WKNC DJs pick the best albums of 2012
by DJ Ones on Dec.26, 2012, under Promotions
Now that the year 2012 is coming to a close us here at WKNC look back at our top five albums of the year once again. Although we might not always agree on what is the most amazing, the love of great music not only kept us excited throughout 2012, but we look forward to the amazing music that it will bring as well. Take a gander at what are a few of the albums we loved throughout this year, as chosen by WKNC DJs. See you in 2013!
Sarahnade

1. Caspian – Waking Season
2. El Ten Eleven – Transitions
3. Spider Bags – Shake My Head
4. Pinback – Information Retrieved
5. Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
C. Deuce

1. Yeasayer – Fragrant World
2. Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
3. Hundred Waters – Hundred Waters
4. Sweet Valley – Eternal Champ
5. Miike Snow – Happy to You
CMYK

1. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
2. Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
3. Beach House – Bloom
4. The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth
5. Oceanics – Bright People
JKG

1. Dan Deacon – America
2. MAKE – Trephine
3. The Album Leaf – Forward/Return
4. Dads – American Radass (this is important)
4. El Ten Eleven – Transitions
Zaps

1. Father John Misty – Fear Fun
2. First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
3. Bowerbirds – The Clearing
4. Lost In The Trees – A Church That Fits Our Needs
5. Jukebox the Ghost- Safe Travels
Seagull

1. DIIV – Oshin
2. Tame Impala – Lonerism
3. Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse
4. Mac Demarco – 2
5. Beach House – Bloom
DJ DiGiorno

1. Howler – America Give Up
2. Beach House – Bloom
3. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
4. Father John Misty- Fear Fun
5. Dr. Dog- Be The Void
DJ GRZA

1. Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes
2. Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
3. Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
4. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, M.A.D.D city
5. Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
The Mattador

1. Grouplove – Never Trust a Happy Song (Released 2011)
2. Dr. Dog – Be the Void
3. Passion Pit – Gossamer
4. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
5. Supreme Cuts – Whispers in the Dark
DJ Smitty

1. The Menzingers – On The Impossible Past
2. Red Collar – Welcome Home
3. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
4. Murder By Death – Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon
5. Hop Along – Get Disowned
DJ Ones

1. Andrew Bird – Break if Yourself
2. Tame Impala – Lonerism
3. Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
4. Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
5. Grizzly Bear – Shields
DJ Salinger

1. The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter
2. Grimes – Visions
3. The XX – Coexist
4. Toro y Moi – June 2009
5. Oberhofer – Time Capsules II
Muta

1. GRiZ – Mad Liberation
2. Purity Ring – Shrines
3. Submotion Orchestra – Fragments
4. Badbadnotgood – BBNG2
5. XXYYXX – XXYYXX
May Day

1. Beach House – Bloom
2. Purity Ring – Shrines
3. The Walkmen – Heaven
4. The Helio Sequence – Negotiations
5. Oberhofer – Time Capsules II
Billy

1.Stripmines – Crimes of Dispassion
2. Oiltanker/No Tomorrow – Split LP
3. The Sword – Apogryphon
4. High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis
5. Mob Rules – The Donor
Walter-Ego

1. Dan Deacon – America
2. Death Grips – The Money Store
3. Spider Bags – Shake My Head
4. The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth
5. Dr. Dog – Be The Void
DJ Sweet D

1. Grimes – Visions
2. Purity Ring – Shrines
3. First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
4. Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
5. Grizzly Bear – Shields
Major Tom

1. Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
2. Cloud Nothings – Attack On Memory
3. Tame Impala – Mind Mischief
4. The Shins – Port Of Morrow
5. Beach House – Bloom
DJ ACORN

1. Micachu & The Shapes – Never
2. Daughn Gibson – All Hell
3. The Music Tapes – Mary’s Voice
4. Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions
5. Murder by Death – Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon
Anastassia

1. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
2. Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse
3. DIIV – Oshin
4. Grass Widow – Internal Logic
5. Grimes – Visions
Spaceman Spiff

1. Chromatics – Kill for Love
2. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
3. Wild Nothing – Nocturne
4. Grimes – Visions
5. Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
DJ CJ

1. Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill
2. Carolina Chocolate Drops – Leaving Eden
3. Steep Canyon Rangers – Nobody Knows You
4. Trampled By Turtles – Stars & Satellites
5. Old Crow Medicine Show – Carry Me Back To Virginia
ALASKA

1. Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – Theatre is Evil
2. Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
3. White Lung – Sorry
4. Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It
5. La Sera – Sees the Light
DJ Mason

1. Lost in the Trees – A Church That Fits Our Needs
2. Beach House – Bloom
3. Death Grips – The Money Store
4. Grimes – Visions
5. Here We Go Magic – A Different Ship
This Week’s Totally Awesome Giveaways
by shkillia on May.25, 2011, under Promotions
Yo, Yo Yiggity Yo.
If you like/love/can-admit-an-appreciation-for, The Decemberists, Best Coast, The Morning After, Corrosion of Conformity, Beggars, Dance Music for Nerds, Caltrop, Americans in France, Jews & Catholics, Red Collar, Dangerous Ponies or Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, then you should LISTEN UP to WKNC 88.1 this week, because we’ve got giveaways right now for every single one of these shows. You should be listening right now.
Below is the list of shows. Read up and get down as you listen to The Revolution, waiting to see if you can win tickets to your show!
6/11 Live Nation presents The Decemberists w/ Best Coast @ The Raleigh Amphitheater
5/25 The Morning After @ Pinhook (Durham)
5/26 Corrosion of Conformity @ Cat’s Cradle (Carrboro)
5/26 Beggars (w/ Colossus and White Tiger and the Bed of Roses) @ Casbah (Durham)
5/27 Dance Music for Nerds @ Pinhook
5/27 Caltrop @ Kings Barcade (Raleigh)
5/28 Americans in France album release party @ Kings Barcade
5/28 Jews & Catholics @ Pinhook
5/28 Red Collar @ Casbah
5/29 Dangerous Ponies @ Pinhook
5/29 Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ Lincoln Theatre (Raleigh)
We have Troika Music Festival passes!
by DJ Elly May on Oct.28, 2010, under Daytime, Local, Promotions
For 3 days, from November 4-6, Durham comes alive with music and art. Troika Music Festival began in 2002 and is still going strong. Bands featured this year include Birds & Arrows, Veelee, Old Bricks, I Was Totally Destroying It, Red Collar, The Small Ponds, Americans in France, Phil Cook and His Feat, Chatham County Line, Mount Moriah, Gray Young, Spider Bags, and even more! They’ll be performing at venues around Durham and WKNC has 3-day festival passes to give away!
Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for it now through November 3, and you could win a pair of 3-day festival passes!
Local Beat preview 8/6/10
by Adam Kincaid on Aug.06, 2010, under The Local Beat
At 5 p.m., Gray Young is coming by for an hour to talk. The band has several shows coming up this month, including one tonight at the Berkley Cafe with the Loners, Goner, and Asheville band Knives and Daggers, and one tomorrow at the TTWD Fest where they are playing at 4 p.m.
Rat Jackson has an album release party for their new release Midnight Get Right with Aminal and Red Collar at the Broad Street Cafe on August 7. The new album is reminiscent of Rat Jackson’s live show, which is energetic, straight-up rock n’ roll, and I have a feeling the second hour of the program is going to be just that.
At 7 p.m., there will be a pre-recorded interview with Graveyard Fields. Frontman for the Carrboro band, Brian Risk, came in last week with Pete and Andrea Connolly (of Birds & Arrows) who are also in the group. We talked about the creation of the band and their debut EP Saturn’s Moon, which has been out for a couple of months. Two of the members of the group, Carol and Jon, are expecting their first baby at any moment right now, which made for some interesting conversation.
As always feel free to follow the Local Beat on Twitter, Facebook, or ReverbNation. If you can’t tune into the show tonight, then stay tuned on the WKNC blog for our weekly recap of the evening.
Local Beat Mini Exclusive: Deliver Me From Nowhere
by Adam Kincaid on Apr.15, 2010, under The Local Beat
This week I sat down for yet another Local Beat Mini Exclusive as there will once again be no normally scheduled Local Beat (due to baseball programming). Rob Koegler and Jason Kutchma came in to chat about a really interesting and unique concert happening this Friday evening at the ETC Auditorium of the North Carolina School of Science and Math titled “Deliver Me From Nowhere- A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.” A collaboration of different musicians from Red Collar, Midtown Dickens, COW, Mount Moriah, and the Rosewood Bluff are coming together to play the entire album in it’s entirely. The show is only $10 and all proceeds are going to benefit the Coalition to Unchain Dogs and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. The concert begins at 9:30 p.m. though a free showing of Terrence Malick’s 1973 film, Badlands, will begin at 7:30 p.m. The screening of the movie is free of charge.
