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New Album Review

Justin’s Favorite Album of 2017

Colin Stetson’s All This I Do For Glory

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Odd, chilling, and trance-like, this album gives additional height to the distinguished instrumentalist Colin Stetson. I like this album because its theme is clear, yet riddled with questions. Each track has a looped melody, but the listener gets to hear all of the intricacies and imperfections of a wind player in what would normally be pre-programmed. The heavily distorted, slow sounds of the baritone saxophone are integrated with melodic jumps, making the slightest change hardly noticeable.

Stetson tries to answer where the saxophone belongs in the age of electronic music. The saxophone, for the most part, has struggled to coexist with the synthesizer, electric guitar, and keyboard, and has yet to find a solidified part amongst the biggest players. Though electronic ensembles such as Syrinx, GRiZ, and Moon Hooch have made their contributions to incorporating the saxophone into electronic music, Colin Stetson seems to bridge the sonic barrier between the fundamental differences between the synthesizer and the saxophone. With his creative use of extended technique, he transforms his sound into something that could be played alongside the computer musicians of today.

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New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: The World Is… – Harmlessness

I could use this space to describe what this album sounds like and drop a bunch of band names, but I think it’s more apt to describe how the music of TWIABP and their contemporaries has had an effect on me. I don’t think I’ve listened to any one side of a record more than I’ve listened to TWIABP’s side of the “Are Here to Help You” full-length split. From the first few seconds of “I Will Be Okay Everything,” when the synthesizer swells, you know that you are about to experience something big. Their music has always had the sense that it’s reaching for something. Their lyrics tend towards introspection and a sense of wonder induced by the physical world, much like writers from the Romantic period of literature. When I first encountered this quality in their lyrics, it caught me off-guard. With the song “Wait… What?” I don’t think I have ever heard anyone speak so fondly about touring life. The lyrics tend to the abstract: “Missing exits, missing people, recognizing geometric shapes.” In those few words, a sense of community is present that the band carries so well.

My first exposure to TWIABP was hearing “Formlessness” back in late 2010. I was at a very instable point in my life, and for that reason the very-much-present music of the “emo revival” affected me in a huge way. Bands like Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) and Snowing, along with more classic emo bands like Jimmy Eat World and Saves the Day, hit home.

When it comes to “Harmlessness,” more is more. The World Is use maximalist ideas to battle states of depression and idleness. The music is immediate, but unconventional in structure. The band doesn’t tend to a singular sound, but displays a wide array of influences and inspirations. Aptly, the album begins with a response to one of the bands earliest songs, “Walnut Street Is Dead,” and even throughout the album there are references to the band’s past (and more than one instance of grabbing an old chorus and reworking it). With the last three tracks, The World Is come into their own more than they ever have. The songs flow seamlessly from one to the next, and with “Mount Hum” it all ends on a calming and uplifting note reminiscent of “Wait… What?”

What The World Is have created here is surely memorable. I’ve yet to figure out if the vice grip that this brand of overbearing music can put you in has changed my life for the better or for the worse, but one thing’s for certain: it makes me feel more, and that has to be worth something, right?

Key Tracks: “January 10th, 2014”, “Mental Health”, “Haircuts for Everybody”, “I Can Be Afraid of Anything”

-DJ Nasty Nate

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New Album Review

Lonnie Walker Drops New Album Leading up to Future Islands’ 1000th Show

FINALLY! The album is called Earth Canals and the cover sports a vibrant quilted circular design, with pops of red, green and blue. With a 6-year gap between their first album and Earth Canals, the quality indicates that the wait was well worth it. Earth Canals takes you on a ride through some catchy, up-beat tunes like “Only Alright” and “Baby Man”, slows things down with achy, lyric-centered songs like “No Pure Light” and “Seasons”, and keeps things interesting with the instrumental, synth-y and eclectic “Heart and Soul”. The final song on the album shares a name with the album, and perfectly encompasses the album as a whole by coursing through all the styles already present before the final track in a way that feels natural. It is quickly evident how much effort went into the creation of Earth Canals; the live performances will absolutely impress. Be sure to catch Lonnie Walker play their next show at Carrboro Town Commons this coming Sunday on the 26th with headliner Future Islands! 

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New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: DESAPARECIDOS

This review can also be seen in the latest issue of The Technician.

