Category: Blog

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Miscellaneous

10 Types of People You’ll Find at Shakori Hills

Beyond the music and dancing Shakori is a unique social experience where a variety of folks come together, here are a few you’re bound to find there: 

1.) The Hippy Mom: Probably grew up going to grassroots festivals herself. Wears patterned maxi skirts and smiles at everyone.

2.) The Tag-along: Doesn’t know why they are there, groans as they follow their friends around through the dirt. Hates nature, and only listens to pop radio.

3.)Bluegrass grandpa: Plays banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, stand up bass, harmonica, you name it. Probably has a beard and often recruits other bluegrass grandpa’s to play with him. He’s taking your old-time requests. 

4.)Camp social: Spends the entire festival in the forest at the campsite chatting other campers heads off. Will bring in strangers and have their own little forest party. They came to be social not watch bands. 

5.) Lawn chair squatters: Typically and older couple who’s been coming out to the festival for a while.  You can find them in the daylight at the back of the crowd sitting in their chairs with a picnic, smiling and bobbing their heads.

6.) Thrill seekers: They came to P-A-R-T-A-Y. They’ll drink it all, smoke it all, take off their shirts and dance until daylight. 

7.)Too much too fast guy: Blacks out the first hour of the festival,  remembers nothing but everyone remembers him.

8.)Instagrammers: They’re all about the image. They came to a music festival and they want everyone to know it. Their snapchat story is 3 hours long by the time it uploads with limited service. They’re covered in glitter and sequins for that instagram fest pic, and are very easy to find as their phone is always out. 

9.)The Music fans: They came for music, made a schedule and  aren’t missing any of the bands they came to see. Will probably buy merch too. They’ll probably ask you who you’re there to see.

10.)Hoop Squad: This is the highlight of their life. They dropped a few Benjamins  for that fancy rainbow glo hoop and they’re ready to get out of their back yards and strut their stuff! No one understands their art and they’re really only impressing their friends but it brings their hippy hearts joy. 

Categories
Concert Review

Together PANGEA w Daddy Issues and Lala Lala @ Cat’s Cradle 9/27

Anyone who knows me knows that I love grungy girl-fronted bands, so when I heard Daddy Issues and Lala Lala were opening for Together PANGEA, I was ecstatic.  A new friend and I cruised down to Carrboro blasting Deep Dream, Daddy Issues’ newest full-length album, in my little busted-up Corolla.  Upon arrival, Lala Lala’s set was in full swing (and I was considerably disappointed), but it was well worth it to see them end their part of their show with Exorcism, my absolute favorite song from Sleepyhead.  Daddy Issues took the stage next, performing most of their songs from Deep Dream.  Lead guitarist and singer Jenna Moynihan played with such enthusiasm that she broke a string midway through a song and had to finish their set using one of PANGEA’s instruments.  Whilst tuning said instrument, they allowed a kid from the crowd to tell a joke on the stage, which fell flat.  However, they saved the show by performing their hit “In Your Head”.

Once Together PANGEA came on the vibe in the room changed – herds of adolescent boys showed up, donning Vineyard Vines and Southern Tide apparel.  They proceeded to mosh (if you can call it that) and their underage intoxication became more and more apparent.  And while I did make my exit before the end of PANGEA’s set, I left two band tees and one car sticker richer.  I certainly won’t be missing Daddy Issues or Lala Lala next time they come to town.

DJ Daria

Categories
Concert Review

Beats n Bars Festival

This past weekend, KNC DJs JermE and chilimango attended the second year of Beats n Bars festival. Beats n Bars was a two day fest focused on hip-hop culture, and featured a variety of locally and nationally known artists.

From the website:

The art of MCing, B-Boying, DJing and graffiti all are integral components that are culturally represented in our community and its importance of the sustainability of its kind or culture.

Beats n Bars mission is to build stronger community through the influence of urban culture and music.

The annual festival is hosted by Crystal Taylor, CEO of the Underground Collective, and John Laww (aka The Real Laww), the CEO of the Durm Hip-Hop Summit.

From DJ JermE:

I thought the Beats N Bars festival was a nice little festival. It was a good atmosphere and there was good music. This festival put me on to some  talented artists in the Raleigh Durham area, and  also featured some more well-known artists such as Cyhi the Prynce. The artists that left an impression on me were TheDeeepEnd, Sean Kyd, and Jooselord Magnus. They brought that ENERGY and, most importantly, they had bars. I also enjoyed the Lion King; I caught him outside for a little bit he was more of a chill reggaeton type rapper. I also thought the battle of the beats was a necessary component to this festival since it’s called “Beats N Bars”–it was pretty hype.

Overall it was a good atmosphere. I feel like they should continue doing this, and try to make it an even bigger festival in the future. This would help promote the local rappers who are trying to use this as a platform to get more known.

From DJ chilimango:

While we were only able to catch the second day of the festival, I was impressed by what I saw. As press, I had the opportunity to interview some of the artists who would play that evening, including G Yamazawa and Nick Grant. The flow of the fest was well organized, from the interview sessions, to the layout of the stages and lineup. The artists were well curated, and I appreciated the focus not only on the music, but on other components of hip-hop as well (MCing, BBoying, DJing, and graffiti). One of my favorite acts was Maestra–she emanated poise and power, and has an amazing voice.

