Category: Blog

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Concert Preview

Superchunk to Play Free Show at The Pinhook

DJ DiGiorno and C’est La Bri

Superchunk and Merge Records are both huge institutions for music in North Carolina. We at WKNC consider them to be the foundation of budding local music, and they have helped set the bar for great acts to come from our state.

The following is taken from a blog post written by Merge Records August 19th at 10:32 A.M. regarding Superchunk’s free show at the Pinhook tomorrow night. Their latest album, I Hate Music, hits stores tomorrow, and if you’re in the area, you can pick up both the the album and a free ticket, from one of the Superchunk band members at participating record stores in the triangle.

“Superchunk will kick off their US tour dates in support of I Hate Music in Atlanta on August 22, but Triangle fans will get a release-day treat: the band will play a surprise early show at The Pinhook in Durham on Tuesday, August 20, as part of an “I Hate Happy Hour” event from 6–8 p.m. Admission is free, but you will need a ticket to get in.

To get tickets to “I Hate Happy Hour,” visit one of the local record stores listed below on Tuesday, and follow @mergerecords on Twitter for more opportunities to win. Also, a limited number of tickets will be at the door at 6 p.m. And starting at noon on Tuesday, Mac, Laura, Jon, and Jim will each be taking the helm at a local record store, selling I Hate Music and giving away “I Hate Happy Hour” tickets. See below for a full list of stores that will be giving away tickets to “I Hate Happy Hour,” including information about the stores where Superchunk will be hard at work.

Come celebrate I Hate Music with us at The Pinhook! Have a drink, listen to some upcoming Merge releases, and stay for a live performance by Superchunk! Laura will be manning the bar making a special “signature” cocktail, and we’ll welcome Jason Narducy as the live Superchunk bassist as the band prepares to kick off its tour.

Pre-order Superchunk’s I Hate Music on CD and LP in the Merge store. The album is also available for pre-order at iTunes, where Superchunk’s full catalog is on sale now at a special price.

Get tickets to “I Hate Happy Hour” beginning tomorrow at:
All Day Records^
CD Alley^
Offbeat Music^
Bull City Records^
Nice Price Books 
Schoolkids Records
^ = Superchunk band member selling records beginning at noon”

 

 

Categories
Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-See: Overmountain Men

This is a personal artist spotlight on Overmountain Men by DJ Salinger for Hopscotch.

It’s hard to pick a place to start when beginning to talk about Overmountain Men. The band members’ thick North Carolina roots coupled with the fact that David Childers is a lyrical genius only give a glimpse into the many reasons why Overmountain Men is a musical gem. To top it off, Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers played such a huge role in the formation of the band—(which is enough proof to show just how talented this band really is). Wherever you start, each little bullet point on the list has a long story behind it. To simplify it down a bit, Overmountain Men is a great, foot-stomping folk band from the Charlotte area of North Carolina headed primarily by the extremely talented David Childers. Childers seems to be a very down-to-earth, proper representation of a true North Carolina man that (thankfully for us) never sat his guitar down for too long. The talent and inspiring lyrics that Childers puts forth was what caused a stirring in Bob Crawford to start the collaboration that became Overmountain Men. However, Bob is not the only Avett Brother to take a liking to Childers; the entire Avett Brothers band has covered and performed Childers “Prettiest Thing” online and in concert.

For one man to have such a big influence on a popular modern folk band speaks thousands of words for itself. You better bet that I will be in the audience for their set at Hopscotch this year with my head nodding and my heart pounding.

Favorite Track: “Some Place Along The River” on “Glorious Day”
Playing: Saturday, September 7th between 10 – 11pm at Tir Na Nog

Categories
Concert Review

Show Review: GHOSTT BLLONDE, Virgins Family Band, and Free Clinic

by John Mitchell

 

GHOSTT BLLONDE, VIRGINS FAMILY BAND, FREE CLINIC SUNDAY AUGUST 18, 2013 SLIM’S DOWNTOWN: RALEIGH

I was working at Morning Times in Downtown Raleigh when Mark Kuzio walked up and started smoking a cigarette outside. I took a break from the website I was designing to go talk to him. It turned out that he was playing a show downtown. We planned on meeting up at the venue, and turns out the door dude is a super awesome guy, and he let me in (with large X’s and the if-you-drink-I-will-murder-you speech, of course). I entered just in time to see Wilmington garage pop trio Free Clinic sound-checking their equipment. This new band loves lots of reverb on everything. There’s a casual start to the set, with the band slowly turning their chorus-soaked lead lines and big, jangley chords on their head through a great ear for delay-tastic breakdowns. A competent, yet reserved drummer reigned everything into a nice glow. Though they mentioned they’re looking for a bass player, the atmosphere isn’t in any particular need to be pulled down. They’ve made due and developed an impressive sonic platform that will grow as their songwriting skills do.

