WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioAs the city of Raleigh debates to allow food trucks within city limits, EOT talks with mobile food proprietors about their businesses. We also feature an interview with Jeff Murison of the Hillsborough Street Community Services Corporation about economic development on Raleigh’s Hillsborough Street.
Tir Na nOg and WKNC are proud to present Local Beer Local Band this Thursday, which will feature music from River City Ransom, IAMDYNAMITE, and Rocket Surgeon!!! Show starts at 10 p.m., 21 and up, and FREE FREE FREE! Special deals on Local BEER and Tir Na nOg’s mega delicious burgers will be on special as well!
Rocket Surgeon focuses their energy on a fun show filled with audience favorites heavily featuring the 80’s as well as today’s hits with a few wacky twists thrown in to keep everyone on their feet.
This week we cover The love hangover at Kings, we learn about the wooly adelgid and we find out about the psychology of love. We also have sports, news, video game current events, food myths with Kyle Jones, and Lydia Symmons sits down with Tommy Anderson to talk about her music blog, Sunset In the Rearview.
| Artist | Album | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | FORMS | Derealization | Ernest Jenning |
| #2 | SMITH WESTERNS | Dye It Blonde | Fat Possum |
| #3 | I WAS A KING | Old Friends | Sounds Familyre |
| #4 | CHIKITA VIOLENTA | Tre3s | Arts and Crafts |
| #5 | BRAIDS | Native Speaker | self-released |
| #6 | APEX MANOR | The Year of Magical Drinking | Merge |
| #7 | TENNIS | Cape Dory | Fat Possum |
| #8 | DUCKTAILS | Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics | Woodsist |
| #9 | AGESANDAGES | Alright You Restless | KF |
| #10 | WHITE FENCE | Is Growing Faith | Daptone |
WKNC Pick of the Week, February 11, 2011 by Jonathan Newman, WKNC deejay
Musically, this album is more akin to the bands earlier works Where The Shadows Lie and Sword’s Song with the driving guitars and blast beats. They blend the male and female vocals seamlessly over the keyboards and guitars, giving the songs a more earthy, yet powerful tone.
The male vocals have improved dramatically. The vocalist has seemed to have found the perfect line between growling and singing to add a voice that blends both a uruk-hai and a man. The female’s vocals sound like the elves Arwen and Galadriel combined, forming a light sound that compliments the male’s harsh vocals. Together with the lyrics, the music creates a powerful effect that sucks you in, leaving you wanting more.
While all the songs on the album are special in their own right, there are a few songs that one should take notice of, with the first of these songs being “Bow and Helm.”
The song immediately kicks in with dual guitars and a pounding drum beat before filling your ears with the horns of Gondor. The male vocalist speaks softly to us about the land of bow and helm, before the voice of the orc breaks in screaming over galloping guitars about the rise of the dragon. Then it slows down, letting the elf and man sing quietly, before quickly returning to the orc attack of guitars and drums.
“Kärmessurma” is one of the more unique songs on the album, utilizing both male and orc vocals over a driving guitar. Yet what makes it special is the whole song is sung in elvish, making us feel as if we are watching a shouting match between a man and orc, before the female comes in and calms everything down.
The second-to-last song on the album is worth noting. “Doombound” is the last song to use vocals, and it uses them to such an extent that when mixed with the keyboards and guitars, you truly feel the pain that Túrin felt in his last moments. With a catchy hook and painful roars, the song plows on, dragging you down, before lifting you back up with a piano interlude filled with the serene voice of the elf, giving you peace despite the fact that you are doom-bound.
88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week is published in every Friday in the print edition of Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org.
88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week 2/8/11, written by DJ Switch, WKNC deejay
You never think your kid’s ugly. Well, at least you never tell your kid you think they’re ugly. My parents never did. They did say I have a face for radio, but I never quite got what that meant. Either way, there’s no need to lie about the beauty of WKNC’s Double Barrel Benefit compilation, because even though the student radio station put it together, it’s a handsome piece of local music by all objective accounts. Recorded mostly in Caldwell Hall, this album was passed out to the crowd at 88.1’s annual benefit concert as they watched those very same bands bring down the house.
