Locals Only! returns for its sixth installment just in time to help you get into the holiday spirit. Bundle up and head over to Neptunes this Thursday, December 12th for a rock-fueled extravaganza that is sure to wipe away all of your winter blues. Remember that doors open at 8 PM sharp with free admission for anyone 21+
Electric Lady Man
Our first act for the evening is Electric Lady Man, a hard rock group hailing from right here in Raleigh. The group’s musical stylings are self-described as “heavy, absurd and gleefully irate” and I couldn’t think of a more apt description if I tried.
Their most recently released EP “Wired” calls to mind a classic hard rock sound with its bouncy instrumentation that energizes you like an adrenaline shot to the heart. Along with its fun instrumentation, vocalists Chris Pilione and Steve Graham are certain to get your blood pumping with their hard-hitting performances.
Favorite Track: Rally!
Booster Club
Our second act for the evening is Booster Club, a Raleigh based alternative rock band formed in 2021. Despite their relatively recent foray into music, Booster Club already has an impressive three EPs under their belt with their most recent outing “Year Of The Draggin'” coming out earlier this year.
“Year Of The Draggin'” is chock full of fun and lively instrumentation that would sound right at home with the art rock classics of our time. It wears its classic influences proudly on its sleeve while still offering something new and fresh to the scene.
Favorite Track: Delphina
Closing Thoughts
Although this year is quickly drawing to a close, the future of Raleigh’s music scene is bright as ever and I cannot wait to explore more of it through Locals Only! each and every month. Remember to stay warm and as always, I hope to see you there this Thursday, December 12th!
Cover for "Tea Time (Legacy)" by Porcelain Vivisection
It’s been a while since I’ve delved into some weird stuff. Not for lack of trying, though. The wells have simply dried up; or rather, I’ve been too busy ruminating in end-of-semester angst to seek out new weird stuff, let alone sit down and write about it.
But fortuitously, I’ve crossed paths with something truly unique, something so absurd that it’s yanked me from my pit of despair (and writer’s block). Wholly improvised, entirely unhinged and totally bizarre — the Soronprfbs made manifest — is the work of Porcelain Vivisection.
Let’s get into it.
Band From the Black Lagoon
My first encounter with Porcelain Vivisection was in the midst of a good late-night doomscroll session. As I flipped hastily through video after video, aggravating my chronic texter’s thumb, something jarring crossed my screen.
Bathed in technicolor lights, magnified by a fuzzy low-angle camera shot, was a man in a Gill-Man mask.
“I’m showing h–le,” was his guttural cry. “I’m showing h–le at the Waffle House.”
Normally, I’d write off such content as overdone memeage, but there was something different here.
Cover for “PURGATORY” by Porcelain Vivisection
The camera panned around the room to reveal a band — all Gill-Men — and the discord of plaintive saxophone, throbbing bass and disaffected drums became transformative.
I was reminded of Clown Core and its eccentric, self-contained universe. I thought of Frank, a movie that made me an insufferable teenager, and the off-the-cuff, highly metaphorical lyricism of the film’s eponymous character.
I was shocked to learn that what I was seeing wasn’t esoteric brainrot humor, but rather an actual music video from an actual band. I had to know more.
Punk Jazz
The Brooklyn-based band consists of comedian Neel Ghosh, guitarist Nick Sala and Asher Herzog. They’ve dropped two releases so far, a 24-minute dirge titled “PURGATORY” and a five-track album titled “Tea Time (Legacy).”
According to the band’s instagram, all of their work is entirely improvised. Their song that first captured me, “Showing H–le & Taco Bell Paint n Sip,” is a sprawl of eclectic jazz discordance. Sharp sounds and slogging rhythms become a vivid audiovisual texture.
Although Porcelain Vivisection tags their releases with the label “punk,” (as well as the more enigmatic “lizard”) I’d argue that they’re undeniably jazz. But maybe those two labels aren’t that different.
There isn’t much information publicly available about the enigmatic group (a trait I’ve always found fascinating in alternative bands), which only deepens their sense of “lore.”
