Category: Festival Coverage

Previews, reviews and coverage from music festivals like Hopscotch and Moogfest

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Festival Coverage

So You Want To Park for Dreamville?

Dreamville Festival April 2nd & 3rd North Carolina

Tickets for Raleigh’s Dreamville Festival April 2-3, 2022 are upwards of $200, so when I discovered they were charging $30 a day for “Official Dreamville Parking” on NC State’s Centennial campus, I was understandably upset.

Here’s your best option to save some money on parking this weekend:

Although Dreamville has commandeered Centennial campus parking, employee and student lots on NC State’s Main campus are still free this weekend. 

NC State 2021-2022 parking map showing all parking lots on main and centennial campus

If you park in one of these main campus lots, you can take a bus, walk, or bike to Dorothea Dix Park.

Buses that route from Main Campus to the festival are: 

  • GoRaleigh Route 11
  • GoTriangle Route 300

You can use the TransLoc app to find bus stops routing in the correct direction and be sure to have at least $5 cash for the fares there and back (preferably with a couple of quarters since they require exact change).

If you don’t mind paying some extra money for some convenience, here are the options Dreamville provides for parking.

HOW TO GET TO THE FEST: 

  1. Official Event Parking at NC State University’s centennial campus 
  • Costs $30 per day 
  • Located right across the street from Dix Park – first come, first served 
Dreamville Fest PAID parking map showing paid parking lots
  1. Ride the downtown shuttle 
  • Costs $20 total for a two-day pass 
  • Picks up from MOORE SQUARE in the heart of Downtown and drops off right next to the West Entrance into Dreamville Fest 
  1. Take an Uber or Lyft or Taxi. Designated drop off / pick up zones are located on either side of Dorothea Dix Park (Centennial Parkway and Western Blvd/Boylan Ave), within close walking distance of the Dreamville venue entrances.
  2. Bike or walk to the park 
  • The festival provides two designated locations for bike parking, near each main entrance: on the corner of Centennial Pkwy and Blair Dr. and on the corner of Western Blvd and Hunt Dr.
  1. Take public transit 
  1. Travel by train 
  • Those traveling to and from the Dreamville Festival on April 2-3 can save 25% via NC By Train tickets 
  • Stops include New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C and across North Carolina 
  • Arrive at Raleigh Union Station, which is only two miles from Dorothea Dix Park 
  • Book tickets and save 25% (code: V681)

– Written by Elle Bonet, WKNC video content creator

Categories
Festival Coverage Music Education

Bull City Summit, the next SXSW?

Provide by Bull City Summit

A new and possibly revolutionary convention is coming to Durham that could arguably be compared to SXSW. That is the Bull City Summit (BCS) which will be running from March 23-26 Sept.15-18, 2022 and will be held in the heart of Downtown Durham at Bull City Summit LLC. This convention converges music, art, science, & technology which will showcase the valuable relationship between each sector and how they can be used to enrich our local communities.

The summit has a stacked lineup with 17 speakers ranging from council members, CEOs, media agents, label owners, & DJs. It will also include several panels covering topics such as music business, crypto, climate change, & artist mental health. Along with that there will be live presentations, one of which will be an augmented reality exhibit to display the rich history of the Bull City which will be put on by Durham based company, Project Aeschylus.

Depsite the postponement of the festival, the music continues. There will be musical performances each night showcasing the talent that our local North Carolina artists have to offer. WKNC’s very own DJ Whippopatomus has recently interviewed two of the artists, Durham native Jooselord & the Raleigh based 3amsound which will be performing on separate nights. Not only that but people can also find a wide range of genres from electronic to blues-rock at local venues including Motorco Music Hall, Pinhook, & Kotaku Surf Bar. Tickets for the shows can be purchased separately on the BCS website.

Music isn’t the only art form being offered at the rescheduled festival, there will be an art fair throughout each day of the summit curated by local visual creators. BCS will be partnering with local art galleries, hotels, & public spaces to facilitate their art shows.

