If that description is not your bag of chips, maybe you will just have to listen.

Violet Vector And The Lovely Lovelies, Chapel Hill

The second of the Double Barrel Benefit 6 bands on the list.  Pop on steroids with a whipped cream and cherry topping (after bathing in a rainbow shower).  That is my best description of Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies.  You can tell that these guys & gals truly enjoy what they do, and it shows in their music.

Alesana, Raleigh

If you could get as far from the type of music we just explored with Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies, Alesana would be right there smiling (well, maybe smiling isn’t quite the appropriate word).  This rift crunching, double-bass pedal pounding, mosh-it-out-over-breakfast screamo band is sure to have you with your hand in the air, fist clinched, and head banging all night.

The Loners, Raleigh

The Loners have a unique history in the Raleigh music scene.  They can be considered the diamond in the rough (the rough being the closing of King’s Barcade in downtown Raleigh in the spring of 2007).  After reuniting to play the last show at King’s, the band decided to stay together because of the outpouring of support they receive from the show.  Fast forward almost two years and The Loners are getting set to release their first album since 2002, entitled “Revolution!” (hmm maybe a reference to THE Revolution, 88.1fm…okay probably not, but I can dream).

Inflowential, Raleigh

The beat boxes are crazy, and the live show is amazing!  If you have not seen/heard of this group and you have been in Raleigh for more that a year, then you need to catch up.  Inflowential (not to be mistaken for Kooley High, another hip-hop group that has crossover members) can be seen at  local venues or maybe you remember seeing them place in the top three nationally in mtvU’s Best Music on Campus (a competiton with rising new music artists) last year.

Hammer No More The Fingers, Chapel Hill

Classic indie rock at its best from the town that cranks out indie-alternative like it is a day job.  Its very interesting to see how three driven musicians that grew up in Chapel Hill in the 90’s turn out musically given the crazy musical scene in the town during the past decade or two (I am trying not to dwell to much on a place that is home to the ever so horrible Tar Holes, but it is hard in this case).