Be sure to tune in for your chance to win tickets to  these great local shows happening through the rest of the month!

Wednesday, February 17
The Urban Sophisticates w/ Kaze, Inflowential, & The Beast @ Cat’s Cradle

The Urban Sophisticates photo by Jon Black

Thursday, February 18
Carlitta Durand w/ M1 Platoon, Jocelyn Ellis, Thee Tom Hardy & Jabee @ The Pour House

Carlitta Durand

Friday, February 19
Annuals w/ Gray Young & Bright Young Things @ The Pour House

Annuals

***In excitement for this show WKNC will also be giving away Annuals CD’s and T-Shirts! WKNC DJ’s will be playing song clips and when announced, be the correct caller with the right song title to win some awesome swag!***

SWASO w/ Violet Vectors and The Lovely Lovelies & The Guns of el Borracho @ Cat’s Cradle

SWASO

Wednesday, February 24
The Clientele w/ Vetiver @ Cat’s Cradle

The Clientele

Thursday, February 25
State Radio w/ Big D and The Kids Table & Cobalt and the Hired Guns @ Cat’s Cradle

State Radio

Don’t forget to check out the Rock Report for a complete listing of great shows happening in your area!

Photographs by Matt Moore from the Hear Here finale Oct. 3, 2009. All photographs (C) 2009 NCSU Student Media.

Inflowential just released a new music video for “Sheriff”, their contribution for the Hear Here local music compilation.  The video was made by Jason Arthurs, and features footage of Inflowential recording at Flying Tiger Sound.  The song addresses the issue of police brutality and references the Bob Marley classic, “I Shot The Sheriff”.  Check it out!

Inflowential will be playing with The Love Language and Motorskills on Saturday, October 3rd, for the Hear Here finale show at the Pour House Music Hall.  The doors open at 8pm, the show starts at 10pm, and tickets are $7.  See you out there!

There are always lots of awesome shows going on in the Triangle, but October seems to be just stuffed full of them. Below is a limited preview of some of the hippest, hottest acts to catch this month.

WKNC gets a lot of praise for our weekly Local Beer Local Band series at Tir Na Nog, but a good chunk of the credit belongs to Chris Tamplin. Help thank Chris for putting up with us Thursday, Oct. 1 as Local Beer Local Band doubles as Chris’s Birthday Local Band Bash. Prabir and The Substitutes and Goner are on the bill and rumor has it there may be a magician.

The much anticipated Hear Here finale show is Saturday, Oct. 3 at The Pour House. Motorskills opens, followed by Inflowential and The Love Language. Tickets are not available in advance so be sure to get there when doors open at 8 p.m. Once inside $5 will get you a copy of the Hear Here CD; there are less than 90 shopping days before Christmas so feel free to stock up.

St. Vincent was one of the hottest groups on 88.1 this summer. They open for Andrew Bird Wednesday, Oct. 7 and Thursday, Oct. 8. at the Cat’s Cradle. Both nights are sold out. If you aren’t one of the lucky ticket holders, personal favorites Everclear play Oct. 8 at the Lincoln Theatre.

Saturday, Oct. 10 is I Was Totally Destroying It’s release party for Horror Vacui at the Cat’s Cradle. The $7 advance and $10 door prices include a copy of the CD. If that isn’t enough to get you there, how about supporting bands Lonnie Walker, Des Ark, Rat Jackson and Lake Inferior?

Baltimore-based J. Roddy Walston and the Business is one of those bands you love as though they were native sons. Mike Roy joins them for their CD release party Wednesday, Oct. 14 at The Pour House.

Berkley Café hosts Lonnie Walker, Goner and Gray Young on Friday, Oct. 16. Try not to rock so hard you miss Luego’s CD release party Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Local 506. The Tomahawks and The Huguenots will be there too.

Raleigh’s Cherry Bounce Music Festival starts Sunday, Oct. 18 and runs throughout the week at various local venues. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about the line-up, but I can tell you to tune in to Local Lunch on Thursday to find out more.

