Category: Blog

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Festival Coverage

Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance: October 10-13,2013

It’s that time again! Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival is a music lovers’ paradise full of four days, four stages, and over 60 bands in beautiful Chatham County.

 

This family-friendly celebration of music, dance, art, and education is bringing to the stage a number of great artists including: Yonder Mountain String Band, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Donna the Buffalo, International Blues Express with Sidi Toure and Cedric Watson, Preston Frank, Bombadil, The Old Ceremony, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Mipso, Birds and Arrows, and much more!

 

A full performance schedule can be found here! Tickets and information can be found here!

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Non-Music News

EOT127 Government Shutdown 10/1/13

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.

For weeks, the threat of a government shutdown has been looming as our nations leaders struggle to agree on a budget plan.  But what does it mean now that it’s actually upon us?  Andrew has the story.

Bike sharing is a common feature in urban areas.  With programs in London, New York City, Copenhagen, and many other cities finding great success, NCSU is seeking to get one started right here on campus.  Desirae has more.

Dave interviewed a professor right here at the College of Natural Resources about the varying nature and functions of fires.  Here’s the second in a series of their discussion.

Transit in Raleigh and the Triangle has been a hot topic in the past few months, and there are lots of options for our future.  Michaela explores one of the potential changes to our city.

Next week is the Raleigh municipal election, and the Wake County school bond is being put to a vote.  Sydney has the story.

Listen to all this, plus news from Andrew, weather with Katie, Ben with sports and a community calendar.

Listen to episode 127.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Hopscotch Interview: Speedy Ortiz

Boston-based indie noise pop Speedy Ortiz is a band that went from playing house shows to packing Kennedy Theater at Hopscotch 2013. This of course was spawned by the release of their debut album Major Arcana that received overwhelming positive reviews including “Best New Music” from Pitchfork. Within a week, this Boston quartet found themselves growing too large for the house shows they had originally booked for themselves. Speedy Ortiz have become one of our favorites here at WKNC as they have been put into heavy rotation since their release a couple months ago. They stopped by Wristband City the morning after their show to talk a bit about their set, their rise to fame, and food.

Listen here.

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Weekly Charts

Top Ten Afterhours Albums for 9/30

1 HERMITUDE    ”HyperParadise”    (Elefant Traks)

2 Dameron    ”Bronx Showdown”    (Self-Release)    

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

4 Pretty Lights    ”Color Map of the Sun”    (8 Minutes 20 Seconds)

5 RUXPIN    ”This Time We All Go Together”    (n5MD)

6  HECTIC ZENITHS    ”Hectic Zeniths”    (Self-Released)

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

8 MODERAT    ”II”    (Mute)

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

10 NIGHTMARES ON WAX    "Feelin’ Good"    (Warp)

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Hopscotch Interview: Lapalux

Electronic music has been on a swift rise throughout the past few years. While some folks may write it off due to the bro-step phenomenon, that discredits all of the fantastic sounds that are coming out of this still burgeoning scene. When one looks into electronic music, the beacon of light–at least for me–comes from Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label based out of L.A. Flying Lotus, grandnephew of the legendary Alice Coltrane, rose to prominence with his jazzy, psychedelic take on electronic music. Since his rise to fame, he’s used his label Brainfeeder to put the spotlight on equally talented acts from across the globe.

One of the label’s most recent standouts is Essex’s Lapalux. The U.K producer crafts a mesmerizing blend of soulful R&B with contemporary beat music to create a hazy, yet infectious brand of electronic music. Lapalux’s music strikes both the mind and the body. He’s capable of both slow-brooding, pensive beats and outright bangers.  Throughout the past few years he’s been honing his craft, releasing four EPs since 2008. But his full-length debut on Brainfeeder, Nostalchic, displays a full realization of these aforementioned themes. Heady beats are embellished by smooth vocal samples and shuffling percussion, making for an entrancing listening experience.

Lapalux sat down with me for an interview on the first day of Hopscotch, hours before his stellar set at The Pour House. Lapalux was embarking on his first U.S. tour, so we spoke a bit about the difference between stateside shows and those in other areas of the globe, how his style came about, and some of his major influences when he first began making music.

Listen here.
Categories
Music News and Interviews

Giveaways for the week of 9/30 – 10/6

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.

