Category: Festival Coverage

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

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Festival Coverage

Drumstrong Rhythm and Arts Festival

DRUMSTRONG ANNOUNCES PERFORMER LINEUP FOR 3-DAY RHYTHM & ARTS FESTIVAL

DRUMSTRONG Rhythm & Arts festival, an annual 3-day event in the rolling pastures of Misty Meadows Farm in Weddington, N.C., has confirmed its performer lineup for May 16-18. This yearʼs acts include:

Railroad Earth, Felice Brothers, Kopecky Family Band, Chatham County Line, American Aquarium, Yo Mamaʼs Big Fat Booty Band, Dom Flemons (Formerly of Carolina Chocolate Drops), Joe Pug, HRVRD, Lost in the Trees, The Mantras, The New Familiars, The Love Language, Marley Carroll, Bombadil, Overmountain Men, Junior Astronomers, Dirty Drummer, Elonzo, Ancient Cities, Super Ape, Grown Up Avenger Stuff, Of Good Nature, Replicas, Sinners and Saints, Time Sawyer, Pullman Strike, The Business People, Cairo Fire, Miami Dice and more to be announced

Located just 4 miles south of Charlotte in Weddington, NC, festivities start Friday evening, May 16 with outrageous stage sets, art & food vendors, a craft beer garden, yoga, KidzFun and some “warm-up” drum circle activity. We have on-site drum and yoga instruction, health expo, vendors with drums, food, and unique souvenirs. Come out and play, drum, learn, dance, eat, camp and show your support.

About Drumstrong

DRUMSTRONG events raise awareness and funds for cancer organizations globally through family friendly rhythm gatherings. Since the first 25-hour drum session at Misty Meadows Farm in 2007, DRUMSTRONG has expanded to over 70 cities in 25 countries to help local cancer initiatives.

About CLTure

Founded in 2012, CLTure is a cooperative business collaborative that utilizes the most artistic and creative minds in the area to produce superior media, print, video and web content. As a full service boutique marketing, advertising and entertainment company, CLTure helps businesses market their products through creative interaction with their target market by utilizing their exclusive network of creators. The company is proud to advocate for independent business, music, arts and culture.

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Festival Coverage

WKNC at SXSW // Future Islands

Our very own Double Barrel Benefit artist and North Carolina natives, Future Islands, had a string of great performances at this year’s SXSW. This is one of WKNC’s favorite local bands and they made us so proud down in Austin. 

The first performance was at The Spotify House

Next was their performance at the Spin Magazine day party

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Festival Coverage

WKNC at SXSW // Part 2

Hospitality performing at the Merge Records showcase at The Parish

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The Orwells at the Spin Magazine day party

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Temples at the Spin Magazine day party

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Warpaint held it down through their technical difficulties and delivered an amazing set

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Cloud Nothings killing it at the Spin Magazine day party 

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Closing out the north stage at the Spin Magazine day party was Against Me!

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Festival Coverage

WKNC at SXSW 2014 // Part 1

Some of our WKNC family is currently down in Austin for this year’s SXSW. Here are some highlights from their experience so far:

The Black Lips playing at Mellow Johnny’s for the KEXP day party 

EX HEX performing at the Pitchfork day party 

Betsy Wright of Ex Hex with our General Manager, Cest la Bri

Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz

Perfect Pussy performing at the Pitchfork day party.

Cashmere Cat taking the stage after Perfect Pussy’s performance

Coachwhips at the Pitchfork day party at French Legation

Cest la Bri with John Dwyer of Coachwhips and Thee Oh Sees. 

La Luz takes the stage at the Gypsy Lounge

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Festival Coverage

Shakori Hills Purchases Their Festival Site!

Just a week ago, December 10th, two non-profits jointly purchased the 73-acre farm land that is the site of the Shakori Hills Music Festival. Also known as simply “Shakori” or “GrassRoots,” this four-day festival in Chatham County, NC takes place twice a year. Shakori brings together thousands of local people and beyond for several days of music, participatory dance, craft vendors, a kids’ area, delicious food vendors, a healing arts tent, a sustainability forum, and the beautiful Chatham County countryside. 

“We have had two angel investors since we found this site in 2002,” explains Shakori Hills GrassRoots festival founder, Jordan Puryear. “They have generously held on to this land until we could grow, and until we were able to finally raise the necessary funds to purchase the site. We wouldn’t have done it without them, or the festival-goers that helped us raise the downpayment last year. It’s been such a great community effort – as they say, ‘It takes a village.’“

“We would love to build a permanent indoor dance pavilion so we can have more events throughout the year,” says Sara Waters, Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival Coordinator. “We will be able to include the community by adding more educational programs like camps and workshops, bringing local artists and educators in to share their talents. Now we can work on improving the property so that we can bring all of our dreams to life.”

Now that the amazing folks that run the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festivals own the grounds, the opportunities abound and people of the Triangle, Triad, and beyond can look forward to even more cultural arts offerings for our community to enjoy!

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Festival Coverage

Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance: October 10-13,2013

It’s that time again! Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival is a music lovers’ paradise full of four days, four stages, and over 60 bands in beautiful Chatham County.

 

This family-friendly celebration of music, dance, art, and education is bringing to the stage a number of great artists including: Yonder Mountain String Band, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Donna the Buffalo, International Blues Express with Sidi Toure and Cedric Watson, Preston Frank, Bombadil, The Old Ceremony, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Mipso, Birds and Arrows, and much more!

