WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioChris Funk, guitarist for The Decemberists, will be calling into the station for an interview this Thursday, June 4, at 11:30 am. Tune in to hear about the new record, The Hazards of Love, as well as what it was like going up against Stephen Colbert in a guitar shredding contest.
Please note the time change to 11:30 am.
On Saturday 5/30, I had the pleasure of speaking with Reigndrop Lopes, sister of the late Lisa “Left-eye” Lopes, of the legendary, Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum group, TLC.
In the candid interview, Reigndrop talks about growing up with Left-eye, producing and being featured on Eye Legacy and being the first lady of Hip-Rock .
Reigndrop also discusses “The Last Days of Left-eye” documentary, possible new TLC music and the purpose of the Lisa Lopes Foundation.
Learn more about Reigndrop Lopes here , listen to her music here and follow her on twitter.
Listen to the interview below:
“Saturday Night Soul and R&B” airs weekly from 8 to 11 p.m. and features the best in R&B/Soul music from the past 20 years as well as today’s hits. Follow host Mir.I.am.
As most of you all know, WKNC and Tir Na Nog do this thing called Local Beer Local Band Night. Each Thursday at Tir Na Nog we have a free show with great local bands and great local brews. This week’s line up is Regina Hexaphone and the Stars Explode. Also, tune in to 88.1 at 5pm on Thursday, as I will be interviewing Regina Hexaphone.
Here’s a qoute from the Independent Weekly about Regina Hexaphone:
“The rustling sun-kissed beauty and easy charm of Regina Hexaphone’s folky pop echo the sweet, generous vibe of frontwoman Sara Bell. Just as a wayward smile from someone attractive can brighten your day, nothing feels quite as welcoming as Hexaphone’s soothing sonic embrace. A preview of their forthcoming album, Into Your Sleeping Heart, is impressive, indeed, from the nomadic surf-inflected pop of "Waiting for the Wind” to the Dresden-bound gypsy bounce of “The Fortyniner.” Elsewhere, they work in a hazy, pillowy drift of receding detail, like a watercolor pulling away and over the horizon.“ –Chris Parker, Independent Weekly
"The Stars Explode is the new rock band led by Doug Edmunds, co-founding member/songwriter/drummer/vocalist for 90s rockpop underground wonders, Gladhands, and most recently the drummer for Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies. The Stars Explode builds on Edmunds’ musical legacy while looking squarely to the future. With influences ranging from the rugged British rock of Paul Weller to the loud guitar pop of the Posies to latter-day singer-songwriters like Grant-Lee Phillips, Jon Brion, and Rhett Miller, Edmunds’ new band offers up a delicious blend of musical offerings.”–the Stars Explode’s Myspace
Here’s a video of Regina Hexaphone playing live in Chapel Hill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0FW6XjdYrE
So come out and support your community!
ARTIST: JON HOPKINS
ALBUM: INSIDES
Jon Hopkins is a British musician who writes and performs his own music, melody-led electronica. His album Insides is definitely worth listening to.
For someone who has recently supported Coldplay on tour, co-produced a couple of their tracks and has co-written the soundtrack to the forthcoming Peter Jackson film, The Lovely Bones, you wouldn’t think that Jon Hopkins would have any time or energy left to release his own solo album.
Fortunately, he did. And the composer, pianist and self-taught studio wizard provides another impressive album packed full of lose-yourself electronica mixed with beautifully haunting piano, synths and a pulsing bass. Insides, his third album offering, rollercoasters from track to track going through the gloomy, the upbeat and somewhere indescribable in-between with almost every song seamlessly interacting with the next.
Commit yourself to seeing the whole album through in one go and you’ll find the hypnotic rhythms will take you deep into Jon’s delicately created world. In ‘Vessel’ you just begin to understand the album’s title as the distant-thunder sound of pulsating waves merges into the dawn-breaking piano that transports the music deep into your consciousness before it’s suddenly regurgitated back up by some intense bass and awakening energetic synths.
‘Autumn Hill’, ‘The Low Places’ and ‘Small Memory’ are stand-out tracks due to Jon’s use of piano. Clearly a master of the instrument, it is never overdone, as he creates dark, occasionally balled-esque melodies on top of basslines that wouldn’t feel out of place on a dance-floor. ‘Wire’ has an industrial feel that continues to grow in volume until it reaches an intensive peak, before gradually and symmetrically slowing down and returning to beginning.
