Category: Festival Coverage

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

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Nightlands

This is a personal artist spotlight on Nightlands by The Walrus for Hopscotch.

When label Secret Canadian states that Nightlands is ultimately the product of bedroom producing, it brings to mind the countless demos crafted by artists as an attempt to exhibit that which could be further polished and refined to produce their ultimately desired sound. Nightlands goes far beyond the assumptions of bedroom producing and often puts them to shame in comparison.

Dave Hartley, bassist of The War on Drugs, began his side project directly from the bedroom, keeping a tape recorder on his bedside table to archive the musical ideas he developed in his sleep. These ideas were the seeds for his debut album Forget The Mantra and were, as you could expect, dazzlingly dreamy.

Three years later, Hartley concludes his production of Oak Island, the sophomore album that has received exceptional critical acclaim for its fantastical and incredibly lush sound, providing the listener with an immersive and engaging inward journey. It’s amazingly polished for a bedroom production and never once depicts that which could be further refined.

Nightlands has been inked into my personal Hopscotch schedule since the day the lineup was released. Oak Island has been a consistent favorite of mine since its January release, and I will certainly be at The Hive at midnight to see them perform.

Favorite tracks: “So Far So Long” / “Other People’s Pockets”

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Schedule Announced!

While the line-up has been published for some time now, the official schedule has just been posted.  Now its time to get out that pen and paper and start banging your head into the wall to decide if you want to see Kurt Vile and the Violators or Matthew Dear more.  With this year’s stellar line-up there is sure to be much debate over who to see as well as a lot of running around to maximize the number of sets you see.  Hopscotch has been posting a number of useful Hopscotch Handbooks that break down different bands to help make your decision process a bit easier.  As always, stay tuned to WKNC as we continue to bring you some artists to look forward to at this year’s festival.  So pin your Hopscotch handbooks and schedules on the wall, it’s time to pull out the red string and tacks and start mapping your Hopscotch 2013 adventure!

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Festival Coverage

Mountain Oasis Lineup Announced!

 

The first ever Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit has just announced their lineup for 2013.  The festival takes place in Asheville, NC on October 25th through the 27th.  Mountain Oasis is programmed and produced by AC Entertainment, the company that helped put together MoogFest.  Towards the end of last year, Moog Music and AC Entertainment split up when Moog declined to renew its licensing agreement with AC.  Mountain Oasis now takes the place of MoogFest as AC Entertainment’s presence in North Carolina.  The Mountain Oasis festival will take place the same weekend and location as previous MoogFests.  This however will not be the end of MoogFest.  Moogfest just recently announced a new partnership with Paxahau along with a new logo. Along with it they stated that MoogFest will not be taking place in 2013, but will return April 25th through the 27th in Asheville for MoogFest 2014.

So set aside all your worries, North Carolina will not be losing a music festival.  Instead we will be gaining another one and after looking at the intial lineup announcement, it looks to be a damn good one.  The lineup, despite not being completed yet, is full of some big names and rarities.  Neutral Milk Hotel will be playing one of their first shows in fifteen years together at this year’s festival. Trent Reznor will be playing twice with How to Destroy Angels as well as Nine Inch Nails who are just coming off their hiatus. Other notable artists include Animal Collective, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Chromatics, Tricky, Zola Jesus and JG Thirwell, Pretty Lights, Bassnectar, and Bosnian Rainbows. Many more artists will be announced in the coming future. The festival will also feature talks, seminars, panels, interactive experiences, exhibitions and more by artists and other esteemed members of the musical community. Tickets will go on sale Thursdau, May 2nd at 12:00 pm Eastern Time. Stay tuned for more details as the full lineup will be announced.

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch 2013 Lineup Announced!!!

Hopscotch Music Festival has announced their full lineup for this year’s music festival. The festival will house close to 175 different bands across 15 different venues in downtown Raleigh. This year’s festival features the best from the Triangle music scene as well as a healthy mix of other national and international acts. As always, City Plaza (the mainstage) features some great talent. Local 90s-esque indie rockers Gross Ghost kick off Friday night at City Plaza followed by WKNC’s favorite new wave synth-gods Future Islands. Big Boi will finish off the night at City Plaza.  Local indie-pop newcomers The Lollipops will open the night at City Plaza on Saturday. The Breeders (Kim Deal of the Pixies) will honor the twentieth anniversary of their hit album Last Splash by playing it in its entirety.  British rockers Spiritualized will headline the night at City Plaza with their stunning breed of space rock.

While City Plaza may appear to be the mainstage of Hopscotch, there are many other amazing shows that take place.  As the headliner finishes up their show at City Plaza, concerts all around downtown Raleigh at Hopscotch’s 14 other venues are just beginning.  While there are way to many incredible bands to highlight in this post, other notable acts playing around Raleigh include Local Natives, John Cale, Sleep, Earl Sweatshirt, Low, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Action Bronson, Matthew Dear, Oblivians, The Rosebuds, Califone, ADULT., Merzbow, Chatham County Line, Mikal Cronin, Pere Ubu, Marnie Stern, Pig Destroyer, Ryan Hemsworth, WOLD, Pissed Jeans, Matmos, Charlemagne Palestine, Wolf Eyes, Holly Herndon, Purling Hiss and Mount Moriah.  Stay tuned for more Hopscotch information and coverage.

