Category: Blog

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Best Sleep – Hummingbird

BEST TRACKS: Three More Months, Furnace, keys, Indiana Dropout

FCC Violations: Weird, Three More Months

Recommended if you like: Rozwell Kid, PUP, Jeff Rosenstock, together PANGEA, Fuzz

2019 has been an eventful year for DIY punk rock, producing skull-shattering albums like PUP’s Morbid Stuff and BRUTUS’s Nest. Hummingbird is an exciting, captivating DIY punk rock album that belongs right up there at the same level as Best Sleep’s more well-known contemporaries. Song after song, this album just kept drawing me in with the rawness of the lyrics and power of the instrumentation. Best Sleep is a relatively new 4-piece band from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Though they haven’t been on the scene for long, they released an amazing EP last spring that pulled on my heartstrings so hard that they snapped. To my delight, they carried that momentum and released a gut-wrenchingly melancholic full-length album, Hummingbird, right in time for seeping in the winter blues.

Hummingbird has strikingly beautiful, dark melodies and enthralling intensity. Every time the energy shifts, introducing the booming percussion and fuzzy bass, it will release your soul from its earthly bond. My favorite song on the album is track 7, Three More Months. The song opens with a hauntingly dark riff and transitions into anguished vocals. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you know that I’m a huge sucker for intense fuzz and feedback, which this song (and whole album) has a ton of.

Just so you’re warned, there is no subtlety or sugarcoating here. Obergfell and Richardson are not afraid of writing blunt lyrics straight from the heart. This album tackles a lot of heavy themes, especially about the struggles that come along with getting older and getting tossed out into the cold, cruel world. Track 2, Furnace is about not having enough money to keep the heat on through the winter. Track 3, Son of the Year, confronts the pressing guilt that comes with feeling like you don’t talk to your family enough.

If Winter is a hard time for you, give this album a spin and you might feel a little less alone.

-Safia

Categories
Music News and Interviews

My Chemical Romance is back

 

Well… sort of. As far as we know right now this is just one reunion tour. Don’t get me wrong though this is not underwhelming news at all. For anyone who’s been following the band for some time now, and knows how much this has been rumored over the years, it’s awesome to see it actually become a reality. I really didn’t think it would happen after like the 4th false claim, but I’m happy to be proven wrong.

After being reminded about one of my old favorite bands again I’ve caught myself listening to a lot of MCR in the gym (and on the way to class, and before bed, and while I showered, and basically anytime I put my headphones on) you know, as one does. I have to admit, and I’m really not ashamed to since this reunion is proof I’m not the only my chem fan still out there, that I was a huge fan in high school and still am. They’re still my #1 lifetime artist on Spotify. 

The other day I was thinking about who my chem fans are now. I think a lot of us who listened to this band now are definitely not the people we were when we started listening to them. Cause you know, growing up is a thing, sadly. so I think it’ll be pretty cool to see a crowd of vastly different people attending this tour.

Some of my friends who were huge My Chem fans are not into pop, electronic, metal, indie, hip-hop, rap, etc., really what I’m saying is you never know who was once a my chem fan. I think that will definitely make this reunion tour a pretty cool one, and I’m really excited to see if they’re planning to make any new music together.

Are you excited for the My Chem reunion tour? Because I’m already saving for my ticket…

– DJ Psyched

Categories
Playlists

Everything is Bigger in Texas

Chuck Norris isn’t the only reason you don’t mess with Texas. Some of the best metal bands have came from Texas and holy shit… they all go hard. The scene here is very unique because these bands have a distinct Texan sound that no other bands have. The riffs go hard and the breakdowns go even harder. Let’s take a look at some of my favorite bands from Texas.

Upon A Burning Body

I have already covered this band before, but these boys embody their Texas pride in songs such as Texas Blood Money. They are heavily influenced by Pantera because in that same song mentioned previously, they chant “respect, walk” which is a very popular chant in the Pantera song, Walk. These San Antonio natives put on a killer live show and I definitely recommend seeing them if you get the chance. Their songs are some killer riffs and catchy chants that you will be singing all day.

