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Festival Coverage

Initial 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival Lineup

INITIAL 2014 HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL LINEUP: SPOON, MASTODON, ST. VINCENT, AND MORE! 40+ BANDS WILL BE ADDED IN JUNE. TICKETS ON SALE NOW

“Hopscotch is now the premiere experimental and underground music festival in America.”—Ad Hoc

Hopscotch Music Festival, recently called “America’s (Secretly) Best Festival” and “the premiere experimental and underground festival in America,” celebrates its fifth anniversary in downtown Raleigh, N.C., this Sept. 4-6, 2014. The festival, noted for its diversity and selective programming, features nearly 160 bands in a wide range of genres. With today’s initial lineup announcement of 115 acts, Hopscotch reaffirms its commitment to showcasing North Carolina’s thriving scene alongside notable artists from around the world. For the fifth year in a row, approximately 40% of the festival’s artists hail from in-state—a figure few, if any, nationally recognized music events can claim. An additional 40 bands will be revealed in the coming weeks.

“While most of our bigger slots are programmed and now public, we chose to break up the lineup to limit information overload,” notes Hopscotch’s founding director, Greg Lowenhagen. “We’ve presented everyone at once in the past, and because the festival is still five months away, we thought it made sense to pull back and reveal artists in two stages. We hope this approach is more welcoming and makes the lineup easier to digest.”

Hopscotch 2014 will be highlighted by two nights in Raleigh City Plaza, the city’s most inviting downtown space. On Friday, Sept. 5, Spoon—prolific pop experimentalists and one of indie rock’s most commercially and critically acclaimed bands—will headline the festival’s main stage. Friday’s bill also features St. Vincent, creator of one of 2014’s best records and most captivating live shows. Lonnie Walker will open. On Saturday, Sept. 6, Mastodon—Atlanta’s perpetually evolving and consistently enthralling hard rock nonconformists—will top a bill with Detroit’s punk pioneers Death and local favorites Valient Thorr.

Some 150 other bands will perform in various clubs during Hopscotch’s three days. A sampler of these acts so far includes: Sun Kil Moon, High on Fire, Thurston Moore, Jamie xx, How To Dress Well, Tony Conrad, Deniro Farrar, Lunice, Power Trip, American Aquarium, Obnox, Lee Noble, The Haxan Cloak, White Lung, Palehound, Ava Luna, Reigning Sound, Sun Araw, Open Mike Eagle, Mapei, Phosphorescent playing solo, and one of former Ween frontman Aaron Freeman’s first performances with his new band FREEMAN.

Remaining VIP and 3-Day passes are available through www.hopscotchmusicfest.com and www.etix.com

This year, Hopscotch’s former day party coordinator, Nathan Price, was promoted to talent coordinator to help Lowenhagen book the festival. “My job was to maintain Hopscotch’s established identity and credibility while offering my take on what I thought would attract fans in 2014,” says Price. “We wanted to highlight artists—both established and emerging—who are making incredible music right now, while also presenting Hopscotch’s usual roster of unorthodox and less obvious festival choices. I think we’ve found that balance so far.”

