Category: Blog

Thoughts on Lollapalooza Live Stream

Post author By Mitali Joshi
Post date August 2, 2022

I mentioned in my “Best Way to Consume Music” post that I wanted to go to Lollapalooza this year.

It was racking my brain for weeks whether I wanted to spend money on going to Chicago and experience the adrenaline of large crowds, being squished in a mosh pit and standing at the barricade for hours to see my favorite artists perform, or sit in the comfort of my living room and watch those same performances on my TV.

Personally, after seeing how large the crowds got there I think I made the right choice. There is always next year if I want to go experience the rush in real life.

Anyway, I thought I could share my thoughts on the live stream for those who didn’t have access to Hulu or didn’t watch it.

To give more background about the live-streaming, there were two channels: Channel 1 and Channel 2. Each channel was streaming from around 2:00 pm ET to 11:00 pm ET.

In hindsight, being able to swap back and forth between channels to tune in to performances was much more simple compared to having to traverse Grant Park to see different artists in person. This way I could just turn off the TV or watch a different channel if I didn’t want to tune into an artist I didn’t enjoy.

Lineups

These are the artist I tuned into and the days.

Thursday (7/28)

Still Woozy

Saturday (7/30)

Big Sean
Wallows
Tomorrow By Together
Willow
J. Cole

Sunday (7/31)

Djo
Måneskin
Beach Bunny
j-hope
Denzel Curry

Another thing to note, Lollapalooza has 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, and 4-day pass options if you attend in person, so it’s up to the festival attendees which days they want to go to the festival based on the lineups for that day.

This was one thing I appreciated about Lollapalooza was, of course, the free live stream on Hulu, as well as the ability to choose which days you wanted to attend the festival whether it was on live stream or in person.

Here is a thought I had about Lollapalooza in general, especially after seeing someone of these artists perform in-person and through live-stream as well. I honestly think it takes a lot of talent to pull off performing on stages as big as the ones on Lollapalooza.

The performers kept a huge crowd entertained whether they were closer to the stage or farther back. They were able to get the whole crowd hype about the music. It was impressive to see their stage presence as well as the lights used for the evening performances.

The only downside of streaming is that due to the huge lineup, not all performances were shown. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to tune into Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, Glass Animals, COIN, or Claire Rosinkranz’s performances because their stages didn’t have coverage.

Regardless, as I’ve mentioned before, the way you want to consume music is all a preference and of course, preferences can change over time. Whether you want to attend Lollapalooza in person or stream it as I did, I’m glad the options are available both ways.

Enjoy music in the way you want to and experience your life how you want to.

Tags Hulu, live-stream, lollapalooza, music festival, WKNC 88.1

Weekly Charts

Top Charts 8/2

Post author By WKNC Admin
Post date August 2, 2022

#	Artist	Record	Label
1	MAMALARKY	“Mythical Bonds” [Single]	Fire Talk
2	BLACK MIDI	Hellfire	Rough Trade
3	BIG ORANGE	“Love’s Not Enough” [Single]	Self-Released
4	CONWAY THE MACHINE	God Don’t Make Mistakes	Shady/Interscope
5	FKA TWIGS	CAPRISONGS	Young/Atlantic
6	FOOTBALL, ETC.	Woodwork [EP]	Self-Released
7	MARBLE	The Shadow In Me	Self-Released
8	RAAVI	“Lazy Susan” [Single]	Self-Released
9	REDVEIL	learn 2 swim	Self-Released
10	ACTION BRONSON	Cocodrillo Turbo	Loma Vista/Concord
11	SOUND OF CERES	Emerald Sea	Joyful Noise
12	CURLS, THE	Smothered & Covered	Truth Zone
13	WHEEL WORKERS, THE	“Suck It Up” [Single]	Sinkhole Texas
14	BLYND BIRDS	Songs To Sink Yachts To	Self-Released
15	ELAJAH MOUHAMMED	The Curious Die Young [EP]	PaintMeRed
16	GUERILLA TOSS	Famously Alive	Sub Pop
17	MOMMA	Household Name	Polyvinyl
18	PAPERCUTS	Past Life Regression	Slumberland
19	QUELLE CHRIS	DEATHFAME	Mello
20	SAMM HENSHAW	Untidy Soul	Dorm Seven/AWAL
21	SEEYOUSOON	VIDÉ	Self-Released
22	HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE	Natural Part	Run For Cover
23	FRANCIS OF DELIRIUM	The Funhouse [EP]	Dalliance
24	SHIVAS, THE	“Doom Revolver” [Single]	Suicide Squeeze
25	HOVVDY	Billboard For My Feelings [EP]	Grand Jury
26	BASEMENT REVOLVER	Embody	Sonic Unyon
27	FLY ANAKIN	Frank	Lex
28	YARD ACT	The Overload	Zen F.C.
29	CAMP COPE	Running With The Hurricane	Run For Cover
30	CATE LE BON	Pompeii	Mexican Summer

