Attending Hopscotch? Wanting to know what to expect? Here’s a little snippet about one of my favorite venues, Kings Barcade.
The venue has hosted some big acts, such as M83, The Avett Brothers, Surfer Blood, and Smith Westerns to name a few. But this year at Hopscotch it will be the location for Lilac Shadows, Wildhoney, Dad & Dad, Jenny Hval, and many more bands to rock out.
Kings is located on West Martin St and is home to some great decor. The lighting is the coolest aspect of the venue; between the stage lighting and the illuminated crown, one can really vibe with the music, no matter the genre.
Outside the venue is a great place to hang if you’re trying to get some cool air after dancing your butt off! The beautiful metallic mirrors and hanging ferns are a simple, but nice touch for the place.
Not to mention, Kings has one of the best venue restrooms. It excels in cleanliness.
Thanks to our lovely friends at Live Nation, we are giving away 3 pairs of tickets to see Chance the Rapper! The concert is at The Ritz on Monday, November 9th. Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for calls and you could win a pair of tickets! Tickets for Chance the Rapper went on sale July 31st at 10am, and can still be purchased on RitzRaleigh.com, TicketMaster.com, The Ritz box office (opens at noon), or charge by phone at 800-745-3000.
1. LA LUZ – Weirdo Shrine – Hardly Art 2. TAME IMPALA – Currents – Interscope 3. WHITE REAPER – White Reaper Does It Again – Polyvinyl 4. TEARJERKER – Stay Wild – Self-Released 5. MAC DEMARCO – Another One – Captured Tracks 6. WORRIERS – Imaginary Life – Don Giovanni 7. SORORITY NOISE – Joy, Departed – Topshelf 8. STRANGE WILDS – Subjective Concepts – SUB POP 9. TITUS ANDRONICUS – The Most Lamentable Tragedy – Merge 10. ULTIMATE PAINTING – Green Lanes – Trouble In Mind 11. WESTKUST – Last Forever – Run For Cover 12. VINYL WILLIAMS – Into – Company 13. STOLEN JARS – Kept – Self-Released 14. DAMAGED BUG – Cold Hot Plumbs – Castle Face 15. GWENNO – Y Dydd Olaf – Heavenly 16. DUCKTAILS – St. Catherine – Domino 17. SEAPONY – A Vision – Self-Released 18. TEEN DAZE – Morning World – Paper Bag 19. MYNABIRDS – Lovers Know – Saddle Creek 20. MATILDE DAVOLI – I’m Calling You From My Dreams Loyal – To Your Dreams 21. GIRLPOOL – Before The World Was Big – Wichita 22. WILD ONES – Heatwave – Topshelf 23. J. FERNANDEZ – Many Levels Of Laughter – Joyful Noise 24. SMALL FEET – From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like The Ocean – Barsuk 25. UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA – Multi-Love – Jagjaguwar 26. MOTHER FALCON – Good Luck Have Fun – BitCandy 27. COLD BEAT – Into The Air – Crime On The Moon 28. HEALTH – Death Magic – Loma Vista 29. FAILURE – The Heart Is A Monster – InGrooves 30. JACK AND ELIZA – Gentle Warnings – Yebo
WKNC TOP 5 ADDS
1. BEACH HOUSE – Depression Cherry – Sub Pop 2. DESTROYER – Poison Season – Merge 3. FROG EYES – Pickpocket’s Locket – Paper Bag 4. SILICON – Personal Computer – Weird World 5. SODA SHOP – Soda Shop – Velvet Blue
Phian interviewed with Jokes and Jokes and Jokes before they play at Tir Na nOg Irish Pub this Thursday for Local Band Local Beer. During the interview, Jokes and Jokes and Jokes play several songs live. If you like what you hear, you can check out more from Jokes and Jokes and Jokes on their Bandcamp!
On August 13th, Phian interviewed Morgan from Flash Car before he played at Tir Na nOg Irish Pub for Local Band Local Beer. During the interview, the Flash Car songs “Lady Lindy,” “Summer Storm,” and “Changing Lights” were played. If you like what you hear you can check out more of Flash Car at their bandcamp.