In this Local Beat Mini Exclusive, Jay, Rob, and I chatted about the bands playing the show, the charities, and the reason behind throwing this concert. Jay also brought in his acoustic guitar and a harmonica and played two tracks from Nebraska for us which you can listen to in the music player to the left.
Take a listen to the podcast below and feel free to download the covers at the Local Beat ReverbNation page.
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Double Barrel Benefit 7 presents: Spider Bags
by rmsloane72 on Jan.25, 2010, under Local
I first heard about Spider Bags at Bull City Headquarters in Durham. I had gone to see a friend play with a band called Titus Andronicus. A few songs in, the leader singer says, “This is a song by the greatest band in the world — Spider Bags,” and preceded to sing Waking Up Drunk.
Now, if you were at this show you would probably remind me that Spider Bags themselves had played that night, but I got lost on the way to the venue and missed the set. Nevertheless, I made sure to look up this so called “greatest band in the world” — and you know what? Titus Andronicus wasn’t far off.
Spider Bags is made up of long time friends Dan McGee and Gregg Levy, two Jersey boys who magically ended up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Rock Forbes from the band Bad Checks is the drummer. The band themselves formed in 2006 and have been growing ever since.
Their tunes themselves sound like southern, gritty rock and roll with lyrics that consist of drugs, booze and just livin’ the hard life. Now there have been thousands of bands that have all sung the same tunes but some how Spider Bags figured it out. The mix sloppy with unique and transfix the listener with the sounds they are creating.
Spider Bags not only writes incredible music, they also put on an incredible live show. Comparable to other local favorite Red Collar,the band never lacks on emotion and energy. They can induce their audience to scream, shout or even cry.
This year the band released “Goodbye Cruel, Hello Crueler One” on Birdman records.
Spider Bags will be performing Saturday, February 6 at The Pour House after The Tender Fruit and Midtown Dickens. Roman Candle will end night two of Double Barrel Benefit 7.
For the complete Double Barrel schedule and ticket information, click here.
TOP 10: Red Collar
by rmsloane72 on Oct.27, 2009, under Local
This Top 10 comes from Durham’s Red Collar.
Red Collar has had a fascinating year so far. Its members decided to grasp their dreams by quitting their great 9 to 5 jobs, cashing in retirement plans, holding yard sales and almost putting a home on the market in order to follow their dreams of touring. They document their journey on their blog.
Below are the lists of what each member is currently listening to. Red Collar said, “These lists of music reflect not only what we’re listening to now but bands we’ve played with over the past year. There are local — now national — bands whose lead we admired and followed. There are local — and soon to be national — bands who we love and trade war stories with.”
Beth: Bass/Vocals
1. Tom Waits – “Going Out West”
2. The Gaslight Anthem “The High and Lonesome Sound”
3. The Love Language – “Stars”
4. Des Ark - “Lord of the Rings and his Fascist Time Keepers”
5. Yo La Tengo – “I feel like going home”
6. Jawbox – “Savory”
7. K’Naan – “Dusty Foot Philosopher”
8. David Dondero – “the Real Tina Turner”
9. CCR – “Long as I Can See the Light”
10. Carole King “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”
Mike: Guitar/Vocals
1. Megafaun – “Gather, Form and Fly”
2. Spoon – “Everything Hits at Once”
3. Joe Tex “Papa was Too”
4. Sonic Youth – “Teenage Riot”
5. Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”
6. American Aquarium – “Katherine Belle”
7. TV on the Radio – “Shout Me Out”
8. Spider Bags – “Teenage Eyes”
9. Hammer No More the Fingers – “Shutterbug”
10. Modest Mouse – “Broke”
Jason: Lead Vocals/Guitar
1. The Love Language – “Providence”
2. Hammer No More the Fingers – “Some Bad Ass New Song”
3. The Sandwiches - “And Out Come the (Timber) Wolves”
4. American Aquarium – “Katherine Belle”
5. Dave Dondero – “The Real Tina Turner”
6. I Was Totally Destroying It – “Come Out, Come Out”
7. Look Mexico – “You’re Not Afraid of the Dark, Are You?”
8. Worn in Red – “When People Have Something to Say”
9. Tooth/Claw Split 10″
10. The Mountain Goats – “This Year”
Jon:Drums
1. The Pogues – “Bottle of Smoke”
2. Ben Nichols – “Last Pale Light in the West”
3. Guided By Voices – “A Good Flying Bird”
4. Modest Mouse – “Dashboard”
5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – “Jack the Ripper”
6. Glenn Kotche – “Mobile, Pts. 1 & 2″
7. The Clash “Straight to Hell”
8. Townes Van Zandt – “Lungs”
9. Bela Fleck - “Matitu”
10. Wilco -”One Wing”
And also this video…
Tools, live at the Cats Cradle and the Duke Coffeehouse
Red Collar | MySpace Video[/myspace]
WKNC presents Magic Monday in the Cherry Bounce Festival series
by bloggie on Oct.18, 2009, under Local