Top Adds

#	Artist	Record	Label
1	SYLVAN ESSO	“Didn’t Care” [Single]	Loma Vista/Concord
2	MARBLE	The Shadow In Me	Self-Released
3	BLACK MIDI	Hellfire	Rough Trade
4	MAMALARKY	“Mythical Bonds” [Single]	Fire Talk
5	INTERPOL	The Other Side Of Make-Believe	Matador
6	MAMALARKY	“You Know I Know” [Single]	Fire Talk

Tags NACC Weekly Charts, Top Charts, WKNC 88.1

Weekly Charts

Chainsaw Adds 8/2

Post author By WKNC Admin
Post date August 2, 2022

#	Artist	Record	Label
1	CHAMBER	Carved In Stone [EP]	Pure Noise
2	SERPENT CHURCH	Quake of Our Echos	Self-Released
3	VOLCANDRA	Border World [EP]	Prosthetic
4	GUILLOTINE AD	Born To Fall	M-Theory
5	LIVING WEAPON	Paradise [EP]	Closed Casket Activities
6	PASSIONPLAY	Sinking	Self-Released
7	KANINE	Karnage	Lacerated Enemy
8	GREAT AMERICAN GHOST	Torture World	MNRK Heavy
9	MODEL PRISONER	Compulsion Analysis [EP]	COSMICLEVEL/+++
10	BRUTTA	Brutta	Self-Released

Heavy Adds

#	Artist	Record	Label
1	PLAGUE YEARS	All Will Suffer [EP]	MNRK Heavy
2	LORNA SHORE	“Cursed To Die” [Single]	Century Media
3	IMMORTAL GUARDIAN	“Echoes” [Single]	M-Theory

Tags Chainsaw Charts, NACC Weekly Charts, WKNC 88.1

Weekly Charts

Underground Charts 8/2

Post author By WKNC Admin
Post date August 2, 2022

#	Artist	Record	Label
1	FLY ANAKIN	Frank	Lex
2	ACTION BRONSON	Cocodrillo Turbo	Loma Vista/Concord
3	ILLISM	Family Over Everything	The CRWN
4	SEEYOUSOON	VIDÉ	Self-Released
5	DENZEL CURRY	Melt My Eyez See Your Future	Loma Vista/Concord
6	LITTLE SIMZ	Sometimes I Might Be Introvert	AGE 101
7	MILAN RING	I’m Feeling Hopeful	Astral People/PIAS
8	QUELLE CHRIS	DEATHFAME	Mello
9	ROBERT GLASPER	Black Radio III	Loma Vista/Concord
10	SAMM HENSHAW	Untidy Soul	Dorm Seven/AWAL

Tags NACC Weekly Charts, Underground Charts, WKNC 88.1

Weekly Charts

Afterhours Charts 8/2

Post author By WKNC Admin
Post date August 2, 2022

#	Artist	Record	Label
1	I JORDAN	“Always Been” b/w “First Time Back” [Single]	Ninja Tune
2	CAKES DA KILLA	“Sip Of My Sip” feat. Svendeep [Single]	Young Art
3	PJ DUBS 04	VARIOUS ARTIST	Self-Released
4	KY VOSS	The After	Play Alone
5	OLAN	Contra	Anjunadeep
6	MAGDALENA BAY	Mercurial World	Luminelle
7	LIZETTE LIZETTE	Miss Gendered	Icons Creating Evil Art
8	BELIEF	Belief	Lex
9	FLOATING POINTS	“Vocoder” [Single]	Ninja Tune
10	TDJ	TDJ123	Disques Durs

Tags Afterhours Charts, NACC Weekly Charts, WKNC 88.1

Classic Album Review

Lana Del Rabies’ “Shadow World” in the Light

Post author By Ben
Post date August 1, 2022

"Shadow World" album cover by Lana Del Rabies.

With Lana Del Rabies’ “Shadow World”, dark, spooky vibrations are available to listen to in the sunlight. The true horror of this album is actually quite fun to listen to. Heavy bass, ghostly vocals and eardrum piercing beats take over your mind when listening to “Shadow World.”

Lana Del Rabies is a multimedia artist, also known as Sam An. She has opened for many bands and artists like JPEGMAFIA, Lingua Ignota and AJJ (all information from her website). Her talent is already known, and apparently her shows are a wondrous horror-pit of fun.

The Dark Recesses of “Shadow World”

Out of all these heavy and diverse tracks, “Devour” has stuck with me the most. The horrendous shrill noise at the introduction of the song is unforgettable. It is worth the time and pain of listening to the full track (even if at low volume) to really enjoy all of it. I thought of “Devour” as a neat piece of art trying to free itself in a jump-scare film.

