WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioHere’s this week’s addition for WKNC’s ticket giveaways. Be sure to tune in Monday through Friday to hear how you can win a free pair of tickets to the following shows:
Son Volt playing Feb 18th @ Lincoln Theatre
Son Volt
Fujiya & Miyagi playing Feb 20th @ Cats Cradle
Who’s Bad (Michael Jackson Tribute Band) playing Feb 21st @ Lincoln Theatre
Grammy award winners Kings of Leon will play two Carolinas concerts: April 28th at Cary’s Booth Amphitheatre and April 30th at Bojangles’ Coliseum in Charlotte.
WKNC however has exclusive tickets to giveaway this week! Tune in and listen to the daytime rock deejays Monday through Friday to hear how you can win.
Special guests include The Walkmen who will open both shows at 7:30 pm.
Tickets for both shows go on sale Friday February 20th at 10am at
This week the Sports Revolution crew lamented the N.C. State loss to Virginia Tech after an 18 point lead and the team’s general performance throughout the season. James threw out his Indiana Jones theory on Wolfpack Sports fans, and then the guys jumped into the rest of the ACC including the Duke/UNC match-up Wednesday night in Durham. Then Preston and Drew took up for the NBA while James told everyone why it is the worst professional sporting league.
Be sure to tune in every Tuesday night from 7-8 pm for the Sports Revolution, and get your feedback in by posting on our blog or giving us a call at 860-0881.
Have you been unable to listen to WKNC on your radio recently?
Our engineers tell us that is because our transmitter has been operating at “reduced power” since Sunday, February 8, 2009.
What this means in plain English is that our radio signal isn’t going out as far as it used to. My heart sank when I heard this too but our engineers are hard at work on it. Sometimes you might hear some static when they are up on top of DH Hill library seducing the transmitter. We should be back up to normal range soon.
In the meantime, show us your love and listen online at http://wknc.org/listen/
That’s right. The Nashville, but Raleigh born, band Pico vs Island Trees will be stopping by our studio February 26th to promote their headlining show the same night at Cat’s Cradle
DJ Mean Gene will be chatting with the band from 1-2pm. Possible questions could include why the band is named after a famous 1982 Supreme Court Case (Island Trees School District) or what their thoughts are for their highly anticipated EP, entitled Futura, which is set to release this spring.
Be sure to tune in for this great interview!
Pico vs Island Trees will be playing with Slow Runner and Max Indian
Show starts at 8pm
‘Firmament’ is entrancing
May Chung
I don’t know why instrumental bands even bother to name their songs if collectively they all flow so well. This is none more potent than the tracks off of Firmament, the new release from the Raleigh-based trio Gray Young. The group has graced the Triangle scene before, with the lulling Kindle Field E.P., but this is a more personal progress. The album’s epic miniature symphonies of soaring post-rock anthems evoke a forceful pounding of drums and bass, culminating in a cathartic slumber. It leaves many a listener moodily swaying in its brilliance.
While one cannot help but notice obvious similarities to bands like Explosions in the Sky, Caspian, Mono, and The Appleseed Cast, to name a few, Gray Young exploits its own familiar sound with gravitational potential. The soft, breathy vocals complement the melodic blare of guitars and bass. It’s forceful and gloomy, but ethereal and infectious. Gray Young does not bother with extremely long songs that tend to be a staple on most instrumental albums (Hello, Godspeed You Black Emperor!). Instead, the band focuses on creating a poignant parting in the album openers “Provenance” and “Convoy”, eliciting a meditative simplicity as brief and wistful as fading autumn leaves.
The droopy strumming does tends to wear off near the end of Firmament, however, as the band sluggishly relays the remainder of the record. The songs start sounding more and more alike as the album starts to thin. The strange murmurs of“(Ghost Notes)” clouts an otherwise vivid instrumentation, but the cascading forays are only minor in the album’s overall beauty.
