Category: Music News and Interviews

Music news, interviews, features and giveaways

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Music News and Interviews

Carolina Grown Podcast: Bridges on Dec. 6

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2013 has been a busy year for the Triangle’s music scene, there’s been a slew of fantastic new acts that have risen from relative obscurity to become one of the many promising bands throughout the state. Years like this one serve as a testament to the ever-expanding pool of talent that this state can produce, and acts like Bridges are a wonderful display of this. While Bridges began rolling out songs from their debut full-length Glass Mask this summer, the record is firmly backed by the comforting winter aesthetic. Bridges’ Brian Franklin writes all of these songs from the hazy guitar lines and melancholy melodies to the driving bass and raw drumbeats.

This fresh purveyor of bedroom pop joined me this past week on Carolina Grown to talk a little bit about the inception of this project and how it’s grown from a self-contained bedroom project to a full-fledged band. Franklin and I discuss the transition from solo arrangements to vivacious live shows and the difficulties in bearing your innermost thoughts and feelings before an audience, which when your music is as visceral as Bridges’ must be a bit of an emotional exercise.

To top it all of Franklin performed a few stripped down takes of some tracks from Glass Mask, including “Never Loved You” and “End of the Road.”  Check out the acoustic performances and full conversation with Brian.

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Local Music Music News and Interviews

Local Artist of the Month: Magpie Feast

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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!

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Music News and Interviews

The Love Language in the Lounge

The Love Language stopped by WKNC the other day to talk with us about their recent album “Ruby Red” as well as their tour and their upcoming Winter Formal with Sylvan Esso at Kings this Friday and Saturday night. They also stepped back into The Lounge for an intimate, stripped-down set to show off their latest effort. Stu and Autumn armed with only a guitar, a floor tom, a keyboard, and a tambourine were enough to have the freshmen in the neighboring dorm sticking their heads out their window as Stu’s strong voice escaped the building. Stay tuned for another song of their new album from the performance and be sure to check out our YouTube channel for all of our past performances!

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
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Music News and Interviews

Carolina Grown Podcast: NC Music Love Army on Nov. 29

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It’s been decades since the protest song had its heyday, when the streets were lined with thousands of flower-haired peace-loving demonstrators armed with guitars and voices. But this past summer it felt a bit like we were given an unfortunate glimpse into the past. The Moral Monday protests, led by the NAACP against the conservative upswing of oppressive laws, resulted in over 900 arrests of peaceful demonstrators. Throughout those weeks of non-violent defiance, North Carolina musicians came out of the woodwork to show their approval of the Moral Monday movement. Django Haskins’ simplistic anthem of “We Are Not For Sale” began as a rallying cry and evolved into much more.

Upon hearing Haskins’ song, acclaimed North Carolina artists Caitlin Cary (of Whiskeytown) and Jon Lindsay decided to band together and form the NC Music Love Army, a project that snowballed into something far more encompassing than anyone could imagine. Within the 6 months since the Moral Monday protests, the NC Music Love Army has already written, recorded and now released a full-length album of protest songs geared towards the N.C. state legislators. Last week I spoke with Caitlin Cary, Jon Lindsay and Skylar Gudasz about the formation of the Love Army, some of the pitfalls that they’ve come across since its inception, and where the project will go from here.

This past Saturday (Nov. 30) the group celebrated the album’s release at Cat’s Cradle, a show that was filled with protest anthems both new and old, along with a slew of special guests. During our conversation we speak about these member’s favorite protest songs, what listeners could expect from the show and heard an unreleased song from the Love Army, “Dear Mr. McCrory.”

Check out the stripped down song and the rest of our conversation.

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Music News and Interviews

Carolina Grown Podcast: Art of Cool on Nov. 22

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North Carolina’s music scene is arguably the best it’s been in history. While the past has seen small pockets of the scene flourishing, whether it be the early-90s college rock scene, the hip-hop uprising of the late 90s and early 00s, or the recent flux of world class festivals, it seems like everything has finally started to come together for everyone. Hopscotch has brought national attention to Raleigh’s indie rock scene, and now Art of Cool seeks to do the same for Durham’s jazz scene. While many may feel that the genre is an antiquated area of music, Al Strong and Cicely Mitchell are doing everything in their power to change that.

