WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student Radio
Quasi burst onto stage amidst a flurry of bird sounds, with bandmates and former spouses Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss taking places behind their respective instruments, huge grins on their faces.
On June 7, 2024, Knocked Loose played at The Ritz in Raleigh for their tour promoting their new album, “You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To.” The metalcore band hailing from Kentucky has properly solidified itself over the past half-decade within the hardcore hall of fame. With their brutal riffs, poetically miserable writing and satisfying band synergy that beckons stadium-spanning mosh pits, Knocked Loose is truly a force to be reckoned with.
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | CANDY | It’s Inside You | Relapse |
| 2 | CAVE SERMON | Divine Laughter | Self-Released |
| 3 | SELBST | Despondency Chord Progressions | Debemur Morti |
| 4 | REPLICANT | Infinite Mortality | Transcending Obscurity |
| 5 | ULCERATE | Cutting The Throat Of God | Debemur Morti |
| 6 | THOU | Umbilical | Sacred Bones |
| 7 | FALLINGWITHSCISSORS | The Death and Birth of an Angel [EP] | Zegema Beach |
| 8 | HOPLITES | Παραμαινομένη | Self-Released |
| 9 | FINAL RESTING PLACE | Prelude To Extinction [EP] | DAZE |
| 10 | WHITECROSS | Fear No Evil | Dark Star |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | BASSVICTIM | Basspunk | Self-Released |
| 2 | ABADDON | Liar | Geometric Lullaby |
| 3 | KILL ALTERS | Suffocating Xpansion | DEATHBYSHEEP |
| 4 | THE PEPPERWOOD ENSEMBLE AND ATP | train of thought. | Self-Released |
| 5 | CAR CRASH AND SIREN | VARIOUS ARTISTS | Lost Frog |
| 6 | HAKUSHI HASEGAWA | “Gone” feat. KID FRESINO [Single] | Brainfeeder |
| 7 | FAX GANG AND PARANNOUL | Scattersun | Topshelf |
| 8 | KISS CARE AND PAR | Fan Club [EP] | Poclanos |
| 9 | MUEH | His | Self-Released |
| 10 | ABADDON | Perfect Fake | Geometric Lullaby |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | ABADDON | Liar | Geometric Lullaby |
| 2 | TURQUOISEDEATH | The Obelisk | Self-Released |
| 3 | MUEH | His | Self-Released |
| 4 | ABADDON | Perfect Fake | Geometric Lullaby |
| 5 | HALOGEN STAR | Pressure Points [EP] | Vivarium |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | NXWORRIES | Why Lawd? | Stones Throw |
| 2 | DEEM SPENCER | all these crying birds [EP] | drink sum wtr |
| 3 | TOKIMONSTA | “Switch It” feat. GAWD & Cakes Da Killa [Single] | Young Art |
| 4 | ROZET | “Feelings Aren’t Facts” [Single] | Young Art |
| 5 | MO TURK | “Refresh (Single)” [Single] | Self-Released |
| 6 | KHAL!L | HEART: Melodies Of The Eternal Flame | EQ |
| 7 | GROOVY | Crying In The Club [EP] | Warner |
| 8 | TIKI JENKINS | “Who Told You (Single)” [Single] | Self-Released |
| 9 | DENZEL CURRY | “Hot Ones” feat. TiaCorine & A$AP Ferg [Single] | Loma Vista/Concord |
| 10 | CADENCE WEAPON | Rollercoaster | MNRK |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | MARIAS, THE | Submarine | Atlantic |
| 2 | THEE SACRED SOULS | “Lucid Girl” [Single] | Daptone |
| 3 | CATPACK | Catpack | Tru Thoughts |
| 4 | KAZY LAMBIST | Moda | Cinq 7/Wagram |