Magic Monday
For the second day of the Cherry Bounce Music Festival, WKNC will be helping to host Magic Monday at The Raleigh Times. There will be performances by Brian Corum of Lonnie Walker, Jason Kutchma of Red Collar and Matt Douglas of The Proclivities. Magician Michael Casey will be performing in-between sets. The show kicks off at 9:30 p.m.
For the complete Cherry Bounce schedule, click here.
Troika Music Festival! November 5-7
by Laurie Lu on Oct.13, 2009, under Local
The Troika Music Festival is a three-day music festival in Durham, NC and features several local bands. Attending is a great way to support the local scene!
Local bands on this year’s line-up include The Love Language, Bowerbirds, Dexter Romweber Duo, Birds of Avalon, The Moaners, Red Collar, Future Islands, Hamer No More The Fingers, Lonnie Walker, Embarrassing Fruits, Max Indian, and many more. For a complete list, check out the schedule!
New this year is “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, on Saturday, November 7, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., which features a unique market of art and handmade wears from local artists and crafters.
Come out to support the local music and arts scene November 5,6, & 7.
LBLB For September
by Adam Kincaid on Sep.01, 2009, under Local
New Raleigh has beaten us to the punch announcing this month’s Local Beer Local Band, but we are just excited as everyone else. This could possibly be the best month’s lineup yet, and features three extra dates not on Thursday! Check it out:

- Wednesday, September 2- The American Princes with Magic Mike (FREE)
- Thursday, September 3- Max Indian & Mount Weather (FREE)
- Saturday, September 5- Lonnie Walker with Americans in France & Anti-Bubble ($5 cover)
- Thursday, September 10- The T’s & Embarrassing Fruits (FREE)
- Saturday, September 12- Rollergirl after party featuring Red Collar, I Was Totally Destroying It, The Demon Beat, & Pink Flag ($5 cover)
- Thursday, September 17- Sparkcon kick off featuring Bright Young Things, The Jackets, Aminal, & Starmount ($5 cover)
- Thursday, September 24- Future Kings of Nowhere & Dry Heathens (FREE)
Every week WKNC interviews our Local Beer Local Band bands, so be sure to check back to the blog for dates and times of live, on-air, interviews.
Also, don’t forget that every week the Hear Here compilation will be on sale at Tir Na Nog!
Murdoc’s Local Music Photo Blog: May
by Murdoc on Jun.01, 2009, under Local
Ok so it is June… but it isn’t my fault that May kicked ass. I mean seriously. I graduated from NC State, saw my family, and went to some of the best local shows I have been to in a while.
I had planed to attend several big shows in the weeks following graduation, however, I was sadly only able to make it to 3 shows featuring 8 bands. But what great shows they were.
Click on any picture to go to the full Gallery
May 15th: Cat’s Cradle: Hey Euphony, Whole Wheat Bread, MC Chris
This show was a mystery for me going in, because I was not familiar with any of the acts; also, I had never been to Cat’s Cradle before.