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Lineup Announcement

Hopscotch Music Festival is the largest music festival in North Carolina.  This year Hopscotch will host nearly 175 bands at 15 different venues across Raleigh.  The festival will take place September 5-7th, 2013.  In addition to the 175 bands on the bill for the festival, there will be dozens of day parties every day featuring many more bands.

Hopscotch, now in its fourth year of existence, promises to continue its rise in popularity and is beginning to solidify itself as one of the great music festivals of the East Coast.  Hopscotch’s first announcement came a couple months ago when they revealed that The Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale, who more recently has had a very successful career as a solo artist and producer, would play Hopscotch 2013.  A month later they announced that stoner, doom metal band Sleep would be making their first appearance in North Carolina in over 20 years at the festival.  Experimental electro-pop genius Matthew Dear was the next to be added to this year’s bill.  Then one of the most surprising announcements came.  The Breeders began as a side project for Kim Deal of Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses.  It then grew into so much more.  The Breeders are active again with Kim Deal at the helm joined with her sister Kelley Deal along with Jim MacPherson, and Josephine Wiggs.  This is the same line-up that recorded the critically acclaimed album Last Splash that they will perform in full at this year’s festival.

Even with just four acts announced,  this year promises to be better than all of the previous years.  The full lineup will be announced tomorrow April 24th at 10 am.  Be sure to check here for the unveiling of the lineup.  Don’t forget to get your passes for this year’s festival as soon as possible here.  We look forward to seeing you all out and about at this year’s festival!

Be sure to check out Hopscotch’s upcoming Road Shows here.

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Festival Coverage

Shakori Hills Grassroots Spring Festival 2013

Just three weeks away is the much anticipated Spring 2013 Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance. The four-day festival begins April 18 in Chatham County and lasts through April 21. Over 60 bands will be performing on four stages throughout the festival. Some of these scheduled bands include Keller Williams & The Travelin’ McCourys, Lizzy Ross Band, Onward, Soldiers, Donna the Buffalo, Solas, and many others!

Advance 4-day tickets are available online and at various locations in North Carolina including Pittsboro, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Students get a $5 discount with day tickets. More information regarding tickets can be found here.

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Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Road Shows

Hopscotch Music Festival just recently announced their upcoming Hopscotch Road Shows shown above. Several other music festivals such as Bonnaroo have begun to do this. This is Hopscotch’s first attempt to bring some of their past festival favorites on the road to some new areas to try and spread their influence. Hopscotch is now going into its fourth year of existence, and it continues to grow. Hopscotch 2013 takes place September 5th-7th all across downtown Raleigh. While the line-up has not been announced yet, they just recently revealed that the co-founder of The Velvet Underground, John Cale, will be performing at this year’s festival. The rest of the line-up will be announced in late April. With the additional effort being to put into road shows and the success of past years, this year’s festival promises to be the best yet.

Each of the road shows host an incredibly strong line-up. All of these bands have performed either at past festivals or at day parties. Most of these acts hail from North Carolina and are no stranger to putting on incredible live shows. With each show only being $5, there is no way that you have any better to do on these nights. So be sure to check out the road show nearest you and stay tuned for the full line-up announcement for Hopscotch 2013 in late April!

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Festival Coverage

A389 Fest Day 2

Months after the tickets rapidly sold out, the weekend for A389 fest had finally come. I was stoked to say the least that I would finally get the chance to see Canadian hardcore legends Left For Dead, along with one of my all-time favorites, Weekend Nachos. This highly-anticipated event served as a birthday celebration for the owner of A389 records. Dom, A389 Records owner, is also a member of the hardcore band Pulling Teeth. The show was at The Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland.

The show opened with Sick Fix, a brutal female-fronted hardcore act from D.C. It was the first time I had ever seen them. Having been a fan of the demo and EP for quite some time, I was not that much into their new album at first, considering it’s pretty different in style. However, seeing them live instantly made me change my mind. The new material is definitely killer (out on A389 records). All of their stuff is great and I highly suggest them to anyone.

Pick Your Side played after Like Rats (who played a decent set). The vocalist of Pick Your Side is also the vocalist of legendary Canadian hardcore band Haymaker. Pick Your Side sounded a lot like Haymaker, but not nearly as brutal; however, I still enjoyed it. Their album is also out on A389 records.

Weekend Nachos stole the show (up to that point) with killer mosh riffs and brutal fast-paced power violence riffage. After many years of listening to Weekend Nachos, I was very excited to finally be seeing them. The crowd action was intense – arms were flying and I almost got kicked in the face about 50 times. They opened with “Pain Over Acceptance,” a truly punishing classic.

After Weekend Nachos were California power violence legends Lack Of Interest. Unfortunately, they were not even close to being my favorite band of the night. My friend, who had seen them other times, told me that it was certainly an off night for them. Regardless of whether or not they sucked, they played an Infest cover, which ruled.

