Daytrotter illustration of The Bowerbirds

As I heard the The Bowerbird’s play the opening notes of “House of Diamonds” at Double Barrel Benefit 6, I asked myself where I had heard the song before. It wasn’t on Hymns for a Dark Horse, the album I had been playing on repeat, and wouldn’t be released on an album until Upper Air several months later.

I soon realized I had downloaded the then untitled track from Daytrotter, a site dedicated to hosting bands at its studios in Rock Island, Illinois, and posting the resulting interview transcripts and audio recordings for all to enjoy.

Just this week, Daytrotter posted tracks from some fantastic bands, Bombadil, Dead Confederate and Cursive.

Local artists Annuals, The Physics of Meaning, Avett Brothers, and Birds of Avalon, among others, have recorded in the Daytrotter studios and have tracks available for download on the site. The illustrators there create original artwork to accompany tracks from each artist, as seen above.

Daytrotter seems too good to keep a secret!

As finals rapidly approach, and “Dead Week” proves to be much more lively with work, students are in need of some R&R before hitting the books. Luckily, Earth Day seems to offer some salvation. Starting at 6pm on this Friday (April 24th), Annuals, Lonnie Walker, and Cougar Magnum will be rocking Lee Field (located behind Sullivan and Lee residence halls) to raise awareness for Earth Day.

Annuals

Doors open at 5 p.m. and the show is scheduled to last until 11 p.m. This event is only open to N.C. State students and their guests (one guest per student and guests must have a valid student ID). While you wait for the show to start, be sure to check out the WKNC table which will be showcasing awesome merch such as Double Barrel Benefit 6 shirts, WKNC logoed shirts, koozies, and buttons.

For more information about Earth Day, check out the Web site. Also be sure to stop by the Energy Fair which will take place on NC State’s Brickyard- Wednesday April 22nd. More than 60 vendors will be taking part in NC State’s 2009 Earth Day which will feature the EcoCAR Challenge and the FREEDM Center’s hybrid car.

Wow, what a day.  We started off the Local Beat with an interview and in-studio performance by one of my favorite bands around, Bombadil.  They played previously unreleased “Kate and Kelsey” and were also kind enough to let us spin a few tracks off of their yet-to-be-released album, Tarpits and Canyonlands (see video below)
http://www.vimeo.com/3382352.

We talked about the imminent loss of Stuart, Daniel’s injured hand, the NC State Brickyard preachers, and how none of these things will stop the momentum that Bombadil has with new album to be released soon.

Lastly, they provided a hint as to their concert garb for the evening (see pictures below).  Check out the interview.

Bombadil performing in WKNC studio 4/10, c/o Mike Gray

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As Bombadil was leaving the studio, we were shuffling Double Barrel Benefit 6 band Lost in the Trees (2/13 of them, anyway) into the studio.  They also played a previously unreleased track called “A Church that Fits our Needs,” a stunningly beautiful song with, as we noted, a touch of folk.  We also talked about their upcoming date at the Shakori Hills Festival and some work the band is doing in schools (promoting rock, or pop, or whatever it should be called). Finally, we talked about the band’s next album, which should be released sometime this fall (check the Trekky Records website for more info).  They also spoke a little about the show that night at the Lincoln Theatre.

Check out the Lost in the Trees interview below.

Lost in the Trees performing in WKNC Studio 4/10, c/o Mike Gray

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The lineup for that show was as follows:

Lost in the Trees

Benji Hughes (who put on just about the drunkest, most hilarious act I’ve seen in a while)

Bombadil

Our last guest of the evening was Ryan Richardson of the Kingsbury Manx, who joined us by phone.  We talked about the band’s label, Odessa Records (owned and managed by band member Paul Finn).  Odessa was having its “label release” party at Cat’s Cradle that night, which included all 3 bands on the label:

Americans in France

Impossible Arms

Kingsbury Manx

Check out the interview below.

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Check out the pictures from the Lincoln Theatre show below and visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/not_a_photographer/ for more of the same.

