1. The Love Language – (Last Position = #2)
2. Mount Moriah – (Last Position = #1)
3. T0W3RS – (Last Position = #4)
4. Loamlands – (Last Position = #3)
5. Ghostt Bllonde – (Last Position = #5)
Category: Local Music
General coverage of local music happenings
In a time where many artists are moving away from traditional instrumentation and moving towards electronics, acts like Daniel Bachman help keep music lovers rooted in the fundamentals. But that’s not to say that Bachman is an ordinary artist by any means. Daniel Bachman is a swiftly rising traditionalist in the music scene and when he made the move to Chapel Hill he was immediately embraced by the local community. There’s no wonder why either, Bachman’s acoustic fingerpicking is anything but simplistic. Using varied open tunings Bachman weaves together complex compositions filled with dense layers of melody, making his perplexing techniques seem effortless.
Bachman’s music is soothing and enchanting, making him an easy choice for our February Artist of the Month. Bachman’s most recent release Jesus, I’m A Sinner delves into American Primitivism, using bluesy fingerpicking techniques to convey his rustic instrumental aura. Whether Bachman is wielding a lapsteel, acoustic or banjo, he’s creating expansive and limitless music using minimal equipment. Bachman knows how to create an immersive environment within his music, making it easy to lose yourself in his rich sounds. With three LPs out within the past two years and another on the way for 2014, this young workhorse has no slowing down in sight.
John Kovalchic’s interview with Daniel Bachman will air on Feb. 14, the same day that Bachman is set to take the stage at Lincoln Theatre for Night 2 of our annual Double Barrel Benefit. Bachman will be performing alongside Mount Moriah, Bombadil and Loamlands. Tune in at 5:00 on Friday, Feb. 14 to hear our Artist of the Month segment with this immensely talented young guitarist.
1. Mount Moriah – (Last Position = #1)
2. The Love Language – (Last Position = #2)
3. Loamlands – (First week on charts)
4. T0W3RS – (First week on charts)
5. Ghostt Bllonde – (First week on charts)
is a true testament to the musicianship that resides in the Triangle. Both in a live setting and on the record, Hiss Golden Messenger is a roll call of many of the great musicians who come together under Durham songwriter M.C. Taylor and Brooklyn recordist Scott Hirsch to make something incredible. The albums are a careful work of genius that brings together a wide-range of genres that together scream “North Carolina.” Their most recent effort Haw brings together some of the best of the best to create their fullest, most beautiful album yet. Seeing Hiss Golden Messenger at their show at Haw River Ballroom was such an incredible treat. The Triangle came together for a night of music led by some of the giants of the local scene who brought to life this music that is so wholly North Carolina.
Taylor and Hirsch have released 4 albums as Hiss Golden Messenger including last year’s Haw. Named for the river that strikes right through the heart of North Carolina, the album is their most adventurous to date as the duo expanded and enlisted the help of some old friends. The band consisted of Megafaun’s Phil Cook, The Black Twig Picker’s Nathan Bowles, and William Tyler. Each of these men is a great musician in their own right and came together to round out Taylor’s incredible vision perfectly. Like their previous albums, Haw brought together wide array of different genres including folk, blues, country, and soul. While Hiss Golden Messenger is a champion of an older country era, the music is universal and draws people that have never before been a fan of these genres. As such, Haw was incredibly well received by people of all genres as it made the rounds on both local and national end of year lists.
On January 14th, their second album Bad Debt is being reissued after coming to an untimely end. All copies of the original CD edition were destroyed in a warehouse fire during the London riots in 2011. Bad Debt was written during the time of the collapse of the global economy. Now after its symbolic demise, these songs will see the light of day 5 years later. While we may not know what the future of the global economy may hold, these songs still hold weight as we look towards the not entirely cheery future. But the future may be a bit brighter with Hiss Golden Messenger reminding us we aren’t alone in our struggles.
Tune in to hear our interview with Hiss Golden Messenger during Carolina Grown on January 17th as we discuss what lies ahead for them.
Check out a review and listen to a track off of Bad Debt on Pitchfork.
For the last official Carolina Grown of the year we’re gonna be going all out. And by that I mean we’ve got FOUR artists joining us throughout the span of our two hour show, making for the busiest week yet! From 5-6 we’ll be highlighting a few local artists that will be playing at Local 506 later on Friday night, Texoma, Magnolia Collective and Kenny Roby. After tackling some conversation and acoustic tunes with those three we’ll be onto our hour-long feature of Magpie Feast, our December Artist of the Month. It’ll be two hours filled with Southern-styled rock n’ roll goodness and an excellent send-off for what’s been a busy and wonderful first year of the show.