I think what makes Gray Young special is their local sensibility and the sense of pride it creates for people of Raleigh and all of North Carolina, just as the same way Explosions in the Sky do for Austin, Texas. But geographical sentiments aside, Gray Young is a rhythmic harvest. The warm and distorted guitars tones in “Tilling the Wind” and the steady bass solo in “Cavalcade for Sundown” are rare finds in the recession-worn era of disbanding groups and suffering local music shops. But the soft teasing of brooding intensity, none more prevalent than in the luscious “Firmament” pleads a change, or a “new era of responsibility” if you will.
The thing about post-rock instrumental bands is that no member is more primal than any other. It’s all a collaborative effort. Gray Young, post-rockers they are, give their all to this equivocal intimacy, and receive the same incandescence tit-for-tat. Music this raw and delicate deserves more than to be mentioned or placed on a soundtrack of some television drama. It should be enjoyed beyond the scope of Raleigh’s backyard. It should be sought for.
Gray Young will be playing a CD release show with Goner at Slim’s Downtown on February 20th.
88.1 WKNC DJ Pick of the Week is published in every Tuesday print edition of the Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org.
The long-time music critic for The News & Observer, David Menconi, has released the 2009 version of the “The Great 8”. The Great 8 is an annual list of local music talent that shines above the rest. This year’s list is wonderfully diverse, with acts from the classic indie format to the old-school 90s punk scene to screamo to hip-hop, and he even threw in a video game music guru (because everyone needs kick ass music to listen to when taking down Bowser). Not to toot the “WKNC is better than your mother” horn or anything, but 2 of the 8 artists featured this year where apart of 88.1’s Double Barrel Benefit 6 line-up from this past weekend! If you missed DBB6, you still have a chance to catch some of these bands at a special “Great 8 Showcase” concert at the Local 506 on February 13th, 2009 including 4 of the 8 bands featured (HNMTF, Lonnie Walker, Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies, and Double Negative). Here is the full list:
Jason Graves, Raleigh
There are people who do absolutely no work and get all the credit. Jason Graves does not fall into that category, in fact, he is quite the opposite. As a video game track composer, Graves says that it does not phase him that his work is simply the background sounds to a usually much more complicated and interesting video game (unless we are playing PaRappa The Rapper, arguably the worst video game of all time). Graves says that his contributions add to the overall entertainment value of the product, and that can evoke a lot of pride. Graves also says he tries to tell a story in the lyric-less music he creates and I must say, some of his stuff evokes very strong emotions for being merely background music. My personal favorites are his Star Trek compositions…THEY ARE EPIC!
Lonnie Walker, Greenville/Raleigh
Being a Double Barrel Benefit 6 performer, naturally, Lonnie Walker kicks ass. This down-home feeling rock/Americana band signed to Raleigh based Terpsikhore Records has been compared to artists from Bob Dylan to Modest Mouse.
Double Negative, Raleigh
This old-school, hard-hitting, punk rock compilation sounds like, in terms our friend Jason Graves would understand, a band pulled directly off the soundtrack of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Yes, I mean the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater from the Playstation/Nintendo 64 era. If that description is not your bag of chips, maybe you will just have to listen.
Violet Vector And The Lovely Lovelies, Chapel Hill
The second of the Double Barrel Benefit 6 bands on the list. Pop on steroids with a whipped cream and cherry topping (after bathing in a rainbow shower). That is my best description of Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies. You can tell that these guys & gals truly enjoy what they do, and it shows in their music.
Alesana, Raleigh
If you could get as far from the type of music we just explored with Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies, Alesana would be right there smiling (well, maybe smiling isn’t quite the appropriate word). This rift crunching, double-bass pedal pounding, mosh-it-out-over-breakfast screamo band is sure to have you with your hand in the air, fist clinched, and head banging all night.