| 5 | TIM DALY | “Driftin'” [Single] | Crown Jewel Clique |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | AUDREY POWNE | From The Fire | BBE |
| 2 | KAMASI WASHINGTON | Fearless Movement | Young |
| 3 | SHELLY BERG | Alegria | ArtistShare |
| 4 | AROOJ AFTAB | Night Reign | Verve |
| 5 | SARAH HANAHAN | Among Giants | Blue Engine |
| 6 | JONATHAN BARBER | In Motion | Vision Ahead |
| 7 | GERALD CANNON | Live At Dizzy’s Club: The Music Of Elvin & McCoy | Woodneck |
| 8 | BADBADNOTGOOD | Mid Spiral: Order [EP] | XL |
| 9 | PAULA MAYA | Mar Da Minha Terra | Yellow House |
| 10 | KEN PEPLOWSKI | Unheard Bird | Arbors |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | AROOJ AFTAB | Night Reign | Verve |
| 2 | SHELLY BERG | Alegria | ArtistShare |
| 3 | JONATHAN BARBER | In Motion | Vision Ahead |
| 4 | GERALD CANNON | Live At Dizzy’s Club: The Music Of Elvin & McCoy | Woodneck |
| 5 | PAULA MAYA | Mar Da Minha Terra | Yellow House |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | MEAN JEANS | Blasted | Fat Wreck Chords |
| 2 | ADRIANNE LENKER | Bright Future | 4AD |
| 3 | GLITTERER | Rationale | Anti- |
| 4 | MANNEQUIN PUSSY | I Got Heaven | Epitaph |
| 5 | SPRINTS | Letter To Self | City Slang |
| 6 | YUNGATITA | Shoelace & A Knot | Self-Released |
| 7 | BLACKWINTERWELLS | mortal | Amuseio |
| 8 | DANNY BROWN | Quaranta | Warp |
| 9 | KYLE MARTUCCI | Late Night Thai | Tooch |
| 10 | MEI SEMONES | Kabutomushi [EP] | Bayonet |
| 11 | MILAN RING | Mangos | Astral People/PIAS |
| 12 | MINT FIELD | Aprender A Ser | Felte |
| 13 | MYRA KEYES | Flower In The Brick | Self-Released |
| 14 | OFFICE DOG | Spiel | New West/Flying Nun |
| 15 | POWERWASHER | Everyone Laughs | Strange View |
| 16 | ROSIE TUCKER | Utopia Now! | Sentimental |
| 17 | SLEATER-KINNEY | Little Rope | Loma Vista/Concord |
| 18 | STALEFISH | Stalefish Does America | Happen Twice |
| 19 | SWEET PILL | Starchild [EP] | Hopeless |
| 20 | YEULE | softscars | Ninja Tune |
| 21 | BLADEE | Cold Visions | Trash Island |
| 22 | BRISTLER | Cascades At Play [EP] | Mint 400 |
| 23 | BUTCHER BROWN | Solar Music | Concord Jazz/Concord |
| 24 | CHEEKFACE | It’s Sorted + Sort Of (B-Sides) | Self-Released |
| 25 | CHERRY GLAZERR | I Don’t Want You Anymore | Secretly Canadian/Secretly Group |
| 26 | CRUMB | AMAMA | Crumb |
| 27 | CZARFACE | Czartificial Intelligence | Silver Age/Virgin |
| 28 | GLASS BEACH | Plastic Death | Run For Cover |
| 29 | GOAT GIRL | Below The Waste | Rough Trade |
| 30 | GOTTS STREET PARK | On The Inside | Blue Flowers/PIAS |
| # | Artist | Record | Label |
| 1 | THE SOFTIES | “I Said What I Said” [Single] | Father/Daughter |
| 2 | ISLANDS | What Occurs | Elf |
| 3 | JAPANESE HOUSE, THE | “:)” [Single] | Dirty Hit |
| 4 | SWIM SURREAL AND ZERO 7 | In The Half Light | Make |
| 5 | WHY BONNIE | “Dotted Line” [Single] | Fire Talk |
| 6 | MODEL CHILD | Get There | PopCan |
| 7 | SARAH KINSLEY | “Last Time We Never Meet Again” [Single] | Verve Forecast |
Oppression is a funny thing, but then again so are humans – the more your press and restrain a spirit, the stronger it grows.
East Berlin was no different.