Tuesday, October 1 – Surfer Blood with Team Spirit and Andy Boay @ Cat’s

Wednesday, October 2 – The Dodos with Dustin Wong and First Person Plural @ Kings

Thursday, October 3 – Colossus with The Beggars @ Kings

Thursday, October 3 – The Koolest with Floco Torres @ Pinhook

Friday, October 4 – Kooley High with Kourvioisier and Oxymoron @ Kings

Saturday, October 5 – Heads On Sticks album release with Body Games and Matt Northrup @ Kings

Saturday, October 5 – Elf Power with Organos and The Wigg Report @ Pinhook

Saturday, October 5 – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with Restavrant @ Cat’s

Sunday, October 6 – Saint Rich with Wool @ Pinhook

Sunday, October 6 – Unknown Mortal Orchestra with Jackson Scott @ Cat’s*

 
Categories
Concert Review

Period Required, But No Sign of Full Stop

I met with Adult. (the period is required) in a cozy, backstage room at Kings Barcade no bigger than a broom closet after watching them sound check. The Detroit-based duo were some of the friendliest people I met at the festival, and perhaps the most insightful. You see, they’re no newcomers; they’ve been putting out records since the 90’s, and with that time they’ve encountered a broad range of experiences, challenges, and knowledge. In my interview, they shared some of their experiences with me, both good and bad, and how they affected them as artists and as people. I went to their performance later that night and was blown away by how they captivated the audience. For Adult., music is more than just a paycheck or putting on a show, it’s a genuine passion for the art of music, and they don’t seem to be stopping any time soon. Check out the audio clip of our interview for more!

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Crystal Stilts Interview

Crystal Stilts stopped by the WKNC studio before their show with Deerhunter to speak to Walter-Ego and Prism about their new album Nature Noir, non-existent rooms, the inherent dangers of doing 90’s covers, and Snoop Dogg.

Listen here.

Categories
New Album Review

New Daytime Music

Ski Lodge / Big Heart

A lot of bands get compared to the Smiths, but this charming band really, REALLY sounds like the Smiths. The lead singer even has the last name Marr. That being said, Ski Lodge isn’t a cheap imitation of an iconic band – they sound more like what might happen if the Smiths were still making new music today. Nothing groundbreaking, but definitely worth a spin.

 

Willis Earl Beal / Nobody Knows.

Willis Earl Beal is troubled – and he’s asking the tough questions with a voice as smooth as butter (that is, when it’s not a guttural growl). Needless to say, this is a dark and emotional album but very mesmerizing. The collab with Cat Power provides one of the only upbeat tracks, but what the album lacks in pep, it makes up for in SOUL, man.

 

Belle and Sebastian / The Third Eye Centre

This is a pretty diverse collection of “B-sides and rarities” from their time with Rough Trade Records between 2003 and 2010. Also a few interesting remixes. Overall, an interesting look at how the band’s sound has changed over time.

 

King Krule / 6 Feet Beneath the Moon

I’m not gonna lie, I’m not really into King Krule. But maybe you are, and that’s fine! Yay diversity! Anyway, this album is meditative, reverb-y, and propelled by Archy Marshall’s thick-accented London drawl. Would fit well into a chilled-out set.

 

 

Categories
Concert Review

Show Review – Pinback

Pinback’s recent performance at the Cat’s Cradle on Tuesday, September 17th was one that I was looking forward to.  I was excited to see a band that I had followed for a few years, and I was especially curious as to how they would perform live.  On their records, Pinback tends to create a unique, layered, mesmerizing sound that’s got consistent rhythm and tons of reverb, the latter two being especially true on their album, Autumn of the Seraphs (2007).  I’ll admit that their albums can be somewhat fatiguing with the similar repetition of sounds in many of their songs, along with bold and (after a while) brash vocals.  However, I didn’t expect their live performance to be as exhausting as it was.  Most songs were extremely rushed, including some of my favorites such as “Microtonic Wave,” “Barnes,” and “Good to Sea.”  The reason for this change in tempo is unclear, because it certainly did not make them sound better.  Perhaps they were tired of playing them or felt they needed to bring more energy to their set, but I really felt this wasn’t the best decision on their part.

There were some highlights to this performance, however.  I enjoyed the pulp sci-fi, somewhat campy collection of videos that played throughout their set; it really created a sense of surreal, other-worldliness that matched well with their sound.  Rob Crow, the lead singer of the band, came into the audience and all the way back to the venue with his wired microphone, causing the entire audience to quickly step over the extension cord as he continued to walk around singing the song.  This was funny and entertaining, but overall the stage performance the musicians gave was fairly stagnant. Overall, I wished the songs could’ve been played at the pace that’s on the albums.