INITIAL LINEUP
IIII, 6 String Drag, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, American Aquarium, Artificial Brain, Author & Punisher, Axxa/Abbraxas, Ava Luna, Avers, Bedowyn, Blanko Basnet, Blursome, Body Games, Canine Heart Sounds, Coke Weed, Cousins, Dark Rooms, Davidians, Dead Gaze, Demon Eye, Deniro Farrar, Dent May, Diarrhea Planet, Drag Sounds, Death, Eagulls, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Enemy Waves, First Person Plural, FREEMAN, Free Clinic, GEMS, Ghostt Bllonde, Guerilla Toss, Helm, High On Fire, Holygrailers, How To Dress Well, Jacuzzi Boys, Jamie XX, Joe Scudda, KEN mode, Krill, Last Year’s Men, Landlady, Lee Noble, Loamlands, Lonnie Walker, Lunice, Mark McGuire, Marley Carroll, Mapei, Mastodon, Matt Kivel, Matt Northrup, Mas Ysa, Museum Mouth, Mutual Benefit, Nest Egg, New Music Raleigh Presents: Future Shock, Nik Turner’s Hawkwind, No Eyes, No Love, Obnox, Octopus Jones, Open Mike Eagle, Potty Mouth, Power Trip, Palehound, Paperhaus, Phosphorescent Solo, Prince Rama, Reigning Sound, Ryley Walker, Saint Rich, Screature, See Gulls, Soft Cat, Solar Halos, Spoon, Strange Faces, St. Vincent, SubRosa, Sun Araw, Sun Club, Sun Kil Moon, The Haxan Cloak, The Nervous Ticks, The Tills, The Range, The White Octave, Thurston Moore, Tony Conrad, T0W3RS, Valient Thorr, Virgins Family Band, Walin’ Storms, Well$, White Lung, White Laces, Wild Fur, Wing Dam, Winston Facials, Witch Mountain, Wowolfol, Y’ALL, Young Cardinals, YVETTE, Zack Mexico

TICKETS
VIP and 3-Day passes are on sale now at www.hopscotchmusicfest.com/tickets. Each of these passes allows entry into all festival clubs and both City Plaza headlining shows.

In June, along with the release of the 2014 Hopscotch schedule, 1-Day passes will be made available. These passes will allow entry into every Hopscotch show on a specific day and will range from $65–$85.

Individual tickets for shows in Raleigh City Plaza will be made available soon. The Friday, Sept. 5, show featuring Spoon, St. Vincent, and Lonnie Walker costs $40. The Saturday, Sept. 6, show featuring Mastodon, Death, and Valient Thorr also costs $40.

All passes and tickets are limited. To purchase tickets and wristbands, visit www.hopscotchmusicfest.com andwww.etix.com

IMPROVISER-IN-RESIDENCE
Continuing a festival tradition established in 2012 with multifaceted drummer Chris Corsano and carried on by Japanese noise pioneer Merzbow in 2013, Thurston Moore will take over the role of Hopscotch’s Improviser-in-Residence. Moore’s volume of work—from his time in Glenn Branca’s ensemble to Sonic Youth’s legendary catalog to his collaborations with Mats Gustafsson, Jim O’Rourke, Nels Cline, and countless others—makes him one of the most inventive and influential musicians of his generation. No stranger to Hopscotch, Moore visited Raleigh with John Moloney last year to play a day party produced by Three Lobed Recordings and WXDU, and afterwards, they were joined by Merzbow for a special performance. Carrying the improvisational torch to this year’s festival, he will play a full set of his own on Thursday, Sept. 4, and join other bands onstage for impromptu appearances.

MORE TO COME
In the coming months, Hopscotch will add 40 more bands to its official lineup. The festival will also bring a bevy of day parties to downtown Raleigh in September, as well as the second annual SiteWork art exhibition, a photography exhibit, and the inaugural Hopscotch Design Festival.

HOPSCOTCH DESIGN FESTIVAL 
Hopscotch Music Festival and New Kind, the Raleigh-based design and community-building firm, are thrilled to announce the inaugural Hopscotch Design Festival. The first event of its kind to emerge from an acclaimed music event, Hopscotch Design Festival will gather distinguished national talent and notable local contributors to share ideas and foster conversation about how design is shaping the future. Scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 3 and Thursday, Sept. 4, in various downtown Raleigh venues, Hopscotch Design features more than 25 sessions from presenters who work across the disciplines of graphic design, user experience design, urban planning, technology, architecture, music, food, film, and more. With interactive sessions, workshops, and parties, the two-day event will blend seamlessly into Hopscotch Music Festival beginning Thursday evening.