Pirate Radio blossoms across the airwaves, ringing throughout the darkened corners of tenements and squats – The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, The Clash, Buzzcocks, and Ian Drury burst through the wall with a blast of pure, unadulterated adrenaline.
It was a shockwave to the restricted, highly controlled world of the DDR, a select group of kids saw their break in the clouds to build a new reality from the ground – or rather, boots up.
Beyond adopting the leather, studs and ‘can-do’ d.i.y. spirit of the movement, these kids began to form bands – circulating outside contraband and inside underground paraphernalia within a loosely organized, but painfully tightknit community across the DDR far beyond East Berlin.
Tim Mohr chronicles the burgeoning punk movement within the DDR from the first girl to spike her hair to the fall of the wall and the birth of Krautrock through “Burning Down the Haus.”
More than glimpse behind the Iron Curtain, Mohr paints a moving portrait of rebellion and reinvention in life or death situations, a revelation spurred on by chains and spikes.
When I first read this post, I wasn’t in a really good place; I was struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to find the drive to keep pushing forward in a world that feels exceedingly futile. In many ways, this book helped me see beauty in the human experience again.
These kids were angry, and rightfully so, but they found hope for a better world within their anger.
They turned that anger into action, they turned life itself into an act of defiance.
These young punks weren’t just surviving the impossible, they made an active choice to live in the face of inscrutable danger.
Beyond the music, beyond the fashion, beyond the shows and squats that’s what stuck with me long after reading – and I hope it will stick with you too.
For those of you looking for an auditory companion to the listening experience, the “Too Much Future” compilation album of DDR punk from 1980-1989 is what I found most aligned with the reading.
Be forewarned, the material is explicit…but if you’re expecting kisses from grandma on a punk album, I can’t help you.
Indie-Country-Outlaw Jesse Daniel comes out of the gate swinging with 2024 release “Countin’ The Miles.”
I have had the distinct pleasure of seeing Daniel and Co. in Dunn, NC last year to which he did not disappoint, and this album is no different.
A Coastal California cowboy of his own making, Daniel revels in an artful preservation of the country sound, an amalgamation of genre conventions everywhere from Buck Owens to Waylon Jennings.
Simply put, Jesse Daniel makes damn good country.
That being said, Daniel is a live artist through and through – the album is good, but it pales in comparison to what he and his band are able to accomplish on stage.
Tracks like “Golden State Rambler” and “Cut Me Loose” are fun, driving tunes – but something is missing from them.
The chicken-picking on “Cut Me Loose” is jaw dropping in a decidedly Jerry Reed manner, but cut on a slick digital master feels slightly hollow.
Some music needs the grit of a tape, some music needs an amp’s fuzz or the shuffle of a crowd to truly sing and I think that’s the case for Jesse Daniel’s latest effort.
It’s a good album, it’s a danceable album – but it’s too clean, it’s too good.
A hardscrabble man in his own right, Daniel cut his teeth drumming in punk bands before falling into a spiral of addiction and brushes with the law.
The tumult of his past lends itself to a genuine, hard earned grit absent from most mainstream country, but he loses that edge in the utter perfection that “Countin’ The Miles” is.
“Countin’ The Miles” may be some of his finest songwriting to date and his band has never sounded cleaner, but as a long-time listener it only feels like the tip of the iceberg as far as his music is concerned.
This album is a perfect first foray into not only his catalogue but the genre itself; approachable and digestible, Daniels makes no qualms about what he’s there do to.
But Jesse Daniel is an artist who needs to be seen – or rather heard – to be believed.
So strap on your dancing boots and go find him at a honky tonk…or for those of us more locationally challenged, I suppose his live album “My Kind of Country Live at the Catalyst” will have to do.
I first heard of Wilco when I was about fifteen years old.
At this age, I was meeting with a weekly writing workshop to share our own work and discuss the work of those we admired. We would print out poems and short stories to pour over and pick apart. Our small group was led by the local author Frances O’Roark Dowell, who still to this day provides me with a fountain of wisdom and inspiration.
One summer day, Frances brought the lyrics from Wilco’s “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” She handed out the printed sheets of paper and we took a moment to read.