WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioLooking for great local music? You never have to look further than Thursday nights at Tir Na Nog Irish Pub for Local Beer Local Band. This Thursday, May 20, WKNC and Tir Na Nog host Durham’s Brett Harris, Mount Moriah from Chapel Hill and Raleighites Jack the Radio. As always, the fun starts at 10 p.m. and it’s free.
The show poster isn’t one of ours, but it’s damn good.
I had the opportunity to acquire tickets to the Josh Ritter concert on Tuesday, May 11 at Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC through the amazing giveaways on WKNC.
We sat on the balcony level, which only somewhat took away from the concert’s intimacy, something I have grown fond of in some of the Triangle’s smaller venues. I knew the night would turn out well as I sat down and found the pre-show music to be Spoon’s Transference. The opening was an adorable 3 person folk group called Dawn Landes and the Hounds, which I found out to be Josh Ritter’s wife’s band. Their pieces were upbeat and about memories, love and lollipops. They were all too excited to show off their new toy, those awesome bells you can play with your feet! I, along with the rest of the full house, really enjoyed their music and the energy they exuded.
Interesting fact about Josh Ritter – he went to Oberlin College (a school I applied to!), intending to major in neuroscience. Instead, he changed his major to American history through narrative folk music. He certainly practiced what he learned in that small Ohio liberal arts college at his show Tuesday night. Songs about war, radio, old men, and stories of the stars filled the air. Ritter and the Royal City Band kept the crowd pleased, whether it be with mournful ballads like “Folk Bloodbath”, to more upbeat and borderline rock numbers, to the Josh Ritter I know and love with “To The Dogs or Whoever” and “Good Man.” No matter the genre of choice, the crowd was extremely responsive to the 5 person band. My only complaint is with the band playing background music at parts– clearly providing musical sounds not produced by any member of the band at that time.
Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band kept a consistent pace of music, usually allowing themselves one slow song and two upbeat folk or twanging southern rock. There was a different feel as Josh Kaufman, of The Hounds, recited Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee to a background of contra bass and steel guitar as provided by The Royal City Band as a set up for the Josh Ritter song “Another New World”. In between songs Ritter kept up a jovial banter for the audience– discussing mustaches, Baby Spice, and his need to brush his hair.
As Ritter left the stage, the crowd of course demanded more. Ritter then played a three part encore consisting of a song dedicated to Matt Douglas of The Proclivities, a love song that included all members of The Hounds and The Royal City Band behind the musical couple, Josh Ritter and Dawn Landes, and of course, “Harrisburg”.
All in all, Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band put on a great show. The crowd loved them, and all of the members of both bands seemed to rightfully enjoy themselves too.
| # | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | HOT CHIP | One Life Stand | Astralwerks |
| #2 | GORILLAZ | Plastic Beach | Virgin |
| #3 | NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB | The Optimist | The Numbers |
| #4 | FOUR TET | There Is Love In You | Domino |
| #5 | VARIOUS ARTISTS | Five Years Of Dirtybird | Dirtybird |
| #6 | JAVELIN | No Más | Luaka Bop |
| #7 | TOBACCO | Maniac Meat | Anticon |
| #8 | SUGAR AND GOLD | Get Wet! | Antenna Farm |
| #9 | FELIX CARTAL | Popular Music | Dim Mak |
| #10 | JES | High Glow | Ultra |
Artspace, the downtown Raleigh-based visual arts center, will hold its 2nd annual Give and Take fundraiser tomorrow evening. Artspace is a non-profit “creativity impresario,” if you will, providing all ages with an accessible and welcoming outlet for artistic expression since 1986.
Tomrrow (Thursday, May 13) will be the 2nd installment of their initiative to provide scholarships to the Artspace Summer Arts Program to area children. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase artwork and donate to the cause. The findraiser starts at 7pm, and local favorites the Bowerbirds are set to perform at 9pm; tickets are available at Artspace (201 East Davie Street), by phone at 919.821.2787, and at the door. Full details are available here.
This week’s rather short episode of SoundOff instead of talking news (weird scheduling of this week’s show) we talk about some of the latest things we’ve been listening to. This week we review the latest from Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record.
Many of you may have heard about the recent flooding in Nashville, Tennessee due to torrential rains. While the rains have come and gone, the water still hasn’t. I visit Nashville frequently to see friends and can’t help thinking now, seeing pictures of flooded streets, how I was just there last in October. Fortunately, my friends are fine; however, many individuals and businesses in Nashville are not. Places I saw just six months ago are now awash with muddy floodwater. The Grand Ole Opry has had to relocate temporarily, and Vanderbilt University has had to postpone their exams.
Nashville is Music City, USA, and it is disheartening to think what might be lost if they don’t receive the help they so desperately need. Clean-up will undoubtedly take time, but it is important that we remember our neighbors to the west and do what we can so they can get back to making music and everyday life as soon as possible. If you’re looking for ways to help, you can contact Hands On Nashville or the Middle Tennessee Red Cross. Nashvillest also has information on their website about ways to help as well as resources for victims in case someone you know or love was affected.