This is a pivotal event for the Durham creative community. With the amount of various forms collaboration and diversity, BCS has the ability to change the landscape of the local art scene in the Triangle and even for the entire state of North Carolina. The convergence of art, technology, & science has the potential to provide powerful tools of knowledge to elevate and bring forth the exposure that our local art scene deserves.

Remember, we are stronger together so show each other some love.

-Brandon Whippo, Asst. Music Director, DJ, & Interview Content Creator

Categories
Concert Review Festival Coverage Local Music

Manifest Review: A Loud Festival That Shines in the Quiet Moments

Charly perfoming at Manifest
Charly performing at Manifest on 10/16/21 - photo by Erie Mitchell

I think it was partway through Sister Brother’s set, a ski mask-wearing punk duo with anti-capitalist vocal samples and attacking guitars when I realized just how good of a weekend this would be. For reference, Sister Brother was the third set I went to.

Manifest did not pull punches. This was an event that threw punk and metal bands at you and you had to hold on and enjoy the ride. I spent most of my time in the Local 506, the main venue of the three, and the intimate size combined with the sheer ferocity of the instrumentals meant I had to pull out earplugs at a concert for the first time ever. 

Bands blurred together, but saying that sounds bad, like things were getting stale. When I say blurred, I mean that one band perfectly picked up the energy level from the previous group while adding their own spin on the rebellious under (and over) tones. Of course there were individual highlights. BANGZZ lived up to its name by getting the whole crowd headbanging and kicking off the night with interludes talking about the importance of taking up space and respecting others. Pie Face Girls described themselves as a “comedy troupe first, band second”, and their stage banter was as hilarious as their songs were captivating, with groovy instrumentals and repeated vocals that wormed their way into the brain and didn’t leave in a hurry. And Sand Pact came from left field with an experimental electronic set paired with performative dance that brought a bit of the club with them.

Of all the pedal to the metal guitars and screaming vocals this weekend, the most memorable act I saw was Raleigh “conjurer of sound” Spookstina. Their set consisted of the artist crouching over their decks and playing a continuous wall of distorted sound for over half an hour, punctuated by a couple minutes of vocals and some plucking of guitar strings and, most notably, the rattling of chains. Some of the rattling was recorded, but a lot of it came from them picking up and dropping chains that were on the small triangular stage in the corner of the room. This crescendoed into one of the most surreal experiences of my life: Spookstina picked up what they later told us was a sewer ladder, walked into the audience, and started hitting it with a chain to a beat that apparently only they could hear. 

What really made that work was how close the audience was to the action, and that was a major part of the experience. Artists were just hanging out in the bar after the show and were happy to be interviewed by a college radio station. Indie folk band Honey Magpie didn’t have any merch at the merch table; my friend and I got t-shirts by talking to them after their set and paying the lead singer on Venmo. It was adaptable too. There were plans for an outdoor day party with an art market on nearby Graham Street, but when rain started coming down, they just moved everything inside the Local 506 and kept the fun going. There weren’t many people there during the day, but those who showed up between 1 and 7 p.m. got to experience some great sets. I didn’t expect to hear much country music at Manifest, but Charly out of Lumberton NC surprised me with an emotionally resonant and personal hour of music.

But Manifest, in structure at least, was still a music festival like any other, and this means that its greatest strength is in allowing for the creation of certain moments, pockets of infinite joy, where you stop and realize just how much fun you’re having. The alley in front of The Nightlight, maybe the most underrated venue of the weekend, is perfect for squealing with your friends about how insane a set was, and the distance between venues allowed festival goers to slow down and really sit with the experience they just had. History dictates that, barring another global pandemic, Manifest will return to Chapel Hill next fall, and I’m already counting the days.

