I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that last night I was anxiously watching Twitter for teasers and refreshing Hopscotch’s homepage until midnight, when Hopscotch 2012′s lineup was released. I read out loud the 175 bands to my roommates with the occasional (and frequent) yelps of joy. Headliners this year include The Roots, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Built to Spill (one of my personal favorite bands), Yo La Tengo, Liars, Sunn O))), and Zola Jesus. Some others that I’m excited about are Thee Oh Sees, Wye Oak, Deerhoof, The Mountain Goats, Versus, Exitmusix, Ducktails, Samantha Crain, Hubble, Midtown Dickens, Gross Ghost, Heads on Sticks, Jane Jane Pollock, Shark Quest, Airstrip — the list goes on. For a full list (that even includes where the bands are from!) check out the lineup here.

They’ve added a few more venues in downtown Raleigh for the third year of the music festival, taking place Sept. 6-8. Festival goers will bounce around Raleigh City Plaza, Berkeley Cafe, Contemporary Art Museum (CAM), Deep South the Bar, Five Star, Fletcher Opera Theater, The Hive, Kings, Lincoln Theatre, The Long View Center, Memorial Auditorium, The Pour House, Slim’s, Tir na nOg, and White Collar Crime. I suggest knowing shortcuts to venues ahead of time, so here’s a map to help.

VIP, weekend, day and city plaza tickets are still available. See you at #hopscotch2012!

Photo recaps of last year’s festival: Day One, Day Two, Day Three

Danny Brown (left) Sunn O))) (right)

Although the full lineup has yet to be revealed, the fine folks at Hopscotch Music Festival have announced two artists that will play in September. Danny Brown, coming off of the successful release of his 2011 album XXX was announced to play the festival March 29.

Two days earlier Sunn O))) were put on the bill. This will mark the first show for the doom metal rockers in North America since 2010. They will play Saturday, Sept. 8, in the Memorial Auditorium, showing how one of the festival’s latest venues will be put to work.

The full lineup will be announced April 18. For more information about Danny Brown and Sunn O))) check out Hopscotch Music Festival’s site here and here, respectively.

The Noobhammer With Paul Masvidal of Cynic

Noobhammer here again with another discussion of the table that is round. This week I have four topics to touch with the mighty Excalibur. Two of those topics are reviews of concerts I have been to recently—Boris and Cynic; the other two topics are album reviews. One, for me at least, is the long awaited Blind Guardian album At The Edge of Time, and the new Iron Maiden album, The Final Frontier. However, due to the length of these subjects, I will be dividing it into 3 segments, which will span this entire week, so look for the other two later this week.  So once again, let us delve deep into my brain, which is littered with Magic: The Gathering cards, D20s, and of course dragons I wish I could train and ride. First, I’m going to give you guys a look at the least power-metal item in this entry, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t powerful. This is of course Boris at the Cat’s Cradle.

From the moment I walked through the doors of Cat’s Cradle and took up my usual spot at the front-center of the stage, I knew that I was about to witness something special. The stage was giving off a vibe as the Sunn (O))) amps stood there gleaming in light, lowly humming, barely audible over the talking of the crowd. Soon the lights dimmed, darkening the stage, and the opening band took the stage. For the life of me, I can’t remember their name. Maybe at the old age of 22, my memory is finally starting to fade from me, but what I can remember is that they put on a great show. Two guys  from the Czech Republic just rocking out, enjoying their tour.

As soon as they finished playing, no one moved from their spots as the lights came back up, and the stage techs feverishly worked to set up Boris’ drum kit and tune their instruments. The tension inside of me started to build as the workers one by one left the stage, the last one blinking a flashlight towards the back of the venue, signaling that they were ready. Almost instantly the lights dimmed, and the crowd rose as one in a roar of excitement as fog began to cover the stage. The members of Boris walked through the clouds, like the Japanese monsters they are. As they took their positions on the stage, I felt my excitement begin to boil over as I watched with anticipation.

Suddenly from out of nowhere, I felt as if I had been struck by a 747. After the initial wave of shock had passed over me, I realized that feeling was the first note of Boris playing. A low, driving hum, echoing from amps signaled the start of my journey. The high guitars notes slowly crescendoed, mixing with the bass to form a haunting melody that stirs the deepest recesses of your soul. I didn’t have time to even comprehend what was happening as Takeshia began to wail mournfully into the mike, his voice barely audible over the drone of guitars and drumming.

