Join us at the Local Beat on Friday, March 26, as we’ll be interviewing A Rooster for the Masses right at the beginning of the show at 5:00 to talk about their two shows this weekend.
We’ll be cut off by baseball right around 6:30, but that doesn’t mean we won’t rock it out for the first hour and a half. ARFTM will be playing at The Pour House on Friday night alongside Scary River and The Desmonds. Saturday night, they’re heading over to The Cave with Death to the Details.
It is a GREAT time to be a metal head. There are so many new albums coming out this year, as well as concerts touring the US.
Out of all the years I have been a metal head, the 08-09 year has been one of the best. I have seen Symphony X playing with Into Eternity and Epica. I have watched Iced Earth play with Into Eternity. I have seen Suffocation. I have seen the almighty Carcass play with Suffocation, Aborted, and 1349. I have seen the black metallers Watain. I will be seeing Soilwork with Darkane and Swallow The Sun. Soon I will see Kreator with Exodus, as well as Dragonforce with Cynic. I have never seen so many great concerts coming through. I didn’t get a chance to go see At The Gates with Darkest Hour, but they toured as well.
The only thing better than concerts this year was albums. There were so many great albums released in 08-09.
Despite a a mere (baseball-induced) hour-long version of the Local Beat this week, we had an excellent show. I was joined by Chas, Dan, and Dopko of Raleigh band Gray Young to talk about everything from their show that night at Sadlack’s to where the band’s name came from (a question to which we did not receive an answer).
We also discussed the release of the band’s first album, Firmament, and where they plan to go from here. These are tremendously nice guys with a very bright future, and they have basically gotten better every time I’ve seen them live. There should be more on their show at Sadlack’s (including Dancing Tony documentation!) soon from Gray Matter.
You can check out the full interview, in 4 segments, below. And if you missed the Sadlack’s show, be sure to check them out at the Local 506 on April 13, alongside the Appleseed Cast and An Horse. And join us next week, as we’ll be hanging out with A Rooster for the Masses.
On Friday, March 13, we at the Local Beat had a stroke of good luck. It rained and rained and rained, and the NC State baseball game was postponed until Saturday. That meant that we got to have our full 3 hour show! After celebrating with Future Islands’ “Beach Foam” and an impromptu station-wide dance party, we got down to business.
At 5:15 I was fortunate to be joined by Mike Jackson of Red Collar via phone from Washington, DC. The band was excited to be kicking off their several-month tour that includes some shows at SXSW and a Saturday stop at Triangle Brewing Company in Durham for their CD Release Party. Mike described it as a “house party, with the biggest house we could find”–perfect place for Red Collar to have a CD release show, if you ask me.
Mike and I chatted a bit about the release show, the recording process, and live versus recorded music, in general. Red Collar has a reputation for putting on a blistering live show, and he affirmed that the CD is “a flyer for the show." Check out the two-part interview below.
At the 7:00 hour, I was joined by fellow DJs Cabbage, Gray Matter, and Mikey P and special guest T Bo, the entertainment coordinator for the Hillsborough Street Renaissance. We talked about the finer things in life: food and music, both of which were integral parts of the Hillsborough Street Renaissance. Check out the interview below.
Be sure to join us this Friday, 3/20 for an abbreviated version of The Local Beat (baseball takes over at 6) with Gray Young, still fresh off the release of their album Firmament, at 5:00 PM sharp.
Every semester, WKNC puts a crew of N.C. State students through the grueling process of training to be a DJ at the best radio station in the Triangle. Congratulations goes out to dj trafficjam, DJ Cantona, DJ Siren, czech one-two and Emcee Luck, and A La Mode. You can check out other new DJs as they are added to our schedule.
This week’s show is going to be a great one! With the help of Jacob, another DJ at the station, the show will focus on the music of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror soundtracks from the 60s and 70s.
Jacob and I will be playing music and discussing the films. If you’d like us to look into a particular movie, please post a comment below. It’s not too late to get on the playlist!!
Some topics include Zardoz, a 1974 film whose bleak depiction of our future includes Sean Connery and organized human breeding. The Green Slime , a 1968 effort about the negative side of space exploration with a groovy main theme. Steve McQueen’s battles with a pulsing, man-eating, ever-growing ball of Jell-O in The Blob. We’ll play compositions by Bernard Herrmann, who has composed for such films as Psycho, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Fahrenheitit 451, several Ray Harryhausen films, and Taxi Driver. And Godzilla, a giant lizard who needs little elaboration.
These are only a few of the movies. Tune in this Saturday, February 21st from 8-10 am, and enjoy the show.
Well, as you might have heard, I’ll be hanging up the headphones shortly, but not without one final, epic edition of the Local Beat this Friday, starting at 6PM, after NC State Baseball.
We’ll be interviewing The Old Ceremony, hanging out with members of our local music scene, and spinning some of my favorite music from the past four years, including at least one Genesis track.
After Friday, stay tuned, as DJ Mick will be taking over the reins, and if you’ve ever heard his Local Lunch shifts, you’ll no doubt be prepared for the inevitable onslaught of kickass rock’n’roll. As for me, it’s been a real privilege to be your DJ, and if you see me at a local rock show, be sure to come by and say hello.
Aradhna is a musical group performing at the Hindu Society of North Carolina temple on March 21, 2009 at 7:30 pm. Aradhna will also be visiting as a special guest on Geet Bazaar on March 22nd 2009. For more information on Aradhna please visit www.aradhnamusic.com.
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
This weekend is the 6th annual Double Barrel Benefit, our annual fund raising concert. We’ve got great lineups for both Friday and Saturday nights. So come down, have a beer, enjoy some great local music, and help support 88.1
Craig from Birds of Avalon, one of the great bands performing Saturday night, will be on Mystery Roach Saturday morning. We’ll be listening to music from his collection and talking about life, the universe, and everything. (No, not the book, but who knows, it might come up too.)
So listen to Mystery Roach Saturday morning from 8-10 am then head on down to the Pour House to catch the second night of The Double Barrel Benefit.