Lost in the Trees at the Lincoln Theatre 4/10, c/o Mike Gray

Benji Hughes at the Lincoln Theatre 4/10, c/o Mike Gray

Benji Hughes napping on the Lincoln Theatre stage, c/o Mike Gray

Bombadil Harmonizing at the Lincoln Theatre 4/10, c/o Mike Gray

Bombadil performing "Cavaliers Har Hum" at the Lincoln Theatre 4/10, c/o Mike Gray

Submit your own photos!

If you were one of the hundreds of people I saw at DBB6 taking pictures of the bands and the crowd, we would LOVE to show off your pics online.  Please send any digital copies of pictures to wkncphoto@gmail.com.  All pictures will be credited, and if you have a website please include that in the email as well!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Pour House the last two nights to help make this years Double Barrel Benefit the best ever!  It was truly a legendary show and we were happy so many of you could make it out!

Be on the lookout for more upcoming post-DBB blogs in the next couple of days as we wrap everything up.

Tonight, as in three hours from now, is going to be awesome.  It is night two of the Double Barrel Benefit, and keeping with tradition, the second night is rockin with one of my favorite Raleigh groups, Birds of Avalon.  BoA, as locals refer to them, are a full force, guitar ripping orgastic, Tecate drinking five piece on Volcom Entertainment Records.  I was lucky enough to catch up with these guys back in March of 2008 during South By South West at a warehouse party.  The party took a good five minutes to find, but after cruising a strip of warehouses I spotted the beacon of BoA-on-the-road—their white high-top conversion van.  It was amazing show, one of the best of my life.  Inside was a half pipe with skaters, stacks of Marshall speakers, coolers of Keystone Light, Jennifer Herrera of RTX, Jay Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and Witch, and lots and lots of hearing-loss rock’n roll.

Pre-sale tickets for tonight are sold out. However, there will be a LIMITED amount of tickets for sale at the door at 8pm. My advice is to show up at 7:45, pay to get in, and don’t leave once you enter the Pour House.

It's a lovely afternoon for a warehouse rock show

half pipe next to the stacks of Marshalls

Witch

the lineup was written on the wall, awesome

Last night WKNC took over Friday Night Request Rock & Chainsaw to bring you live coverage of night 1 of the Double Barrel Benefit #6 from the Pour House in downtown Raleigh.  The show was a success, a massive sellout with a tremendous crowd and kickass music.  As the show will more than likely sellout tonight as well, we will once again be broadcasting the entire show live (trumping Saturday Night Soul and R&B and D-Cutta’s 2.0 Show).

Broadcast starts after the Soulful Renaissance and will air until the completion of the concert.  If you can’t get to the Pour House, feel free to rock on with us tonight over your radio or internet connection.

Doors open at 8pm and get there early as there is a limited number of tickets available at the door.  The show starts at 9pm.

Tonight’s lineup includes: I Was Totally Destroying It, Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies, Birds of Avalon, & Polvo.

Last Night around 10pm WKNC’s web server bottomed out and took a nose dive off of the cliff of life, no doubt due to an ecstasy overload caused by our Local Music Invasion.  WKNC webmaster DJ Bridges, our engineer Austin,  & Local Music Czar DJ Stevo spent the entire night resuscitating the website back to life in a miracle intensive care recovery.  If these fellows revive themselves in time to make it to the Double Barrel Benefit, please buy them a beer, bake them a cake, or give them a medal or something.  Bridges is still wandering the hallways in a haze, Im trying to send him home.

Because of our web problems, all blog posts from the last 2 days have been lost.  This means our DBB features on Birds of Avalon, Bowerbirds & Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies, as well as several album reviews and promotional posts are no longer available.  There is not a definite timeline on getting these back up, but we will most certainly try, especially the DBB Features, which all of those bands more than deserve for playing at this years event.

In the meantime, if you have not been paying attention (or didn’t read the blog that has since been deleted), yesterday & today on WKNC we will be airing ONLY local music through our airwaves to get everyone pumped for this years Double Barrel Benefit.  Its called the Local Music Invasion.  100% local music on Thursday’s Daytime is going to carry over until today as we will air North Carolina tunes all the way through the Local Beat which ends at 8pm.