Favorite song: Sin City

I Am

Okay, this band has some of the best riffs that I have ever heard. They combine heavy ass riffs with killers grooves that will make you move your feet. These Dallas natives show their “Texas Death” attitude with pride. I have gotten to see this band once and all I can say is, WOW. They came out with so much energy and really captivated the crowd with their intensity. Everyone went crazy and I hope that they come back soon.

Favorite song: In Lust We Trust


Kublai Khan

Okay, this band is one of my absolute favorites. These Sherman locals take hardcore punk to the next level with some ass beating riffs and powerful barking vocals. I reviewed their newest record, Absolute, and if you haven’t listened to this album or band, you are really missing out. They bring the beatings like no one else. The riffs are simple but the intensity and weight of their sound makes them powerful. Have some pent-up anger? Release that shit with some Kublai Khan.

Favorite song: High Hopes

Creeping Death

No, I am not talking about the Metallica song Creeping Death, but the band from Dallas. I just got to see them for the first time and interviewed them on their tour with High on Fire and Power Trip. THEY ARE SO NICE!!!!!! They incorporate different mixes of genres from death metal, thrash metal, and a hint of hardcore. They have been influenced by other bands from Texas and their singer is really good friends with Riley Gale, the lead singer for another Texas band, Power Trip. Their riffs go hard and Reese’s vocals are amazing. They sound exactly the same live as they do on record. GO SEE THIS BAND!!! THEY ARE SICK!!

Favorite song: Peeled from Reality

Pantera

Does this band even need to be explained? From Arlington, I would argue that Pantera has influenced almost every band that is around today. Before Dimebag (RIP), there weren’t riffs like this; he opened the door for bands to experience with different riffs and opened the door for heavier music. I wish I could have seen this band live, but my parents have seen them tons of times. My mom was in a Domination pit and has met them. I’m hella jealous.

Favorite song: Drag the Waters

What are some of your favorite bands from Texas?

Stay Metal,

THE SAW

Categories
Band/Artist Profile

Band of the Week: Knocked Loose

Knocked Loose is easily one of my favorite bands because of their energy both on record and live. They have a distinct sound that anyone can recognize (mainly Bryan Garris’ voice), but also their heavy hitting riffs. Immediately when you listen to them, it’s like they are in your face and barking at you. They don’t hold anything back on any of their songs. There has been some debate on what genre they are and people have different reasons to justify both. Some believe they are a metalcore band, while others believe that they are a hardcore band. I can see how they could be considered both – either hardcore or metalcore – because of their sound. I would argue that they are metalcore because of Garris’ vocals, but I would say that they are hardcore because of their chunky 2-step riffs. Now, people disagree with me and that’s okay, this is simply my opinion.

Granted, I have no idea what any genre any band is for 3 reasons: one, there are too many sub-genres of music. Two, the technicality of what qualifies a band as a particular genre is baffling and confusing. And three, I really don’t care what genre any band is. If it’s heavy, then I like it. When I play Knocked Loose during my set, I play them in my hardcore (The Meat Grinder) simply because they fit the overall sound of that set more than my metalcore (Diamond Cuts) set. But putting genres aside, in the scene, we can agree that Knocked Loose is awesome and no matter what genre they are, you can jam out to it and have a good time.

Knocked Loose is from Oldham County, Kentucky, formed in 2013 and are currently signed to Pure Noise Records. They released their first studio EP, Pop Culture, in 2014. They also did a split release with Damaged Goods on No Luck Records. And in 2016, the band dropped their first full length titled, Laugh Tracks. They released their second full length in 2019 titled, A Different Shade of Blue. You can hear the evolution of the band just by listening to their music; primarily on their newest record. Their sound is angrier and darker, which I really like. They still have their signature breakdowns and Garris’ very familiar voice.

They have gotten a lot of attention, here, recently, and for good reason. They have been on stacked line-ups such as tours with A Day to Remember, Every Time I Die, Parkway Drive, and Thy Art is Murder. They have also been on a few Warped Tours and also played a handful of festivals. I got to see them when they played at Epicenter in Rockingham, NC last May. If you haven’t seen them live, I definitely recommend that you do. They sound the same live and their energy will wear you the hell out.