The first hour’s guests are some of the area’s staples when it comes to Americana music. Kenny Roby and Magnolia Collective have become figureheads of the local scene, serving as gatekeepers for the swiftly expanding roots rock scene. However, that doesn’t mean that you should write either of them off. Kenny Roby is winding down one of his best years in recent memory, anchored by the stellar release Memories & Birds back in April. Memories & Birds proves that this local icon still has plenty of gas in the tank and the same can be said for Magnolia Collective. While MagCo. is still in its early years as a project, the band’s members are no strangers to the scene. Magnolia Collective was born of Southern Rail jam sessions and has maintained that intimate vibe while slowly evolving into a cohesive and impressive unit of songwriters.
Texoma on the other hand marks a brand new start for some Triangle staples. Songwriter Zach Terry was one of the founding members within Magnolia Collective and before that was a member of the foot-stomping roots rockers The Whiskey Smugglers. As Texoma, Terry turns over a new leaf while staying firm to his alt-country roots. Texoma, Roby and Magnolia Collective will all be chatting and performing stripped down songs throughout the hour, so alt-country fans should most definitely stick close to their radios.
And if you’re a fan of the southern vibes then you’ll surely want to stick around to find out more about the elusive Magpie Feast. Though the band has been around for years now, little is known about this stellar blues-driven act. That’s one of the main reasons we’re aiming to shine our light upon this overlooked act, the other being their undeniable knack for barn-burning sing-along tracks that pack as heavy of a rhythmic punch as they do an emotional one. Expect some enlightening conversation and some brilliant renditions of the standout tracks from their latest release Out of the Womb.
Throughout most of 2013 we’ve taken time each month to highlight some of our favorite local artists in the area. Our Artist of the Month feature is meant to shine a light upon the folks in the North Carolina music scene that deserve is most. Whether that be some of the scene’s longstanding champions like Bombadil and The Love Language, swiftly rising up-and-comers like Baobab or punk-rock renegades like Whatever Brains, we always try to focus on an act that stands for all that our scene represents.
That’s why we’re proud to present our final Artist of the Month for 2013 with Raleigh’s little-known Magpie Feast. Prepare yourself for a rootsy blast of foot-stomping tunes that are dripping with bluesy rhythms and passionate melodies. For years Matthew Southern has crafted rough around the edges Americana-leaning tunes that have flown quietly under the radar. Despite the lack of critical acclaim, Southern’s songs have grown from enjoyable trips into the songwriter’s psyche to memorable displays of his ever-increasing songwriting prowess.
Your standard Magpie Feast song feels reminiscent of a dirty southern take on Devendra Banhart. These tracks are firmly based in blues-rock stylings while interspersing traditional folk melodies, yet they somehow find their way into sprawling territory that gives this music a modernistic hue. Magpie Feast’s most recent release Out of the Womb sheds the lo-fi veil in favor of a much more dynamic and engaging approach, taking this already riveting sound and piling on layers to enrich the experience.
On Friday, December 13 I’ll be joined by Magpie Feast to discuss the evolution of this promising and under-appreciated act and to find out where they stand amongst a crowded North Carolina scene. Magpie Feast will be performing some stripped down takes on tracks from Out of the Womb, so tune in from 6-7 for our last Artist of the Month feature before the new year begins!
Just because we’re not on campus doesn’t mean the show won’t go on! For the last Carolina Grown of November, I’ll have the first hour entirely dedicated to the North Carolina Music Love Army, a group that’s comprised of some of the state’s finest musicians joining hands to create a unified voice of protest against our state’s current administrative decisions. Co-founders Caitlin Cary (of Whiskeytown) and Jon Lindsay are joined by Skylar Gudasz to discuss the founding of this coalition of well-known local musicians and what they hope to achieve with their recently released album. The second hour will of course be filled with local tunes!
This summer as the Moral Monday protests were coming to a head, Cary and Lindsay joined together and formed the NC Music Love Army after being motivated by Django Haskin’s (of The Old Ceremony) gripping protest song “We Are Not For Sale.” Though the months have passed and Moral Mondays fizzled out a bit, the NC Music Love Army is still going strong. On Saturday, Nov. 30 they’ll celebrate the release of their album We Are Not For Sale at the Cat’s Cradle, a show in which some of the state’s most revered musicians will come together to celebrate their songs of protest.
The album is broken up into two parts, the first 5 tracks (or Side A) are comprised of songs that the Army recorded together in-studio, while Side B (which they “fondly” refer to as the “guerrilla side”) features contributions from artists like Hiss Golden Messenger and Shirlette Ammons. Caitlin, Jon and Skylar joined me to discuss a bit about the reception that they’ve received from the project thus far, the logistics of organizing such a large-scaled project and their history with protest songs.
Tune in on Friday at 5:00 to hear our full conversation along with an in-studio performance of a Love Army track that’s not featured on the album called, “Dear Mr. McCrory.”
