My discovery of this strange story begins with Morrissey.
One day, scrolling through twitter, I came across a screenshot of an interview with the prolific frontman of The Smiths.
My discovery of this strange story begins with Morrissey.
One day, scrolling through twitter, I came across a screenshot of an interview with the prolific frontman of The Smiths.
Summer semester has started, which means less DJs and more music from the automation playing. Which means it is now as good a time as any to talk about the music that plays on it and is new and good! Here’s albums that got put on the rotation recently that you can hear in the Afterhours block on WKNC right now.
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | ESHTADUR | “Fire Above Mountain Below” [Single] | Self-Released |
2 | SPECTRAL VOICE | Sparagmos [EP] | Dark Decent |
3 | ABORTED | Vault Of Horrors | Nuclear Blast |
4 | ACERUS | The Caliginous Serenade | Lux Inframundis Productions |
5 | AUSTRIAN DEATH MACHINE | Quad Brutal | Napalm |
6 | BRODEQUIN | Harbinger of Woe | Season of Mist |
7 | CANDY | “eXistenZ” [Single] | Relapse |
8 | DOOMHERRE | Bonegoat | Self-Released |
9 | GREYHAVEN | Stereo Grief [EP] | Solid State |
10 | HORNDAL | Head Hammer Man | Prosthetic |
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | CAR CRASH AND SIREN | VARIOUS ARTISTS | Lost Frog |
2 | BASSVICTIM | Basspunk | Self-Released |
3 | MUDDYOUSH | Third From The Sun | Self-Released |
4 | LIP CRITIC | Hex Dealer | Partisan |
5 | MIDSTYLE | Midstyle2024 [EP] | ANGEL |
6 | M WAGNER | We Could Stay | Extremely Pure |
7 | DEATH’S DYNAMIC SHROUD AND GALON TIPTON | You Like Music | Ghost Diamond |
8 | MACHINEDRUM | 3FOR82 | Ninja Tune |
9 | TEI SHI | Valerie | Self-Released |
10 | JAMES DEVANE | Searching | Umeboshi |
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | CAR CRASH AND SIREN | VARIOUS ARTISTS | Lost Frog |
2 | BASSVICTIM | Basspunk | Self-Released |
3 | MIDSTYLE | Midstyle2024 [EP] | ANGEL |
4 | TEI SHI | Valerie | Self-Released |
5 | JAMES DEVANE | Searching | Umeboshi |
6 | MACHINEDRUM | 3FOR82 | Ninja Tune |
7 | PREFUSE 73 | “Vast Wildlife Poison” [Single] | Lex |
8 | FUKHED | “No C No A” [Single] | Self-Released |
9 | GREGOR MCMURRAY | “What I Want” [Single] | Self-Released |
10 | A.FRUIT | A.Fruit VIPS Vol.2 [EP] | Self-Released |
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | ANDY MILNE | Time Will Tell | Sunnyside |
2 | JOE MARCINEK BAND | 1 River Street | Vintage League |
3 | ALYSSA ALLGOOD | From Here | Next |
4 | SLY5THAVE | Liberation | Tru Thoughts |
5 | BRANDON GOLDBERG TRIO | Live At Dizzy’s | Cellar |
6 | OBED CALVAIRE | 150 Million Gold Francs | SFJAZZ Collective |
7 | JULIAN LAGE | Speak To Me | Blue Note |
8 | JUN IIDA | Evergreen | OA2 |
9 | BRIAN SCARBOROUGH | We Need The Wind | Outside In |
10 | TONY JONES AND JESSICA JONES | Hear Into The Future | Reva |
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | MILAN RING | Mangos | Astral People/PIAS |
2 | CADENCE WEAPON | Rollercoaster | MNRK |
3 | HALIMA | EXU [EP] | drink sum wtr |
4 | YAYA BEY | Ten Fold | Big Dada |
5 | POTATOHEAD PEOPLE | Eat Your Heart Out | Bastard Jazz |
6 | JAHAH | “Exclusively (Make It Official)” [Single] | Self-Released |
7 | NALIJ | “89 Escobar” [Single] | Self-Released |
8 | DOPE PROSE | “Never Had It” [Single] | Self-Released |
9 | MYLO MU | Serato Audio Effect Series Beat Tape | Self-Released |
10 | DANNY MILES | Beautiful Music | Urbnet |
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | CADENCE WEAPON | Rollercoaster | MNRK |
2 | HALIMA | EXU [EP] | drink sum wtr |
3 | POTATOHEAD PEOPLE | Eat Your Heart Out | Bastard Jazz |
