The mini-festival, which will hit Raleigh July 22 and 23, will be bringing some huge names in both Local and nationwide artists to the area. Working alongside the fine people at Hopscotch Music Festival,  the free two-day event will bring the likes of Hooray for Earth, Free Energy, Wye Oak, Surfer Blood, and much more.

 

The events kick off on Friday starting at 6pm with acts playing venues including Kings, The Pour House, Tir Na Nog, Slim’s, and Neptunes. Saturday acts play from 1pm to 11pm with outside of Lincoln Theatre with the after party taking place inside the venue.

 

 

For more information visit hopscotchmusicfest.com

Last Tuesday, June 1, I sat down with the guys from Free Energy who had fought their way through the terrible weather and traffic to make it to our studios on NC State campus to talk with us about a wide variety of topics. We discussed the process behind creating their debut album Stuck on Nothing, the role of LCD Soundsystem‘s great James Murphy, their work with music videos, their current tour, and their plans for the future. If you missed on the live version of the interview you can listen to it in its entirety below!

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I, DJ Ones, will have the privilege of interviewing Free Energy next Tuesday at 4pm right here on 88.1 FM. Remember you can always stream the interview live on WKNC.org/listen. The band will come in before their show at Local 506 alongside Jukebox The Ghost, and another KNC favorite Minature Tigers.

Free Energy is one of the fastest rising bands in the nation right now. Since the release of their debut album Stuck on Nothing, the band has gone from receiving high praise from Pitchfork, Uncut, and Spin, and they have been named one of the best new bands of 2010 by Rolling Stone.

After hearing their music on WKNC, make sure you check out their live interview before what is sure to be an excellent show at Local 506. Oh and if you haven’t heard them before, you could always listen to one of my favorite songs, “Bang Pop,” below:

Here is a compilation of the latest new music we have received in the past week.

Free Energy- Stuck on Nothing

Sounding closer to Thin Lizzy and Cheap Trick, Free Energy emits a fun, upbeat, guitar heavy album.

Drive-by Truckers- The Big To-Do

Probably the best southern rock album you’ll listen to this year. Imagine Dinosaur Jr. with a country slant –if you haven’t listened to one of their other nine excellent albums. Get out your lighters y’all.

Love is All- Two Thousand and Ten Injuries

High energy Swedish pop. Eccentric album with a collage of traditional and not so traditional rock instruments, i.e. saxophone. The female vocals can get annoying at times but the excellent clash of sounds make up for that.

Arctic Monkeys- My Propeller (single)

Solid B-sides that play of of the similar down tempo beats from Humbug. Although they don’t do anything revolutionary for the band, they are still quite enjoyable for the fans.

She & Him- Volume Two

Pop favorite Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward are at it again with another charming album. This time it’s more she than him. Really sweet and endearing, although after the first few tracks you start to lose your sugar high.

Slow Club- Yeah So

This UK indie-duo has sweet lyrics, simple guitar melodies and interesting harmonies. They take turns with lead vocals and never disappoint. Every song is interesting, up-beat and give you that feeling of: I want more more more.

Pavement – Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement

Well, hot damn.  Listening to this compilation, it’s remarkable to hear how genius Pavement’s music is–their low-fi aesthetic perfectly melds with Stephen Malkmus’s lazy, idiosyncratic wordplay .  This compilation is absolutely essential–it’s sequencing is flawless and the track choice balances their singles with album gems.

Jason Collett – Rat A Tat Tat

More good stuff from the Arts & Crafts Label.  Collet’s tunes are impassioned with twang and swagger and his music walks the line between alt-country, 60s pop, and the more soulful dispositions of indie rock.

One For The Team- Ghosts

Catchy, unpretentious, and unabashedly fun power pop.  It sounds like Mates of State with punk grit or the New Pornographers playing Something Corporate.  Lots of crunchy guitars and incessant harmonies.

Josiah Wolf- Jetlag

I really like this album! Here we have the solo album from the drummer of WHY? Seeing as I am not a huge fan of WHY? I was somewhat skeptical, however  I was totally wrong. I am really into this folky Paul Simon-esque experience.

Goldfrapp- Head First

You know I love this. Rocket might be the catchiest song ever. Think Xanadu meets David Bowie, a mixture of ’80s glam rock and ’70s disco.

Drink Up Buttercup- Born and Thrown on a Hook

Psychedelic mixture of the Beatles and Man Man. A weird pop experience for sure.

Let’s Wrestle- In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s

Scrappy British punk music. They are on Merge Records and have been getting a lot of press.

Dum Dum Girls- I Will Be

This is sort of a mixture between ’60s girl pop and shoegaze buzz garage rock. Sort of falling the trend of most of the bands out right now, but this one is surprisingly good.

Black Tambourine- Black Tambourine

This band has pretty much influenced every popular band out right now. Shoegaze pop that resembles A Sunny Day in Glasgow, but a lot darker.