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Festival Coverage

How Hopscotch Created a Sense of Community for Artists

Parquet Courts
Parquet Courts performing at Hopscotch

During Parquet Courts’ set at Hopscotch Festival, the bass player, Sean Yeaton, broke one of his bass strings. He didn’t have extra strings or a second base. While discussing with the band about whether he should pick up a guitar or try and play with one less bass string, Eric Johnson, the guitarist for Archers of Loaf brought out Matt Gentling, their bassists, bass for Yeaton to use. Yeaton played the rest of the set with Gentling’s bass and the show went on. This is the perfect story to show the sense of community the Hopscotch Festival created. 

The Hopscotch Festival took place over a month ago, but I still think about this moment. I was so excited to go back to festivals and be around people who were eager to see the same artists as me, and that moment reminded me why I love seeing live music. It is so delightful to see your favorite artists interacting with each other, and it’s even better when it’s happening in the city you live in. 

Large and small bands came together in Raleigh to perform to an excited crowd, for many of the people there it was probably their first shows back since the pandemic. I got to talk to some of the artists about their festival going experience and they all had nothing but nice things to say about Hopscotch. 

For Hannah Jadagu, a young indie-pop artist from New York, Hopscotch was the first festival she’s ever performed at. She had a prime spot on the City Plaza stage at 4:30, before Anjimile. 

“I was really nervous to play a festival, especially on the big stage, but I felt the performance went really well and I got more comfortable on stage as time went on,” Jadagu said. “ I was also really happy to see the crowd filling in during my set and I was able to play off of the crowd’s energy.” 

Jadagu was just as thrilled to be at the festival as the audience. She noted she was excited she was able to catch the Caroline Polachek and Flying Lotus sets. One of her current favorite artists is Caroline Polachek and she took inspiration from her confidence on stage. 

Wednesday, another act who played Hopscotch was excited to be back in Raleigh and at Hopscotch. This was their first time playing one of the main stages at Hopscotch and the lead singer, Karly Hartzman was excited to finally perform songs from her new album, Twin Plagues, for a responsive audience. 

“It was so validating to play on one of the main stages, we played a few day parties in 2019 which were great, but it was so exciting to come back and be asked to perform on a main stage,” Hartzman said. 

She was also happy to be able to play after the Pandemic at all outdoor sets because the band and audiences felt more comfortable being outside. 

“The last time we were at Hopscotch was really stressful because we were playing sets and still wanted to go see other acts, so we were running around all weekend.” Hartzman continued, “It was overwhelming because there were so many places we wanted to or had to be. This year it was a lot easier to go back and forth between the two main stages and play the next day [at Ruby Deluxe].” 

Playing her new songs for the Hopscotch crowds was also very rewarding for Hartzman. Her lyrics are so vulnerable and she was thrilled to share them with the crowds. 

“Practicing can be mind numbing because I have to put myself back in the place I was when I wrote these songs, but knowing my songs are being accepted and recognized by listeners was amazing,” Hartzman said. 

The last act I got to talk to was Archers of Loaf, who like Wednesday are also North Carolina Natives. Archers of Loaf headlined the Moore Square stage on the last day of the festival, and hundreds of people came out to see them return to Raleigh.

“When we first started as a band it was really hard to break into the scene in Raleigh, there were so many good bands and it took us a while to get our name out there,” Guitarist Eric Johnson said. “It’s so gratifying that we are now headlining a festival in Raleigh.” 

The band was pleased with the turnout and the energy from the crowd at Hopscotch. It’s nice to know that the artists enjoyed the festival as much as I did, because it makes me want to attend even more next year. Having a great music scene in Raleigh is an exciting privilege and I can’t wait to see who will come through the city next. 

Categories
Band/Artist Profile Festival Coverage

Artist interview & profile: Hannah Jadagu

Hannah Jadagu
Hannah Jadagu performing at Hopscotch

From her bedroom to the main stage at Hopscotch, Hannah Jadagu is starting to make a name for herself in the indie music scene. 

Hannah Jadagu is an indie-pop artist who now lives in New York City, but is originally from Mesquite, Texas. The 19-year-old singer only started her music career a few years ago when she was in High School. She was 16 when she first learned how to play guitar, and instantly felt connected to the instrument. She started writing songs and recording them on her iPhone and released a few online. 

