Hopscotch, the Independent Weekly‘s annual music festival in downtown Raleigh will be releasing the lineup for their September 3-day festival on Wednesday, April 20th. Greg Lowenhagen of Independent Weekly will be on-air with our very own Chuck from 11-noon to talk about the show and this year’s line up.

Last year hosted names like Panda Bear, Public Enemy, The Rosebuds,  Sharon Van Etten, Megafaun, Best Coast and more than 100 other bands.  This year is sure to be even better; full of national acts as well as great local talent.  Tune in to find out who!

Tickets will go on sale as the lineup is released on April 20th. Free 3-day wristbands were given out at local record stores for Record Store Day April 16. Stay tuned to WKNC and keep reading Independent Weekly to find out ways you can win tickets.

For more musical fun, Hopscotch is hosting a few free local shows throughout Raleigh on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (4/21-4/23) in celebration of their lineup release!

Saturday will mark the 2011 installment of Record Store Day, celebrating the art of music and independently-owned record stores.  Main attractions include special vinyl and CD releases, in-store performances, and giveaways, like Record Store Day’s website giving away a Buddy Miller guitar.

Schoolkids Records in Raleigh will open at 10:0 a.m. Saturday and have in-store performances by Radical Classical, Dex Romweber, The Raveonettes, and Adventure. CD Alley in Chapel Hill and Offbeat Music in Durham will open at 10:00a.m. as well. Durham’s Bull City Records will open at 11:00 a.m., with refreshments and surprise performances.

“I think it’s a great celebratory day that brings awareness to the physical stores,” said Chaz Martenstein, owner of Bull City Records. ”It’s a joint day shared between the stores and the people who keep them open. I love the spirit of it.”

As an added bonus, any purchase made at Schoolkids, Bull City, and Wilmington’s Gravity Records will enter you into a drawing for two All-Show writstbands for Hopscotch music festival. The lineup for the September festival will be announced April 20.

For more information about Record Store Day and participating stores, visit RecordStoreDay.com.

To state the obvious, we here at WKNC love music. A lot. We also love live music. A lot. Most, if not all, of us attend many concerts and music festivals each year. What follows are lists of some of WKNC’s deejays’ favorite shows of the year. They range from national to local acts, regular shows to festivals. Some (myself included) went to so many it was hard to narrow it down to five, so we listed ten. Some lists are in numerical order, others are not. Caribou, Future Islands, and the inaugural Hopscotch Music Festival were some of the most common favorites, among dozens of other acts. Check it out:

Synthesiser Patel (Daytime/Afterhours)

- Chromeo/A-Trak/Kid Sister/Theophilus London @ Congress Theater (Chicago)

- The National/Owen Pallett @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

- Metric @ Lollapalooza

- of Montreal @ Cat’s Cradle

- Born Ruffians/Winter Gloves @ Local 506

DJ Mensch (Daytime)

1. The National @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

2. Minus The Bear @ Lincoln Theatre

3. Max Indian @ Hopscotch Music Festival

4. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

5. The Rosebuds @ Hopscotch Music Festival

May Day (Daytime)

1. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

2. Camera Obscura @ Duke Gardens

3. Surfer Blood @ Cat’s Cradle

4. Yeasayer/Javelin @ Cat’s Cradle

5. OK  Go @ Lincoln Theatre

DJ Mollypop (Daytime)

1. Paul McCartney @ Sprint Center (Kansas City)

2. The Weepies @ Lincoln Theatre

3. Phoenix @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre

4. Crooked Still @ Casbah

5. The New Pornographers/Dodos/The Duchess and the Duke @ Memorial Hall (UNC-CH)

The Noobhammer (Chainsaw)

1. Scale The Summit/Devin Townsend Project/Cynic/Between the Buried and Me @ The Fillmore Charlotte

2. Sons of Liberty/Iced Earth @ 9:30 Club (Washington, D.C.)

3. Powerglove/Firewind @ Volume 11

4. Valient Thorr/Between the Buried and Me/Mastodon @ Lincoln Theatre

5. Boris @ Cat’s Cradle

Iris G (Daytime)

- Mumford & Sons @ 9:30 Club (Washington, D.C.)