Experimental prog rockers The Mars Volta invade the Disco Rodeo on Friday, Oct. 23. They’ll be in Charlotte the day before if you’re a really big fan.

A bunch of KNC staff saw Charlotte’s Benji Hughes in April and they’re still talking about it. See him for yourself as he performs with The Light Pines Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Local 506.

Fridays on the Lawn continue Friday, Oct. 30 with Max Indian and Schooner. It’s a totally free show on Harris Field, right in front of our radio home in the Witherspoon Student Center (corner of Cates Ave and Dan Allen Drive) at N.C. State. WKNC and the Union Activities Board put on the show with support from Student Government and the Inter-residence Council.

Check out WKNC’s Rock Report for more shows and feel free to leave comments about who’s on your to see list for October.

Here are the great shows happening this week to which WKNC is giving away tickets:

Wednesday, Sept. 30:

Ra Ra Riot with Maps and Atlases and Princeton @ Cat’s Cradle

Ra Ra Riot photo by Sarah Cass

Friday, Oct. 2:

SMNMNMN with Josh Drye Consortium and The Toddlers @ Nightlight

SMNMNMN

American Aquarium with Shawn Fisher and the Juke Box & Gabriel Kelly @ The Pour House

American Aquarium photo by Amy Schlatter

Saturday, Oct 3:

Hear Here Finale Show feat. The Love Language, Inflowential, and Motor Skills @ The Pour House

Hear Here

This is the second and final Hear Here show to promote the all-local and all-amazing tunes of some great artists from the area. The first show of the two part series was sold out and presented at Cat’s Cradle. If you weren’t able to attend the first show be sure to get your tickets now or listen to WKNC for your chance to win tickets!

Adid of Inflowential at Flying Tiger Sound recording for Hear Here

Its official, the Hear Here Finale Show has a lineup and a solid one it is.  Colossus, Inflowential, and the Love Language will all be playing October 3rd at the Pour House in downtown Raleigh.  Tickets are going for $7 but unlike the August 29th show in Carrboro, the compilation will not be included with the price of admission.  Copies of the album will be available for $5 once inside.

Hear Here is a local music compilation album of 17 different Triangle based artists featuring all new unreleased material sponsored by Terpsikhore Records, Flying Tiger Sound, and WKNC 88.1.  For weeks WKNC has been slowly releasing tracks over the airwaves during Local Lunch (Mon-Fri 12-1pm) and the Local Beat (Fri 5-8pm) and many local blogs have been posting leaked songs from Hear Here on the internet.

The album is set to be released this Saturday at the Cats Cradle with Annuals, The Never, Hammer No More The Fingers and Birds of Avalon bringing up the bill.  Tickets are going for $10 with a copy of the album included with admission.  Organizers plan on selling out, so go ahead and get your tickets early.

The October 3rd show in Raleigh is the finale of the compilation release.  Doors will open at 8pm with Colossus starting up at 10pm.  Inflowential and the Love Language will come on sequentially.

Bill Fisher of Colossus recording at Flying Tiger Sound for Hear Here

For the first time ever, Hillsborough Street will be closed all day on Saturday, March 14th. The festival this year showcases the construction changes occurring over the next two years to Raleigh’s historic street. The event will also feature an eco-friendly arts fashion show, a BBQ taste testing competition, and most importantly- WKNC will be on site and broadcasting live from noon till 2pm! So tune in or join DJ Mick as well as other WKNC staffers on the street for some eco-friendly fun in the sun.

Live bands include:

Inflowential

Brooks Wood band

Murphy’s Kids

For more information, visit the Hillsborough Street Renaissance website

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).

Inflowential will be live at The Pour House Music Hall on January 31st. The concert will be from 8:00 pm until 2:00 am and will feature special guests Blount Harvey and Halo.

While everyone else was busy playing in the snow on Tuesday, local MC Tab-One (of Kooley High & Inflowential) was busy making a music video- a remix of “FlowGlow.”  And while the lip-syncing may be a little off and picture quality from a homemade video may be a bit shady, it still just furthers some more promotion for “One Day” which I am supa-psyched about.