Hey Euphony kicked off the night with a high energy, pop punk set. Hey Euphonyis based out of Durham. The crowd seemed to like them and I am personally looking forward to taking a closer look at the material on their myspace.
Now on to reason I was interested in the show- Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread is based out of Jacksonville, Florida. The band plays what they like to call "Crunk Punk Rock" - an awesome blend of hard punk rock with hip hop style.

The newest addition to the band, bassist/back up vocalist, Johnny Rock took a quick break at one point. In the mean time, guitarist/vocalist, Aaron Abraham and drummer Joseph Largen gave the crowd a taste of Whole Wheat Bread's Hip Hop side. At one point, Aaron Abraham blew up the crowd with a free style rap about The Golden Girls.

While perhaps 3/4 of the crowd had never seen Whole Wheat Bread in concert or even heard of the band before, when it came time to end the set, there was an over whelming demand for an encore. Perhaps one of the greatest things that this band has going for it is the infectiousness of the energy that they put forth on stage. They got great response from the crowd the entire performance, they got the people to dance on stage and on the floor, and they rocked the place like they were the headliner. Whole Wheat Bread is an act that I recommend everyone go see the next time they pass through.

MC Chris (AKA MC Pee Pants from Aqua Team Hunger Force) finished off the night to a packed crowd. MC Chris performs "nerd core" hip hop. It was suspected by audience members that MC Chris was lip syncing his show. Regardless of the truth of those suspicions, I was not impressed by MC Chris's performance. It was just him, on the stage with his laptop playing his music while he "sang". The most entertaining part of his set was when he called out a heckler in the crowd.
May 20th: Cat’s Cradle: Maylene and The Sons of Disaster, Clutch
I had looked forward to this concert for months because Clutch has been one of my favorite bands for the last few years. Native to Maryland and with more than 10 albums to their credit, Clutch passes through the Triangle roughly once a year; and unfortunately does not allow photography at their shows. This year’s show, while fun, was a bit of a disappointment from previous times I had seen them. The mosh pit broke out fast, but disappeared just as quickly as it had started, the lead singer didn’t have much to say to the crowd, and it was difficult to see the band due to an unusually tall audience. I dare to say metal/hard rockers Maylene and The Sons of Disaster put on a better, higher energy performance.
May 27th: The Pour House: Black Skies, Caltrop , Colossus
This show featured some of the best Raleigh has to offer in hard rock and metal, and I hate myself for not realizing what pocket I had put my camera in. It wasn’t until Colossus took that stage that I realized that I hadn’t left my camera at home.
Black Skies is from Chapel Hill and was celebrating the vinyl release of Hexagon (5/26/09). I look forward to seeing more this band in the future because I’m not entirely sure about how much I enjoyed the performance. Part of it was the stage presence of the band, part of it was the annoying buzz that was feeding into the mix from a bad cable. However, I do encourage people to check out their music none the less.
Caltrop, also from Chapel Hill, is the embodiment of local music history with members having been part of Hazerai, Pegasus, El Sucio, The Ladderback, and Valient Thorr. Caltrop produces a hard rock jam band feel that just oozes potential. The band’s LP, World Class, lives up to its’ title fully.