- Ratatat @ MeetFactory (Prague)

Audity (Daytime)

- Active Child @ Hopscotch Music Festival

- Cassis Orange @ Duke Coffeehouse

- Veelee @ Duke Coffeehouse

- Old Bricks @ Kings

- Deerhunter @ Cat’s Cradle

Sarahnade (Daytime/Post Rock Block)

1. Trans-Siberian Orchestra @ RBC Center

2. Local Natives/The Union Line @ The Grey Eagle (Asheville)

3. Phoenix @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre

4. The New Pornographers/Dodos/The Duchess and the Duke @ Memorial Hall (UNC-CH)

5. The Temper Trap/The Kissaway Trail @ Cat’s Cradle

6. This Machine Kills Cancer benefit

DJ Ones (Daytime)

1. Phoenix @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre

2. The New Pornographers @ Memorial Hall (UNC-CH)

3. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

4. The Big Pink @ Cat’s Cradle

5. Sharon Van Etten @ Hopscotch Music Festival

DJ Hammerhead (Chainsaw)

1. Municipal Waste/Double Negative/Zeus @ The Milestone (Charlotte)

2. Overkill/Forbidden/Gama Bomb/Evile/Bonded By Blood @ Volume 11

3. D.R.I./Final Curse @ Amos’ Southend (Charlotte)

4. Nemesis/Chainsawdamy/Avalon Steel @ Tremont Music Hall (Charlotte)

5. Exmortus/Vektor/Final Curse @ Charlotte’s Underground (Charlotte)

The Blog Lady (Blog Editor/Staff Photographer)

1. The Avett Brothers @ Asheville Civic Center Arena

2. Lost In The Trees @ Cat’s Cradle

3. Mandolin Orange @ Troika Music Festival

4. The Rosebuds @ Hopscotch Music Festival

5. Chatham County Line @ Troika Music Festival

DJ Vice (Daytime)

1. Benji Hughes/The Old Ceremony @ Cat’s Cradle

2. Passion Pit @ The Fillmore Charlotte

3. The Avett Brothers @ Asheville Civic Center Arena

Just John (Daytime)

1. Caribou/Phantogram @ Governor’s Island (New York City)

2. Beach House @ Cat’s Cradle

3. Every Future Islands show

4. Joanna Newsom @ Carolina Theatre

5. Ponytail @ Siren Music Festival

The Cosmic Cowboy (The Church of Bluegrass and the Truer Sound)

1. John Prine @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

2. Joanna Newsom @ The National (Richmond) and Variety Playhouse (Atlanta)

3. Cedric Watson and the Bijou Creole/Red Stick Ramblers @ Reynolds Industries Theater (Duke)

4. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy @ Borque’s Social Club (Scot, LA)

5. Charlie Louvin @ Borque’s Social Club (Scot, LA)

DJ Elly May (Daytime)

1. Delta Spirit @ Cat’s Cradle

2. The Rosebuds/Megafaun @ The Pour House

3. Holy Ghost Tent Revival @ The Pour House

4. Minus The Bear @ Lincoln Theatre

5. Turbo Fruits @ Local 506

Lucretia (Chainsaw)

1. Eyehategod/Nachtmystium/Withered/Haarp/Stripmines @ Volume 11

2. Kreator/Voivod/Nachtmystium @ Jaxx (West Springfield, VA)

3. Slang/World Burns To Death/Devour/Stripmines @ Slims

4. Immolation/Vader/Abigail Williams/Lecherous Nocturne @ Volume 11

5. High On Fire/Torche/Kylesa @ Cat’s Cradle

6. Atakke/Parasytic/Devour @ Slims

7. Pentagram/Cough/The Gates of Slumber/Windham @ The Hat Factory (Richmond)

8. Alice In Chains @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

9. Hate Eternal/Cannabis Corpse/Malebolgia @ Volume 11

10. Glass Casket/Wrath & Rapture/Malebolgia @ Johnny & Junes (Winston-Salem)

Agent Orange (Daytime)

1. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

2. Yeasayer/Javelin @ Cat’s Cradle

3. Caribou/Toro Y Moi @ Cat’s Cradle

4. Annuals/The Light Pines @ Tir Na Nog

5. Ra Ra Riot/Givers @ Cat’s Cradle

Riff Raff (Daytime)

