Category: Blog

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Concert Preview

Carolina Grown Preview Nov. 8

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Songs of Water Press Photo

In this week’s installment of Carolina Grown  I’ll be joined by Songs of Water, a brilliant experimental folk group from Greensboro who will be performing at The Pour House on November 14. 

I’m incredibly excited to kick things off with Songs of Water, an act that my predecessor Adam Kincaid has been heralding for years now. This eclectic group of musicians bring in a wide array of influences that somehow coalesce to create a unique blend of world music and folk traditions with experimental tendencies. Their name couldn’t explain the band in a better way, as their songs are universally appealing and free-flowing, taking shape around their surroundings rather than a pre-determined mold. Hammered dulcimers and orchestral arrangements are no strangers to this band’s music, hell their last album The Sea Has Spoken featured over 30 instruments throughout its duration. To put it simply this seven-piece band are purveyors of immense music that retains an earnest and personal demeanor.

Be sure to stay tuned at 6 p.m. for Wolfpack women’s basketball season opener vs. St. Bonaventure.

Categories
DJ Highlights

Employee of the Month October 2013: dJ/dx

dJ/dx is our first ever DJ of the month! While she’s not currently up on the schedule for DJing, she has earned the title by being the single most helpful, charismatic, motivated youngin we have in our studio. She just a month ago, and she’s already on everyone’s radars for being the coolest cat in town.

dJ/dx channeled her past sound experience from working at a music venue/coffee shop in high school to help upperclassmen and sound engineer, DJ John, work to create sound for our past Fridays on the Lawn with Stu McLamb of The Love Language, Loamlands, Jonny Alright, and Virgins Family Band. She’s even committed to our next Fridays on the Lawn, featuring Naked Gods and Ghostt Bllonde!

There you have it. Tune in every first Tuesday of the month to find out the next employee of the month!

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Jackson Scott in the WKNC lounge

Jackson Scott “Sandy” – WKNC’s The Lounge

When Fat Possum artist Jackson Scott came by knc’s studio for an on air interview after his Chapel Hill debut performance at the Cradle with Unknown Mortal Orchestra on Oct 6th, 2013 we felt it more than necessary to stick a couple camera’s in his face and tell him to play. 

The psych-rock virtuoso out of Asheville ended up playing a stripped down 3 song set as a part of KNC’s new video series The Lounge. 

“Sandy” is just the first installment of the show, be on the look out for more to be premiered soon!

You can also check out our first episode with Daniel Bachman.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Categories
Weekly Charts

Top Ten Afterhours Albums for 11/04

1 VARIOUS ARTISTS    ”Verve Remixed: The First Ladies”    (Verve)

2  ULTRAISTA    ”Ultraista: Remixes”    (Temporary Residence)

3  SLOW MAGIC    ”Triangle”    (LebensStrasse)

4 MODERAT    ”II”    (Mute)

5 MINDELIXIR    ”Lunology”    (Outside)          <- LOCAL

6  MACHINEDRUM    ”Vapor City”    (Ninja Tune)

7 ALLUXE    “Nomad”    (Electronic Creatives)

8 BOTANY    ”Lava Diviner (Truestory)”    (Western Vinyl)

9 ETIENNE DE CRECY    ”Beats N Cubes Vol 2″    (Win)

10 Dameron    ”Bronx Showdown”    (Self-Release)          <- LOCAL    

Categories
New Album Review

New Local Music

Eston Dickinson – Knave of the Heart

Some solid indie-pop tunes from this Raleigh-based band. There’s a bit of a doo-wop feel to some of the vocal melodies and they’ve got a nice swing to them. A few catchy as hell tracks hidden within this album!

Peter Lamb & The Wolves – Humble Pie

An incredible jazz album from this Raleigh band. Recorded live at Humble Pie, this recording perfectly captures the whimsical energy abound at this band’s shows. Some wonderful swing oriented jazz songs with some powerful, soulful vocals to round out the mix. Incredible stuff regardless of your affinity for jazz music.

This EP comes from one of the state’s most widely acclaimed bands in recent years. While they’ve not made too many waves in the Triangle, this family band of sorts (husband/wife vocal combo with brothers/brother in-laws on rhythm) was signed to Columbia last year but still puts out some wonderful folk-rock music.

 

Toon & The Real Laww – You Know The Name/End The Beginning

A double EP from this Durham-based hip-hop duo that showcases their varying styles. Toon boasts a playful punchline-rap approach that occasionally delves deeper into his personal life in an unapologetic manner. The Real Laww on the other hand delivers a booming demeanor that exudes confidence atop party ready beats.

The new solo project from Annuals bassist Mike Robinson, this is an awesome display of some sincere indie rock music. Relatively straight-forward in its approach, FPP’s music speaks for itself with deep vocals and lush instrumentation.

Like a wine drunk Ghostt Bllonde, Bridges gets into some deeply personal territory while creating some fantastic shoegaze leaning indie rock. The songs are raw and visceral, they feel like knee jerk emotional reactions that display a sense of urgency that simply can’t be faked. Great stuff. 

 

Schooner’s newest LP is filled with catchy melody driven indie rock that you’ll constantly try to get out of your head. But give it up, it’s probably not going to happen. There’s a bit of a folk croon that guides these songs along, but there’s a guttural sort of intensity in the instrumentation that creates a perfect dichotomy between the two musical realms.

