As a fan of EDM, I am constantly reminded of the under-representation of black EDM artists, despite the fact that EDM originated from gay black men. I wanted to write about the origins of EDM and recognize the influence of black artists, which constantly goes unrecognized based uninstitutional racial bias in the world of music.
House music and dance music was first created in the gay club scenes of the 70’s and 80’s. This sound is credited to gay men, particularly gay men of color; the music was created for and by LGBTQ people of color. Frankie Knuckles, a gay black man from Chicago’s South Side, is known as the “Godfather of House Music.” EDM draws heavily upon these influences and the rise of the genre would not have been possible without the queer black musicians experimenting with dance music. EDM gained global recognition as a genre in the mid-2000s with the appearance of artists like Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia. The industry has only gained in popularity since then, but is still dominated by straight, white men. EDM still lacks LGBTQ and POC representation, despite its origins. On the topic, Adam Davenport, the first African-American EDM musician to chart on Billboard said this: “It’s interesting that EDM has been dominated by largely straight white DJs [and] producers from Europe, and yet the godfather of house music — to which electronic dance music is indebted — happens to be a gay Black man, also from Chicago, named Frankie Knuckles. Frankie passed away in 2014, but I’d like to think that his spirit is blessing my efforts.” Largely the history of EDM has been ignored by the artists who have risen to fame from the genre, like David Guetta, who was credited by an ABC special for bringing house music to America.
Remember this the next time you hear a top-100 EDM song, likely produced by a straight, white artist. If you love the genre, remember its true history and consider it wouldn’t have been possible without the creativity of black individuals like Frankie Knuckles. Additionally, check out and celebrate black EDM artists like Green Velvet, Flying Lotus, and Black Coffee.
What’s going on Butcher Crew?! It’s your Master Butcher, The Saw and I am here to highlight one of my favorite metalcore bands when I was in high school! I first saw Wage War at the 2016 Warped Tour! I was 17 at the time, and I primarily went to that Warped Tour to see Whitechapel (shocking right?). While I was waiting for Whitechapel to come on, Wage War was playing before them. I ended up staying for Wage War’s set and I am glad that I did! They blew me away with their energy, enthusiasm, and love of what they are doing.
After their set, I met the band at their merch booth and they are such nice guys! They are grateful for their fans, and you can tell that they genially mean that when you get the chance to talk to them. After Warped Tour, I started listening to more Wage War, and I have seen them countless times! They have one of the best live performances that I have ever seen!
Wage War is an American metalcore band from Ocala, Florida that formed in 2010. Before their name was Wage War, they went under the name Empires. In 2013 they changed the band name to Wage War and signed to Fearless Records in 2015. The guys in Wage War have been on numerous tours, including playing on the entirety of Warped tour in 2016, A Day to Remember’s Self Help Festival in 2017. The band has also opened up for bands such as August Burns Red, Chelsea Grin, I Prevail, For Today, and Of Mice & Men.
On March 18, 2019, Wage War lost all of their MySpace content form 2016 and earlier from their Empires era (except for their EP, The Fall of Kings). It was reported that over 50 million songs and 12 years’ worth of content were permanently lost with no backup.
The band has released 3 studio albums. Their first album, Blueprints, is my absolute favorite. They had that metalcore sound that I think is the best . Their songs had fantastic riffs that complimented the clean vocals and growls beautifully. Their first record was heavy and groovy, two of my favorite things! Their second album was also really good! There are softer songs, here, on their sophomore album but overall, it was also a great record. I wasn’t a big fan of their third album simply because it didn’t have that edge that the first two albums had. It seemed like on their latest album they were going for a more “hard rock,” rather than metalcore, sound; perhaps, to reach more potential fans outside the extreme genre. The album sounds awesome, but it’s not my cup of tea. I love seeing bands evolve and try different things in their music, and nearly all bands intentionally evolve and grow. Sometimes a band’s newest fans love the “new" sound, often their original fans wont make the jump with them. Concerning Wage War, I will stick with the first two albums.
Discography:
The Fall of Kings (Empires) (EP) (2011)
Blueprints (2015)
Deadweight (2017)
Pressure (2019)
Members:
Briton Bond (lead vocalist)
Seth Blake (lead guitar)
Cody Quistad (rhythm guitar, clean vocals)
Chris Gaylord (bass)
Stephen Kluesener (drums)
Favorite Songs:
The River, Spineless, Alive, Stitch, Gravity, and Johnny Cash.
What are your favorite Wage War songs? Have you seen them live? What do you think of their change in direction?
Arguably, the most notable element separating SEBii from his contemporaries is the pitch of his voice, which he addresses in the first song on this album, Bingo. SEBii claims that despite what people think, his vocals aren’t pitch-bended and that it comes from practice. I appreciate that these bars are self-aware, original, and personal. I think he sounds better singing with a thinner, lower, strained pitch. When he sings quieter, his voice gets really soft, losing any grit and intonation, and everything he sings blends into an unappetizing mush.