4 | MYLO MU | Serato Audio Effect Series Beat Tape | Self-Released |
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | OFFICE DOG | Spiel | New West/Flying Nun |
2 | MANNEQUIN PUSSY | I Got Heaven | Epitaph |
3 | MEAN JEANS | Blasted | Fat Wreck Chords |
4 | ROSIE TUCKER | Utopia Now! | Sentimental |
5 | GLASS BEACH | Plastic Death | Run For Cover |
6 | MEI SEMONES | Kabutomushi [EP] | Bayonet |
7 | SPRINTS | Black Box Sessions [EP] | City Slang |
8 | BRISTLER | Cascades At Play [EP] | Mint 400 |
9 | CAKES DA KILLA | Black Sheep | Young Art |
10 | DEAD POET SOCIETY | FISSION | Spinefarm |
11 | KYLE MARTUCCI | Late Night Thai | Tooch |
12 | POWERWASHER | Everyone Laughs | Strange View |
13 | SLEATER-KINNEY | Little Rope | Loma Vista/Concord |
14 | SOFTCULT | Heaven [EP] | Easy Life |
15 | STALEFISH | Stalefish Does America | Happen Twice |
16 | ADRIANNE LENKER | Bright Future | 4AD |
17 | AESOP ROCK | Integrated Tech Solutions | Rhymesayers |
18 | ATMOSPHERE | Talk Talk [EP] | Rhymesayers |
19 | BLONDSHELL | “Olympus” [Single] | Partisan |
20 | CRUMB | AMAMA | Crumb |
21 | ERIK THE ARCHITECT | I’ve Never Been Here Before | Architect |
22 | MILAN RING | Mangos | Astral People/PIAS |
23 | MINT FIELD | Aprender A Ser | Felte |
24 | MYRA KEYES | Flower In The Brick | Self-Released |
25 | PACKS | Melt The Honey | Fire Talk |
26 | PARAMORE | Re: This Is Why | Atlantic |
27 | SWEET HOME | Advice | Surplus Dads |
28 | SWEET PILL | Starchild [EP] | Hopeless |
29 | TOUSSAINT MORRISON | The Very Best Of Ricky & Jane | Urban Home Companion |
30 | TY SEGALL | Three Bells | Drag City |
# | Artist | Record | Label |
1 | FLAMANGO BAY | Mascara [EP] | Moshi Moshi |
2 | SASAMI | “Honeycrash” [Single] | Domino |
3 | ANNIE TAYLOR | “Perfect Pretender” b/w “In Your Head” [Single] | Taxi Gauche |
4 | ALMOST MONDAY | “can’t slow down” [Single] | Hollywood |
5 | POND | “So Lo” [Single] | Spinning Top |
Raucous riot grrrls Babe Haven are dropping their latest album “Nuisance” at Motorco June 28th, and it’s sure to be real rager.
Performing with iconic garage punks BANGZZ and Destructo Disk, Babe Haven isn’t just debuting their newest album, but kicking off a raffle in support of Girls Rock NC.
The band will also offer limited edition posters designed by vocalist Lillie Della Penna and give out trophies for particularly interactive showgoers.
For fans of the Triangle punk scene, this is far from an opportunity to pass up.
“Nuisance” comes after Babe Haven’s 2023 LP “Uppercut.” Consistently high-energy, irreverent and infused with 90s-era grunge, “Uppercut” is a classic from beginning to end.
Babe Haven has offered us a taste of what to expect from “Nuisance” with the release of singles “Die (and Rot)” and “Blind Yourself.”
As far as songs go, “Die (and Rot)” is classically Babe Haven: barbed wire and sugar candy and a couple dog barks à la Brian Garris.
Della Penna really pushes herself hard with this one, and I can only imagine the absolute (beautiful) chaos her performance would bring to a crowd. I, for one, cannot wait to throw elbows to this.
Conversely, “Blind Yourself” takes a minute to warm up, starting with an almost post-punk slant before grunge-infused vocals shift the genre to edgy alternative rock. The song is a real hip-swayer for most of its duration before reaching a hardcore climax in the song’s final thirty seconds.
If these two singles are anything to go on, “Nuisance” will be an absolutely riotous release.
Supporting Babe Haven are two other iconic punk bands, BANGZZ and Destructo Disk.
Durham-based duo BANGZZ consistently channel “feral grunge punk catharis” with their unflinchingly fast and loud tracks. You can catch a special WKNC interview with them here.