To quote Colossus's Myspace: "The five Mini-Colossoi are slaves to the power of the lord Poseidon, and must do his bidding. He commands us to rock unsuspecting American youth in your bars and houses, drinking your beer and crushing your skulls with thundering beats, baroque polyphony, galloping basses, and soaring vocals, all of which testify the awesome power of the mighty Poseidon." This is certainly something that Colossus excels at. Their sets are high tempo, they get the crowd into the performance with thier intense energy, and they even sing 'happy birthday' and toast thier friends in the middle of the show. They make it abundantly clear that they love to perform.
So in 3 weeks time, I saw 4 local bands and 4 non-local, nationally touring bands. Beleive me, the local bands certainly held their ground and put forth some great acts; and not all of the national acts were that great. Going to these shows made me think about the nature of concerts, and to a certain extent, music itself. Perhaps the biggest difference between great music/concerts/bands and everything else, is the experience one walks away with. A show by a great act makes the audience walk away pumped up, or full of memories and opinions of what they just experienced; a show by a not so great act does not. Part of why this is, is the reason people go to the show in the first place, and part of it is the showmanship of the band. When I went to see Hey Euphony, Whole Wheat Bread and Clutch, I walked away feeling as though I had experienced something. However, if I hadn’t stayed for Colossus, and had simply gone home after seeing Black Skies, I may not have felt the same way.
Part of what causes this differentiation in experience lies on the individual at the show, and the other part lies on the shoulders of the band. Colossus, Whole Wheat Bread, Hey Euphony, and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster showed up to perform; not to simply play a gig, but to rock out and have an awesome time. Now this isn’t to say that the other bands didn’t; perhaps the crowd just wasn’t into it, or came to see someone else.
It is for this reason that I ask everyone that goes to support local music, to be active at it. Don’t just go to a show to have a couple beers, hang out, or just b.s. around: Go to the show to have an experince. Get into the music, the people on stage, and the people around you. For the love god, dance, hand bang, jump around, or whatever else comes to mind. Just don’t stand there with a stick up your butt and bounce your head like a bobble head doll. One thing that bands like Colossus, Red Collar, and other local bands excel at, is bringing the audeince to the edge of thier comfortable “chill” zone and pushing them into having an awesome time.
Last week’s top 30 albums
by bloggie on May.31, 2009, under Charts, Daytime
Here are the top 30 records at WKNC for last week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:
1. Technicolor Health by Harlem Shakes
2. Three Sides by Veelee
3. Eating Us by Black Moth Super Rainbow
4. Actor by St. Vincent
5. American Folklore by American Folklore
6. Ascenseur Ouvert by Kingsbury Manx
7. Kingdom Of Rust by Doves
8. Inside Your Guitar by It Hugs Back
9. Power Move by Screaming Females
10. Telekinesis by Telekinesis
11. Pretzelvania by Americans in France
12. Manners by Passion Pit
13. Walking On A Dream by Empire of the Sun
14. These Times Old Times by Lonnie Walker
15. Oh Tall Tree In The Ear by Roman Candle
16. Set Em Wild, Set Em Free by Akron/Family
17. The First Time by Embarrassing Fruits
18. To Lose My Life by White Lies
19. Fantasies by Metric
20. It’s Blitz by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
21. Welcome To Mali by Amadou and Mariam
22. The Love Language by The Love Language
23. Suckers [EP] by Suckers
24. Devotion Implosion by Gliss
25. Pilgrim by Red Collar
26. Jupiter by Starfucker
27. Seven Days Now by Xu Xu Fang
28. Bunny Gets Paid by Red Red Meat
29. Bromst by Dan Deacon
30. Hazards Of Love by Decemberists
Here are some new albums we’ve added to our library, which you can look forward to hearing:
Veckatimist by Grizzly Bear
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix
New Music 3/22 – 3/29
by May Day on Mar.30, 2009, under Daytime, Local
Ever wonder what were the hottest new tracks of college radio or what the DJs were spinning at WKNC? Wonder no more! Here are the latest, freshest, and most off-the-chain albums of the week.
Hey Kids, Play This New Music
Gray Matter, Assistant Daytime Music Director
Red Red Meat – Bunny Gets Paid
A re-release of a classic album. One of the best examples of experimental folk/blues ever.
Mirah – (a)spera