 

A full performance schedule can be found here! Tickets and information can be found here!

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Festival Coverage

Post-Scotch: Mainstream Noise By David

If Merzbow plays a set in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, did the noise actually happen? If I could sum up my takeaway from Hopscotch 2k13 in one sentence, it would be with this simple thought: What other festival could bring a Merzbow or a Wolf Eyes to North Carolina and play him to packed crowds? A Pharmakon show well attended in Raleigh? The band Sleep being a major topic of conversation? To me, these all seem like nerdy music pipe dreams for kids who tweet too much. Yet this is the diversity and breadth of the people that Hopscotch brings together from all over the country. People from all walks of life come together at this festival because they love music, and it’s truly a remarkable thing to see. So with these warm fuzzies in mind, here are some memorable highlights from my experience this year!

First, yes. Yes it happened. I finally got to see Grouper live. The clouds parted over Raleigh and I saw the entire universe in a perfect light. Or something. My fanboy dial turned down slightly here though, the numinous atmosphere of Fletcher Opera Theatre and the subtle visuals complementing Liz Harris’ spare drone made for a hypnotizing performance that Thursday. I was in heaven. Completely on the opposite spectrum, but equally sonically pleasing was the ever-manic Marnie Stern, who I saw shred faces at Lincoln Theatre that same night. Her ridiculously energetic set guaranteed I’ll be humming “Year Of The Glad” for the rest of the fall.

Saturday, I caught The Beets, who are a garage band signed to Hardly Art that I had never heard of, and who ended up being one of my favorite sets of the festival. As you can see from the photo I snapped above, their set was dark and grungy and intimate in the best kind of way. I also saw Swearin, who I really enjoyed, and who are perhaps one of the most underrated indie pop bands (spoke too soon?) touring right now. My soul to be a Crutchfield.

Did things get weird? It’s Hopscotch, of course they did. I watched Thurston Moore play a blistering improv noise set with Merzbow for a packed crowd at Kings. I ended up onstage with Mykki Blanco and about 20 other people while she played “Wavvy.” I met the mysterious DJ Paypal. I saw Holly Herndon perform at CAM behind weird CGI visuals of Japanese Amazon boxes as they floated through panoramic photos of Asian families. Yes, read that last sentence twice. I saw Pissed Jeans’ frontman, semi-clothed, as he taunted the audience and stacked his band’s amps in a pyramid in the middle of Pour House’s stage. I absolutely saw Ryan Hemsworth drop a remix of a song from the Rugrats movie, and we all danced, because it was phenomenal.

I don’t want to be too sentimental or corny about it, but I really loved this year. I love how much I learn about music from this festival every year, and I love the fascinating people it allows me to meet. Pere Ubu and Earl Sweatshirt played 5 minutes from my apartment because of this festival. Viva La Hopscotch.

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Festival Coverage

Post-Scotch: Anastassia’s Highlights

Hopscotch is the best time of the year and this year was probably THE BEST time of any year ever. Every year the festival gets better, or should I say stranger…. but this is why I love it so much. It’s so unique every year but I think this year was by far my favorite. SO many random and weird things that happened all over downtown Raleigh and it would be impossible and long to list them all but here were my favorite moments.

This year at Hopscotch:

  •  I saw Swearin’ twice in one day! Their surprise Slims show was packed and dark and loud but their official Pour House show sounded great and I was finally able to unleashthe punk girl that was waiting for “Here to Hear”.

  •  The Breeders became my favorite band after I saw them play at City Plaza. I don’t know what was so impactful, the fact that these women are so badass and my mom’s age or that they sounded so good live. Probably both.

  •  I shed a few tears at Angel Olsen and was pretty much bewitched by her voice and then I sprinted over to DJ Paypal, danced for fifteen minutes and sprinted back to Grouper and was hypnotized into staying for her entire space-fuzz set.

  •  I also danced on stage at Mykki Blanco, saw two minutes of Merzbow and Thurston Moore’s noise collaboration,  attempted to mosh at Pissed Jeans (if you look close enough, the blonde mop of hair is mine in the picture above), and fell in love with Scout Nibblet’s voice.

Hopscotch is so eclectic that it provides experiences like no other festival.

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Festival Coverage

Post-Scotch: Venue Variation by DJ Salinger

Reflecting back on my overall experience at this year’s Hopscotch Music Festival, one thing that particularly stuck out to me was the wide variety of venues and differences between them all. From my personal experience, I would have to say that the venue that provided the most captivating experiences was the Memorial Auditorium due to its wide open ceilings that allowed the sound to echo off into the back of the room. While Memorial provided many great shows from artists like Local Natives, High Highs, and Sylvan Esso, a venue that was the complete opposite could do the same thing a few blocks away. That venue was definitely the Berkeley Cafe; while it did not have the massive chandeliers and tall ceilings, it did provide an intimate setting that allowed acts like Co. and WOOL to rock the crowd out.
Another factor that varied greatly between the venues was the crowds. Of course most of the time it depended on the time and who was playing, but I could almost guarantee that Lincoln was going to be full of those sweaty crowds, while Tir Na Nog was going to be fairly laid back. I feel as though it is these differences that make Hopscotch such a unique and enjoyable festival that will never cease to surprise me year after year.

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Festival Coverage

More Hopscotch Highlights: Saturday