Now, a few years later she is signed to Sub Pop Records and is starting to play live shows. Her first festival performance was at Hopscotch in Raleigh, and we got to share that sweet experience with her. 

As she took center stage she felt nervous about how the set would go over. She had two other people in her band, a drummer and a member who jumped around between playing guitar, bass, and samples on his computer. Overall she felt their set went really well and she was excited to play in Raleigh for the first time. 

With this show in the bag, Hannah felt ready and excited for her upcoming tours and projects. She is currently working on an album and is opening for Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing on their North American tour. She also announced that she will be opening for Ritt Momney in 2022. 

Because of Covid she wasn’t able to share her music with as many people face to face, but it gave her the opportunity to work on her music and create music videos and more content for fans. 

“I took a leave of absence from school so that I could tour and focus on my music,” Jadagu said. “It was too much to balance, and I’m so happy with my choice because now I get to have these amazing experiences like playing festivals.” 

Hannah started her musical career by putting the songs she was working on out, and spread the word through her instagram which landed her a record deal with Sub Pop. 

“It was such a surreal moment, I got a DM on instagram from a manager at Sub Pop saying they loved my music and wanted to work with me, I didn’t think it was real at first but after a few zoom calls I signed to Sub Pop and now they’re helping me put out my music,” Jadagu said. 

Jadagu takes inspiration from any music and media she is consuming at the moment and turns them into her own interpretation. 

“Usually I just start strumming my guitar and see where that takes me. I like to freestyle and record all of my ideas so I have a basis to work off of when I’m ready to put the song together. When I play something that makes me excited I hone in on that part and work around it.”

Hannah was excited that she could perform her songs to crowds again and not just for her computer in her bedroom. Many artists probably feel the same way now that shows are being set up again. 
You can listen to her new single “All my Time is Wasted” here. 

Categories
Concert Preview Festival Coverage Local Music

Preview: Chapel Hill’s Manifest Aims to Break Barriers

Promotional poster for Manifest 5
Promotional Poster for Manifest 5 in Chapel Hill from October 15-16, 2021

In my training class to become a WKNC DJ, among the many pieces of advice our then station general manager gave us was to “not just play music made by four white guys”. This was met by laughs, but that line stuck with me because of how relevant it still is. When I was a daytime DJ I tried to have sets with a strong female representation, but four or so guys still made up most of the songs aired from 10 to 11 p.m. on Thursdays. And that doesn’t even take into account the “white” part of that; many genres such as modern indie rock are overrepresented by white artists and artists of color will often have their work labeled as R&B even when that label doesn’t fit the music, which can box in both exposure and creative freedom.

Enter Manifest. This is a festival that, according to the website, is “focused on dismantling patriarchy, misogyny, and white supremacy” with a diverse lineup that draws from a wide variety of races, sexualities and gender identities. Now dismantling vast social hierarchies is a lofty goal, but they’ve definitely got the lineup down. This is a festival that has seen acts like Skylar Gudasz and Hopscotch 2021 attendee Sarah Shook, and this year the acts range from Basura who make minute-and-a-half long death metal bangers to trans experimental artist KHX05 who brings a nervy and rebellious energy to her mixtapes and remix EPs. 

Manifest bills itself as mostly a punk festival, and there are a number of punk bands making an appearance. Gown is a hardcore metallic punk band that has seven members, three of whom play the cello, while Fortezza is an doom punk band out of Asheville whose long guitar solos and verses screamed over a lone drumbeat create a chaotic and apocalyptic feel to fit their hand-drawn album covers. The artists have a distinctly local flavor too. Of the 28 acts coming to Chapel Hill this weekend, 21 are from the Triangle area, and five of them won’t have to leave their hometown to make it there. 