The Loners, Raleigh
The Loners have a unique history in the Raleigh music scene. They can be considered the diamond in the rough (the rough being the closing of King’s Barcade in downtown Raleigh in the spring of 2007). After reuniting to play the last show at King’s, the band decided to stay together because of the outpouring of support they receive from the show. Fast forward almost two years and The Loners are getting set to release their first album since 2002, entitled “Revolution!” (hmm maybe a reference to THE Revolution, 88.1fm…okay probably not, but I can dream).
Inflowential, Raleigh
The beat boxes are crazy, and the live show is amazing! If you have not seen/heard of this group and you have been in Raleigh for more that a year, then you need to catch up. Inflowential (not to be mistaken for Kooley High, another hip-hop group that has crossover members) can be seen at local venues or maybe you remember seeing them place in the top three nationally in mtvU’s Best Music on Campus (a competiton with rising new music artists) last year.
Hammer No More The Fingers, Chapel Hill
Classic indie rock at its best from the town that cranks out indie-alternative like it is a day job. Its very interesting to see how three driven musicians that grew up in Chapel Hill in the 90’s turn out musically given the crazy musical scene in the town during the past decade or two (I am trying not to dwell to much on a place that is home to the ever so horrible Tar Holes, but it is hard in this case).
Hello loyal WKNC listeners,
I bring you this week’s ticket giveaways! Tune in each day to get a chance at winning some of these hot tickets:
Parlor Mob playing Tuesday Feb 10th @ Cats Cradle
Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band playing Friday Feb 13th @ Lincoln Theatre
Carbon Leafplaying Friday Feb 13th @ Cats Cradle
Reckless Kelly playing Saturday Feb 14th @ Lincoln Theatre
Dark Star Orchestra playing Sunday Feb 15th @ Lincoln Theatre
-The Promotions Team
I haven’t had the chance to do much music buying lately, as my bank account’s been slightly restricting as of late. However, my birthday is this coming weekend (Valentine’s day, a blessing and a curse) and I’m using that as an excuse to head over to Schoolkids and buy me some new jams. What kind of jams? Well, there’s only three non-local records that are on my list right now (new ones from Animal Collective, Antony & The Johnsons, and Bon Iver). There are several local records, however, that I really want. First off, there’s Hymns For A Dark Horse and Bury The Square, the debut records by Bowerbirds and Megafaun, respectively (Megafaun have a new one on the way and if the new songs they played the Cat’s Cradle show I caught recently are any indication, this one will be just as great as the first). I’m headed up to Boone this coming weekend and both bands’ take on folk (Bowerbirds’ being dark and haunting, Megafaun abstract and rambling, both reflective) would serve as an excellent soundtrack to a weekend driving around the mountains. Then there’s the new debut from The Love Language, with their excellent lo-fi take on 50’s pop. Lonnie Walker, with their rambling folk rock, are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands, and I’m holding my breath waiting for the release of their debut record, as well as the new one Schooner is working on.
One of my favorite releases of the past decade was Hotel Lights’ self-titled debut, full of melancholy and beautiful folk-pop gems. I’ve spun their new one, Firecracker People, on my show a few times, but have yet to pick the record up This must change, as everything I have heard off the record has been excellent. I’ve managed to catch EAR PWR’s dance party live show three times within the past couple months, and am dying to pick up some of their records. Same goes for Greenville ex-pats Future Islands (who also have some great new songs). There are great new records from David Karsten Daniels and Gray Young.
My record collection is calling out for the wonderful, Cat Power-like musings of Alina Simone. New ones from I Was Totally Destroying It and The ExMonkeys are on their way. The fact of the matter is, out of all the new records coming out, for the most part, the best ones seem to be coming either from acts right here in North Carolina or NC ex-pats. And that’s saying something. Time to go buy me some records
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/3077704[/vimeo]
“One Day, introducing Kooley High,” is a 38min documentary that chronicles a day in the life of Triangle-based rap group Kooley High and their desire to be heard. The documentary is filmed throughout Raleigh-Durham, N.C and was filmed, edited and directed by Napoleon Wright II, founder of Becauseus.org ,in association with M.E.C.C.A Records.