My mind was lost in a trance as they band continued to play. I couldn’t believe what was happening in front of me. There are only five instances I can think of in which I have been truly blown away, and left speechless by a band: Isis, Jesu, Pelican, Nine Inch Nails, and now, Boris. I have listened to many of their studio albums, Smile and Pink being two of my favorites, but they never prepared me for the live show. Not even the live albums prepared me enough for the audio onslaught against my ears and even my soul. Watching them live had me rooted to the spot, my mouth agape in wonder at the beauty and chaos in front of me. The guitars washed over one another, forming melodies within their layers.

Even their faster paced songs didn’t cause the crowd to break into a ruckus and mosh. We banged our heads, but we couldn’t move from where we were standing. Boris seemed to have cast a spell over everyone in the venue. As they played through all their songs, not once did I lose focus, become distracted, or even wish for them to end. In fact, I wanted them to continue playing well into the night. It wasn’t until they finished playing the Black Sabbath-esque “1970″ and said goodnight to us all that the spell was broken. I looked around in confusion, like so many others around me, trying to explain what I had just witnessed. When I turned back to the stage, the band had left as mysteriously as they came. Luckily I got to meet them after the show and talk to them, but when asked about the seemingly magical and entrancing effect of their show, all I got from them was a smile.

-Noobhammer

Takeshi and Michio Kurihara rocking out

A song off the album Pink

Emprace the Light

The light at the end of the tunnel is not always peaceful

Sublime Beauty

Sunn O)))

For the past few weeks, I have been playing a set that is quite different from normal metal. Don’t be fooled, it is indeed metal, but it is a thinking man’s metal.

There are so many bands out there in the metal scene all playing the same music that it sometimes makes me lose hope in the metal scene.  Yet there are always those few bands who are bold enough and crazy enough to push not only the metal genre itself forward, but question what it truly means to make music.

I am, of course, talking about the subset of metal including Drone, Doom, Shoegaze, Avant-Garde, and Noise. While these genre names may seem crazy, boring, or downright depressing, they also help push us and question the music. These bands that play these styles are actually one of the few innovators in the metal scene. Where everyone else is trying to sound more brutal with breakdowns and blast beats, these guys achieve true brutality and even evilness with their music. With intricate harmonies layered over feedback, and deep moving lyrics superimposed upon a mournful guitar and lone drum, one can lose themselves in the music. All it takes is some patience and expanding of one’s mind.

And that is what I do during that segment. I force you to open your mind, and to truly question what you know about not just metal, but music in general. For I believe, that to truly be a metal-head, you need not only listen to metal and enjoy the music, but to really embrace it and appreciate all forms of it. For there is so much more out in the metal scene than breakdowns, blast beats, cookie monster growls, and dragons. There is actually true art to be found, and you only need to expand your mind to find it.

Notable Bands:

• Sunn O)))
• Boris
• Rosetta
• Jesu
• Ahab
• My Dying Bride
• Swallow The Sun
• Anathema
• Isis
• Pelican
• The Angelic Process
• Nadja

Pelican Playing At The Brewery

Pelican is a band from Chicago on the amazing Hydra Head Label run and founded by Aaron Turner, founder of ISIS. Other bands on the label roster include Boris, Jesu, Kayo Dot, Lustmord, Merzbow, Zozobra, and Cave In. Past bands include Cult of Luna, Sunn O))), and Neurosis. Many of these bands are ambient drone bands or post-rock bands. Other bands which are similar to these artists are ISIS, Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, Anathema, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, Adai, Red Sparowes, Russian Circles, The Angelic Process, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, North, Godflesh, and Mountains Became Machines. All these bands are pretty heavy, when it comes to emotional and moving music, and have toured with metal bands. Many metal heads listen to these bands and enjoy them. So is Post-Rock really Indie Music? Or is it just another offshoot of Heavy Metal. I’m going to say Metal, due to the sheer fact that most of these bands have metal roots. ISIS was a doom band as well as Anathema. Justin Broadrick, founder of Jesu and Godflesh, was the original guitarist on Napalm Death’s “Scum”. It just seems to me that Post-Rock should have it’s name changed. In this author’s humble opinion, to Ambient Metal. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go work on my Instrumental Ambient Metal Avant Garde band, Renob Sinep.

-Noobhammer