This is the fifth iteration of Manifest, and it’s the fifth time in these exact three venues. The festival is mostly based around Local 506, a bar and club that, when not hosting live acts, is known for having themed dance parties such as the 80s-style one that I went to this summer. This is where tickets and wristbands are picked up and where WKNC is running the merch table. When not at the Local 506, festivalgoers can head to two other locations, one of which is The Cave. This is another bar/club hybrid, iconic in Chapel Hill for its alley location and will often host rock and punk rock bands. 

Now despite having essentially grown up in downtown Chapel Hill, I’ll admit I had to look up the last venue, Rosemary Street’s The Nightlight. It’s the only one of the venues not located on Franklin Street, and its website is at time of writing a single page detailing its closures due to COVID and in the spirit of Manifest, a link to a mutual aid fund. All of these are within a quarter mile walk of each other so it should be easy to go between any of the simultaneous shows being played.

Continuity is a major theme here, and not just in the venues. Manifest 5 marks the fourth appearance of Raleigh’s Fruit Snack at the aforementioned festival, a band whose members work at multiple venues in the Triangle and whose themes of anti-capitalism, openness about sex and dislike of the police fit right in with Manifest’s mission statement. It also features a ukulele player. Meanwhile, punk act Pie Face Girls has attended every single iteration since the festival began in 2016. This in combination with its many local sponsors including Orange County Arts Commission, Chapel Hill’s own Midway Market and this radio station gives this festival a strong feeling of community that puts those goals of social change front and center.

I’m personally quite excited to cover Manifest. While I won’t be able to see every artist (The Cave being 21+ is unfortunate but understandable) there are a lot of acts I really want to see and blog about, and a lot of artists I had never heard of before and really want to get to know as part of my ongoing efforts to further connect with the local music scene here. After all, homegrown music with a message is the new punk rock. And the old one too.

-Erie

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Concert Review Festival Coverage

Flying Lotus: Concert Review

Flying Lotus is an artist I first came across while working as the Underground Music Director for WKNC this Summer. I ended up loving his latest album “Yasuke” and added a bunch of his songs to the rotation, so when I found out he was performing at Hopscotch I couldn’t wait.

The Music

Throughout his set, Flying Lotus played an assortment of his more recent and his older projects. As a relatively new listener, I only recognized the tracks “Black Gold” and “Crust” which are from his latest album. Overall, his set was much more electronic than I had initially expected which was pleasant surprise. The bass was heavy, the music was loud, and the people were moshing.

The Performance

Unlike Caroline Polachek, the opener on Thursday night, Flying Lotus relied more on tech than choreography for his visuals. He stood alone behind a large DJ booth which had a transparent white tinted screen separating him and the audience. On this screen there flashed a crazy assortment of images and short videos that correlated to each song in his set. The visuals along with the heavy bass made for a pleasantly disorienting experience.



Categories
Blog Concert Review Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Music Festival 2021 Series: My Experience

Hopscotch Music Festival 2021

Now that I’ve had some time to reflect, I’m finally ready to share my 2021 Hopscotch experience. While I didn’t see all of the performances, I did get to see most of the major acts: Helado Negro, Animal Collective, Flying Lotus, Hippo Campus, and Caroline Polachek.

I was somewhat surprised by how much I enjoyed Helado Negro; I’d never heard his music before, but his performance was lively, kind, and felt like home. I cannot say the same about Animal Collective. They played almost exclusively new music and the crowd was clearly disappointed. That being said, the unique vocals and skilled instrumentals were undeniable. Flying Lotus, while a whole lot of fun, was nearly too loud to enjoy. With my Photo Pass, I was able to shoot most of the performances from in front of the barrier, but I wasn’t able to shoot Flying Lotus because of the volume of his music. From the barely audible crowd mumblings, I could sense that I wasn’t the only one struggling with the volume. Hippo Campus was easy and enjoyable, and for the big fans, I’m sure it was the best. They even took to the floor after their set to meet people and explore the festival which I appreciated. Finally, Caroline Polachek. I am certainly in the minority with this opinion, but I just do not like her music. The performance was contrived (though I did like her outfit) and most of the songs had no appeal for me. 

