Happy October everyone! Finally feels like fall! Hooray!

Grab that scarf and come down to WKNC and Tir Na Nog’s Local Band Local Beer on Thursday, October 7 to see WILD WILD GEESE, WESLEY WOLFE, and SHIT HORSE! All bands are a part of Odessa Records. The show is FREE! Ages 21 and up. Starts at 10 p.m. My favorite delicious October-tasting beer, Big Boss Harvest Time will be on tap. Yum yum!

Check out www.wknc.org/lblb to see the fall schedule for Local Band Local Beer and to download the free mixtape, which features one song from each band playing this season.

…Wild Wild Geese

http://www.myspace.com/wildwildgeesemusic

“Are You a Baby?, the prelude to Carrboro trio Wild Wild Geese’s forthcoming debut LP, bristles with springy garage rock verve that
seems to fit everywhere and nowhere at once. The Geese play with loose energy and nervy emotion, suggesting The Replacements and Reigning Sound. The screwball guitars feel more like Polvo, though, while the pop undercurrent has as much to do with British punk as American rebellion (or as much Buzzcocks as Stooges). Still, while Wild Wild Geese sound very much culled from all of those bands, it manages to avoid sounding too much like any of them.” – The Independent

…Wesley Wolfe

http://www.myspace.com/wesleywolfe

There’s a reason Chapel Hill, North Carolina is still one of the great American hubs for independent music, and it’s not just indie rock stalwarts Superchunk and the Cat’s Cradle rock club. The reason is because there is a glut of homegrown talent, people like the Kingsbury
Manx or Spider Bags that are churning out vital record after vital record. And go right ahead and add Wesley Wolfe to that list. Storage
is, flat out, one of the finest pop records of the year. Wolfe recorded all the instruments himself, and these are as straight-up as pop songs come. Guitars, bass, drums, vocals, sweet melodies, clever and heartfelt lyrics, and hooks, hooks, hooks. But while the elements are simple, the songs are far from the same. Wolfe can pull off guileless love songs, lover-spurned indie rock, and spaced-out melancholia—and that’s just in the first three songs. His nasal bleat is urgent and sweet at the same time, and when he spits out lines like “sorry only counts the first time”, you know damn well he means it. So you’ve got 11 catchy as hell songs, full of driving guitars and deep hooks, telling earnest tales sung with both feeling and energy—aren’t those the things we expect from pop music? And does it make Storage one of the finest examples of it in 2010. The answer to both questions is a resounding ‘Yes’.
- Popmatters.com

…Shit Horse

“If you’re compelled to wince at Shit Horse on first glance, that’s understandable. The band—three young, white rock musicians from
Carrboro and Danny Mason, a black frontman two decades older than the band’s youngest member—doesn’t do itself many favors: They’re called Shit Horse, of course, and the title of their debut cassette is a riff on the 1969 Jane Fonda film about a dance marathon. They have a theme song—”Shit Horse! Is Gonna Ride!,” ad infinitum—and they prefer to present their songs via guerilla sets late at night on the streets of Orange County…The band ratchets the rhythm until they deliver Mason into a post-punk fistfight, his exasperated voice insisting that he won’t be defeated. So, yeah, maybe Shit Horse is a gimmick with an attitude and a sense of humor for teenagers. But what else did you think rock ‘n’ roll promised?” – The Independent

The front man of all three bands will join me in the station Thursday night from 7-8 p.m.  We’ll be having a round-table discussion. Tune in if you know what’s good for you!

For those who pride themselves on being familiar with local indie music within the Triangle, it would be a cardinal sin to overlook The Love Language‘s rise within our tight knit music community in recent months. Indy Week gave the Raleigh band a nice cover photo and article last week, which chronicled the almost Cinderella story of Stu McLamb’s personal setbacks with the broken band this past December and his ability to bounce back to release Libraries on Merge Records, Love Language’s second album. Personally, The Love Language’s recent openings for international band Phoenix this June in Raleigh and Charlotte have cemented their growing momentum.

The Love Language at Cat's Cradle. Photo by Kieran Moreira

Although I admit that Libraries did not top their self-titled first album, I could not deny the raw energy that was present on stage at Cat’s Cradle Saturday night. The lead singer was composed, on point, and looked sincerely grateful to play the sold out show. He opened the night playing solo in deep spotlight, embodying the loneliness but also the his perseverance through the past few months. As McLamb finished quietly, the rest of the band transitioned perfectly in with “Horophones,” which symbolically represented the new band members’ solidarity. Although the show was aimed at showcasing Libraries, fans were treated with old favorites and special guests such as members from local band Lost in the Trees.

The Light Pines at Cat's Cradle. Photo by Kieran Moreira

I couldn’t help but notice the various types of people that packed into the spacious Cradle, which signified that McLamb and friends are producing wide appeal. However, the Cradle wasn’t just teeming with life before the headliners walked on stage. Although I made a late appearance that night (due to an unscheduled pit-stop to gather some delicious French fries,) I luckily caught most of The Light Pines‘ set. Last time I saw these guys was at the largest Local Beer Local Band night I’ve experienced where they attracted a huge crowd. Thankfully, things haven’t changed much since then. The boys seemed in step with one another producing their familiar haunting melodies. Guitarist Carter Gaj’s riffs were so rewarding that they warranted an impromptu and ecstatic Facebook status update.