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Conor Oberst got his big break as singer-songwriter and guitarist of Bright Eyes and has since moved on to other musical projects, including Desaparecidos. Formed in 2000, Desaparecidos demonstrates a subtle maturation in Oberst’s lyrics, transitioning from teenage melancholy to focused, politically charged angst. Payola is the first album from Desaparecidos released in more than a decade, but the band definitely hasn’t lost any of their edge since 2002′s Read Music/Speak Spanish

Pounding drums and rapid guitar drive Payola, along with Oberst’s familiar melodic vocals. And with his philosophical musings, Oberst presents his anger in the form of criticisms of government. In the album’s first song “The Left Is Right,” he sings “If one must die to save the 99/ Maybe it’s justified/ The left is right/ We’re doomed,” which is a direct reference to the Occupy Wall Street political slogan “We are the 99 Percent.” With the band name chosen in remembrance of those of lower financial status who disappeared after being arrested at the hand of military dictatorships, it’s no surprise that the 2013 single “Anonymous” closes the album with a hate message of unrest about control and the wealth gap: “Can’t live today off that minimum wage unless you sleep on the factory floor.” Oberst screams his explicit disgust toward the economy, comparing the United States government to George Orwell’s Big Brother. Payola finishes as a punk rock album with Oberst targeting government, shouting “We’re the Tattletale/ We’ll see your All-Seeing-Eye in hell.”

Favorite Tracks: “Golden Parachutes”, “Backsell”, “Marikkkopa”, “Te Amo Camila Vallejo”

– Julie Smitka, WKNC Blog Editor

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New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: TRIPTIDES

This review can also be seen in the latest issue of The Technician.

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Favorite Tracks: “Wake”, “Hideout”, “Too Far Gone”, “Translucent”, “Over”

Remember when you held your breath in a swimming pool long enough to become weightless and float to the surface? Triptides’ latest release brings back that feeling above the water.

The surf psychedelic pop band Triptides released their new LP Azur on French indie label RPUT, with a sound that fits an evening on the Riviera as much as a stroll on the boardwalk. The album opens with the single “Wake”, the jumping into the pool where the mood is hazy and youthful. The bittersweet twinge of the reverbed guitars pull you closer into the deep end on “Dark Side”. These pangs stay with you during the course of the album and develop into a hankering for ice cream on a blistering summer day. Vocalist Glenn Brigman provides the sweet, sugary, cavity-causing melodies from a summer long ago; nostalgic and distant, like the bottom of a swimming pool. The shimmery sounds apparent in the slower songs “Too Far Gone” and “Over” are much like the refraction of light into water. The four-piece from Bloomington, Indiana know their sound and the scene that come with it, which is why they have relocated to LA.

The album cover drum up images of swim caps and the modest bathing suits of the midcentury. In a way, this album and band have continually drawn attention to the end of this fashion, and the end of summer-obsessed culture. The 50s and 60s are long gone with the surf pop greats of the day; the Beach Boys, Dick Dale, Jan & Dean, and countless others who are no longer the unique prize of American culture. But Triptides does their finest to echo the days of muscle cars and the open coastline. The appropriately named closing track “Over” leaves the listener with the somber sting of the past, like chlorine in your eyes from the neighbor’s swimming pool.

– Jake Davis, WKNC Operations Manager

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New Album Review

WKNC ALBUM REVIEWS: Bobby Capri, mewithoutYou

These reviews can also be seen in the latest issue of The Technician.

BOBBY CAPRI – REMOTE VIEWING

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Hip-Hop / Rap / Pop / R&B

Charles Morse, WKNC underground hiphop/urban music director

Bobby Capri’s second EP of 2015, “Remote Viewing,” is an entertaining romp through boom bap nostalgia. The Richmond, Virginia rapper has made a lane for himself with his “street-bred white boy” story, backed by fundamental beats and a no-frills flow. However, there isn’t anything very original about this piece of work to make it more than a one-listen novelty.  Nineties-esque rap music will probably never die in the underground, but in order to make it sound good, a high level of lyrical ability is needed. Capri does not have that, and a guest appearance from underground rap’s current boss, Freddie Gibbs, couldn’t even make him sound better. In the beginning of the song “Room Full of Strangers,” Bobby says, “I was never mediocre; greatness was immediate.” This is a bold-faced lie. “Remote Viewing” is good for mindless listening as background music, but don’t look for any profound insights from the Richmond rapper.