Virgins Family Band take the stage next, and I’m impressed again. The toneless guitar and incredible keys make way for two drummers and some very fun bass lines. And while their compositions are much more complicated than those of Free Clinic, the psych-outs a little more reserved. Both bands worked extremely well together on a line-up for reasons that can’t be explained with your ear; it’s all because of the curatorial skills of that fellow I ran into at the coffee shop several hours before. Granted, it’s a little funny to say that, because I usually associate curation with quiet guys that have huge beards, not bombastic and wiry kids. But it’s this guy’s sunny presence, very similar to Iggy Cosky of the Lollipops, that makes all the bands he’s assembled for the show and all the friends he’s amassed in the crowd sync into place.

Ghostt Bllonde is a band that popped up on my radar several months ago through a taped-together cd-r sleeve in the local rack at KNC. There are blown-out tracks withered with melodramatic hooks and way-too-heavy percussion. There was real potential there though; potential to turn these ideas into hooky songs everyone wanted to sing along to. With the recent release of TrashPop//DoomWop, they’ve gotten much closer to that goal. It doesn’t lose the super-saturation or the booming drums that made the band unique to begin with, but it amplifies everything with comparatively razor-sharp articulation. Live, the energy was brought back up to the level of those first recordings, without all the necessary straining to understand what’s going on. That’s a great thing, because this isn’t heady music at all. It had the crowd, which consisted of 30-something guys with dreads, girls who’d look less out of place at the Architect, and a fair amount of plainclothes college kids bopping their heads, pulling out lighters during the slow points, and best of all, smiling. It’s going to be hard not going to Slim’s Downtown for another three months. In a few hours, the general divey-ness, tiny corner stage and half-a-foot of room I had to stand in started to feel like home.

Categories
Weekly Charts

Top Ten Afterhours Albums for 8/19

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

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

3 MODERAT    ”II”    (Mute)

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

5 ETIENNE DE CRECY    "Beats N Cubes Vol 2"    (Win)

6 HERMITUDE    ”HyperParadise”    (Elefant Traks)

7 PALENKE SOULTRIBE    ”Mar”    (Self-Released)

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

9 MINDELIXIR    ”Lunology”    (Outside)

10 JON HOPKINS    ”Immunity”    (Domino)

Categories
Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Torres

This is a personal artist spotlight on Torres by The Walrus.

Hopscotch is the festival that it is because of its uniquely diverse and maddeningly obscure lineup of artists; it is truly a music critic’s festival. Each year, I find myself discovering artists who may easily have slipped under my radar were it not for their introduction to me through the festival.  Often times, it is simply because I stumbled into their show, or I tagged along with a friend, or I was just trying to fit a show in between two others. Regardless, there is always an artist who shines amongst the masses with a wonderful breakthrough performance and it is what I have begun to search for each year. After much deliberation, my personal prediction for the dark horse of this year’s Hopscotch is Nashville-based Torres.

With her self-titled debut album, Mackenzie Scott exhibits a raw, gritty sound reminiscent of early PJ Harvey. Her voice evokes a sense of urgency that, when accompanied by her beautifully dark lyrics, elevates her songs to such a high level of significance. It is the significance of someone mustering all of their willpower to speak, to sing out, and to rid themselves of the emotionally draining fears that haunt their mind. Tracks such as “Mother Earth, Father God” follow you, gripping your mind with the haunting intensity that an artist can so rarely produce.

What makes Torres all the more mesmerizing is that it is Scott’s first album and she is only 22 years old. It is the promise of even more that has latched me to her music and her wonderfully sincere songwriting. For all of this, I will not be missing Torres during their Saturday night performance at Deep South.

Favorite Tracks: “Mother Earth, Father God” / “Jealousy and I”

Playing: Deep South, Saturday 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM

Categories
Non-Music News

EOT122 Beat Battle 8/6/13

In this edition of “Eye on the Triangle” we hear an interview with Crystal Taylor about The Underground’s Beat Battle Aug. 7 at Deep South and a Southbound 85, one of the bands performing at this year’s Packapalooza.

Listen to episode 122.

Categories
Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Kurt Vile and the Violators

Wakin on a Pretty Daze by Kurt Vile
Wakin on a Pretty Daze

This is a personal artist spotlight on Kurt Vile and the Violators by DJ DiGiorno for Hopscotch.

Kurt Vile has become the unofficial king of Philadelphia. The mayor even recently declared August 28th as Kurt Vile Day in Philadelphia. His calming brand of guitar driven, lo-fi stoner rock has become a banner that they fly proudly. His soothing voice crooning over the wash of sound creates this warm, spacious atmosphere that you can reside in forever.  His music is slow, but in the best possible way. It’s reminiscent of those long, uneventful summer days that we remember fondly.

Kurt Vile began writing solo songs as a teenager.  In 2005, he formed The War on Drugs with Adam Granduciel.  They released their debut studio album Wagonwheel Blues in 2008.  After a tour with the album, Kurt Vile left the band to focus more on his solo efforts although he has been featured on some of their recent recordings. After leaving the band, Vile then released his debut solo album Constant Hitmaker in 2008 which is comprised of home recordings from 2003-2007. The record began to get some recognition as he began to start touring. In 2009, Vile released God Is Saying This To You… which again consisted of previous home recordings.