When it comes to describing Raleigh’s experimental punk outfit Whatever Brains, quite a few things come to mind. The band dabbles into plenty of unfamiliar territories for a band that most would pigeonhole into the “punk” category, one the band doesn’t even sound too privy to. Rather, they see themselves firmly within the realm of modern electronic music, morphing together elements from aggressive rock like punk and garage while melding in elements of psych-rock to create a caustic conglomeration of sounds. For our November Artist of the Month feature I sat down with Whatever Brains to talk a bit about the music that inspires them, their opinions on the North Carolina punk scene, and what we can expect from the band in the future.
What resulted was a spastic interview that covered everything from the band’s origins with local music to their favorite cereal and youtube videos. The conversation is a bit indicative of what you can expect from the band’s music, regardless of how the direction you’re taking with it you know that you’re in for something that’s entertaining. While Whatever Brains’ past three untitled full-lengths have displayed a gradual progression from spastic punk stand-outs to electronically leaning front-runners, the band’s humility continually shines through. Whether you’re looking to find out about the band’s upcoming release, slated to be a “rock opera” split-single, or to hear about what they’re listening to in their free time, our Local Artist of the Month feature pinpoints what makes Whatever Brains tick.
Vocalist Rich Ivey delves into his songwriting process and the importance of lyrics while one of the band’s numerous keyboardists William Evans tackles the topics of contemporary influences. For the next forty minutes you can immerse yourself in our off-kilt conversations about the past, present and future of one of the region’s most underrated acts, Whatever Brains.
This week’s installment of Carolina Grown is exciting for a few reasons. First off, since the show started I’ve yet to have an entire hour where I get to do nothing but play local music! Granted the whole point of a talk show is to chat with guests, but throughout the second hour of the show this week listeners will get the treat of continuous local tunes from a wide variety of artists and genres. I’m far more excited for this than I probably should be, but combining it with the fact that we’ll be highlighting our November Artist of the Month during the 5:00 hour, this makes for an awesome two hours of programming.
November’s Artist of the Month, and my guest for the first hour of Carolina Grown, is Whatever Brains. For those unfamiliar with this Triangle standout act, Whatever Brains are an amorphous punk band that has swiftly come to command the attention of everyone in proximity. Combining sparse electronic percussion with wrangling instrumentation that teeters simultaneously between noise rock, punk and garage rock, Whatever Brains’ music slowly unfurls with as much aggression as they have precision. With three full-length albums, all self-titled might I add, the band has steadily stayed close to their roots while slightly experimenting with their tried and true sound to make things both exciting and familiar.
Whatever Brains have swiftly become the figureheads of Raleigh’s punk-rock scene, especially with the untimely falling out of Double Negative. The band combines spastic punk rock roots with sprawling bouts of lo-fi psychedelia and riveting lyricism to tightly pull it all together. The band is oozing with tightly wound frustrations that pour out through their caustic live performances, displaying the tact and finesse that many punk bands are devoid of.
The third installment of Carolina Grown is coming up swiftly, and this week’s show is entirely themed around one of Raleigh’s most exciting community events of the fall. The Cooke Street Carnival is an annual neighborhood festival that takes place on Cooke Street that showcases some of the many excellent cultural elements that are abound in the city of Raleigh. Live music is a staple of the festival, but there’s much more to be offered at the event which takes place on Saturday, Oct. 19. I’ll be joined by festival organizer Jedidiah Gant along with some of the featured artists at this year’s festival including Prypyat, Hammer No More The Fingers, and Napoleon Wright II.
The event also teams up with a local non-profit organization to help raise funds and awareness for the group. This year the festival has paired up with Learning Together, an educational non-profit that works with developmentally disabled children. The head of the organization will be joining Jedidiah along with Jason Howard, the owner of the soon to be re-opened Quality Grocery.
Each year the festival follows a thematic structure and this year’s will boast a vibrant display of the Southern cookout aesthetic. For years now we’ve been interacting with our neighbors through community events such as this, but Cooke Street Carnival just does so on a much wider scale. It helps build a tighter community for Raleigh’s residents and allows everyone to connect on a personal level through delicious food, exciting events, and fantastic local music.
Some of the area’s finest food trucks will be out at the event along with local breweries and other assorted food vendors. Local artists and art vendors will line the streets as well, making for a truly carnival-esque experience for all of those in attendance. If you needed anything else to drive home this family-friendly laid back vibe, I’d say that the Pickle Eating contest does so perfectly.
Tune in on Friday from 5-7pm. I’ll speak with Jedidiah about the origins of the Cooke Street Carnival, some of his anticipated highlights, and where the festival can go from here. Throughout the show we’ll also have live performances and interviews from Prypyat, Napoleon Wright II, and Hammer No More The Fingers!
For more information on Cooke Street Carnival you can check out their website