Knocked Loose is one of my mom’s favorite bands, too; after she got into a fender bender and her tooth got knocked loose. She was laughing at the fact that she used their band name and it was accurate! She finally got to see them at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro last month and she was not disappointed.

Members:

Bryan Garris – Vocalist

Cole Crutchfield – rhythm guitar, and backup vocals

Isaac Hale – lead guitar, and backup vocals

Kevin Otten – Bass

Kevin Kaine – Drums

Favorite songs: Guilded By the Moon, Forget Your Name, All My Friends, Separate, and Counting Worms

Have you seen Knocked Loose? What are some of your favorite songs?

Stay Metal,

THE SAW

Categories
Weekly Charts

Daytime Charts 11/19

Artist Record Label
1 CHASTITY BELT Chastity Belt Hardly Art
2 (SANDY) ALEX G House Of Sugar Domino
3 PEACH PYRAMID Bright Blue Oscar St
4 BARRIE Happy To Be Here (Ext) [EP] Winspear
5 CRUMB Jinx Self-Released
6 NEW PORNOGRAPHERS In the Morse Code Of Brake Lights Concord
7 GRINGO STAR Controlled Burn Baby Robot
8 FRANKIE COSMOS Close It Quietly Sub Pop
9 PIP BLOM Boat Heavenly/PIAS
10 KATE TEAGUE Kate Teague [EP] Muscle Beach
11 METZ Automat Sub Pop
12 MANNEQUIN PUSSY Patience Epitaph
13 STRANGE RANGER Remembering The Rockets Tiny Engines
14 MITSKI Be The Cowboy Dead Oceans
15 ZACK MEXICO The Page The Pope and The Hanged Man Self-Released
16 JULIA SHAPIRO Perfect Version Hardly Art
17 SURF CURSE Heaven Surrounds You Danger Collective
18 TRUTH CLUB Not An Exit Tiny Engines
19 MARIKA HACKMAN Any Human Friend [EP] Sub Pop
20 BABE RAINBOW, THE Today 30th Century
21 BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT At The Party With My Brown Friends Saddle Creek
22 TURNOVER Altogether Run For Cover
23 GUAX EGuaxe OAR
24 BEACH HOUSE Lemon Glow Bella Union
25 CHRISTELLE BOFALE Swim Team [EP ]Father/Daughter
26J AY SOM Anak Ko Polyvinyl
27 GOOD RIDDANCE Thoughts And Prayers Fat Wreck
28 BOY SCOUTS Free Company Anti-
29 SHIKOSWE Back In The Tall Grass Self-Released
30 FLORIST Emily Alone Double Double Whammy

TOP ADDS

1 DARKSOFT Brain Self-Released
2 MARGAUX More Brilliant Is The Hand That Throws The Coin Massif
3 MATT MALTESE Krystal 7476
4 BEAUTIFUL DUDES Radio Mama Bird
5 GREEN BUZZARD Amidst The Clutter And Mess I Oh You
6 HOUG “” [Single] Self-Released
7 DEER, THE Do No Harm Keeled Scales
8 SKINSHAPE Filoxiny Lewis
9 DAYGLOW Fuzzybrain Self-Released
10 RUSSIAN BATHS Deepfake Good Eye

Categories
Weekly Charts

Afterhours Charts 11/19

Artist Record Label
1 ROBYN “Beach2k20 (Yaeji Remix)” [Single] Konichiwa
2 COWGIRL CLUE Icebreaker Vada Vada
3 SLAYYYTER Slayyyter Self-Released
4 HOT CHIP A Bath Full Of Ecstasy Domino
5 JACQUES GREENE Dawn Chorus Lucky Me
6 BESHKEN Aisle Of Palm Self-Released
7 YEULE Serotonin II Bayonet
8 DEVATA DAUN Pye Luis [EP] Pytch
9 GRACE IVES 2nd Dots Per Inch
10 PEGGY GOU “Starry Night” [Single] Gudu