- Hopscotch Music Festival

- Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros @ Cat’s Cradle

- Veelee/Lonnie Walker/Future Islands @ Kings

- Beach House/Washed Out @ Cat’s Cradle

- Ludacris @ Reynolds Coliseum

DJ Kligz (Daytime/Local Lunch)

1. Hopscotch Music Festival

2. Future Islands/Lonnie Walker/Veelee/NAPS @ Kings

3. Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

4. Beach House @ Cat’s Cradle

5. Caribou/Veelee @ Cat’s Cradle

Chuck (Daytime)

1. LCD Soundsystem @ Pitchfork Music Festival

2. Massive Attack/Jonsi @ MoogFest

3. The National @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

4. Wilco @ Durham Performing Arts Center

5. Caltrop/US Christmas/The Curtains of Night @ Nightlight

6. Titus Andronicus/Spider Bags @ Local 506

7. Deerhunter/Schooner @ Cat’s Cradle

8. Deakin @ Hopscotch Music Festival

9. GWAR @ Lincoln Theatre

10. These Are Powers/Lemonade/MNDR @ The Pinhook

What were your favorite shows and/or music festivals of the year?

In an email sent out earlier this week, the folks behind Hopscotch Music Festival announced the dates for next year’s festival. Go ahead and mark your calendars, for the festival will return to downtown Raleigh September 8-10, 2011. The email notes to keep an eye on the fest’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as its website, for updates on Hopscotch, round two.

The festival is also currently asking this year’s attendees to complete a brief, four-question, demographic survey, which you can find here

This coming Friday on the Local Beat I am dedicating two hours of the show to Troika Music Festival.  Of course by the time the interview airs the festival will be well underway since it is beginning tonight.  Melissa Thomas and Stuart Horne came in to pre-record the interview with me earlier in the week and I felt that it was important to share our conversation before Friday evening and before Troika begins.  Among many things we chatted about the history of the event, compared it to Hopscotch, and discussed what is going on differently in this years festival.  Give it a listen below:

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Troika on Twitter

Troika on Facebook

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September 3 was the Friday before Hopscotch Music Festival, and I was joined by Grayson Currin, music editor of the Independent Weekly who was also Hopscotch Curator. Hopscotch is the biggest music event to ever happen in Raleigh, so I dedicated the entire three hours of the show to chatting with Grayson about everything associated with the festival.  Caitlin Cary (Small Ponds, Tres Chicas), Reid Johnson (Schooner), and Brian Corum (Lonnie Walker) also came on the show, and Reid and Brian played some brand new tunes (which you can download here). What ended up happening was three hours of a fascinating, entertaining conversation with insight into Hopscotch. Listen below:

Hour 1:

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Hour 2:

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Hour 3:

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I think we can consider last weekend’s first annual Hopscotch Music Festival to be a runaway success.  Never before has the city of Raleigh had such an incredible musical event within the confines of downtown. The crowds were terrific (I have yet to hear of anything about someone getting out of hand with authorities), the venues were spectacular hosts, the bands were on point, parking was never a problem, and let’s face it, besides a weak drizzle Saturday night the weather was terrific! You have to hand it to Greg Lowenhagen and Grayson Currin, as well the many volunteers and others who helped out for the spectacular organization and attention to detail the festival was able to achieve.  And while it is not set in stone that Hopscotch will continue, in most people’s minds, especially those of the organizers, it certainly will.

So that begs the question, what things can be tweaked to make the festival an even better experience? I have a couple of small things that would have improved:

• Promote the day parties: In my opinion one of the best things about the festival were the numerous free day parties that took place across town. Unfortunately, these were not heavily promoted to the masses and for most out-of-towners they missed out. Friday night I was standing next to a group of festival goers who had driven eight hours for Hopscotch and they had no idea they had already missed out on two days worth of free music before the night even began. Instead they had stayed in their hotel rooms the entire day watching TV and waiting for the official Hopscotch to start. Saturday I caught them hopping around having a blast and they thanked me profusely for informing them of all the day shows going on.
• More options besides music: While this never bothered me since I am all about the music, I think it would be interesting if perhaps the festival has more attractions. Perhaps movie screenings, food discounts, daytime downtown museum/brewery tours, or a giant hopscotch game people have to follow from one venue to the next on the sidewalk? It would just be something extra to entice people who only care about maybe 4 or 5 bands to get a ticket and not feel bad about the price.
• Better schedule grid on pamphlets: Another minor concern was the grid on the schedule that was handed out to all concert attendees. The schedule was difficult to read and I know many complained about having a hard time knowing when certain bands were going to start. It wasn’t too difficult but a better visual would have been better.
• Android and Blackberry app: Yeah yeah, I know iPhone’s are king, but there are just as many if not more people in our area with smart phones containing android software and blackberry mobile devices. It would have been awesome to have had a Hopscotch app on my phone. Instead I had to rely on a calendar from GoGo Raleigh, which was nice, just not as nice.
• Social Media Incentives: With social media websites like Foursquare and Facebook getting involved with location based software, it would have added a little spice to let users going to the festival receive badges or maybe even some sort of prize for checking into certain spots, the most venues, etc. Not only is this a fun game for people attending, but it provides fantastic and free promotion for the event and venues hosting bands.