 Recommended Tracks: “Make Moves” featuring Freddie Gibbs, “God,” “Gucci Loafers,” and “Never Fall Short” featuring Michael Christmas

Sounds like: Machine Gun Kelly, Action Bronson

MEWITHOUTYOU – PALE HORSES

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Indie / Experimental

Nathan Forbes, WKNC assistant daytime music director

There’s a lyric in a song that goes, “Now it’s just Rival Schools and mewithoutYou on our car rides.” The song is one of my favorites from the band The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. That line kindled a spark of interest in me to dig further into mewithoutYou’s catalog. Since then, I’ve found certain songs by the band really worth clinging to. Similarly to TWIABP, mewithoutYou is a band that I find difficult to categorize. In the band’s earliest days they were making music that was far closer to hardcore punk and screamo than indie rock. Slowly, they became more and more experimental, adding elements of spoken word and post-hardcore. They maintained that punk energy on their most renowned albums Catch for Us the Foxes and Brother, Sister, but on their 2009 album, It’s All Crazy!, mewithoutYou became far more folksy. Only recently has the band returned to the post-hardcore style that they are known for and that has influenced the likes of La Dispute and Brand New.

Their newest album, Pale Horses, dropped just this week, and it’s a conceptual labyrinth. It actually reminds me of Brand New’s highly acclaimed album, The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. However, if the albums are akin, I would describe Pale Horses as a more mature older brother. Both albums have themes of religion and death, and they even have a similar post-hardcore/indie rock sound. The wordiness of mewithoutYou on Pale Horses is much more complicated though and may be a turnoff for some. The lyrics are loaded with references to classic literature and the Book of Revelation. Reading through the lyric booklet that comes with the album is like reading a James Joyce novel with its stream of conscious writing style and wealth of obscure references. Annotations within the lyric booklet might have been beneficial! However, if you really feel the need to look into the lyrics more, then rock.genius.com is a good place for that. In fact, this album’s lyrics are so dense that many lines in the booklet were appended from the actual recordings. 

One of my favorite tracks from the album is “Red Cow,” and non-coincidentally, it is one of the most hard-hitting songs on the album. It’s a blood-boiler that reminds me a lot of their album Catch for Us the Foxes, specifically the inspiring first track from that album, “Torches Together.” “Blue Hen” is another energetic cut from Pale Horses about death’s approach and features a chorus that’s especially memorable.

The album closes with “Rainbow Signs,” a song that evokes images of nuclear war and massive armies. It reaches for the apocalyptic bleakness one might find in a Godspeed You! Black Emperor song. In the lyrics, Aaron Weiss connects personal catastrophe with the downfall that’s predicted to occur in the Bible through the seven seals of Armageddon. The song starts off subtly, but around the halfway point there’s a sudden burst, and a guitar riff comes in that just sounds mean. Then, the heaviness cuts out, and the song and the album end on a personal note for Weiss.

Although Pale Horses may never reach the musical heights of Catch for Us the Foxes or Brother, Sister, the album shows that mewithoutYou is a band still capable of creating lively music, albeit by the use of a slightly outdated formula. Above all, Pale Horses shows that the band is still progressing and exploring new territory, especially through their mystical and imaginative lyrics that extend from their songs like poems. 

Favorite Tracks: “Mexicanwar Streets,” “Red Cow,” “Blue Hen,” “Rainbow Signs”

Sounds like: Touche Amore, La Dispute, Brand New, The World Is…

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New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Hop Along – Painted Shut

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The draw of Hop Along (and the band’s most distinguishing
characteristic) is clearly Frances Quinlan’s unique vocal style. At times it’s
yelly and scratchy; then at others it’s soothing and wispy. Maybe it’s this
dynamic that makes their music intriguing and powerful for so many people. Hop
Along’s last album, Get Disowned, was
released in 2012 and had a sort of cult following. Missing from Painted Shut are the classical strings
that pervaded Get Disowned. Despite
this, the albums have similar characteristics. These similarities include minimal
guitar and vocal effects, and lyrics that contain strange, yet interesting, subject
matter (see “The Knock”). Maybe the most notable difference between the albums
is the added production from John Agnello. In the past, he has produced albums
for Dinosaur Jr, The Hold Steady, and Kurt Vile. Even with the increased
production quality, the band still manages to sound raw on Painted Shut. The songs are still heartfelt and sometimes even
ultra-personal.

Hop Along’s new record displays a variety of different
influences, which is often characteristic of something innovative. Sure,
comparisons to bands like Waxahatchee and Lemuria are notable, but Hop Along
achieves a different sound that no one does quite as well these days. The music
is somewhat representative of where the band currently calls home,
Philadelphia, picking up on a few emo and punk influences that the city is
known for. In fact, in 2013 the band added guitarist Joe Reinhart from the Philadelphia
emo band Algernon Cadwallader to their lineup. Algernon Cadwallader was one of
the very first bands that began reviving the sound of Cap’n Jazz and its 90’s
emo contemporaries circa 2006. Joe’s exulting guitar playing that was present
in Algernon makes itself known on Painted
Shut
. Even more, the child-like energy that Algernon Cadwallader possessed
is not lost on Hop Along. Often Frances even recalls experiences from her
formative years, like on one of the album’s bests, “Powerful Man” where she
cites the memory of watching a father physically abuse their child.