Destructo Disk, hailing from Winchester, Virginia, have garnered acclaim for their witty and irreverent lyricism with iconic songs like “The Power of Christ Expels You” and “Goth Queen (Reign Supreme).”
The band’s insistence on failing to take themselves — or the punk scene — seriously makes them a self-aware (and simply better) version of the infamous Negative XP.
There’s no better way to finish off Pride Month than a good punk show. And there’s no better punk show than one where you have 1) An excuse to be as extra as possible and 2) A chance to catch some of the most iconic bands in the southeast in action.
I know where I’ll be on June 28. Do you?
By 1966, Bob Dylan and his apostolic audience were at odds and that tension boiled to a head during one pivotal set at Manchester Free Trade Hall, not the misbilled Royal Albert Hall.
In 2022, Cat Power brought Dylan’s words back home, this time in the right venue.
Power, the notorious alternative folk songstress of ’90s acclaim, while known for being obtuse and inaccessible, feels remarkably accessible in this recording.
Released in 2023, as far as cover albums go – which she is no stranger to – this one is almost painfully straightforward.
Equal parts faithful reconstruction and self-aware reimagining of Dylan’s last supper, the album playfully tugs at the frayed edges of folk’s second death knell – Farcically, Dylan had already “killed” folk alongside Mike Bloomfield the year before at the 1965 Manchester Folk Festival.
Following the set song by song right down to the acoustic/electric split half-way through, Power effortlessly waltzes between her own delicate, ghost-like phrasing and Dylan’s nasally-spoken slide.
But as a listener, I’m not entirely sure what keeps Powers back from the precipice of empty pantomime she teeters on.
If anything, “Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert” feels reverential to the point of becoming defanged.
Whether it be the mix or the crowd, there’s a heavy silence that hangs over both the acoustic and electric portions of the album, miles away from Dylan’s caustic bite and his audience’s simmering discontent.
It’s a beautiful album and a wonderful showcase of both Power’s vocal stylings and Dylan’s lyricism but it feels empty above all else.
The moment is too self-aware, too self-referential.
Her audience sits in rapt attention, intimately acquainted with each dip and turn of the score, even attempting to recreate the “Judas” moment…only for it to be on the wrong song.
It’s Power’s response to the Judas heckle that says everything about the auspices this project was conceived under; “No, Jesus,” she responded dryly before launching into a haunted rendition of “Ballad of a Thin Man.”
We all know what that moment meant for the future of music, for the folk messiah to betray the movement he helmed…it changed everything – and that is the albatross that hangs around Power’s neck throughout the set.
Because we know now what that concert meant and what he means to music, we can’t possibly recreate it in earnest – it’s holy, now…it’s larger than us.
But it shouldn’t have been.
“Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert” is a wonderfully accessible foray into Bob Dylan’s discography and the stylings of Cat Power. But beyond a well mixed, well arranged reproduction, Power doesn’t bring anything new or fresh into the conversation.
A good cover album, which, technically this is, should expand upon the material or revive the energy that captured audiences originally – and from where I stand, Power dropped the ball on both.
When I was younger, I would cower at the thought of silly campfire stories, checking under the bed and in closet corners before I went to sleep. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve sought out more and more scares.
Some of my favorite experiences with film have been in theaters — jumping so hard that I spill my popcorn — or with a friend, peeking out nervously through our fingertips. Further, some of my favorite music is from horror soundtracks.
Through the use of music, or the lack thereof, a director can build tension, anticipation and cue the audience as to what might be around the corner. They can also heighten the horror of the mundane, making empty hallways or creaking floorboards suddenly terrifying.
One of my most cherished horror soundtracks comes from the 2016 movie “Raw.” Its protagonist, Justine, is a vegetarian whose first year at veterinary school is interrupted by a new and insatiable craving for human flesh. The film utilizes the bloody terror of cannibalism as a metaphor for coming of age as a young woman.
In the background of each highly troubling scene is Jim William’s beautiful and sweet synth score. The music swells and sweeps, grand and dramatic and yet highly empathetic, filled with droning, repetitive sounds both low and high.
Williams spoke in an interview about how he tried to write a score that followed Justine’s journey as a character, starting out with “naive children’s music” and ending somewhere with “visceral rock.”
It’s clear in listening to the album how much depth is there in each song, with tracks like “Lust,” propelling themselves forwards with the energy of a ballerina’s crazed dance. Then, on “Finger Scene,” the piano is light and lighting before growing heavier and more urgent, conveying an escalation in mood.