PREVIOUS REVIEWS FOR HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL

“Hopscotch: perfection, indeed” —The News & Observer, Raleigh

“Like most who know of its perfection, I’m almost afraid to gush too much at the risk of jinxing or ruining the best three days of music experiences one can be given. It’s SXSW without the stress, corporate overwhelming smack across the face, and dare I say Raleigh, NC becomes the most special town in the world for this one weekend.Perfectly curated with a blind ear to any buzz, specific genre, or anything else…Hopscotch Festival can turn the biggest music snob cynic into a carefree music lover once again. The word perfect is thrown around lightly all over the place (I misuse it all the time), but that’s the only word to describe this dream of a music festival…PERFECT.”—We Listen For You, Louisville

“Hopscotch Music Festival is one of the best and most eclectic music festivals in America.” —Spin

“In Raleigh Thursday through Saturday, it was all about an extraordinarily cool roster of bands. With streets cordoned off throughout the downtown area, thousands of people … wandered among ten participating music venues, creating a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere.” —Rolling Stone

“Hopscotch Music Festival is fast becoming Raleigh’s cultural center of gravity.” —Raleigh Public Record

Categories
Festival Coverage

4th Annual Moog Circuit Bending Challenge

Moogfest began back in 2004 as a way to honor the ingenuity of Dr. Robert Moog.  The festival began in New York City and has since moved to Asheville where Moog spent the last 30 years of his life. The performing artists are all people who pioneer in their respective fields and have embodied the innovative spirit of Moog.  In addition to the great music, the festival also offers panels, workshops, a film festival, art installations and much more.

Keeping in the spirit of innovation, Moogfest will also host it’s 4th Annual Moog Circuit Bending Challenge. So what is circuit bending?  Circuit bending is the art of creating unique instruments by tinkering with various electronic devices such as keyboards, children’s toys, drum machines, and basically any other electrical device that generates some type of noise.  It is a very experimental and chance-based art form that is the perfect hybrid between music and electronics that so perfectly embodies Moogfest.

Each year the festival receives lots of different entries from people of all walks of life.  They select a few finalists who receive a pair of passes to the festival and the chance to showcase their work.  This year, they received so many great submissions that they had to choose five finalists.  The winners will be chosen on the last day of the festival and the top 3 finalists will win a Moog synth.  To see the finalists, check out the YouTube playlist here.

The circuit bending challenge entrants are tasked with making an instrument that creates new and unique sounds through circuit bending with a total cost $70 or less.  By confining the cost, Moog keeps the competition close to its humble beginnings while forcing entrants to create truly innovative instruments with limited resources.  Be sure to check out the circuit bending finalists as well as all of the other amazing innovations at Moogfest!

Categories
Weekly Charts

WKNC 88.1 FM Charts : April 15, 2014

Top 5 Adds:            

Rank            Artist            Recording            Label            User Supplied Version

1            WYE OAK            Shriek            Merge           

2            FUJIYA AND MIYAGI            “Artificial Sweeteners” [Single]            Yep Roc           

3            DEATH            III            Drag City           

4            DELETED SCENES            Lithium Burn            Park The Van           

5            YOUNG AND SICK            Young And Sick            Harvest           

 

Radio 200:

Rank            Artist            Recording            Label            User Supplied Version