Another sick track on this album is “Disgrace”. The initial beats left me with an itchy feeling crawling underneath my skin. Any song or artist that can do that through music has talent and a sickening sense of style.

Also, on this track is rage and horror to the extreme. “Shadow World”’s other tracks have a droning sound, but “Disgrace” taps into some death metal vocals, which are fun to hear.

“Ghost” is another song like “Devour” that became lodged in my mind. Its eerie and peculiar introduction leads up into a quieter vocal section like that of Anna von Hausswolff.

One more track I want to highlight, “Vicious End”, has a graphic and fear-inducing music video that I found to be a neat addition to the track:

Video from YouTube posted by Deathbomb Arc. Directed and edited by Lana Del Rabies.

Goodbye Ghosts and Ghouls

As this is the first and only album of Lana Del Rabies I have listened to, I will be sure to check out her other full length album, “Tell Me Again This Is Love”.

Initially, I loved the sight of a Lana Del Ray spinoff artist when I saw Lana Del Rabies pop up on some music site I was exploring, and now I am happy at how different her music is compared to the light pop music Lana Del Ray makes.

I know this creepy atmosphere isn’t for everyone, but the way Lana Del Rabies is able to combine all the eerie sounds into horrifying and wonderful music dumbfounded me. I love seeing different ways artists look at the world and make the reality feel, and “Shadow World” is an exemplary model of this.

Stay up late and see ghosts

Ben

Tags chef, Lana Del Rabies, WKNC 88.1

Music News and Interviews

Songs That Have a Hold on Me – “Be Sweet” by Japanese Breakfast

Post author By Mitali Joshi
Post date July 31, 2022

Japanese Breakfast is an alternative-pop band led by Korean-American musician Michelle Zauner.

“Be Sweet” was released in 2021 and this song is a little different on my level of obsession compared to “Remember When” and “Amoeba.”

I am obsessed with Michelle’s voice and although the instrumentals are catchy as well, it’s her vocals that keep me coming back.

The track has an 80’s synth-pop vibe to it and is very different from other Japanese Breakfast tracks. The guitar riffs, drums, and Michelle’s vocals create a dynamic track that is very upbeat and energetic.

It’s a song about forgiveness and optimism. A track that blossomed from Michelle’s desire to write a positive and bright track that is stark in contrast to her past music which deals more with grief and mourning.

I think that’s why this song is so refreshing and lingers in your mind. It’s the culmination of personal growth and artistic growth that adds a spark.

Especially the verse “So come and get your woman (come and get your woman) | Pacify her rage (pacify her rage) | Take the time to undo your lies.”

Make it up once more with feeling | Recognize your mistakes and I’ll let you back in | Realize not too late, love you always”

It’s almost like she’s talking to herself in a way, telling herself to keep her rage towards everything in control and that it’s not too late to start looking at the world in a different light.

The chorus is what hooked me the first time when I heard the song. “Be sweet to me, baby | I wanna believe in you, I wanna believe (be sweet) Be sweet to me, baby | I wanna believe in you, I wanna believe in something”

She hits those high notes while maintaining a powerful voice.

The music video of the song matches the alternative Kate Bush-inspired vibes behind the track. It’s straight out of an X-Files episode with J. Brekkie in the middle of a corn field looking for aliens.

Tags Be Sweet, japanese breakfast, Pop, synthpop, WKNC 88.1

Music News and Interviews

Praising Pentagrams with Sick Thought’s New Single

Post author By Ben
Post date July 30, 2022

Sick Thoughts' "Heaven Is No Fun" album cover.

Sick Thoughts run rampant in the minds of punk rock lovers. Drew Owen, lead singer and sole member of Sick Thoughts, has captivated the ears and souls of punk rockers since 2013.

His first full release, “Terminal Teen Age”, is full of rampant riffs and cheesy choruses. This first release is more grimy and crackly than his new releases, but what charm Sick Thoughts has lost in the at home production quality he has made up for it with creative energy and captivatingly edgy lyricism.

I am very excited for Sick Thoughts’ new album. “Heaven is No Fun” as I have been listening to his releases for about a year now. Owen’s dry vocals worked some magic on me and got me invested in his music quickly. All of his tracks are thrash-able and make for fantastic mosh-pit anthems.

“Mother I Love Satan”

This new track offers cheesy lyrics like, “Promise I’m not an evil man/ I’ll send you a pentagram” and some great guitar work that brings me back to sounds like a good mix of 80’s rock and early punk.

The music video for this song is a mix of wonderfully awkward dancing from Owen himself, and has the classic VHS grain texture overlaid atop it.

“Mother I Love Satan” by Sick Thoughts. Video posted on YouTube by Total Punk Records.