Though the music on Painted
Shut
is not strictly punk, Hop Along brings punk attitudes to the mix. For
example, on the yearnful “Texas Funeral” Quinlan sings in rejection of the
overt coolness of the west coast: “I’m
going out flipping the bird to California. Keep your melting stars! I followed
all the rules.”
Or through the suppressed rebellion expressed on
“Well-Dressed” with its stark imagery: “It’s
built a freeway all around my bed.
I
saw it once open its great mouth wide, but it was so full of afflicted houses
and buildings I can’t remember what it was saying.
” It seems laws and rules
have been a consistent theme in Hop Along’s music, recalling one of the
highlight tracks of Get Disowned,
“Tibetan Pop Stars.” It ends with the refrain: “My love is average. I obey an average law.” Almost as if Frances
expresses some sorrowful acceptance of authority.

Painted Shut
serves as an example that traditional rock instrumentation is still a relevant
and visceral mode of musical expression, and overall, the album is the band’s
most solid effort yet. While it displays clear influences, Painted Shut should be described as anything but derivative, and
honestly… I’m surprised at just how many songs from this album I enjoy.

Favorite tracks: “Horseshoe Crabs”, “Texas Funeral”, “Powerful
Man”, “Well-dressed”

Look out for more WKNC album reviews featured weekly in the Technician!

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New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Elvis Depressedly – New Alhambra // Reverb Fest

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On Saturday, Double Barrel Benefit veterans Elvis Depressedly will play the third installment of Reverb Fest in Charlotte.

Last summer, we covered Elvis Depressedly’s show at a very small art space in the North Davidson district of Charlotte. Tomorrow they’ll play Reverb Fest at the Neighborhood Theatre, a 1000-capacity venue in that same corner of the city. It will be their first show since the release of their new album, New Alhambra. The album marks a departure from the lo-fi-ness of their past releases, while still using older recording equipment. The result is something well-produced, yet with a unique sound. Outlining the album are obscure vocal samples that tie into the loose theme of the Second Coming. These often effect-ridden samples push the album forward until the end of its run time of just over 20 minutes.

Some of my favorite cuts from the album include: “Ease” (a song that takes note on self-consciousness and features a beautifully distant-sounding electric guitar), “Rock n’ Roll” (a song that smartly uses a classic rock & roll beat and has lyrics like “Jesus died on the cross so I could quit my job” that seem purposefully laughable), and “New Alhambra” (which boils down to an audacious belief that one can parry death eternally because pain has been replaced with numbness).

The last song, “Wastes of Times,” begins with a sudden dropout of the electronic ambiance that pervades the entire album. It’s a striking contrast that represents an acceptance of the bad if it means being able to look forward to what’s new and worthwhile. It’s also the least lethargic track on the album, and a quick glance at the lyrics will show hopeful and compassionate words: “Heartbreak can’t phase me. I am crazy, but I’m true.“ The brevity and minimalism of the track is refreshing, and heck, it nearly has me convinced that there actually will be “No More Sad Songs” from Elvis Depressedly.

You can still get tickets to tomorrow’s festival with Elvis Depressedly, Beach Fossils, and several of North Carolina’s most worthwhile bands and you can treat yourself to a copy of New Alhambra.

-DJ Nasty Nate

Categories
New Album Review

Universal Coolers by Radical Dads

Radical Dad’s new album will burn you alive and give you a lot of joy too. This sick trio from Brooklyn features twingy, melodious rock backing the emotional scream-singing of frontwoman Lindsay Baker. This song “Slammer” will give you a sample of the high-octane rock n’ roll on this release. Highly recommended! – Dave Samuels, WKNC Assistant Music Director

Listen/purchase: Universal Coolers by Radical Dads

Categories
Local Music New Album Review

Jake Xerxes Fussell

A recently new resident to Durham, Jake Xerxes Fussell is hands down one of the best traditional musicians of today. Growing up in Columbus, Georgia, Fussell became well acquainted with the Piedmont blues musicians that were from the Chattahoochee Valley by touring and recording with legends like Precious Bryant, Black Rodeo Rider, Rye Whiskey Distiller, and Georgia Daniel. In this new self-titled album, Fussell teamed up with William Tyler to rearrange ten folk and blues songs that still retain their roots, but with more of Fussell’s original flare. – Local Music Director Clint Bowman