Local Band Local Beer at Tir Na Nog Thanksgiving night featured a lineup of seven local singer-songwriters. Chit Nasty, Zach Gregory, Bobby Bryson, Thomas McNeely, Ryan Kennemur, Sarah Ward, and Jade Maurelle played.
Category: Concert Review
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T0W3RS

GHOSTT BLLONDE


DADDY ISSUES
NOVEMBER 22
T0W3RS, GHOSTT BLLONDE, and DADDY ISSUES played a sold out show at Kings Barcade in Raleigh for the release of T0W3RS’ new EP “TL;DR.” The three acts killed it, and the night ended with a few of the band members in T0W3RS covering three Blink-182 songs to top it all off.
Naked Naps
The Tills
Alvvays

Absolutely Free
tUnE-yArDs in the Triangle
Going into any concert you should expect some music, but what you can only hope for is a performance. This past Thursday at Cat’s Cradle tUnE-yArDs put on a performance to be remembered.
The night started slow, with the crooning voice and melodic electric guitar of James Tillman, who provided a very slow warm-up to the blazing performance yet to come. Tillman’s set was enjoyable, though it felt a little empty, as he was lacking his usual backing band. A great deal of the potential charm was lost due to the chatty audience, most likely a result of the hype surrounding the main act.
Though tUnE-yArDs was originally the solo project of Merrill Garbus, it has evolved into something much larger. The addition of permanent bassist Nate Brenner, percussionist Dani Markham, and vocalists Jo Lampert and Abigail Nessen-Bengson bring the touring band up to 5 members. While Garbus is still the centerpiece of the act, each of the other members contributes a great deal of energy and skill to the show as a whole. Markham is a classically trained percussionist displaying her versatility often throughout the performance. Both backing vocalists come from a theater background, their acting abilities shining through in several short visual skits that occurred between songs.
Most songs start in a similar way, with a crescendo of looping percussion and vocals from Garbus building up to the start each song. What feels like a massive charging process is then followed by the powerful and sudden discharge of energy in the form of Garbus’ leading vocals and the addition of the backing members. Garbus’ voice is impressive, consistently overflowing with a level of heart, soul, and raw power that is only attainable in such a tightly packed live setting. Perfectly complimenting her strong melodies were the booming drums and other Haitian inspired percussive elements that were featured heavily on most songs from her recent album Nicki-Nack. The smooth electric bass from Brenner, along with the ukulele featured more prominently on their previous album, Whokill, provided a pleasant juxtaposition between songs throughout the show.
None of the songs performed that night were duds, each charged both lyrically and emotionally in their own way, but several stood out, especially from their album versions. The highlight of the night for me was Real Thing which boasts powerful lyrics, only amplified by the sight of Garbus as she belts them out. Garbus has stated in her Nicki-Nack album commentary that this song features her most vulnerable lyric “Glory, glory, it’s good to be me”, something different from her previous songs which she says are often about disliking herself or seeing her flaws. Hearing that live and seeing the happiness on Garbus’ face as she sang that line cemented it as my favorite of the night. My other favorites included the sing-along inducing Gangsta and the rhythmically hypnotic Water Fountain.
Garbus’ banter between songs was minimal, other than when a slight delay occurred due to Lampert falling on stage during one of the skits, knocking over some drums and retreating backstage with the other touring members to ensure she was okay. Garbus initially tried and failed to start the next song, dropping a microphone during the building loop. Taking it in stride she commented “I fucked up… to trick you into thinking I’m not a genius ”, and successfully got going the second time around. The touring members returned soon thereafter, none the worse for wear with Lampert exhibiting the same energy she had before her fall.
Overall, the performance was above and beyond anything I could have expected. The power behind the vocals and percussion left me stunned for the remainder of the night and listening to their albums again just isn’t the same. Trust that if tUnE-yArDs ever comes back to the Triangle, I’ll be there early to get the best view possible.
Hope to see you there.
– William the Conqueror