I find myself endlessly intrigued by all of it: the carnality of “vivisection,” the grimy musicality paired with sweaty shirtless bodies and the unexplained Gill-Man motif. I suspect there’s a level of (possibly metaphysical) cleverness behind it, or a brand of expertly-contrived nonsense only derived from artists. It’s absurd. It’s philosophical. It’s Porcelain Vivisection.
Qendresa is an R&B and neo-soul artist from London bringing back the 90’s sound like it’s her job.
She released her second album “Londra,” co-produced by Jordan Lee, on November 28. It’s made up of nine gooey tracks that set the clock back about 30 years.
The first track on “Londra” is one of my favorites from Qendresa, called “2 Much.” Her voice is ribbons of butterscotch as she sings about complicated exchanges with a lover. Even though the lyrics detail an emotional spot to be in, something about her voice sounds like she’s been there for too long: “No I don’t wanna sabotage myself / You know them demons wanna get inside / And every toke is just an ask for help / Every tear is just a blessing in disguise.” I think I like it so much because it’s a sweet coming-to-terms wrapped up in funky treacle riffs. Perfect for overthinking in the after-hours.
“Sweet Lies” is another song about longing, but it makes you want to move. It immediately takes you in again with the sticky syrupy riffs, just at a faster tempo than “2 Much.” Qendresa and Lee are good at adding modern electronic embellishments throughout their trips back in time, striking this gorgeous balance between decades.
The fourth song on “Londra” is a hip-hop/soul throwback called “The Bounce.” Qendresa doesn’t seem to use many samples, so it’s really fun to see how she recreates integral elements of 90’s hip-hop songs with her own voice. I will admit, I don’t like this one as much as I do the others, but I can still appreciate how she retains her sound while doing something different.
The last track on the album is “Whenever You’re Ready,” a sedate winding-down. It’s smooth in a more atmospheric way, relying on slow strums, layered vocals, and lots and lots of reverb (and that blessed shaker). This one specifically sounds like it belongs in a scene from “Girlfriends.”
“Londra” is a unique sophomore project from Qendresa, who is very steadily building a concrete body of work. Her style is a warm tribute that I don’t really hear in other places—barring samples and re-works of pre-existing tracks, because there is no shortage of those—so it’s exciting to see how she fleshes out her inspiration throughout her new releases.
“Drums of Death” is FKA twigs’ newest release, the third single from her album “EUSEXUA,” featuring producer Koreless and an array of sensuous textures.
It’s carnal and angry, the coarse motor thrum and the drum beat, but it retains some semblance of ethereality from twigs’ fae-like voice. Later in the song though, the softness of her voice almost adds to the sense of violence as she hisses “Hard metal / Silver stiletto / Devour the entire world / F*** it, make it yours / Do it just for fun.”
The word “eusexua” is one twigs made up herself, roughly meaning a sense of euphoria so deep it becomes meditative: a rapture that transmutes from heat in the core to a flush of the face, and every nerve becomes a live wire.
Different tracks on the album seem to embody different flavors of it, sometimes coming in airy and weightless, but “Drums of Death” is a meditation on booming bass and body movement. I have synesthesia (can you tell I love texture?) so “Drums of Death” is a fun excursion with all its superficial clicks and flits and its pounding basal heartbeat.
The video for the track was released as well, and it reminds me a lot of Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker” with its strange choreography and dynamic camera movement. In it, twigs sports a pixie cut and a suit, dancing on an office chair in sync with her colleagues.
They all quickly lose the officewear not long after, prowling about in undergarments instead. Around 2 minutes and thirty-seven seconds is when twigs looks like herself again, and the entire video has fully devolved into strobing lights and unfiltered motion of limbs and muscle. The lighting complements the song well too, harsh enough to highlight the dancers’ anatomies in ways that are more graphic than they are sensual.
“Drums of Death” is infectious and peculiar, and I’m excited to see what other alien fruits “EUSEXUA” will come bearing.