Mirah is a particularly weird singer/songwriter type. I like this album quite a lot.
Infantree – Tree-p
More experimental folk, this much more twangy. One of the singers sounds like a bluegrass singer which I would normally hate, but I kind of like this band.
Bonnie Prince Billy – Beware
Sounds like Bonnie Prince Billy, if you don’t know what Bonnie Prince Billy sounds like, listen to some Bonnie Prince Billy.
Mi Ami – Watersports
Good weird [expletive]. Extreme falsetto vocals with drum and bass rhythms.
Soft Tags – Winchester Mansion, and Projectors
Soft Tags sent us their two older albums, neither quite as good as their newest, but they have some worth hearing tracks.
New Music, Local Music, most importantly: Awesome Music
Mick, Local Music Director
There is so much good new local music I can barely contain myself. I’m not eloquent in describing this stuff, so the best way to do this is to listen the stuff yourself. You won’t regret a single second of it.
Red Collar – “Pilgrim”
I mean, what do you want me to say? It’s Red Collar’s album, at long last. If you don’t know, then put it in your CD player right now.
Benji Hughes - “A Love Extreme”
Not the traditional local; he’s from Charlotte. Some dancy, some poppy, eclectic as a whole. This is a double album, and it’s awesome and hilarious all at once. Lots of short, catchy tunes that you’ll be singing along with after one listen. I don’t really know how to describe it other than this so play the [expletive]!
Nathan Oliver – “Cloud Animals”
Some great new indie-pop from Nathan Oliver. Better than his last, a bit harder, and certainly more interesting (this review brought to you by Gray Matter).
Embarrassing Fruits – “Community / Exploitation”
Hot damn, I really think this may be the best CD I’ve received as local music director. This album is like a reincarnation of Pavement, with the same slacker rock approach plus constant complaining about a girl. Every track is awesome. Really, really awesome.
Joe Romeo & The Orange County Volunteers – self-titled
Some combination of folk rock, surf rock, and Americana. Really great, twangy tunes that are heartfelt and simply beautiful. This guy knows how to write music. Play it!
Whew. As always, there is more on the horizon. For now, check these out and keep rockin the local stuff.
Local Beat recap 3/13/09
by Mike Alston on Mar.17, 2009, under The Local Beat
On Friday, March 13, we at the Local Beat had a stroke of good luck. It rained and rained and rained, and the NC State baseball game was postponed until Saturday. That meant that we got to have our full 3 hour show! After celebrating with Future Islands‘ “Beach Foam” and an impromptu station-wide dance party, we got down to business.
At 5:15 I was fortunate to be joined by Mike Jackson of Red Collar via phone from Washington, DC. The band was excited to be kicking off their several-month tour that includes some shows at SXSW and a Saturday stop at Triangle Brewing Company in Durham for their CD Release Party. Mike described it as a “house party, with the biggest house we could find”–perfect place for Red Collar to have a CD release show, if you ask me.
Mike and I chatted a bit about the release show, the recording process, and live versus recorded music, in general. Red Collar has a reputation for putting on a blistering live show, and he affirmed that the CD is “a flyer for the show.” Check out the two-part interview below.
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At the 7:00 hour, I was joined by fellow DJs Cabbage, Gray Matter, and Mikey P and special guest T Bo, the entertainment coordinator for the Hillsborough Street Renaissance. We talked about the finer things in life: food and music, both of which were integral parts of the Hillsborough Street Renaissance. Check out the interview below, divided into 3 parts.
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Be sure to join us this Friday, 3/20 for an abbreviated version of The Local Beat (baseball takes over at 6) with Gray Young, still fresh off the release of their album Firmament, at 5:00 PM sharp.
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Red Collar Featured in Yes! Weekly
by Murdoc on Jan.15, 2009, under Local
If you haven’t heard Red Collar, this article by Yes! Weekly will give you a solid idea of who they are and what they are about. If you have seen them before you should know exactly what the author, Gus Lubin, means when he says “In fact, a lot of situations involve going hardcore”.
Keep a look out for Red Collar on the WKNC Rock Report so that you can see for yourself what this Local Lunch favorite is all about.
Click here to view the full article.









