Author: WKNC Admin

Categories
Non-Music News

WKNC @ Shack-A-Thon

For those of you unfamiliar with the Habitat for Humanity annual tradition, Shack-a-Thon, it is a week-long fundraising event for Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. Campus organizations build a shack and live in it all week, 24/7, panhandling for donations to Habitat.

WKNC is present this year at Shack-a-Thon, providing publicity, T-shirt making, cornhole, and a concert by Durham local Brett Harris. He will be performing September 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the WKNC Shack/Stage.

Come and check out the awesome shack in The Brickyard near Bostian Hall!

Pictures will be up soon. Stay tuned to hear about all the shenanigans occurring this week. As always, listen to WKNC for updates, live streaming from Shack-a-Thon, and the best in independent music!

Categories
Concert Preview Local Music

Local Beer Local Band Sept. 23rd

Come down to Tir Na nOg and WKNC’s Local Band Local Beer night on Thursday 9/23 to see Veelee, Motor Skills, and Cassis Orange! As always there will be delicious local beer on tap. BY THE WAY the pub just recently got Big Boss’s famous pumpkin ale, Harvest Time on tap… Yum yum yumm! The show is FREE and starts at 10 p.m. Ages 21+.

Veelee

“To put it plainly: Three Sides, the debut EP from Chapel Hill duo Veelee, joins Wood Ear’s The Hard Way and Bowerbirds’ Danger at Sea as recent short, self-made Triangle debuts that are alarmingly, stop-what-you’re-doing-and-memorize-this good.” – Grayson Currin, The Independent

My favorite local duo.  Matt and Ginger are the two sweetest musicians I know. If you didn’t catch them at Hopscotch or at our LBLB day party last Friday, here is your chance! The hottest Raleigh sensation!

Motor Skills

“Motor Skills debuted last year with “Right as Hell,” one of several stunning surprises on the excellent North Carolina compilation, Hear Here: The Triangle. Pitting a skittering electronic beat reminiscent of late Radiohead against a steely-eyed, dark-lined anthem as addictive as anything Interpol has ever written, “Right as Hell” put Motor Skills high atop the must-watch list.” – HopscotchMusicFest.com

With the addition of two new band mates, this poppy, electronic-ish group is sounding better than ever. Three cheers for these guys.

Cassis Orange

“The result of Cassis Orange’s ode to loneliness was a keyboard-laden four-track self-titled indie pop E.P., which upon being released onto an unsuspecting Internet, became a blogosphere sensation, garnering glowing reviews…” – The Fayetteville Feed

This is one of my new favorties in local music. Not sure where exactly these guys came from, felt like nowhere! But apparently they hail from Carborro, NC. This band does feature a member of Motor Skills but they both have their own unique songs. Check out Cassis Orange’s track “Listen Heartbeat” on their myspace page. Awesome song, I hope they play it this Thursday!

I’ll also be having Cassis Orange and Motor Skills at the station this Thursday for live interview.  Some music will be played… perhaps some giveaways?  Tune in 7-8 p.m. before you head out to the pub!

Categories
New Album Review

“Libraries” by The Love Language

88.1 WKNC’s Pick of the Week, written by Drew St. Claire a.k.a. DJ SWITCH


When I was just a newborn, my mom would sit in this old rocking chair and cradle me while she sang her favorite Beatles songs, instead of the traditional lullabies. I’m guessing my dad’s renditions of Led Zeppelin didn’t quite make for good bedtime music. So, while I was listening to The Love Language’s newest release, Libraries, I couldn’t help but see a similar scene playing out in my mind—some trendy Triangle couple crooning this local band’s latest release to their little bundle of joy. It’s just got that same kind of simple beauty to it.