Messy-sounding ‘Colour Eye’ is the exception on the album. The track’s etching, scratches and crackles seem a bit too congested and it doesn’t quite connect with the rest of the album’s gentleness like many other of the songs. What makes Insides great is that it allows you to open your mind and let the atmospheres he’s created come in and take over. Jon’s in full control here: he’s had no remit or strict deadline, resulting in a carefully crafted collection of perfect escapism.
It isn’t particularly ground-breaking; in fact, on the grand scale of things it’s just another little slice of musical uniqueness. The fact that it comes from someone who understands music in a deeper and more personal way than most in this genre is what makes Insides stand out from the rest.
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.
Now on to reason I was interested in the show- Whole Wheat Bread
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.
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.
One of WKNC’s longtime favorite local acts Bombadil is taking a break from touring indefinitely due to the health issues of band members. They released this today:
Today we arrive with some bad news. As many of you have become aware, Daniel has been dealing with severe tendonitis in his hands since 2007. Things have gotten progressively worse and have reached a point where he cannot brush his teeth without feeling pain, much less perform with the rest of the band. As such we feel it’s best to cancel all of the remaining shows on our schedule.
Needless to say, this brings us great sadness. We tried to limit Daniel’s movements on stage, but it seems that even sitting in a chair and simply singing on stage was impeding his recovery. At the end of the day, we did not feel that it was in the artistic spirit of the band to continue and play shows without him.
It is not clear when we will be able to perform again–some doctors say that a 3 month break would suffice, while others forecast a 2-year recovery period. But in the meantime, we’ll be writing new songs and keeping you up to date of our activities. We see this merely as a road bump on the long road that is this band, and as soon as Daniel is able to perform music again, we’ll be visiting a town near you.
Our new record will still come out on July 7th, and you will be able to find it at a few select records stores, iTunes, eMusic, Amazon.com, and this very website. We are so excited to share it with the world and are exploring alternative ideas for some sort of release party. For now, we’ve put up two new songs on myspace: Oto the Bear and So Many Ways to Die. We are also now accepting pre-orders for the record. Pre-orders will ship from Bombadil HQ here in Durham on July 1.
We are so grateful for the support everyone has shown over the years. Without your ears and encouragement none of this would have been possible. Stay in touch and look out for more updates on the horizon!
-Bryan, James, Daniel, and Stuart
WKNC wishes the best to the band, and their fans, and a speedy recovery to Daniel. In the meantime, be sure to catch their new album on rotation on 88.1 around the clock.
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
Tune in for a special edition of “Saturday Night Soul and R&B” with special guest Reigndrop Lopes. Reigndrop is the sister of the late Lisa"Left-eye" Lopes, of the biggest selling female group of all time, TLC.
Tune in as we talk to Reigndrop about Lisa and also find out about her new solo Hip-Rock project. Find out more about Reigndrop here.
As I am out of town on vacation this weekend (and possibly the next two) all of the songs I played on today’s show will not appear in the normal Playlist so I feel obligated to list the tracks here for all of my fantastic listeners. Also, if there are tracks you want to hear on next week’s show feel free to pop me an email request at Caid@wknc.org! I will be sure to get any tunes I can just for you and give you a shout out along the way. Thanks for listening this morning and be sure to tune in next week from 10am-Noon as well!
10am-11am
Emmylou Harris: In Rodanthe
The Duhks: Ships High In Transit
Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez: Sweet Tequila Blues
Soggy Bottom Boys: Man Of Constant Sorrow
Old Crow Medicine Show: Cocaine Habit
Flatlanders: Im Gonna Strangle You Shorty
Carolina Chocolate Drops: Dona Got A Ramblin Mind
Lauren Pritchard: Way Down In North Carolina
Nanci Griffith: Lookin For The Time
Codetalkers: Beggin
Carrie Rodriguez: Infinite Night
Eliza Lynn: Honey Suckle
The Waybacks: Nice To Be Alone
Josh Ritter: Harrisburg
Robin Ella: Down The Mountain
Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir: Dark Holler
11am-12pm
Donna The Buffalo: Way Back When
Ry Cooder: Suitcase In My Hand
Seth Walker: Miss Ann
Norah Jones: Crazy (Patsy Cline Cover)
Jill Barber: When I’m Making Love To You
Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Taj Mahal: Statesboro Blues
BB King: The Thrill Is Gone (Roy Hawkins Cover)
Mad Tea Party: Polly Put The Kettle On
Cave Singers: Dancing On Our Graves
Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, & Lester Flatts: Pick Along
Calexico: Corona
Jolie Holland: Old Fashion Morphine
Holy Ghost Tent Revival: The End To…