Categories
Weekly Charts

Chainsaw Charts 11/19

Artist Record Label
1 LEFT BEHIND No One Goes to Heaven Pure Noise
2 COUNTERPARTS Nothing Left To Love Pure Noise
3 DESPISED ICON Purgatory Nuclear Blast
4 LORNA SHORE “Death Portrait” [Single] Century Media
5 KING DIAMOND “Masquerade of Madness” [Single] Metal Blade
6 UNE MISERE Sermon Nuclear Blast
7 KNOCKED LOOSE A Different Shade Of Blue Pure Noise
8 CODE ORANGE “The Hurt Will Go On” [Single] Roadrunner
9 DYING WISH “Enemies in Red” [Single] Self-Released
10 MESHIAAK Mask Of All Misery Mascot

Categories
Miscellaneous

WKNC’s FAKING NEWS

 -Andrew Evans 

Categories
Concert Review

Concert Review: Turnover & Men I Trust (11/14)

Yesterday I made a quick trip down to Cat’s Cradle to catch the Turnover and Men I Trust show. Despite the cold and the rain, there was a huge turnout! 

The opener was an artist named Renata Zeigeur. Having heard nothing by her prior, her set proved to be the unexpected highlight of my night. As her record label writes, her music was “both wonderfully dreamy and strange”. One song especially stood out to me, a new single called “Whack-A-Mole”. As a daytime DJ for the station, it would’ve fit right into one of my sets. Overall her set was a phenomenal, and I plan on introducing her music into the WKNC daytime rotation.

Next up was Men I Trust. I was super excited to see them live for the very first time. I actually found out about them while listening to WKNC…Tailwhip came on the radio in my car, and ever since then I’ve been a fan. With the recent release of their 2019 album, Oncle Jazz, I knew we’d be in for a treat getting to hear lots of new music. My favorite song they performed was “All Night” off of Oncle Jazz. They were amazing live, and I hope I can see them again some time soon. 

Finally, the main act. I had seen Turnover at Cat’s Cradle a few years ago, but that didn’t make me any less excited to see them again. They opened the show with “Still in Motion” from their new album Altogether. Although people sing along with every song, at every show, (this one included), the crowd goes insane when they play songs from their older albums. I survived the mosh pit for “New Scream” another year. I was happy because they also played “Pure Devotion”, one of my favorite songs off their 2017 album, Good Nature. I always think it’s funny how the crowd can go from moshing to one song to standing completely still for the next one, and the whole time the members of the band stay completely chill and act as if nothing changed. 

This concert had quite the lineup, and I’m glad I was able to go! Every act was great, and if you haven’t heard any of their music you should definitely check all the artists out. If you’re too lazy to look them up yourself, don’t worry, because I’ll be playing them all on WKNC daytime hours. 

-miss monet

Categories
Miscellaneous

Let’s Talk Music: Genres

 

Music genres have gone from helping categorize music to confusing the life out of most people, including myself. Sub genres seem to be bigger than ever these days and I find it’s sometimes hard to keep up. What I find most interesting about genres is that they are meant to help you understand what something will sound like before you listen, but with so much variety in music these days it really isn’t that straight forward anymore. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely think this is a good thing, but it makes me question the necessity and accuracy of the role that genres play in music today. Indie isn’t the only genre that’s become hard to define and has A LOT of variety within the genre, every genre has aspects of that now. I don’t think any genre is really that straight forward anymore. 

I just think this is worth thinking about a little when listening to new music or when creating. It seems there are no limits anymore so artists are free to do as they please, even within a specific genre, and I think that’s a great thing. 

I see a lot of similarities between this and the way music changed in the twentieth century. Not to get all nerdy-music on anyone, but there was that whole ‘freedom of the dissonance’ movement that was meant to change people’s concept on music and challenge what was the norm, and I think that idea never really went away and is making a huge comeback these days. No one let’s genre hold them back and bands sometimes even experiment with multiple genres at once, whether it be in a song, album or through their career. 

So I guess I’m just posing a few questions for thought, what is the role that genres should play (if any)? Are they really that necessary, and if so why? Should we have so many sub genres? And does it matter to define music when it stops fitting into these genres? Do you think people should be more conscious of the genre they are in?

Definitely let me know if you have any thoughts, or if you think this really doesn’t matter.

– DJ Psyched