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Miscellaneous

5 Christmas Albums That Don’t Suck

With at least half of your local radio stations broadcasting the same overplayed Christmas songs non-stop, the sappy Hallmark element of the season can seem inescapable. To help you survive these last couple of days, here are five albums (and links!) that make spending extended periods of time with your family seem more bearable:

My Morning Jacket “Does Xmas Fiasco Style”

Bright Eyes “A Christmas Album”

Parenthetical Girls “Christmas.”

Sufjan Stevens “Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas”

Gruff Rhys “Atheist Christmas”

– Happy holidays, y’all –

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Giveaways for the week of 1/6 – 1/12

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.

Wednesday, January 8 – Songs: Molina – A Memorial Electric Co with Loamlands @ The Pinhook

Thursday, January 9 – Totally Slow with The Bastages and The B-Side Project @ The Pinhook

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Thursday, January 9 – Perfect Pussy with Whatever Brains and Davidians @ Kings Barcade

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Friday, January 10 – Mods & Rockers Revue with Archbishops of Blount Street and The Kinksmen @ The Pinhook

Friday, January 10 – Orquesta Gardel @ Kings Barcade

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Friday, January 10 – Cracker with Camper Van Beethoven @ Cat’s Cradle

Saturday, January 11 – Mipso with South Carolina Broadcasters @ Kings Barcade

Saturday, January 11 – Spider Bags with Midnight Plus One @ Cat’s Cradle Back Room

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Sunday, January 12 – Cate Le Bon with Kevin Morby @ Cat’s Cradle Back Room

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Categories
Local Music Music News and Interviews

January’s Local Artist of the Month: Hiss Golden Messenger

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Hiss Golden Messenger

is a true testament to the musicianship that resides in the Triangle. Both in a live setting and on the record, Hiss Golden Messenger is a roll call of many of the great musicians who come together under Durham songwriter M.C. Taylor and Brooklyn recordist Scott Hirsch to make something incredible.  The albums are a careful work of genius that brings together a wide-range of genres that together scream “North Carolina.”  Their most recent effort Haw brings together some of the best of the best to create their fullest, most beautiful album yet.  Seeing Hiss Golden Messenger at their show at Haw River Ballroom was such an incredible treat.  The Triangle came together for a night of music led by some of the giants of the local scene who brought to life this music that is so wholly North Carolina.

Taylor and Hirsch have released 4 albums as Hiss Golden Messenger including last year’s Haw.  Named for the river that strikes right through the heart of North Carolina, the album is their most adventurous to date as the duo expanded and enlisted the help of some old friends.  The band consisted of Megafaun’s Phil Cook, The Black Twig Picker’s Nathan Bowles, and William Tyler.  Each of these men is a great musician in their own right and came together to round out Taylor’s incredible vision perfectly.  Like their previous albums, Haw brought together wide array of different genres including folk, blues, country, and soul.  While Hiss Golden Messenger is a champion of an older country era, the music is universal and draws people that have never before been a fan of these genres.  As such, Haw was incredibly well received by people of all genres as it made the rounds on both local and national end of year lists.

On January 14th, their second album Bad Debt is being reissued after coming to an untimely end.  All copies of the original CD edition were destroyed in a warehouse fire during the London riots in 2011.  Bad Debt was written during the time of the collapse of the global economy.  Now after its symbolic demise, these songs will see the light of day 5 years later.  While we may not know what the future of the global economy may hold, these songs still hold weight as we look towards the not entirely cheery future.  But the future may be a bit brighter with Hiss Golden Messenger reminding us we aren’t alone in our struggles.

Tune in to hear our interview with Hiss Golden Messenger during Carolina Grown on January 17th as we discuss what lies ahead for them.

Check out a review and listen to a track off of Bad Debt on Pitchfork.

Hear the interview now.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Matthew E. White Interview

Matthew E. White stopped by to chat with WKNC’s DJ DiGiorno before his Dec. 14 show with Howard Ivans at King’s Barcade.

Listen here.

Categories
New Album Review

New Daytime Music

The Moth & The Flame // “&”
((electro pop))
Just a fantastic balance between the dark and languid and the aggressive and driving. Intelligent rhythms and great vocals set this release apart.
 
The Ian Fays // "The Most Spectacular Party"
((indie pop))
I don’t usually go for the quaint cutesy stuff, but The Ian Fays’ whimsy is rooted in a strong sense of sincerity. Their twin harmonies and minimal accompaniment make their sound completely original.

Males // “Males Males Males”
((garage pop))
Top notch hooks with that oh so beloved bratty garage aesthetic all the kids are clamoring for these days.

Sebastian Grainger // "Yours to Discover"
((electro pop))
Ex-member of Death From Above 1979 does not sound much at all like his old band. Some decent hooks in here, but it ultimately sounds like he’s trying too hard.

Static Jacks // “In Blue”
((power pop))
For anyone who just can’t get enough of Weezer.