Flesh Wounds


Zack Mexico
OCTOBER 3
In spite of a little bit of trouble from the rain, the last Fridays on the Lawn was great! Flesh Wounds and Zack Mexico killed it. Come out for the next one on Friday, November 14th for some more awesome music and free food!
This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to see Hiss Golden Messenger, whose latest album Lateness of Dancers is perhaps one of my favorite albums of 2014.
Opening the show was Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, who I saw perform seven days prior at Hopscotch to an attentive audience at Fletcher Theatre. Opening a cappella with “Maria’s Gone,” a song made famous by Jean Ritchie, Sauser-Monnig had the audience at full attention like a mountain storyteller telling tales of bygone days. One of my favorite tunes she played at Hopscotch also made the Cat’s Cradle setlist, Eddy Arnold’s “Cattle Call,” a song about driving the western ranges. Her quiet, folksy rendition could put you out in the old west as much as Arnold’s original.
The second opener was a Philly folk-rock band, Strand of Oaks, who I had heard of on the radio back home in NJ, but hadn’t delved too much into their music until seeing their show. The project of singer-songwriter, Timothy Showalter, there was plenty of guitar shredding and drum breaks to be had, which took the audience from captivated listeners to really active participants, with people in the crowd dancing and head bobbing from the front to the back of the venue.
The two openers really got the crowd pumped for Hiss Golden Messenger’s homecoming concert. When M.C. Taylor and his band started, they had the whole crowd moving from the gate with “Red Rose Nantahala” and moved right into “Saturday’s Song” from Lateness of Dancers. Towards the middle of the set, Sauser-Monnig came out to join in with “Day O Day,” along with a number of other tunes from the latest album. The whole band, consisting of Scott Hirsch on bass, Matt McCaughan on drums, William Tyler on guitar, Terry Lonergan on sax and guitar, and Phil Cook on keys, guitar, and banjo, put on an awesome show as they played though songs from Hiss Golden Messenger’s different albums. Phil Cook played a stellar, Duane Allman-esque, slide guitar solo on “Lucia” to wrap things up, at least before the encore.They came back out and finished with two songs, the final being a hard rocking, sax heavy rendition of “Call Him Daylight”, quite different then the acoustic rendition I was familiar with from WKNC’s Lounge session.
From what I had heard of Hiss Golden Messenger’s shows in the past, they are never to be missed and always excellent, and I can finally confirm those words are indeed the truth.
-DJ CJ
The first Cibo Matto song I ever heard was Birthday Cake, almost 15 years ago, in the video game Jet Grind Radio. I hated it. Every time it came on I felt like I was going crazy.
And then, somewhere along the way, I fell in love with it, somehow. I started to like the feeling of going insane while Miho Hattori screams, “Extra sugar, extra salt, extra oil and MSG!”
I’ll admit, back in the days of Kazaa, I downloaded most of the songs from their albums, Viva La Woman! and Sterotype A, listening to the few songs I had endlessly, on repeat. I once played DJ at a friend’s party, and spun Cibo Matto tracks nearly the whole night. Most people wanted me to stop DJing so they could play whatever top 40 garbage was popular then.
I found out that Cibo Matto had released a new album earlier this year, when an awesome WKNC DJ spun MFN, from their new album, Hotel Valentine. I immediately recognized Hattori’s distinct voice, and even called the DJ to gush about how much I love Cibo Matto.
Ever since then, I had been trying hard to see Cibo Matto live. When I originally got into them, I figured the band was finished touring and making new music, and that I would never get that chance.
On Wednesday, Cibo Matto tweeted that they were coming to the Visualite theatre in Charlotte on Friday, so I packed my bags, bought tickets, and raced to Charlotte at the end of the week.
It was so worth it.
They played with a full band, and a guest guitarist, Nels Cline. Each of the band members wore white, reminding me of a cross between high fashion models and house painters.
Cibo Matto kicked off the set with the chill tune Sugar Water and rolled into BBQ – one of the songs I had managed to miss from my Kazaa days. After BBQ came Spoon, which was one of the best songs of the set.
Then everyone grabbed some sheet music, and Hattori grabbed some lyrics and started a cover of Águas de Março. It was a nice rendition, but lacked the distinctive Cibo Matto sound that they have previously given to the About A Girl cover. It’s probably a work in progress and I hope to hear a finished product soon.
Yuka Honda and Miho Hattori dancing together.
Blue Train, Moon Child, Deja Vu, and 10th Floor Ghost Girl came after, hyping up the energy in the club to a boil. The band left the stage after 10th Floor Ghost Girl, but the audience immediately began shouting “Encore, encore!”
The band took the stage for one final song, the one we all wanted – Birthday Cake.
Everyone shouted the lyrics and jumped up and down. “Extra sugar! Extra salt! Extra oil and MSG!”
It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got to see Cibo Matto. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Chit Nasty




Fields of Mars

Dapper Conspiracy




Star Studies

Eric and Erica

Coytah
AUGUST 20
Coytah, Eric and Erica, and Star Studies at Local Band Local Beer at Tir Na Nog. Come hang out this Thursday for Octopus Jones, North Elementary, and Deep Ecology. It’s a FREE show, and an opportunity to hear what North Carolina sounds like.