Vile was then signed to Matador Records in May 2009. By October, he had released his third album Childish Prodigy.  This was the first time he had gotten a chance to sit down in a studio and write a cohesive album as opposed to compiling various old home recordings.  Childish Prodigy was our first introduction to his backing band, The Violators. Vile was garnering attention increasingly as he joined artists such as Thurston Moore and Dinosaur Jr. on tour.  Vile released his fourth album Smoke Ring for My Halo in 2011 to critical acclaim.  The album made many end of the year lists and is considered his breakthrough album.

This past April, Kurt Vile put out his latest effort Wakin on a Pretty Daze.  The album received very positive reviews including Pitchfork’s coveted “Best New Music” award. Wakin on a Pretty Daze is one of Vile’s most beautiful and spacious albums to date.  With most songs surpassing the six minute mark, it is evident that this album has a complete disregard for time. The album is comprised of 11 songs and clocks in at about 70 minutes long. Vile takes you into his warm world where time is irrelevant. The subtle intricacies of his work demands your attention: the guitars fading in and out, the shifting of beats, or just the shuffling or leaving out of parts. The lyrics on this album are his most self-aware to date as he comments on his music and his life. It makes for a comedic as well as introspective listen.

Kurt Vile and The Violators always deliver an impressive live performance. Vile performs from behind his mass of hair as The Violators stay right in step and flesh out every corner of the song. The warm, timeless atmosphere of the songs are a great place to reside in on a late September night. This is an absolute must-see show for Hopscotch Music Festival.

Favorite Tracks: Never Run Away, Wakin on a Pretty Day, Shame Chamber, Baby’s Arms

RIYL: Ariel Pink, War on Drugs, Dinosaur Jr., Guitars, Chillaxing

Playing: Lincoln Theatre, Thursday September 5th 12:00 AM-1:00 AM

Categories
Festival Coverage

Hopscotch Must-Sees: Ryan Hemsworth

This is a personal artist spotlight on Ryan Hemsworth by Prism for Hopscotch.

Recently, I read New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica’s piece about his experiences at 2013’s Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. In the article, he makes a distinction between the first day (largely hip bread-and-butter indie rock) with the second and third day’s more electronic and experimentally focused bills. And he specifically cites 23-year old Halifax DJ Ryan Hemsworth as being responsible for finally kick[ing] this year’s edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival into gear, saying that his music made “bodies [get] to moving” for the first time that weekend.

I found this observation funny, because I had a completely similar experience with Ryan at this years’ South By Southwest music festival. After my then-underaged ass found my way into Pitchfork’s 1100 Warehouse showcase on Thursday, I caught Sky Ferreria and Zebra Katz’s sets amidst a crowd of bearded tweeting industry bros who gosh darn it were not going to dance for the effing likes of Sky Effing Ferreria. But when Hemsworth went up and immediately dropped what I think was his remix of Frank Ocean’s “Thinking About You,” the lame music crit crowd went wild for the first time, dancing for his whole set and into Disclosure, who followed him.

So while I’ve established that the man accomplishes things live, I should also mention that Ryan Hemsworth has been kicking around the internet for a few years at this point. His oeuvre includes his many diverse and amazing remixes (go YouTube his version of Craig David’s “Fill Me In” or maybe his snare-filled twist on ‘Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely’ from the Backstreet Boys) as well as a slew of originals and production he’s done for rappers such as Shady Blaze, Deniro Ferrar, and Main Attraktionz.

There’s a lot I could say about him, but I think the best thing to say is that if you enjoy dancing and contemporary sample-based electronic music, his headlining set at CAM will be where it’s at at Hopscotch. The conflict between him and Earl Sweatshirt at Lincoln will be tough for some, but I’ve seen the man live before and I know where the fun will be at. See you at CAM.

Best Songs: Frank Ocean – Thinkin Bout You (Ryan Hemsworth Bootleg)

Playing: CAM: 12:30 AM Friday night

Categories
Weekly Charts

Top 10 Afterhours Albums for 8/12

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

2 MODERAT    "II"    (Mute)

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

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

5 HERMITUDE    ”HyperParadise”    (Elefant Traks)

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

7 BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS    ”Legend Remixed”    (Tuff Gong-UME-Island)

8 MINDELIXIR    "Lunology"    (Outside)

9 JON HOPKINS    ”Immunity”    (Domino)

10 PALENKE SOULTRIBE    ”Mar”    (Self-Released)

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Giveaways for the week of 8/12 – 8/18

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.

Monday, August 12 – Royal Bangs @ Kings

Wednesday, August 14 – Wild Cub with Natalie Prass @ Kings

Wednesday, August 14 – Daughn Gibson @ Local 506

Wednesday, August 14 – Chain and the Gang with WAUMISS @ Pinhook

Thursday, August 15 – Heaven with Midnight Plus One @ Pinhook

Friday, August 16 – Rapper Big Pooh with Supastition @ Kings

Saturday, August 17 – Tift Merritt @ NCMA

Sunday, August 18 – Julia Weldon with Willower and Counting Station @ Pinhook