Cut Copy // “Free Your Mind”
((indie electronic))
Not too many groups are brave enough to tackle the rhythms of acid house like Cut Copy. 
Categories
Music News and Interviews

The Love Language Interview

Stu McLamb and Autumn Ehinger from The Love Language stopped by WKNC to talk with DJ DiGiorno about their Dec. 6 and 7 set of shows at King’s Barcade with Sylvan Esso. Catch their conversation, which includes recorded versions of the songs “White Rabbit” and “Hi Life.”

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After the interview, they stepped out of the studio and into the lounge, where they performed “Faithbreaker” and “Golden Age” as part of WKNC’s “The Lounge” video series.

And did we mention The Love Language is headlining the first night of WKNC’s Double Barrel Benefit 11 on Friday, Feb. 7 at Cat’s Cradle?

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Sylvan Esso Interview

Sylvan Esso performs at the 2013 Hopscotch Music Festival

Local-ish indie rockers Sylvan Esso spoke with DJ C’est La Bri in advance of their Dec. 6 and 7 performances at King’s Barcade with The Love Language.

Sylvan Esso on WKNC

Categories
Festival Coverage

Shakori Hills Purchases Their Festival Site!

Just a week ago, December 10th, two non-profits jointly purchased the 73-acre farm land that is the site of the Shakori Hills Music Festival. Also known as simply “Shakori” or “GrassRoots,” this four-day festival in Chatham County, NC takes place twice a year. Shakori brings together thousands of local people and beyond for several days of music, participatory dance, craft vendors, a kids’ area, delicious food vendors, a healing arts tent, a sustainability forum, and the beautiful Chatham County countryside. 

“We have had two angel investors since we found this site in 2002,” explains Shakori Hills GrassRoots festival founder, Jordan Puryear. “They have generously held on to this land until we could grow, and until we were able to finally raise the necessary funds to purchase the site. We wouldn’t have done it without them, or the festival-goers that helped us raise the downpayment last year. It’s been such a great community effort – as they say, ‘It takes a village.’“

“We would love to build a permanent indoor dance pavilion so we can have more events throughout the year,” says Sara Waters, Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival Coordinator. “We will be able to include the community by adding more educational programs like camps and workshops, bringing local artists and educators in to share their talents. Now we can work on improving the property so that we can bring all of our dreams to life.”

Now that the amazing folks that run the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festivals own the grounds, the opportunities abound and people of the Triangle, Triad, and beyond can look forward to even more cultural arts offerings for our community to enjoy!

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Carolina Grown Podcast: Texoma w/ Magnolia Collective & Kenny Roby on Dec. 13

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Last week’s Carolina Grown was easily the busiest to date, but when you’ve got so much to fit in for the last show of the year there’s no excuse not to go all out! The first hour of the show was comprised of three rootsy acts from the area that are coming in at various stages of their career. While Kenny Roby sits atop his local throne as one of the standout members of the Alt-Country scene thanks to his work in Six String Drag, acts like Magnolia Collective and Texoma are just finding their footing.

Throughout the hour I spoke first with Kenny Roby about the differences between approaching his songs as a solo artist as opposed to a member of a full band. Roby performed an intimate take on “Tired of Being In Love,” before the focus switched over to the folks in Magnolia Collective. We then spoke a bit about the inception of Magnolia Collective and how it’s grown from their humble start with weekly jams at Carrboro’s The Station. Magnolia Collective then performed a brand new track from their forthcoming full length, set for release sometime next year.

Lastly, we moved onto the newest band of the bill with Texoma. Texoma’s songwriter Zach Terry was one of the original members of Magnolia Collective and we spoke about the differences between working with such a large group as opposed to a “dust-rock” trio. Texoma recently released a self-produced self-titled EP, and having only been a band for 2 months we naturally discussed the difficulties and excitement that comes along with being in such a swiftly moving project. To close out the hour Texoma performed an unreleased track titled “Mary Anne.”

Check out all three performances and interviews.

Categories
Non-Music News

EOT135 Best of 2013 12/10/13

This week we present a very special edition of Eye On the Triangle: our best of 2013!  We bring you our favorite pieces from the past year all in one episode, our final one for this year.

With a university as big as NC State, there are bound to be some people with interesting and amazing careers.  Our own Gene Zhirnov found one earlier this year and sat down with him for an interview. 

The United Nations is a massive organization that involves the cooperation of many countries and people from around the world.  Jake sat down with an ambassador from New Zealand this year.

Needless to say, the Hofmann Forest sale has been generating a lot of controversy over the course of the past year.  Earlier this year, prior to the revelations of the past few months, Dean Watzin of the College of Natural Resources spoke with Deondre about the forest and her college. 

NC State students are constantly doing really big things in this world.  Just before this semester started, Andrew had the privilege of interviewing Christina Hammock, an alumna who now works for NASA, via a phone call from her then-assigned location in American Samoa.

Here at WKNC, we premiered a new Youtube series this Fall, and it’s definitely worth checking out. 

Listen to all this, plus national and international news from Andrew, your forecast for the next week, and a community calendar.

Nick Savage and Andrew Eichen bring you another semester of “Eye on the Triangle,” live each Tuesday at 7 p.m. on WKNC 88.1 FM and wknc.org/listen and available as a downloadable podcast, starting on January 14th, 2014.

Listen to episode 135.