Despise You, who came after Lack Of Interest, totally killed it. Despise You has always been one of my favorite power violence bands. When I saw them in Raleigh last year, I was not very satisfied. This time the crowd was crazy and the band seemed a lot more pumped to play. They played all the hits off their infamous old splits as well as tracks off their newest split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

After Despise You was the highlight of the night – Left For Dead. It was the first show since the early 2000’s (which was also a reunion show). Lack Of Interest was a band I came across randomly one day and immediately fell in love with. Their brutal and extremely raw approach to hardcore was something I quickly grew to appreciate. Right when they started playing their first song of the night, “Eight Floors Above,” someone jumped off the balcony and the floor became a sea of people. I found myself gasping for air at times because of the intense heat in the room. It was pretty much impossible to get to the front of the stage if you weren’t already there to begin with. It was definitely a killer show – anyone who didn’t nerd out on getting tickets within the 3 hours before they sold out definitely missed out.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures or videos of the show, but you can see a few clips at the follow links (I claim ownership to none of the following materials):

Left For Dead – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATHkS8tCsVI

Despise You – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olr2cuMQJ6A

Weekend Nachos – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnZL3ypSJgU

-Possessed

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Festival Coverage

Phuzz Phest 2013 Line-Up Announced

Shuffle Magazine announced the line-up for Phuzz Phest 2013 today. Phuzz Phest is an annual, weekend-long music festival that takes place in Winston-Salem, NC. In its two years of existence, Phuzz Phest has featured some of the most talented local musicians as well as several of the best, but most underrated, indie acts from across the nation. This year the festival takes place April 4th through the 6th across downtown Winston-Salem. The line-up this year is the best we have seen in this still young festival. If only the bands that started with the letter “L” showed up, I’d still be there.

The festival this year features 32 bands amazing local and national artists. Although the day parties and after parties are still to be announced, past years have proven that these are just as incredible as the night shows of the festival. One of the most notable national acts this year are Baltimore’s Lower Dens who latest effort “Nootropics” left these psychedelic pop-rockers towards the top of many “Best of 2012” lists. Other notable national acts include self-proclaimed baroque acid-rockers Invisible Hand, shoegaze noise-pop group Eternal Summers, and psychedelic punk group IYEZ. This festival also features some great local acts who have been receiving a lot of national attention such as garage-rock gods Spider Bags, orchestral-folk kings Lost in the Trees, and the ever-explosive, indie-rock favorites The Love Language. Other North Carolina champions featured are new Merge signees Mount Moriah and folk-favorites Hiss Golden Messenger. Triangle natives The Lollipops, Some Army, Airstrip, Lilac Shadows, Robes, and The Toddlers also make the list. With this very well-rounded line-up, this year’s Phuzz Phest promises to be the best yet. See the full line-up below.

 
Phuzz Phest 2013 Line-Up

Airstrip (Carrboro)
Alligator Indian (Asheville)
Blood Waves (Winston-Salem)
Bolmongani (Winston-Salem)
Burglar Fucker (Winston-Salem)
Dark Prophet Tongueless Monk (Winston-Salem)
Drag Sounds (Greensboro)
Elim Bolt (Charleston)
Estrangers (Winston-Salem)
Eternal Summers (Roanoke, Va.)
Hiss Golden Messenger (Durham)
Invisible Hand (Charlottesville, Va.)
IYEZ (Brooklyn)
Joint D≠ (Charlotte)
Kill Devil Hills (Brooklyn)
Late Bloomer (Charlotte)
Lilac Shadows (Carrboro)
The Lollipops (Raleigh)
Lost In The Trees (Chapel Hill)
The Love Language (Raleigh)
Lower Dens (Baltimore)
Motorist (Winston-Salem)
Mount Moriah (Durham)
Nightdogs (Brooklyn)
Robes (Carrboro)
Some Army (Carrboro)
Spider Bags (Chapel Hill)
Toddlers (Carrboro)
Torch Runner (Greensboro)
White Laces (Richmond, Va.)
Wilde Blood (Winston-Salem)
William Tyler (Nashville)

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Festival Coverage

The Most Wonderful Time of Year: Hopscotch 2013 Announcement!

Maybe it’s the “holiday spice” scent I’ve been spraying in my house or the copious amount of chai tea I’ve consumed today, but I’m giddy. Hopscotch gave everyone the gift today of announcing information about its fourth installment and will be spreading the cheer even more by giving away VIP tickets to the 2013 festival.

Hopscotch will take place September 5-7, 2013 , which is the first weekend in September. Like this year, that also means First Friday activities will weave through the festival, creating an unforgettable arts-packed weekend in Raleigh, NC.

Festival wristbands will go on sale February 1, 2013 – and because I know you’re wondering, that’s 85 days from now. While you’re counting those down, you can enter to win two 3-day VIP tickets to Hopscotch through the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Until then, I’m sure we’ll all be speculating headliners (I think Modest Mouse and Explosions in the Sky would be wonderful) and reminiscing about Hopscotch 2012’s highlights (running in the rain around downtown to the next venue, mimosa-drenched day parties, moshing at Nobunny and temporarily losing my hearing after Grohg, to name a few).