A couple of years ago, the Love Language’s frontman, Stuart McLamb, was more likely to be found lying in a Raleigh back alley than rocking the big stage at the Hopscotch Music Festival. After a turbulent series of personal events, McLamb created a new band (The Love Language) and put out a self-titled album about his struggles. Libraries comes out just a year after that debut self-titled album and is a very solid follow-up. If the Love Language hasn’t proven themselves to be heavy hitters in Raleigh’s thriving indie rock scene yet, this album will certainly solidify them as such. The first track, “Pedals,” starts out with a quiet piano intro but then crashes into this rich melody with all sorts of layers to it. Those are going to be the keywords for Libraries: “rich” and “layers.” “A season for the both of us, a reason that rose off the coffin”—those are the first bold words from Stuart McLamb, the lead singer and guitarist. He has a bit of Morrissey (from the Smiths) in his voice, and it works well echoing out over the rich ebb and flow of the music. With those symphonic-like buildups and crashes from the instrumentation, I also got a pretty definite Arcade Fire vibe as well. That lovely riff running throughout “Pedals” sounds just like the outro from “Intervention,” but with a beautiful tragedy that is all its own. Another quick standout for me was certainly “Horrorphones.” This was The Love Language track WKNC included on the Hear Here compilation, which was reviewed by yours truly a few issues back. I still stand by what I said about this song back then—a melodic headtrip that’s equal parts I’m From Barcelona and the Beach Boys. Tracks like “This Blood Is Our Own” and “Anthophobia” give off an almost beach-vibe with their bending and sliding guitar solos. This underlying feeling became so pervasive to me that I checked out the band’s website and, sure enough, I see crashing waves and faded photos of wholesome girls in one piece bathing suits. Songs like these, and ones like “Blue Angel,” put me in what I think a 1950’s prom would have been like, but with a much more hip twist to it (and none of the embarrassment). The album closes out with “Wilmont,” which I assume is an allusion to the historic apartment building just down Hillsborough Street. Like the building it references, the song has plenty of heart and soul, made manifest by an acoustic intro and McLamb’s sincere lyrics, “I want you to be with me, ‘cause I’ve got a big heart to feed.” With songs like that, maybe it’s not too far-fetched for Libraries to become lasting lullaby material. Maybe one of those little babies will even grow up to write CD reviews of The Love Language’s next release.

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week is published in every Friday in the print edition of Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.comwknc.org. and

Categories
Podcasts

Band of Horses/Magic Kids

Categories
Weekly Charts

WKNC’s Top 30—Week of 9/6

Each week, the WKNC music directors tally up spins for new releases and submit their top 10s to CMJ.

CMJ Radio 200 from WKNC’s Daytime Rock

Artist Album Label
#1 CEO White Magic Modular
#2 TWIN SHADOW Forget Terrible
#3 DARKER MY LOVE Alive as You Are Dangerbird
#4 SOCIAL STUDIES Wind Up Wooden Heart Antenna Farm
#5 REBEL SET Poison Arrow Silver Hornet
#6 GRASS WIDOW Past Time Kill Rock Stars
#7 J. RODDY WALSTON AND THE BUSINESS J Roddy Walston and the Business Vagrant
#8 RICKOLUS Youngster Circle into Square
#9 CHIEF Modern Rituals Domino
#10 SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOUR BORIS YELTSIN Let it Sway Polyvinyl

CMJ RPM from WKNC’s Afterhours

Artist Album Label
#1 CEO White Magic Modular
#2 TWIN SHADOW Forget
#3 !!! Strange Weather, Isn’t It?
#4 FOUR TET Angel Echoes (Remix)
#5 BATHS Cerulean Anitcon
#6 BORGORE Borgore Ruined Dubstep [EP]
#7 RUSKO O.M.G.! Mad Decent
#8 BLUE SKY BLACK DEATH Third Party
#9 CROOKERS Tons of Friends
#10 DEAMEND So I Ate Myself, Bit by Bite Graveface

CMJ Loud Rock from WKNC’s Chainsaw Rock

Artist Album Label
#1 DEATH ANGEL Relentless Retribution Nuclear Blast
#2 CEPHALIC CARNAGE Mislead by Certainty Relapse
#3 ACCEPT Blood of the Nations Nuclear Blast
#4 BLIND GUARDIAN At the Edge of Time Nuclear Blast
#5 DAWN OF ASHES Genocide Chapters
#6 MOSE GIGANTICUS Gift Horse Relapse
#7 ABSENCE Enemy Unbound
#8 ABIGAIL WILLIAMS In the Absence of Light Candlelight
#9 KATAKLYSM Heaven’s Venom Nuclear Blast
#10 LORDI Deadache The End
Categories
Music News and Interviews

SoundOff9 Band of Horses/Magic Kids

We talk about this year’s Mercury Prize winner, Morrissey’s controversial comments on the Chinese, and review new albums from Band of Horses and Magic Kids.

Listen to episode nine.

Categories
Non-Music News

EOT41 Bedbugs 9/14/10

This week we talked with NCSU urban entomology experts, featured our Wolfpacker of the Week, talked NCSU Football, and heard another installment of the Gardening Minute and the Restaurant Review.

Listen to episode 41.

Categories
Festival Coverage

What should Hopscotch do differently next time?