Track two is MeMe. SEBii does a good job varying his pitch between soft and gritty in this song, which keeps it interesting. I love the way he says “I be looking super clean”. I love the raspy whisper of the outro, yet another pitch change. The bars, the flow and the beat is all here. This track is my second favorite on the album.
Moving on to the next track, Winter. Despite it being one of SEBii’s most popular songs I was underwhelmed. It has a solid beat, but this song has no notable lyrics, and sebii maintains a very soft pitch throughout the entire song, which gets monotonous and melds everything into a bland mass. This song is lacking intensity.
The next track is BahBahBah. Even the mystic strings couldn’t save this track. Again, the vocals are monotonous, lacking intonation and inflection.
Racing is the top track for me on the album. The intro has impeccable buildup, leading to a satisfying beat drop. We get to hear both the deeper, rougher side as well as the soft side of SEBii’s unique voice on this song, the variation of which keeps the listener invested. As far as instrumental goes, the sparking piano trills are charming.
Data Looting: This one is pretty catchy. Despite it sounding slightly repetitive, I’m not mad at it. At times though, the lyrics sound rushed and crammed into the bars.
The last track VVV is a cute outro. I can’t get past the soft, high pitched voice though, it sounds like there’s a mosquito in my ear it gets on my nerves.
I respect that SEBii is unapologetically himself, unashamedly making anime and pokemon references, and owning his unique voice. I wonder what he sounds like when he’s just having a normal conversation.
As I said before, it is important to support black creators and let their voices be heard. Supporting black artists is something we should always do, and I love this idea of celebrating Juneteenth by blacking out the best seller lists. I have provided some links below to the Amistad Books tweet and other articles that provide resources to find books by black authors, so if you want more information be sure to check below. I’m going to highlight the books I decided to purchase, but I highly encourage you to check out more resources and choose some books that appeal to you!
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – This is the New York Times best selling authors second Novel. Brit Bennett’s first book is also a finalist for the NBCC John Leonard Prize for the best first book. The basis of her newest novel tells the story of two twin sisters who grew up in a small, southern, black community who ran away from home at age sixteen and lived very different lives after the fact. One sister lives with her black daughter in the town she tried to leave, while the other lives among her white family, that knows nothing of her past. The story is not just one that speaks on issues of race, but focuses on how a person’s past can shape their future and the choices they make, and why a person may be interested in living in a way that is not of their origins.
Deacon King Kong by James McBride – Award winning and Best-selling author James McBride brings forth a thrilling story about what happens to a group of eye witnesses of a shooting. The reason for this shooting and its effects make up the basis of the novel as we follow the lives of those who witnessed it and how it changed them. Through this journey we find out that these characters’ lives overlap more than we may have expected and the author teaches us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden. He also teaches us that in order to grow we must face the reality of change without fearing it.
To Live Woke by Rupert W. Nacoste, Ph. D. – Dr. Rupert Nacoste, the Social Psychologist who created the term ‘Neo-diversity’ and teaches the one-of-a-kind ‘Psychology of Interdependence and Race’ course at NC State University, brings us his fourth novel. In this novel, much like his teachings, he shares stories of his past experiences, having grown up in the Jim Crow legally segregated south and serving in Navy during a time that involved Race Riots, to give the reader some real life understanding and make the call to action for all people to truly embrace neo-diversity. Dr. Nacoste says ‘We can save the soul of America.’ and he uses this book as a way to really show us how we can contribute to this effort and actually understand what it means to ‘live woke’.
I haven’t read these books just yet, but I will be reviewing them on my podcast in a couple weeks after they arrive (so pick up your copies if you want to read along with me!).
Chris Barnes (my favorite Death Metal vocalist) was still in Cannibal Corpse when his side project, Six Feet Under, debuted their first album, Haunted (Metal Blade Records; 1995). While with Cannibal Corpse (the first four albums – Eaten Back to Life, ’90; Butchered at Birth, ’91; Tomb of the Mutilated, ’92; and The Bleeding, ’94), Barnes wrote some of the most brutal subject matter in all of Metal. With hardly an understandable syllable on the first three records, Barnes changed his style on The Bleeding, his last with Cannibal Corpse. This slower, gravelly, rumbling, gutteral style is what he carried over to the first few Six Feet Under records.
With Six Feet Under, and particularly on Haunted, Barnes dials back the more offensive subject matter, while retaining the beatings, blood and guts, and torture of classic Death Metal material. What a record this is, still! Barnes sets the standard for Death Metal vocalists, and his form and style are recognizable anywhere. As “Hammer Smashed Face” (from his days with Cannibal Corpse) is forever a classic, so “Remains of You” stands beside it as premier Chris Barnes performances. To be honest, Chris Barnes IS Six Feet Under!