LOCAL ARTIST OF THE MONTH

 

Mipso – Dark Holler Pop

A fantastic new album from this bluegrass/folk group. Dark Holler Pop finds Mipso with a far more defined and mature sound, one that’s likely resulted from their recording the album with Andrew Marlin of Mandolin Orange. It stands in the center of the intersection of contemporary poppy folk music and traditional bluegrass roots music.

Categories
Concert Preview

Carolina Grown Preview: Nov. 1, 2013

As we come upon another week, we’re preparing for another two full hours of fantastic local music with Carolina Grown! This week is an awesome one, as I’ll be joined by one of my favorite local acts Gross Ghost as they talk about their brand new album Public Housing that was released this week on Odessa Records. I’ve also got local community members Corbie Hill and Chris DeFusco joining me to talk about their First Friday event “Let Feedback Ring.”

“Let Feedback Ring” will take over the first hour of Carolina Grown, I chat with Corbie, Chris and Matt, a representative from Legends Nightclub to get some details about the inception of this now monthly event. “Let Feedback Ring” has been Corbie’s brainchild for a few years, but at Hopscotch the name was used to promote a massive day party at Legends Nightclub that hosted 13 acts throughout the day. Now the two have teamed up with Legends to continue this wildly successful series, bringing Ghostt Bllonde, Le Weekend and Corbie’s band Alpha Cop to the Legends stage (and catwalk!) on Friday, Nov. 1. Throughout the hour we’ll hear music from some of the performers from the First Friday show as well as from the Hopscotch showcase while we chat about the group’s involvement in the community, how it all got together and where they plan to go from here.

Gross Ghost will be joining me throughout the second hour for a segment I’m incredibly excited about. Gross Ghost has been a longtime favorite of mine since they released their first EP Lip City a few years ago, now the band has just released their second full length record Public Housing and finds themselves swiftly picking up steam in the local scene. With a solidified lineup and a fresh approach to their straight-forward hook-heavy indie rock, Gross Ghost is ready to ascend to prominence on the heels of this incredible album that chronicles the highs and lows of broken relationships and life’s constant uncertainties. We’ll chat a bit about the writing process within Gross Ghost, the struggles of laying your emotions on the line and some of the ins and outs of being in a “buzz band.”

Categories
Weekly Charts

Top Ten Afterhours Albums for 10/28

1  SLOW MAGIC    ”Triangle”    (LebensStrasse)

2 IKONIKA    ”Aerotropolis”    (Hyperdub)

3  ULTRAISTA    ”Ultraista: Remixes”    (Temporary Residence)

4 VARIOUS ARTISTS    ”Verve Remixed: The First Ladies”    (Verve)

5  MACHINEDRUM    ”Vapor City”    (Ninja Tune)

6 BOTANY    ”Lava Diviner (Truestory)”    (Western Vinyl)

7 GOLDROOM    “Embrace [EP]”    (Vitalic Noise)

Goldroom – Embrace Lyrics

8 MINDELIXIR    ”Lunology”    (Outside)           LOCAL

9  GOLD PANDA    ”Half Of Where You Live”    (Ghostly)

10 ALLUXE    “Nomad”    (Electronic Creatives)

Categories
Non-Music News

EOT129 People-First Tourism 10/22/13

In a few weeks, there are several elections taking place in Wake County. One particular contest is the Morrisville City Council. Last week we brought you an interview with candidate Steve Rao. This week, Michaela sat down with Vinnie Goel.

People-First Tourism

Dr. Duarte B. Morais, a professor in the College of Natural Resources has started a very special project that seeks to change the way we see tourism. Nick has the story.

Listen to all this, plus national and international news from Andrew and Sydney, weather with Nick, Ben with sports, and a community calendar.

Listen to all this, plus national and international news from Andrew and Sydney, weather with Nick, Ben with sports, and a community calendar.

Nick Savage and Andrew Eichen bring you another edition 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.

Listen to episode 129.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

WKNC’s first Lounge!

Today marks the launch of WKNC’s new and ongoing video series entitled The Lounge.

After having so many great artists from North Carolina and around the country stop by our studio we thought it would be a shame not to share their unique, intimate performances with the our listeners to repeat on their electronic devices over and over again.

This first episode features recently relocated american finger stylist Daniel Bachman, now currently residing in Chapel Hill. His ethereal Hopscotch 2013 performance at the Long View Center and day party collaboration with Pelt at the Raleigh Rose Garden caught our attention–but Bachman had long been catching the attention of others, read what Indy writer Grayson Currin had to say about his music.

You’ll be able to find his and other performances at WKNC’s youtube account. Be on the look out for our next session coming up with Asheville resident and Fat Possum artist Jackson Scott.

~enjoy~

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Categories
Music News and Interviews

Interview: WOOL

WOOL is very promising band from Raleigh on the cusp of releasing their first EP, Delta, this Friday, and they stopped by the After Work Special for an in-depth chat with DJ e baby and myself, Spaceman Spiff.  We discussed their songwriting process, the happenstance nature of musical discovery on the internet, and their myriad of creative influences.

The band brought their instruments and played gorgeous renditions of “Mountains” and “Stars.”  I’ve seen WOOL live several times in the past few months, and I was always struck by the beautiful noise they made: lovely dream pop songs, enveloped in hazy guitars, that build to rapturous crescendos.  The acoustic versions they played were intimate and confessional: the pop underbelly of the songs were brought to the foreground.  We played their recorded single “Bulletin Air,” and the band debuted their recorded version of “Delta.”  If the other two songs on the EP sound this great, we’re truly in for a gem.

WOOL’s EP Release Show is this Friday, October 25 at Kings Barcade with See Gulls and Derek Torres of T0W3RS.

Listen here.