Because the festival is still young, there wasn’t a huge crowd attendance. While it could have been a little more hype, I did enjoy the intimacy that comes with smaller crowd–people knew each other, there wasn’t as much pushing and shoving to get to the shows, and you were able to meet many of the artists between sets. JermE and I were blessed with press passes, which granted us access to the front of the mainstage–that’s an experience I likely wouldn’t have gotten at a larger festival. I loved the people and the music, and hope Beats n Bars continues to grow in the coming years!

Stay tuned for a recap video, as well as a podcast featuring interviews with artists like Maestra, Nick Grant, and G Yamazawa! The audio story will be aired on our specialty show, the Oak City Move.

Categories
Local Music Music News and Interviews

The Local Beat: Foxture

The Local Beat: Foxture 

DJ Whatsherface sits down with Foxture to discuss their upcoming 6-song EP “Eden”!

Listen here.

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Miscellaneous

Having trouble hearing us outside of Raleigh? We’re sorry. 🙁

Categories
Local Music Music News and Interviews

The Local Beat: Happy Abandon 

DJ Sparrow and DJ Whatsherface chat with local band Happy Abandon (and play through their amazing first album, Face Paint!)

Listen here.

Categories
Concert Review Festival Coverage

Beats n Bars: Mega Success

Last weekend I experience Durham’s ultimate jam-packed Hip-Hop festival: Beats N Bars!!! In its 2nd installment, the Bull City was blessed with an even more expansive and super-crazy–fire line-up than last years (which was also super-crazy–fire).

My personal favorite acts I caught include (but are not limited to): G Yamazawa, Jooselord Magnus, the DeeepEnd, Shame, Free the Optimus, Cayenne the Lion King, OC from NC, Nitty Scott, and of course, the legendary Cyhi the Prynce. 

In fact, the festival provided so many dope acts, that there was never a dull moment. And the plentiful supply of food and beer made for a hot Friday and Saturday in the sun to be quite the comfortable experience. And in my opinion, the best part was the option of an indoor venue or an outdoor venue, giving the attendee the choice of which environment that they want to experience dope Hip-Hop in. 

Additionally, it would be foolish not to mention the incredible B-boy group, the Raleigh Rockers who graced the place with a display of Hip-Hop dances, as well as an interactive lesson where bystanders were able to step in and participate. Throwing in the fact that a number of DJ’s showed their chops on the 1’s and 2’s, the festival did a great job of staying true to their mission, and that was the celebration of Hip-Hop, as Crystal stated: “not as something you do, but as something you live.”

On behalf of the Underground Department at WKNC, we would like to congratulate Beats n Bars for throwing another fantastic festival for Durham, North Carolina! 

DJ Rhythm

Categories
Non-Music News

Oak City Move 19 pt. 2: Technician

Sara and Jenaye sit down with Johnathan and Connor from Technician, NC State’s student newspaper. Topics range from the life of a student journalist in 2017, balancing digital and print media, and their favorite moments from working at the paper.

Listen to Episode 19 pt 2 Here.

Categories
Concert Review

Ugly God @ Cat’s Cradle 9/22/17

I had been waiting to see Ugly God with baited breath in the weeks preceding his show at Cat’s Cradle. Finally, Friday night rolled around. My friend pulled up outside my dorm with her windows down and her portable speaker ready to blast some Ugly God.  We cruised towards Carrboro with his new album, The Booty Tapes, blasting full volume on her little speaker. We pulled up to the lot in front of Cat’s Cradle and had excellent luck with parking. I was grateful considering we were running a little late. We missed the opening act unfortunately, however, as soon as we walked in the one and only Ugly God was being introduced. My friend and I meandered our way through the crowd, trying to get as close to the front as possible. As soon as Ugly God came on stage the crowd went wild, jumping up and down with their fists in the air. He wasted no time with introductions and cut right to the music.  It was about 100 degrees in Cat’s Cradle at this point of the night because of the sheer number of sweaty people in such a small space. Ugly God was sporting a Supreme brand ski mask and a backpack, neither of which were taken off during the show. He played some of his biggest hits during his set, such as “Booty From a Distance”, “FTBT”, and “Water.” He played some tracks off his new album The Booty Tapes as well. One of the highlights of the night was right before he played the song “Water”. He evenly distributed a large number of water bottles by throwing them to the people standing in the audience. We were instructed to open the bottles and let the water fly as soon as the beat dropped. Not only did the water feel great on my skin (the temperature had climbed even higher), it  looked super pretty too. The set was relatively short as he only rapped for about 30-45 minutes. While I could have stood another hour (at least) of hearing him rap, I was pleased with his performance. We walked out of Cat’s Cradle that night sweaty and eager for another Ugly God show!

Categories
Non-Music News

Pack is Life 5: Wolfpack Sports 9/7/17-9/13/17

John and Benjamin review the week in Wolfpack sports.

Listen to Episode 5 here.