With that said, Barnes has quite a lineup on Haunted. On guitar he has Allen West (Obituary), the bass is played by Terry Butler (Obituary; Death), and on the drums is Greg Gall. While this record is void of typical Death Metal blast beats, there is a more classical style time-keeping and smooth double bass under West’s patented groovy riffs, with Butler’s powerful bass tracks. Obviously, with West and Butler present, this record reminds me of Obituary (another of my favorites).
Rating: 10/10! …Just a perfect Death Metal record!! Classic!!!
Favorite Song: Remains of You
But every song, here – The Enemy Inside, Silent Violence, Lycanthropy; Still Alive; Beneath a Black Sky, Human Target, Suffering in Ecstasy, Tomorrow’s Victim, Torn to the Bone, and Haunted – is Awesome!
ALBUM REVIEW: Hollywood Park – The Airborne Toxic Event
BEST TRACKS: All The Children, Everything I Love Is Broken, Come On Out
FCC violations: Brother, Everything I Love Is Broken, The Common Touch, Carry Me
Here’s something you don’t hear about every band: the lead singer of The Airborne Toxic Event, Mikel Jollett, was born into a cult. Along with this album, Jollett released a memoir of the same name in which he relates his experiences growing up in, and later escaping into poverty, the infamously dangerous cult Synanon. Jollett’s harsh life experiences, which taught him about family, loss, and resilience find their way into the lyrics of his songs to make for a truly grounding and profound listening experience. However, this Los Angeles band isn’t just notable for their frontman’s shocking history. I was enchanted by the sense of intimacy, jangly acoustic guitar, and superior melodies on Hollywood Park long before I ever found out about any of the cult stuff.
Hollywood Park exhibits several lively, electric and acoustic riffs and satisfying melodies. Songs on this album range from flourishingly cinematic to minimalistically acoustic. My favorite track on the album, ‘All The Children’ has an exciting buildup that erupts into a cathartic, folksy chorus. A sparking piano and a cinematic violin make an appearance on track 9, ‘The Place Where We Meet A Thousand Feet Beneath The Racetrack’. Jollett effectively uses a country-folk drawling vocal approach at times, coupled with garage rock shouting, to create a unique dynamic. These songs have the brutal honesty of an Iron & Wine song and the infectious rhythm of a Killers song.
This album feels like something you would hear sitting around the bonfire in the fleeting summer nights after highschool. It inhabits a world of sunsets, dusty roads, and big blue lakes. Hollywood Park truly captures the ever-tenacious all American spirit. Spin this record this upcoming Fourth of July. I highly recommend this album to fans of The Killers, Bruce Springsteen,The Wallflowers, The National, or My Morning Jacket.
BEST TRACKS: Some Nights I Feel Like Crying, RNR, New In Town, Meet Me in the Garden
FCC Violations: Meet Me in the Garden, RNR, LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT…
Kid Froopy is on the rise as a new artist and his newest release, Silver Silver, delivers his electronic style in an emotional package. Kid Froopy, an Iowa-based producer began releasing music in high school, but gained attention in 2015 with his remix of Robokid’s “Helix.” Now, Kid Froopy is known for his electronic-pop songs which typically delve into the woes of online communication and social media. Kid Froopy has this interesting alternative sound that is distinctly electronic with sweet sounding synth melodies and a certain glitchy aspect to it that does not overlap the high-pitched vocals. His chill, electronic-pop vibe is perfect for listening in the car or lounging around with friends.
Many of his tracks have a great contrast between the sorrowful lyrics of lost communication and his upbeat pop-y sound. There is even more contrast between tracks such as Hairy which are slow and somber while Meet Me in the Garden feels much more exciting.
Kid Froopy has a great all around sound that borders many different genres while done tastefully and I predict that he will get even popular as time goes on. I recommend Kid Froopy to fans of Jai Wolf, pluko and Ekali.
This Friday is a holiday known as Juneteenth. On this day in 1865, General Gordon Granger federally proclaimed that all enslaved people were now free in the state of Texas. Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two years prior, its impacts were slow and varied within the South. Texas was the last state to officially recognize this decree, and thus Juneteenth became a community holiday.
In celebration of Juneteenth (from midnight to midnight), this year and every subsequent year, Bandcamp has committed to donating “100% of [their] share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.” They have further agreed to allocate $30,000 of their yearly budget to “partner with organizations that fight for racial justice and create opportunities for people of color.”
For the past few months during quarantine, Bandcamp has also been doing “Bandcamp Day” sales, in which they waive their portion of proceeds so that artists on their platform earn the entirety of the sale. WKNC reminded our audience to support local musicians on each previous Bandcamp Day, and for this Juneteenth edition we want to highlight specifically local Black musicians. The following list contains ten artists that WKNC has booked and promoted in the past who have music and/or merch available for purchase on Bandcamp.