Then, beginning at 8pm, we will begin live broadcasting from the Pour House and will air the entire first night of Double Barrel Benefit in its entirety.  A live benefit show coming through our airwaves, nothing is better than that!

However, this will trump Friday Night Request Rock & Chainsaw this evening, but fear not, those shows will resume broadcasting once again next week.

If you’ve listened to WKNC with any frequency in the latter half of last year, you’ve undoubtedly heard Lost in the Trees. Lost in the Trees’ critically acclaimed sophomore album, “All Alone in an Empty House” has been a favorite among WKNC’s daytime DJs since it’s release in September.

On “All Alone in an Empty House,” Ari Picker, the principal member of the band, has perfected his unique form of orchestral folk. The record has some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard in a long time; it’s mostly intensely personal melancholy ballads with lush orchestral instrumentation. Listening to the record can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride, but anyone that has a soul will appreciate the immense beauty of their music.

Ari Picker is a classically trained musician and a talented songwriter and nowhere is this more clear than when he performs live. My introduction to Lost in the Trees was their performance on the first day of the Troika Music Festival in Durham last year. I was immediately struck by the intensity and emotion of the music; I knew they would be one of my favorite bands. This is not a show you’ll want to miss.

Lost in the Trees will be going on second behind Lonnie Walker this coming Friday, February 6th, for the sixth annual Double Barrel Benefit.  The house is sure to be packed early due to Lonnie Walker & also First Friday, so make sure you get a ticket and get in there to catch this fantastic 12 piece band for their entire set!

Lonnie Walker, c/o www.terpsikhore.com

Lonnie Walker: it’s a band, not a dude. Although I suspect that in due time, that will be common knowledge. The one-man act—Brian Corum playing a guitar and stomping on a bass drum—turned five-man band has really caught on among WKNC DJs and listeners, self included. There seem to me to be 2 sides to Lonnie Walker, as we’ll demonstrate with 2 of their songs.

First, let’s take a look at “Summertime,” a song you’ve definitely heard if you listened to WKNC with any regularity in 2008. It’s awfully hard not to tap your foot or dance along as they alternate between spewing clever lyrics and frantically banging away on guitar while a drum beat in what, to my untrained ear, sounds like 2/2 time moves the whole thing along at a breakneck pace. And if you’re thinking about accusing Lonnie Walker of taking themselves too seriously, consider this verse:

“And I do the best I can with this head that I got.
And it’s a mighty fine nice head, and it’s got mighty fine nice thoughts.
And if my brain had legs and it could walk around the block,
it would wear a pair of sunglasses and Coppertone sunblock.
And all the people would be jealous as they saw it walk with style,
with its spinal cord a-wagging and its neurons running wild.
But there is no need for bragging all the words that it may speak,
because there are no legs attached to the ideas that it keeps.”

Very clever and playful word use that moves along so quickly that you don’t quite realize it the first few times you hear the song.

But a look at “Wider than White” reveals their other side. From the somber keyboard intro to the overlaying chord progression to Corum’s unmistakable moan to the shredding guitar solo a mere 50 seconds into the song, the entire orchestration has a very epic feel. The lyrics that operate in the not-quite-literal world lead us to the realization that there’s another, more sober side to Lonnie Walker. I’m not sure which I like more, but I do know this: I haven’t heard a song of theirs that isn’t damn good.

They have yet to release an album, but it is reportedly in the works. Which means that you’ll just have to check them out at the Pour House on the first night of the Double Barrel Benefit 6, Friday, February 6. See you there.

In the meantime, check out their interview with Mz Kelly on WKNC from June 5, 2008:

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Polvo will be headlining the second night of WKNC's Double Barrel Benefit (2/7/2009) at the Pour House Music Hall.