The application to be a DJ here at WKNC is pretty fun, and a perfect example of that is our last “question” on the form: list the steps of making a PB&J and then draw your spirit animal eating that sandwich. It gets pretty rowdy. Here are some of the best spirit animals from our Fall 2015 applications:
Think you can top Sphinx Buscemi and Meer Franco? Start practicing your spirit animal and sandwich making abilities for our next round of applications in Spring 2016!
Tune into WKNC 88.1 FM this week and when the DJ asks for it, call the request lines at 919-515-0881 or 919-515-2400 for your chance to win tickets to these shows! Good luck!
While one of the most engaging parts of Hopscotch is racing from venue to venue to catch your favorite acts, it’ll be hard to find a reason to leave Neptune’s Thursday night.
Kicking off the lineup is David Mueller’s solo electronic project TZYVYX (pronounced civics). Mueller is a member of Raleigh’s Birds of Avalon and Heads on Sticks, but his solo project eschews traditional song structures for experimental electronic soundscapes. TZYVYX builds off of little, using few vocals, sleek synthesizers, and minimal percussion to fill the room. His live performances incorporate the use of projectors and CRT TV sets, creating a powerful atmosphere hard to step away from.
Following TZYVYX is former Asheville local Nick James. James was previously in a Raleigh band, Oulipo, but also has adopted a radically different sound for his solo music. With slow, grinding tempos, his tracks use building chromatic melodies and drones to create a supremely menacing post-apocalyptic atmosphere. As tension builds James sporadically releases that kinetic energy with thick-as-concrete industrial bass punches. It’s startlingly cathartic for music that seems so sparse, but feels natural. Utilizing visuals for most of his live performances as well but had the following to say on them in an interview with The News & Observer: “…with my show, I kind of thought, since it’s built for sound systems – there’s a lot of bass, there’s a lot of heavy, kind of reverberating, cinematic sound – I want visuals, but projections aren’t necessarily high-definition enough. So, I’ve kind of gone with this HDMI, dual flat-screen situation that gives it this kind of high-definition sound environment that, when people are listening to the music and watching the visuals, it’s a much different, musical experience.”
Up next on Thursday night’s lineup is Chicago’s Teklife member DJ Earl. After gaining a steadfast knowledge of Chicago’s juke culture at a young age from other Teklife DJs like Rashad, Spinn, and Traxman, DJ Earl began producing his own sounds that promote a fresh generation of footwork. While Earl was not a part of the official Hopscotch lineup last year, he took the stage of King’s the night before with DJ Paypal and DJ Big Hank kicking off the festival.
Closing out the night at Neptunes is UK producer Mumdance whose energetic, grime dance music will make it hard to leave the parlour to race over to CAM to catch Cashmere Cat.
Local artist, Drake Murphy, from Addor, North Carolina stopped by the studio to speak with us about his latest album and single, upcoming projects, and his performance at NC State’s Packapalooza DH Hill stage.
Born Khalif Diouf, NYC born-and-bred rapper and producer le1f hit the ground running with the release of his first mixtape Dark York in 2012. His standout single, the 5kinandbone5-produced “Wut,” is packed full of quick quips and lively, bopping horns. With his background in dance and choreography, the music video for the single lives up to the hype as le1f revels around scantily clad male models sporting Pikachu masks. The rapper got into a small, but notable Twitter dispute the following year with artist Macklemore, whose hit single “Thrift Shop” bears a similar resemblance to “Wut.”
2013 proved to be a busy year for the producer, as he released his sophomore mixtape Fly Zone in January, signed to Terrible Records in February, dropped an EP in March, and followed up with another release, Tree House, in September. In April of the same year, he performed on the Late Show with David Letterman, becoming the first openly gay rapper to play a major late night show.
All in all, le1f is an eccentric yet grounded artist that’s certainly worth a listen. Check out the music video for “Wut,” bump “Spa Day” off the Hey EP, and ease your way into his style.
Catch him at the fest on Friday night at Kings Barcade.