Tommyboy was able to fill me in on opening act, Shit Horse, whom I knew relatively nothing about. However, apparently I missed a great deal of antics as the front man was extremely charismatic, soliciting responses now and then from the crowd. On their final number, they brought out a topless girl (both nipples pierced as I’m told) wearing a horse mask. Certainly, it had to have been an unforgettable performance.

The Love Language‘s much anticipated Merge release Libraries dropped recently into the hands of a salivating clientele, and tonight we have the privilege of celebrating the occasion.  I could waste my time (and yours) by giving a most likely inadequate review here, laden with underwhelming vocabulary and confusing or inappropriate allusions, but I know better.  I shall leave that task to the better equipped–those who do the album the service it deserves.

So rather than try to steer your take on the album, I’ll just give you some simple procedural advice: consider purchasing a ticket for the show tonight. Openers Shit Horse and Light Pines dictate attention, regardless of the situation. (But is there a better situation than this? An almost certainly sold-out Cat’s Cradle, bursting at the seams for one of the Triangle’s most lauded outfits in recent memory? I lean toward no.)

Tonight promises to entertain, to satisfy, and to satiate. (Ok, so you did end up getting some underwhelming vocabulary.) Doors are at 8 and the show starts at 9.

T.A.
(If my camera charges, I’ll be sure to put up some pics.)

This week’s Eye on the Triangle episode was a little different than usual. Because the N.C. State Board of Trustees is meeting Thursday and Friday (be sure to check the blog Thursday and Friday, and WKNC 88.1 at 7 p.m. Thursday for updates!) to vote on student fee increases, the EOT brought you a special episode on one fee that is facing contentious debate: the student centers renovation fee. However, we also had our (extended) Hear This segment, which featured Shit Horse from Odessa Records.

There are a lot of events coming up this week, so be sure to check them out. The Technician staff will be playing the Daily Tarheel staff in flag football at 4:30 p.m. Friday (we’ll be live blogging from the game!), and of course Fridays on the Lawn at 6:30 p.m. with Kooley High and The Beast in the Wolve’s Den in Talley Student Center.

NEWS
This week in News, Evan Garris gave us a rundown on several topics, ranging from Obama’s trip to China to Iran’s nuclear program. Here are links to some of the articles referenced in the newscast:
National
Obama wades into Internet censorship in China address
Fears grow over Iran nuclear sites
Local
Police find body of missing 5-year-old
University plans for Kay Yow Memorial and Cary basketball court dedicated to late NCSU coach Yow
North Carolina tornado outbreak

SPORTS
This week in Wolfpack sports, we started off with statements from both the Technician editor and the Daily Tarheel editor to each other’s staffs about Friday’s football game on Miller Fields at 4:30 p.m. Listen to those here:

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Derek Medlin and Tyler Everett then talked about football, basketball, predictions and stats. You can also check out Derek’s personal blog, Cardiac Pack. Be sure to listen to the segment if you missed it for more:

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VIP/SOUNDBYTES
To go along with our VIP segment this week, Matt Moore went around campus and asked students about their thoughts of the fee for the student centers and the Board of Trustees vote, which we had our VIP guests, Peter Barnes, former Student Centers president, and Christian Stackhouse, student senator, listen to and address in our discussion about the new fee. Barnes was one of the main advocates in the Rally 4 Talley campaign, while Stackhouse voted against the fee increase in the interest of the student body. We also played interview clips from Marycobb Randall, current Student Centers President, who also advocated the increase, and Jordan Hammond, a current student senator who was in support of the renovations personally but voted against the increase because of the student body votes against it. The fee, if approved by the Board of Trustees (Thursday and Friday) and Board of Governors (early next year), will increase the student centers fee by $83 for the next academic year, $165 the following year, and not to exceed $290 for the next 25 to 30 years. Listen to the full segment of interviews and discussion:

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HEAR THIS

Music industry veteran and Kingsbury Manx band member Paul Finn raised some eyebrows  when he pulled a rather ambitious move in June of this year — he launched a brand new record label with three albums.  Mike Alston was WKNC’s local music director at the time and had inquired about the Kingsbury Manx album, but he was surprised when it came packaged with debut albums from two bands he had never heard of — Americans in France and Impossible Arms.  Well, all three albums were spectacular (Independent Weekly agreed) and Odessa has put out a few more releases since.  Kelly Reid spoke with Finn about the launch of the record label, the inspiration behind such a bold move and the future for Odessa Records. Check it out below:

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And as a reminder, we will not be having an Eye on the Triangle episode next Monday, Nov. 23, due to a live broadcast of the women’s basketball game, but be sure to check out the blog for more or our podcasts on wknc.org/eot. Shoot us an e-mail with your thoughts on anything to publicaffairs@wknc.org. And come out to Friday’s football game and concert!

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