When The Art of Cool began it was little more than a way for local jazz musicians to find quaint and intimate places to share their sounds. But what began in art galleries around the Triangle has swiftly flourished into one of the most promising festivals in recent memory. This past summer the Art of Cool announced their plans to hold a two-day festival in downtown Durham and on Nov. 15 they announced their brilliant lineup. Art of Cool is bringing some of the most renowned jazz artists from the area alongside some of the fastest rising upstarts to make for a unique and mesmerizing weekend in Durham.

This past Friday, Al and Cicely joined me in the studio to talk a bit about how the project came together, took of so quickly, and what people can expect from this exciting festival. Throughout the hour we ran down some of the most anticipated artists that will be performing on the weekend of April 25 along with some of the weekends festivities–which include master classes, day shows and artist panels.

Check out our full conversation, and for more information on the festival you can head over to the festival’s official website.

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Music News and Interviews

Coke Weed Interview

Coke Weed stopped by the WKNC studios before their Nov. 1 show at The Cave in Chapel Hill. Listen to their conversation.

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Music News and Interviews

Porcelain Raft Interview

Porcelain Raft stopped by the WKNC studios to talk with the Kenosha Kid. Listen to their conversation here, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss out on any of our great artist interviews.

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Local Music Music News and Interviews

Local Artist of the Month: Whatever Brains

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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.

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Music News and Interviews

Carolina Grown Podcast: Songs of Water on Nov. 8

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Although our state is best known for our vibrant and ever-expanding indie rock scene, there’s plenty of gems that are hidden throughout the state that display the sheer depth of our musical talent. Acts like Songs of Water are the perfect display of this scene’s breadth, they’re an immensely talented group of musicians with a wide array of influences that funnel out to produce an all-encompassing brand of world-inspired folk music. It’s hard to peg down this band’s genre, as Stephen Roach proclaims the band has heard everything from “post-traditional folk” to cinematic world music.

Whatever you want to call it, it’s damn good. Last week I was joined by several members of this massive seven-person crew to chat a bit about how so many voices can come together to create such a rich and seamless sound. Roach comments on how the band pulls their influences from a variety of regions, one minute you’ll hear traditional West African rhythms bleeding through and on the next track you’ll hear some Russian-inspired folk musings.

Together the band of multi-instrumentalists play on a huge array of instruments, their latest full length The Sea Has Spoken featured over thirty instruments. During our conversation I spoke with the band about just how one goes about learning such a wide variety of instruments, what some of the most unique and region-specific instruments are that they’ve found, and how they go about morphing these songs from studio works to live performances.

Check out our full conversation to find out about the intricacies that go into working with such a large band and the work that’s gone into their forthcoming full length album.

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Music News and Interviews

Carolina Grown Podcast: Gross Ghost on Nov. 1

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Photo Source: Soleil Konkel

I’ve made few attempts at hiding my love for Gross Ghost. This pop heavy indie rock crew has been making moves around the Triangle for years now, but with the release of Public Housing they’ve begun to reap the benefits of their hard work. On Nov. 1 I was joined by Mike Dillon, the songwriter and vocalist for Gross Ghost to chat about the evolution of the band and the writing process that went on for this new record. While their debut full-length Brer Rabbit displayed much of Gross Ghost’s fundamentals, Public Housing delves into a bit deeper territory for the band. Brer Rabbit on its surface highlighted much of the band’s formative years, but Public Housing, as Dillon says, displays a much more relevant side of the band’s life now.

Throughout the hour Mike spun a slew of his favorite local tunes, which we sadly can’t share with you guys, but we do talk a bit about how he came to know and love the North Carolina music scene. Mike and I chatted a lot about how Gross Ghost has come to solidify their lineup, the process that goes into translating their live energy into studio energy, and who we need to be looking out for in the local scene. Without giving too much away, Dillon gives a fantastic peek into the machinations of Gross Ghost’s songwriting process and how the band comes together to create a cohesive vision that encapsulated every member’s creative voice.

Fans of this swiftly rising local act will have quite a bit to indulge in with this recent conversation, as I for one loved to hear about the origins and future plans for one of my favorite local acts.

Check out our full conversation.