Friday night, WKNC promotions team members headed out to DesignBox Gallery in downtown Raleigh in order to provide a presence at the PBaRt Show and Concert, part of Raleigh’s First Friday. The event was a partnership between Pabst Blue Ribbon and Paul Friedrich, during which local music and other art were showcased. Kellie Ann Grubbs, Monologue Bombs, and Lake Inferior all took turns putting on amazing performances while artists created new works and the WKNC team got the word out about our great programming and support for local creativity.
WKNC koozies were especially popular during the evening, but the promotions team also gave away t-shirts, stickers, and Hear Here compilation CDs with all proceeds going to the Visual Art Exchange. Everyone had a great time and the event seemed to be a great success.
Catch the WKNC promotions team out and about again downtown next weekend, May 15 and 16 at Artsplosure in Moore Square!
This past Saturday, WKNC DJ’s made the trek to Cat’s Cradle to experience the breathtaking and moving music of Beach House. After waiting in traffic for an hour, possibly parking illegally, and missing all but thirty seconds of Washed Out’s set, we made it in and were ready to be swept away by the mesmerizing music of Baltimore’s Beach House.
After much anticipation, vocalist/organist Victoria Legrand and mulit-intrumentalist Alex Scally took the stage and reeled the audience in with “Walk in the Park.” The duo smoothly transitioned from song to song, playing many songs off their recent release, “Teen Dream,” but also keeping the crowd pleased with favorites like “Gila” off of their 2008 album Devotion. The sold out crowd swayed to “Silver Soul” and “Lover of Mine”, but the excitement really heightened when the first notes of “Zebra” kicked in. During the song, lead singer Victoria Legrand, fittingly dressed in black and white, wafted her hands emulating a “black and white horse.”
Adding to the ethereal atmosphere of the dreamy set was the fog emanating from the stage, pastel colored pom poms dangling from the ceiling, and what can only be described as giant, rotating diamonds covered in multi-colored foil which hypnotized the audience and added to the cavernous vibe of the music. As the show wound down, Legrand jokingly asked the audience if they were depressed, and without response, dramatically commenced “Used to Be”. In between songs, the group referred to their first time playing Chapel Hill, at the Nightlight, jokingly commenting they preferred playing for six people. Beach House ended their hour-long set with an incredible “Take Care”, followed by an encore and closing the show with the epic “10 Mile Stereo”.The show was, without a doubt, one of the best any of those in attendance will likely see this year.
I know it’s sad, the prospect of the end of my first year as a DJ coming to a close. But for those of you that don’t know, it is exam week this and next week, followed by that thing called summer. Summer is an exciting season, where I meet relatives and they ask me how stuff at the station goes. I tell them, and then they usually ask if I have ever actually eaten a human. Hah, the nerve!
Anyways, Chainsaw will be alive during this summer, so just because this is my last farewell for the Spring of 2010 doesn’t mean you have to stop listening in. Seriously, when people start ignoring Chainsaw, stuff like in Figure 1 starts to happen. Keep listening to your dose of Rotting Christ, old-school Dimmu Borgir, Goatwhore, Cannibal Corpse, Belphegor, and by listening to Lucretia, Mistress of Destruction’s, show. Seriously, I may wreck the human body to splinters… er, with splinters, but she will tear down the walls of your house. Noobhammer’s 2.0 version of his show is definitely a good tune-in as well.
For those that have been consistently reading these blog posts, I provide you with another comic! I know it’s been a while, but it’s either that or concert gore. And I figured concert gore was exciting. Now, I ran into a bit of trouble with this week’s comic and I’m sure you’ll see why. Just remember: offended people tend to have more tender meat. And everyone likes tender meat.
Question of the Week: “How could I be as cool as Noobhammer?”
“I would play Dungeons and Dragons.” -9th Priest
“I’d grab a foam sword and sing while drinking ale!” –Cannibal Cory
When I come back, I hope your limbs will have regenerated, intestines scabbed over, eyeballs re-socketed themselves, tongue stub re-grown, undisembowled, stitches sewn properly, and bones set straight all so another enjoyable round of shows can begin in the Fall of 2010!
Earlier today Johnny Tunnell (of the Never) dropped by WKNC to chat about one of the newest music projects in the area: The Big Picture. Started up about two years ago between the Tunnell brothers (Johnny and Joah) The Big Picture remained completely unknown until recently. Adding some new members to the band, Heather Tunnell, Nick Radford (Annuals), Leah Gibson (Lost in the Trees), and Alec Ferrell the group is playing only their second gig ever tomorrow evening at the Nightlight in Chapel Hill. The show starts at 9pm and the Physics of Meaning and Josh Mease are also playing.
Johnny and I chatted for awhile (this isn’t exactly a “Mini” exclusive, its almost 40 minutes long) but we did touch on the history of the band, the song writing, and an interesting way in which the band’s music will be released this summer. I am not going to share all, you will just have to listen but included in this interview are three songs recorded by the Big Picture, as well as one Big Picture cover of a Future Kings of Nowhere song. Take a listen:
Local Beat Mini Exclusive: The Big Picture 5/5/10