Below is a recap of last Friday’s Local Beat where we invited in the local Musical Chairs Compilation’s Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores, Jason Adamo, and Wesley Wolfe.

For the first hour of the show Erika Libero from Nightsound Studios came by with Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores to chat about the local Musical Chairs Compilation that is currently underway. Nightsound is about to begin recording for the compilation, which should take about three weeks before the songs are mastered and released in September. We talked about the behind-the-scenes process of creating the compilation as well as the bands who will be on it. The master list of the covers are below:

• Butterflies covering Erie Choir
• Erie Choir covering Luego
• Luego covering Birds and Arrows
• Birds and Arrows covering SWASO
• SWASO covering The Pneurotics
• The Pneurotics covering New Town Drunks
• New Town Drunks covering Soft Company
• Soft Company covering Lizzy Ross Band
• Lizzy Ross Band covering Pecosa
• Pecosa covering Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores
• Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores covering Puritan Rodeo
• Puritan Rodeo covering I Was Totally Destroying It
• I Was Totally Destroying It covering North Elementary
• North Elementary covering The Big Picture
• The Big Picture covering Butterflies

Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores played some live tracks for us off of their record that is coming out in August. Check those out in the playlist to the right and download them on the Local Beat ReverbNation page. Listen to the interview here:

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Jason Adamo and Doug Casteen came in for the second hour of the show to talk about Jason’s new album Transistor, which was released back in July. Jason has been playing live in the Triangle for almost a decade now and has set up a temporary residence at the Pour House on Monday evenings. Transistor is a new sound for him that is much more rock n’ roll and a little deeper than his past recordings. It was recorded in Pittsboro with John Briggs and cowritten with John, Doug, and Jason’s bother Chris. Jason and Doug played some live tracks for us in studio, which you can listen to in the widget above or download them on the Local Beat ReverbNation page. Also, be sure to watch Jason’s new music video below for “Raleigh Nights” that is going to be played by the Carolina Hurricanes this next season at every game.

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For the last hour of the evening, Wes Wolfe came in the studio to chat about his new record Storage, which was released from Odessa Records back in April. You might recognize Wes from defunct local group the Grasshoppers who split up back in 2006, though he is now recording and playing live solo. Wes played nearly every instrument on the new record and recorded it in his own home.  He was a soft spoken and humble interviewee, but we had a lot to talk about:

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If 2009 was the year of Hear Here, then 2010 could very well be the year of Musical Chairs.  Carrboro based recording studio Nightsound Studios is releasing a compilation album in a similar vein that Flying Tiger Sound pulled off at this same time last year.  The project is to be titled The Musical Chairs Compilation.  The kicker is that the bands are covering other local bands and have to choose the band they are covering at random.  The compilation is being released for free with all donations going to the production of the free CDs and a local concert, and all concert proceeds will benefit a charity. You can read more about it here.

Bands on the project include:
Birds and Arrows
Butterflies
Erie Choir
I Was Totally Destroying It
Lizzy Ross Band
Luego
New Town Drunks
North Elementary
Pneurotics
Puritan Rodeo
Soft Company
Swaso
Wylie Hunter and the Cazadores and Pecosa

IWTDI has already announced that they are covering a North Elementary track while Puritan Rodeo is covering one of their’s.  I will post more information as I know it.

This week on WKNC we are giving away tickets to a myriad of fun goodness:

5/28 Carlitta Durand and Kooley High at The Pour House

5/29 North Elementary at Slim’s

Robin Hood, with Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett

Sex and the City 2!!! With Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Kattrall

Keep listening for these exciting giveaways and more!!!!

This thursday, Febuary 18, is another installment of Tir Na Nog and WKNC’s Local Beer Local Band night. The show is Free and doors open at 10 p.m. Thursday night’s line-up consists of a solo performace from Stuart of The Love Language followed by The Proclivities and finishing off the night will be North Elementary.

As always, Tir Na Nog will have a fine selection of local beers on tap. For more information about this show and future Local Beer Local Band nights, check out www.Tnnirishpub.com.

Hope to see you there!

