For the final Carolina Grown of the month we’ve got another show filled with incredibly exciting local artists. The two acts that will fill this week’s program may have vastly different sounds, but they share the same fresh, forward thinking mindset that we’ve come to look for here at WKNC. For the first hour I’m joined by Mipso, the immensely talented bluegrass/folk group from Chapel Hill and for the second hour I’ll have Wendy Spitzer from Felix Obelix in to talk about her long-awaited endeavor.
Mipso is currently caught up in the whirl of their second full length album release, Dark Holler Pop, an album that chronicles the rich growth that the band has gone through over the past few years. While the band was long defined by their full-time student status over at UNC-CH, they’ve since become full time musicians and it most certainly shows on their newest album. The group has toured Japan and China, sharing their pop-infused bluegrass sounds with countless new ears and spreading their Southern sentiments to anyone willing to listen. Dark Holler Pop is an earnest album that chronicles many aspects of Southern living, the front porch rocking chair contemplation and the strong ties to your life back home. Mipso performs three songs from Dark Holler Pop and talks a bit about their album release show at Haw River Ballroom this Friday.
For the second hour Wendy Spitzer chats with me about her incredibly exciting and unique new project, The Ringtone Album. Released on Potluck Records on Nov. 5, Wendy has created a 30-track album that’s filled with roughly one-minute tracks intended to be consumed as ringtones. In a musical landscape that’s torn between full length albums and scavenged mp3 playlists, where does an expansive album of one-minute tracks stand? I talk with Wendy about the implications of such concise musical ideas, her intended models of consumption, and just how she came up with an idea as unique as this one.
Join us on Friday from 5-7 pm for tons of immersive conversation and a hefty chunk of local tunes to keep you satiated until next week’s show!