Last Friday on the Local Beat was one of the first full programs I have had in a while.  Several different members from a variety of bands from across the Triangle came in to chat with me.  As always, all songs performed live on the show are available for listening and download off of the Local Beat ReverbNation page and widget to the left.  We added 5 new songs this week, two by Schooner and three by Wembley.  Sorry for taking so long to post this, schoolwork got in the way once again.

Reid Johnson from Schooner came in at 5 p.m. to talk about the band’s brand new release, the Duck Kee Sessions EP.  All proceeds from the album go to benefit CyTunes.org which in effect goes to benefit cancer research.   CyTunes is the only place where you can download the album.  In addition to the CyTunes we talked about the release show for the EP this Friday at the Pinhook in Durham.  Veelee, the Erie Choir, and the Popular Kids are also performing.  This release show is unique in that instead of selling hard copies of the album, local musicians and artists have donated artwork that comes with a downloadable copy of the Duck Kee Sessions EP.  For more listen in below and check out the artwork as well at the bottom of the post:

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Three members of Wembley came in at 6 p.m. to chat with me about their newest release, Keywords for Robots EP, which the band put out late in 2009.   I got a little upset with them for not promoting the album and sending it to me, all in good gesture of course.  The band members provided an insightful view into their lives as hobby-only musicians and I had a lot of fun sitting down with them for the hour.  You can listen to that conversation below:

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I had two members each of Annuals, Bright Young Things, and Gray Young to come in and talk about their show this Friday night in downtown Raleigh at the Pour House.   The fellas were a little shy and all seven of us had to share four microphones, but we did manage to play brand new songs by all of the bands, including the entire brand new EPs by both Annuals and Bright Young Things while chatting about the recording process. Listen below:

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Artwork Available for purchase at the Pinhook on Friday. All proceeds go to CyTunes.org and benefit cancer research:

By Catherine Edgerton (Click for entire series)

By Chris Williams

By Dave Cantwell (click for entire series)

By David Koslowski

By John Harrison

By John Harrison

By Ron Liberti

By Shirle Koslowski

By Zeno Gill

From The Merch

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.

Due to N.C. State women’s basketball we have another abbreviated Local Beat tonight starting at 5 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m.  Local favorites The Old Ceremony will be coming on for the first hour of the show to chat about their concert tonight at the Pour House as they are playing alongside Floating Action.  Tickets are $8 and the doors open at 8 p.m., music starts around 9:30 or 10 p.m.  It has been a while since TOC has been on the Local Beat, and I am expecting tonight’s interview to be a lot of fun.

Also, don’t forget to keep listening to WKNC for Wolfpack women’s basketball tonight directly after the Local Beat at 6:00 p.m.  The team is 11-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play and are playing Wake Forest at Reynolds Coliseum.   Click here for the game preview.

Tonight on the Local Beat is going to be another three hours of musical goodness.  Check out the lineup for the show!

At 5pm Reid Johnson from Schooner is stopping by to talk about the band’s recent adventures and play some brand new tunes for us off of their upcoming “Duck Kee Sessions” EP that just hit the internet.  Schooner is also playing tonight at the Pour House alongside the Magic Babies & Starmount for what should be a killer show.

6pm is a huge thrill for me as I am bringing in one of my favorite local bands, and also one of the most elusive, the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  CCD is playing at the Cats Cradle tomorrow night for a rare local show that you are not going to want to miss out on.  I also think this may be their WKNC debut…

At 7pm Zach Terry of the Whiskey Smugglers and Liz Ross of Lafcadio are joining me in the studio to talk about next Wednesdays show at the Cats Cradle.  The show is a benefit to battle Multiple Sclerosis and Zach is playing solo, being joined by Lafcadio, The Tomahawks, and The Last of the Great Sideshow Freaks (The Old Ceremony’s Mark Simonsen’s band).

So drop a line to the Local Beat, every Friday evenings from 5pm-8pm.  Listen on the air or listen over the internet!

Couldn’t make it out to the show last night at the Cats Cradle but still want a copy of Hear Here?  Well, don’t fret because the compilation will be available for purchase at a variety of places including:

• Schoolkids Records (Raleigh)
• CD Alley (Chapel Hill)
• Bull City Records (Durham)
• Every week at Local Beer Local Band
• And don’t forget about the the Oct 3rd show at the Pour House!

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!

This is the first installment of WKNC’s features on all the bands included in this years Double Barrel Benefit.  Be on the lookout for more blogs, interviews, and other cool information in the coming weeks!

For those of you who know me well, you’re aware of how prone I am to wax poetic about the superlative elements of our local music scene. Local music is one of those topics that I’m wont to speak at length about given any tangential opportunity, so when I was asked to write a blog post about Schooner, I had to compile my thoughts for a while. What was I going to write that hadn’t already been said?

I don’t think that it’s a secret to anyone that Schooner is one of my favorite bands from North Carolina. I know what you’re saying…  I’ve got a lot of favorite bands from North Carolina, right? Well, OK, yes… but for those of you who doubt my veracity, I’ve got proof: their bumper sticker is currently one of two adorning the rear of my trusty 1998 Geo Prizm (though, admittedly, it sort of matches the color scheme).

Schooner sound a bit like Stephin Merritt if you replaced his early synthesizer fixation with an equivalent fixation on Buddy Holly and the hazey sounds of shoegaze.  Like Merritt, Schooner’s songs are rooted in solid pop melodies and hooks, but you’ll often find them drenched in more reverb and paired to dreamy choruses. Amidst the atmosphere, Reid Johnson sings with a Merritt-like baritone croon straight out of the 50’s, and adding to that general 50’s vibe are slide guitars, mandolins, and those characteristic palm-muted slow dance rock chords.

Lyrically, Schooner’s songs can seem like character studies from a Faulkner novel; they’re often told in the past tense and are filled with bruised, distinctively Southern tales of lost love, missed opportunities, and regret.  It can be heavy stuff, surely, but with the sweet pop melodies that Schooner brings to the table, you could make even the saddest tale feel like a catchy, danceable rocker.

So why do I consider them to be one of my favorite local bands?  To answer that, let’s listen to one of their songs, “Married,” from their 2007 release, Hold On Too Tight.

Listen carefully and you’ll realize that in three short minutes, through oblique phrases and echoing slide guitar runs, we get a glimpse into a lifetime’s worth of memories and regret. Whatever your interpretation of lines like “constellations were laid upon,” you know several things for certain by its conclusion: she was the one, he’s probably been in love with her for far too long, and her marriage symbolizes the end of hope that she’ll come back.

The ability to fit all of that complex sentiment within the trappings of a deceptively simple verse-chorus pop song is a gift that few songwriters possess, and the fact that Schooner is able to do it so effortlessly with just about every song they write earns them a spot in the highest echelons of my music collection.

The best part? They’re awesome live, and you can see them at this year’s Double Barrel Benefit.

Whatever your tastes are, there’s a vast bounty of world-class music to be had here in the Triangle, and it’s due to this great variety that we’ve held the Double Barrel for the past six years.  This year’s edition promises to continue what has become one of the best damned Raleigh traditions around, and we’ll be writing features for each artist playing.

Schooner plays third on Friday, February 6th, and tickets are available from the Pour House website.