I found this song to be a great step and direction for this whole album. I am excited to see how much of Owen’s charm will pull me into this new release and how much will be enjoyable.

Sick Thoughts has brought a lot of joy to the punk rock scene, at least for me, and I hope this new track will provide some brightness to your day too.

Keep eatin’

Ben

Tags chef, Sick Thoughts, WKNC

Miscellaneous

“The Colour of Magic”, Sir Terry Pratchett’s Own World

Post author By Ben
Post date July 29, 2022

"The Colour of Magic" by Sir Terry Pratchett book cover.

Creating worlds rests only in the power of gods and authors like Sir Terry Pratchett. A world renowned British author, satirist and knight, Sir Terry Pratchett weaved his own world into the pages of novels in a collection called “Discworld”.

Terry Pratchett published his first of the Discworld series, “The Colour of Magic”, in 1983 when he was 35 years old. The series grew to be 41 books in length, and it features many locations and time periods within Discworld itself.

I won’t ever be able to give a proper explanation of what Discworld is, but Pratchett’s website can straighten out all the details I don’t mention.

“The Colour of Magic”

“The Colour of Magic” as the first installment of the series is perfect. The story features a disgraced wizard, Rincewind, and a tourist vying to travel all over the Disc with his magical luggage, Twoflower.

Rincewind and Twoflower battle dragons, pirates and demons while having no real goal except exploration and survival, which adds to the hilarity of the misfortune the incur.

By the end of the novel, it leaves readers the drive to crawl all over Discworld to interact with the crazy people that reside there. This want to explore Sir Terry Pratchett’s fantasy haven is from his extraordinary capability to imagine a world of chaos and magic that feels like it could exist.

Worldbuilding Artistry

I regard Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld to be one of the finest works in worldbuilding. He weaves readers, characters and time together to create a fine thread of tales so thick and dense that it would seem impossible to understand, but in reality it isn’t difficult to understand.

It’s fun to pick up one of the Discworld novels and explore the diverse array of characters, landscapes or cities that exist there. The realism and creativity Pratchett uses to blend his narrative style into his own universe is beautiful and breathtaking at times.

Pratchett is not the only one with this gift. There are a few well known Game Masters (or GMs) that run tabletop roleplaying games that can elicit a similar response through their own worldbuilding techniques.

Matthew Mercer and Aabria Iyengar both have extraordinary skills in storytelling and worldbuilding. The worlds these two GMs fantasize and pop into existence are built to explore. Players and characters have to live through dangerous dragon hoard raids, political plot twists and crazy complex puzzles that GMs make.

The End of the World(building)

Worldbuilding makes our own real world bigger too. By having an audience tour small patches of life an author makes, we get a sense of how unique and wondrous our own planet is.

Seeing crazy characters some writers might imagine lets readers wish and find similar characters that mill about around the world.

Many writers and creators of worlds make their fantasy universe to fix or even highlight problems in our own world. Their worlds can be used as mirrors and we can see our blemishes and scars that need fixing and healing.

I love drawing inspiration for new ideas from the most radical corners of literature as they themselves draw from some of the strongest wells of imagination.

Explore the universes

Ben

Tags book review, chef, Sir Terry Pratchett, WKNC

Miscellaneous

WKNC Rocks the Switch

Post author By WKNC Admin
Post date July 28, 2022

WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 hosted its first video game event, a 111-entrant Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament on July 15 at the NC State’s 111 Lampe Drive.

With players traveling from all over the Southeast, WKNC’s “Rock N’ Roll With It” gave world-class players like Lima, Peabnut and Anathema a sneak preview of the NC State campus before the Just Roll With It two-day tournament in Talley Student Union on July 16 and 17.

More than $500 in proceeds from Rock N’ Roll With It entry fees was donated to Girls Rock NC, a youth-centered organization dedicated to building community and power among girls, transgender youth and gender expansive youth through musical collaboration, political education for social change and creative expression. Sales of posters specifically commissioned for the event by artist Cactulio added another $150 to the overall donation. Posters are still available for sale from the WKNC swag store for $10 each.

“Rock N’ Roll With It serves as a glimpse of the avenues in which WKNC hopes to provide the local community while providing high-quality fun events for the NC State Wolfpack,” said Adrian Lopez, WKNC program director and the tournament organizer. “While making WKNC a known name throughout Smash Ultimate communities spanning from Ohio to Florida, Rock N’ Roll With It and Just Roll With It also gave a welcoming atmosphere to many who are interested in joining the community and competing among Raleigh’s best and beyond.”

NC State also hosts regular Smash events including Dair 2 Care, a biweekly charity tournament in Talley Student Union and a tournament held at 111 Lampe Drive every other Friday during the fall and spring semesters.

Tags Rock N' Roll With It, Smash Bros Ultimate, WKNC, WKNC 88.1