The complaints I have seem so trivial and minor that I hardly see the point in posting them.  What about you?  Do you have any comments or suggestions for the future of the festival?  Comment below!

The local shows keep rolling, after a successful weekend of Hopscotch Musical Festival, and the upcoming SPARKcon, the Triangle is the place to be!

We have a lot of giveaways for you this week. You know what that means—listen to WKNC throughout your entire day and you could win tickets to:

9/15- Jay Clifford at Cat’s Cradle

Jay Clifford at the Coffee Underground, courtesy of Melanie McDermott

9/16 – Shooter Jennings at Cat’s Cradle
The Small Ponds at The Pour House

Urban Sophisticates at The Pour House

The Urban Sophisticates

Free Electric State -- Photo by Sam Roberts

JP Chrissie & Fairground Boys at Cat’s Cradle

Drive-By Truckers -- Creative Commons

On-going  movie tickets—The American and Resident Evil: Afterlife at Crossroads 20 in Cary

Even if you don’t win tickets, stay up to date on all local shows with our Rock Report!

me with high-tech camera

Hello, WKNC fans, I am the staff photographer, Katie, a.k.a the Blog Lady because I also edit the blog, and I’m going to be at Hopscotch ALL WEEKEND taking photographs! Don’t worry, my camera will be much nicer than that.

As frequently as I can, AT LEAST once a day, I will be uploading my photos onto Flickr and putting up slideshows on the blog! I’m going to try to hit as many venues and as many shows as I can throughout the entire event. I’ll definitely cover the events put on by WKNC, and I’m especially excited for the smaller shows that will compile great local musicians from every music genre!

So be checking the blog daily for my photo updates, and if you have any special request of shows you’d like to see photos of, leave a comment on this post!

DAY PARTIES:

WKNC is sponsoring two day parties:

-Tir Na Nog’s show featuring Cellar Seas, Veelee, Filthybird, Temperance League and A Rooster for the Masses (FREE noon-5pm Friday 9/10)

-The “Local Time” stage Sain front of the Raleigh Times featuring The Flute Flies, NAPS, The Loners, Maple Stave, Red Collar, Des Ark and The Old Ceremony. Our street team will be doing live broadcasts throughout the event. (FREE 11am-6pm Saturday 9/11)

Details about these and all the other day parties are available here.

FIVE STAR:
Thursday night at Five Star, WKNC Afterhours DJs (Hennessey, Jose Jose, Chocolate Rice and Brooklyn Airlift) will be spinning from 10:30at night until 2 in the mo’nin. Buy a club wristband, or risk it waiting in line, to attend.

The full Hopscotch schedule (minus the day parties) is available here.

STILL HAVE UNANSWERED HOPSCOTCH QUESTIONS?
Grayson Currin (festival curator) and Greg Lowenhagen (creative director) of the Independent Weekly will be this week’s VIP(s) on Eye on the Triangle tomorrow night at 7pm. Comment on this post if you have any specific (or general, I guess) questions to be answered straight from the big-wigs themselves.

This Thursday night will be overrun with Hopscotch goers, therefore, WKNC and Tir Na nOg will be hosting our usual Local Beer Local Band Night on Friday, September 10 instead! New Raleigh and Aviator Brewing Company are also presenting.

There will be a total of FIVE, yes count ‘em five!, local acts this week: Cellar Seas, Veelee, Filthy Bird, Temperance League, and A Rooster for the Masses.  All of these bands are WKNC favorites. It will be a great way to kick off your Friday night. Music starts at 12 .pm.