Black Surfer was the second act of the second night of Double Barrel Benefit 17, and released their sophomore EP Run It Byke in the following month. Recently they raised $7,000 for Take Action Chapel Hill through merchandise sales on Instagram.
You can connect with Black Surfer on social media at @blacksurferband on both Instagram and Facebook, and check out their podcast done with DJ Beowvlf before Double Barrel Benefit.
King Gino performed on night one of Double Barrel Benefit 17 and brought the house down. He also spearheads an artist collective called Callisto Records, for which our very own Underground Music Director Nate Browning also works. King Gino also did a podcast before performing at Double Barrel Benefit.
Pat Junior is a jack of all trades who has his hands in every artistic medium that catches his eye or ear. He is another Double Barrel Benefit 17 performer and headlined night two. Much like his predecessors on this link, Pat Junior also did a podcast with WKNC, which you can listen to for more information about his artistic journey and his most recent album, I Thought I Knew.
GRRL rocked our world at Double Barrel Benefit 16, and really did us a huge favor hopping on that show at the last minute. This electronic maven is a staple of the Triangle house scene and a favorite of WKNC’s. Listen to GRRL’s interview with Afterhours Music Director, Liz and Social Media Director, Becca, here. Furthermore, GRRL’s next full-length album, Marathon, will be released on July 3, but you can already preorder it on Bandcamp now.
Switching it up from Double Barrel acts, Linanthem worked with WKNC in the fall of 2019 performing at our annual Concert on the Lawn series with future Double Barrel artist, DOTWAV Media. Linanthem is also a current NC State student and up-and-coming in the Triangle scene. His music is self-described as “chilled hip-hop beats and jazz vibes” which sounds like the ideal summer vibe.
Sonny Miles and WKNC have collaborated a handful of times, but most recently at a Concert on the Lawn in 2018. This prolific multi-instrumentalist seems to be constantly releasing music and for that we are grateful. His most recent single, Arbor Day, is available on Bandcamp along with the rest of his discography. Sonny has also been incredibly outspoken about current events on his social media, which we similarly urge you to check out.
What can we say except for the fact that the Muslims ROCK?! They performed at Double Barrel 15 but have also done a Local Beat session back in 2018, which you can stream on all podcasting platforms. Their most recent album, Gentrified Chicken, is brash in-your-face rage rock that never quits and does not leave a safe space.
Obviously, you can get connected with The Muslims on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, but to further get involved you can submit a clip to their crowd-sourced music video through Saturday. More details on that video can be found on their website.
Deniro Farrar has perhaps grown beyond the limited label of “local” and become an icon in his own right, but as he was a performer at Double Barrel Benefit 13 so we’ve still got a spot in WKNC history for him. Deniro’s fanbase has been called “cult like” based on its rapid growth and intense fan involvement.
If you’re unfamiliar with his work, check out his Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, as well as the music he has uploaded on Bandcamp.
Hailing from Carrboro, North Carolina, this local artist kicked off his expansive musical career while also being a Ph.D. student at UNC-Chapel Hill. WKNC is honored to have booked XOXOK for our Concert on the Lawn in Fall of 2017. It is fitting that XOXOK make it onto this list, not only for his musical prowess, but also for the content of his most recent single “Right On.” XOXOK explains this song’s purpose on his Bandcamp page, but an excerpt is written below. You can read the entire passage on his artist link above.
“On July 5, 2016, I defended my doctoral dissertation at the University of North Carolina. The next day, approximately 1100 miles away, Philando Castile was shot and killed in Minnesota. Each one of these shootings has taken a toll on me, but for some reason, this one leveled me… I wrote this song as a reminder – to myself and to others – that my education is not a shield, and that I could be next.”
Tim Mensa recently graduated from NC State University in the Class of 2020, but was able to connect with WKNC during his time as a student. He performed at one of our Concerts on the Lawn in 2018. Since that time Mensa has been rather active as a musician, though there is only one track available on his Bandcamp. Nonetheless, we encourage our audience to check it out for Bandcamp’s Juneteenth donation day. Here is Tim’s Instagram page.
Artist Record Label 1 BEHEMOTH A Forest [EP] Metal Blade 2 CURRENTS The Way It Ends SharpTone 3 BEFORE I TURN Lovelorn: Moon Self-Released 4 CHILD OF WASTE Hunger Made Man Self-Released 5 NECROT “Stench of Decay” [Single] Tankcrimes 6 TYPECASTE Between Life FlatSpot 7 SUNAMI Sunami [EP] Creator Destructor 8 THREE KNEE DEEP Three Knee Deep Triple B 9 MAGNITUDE To Whatever Faithful End Triple B 10 DIVISION OF MIND Division of Mind Triple B