Up until a month ago, I often heard  “Polvo” and “Double Barrel Benefit” in the same sentence, but only in the context of: “Hey, you know what would be a cream dream?  Polvo headlining the Double Barrel Benefit.”  The conversation would then spiral into fantasies of Zach Galifianakis hosting a lineup of Ben Folds, Whiskeytown, Superchunk, or Archers of Loaf.  Saying it was a long shot was an understatement.  Polvo disbanded in 1997, and despite my past inquiries and pestering of Polvo’s bassist and Kings Barcade owner, Steve Popson, it seemed forever to remain “not the right time.”

But with Polvo reforming with a new drummer Brian Quast (Cherry Valence) to play last summer’s ATP festival,  and a handful of shows afterward, the time became right and Polvo will be  headlining Saturday the 7th for WKNC’s Double Barrel Benefit #6.

Polvo formed in 1990 in Chapel Hill and after releasing the double 7″ “Can I Ride” on Kitchen Puff, signed with Merge Records to release their debut album “Cor-Crane Secret”.  They followed tours wtih Babes in Toyland and Superchunk with the release of “Today’s Active Lifestyles” in 1992 and the EP’s “Celebrate the New Dark Age” and “This Eclipse” in 1994 and ‘95.  After switching to Chicago label Touch and Go in 1996, Polvo released the double length album “Exploded Drawing” and put out their final record “Shapes” in 1997.

In the 12 years since their final release, Polvo’s members have kept making music and staying involved in the Triangle music scene.  Guitarist and vocalist Ash Bowie played with Helium and released an album in 200o under the name Libraness.  Dave Brylawski (guitar, vocals) played in Idyll Swords and joined bassist Steve Popson in Black Taj.  And of course Popson was one of the owners of beloved Raleigh music institution Kings Barcade (RIP).

Now, it is entirely possible that some of you may not be as utterly geeked as I am about this development.  Some of you may not have already bought your tickets for the second night (as if the promise of I Was Totally Destroying It, Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies, and Birds of Avalon wasn’t enough).  That is fair.  Polvo stopped putting out albums in the 90’s and some of the listeners of this station may have been born in that decade.  So let me do you a favor and provide the following three good reasons you must not miss out on catching Polvo, Saturday February 7th at the Pour House.

1. Polvo put their own stamp on the Math Rock genre.

Along with bands like Slint, Drive Like Jehu, and Shellac, Polvo’s use of different tunings, complicated time signatures, and dense layering of sound, created a whole new twist on rock music.  Polvo especially involved rhythms and drone-type sonics that drew heavily from Eastern music, creating music that could be appreciated by both shoe-gazers as well a punk rock fans.  But their songs were never without that great pop hook, making Polvo a great band for new fans to acquaint themselves with the Math Rock genre

2.  Polvo influenced your favorite bands.

Explosions in the Sky were such fans, when they curated last years All Tomorrow’s Parties in England, Polvo was on the top of their wish list.  You can hear Polvo’s influence in national acts such as Pilot to Gunner and Pterodactyl, as well as local acts Des Ark and Noncanon.  Even looking back at previous Double Barrel Benefit vets, you can hear Polvo’s inventive sonic layers in The Nein and complex beat counts in We Versus the Shark.

3.  This is a rare chance to see a legendary band, in an intimate venue, in their home base.

Polvo may or may not play another show.  Getting an opportunity to see a seminal band from the hey-day of the Triangle’s indie rock expolsion is a rare treat.  This is along the same level of  Slint’s 2005 reunion; an infuential band, whose members have not lost a step, coming together because they love the music they made.

Speaking as the past curator of Double Barrel Benefit’s, this year’s lineup ranks as one of the best.  Top to bottom, both nights, is a solid representation of our vibrant local music scene.  And if you have been to past DBB’s, you know that bands kick it up a gear when they play this event (Red Collar, Mountain Goats, and The Nein come to mind).  And to have a band like Polvo reform and play this event for no compensation is both humbling and exciting.  The Pour House looks to be rocking, and so will I.  See you there.

- see the Polvo Myspace for tracks, or just make a request.

-BFSac