WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioMusic news, interviews, features and giveaways
Colossus will be bringing metal mayhem to Local Lunch on Thursday, January 22nd, for an interview.
Colossus’s Rylan Wilshire & Sean Buchanan will be in studio for the interview at around 12:30pm. Afterwords, Colossus will be playing with WKNC Double Barrel Benefit 5 alumni, Tooth, at WKNC & Tir Na Nog’s first Local Beer, Local Band that will feature Metal music.
For more details about the show, check out the WKNC Rock Report, and don’t forget to tune in for the interview!
The Beast will be live in the studio for DJ J Wall’s underground show tonight at 10pm. Also Cashmere will be calling into the DJ Nominal Late Nite Mix Show at 12am. Don’t forget to check out The Beast, Edgar Allen Floe, and Natalie Steward (½ of Floetry) at the Brewery on Friday January 23rd at 8 pm.
I have a thing for rappers. I have a bigger thing for indie rappers. There is just something so cool about weird music, awkward tempos, and RAPPING!
Joaquin Phoenix is the newest to the rapping industry. That’s right. Mr. Ladder 49 decided to make the jump from the acting bandwagon to the rapping bandwagon. How legitimate do you think this is?
I found an article that speculated on different rapper names for Phoenix. There is Quin Money, Lil’ Jo, MC Joaquin, but the best is Young Pheezy.
Any other ideas? I think I would go with Ying Yang Quin.
The Rise of Underground
As a self proclaimed music head with my ear to street, the emergence of “Underground Hip Hop” sites are both good and bad. They are pushing to the forefront the unheard artists free of charge and giving pretty good insight on what’s hot and what’s not. Even Myspace is a good start for an upcoming artist. A quick visit to these sites and you’ve got a light dose of the rap or underground or hip hop scene. The bad things are obvious; too many uneducated hands in the cookie jar. “Ol’ heads” used to dictate the game, with their wisdom and experience. Now almost anyone can talk like they know their music with these sites without fully understanding where it came from or why it’s written like that. It also does the worst thing possible, commercializes underground rap. It can make people greedy until they aren’t spittin’ about real issues anymore, they are talking about whatever will sell. Now us as the listeners must dictate the market; should we accept pointless music and use the internet like everyone else or push against the norm by recognizing lyricists and not falling for the hype?
Here’s a few examples of the websites;
Mzhiphop
PJButta
All Hip Hop
Mixtape Monster
Mixunit
-Buck Nasty
Colin Munroe’s new mixtape is a little different…well, maybe it’s a lot different. It’s easy to see that crossing over between genres is the ish nowadays. Specimens like Yeezy’s 808’s and Heartbreak and Kid Cudi’s A Kid Named Cudi prove that hip hop artists are not afraid to flow over less traditional instrumentals. mixtape
Colin Munroe brings an alternative/electronic sound to his tracks while his guests, well known underground artists like Skyzoo, Saukrates, Wale and Black Milk, lend their lyrical skill. Munroe’s effort combines the best of both worlds, resulting in a different vibe. I guess it would be more suited for those in-betweeners and people who are into different genres of music. Probably not for the hard-core hip hop fans, but don’t be afraid to diversify your bonds!!
Its no secret, the last Schoolkids left, the only one, the rarest of the surviving independent record stores is moving. Thankfully, its just half a mile down the street from its current location. And while this means I have to walk an extra 5 minutes (making it a total of 5.5 minutes for me now), at least its not moving away forever or to some distant land (say, like Chapel Hill or Durham). The “Great Schoolkids Move” of 2009 will take place January 25th, and reopen January 26th.
AND, not only are they moving, but they are marking this occasion with some really kickass shows. The Annuals will be coming in on February 2nd (show starts at 6pm), and the Dexter Romweber Duo is performing on February 10th (also at 6pm). The best thing, both these shows are FREE.
There are some good things about this move. In addition to two free shows, I could possibly stand to burn some New Year Resolution calories hiking the extra distance, and I could stop at a number of the resturaunts along Hillsborough on the way home (or all of them) without feeling guilty. I never understood the idea of positioning such a fantastic store between a NCSU staff parking lot, Fed-Ex Kinkos, and Gumby’s Pizza to begin with (bad luck I guess). Its new address at 2114 Hillsborough St will get a bit more foot traffic in between Buddha’s Belly and Sadlack’s, and hopefully the rent is cheaper.
Today at 12:20, Local Lunch will have its first interview of 2009 with Durham based singer/song writer, Brett Harris.
Brett Harris will be playing at WKNC & Tir Na Nog’s Local Beer, Local Band Night tonight starting at 10pm with The Jackets and members of Bright Young Things.
For information about more great shows, check out the WKNC Rock Report.
If you haven’t heard Red Collar, this article by Yes! Weekly will give you a solid idea of who they are and what they are about. If you have seen them before you should know exactly what the author, Gus Lubin, means when he says “In fact, a lot of situations involve going hardcore”.
Keep a lookout for Red Collar on the WKNC Rock Report so that you can see for yourself what this Local Lunch favorite is all about.
Hard as it may be to believe, it has actually been nearly 2 years since swedish trio Peter Bjorn & John invaded our collective ears with the infectious whistle hook of their hit track ‘Young Folks.’ The follow up to their 2007 breakthrough album Writer’s Block will be released on March 31st. The new album is entitled Living Thing and the band is offering a free download of the song “Lay it Down” in exchange for an email address.
Oddly enough, Kanye West actually broke some of the band’s new material first via his blog about a week ago. Commenting on the track “Nothing to Worry About,” we here at WKNC tend to share Kanye’s sentiments that “SHIT IS DOPE!!”
Living Thing tracklist:
01 The Feeling
02 It Don’t Move Me
03 Just the Past
04 Nothing to Worry About
05 I’m Losing My Mind
06 Living Thing
07 I Want You!
08 Lay It Down
09 Stay This Way
10 Blue Period Picasso
11 4 out of 5
12 Last Night
PB & J’s video for ‘Lay it Down’
Win them before you can buy them as WKNC gives away tickets to see Dave Matthews Band with homegrown heroes The Avett Brothers Wednesday, April 22nd at the Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek. All this week our DJs will be playing song clips from the bands. If you can correctly name the song title, you can win a pair of lawn tickets to the show.
Tickets go on sale this Saturday, Jan. 17 at LiveNation.com.