Williams also mentioned how some of his inspirations included Ennio Morricone and Bernard Herrman, two extremely accomplished film composers. While Morricone created orchestral symphonies for films like “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” and “A Fistful of Dollars,” Herrman worked on projects like “Vertigo” and “Taxi Driver.”
William’s idols are particularly relevant to the history of horror, as before the advent of the synthesizer, most music made for films had to be orchestral and in the vein of Morricone. His work just happens to be a genius combination of the two.
In fact, it was Herrman who composed one of the most famous early horror soundtracks for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”
The movie, which came out in 1960, was revolutionary because of its use of music. At first the score starts out as very subtle, suggestive of a possible catastrophe, before peaking at the infamous shower scene with shocking harsh string tones that come across as fingernails scratching down a chalkboard.
Herrman’s score in this scene serves as the catalyst of the jumpscare, electrifying viewers through its violent orchestration.
One of the next revolutionary film scores in horror came from John Carpenter’s “Halloween.” The iconic, yet simple, repetitive track only took three days to compose and record. Its heavy use of the synthesizer marked a huge departure in the music of horror, more like the screeching and uncomfortable “Psycho,” soundtrack and less like classical Hollywood instrumentation.
The “Halloween” score is heavily credited in transforming an otherwise anticlimactic slasher with high amounts of tension. Empty suburban streets were suddenly full of murderous potential, back to the idea of turning the mundane into the horrible.
In an interview, Professor Neil Lerner of Davidson College discussed how “Halloween” did not come out of a void. He directly cites “Psycho” as an influence, noting the shower scene that utilizes only two pitches in comparison to the repetitive sounds of “Halloween.”
Further, this innovation was partly motivated by budget. Lerner discusses how the “Psycho” budget was so low that Hermann did not have the money to pay for a full orchestra, only the strings. Similarly, Carpenter only had a 300,000 dollar budget for “Halloween,” motivating the director himself to sit down and compose the piece.
The theme of limited budgets continued throughout the 1970’s and 80s with the next great horror movie, “Jaws,” also focusing around two uncomfortable and repeating tones. Composer John Williams recalls how Steven Speilburg thought he was pranking him when he proposed just E, F, E, F, E, F, D, F for the theme of the shark.
So, what makes these soundtracks so scary? How do they work? And why do they continue to persist throughout pop culture? As someone who loves music but struggles to understand a songs’ complicated inner-workings, these questions fascinate me.
Firstly, it seems there is the principle of dissonance, or an overall lack of harmony in music. There are typically major and minor chords which comprise any given track, with the former being associated with positive emotions and the latter conveying sadness or darkness.
This is where dissonance comes into play. In each of these tracks above, there are two or more minor notes combined together at once, which simultaneously sounds unpleasant and works to elevate feelings of fear and natural discomfort. This is highly present in the “Halloween” theme.
Building on this, the combination of sounds in any given musical landscape helps in creating an overall mood or feeling. It’s like a garden of several plants and flowers, growing together, intertwining and sustaining from the same soil.
In the “Halloween” theme, dark, shattering notes thrum together at lower pitch. In the “Psycho” theme, high-pitched strings are paired not only to build that dissonance, but every note is accented at a higher pitch, making it almost feel like it’s imitating the stabbing knife.
Going back to the work of Jim Williams, what stands out about his soundtracks is that he seems to combine all aspects of dissonance and an uncomfortable musical landscape with a complex instrumentation that builds a sense of security before delving into the uncanny. His fusion of Morricone-style orchestral scores with the preceding horror legacy of droning notes and underlying fear makes for a highly effective and intense listening and viewing experience.
Another fantastic modern horror score is that of Disasterpeace, aka Rich Vreeland, a well-known video game composer who worked on the movie “It Follows.”
The track “Title” is tense and somehow lush. It feels like you’re walking home late and night, looking over your shoulder, feeling a cold breath on your neck and back as the music intensifies.
When the stronger instrumentation kicks in around the one minute mark, it so perfectly captures that horrific, striking moment of fear in your heart during a jumpscare. Maybe there was someone there following you all along.
In a Pitchfork review of the score, author Jeremy Gordon writes that Disasterpeace’s “’Title’ sounds like an update of Carpenter’s Halloween theme, as a lonely piano line is slowly enveloped by gothic dread.”
And clearly, the inspiration is there. There are the same dual, pulsing notes.
In this way, horror music seems to build on top of each other, like stray seeds that have blown in and settled in the already-grown garden, populating the old landscape with new vines and fruits and flora.
The landscape of horror soundtracks now is ripe with influence and integration of old and new, growing scares with two-tone dissonance and homages to the past. I look forward to all the scares to come.