1            CHEATAHS            Cheatahs            Wichita           

2            WHOMADEWHO            Dreams            Volcano-Darup           

3            CASKET GIRLS            True Love Kills The Fairy Tale            Graveface           

4            WILD ONES            Keep It Safe            Topshelf           

5            TYCHO            Awake            Ghostly           

6            PURE X            Angel            Fat Possum           

7            FUTURE ISLANDS            Singles            4AD           

8            WAR ON DRUGS            Lost In The Dream            Secretly Canadian           

9            MAC DEMARCO            Salad Days            Captured Tracks           

10            CLOUD NOTHINGS            Here And Nowhere Else            Mom And Pop           

11            REAL ESTATE            Atlas            Domino           

12            TACOCAT            NVM            Hardly Art           

13            BEAR HANDS            Distraction            Cantora           

14            OWLS            Two            Polyvinyl           

15            INCAN ABRAHAM            Tolerance            White Iris           

16            ETERNAL SUMMERS            The Drop Beneath            Kanine           

17            AGES AND AGES            Divisionary            Partisan           

18            GARDENS AND VILLA            Dunes            Secretly Canadian           

19            MR LITTLE JEANS            Pocketknife            Harvest           

20            BLACK LIPS            Underneath The Rainbow            Vice           

21            ISKA DHAAF            Even The Sun Will Burn            Brick Lane           

22            PERFECT PUSSY            Say Yes To Love            Captured Tracks           

23            KEVIN DREW            Darlings            Arts And Crafts           

24            WHITE HINTERLAND            Baby            Dead Oceans           

25            ODONIS ODONIS            Hard Boiled Soft Boiled            BUZZ           

26            BELLE BRIGADE            Just Because            ATO           

27            EAGULLS            Eagulls            Partisan           

28            COATHANGERS            Suck My Shirt            Suicide Squeeze           

29            BURNT ONES            Gift            Castle Face           

30            LYLA FOY            Mirrors The Sky            SUB POP            

Categories
Band/Artist Profile

Moogfest Artist Spotlight: Dan Deacon

Heading into the end of the night on Friday of Hopscotch 2012, I wasn’t sure I could last much longer. Non-stop concerts and drinking since 8 o’clock the night before had left me drained; yet I stumbled my way into the Pour House and up to the front amongst a crowd of particularly sweaty individuals to witness what I had been told would be the show of the festival: Dan Deacon. It wasn’t more than a few moments into his set that I felt the energy surge back through me, the cacophony of dual drums and glitch beats swaying my body back into movement.

It’s been about a year and a half since that show, and I would still be hard-pressed to think of a show that I have enjoyed more than that one and it’s why, when Dan Deacon was announced as part of this year’s Moogfest line-up, I instantly penciled in my first must-see show. Getting a chance to see him, and subsequently YACHT, is something I would recommend to any friend; thus, I say to you: plan to spend 11 pm to 1:30 am at the New Earth Main Room on Thursday, April 24 for what will surely be a fantastic show.  

Categories
Concert Preview

Slim’s 15th Anniversary Celebration

Slim’s Downtown is hosting 5 amazing nights of music April 15 – April 19. Why? Because we’ve been here for fifteen years and if we didn’t celebrate it would be highly out of character for us.  It has been a long and lovely ride, from what we can remember (and according to the stories we’ve been told about our behavior on the mornings after).  We would like to thank everyone who has made Slim’s their living room away from their living room. You’ve helped us become the community of drunks, musicians, servers and patrons we are today as we look forward to many more great years ahead. Thank you, Raleigh, now let’s get silly.

Tuesday, April 15 (8pm)

Ranch Ghost

Majestico

Turf War

Wool

Wednesday, April 16 (8pm)

The Vibekillers

The Bleeding Hearts

El Dealer

The Backsliders

Thursday, April 17 (9pm)

Whatever Brains

Spray Paint

Friday, April 18 (8pm)

Gross Ghost

American Aquarium

Left Outlet

Paint Fumes

Saturday, April 19 (9pm)

Enemy Waves 

(more tba)

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Ticket Giveaways for Widespread Panic presented by Live Nation

Widespread Panic will be coming through Raleigh this summer, with special guest Galactic. Thanks to Live Nation, WKNC has 5 pairs of tickets to give away!

Tickets will be given away from Monday, April 14 until Friday, April 18.  Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for calls on air to win a pair of tickets!  Tickets for this concert go on sale Friday, April 18at 10 am on Ticketmaster.com, at Ticketmaster outlets, and at 800-745-3000.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Giveaways for the week of 4/14 – 4/20

Keep it tuned to WKNC all week long for your chance to win tickets to any of these great shows below! Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for it, and you and a friend could be hitting up some of the coolest local acts around!