Aside from the music, I was surprised by the lack of food and drink vendors. There were certainly some present, but a small amount compared to what I expected. That being said, it was the first Hopscotch of the COVID era so some things were just smaller. 

I appreciated the opportunity to attend Hopscotch and I’m looking forward to seeing Hopscotch return even bigger and better next year.

Here’s to the loose pug that ran around outside the Moore Square venue,

Silya Bennai

Categories
Festival Coverage

A Little Bit of Everything: A Comprehensive Hopscotch Playlist

This past weekend, I spent my afternoons and evenings bouncing around between the many different acts that performed at Hopscotch. Artists across genres put on shows which made for an interesting mix of performances. Listed below are some of my favorite tracks from every artist that took the stage this Fall.

  1. “Hit Me Where It Hurts” by Caroline Polachek
  2. “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings (A.G. Cook Remix)” by Caroline Polachek
  3. “Year Of The Spider” by Shannon & The Clams
  4. “Where To Now” by Hippo Campus
  5. “Humano – El Buho Remix” by Lido Pimienta
  6. “Tiempo Ahora” by Lido Pimienta
  7. “Fate Is…” by Wednesday
  8. “Toothache” by Wednesday
  9. “Gatekeeper” by Libby Rodenbough
  10. “Probably No One” by Patios Counselors
  11. “Let Beauty Be” by Patios Counselors
  12. “Black Gold” by Flying Lotus
  13. “Between Memories” by Flying Lotus
  14. “Nellie” by Dr. Dog
  15. “Frank’s Tune” by Makaya McCraven
  16. “Won’t Be Long” by The Dead Tongues
  17. “2 Again” by Body Meat
  18. “I Don’t Like You or Your Band” by Kate Rhudy
  19. “Big Shot!” by Sonny Miles
  20. “Falcor” by Sluice
  21. “The Purple Bottle” by Animal Collective
  22. “White Trash Heroes” by Archers Of Loaf
  23. “Pais Nublado” by Helado Negro
  24. “Berlin Got Blurry” by Parquet Courts
  25. “In Our Talons” by Bowerbirds
  26. “What Is Going On?” by Hannah Jadagu
  27. “Gliding Through” by Garcia Peoples
  28. “Fille de personne III” by Hubert Lenoir
  29. “Don’t You Think I’m Funny Anymore?” by Dougie Poole
  30. “Raleighwood Hills” by Lesthegenius
  31. “Quarry Ate the Mountain” by Magic Tuber Stringband

Click HERE to check out my playlist on Spotify.

Categories
Festival Coverage Miscellaneous

Hopscotch Music Festival 2021 Series: Bag Tour

Hopscotch Music Festival 2021 Series: Silya Bennai'sBag Tour

WIth one day of Hopscotch under my belt, I’m looking forward to the rest. Hippo Campus and Caroline Polachek put on fun shows, and I’m looking forward to Dr. Dog and Animal Collective, among others.  With my photo press pass, I’ve been lucky enough to get close to the stages to shoot different sets. Speaking of cameras, I thought I’d give you all a bag tour of what I take to Hopscotch.

  1. Canon HD Camcorder (with charger): I’m taking shots of the music sets I attend, the crowds, my WKNC coworkers/friends, and the two “venues.”
  1. Nikon Nice Touch Zoom 35mm Point & Shoot Film Camera (with extra film & batteries): For pictures of the acts and my friends.
  1. Wallet: With my ID, vaccine card, and money.
  1. Inhaler: I have asthma.
  1. Sunglasses: To protect my precious eyes.
  1. Face Mask: Obviously. 
  1. Phone: Always on me.
  1. Gum: I’m anti-mask breath.
  1. Photo Pass: For a better chance at better shots. Side note: Being super close to the stage is pretty surreal.

Here’s to the NCSU library for letting me borrow the camcorder,

Silya Bennai