I think we can consider last weekend’s first annual Hopscotch Music Festival to be a runaway success.  Never before has the city of Raleigh had such an incredible musical event within the confines of downtown. The crowds were terrific (I have yet to hear of anything about someone getting out of hand with authorities), the venues were spectacular hosts, the bands were on point, parking was never a problem, and let’s face it, besides a weak drizzle Saturday night the weather was terrific! You have to hand it to Greg Lowenhagen and Grayson Currin, as well the many volunteers and others who helped out for the spectacular organization and attention to detail the festival was able to achieve.  And while it is not set in stone that Hopscotch will continue, in most people’s minds, especially those of the organizers, it certainly will.

So that begs the question, what things can be tweaked to make the festival an even better experience? I have a couple of small things that would have improved:

  • Promote the day parties: In my opinion one of the best things about the festival were the numerous free day parties that took place across town. Unfortunately, these were not heavily promoted to the masses and for most out-of-towners they missed out. Friday night I was standing next to a group of festival goers who had driven eight hours for Hopscotch and they had no idea they had already missed out on two days worth of free music before the night even began. Instead they had stayed in their hotel rooms the entire day watching TV and waiting for the official Hopscotch to start. Saturday I caught them hopping around having a blast and they thanked me profusely for informing them of all the day shows going on.

  • More options besides music: While this never bothered me since I am all about the music, I think it would be interesting if perhaps the festival has more attractions. Perhaps movie screenings, food discounts, daytime downtown museum/brewery tours, or a giant hopscotch game people have to follow from one venue to the next on the sidewalk? It would just be something extra to entice people who only care about maybe 4 or 5 bands to get a ticket and not feel bad about the price.

  • Better schedule grid on pamphlets: Another minor concern was the grid on the schedule that was handed out to all concert attendees. The schedule was difficult to read and I know many complained about having a hard time knowing when certain bands were going to start. It wasn’t too difficult but a better visual would have been better.

  • Android and Blackberry app: Yeah yeah, I know iPhone’s are king, but there are just as many if not more people in our area with smart phones containing android software and blackberry mobile devices. It would have been awesome to have had a Hopscotch app on my phone. Instead I had to rely on a calendar from GoGo Raleigh, which was nice, just not as nice.

  • Social Media Incentives: With social media websites like Foursquare and Facebook getting involved with location based software, it would have added a little spice to let users going to the festival receive badges or maybe even some sort of prize for checking into certain spots, the most venues, etc. Not only is this a fun game for people attending, but it provides fantastic and free promotion for the event and venues hosting bands.

The complaints I have seem so trivial and minor that I hardly see the point in posting them.  What about you?  Do you have any comments or suggestions for the future of the festival?  Comment below!

Categories
Concert Preview Local Music

Local Beer Local Band Thurs. Sept 16th

Thursday, September 16 is going to be the first Local Beer Local Band Night with WKNC’s Alumni Mikey P. as official booking agent! Sorry for the late arrival of this blog for I believe I am still recovering from Hopscotch.  That does NOT mean that I will pass up free music at Tir na nOg Irish Pub for Local Beer Local Band Night! FREE, 21 and up, starting at 10 p.m.!  Inflowential and HaLo will be the main acts this Thursday night with Ill Digits controling the jams all night.  Local brewskies will be flowing from the taps!

Inflowential

“Inflowential successfully mixes blues, rock, hip-hop, and reggae to create music with broad appeal. Its kinetic live show has been a draw for fans.”
David Menconi – The Raleigh News & Observer

“Inflowentia lslides comfortably across genre labels, using their live instruments and jazzy undertones to create tracks with an energy and power that feels fresh. A group with great promise…”
Aylin Zafar – Urb Magazine

HaLo aka MR. BEN READY

If you have heard Kooley High’s new album, Eastern Standard Time, then you should recognize the up and coming rapper HaLo (pronounced like”Hah-Low”) who is featured on several tracks. Connected to 9th Wonder and Kooley High’s M.E.C.C.A. Records, HaLo is a witty, up-beat emcee who has arrived on the scene with the mission to delight, electrify and ignite seas of listeners. Currently collaborating with producers such as Foolery, The Sinopsis, and Khrysis, you’ll be sure to hear more from this Raleigh rapper in the future.

Dj Ill Digitz

Once upon a time, Dj Ill Digitz hosted the Midnight Snack for WKNC. You should know him now for his work with Kooley High and his radio show on K 97.5 in his hometown of Raleigh NC. Digitz is one of the few deejays playing real hip hop on commercial radio waves.

And!! Be sure to tune in Thursday from 7-8 p.m. to hear our beloved Mikey P interviewing our acts this week!

See you Thursday, friends.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Superchunk ticket giveaway Wednesday during Local Lunch

Local music badasses Superchunk will play at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University this Thursday (9/16).  Ray will be giving away a pair of tickets sometime during her show, so listen up!