Showing the diversity of Raleigh’s music scene right off the bat is rapper Inflowential’s “Wherever.” It has a cheerful rhythm that reminds of Sugar Ray. As soon as you’re swaying to that, he slips in nonchalantly and starts commanding a pitter-patter of rhymes. Inflowential has an easy mastery of words like Nas or Jay Z, but with none of the intimidating lyrics.
Kid Future has some seriously artful song lyrics, such as “you were born with no blood, wind in your veins,” and the Old Ceremony has that simple beauty that you used to only be able to find in Bob Dylan or James Taylor songs.
Luego are students of the Guthrie school of folk rock, but, like Blitzen Trapper, they bring their modern indie rock sensibilities to give it a modern twist. Don’t let the song title fool you, “California” is an ode to the good old North State, done right by a group of native musicians with true Carolina accents.
Cassis Orange easily became one of my new favorite bands with their contribution, “May, June, July.” Now, normally I don’t like dance music. I think this aversion stems from a childhood of getting rejected by girls at the middle school dances – and an adulthood of getting rejected by some of those same girls at college parties – but this track made me forget all that entirely. It’s sort of like a mellowed-out Madonna, but not so dancey that it loses its beautiful, trippy melody and its mature songwriting.
Yardwork makes order out of chaos with “Hot Balloons.” The guitar solos seem to climb around the impassioned vocals like ivy, wrapping over the pounding snares in an effort to quell this eminent crescendo of emotion. Bright Young Things is a sort of happy hodgepodge resembling something like Kula Shaker or maybe even an experimental-era Beatles.
Like their name, Hammer No More the Fingers is something both indescribable and obvious. You can’t pin down exactly what it is that works for this band, but you know that it works— and “Blanko Basnet” definitely works. The vocals are some of the most unique I’ve ever heard. They have a slight adolescent twill, but still retain the power and resonance to howl above the rich intensity of the song.
No lie, this compilation is beautiful. Me, on the other hand—that might be another story.
88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week is published in every Friday in the print edition of Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org.
After talking about the surprising album release by Radiohead, we recap the Grammys and review the debut album of James Blake.
There’s still time to get your own little piece of Double Barrel Benefit 8, while also supporting your local independent record store!
Compilations are $7, and are now available at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh and Bull City Records in Durham.
WKNC DBB 8 Compilation:
1. “Wherever” Inflowential
2. “Like a Camera” Kid Future
3. “Day That I Was Born” The Old Ceremony
4. “California” Luego
5. “May, June, July” Cassis Orange
6. “Hot Balloons” Yardwork
7. “King of Fools” Bright Young Things
8. “Blanko Basnet” Hammer No More the Fingers
Tracks 1-7 were engineered and mixed by WKNC staff, under the direction of WKNC Sessions Director Eric Scholz, in Caldwell Lounge on the campus of N.C. State University; track 8 was engineered and mixed by Pete Kimosh; all tracks were mastered by Kitchen Mastering in Carrboro, NC, and CD duplication was provided by Triangle Duplication Services in Raleigh, NC.
Schooner @ Kings
Nominated for 2 Grammys in Best Country Collaboration with Vocals and Best Country Instrumental Performance, the Punch Brothers are sure to have a great show!
Rooney, a favorite band of mine from 9th grade, is Beatles-esque pop that has been featured on iconic TV shows like the OCJust in time for spring, we have tickets for the down-tempo electronic sound of Pretty Lights at the Raleigh Amphitheatre on Tuesday, April 19. Tickets for Pretty Lights at the Raleigh Amphitheatre are on sale at LiveNation.com this Friday, February 18 at 10 a.m., but WKNC has them now. Just be the correct caller this week when the DJ asks for it and win a pair of tickets!