Last week on the Local Beat was a lot of fun, as we had two bands in the studio for 2.5 hours of good conversation. Maria Albani, bass player of Schooner, came in to chat about her new solo project Organos at 5 p.m which is having a debut album release for the brand new EP, Limbs, this Friday at the Pinhook in Durham (it is already getting airplay on Satellite Radio).  Organos is an interesting band in which Maria plays an assortment of unorthodox instruments such as spoons, glass, cardboard, boxes, shaker eggs, and sticks among other interesting sounds to create a unique yet immensely satisfying minimalist folk rock sound.  On the album Maria performed most of the parts herself but live Organos is a whole different animal.   A mini local super group of sorts, Organos live claims the likes of Reid Johnson (Schooner), Wes Phillips (solo, North Elementary, Rosebuds), Theresa Phillips (North Elementary), Nathan White (Nathan Oliver), and John Harris0n (Nathan Oliver, North Elementary), not to mention Maria herself.  In our conversation Maria, Theresa, and I chatted about the album, the band members, the show, and also her past bands which include Pleasant, Tennis and the Mennonites, Un Deux Trois, & The Pox Family Singers.  Listen to the podcast below:

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Organos is playing at the Pinhook this Friday, February 5 alongside Birds and Arrows and Ye Old Shoppe (with members of Wild Wild Geese).  The show is at 9:30 p.m., and you get a free copy of the album with price of admission!

At 6 p.m., local bluegrass favorites The Hotwires stepped in to chat about an assortment of different topics, but mostly to encourage our listeners to head to the Haiti Relief Benefit show at the Pour House Thursday, February 4th.   The Hotwires are playing in the middle of the show after Andy Bilinski, Roger Gupton, and the Debonzo Brothers, and before Chatham County Line, Filthybird, and A Rooster For The Masses.  The show is $12 and all proceeds are going to the Red Cross in support of Haiti Relief efforts.  The fellas and I spent quite a bit of time chatting about bluegrass as a genre, the history of bluegrass, as well as their upcoming album which is hopefully going to be released at some point this spring.   We even got a little touchy when talking about their old band name, No Strings Attached.  They also brought in some instruments and played some live tunes for me.  Check out the reverbnation player below to listen to the songs or listen to the entire podcast:

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I also interviewed Hank Smith for this past Monday’s Eye On the Triangle program here on WKNC about the benefit. You can listen to that segment here.

One Friday night, I decided it would be a great idea to completely shave my head.  The next day, North Elementary happened to sessions@KNC.  The following aerial shot gives a great view of my shiny bald glory.  Oh, yeah, and the band too.

So seriously, as a result of a day properly divided between music-making and skater-heckling, you all have the chance to download three new North Elementary Tunes and one old one.  I highly recommend you do, because they rock.  If you’re a geek like me, listen to Chad’s drums in the slow part of “Lose Your Favorite Things.” Great Drums + Caldwell Lounge = incredible sound.

Right now, North Elementary is in the studio cutting tracks for a new album, so keep an eye out for another release!

Also, I’ll shout a huge thanks to Mikey, Liz, and Matt for showing up and volunteering good chunks of their Saturdays.

Here’s a brand new tune from North Elementary called “Midwest Bug”:

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And here are the four individually zipped songs, free for you to download!

Lose Your Favorite Things

Murder by Memory

War for Kicks

Midwest Bug

If you have never listened to the 5 o’clock Shadow with DJs May Day and Spaceman Spiff, put it on today’s to-do list. After sitting down with Proof and Lonnie Walker in recent weeks, today’s special guests are I Was Totally Destroying It. The DBB6 alumni will be performing with North Elementary as part of WKNC’s Local Beer Local Band tonight at Tir Na Nog.

You know the story.  Local music die hard, and WXYC alum,  Cy Rawls, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in June of 2008.  Unable to pay his mounting medical bills, bands and friends from all over North Carolina, Virginia, and the US pitched in to throw some of the most amazing concerts, film viewings, and even bake sales, with all benefits attributed to a fund which paid for Cy’s medical bills.  Unfortunately, at just the age of 33, on October 3, 2008, Cy passed away at Duke Medical Center.

Thankfully, it did not end there.  Enter CyTunes, a nonprofit music download site that “features exclusive music from artists who have contributed tracks (both live and in-studio) to help raise money for cancer research in memory of Cy Rawls.”  There are 44 bands and artists in all (as of today) which include:

ALL PROCEEDS from CyTunes go to Tisch Brain Tumor Center, where Cy was a patient.  Please support this amazing organization, the bands that contribute to it, and the memory of Cy Rawls.

For more information, feel free to read these excellent articles by the Independent Weekly, and this write-up by Pitchfork.