I plan to have Cellar Seas and Veelee in the station on Thursday from 7-8 p.m. so be sure to tune in for that!

Cellar Seas

Cellar Seas is made up of some of my favorite Raleigh people (a bartender, a dj, and frontman to another great band, NAPS). Slow indie rock with just a twinge of country. Plus, these men are all devastatingly handsome.

Veelee

Veelee is my number one favorite duo within our already amazing local music scene. Ginger and Matthew have some sort of power over me when I see them play. I can’t stop smiling, and I want to dance but no one else is… so I don’t. If this happens to you on Friday, please dance, and I will join you! Veelee will also be playing at 10:30 p.m. at The Hive the same day.

Filthy Bird

I’m always a sucker for a band with female vocals. The folks at the Pinhook said, “These guys are kind of a cosmic Americana western eastern totem spirit animal.” They also have a new record coming out in October, so I’m sure you’re bound to get a sneak peak of what’s on it at this show.

Temperance League

Harder garage rock with a retro feel. Their former band you might remember, Bruce Hazel & Some Volunteers.

A Rooster for the Masses

This band is too good.  You might have caught them Friday the 3rd at the Cave; if not, catch them this Friday! Their album review by Grayson Currin in the Independent Weekly said, “the Rooster still sings truth to power over angular guitar lines and hi-hat pulses, whether riffing on the downtown void King’s Barcade left behind on ‘No Party Downtown’ (the band released Rojo there in 2006) or territorial tendencies on ‘Headwaters.’”  Well thankfully, Kings is back, A Rooster for the Masses is playing music, and everyone will be happy.

So don’t forget! Before you begin your Friday night Hopscotch adventures, head to the pub and check out all of these awesome bands. Plus, if you didn’t get a Hopscotch ticket (There are only about 15 all-inclusive passes left as I write this!) you can still come to this daytime event!  See you there, with a day-beer in hand!

Yep, you read it right! WKNC will have the great pleasure of premiering two brand new songs by local favorites Lonnie Walker and Future Islands from their split 7″ coming out this November. We are the very first ones to have the tracks, so you’ll just have to tune in to the Local Lunch this Wednesday to hear them (and trust me, they rock).

The one and only DJ Ray will be unlocking the treasure chest of two brand new singles to rock you through the next week and a half until we get to see both bands live at Hopscotch! Are you as excited as I am?!??

Excellent Portland record label Hometapes will host a day party, Hometapes Friend Island, during the Hopscotch Music Festival, adding to an already hefty lineup of free day shows. The party will go down Friday, September 10 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at The Pour House and feature musical performances from Megafaun, Breathe Owl Breathe, All Tiny Creatures, Pattern Is Movement, Collections of Colonies of Bees, and Family Dynamics (a.k.a. Stars Like Fleas).

The Hopscotch Twitter announced that there will be a complete list of day parties, among other new info, added to the site soon.

And yes, WKNC, will be hosting a party, as well. More info real soon!

This week’s Local Beat is going to be the first in a while with live music as all three of the bands coming in plan on playing some tunes for us on the air.

Carrboro group Max Indian is kicking things off at 5 p.m. to promote their show at the Local 506 on August 27. Max Indian is playing less and less these days, so I plan on asking them about the group’s recent happenings and chat with them about their upcoming gig during Hopscotch.

Twelve Thousand Armies is the closest band we have in the area that represents a cult following as their music has largely been missed due to lack of promotion and live shows, and I am excited to welcome them on the program at 6p .m. They are also playing the Local 506 on the 27th with Max Indian and The Houston Brothers. It will be their first interview on WKNC—who just twisted the band’s arm to finally get a hold of their album that came out awhile back—and I am sure many of you have been hearing constantly since.

At 7 p.m., Asheville artist Darien will be jumping on board to promote several upcoming shows in our area. Darien is relatively unknown around our region, but that has been quickly changing with her last release, Theorem, which came out on Alive and Well back in March. Darien has a busy couple of weeks in the area that include five shows in the Triangle between now and September 3.

As always, the fun starts at 5 p.m. and will last until 8 p.m.! Don’t worry if you miss it as all interviews are put on the WKNC blog following the show. Be sure to follow the Local Beat on Twitter or Facebook and download tons of free local music on our ReverbNation page!