Tue April 15 – Trust with Mozart’s Sister @ Pinhook

Wed April 16 – Yandrew with Odonis Odonis @ Pinhook

Wed, April 16 – Bobby Bare Jr. with Cory Branan @ Cat’s Cradle Back Room

Thu April 17 – Lonnie Walker with Paperhaus @ Kings

Thu, April 17 – Cloud Nothings with Ryley Walker @ Cat’s Cradle

Categories
Concert Review

Pissed JeansPissed Jeans

Thee TsunamisThee Tsunamis

Apache DropoutApache Dropout

The Pinhook | Durham, NC | 4/12/14

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: The Hotelier – Home, Like Noplace Is There

Release Date: February 25, 2014

Record Label: Tiny Engines

Genre: Emo, Pop Punk

I believe the cover can say a lot about an album. This one’s a familiar image, suburbia. Though, it’s not a comforting view. The words of the album title are painted in black across the vinyl panels of this weary-looking house. It’s almost definitely a sarcastic remark. The lawn is overgrown. The hedges are misshapen. The shutters are dirtied. This doesn’t feel like home.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Oh no, another pop punk album about the suburbs.” Well, if there’s one thing that sets this album apart from — those — it’s the writing. The lyrics on a song like, “Your Deep Rest” make that very clear. You don’t have to read too far into them to see the song is about loss, particularly the loss of someone you love. It’s a theme that permeates the whole album. In “Dendron” it’s summed up with the words, “Part of your charm was the way you would push me from all of the traps that I just couldn’t see. Figures the one that was there to have tripped you up would be the one was set there by me.”  For me, these aching moments of regret are the album’s highlights. Where you felt you could have done something more. You could have somehow fixed a hopeless situation.

The Hotelier’s sophomore album, “Home, Like Noplace Is There” was released a couple months ago. While this means I’ve missed the hype train, it also means I’ve had plenty of time to let this record settle. Well, this collection of nine songs has been on consistent rotation, and it still sticks. It’s the kind of emo/pop punk hybrid that hasn’t been a rarity in the past few years. But, it’s much more endearing than most. I think when people look back on the late 00’s and early 10’s era of DIY “emo” music there are only a few bands they’ll remember. Algernon Cadwallader, Snowing, TWIABP, and The Hotelier will be among the most prominent.

In a weird way, this album also shares elements with bands like Third Eye Blind, Blink-182, and Taking Back Sunday. But here, the emotions, the guitar distortion, and the vocals, are all much more raw. What I love about this album is its tendency to conjure up memories in me, like being in middle school, waiting endlessly in carpool lines, or just the feeling of being young and aching to have a purpose, dreaming of living an unhinged life, but still so scared to leave home. It brings back memories of hopping creeks and sneaking into construction homes. The failed relationships that can’t be resurrected, the regret of letting time make its move, the snare of depression. Things that feel so strange to look back on now… “Home, Like Noplace Is There” will surely be looked back on. It’s undoubtedly one of the best rock albums of 2014.

PS: Do yourself a favor. Read the lyrics with this one.

Favorite tracks: “The Scope of All This Rebuilding”, “Your Deep Rest”, “Among the Wildflowers”

-DJ Nasty Nate

Categories
Festival Coverage

Shakori Hills Approaching

There’s only 6 days to go before the Spring Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival kicks off and using excited to describe how I feel wouldn’t do my feelings justice.  If you’ve never take the trip to Silk Hope for Shakori Hills, it’s hard to describe the atmosphere as it’s truly one of a kind.  It’s a family festival yet the community of returning festival-goers that’s developed has grown deep roots, making it a tight knit festival that’s always welcoming new members in.  The lineups the folks at Shakori book (in both spring and fall) bring together an eclectic mix of music from North Carolina and the world that fit together like a seamless coat of many colors.  Many of the bands return festival after festival, such as Donna the Buffalo and Driftwood, while others are performing for the first time at Shakori like Rising Appalachia and Ben Sollee.  Some of the other major acts of this spring’s festival include the Indigo Girls, the Del McCoury Band, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Baloji & L’Orchestra de la Katuba. 

You’ll be sure to find a number of WKNC DJs out at Shakori Hills next weekend.  We’ll have a table with the other non-profit booths; stop by to say hey and to check out the other non-profit tables!  Along with plenty of music, Shakori Hills showcases a plethora of crafts, food, kids’ activities, and workshops in sustainability and music.  More information is available at http://shakorihillsgrassroots.org/.