WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioIf you have been rubbing your hands together in eager anticipation of March’s Local Beer Local Band schedule, you can stop. WKNC and Tir Na Nog have pulled together quite a line up.
March 4 – The Loners, The Demon Beat and The Royal Nites
March 11 – I Was Totally Destroying It, Grey Gray Young and today the moon, tomorrow the sun
March 18 – Sunfold (CD release show) and Mount Weather
March 25 – Let Feedback Ring Festival with Free Electric State, The Bronzed Chorus and Veelee
Photographs by WKNC photographer Katie Hill
Starmount
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
The Jackets
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Small Ponds
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
This morning I had Chapel Hill band Blag’ard come join me for a Local Beat Mini Exclusive to chat about their brand new album Mach II which is being released tonight at the Reservoir in Chapel Hill and at the Dive Bar tomorrow night in Raleigh. The show tonight will feature a magic and burlesque show with Rosie Hellfire and Reverend Spider with Michael Rank and Marc Smith doing an acoustic opening. There will also be free vegetarian chili to warm your bones. The show at the Dive Bar is featuring Asheville art-rock act Solito. Both shows are free.
Blag’ard is a duo and this is their third release and their second LP. We chatted about the making of the album, which was done mostly analogue, and partially recorded at Track and Field Studios. It also came up in our conversation that Adam is the third drummer of the band to have a child while being in the band, a topic which is fairly interesting. In addition Joe chatted about his website Pig Zen Space, a music download Web site with all proceeds going to the artist.
Listen below for more:
Local Beat Mini Exclusive: Blag’ard
1. Here We Go Magic have announced that they will be kicking off their next tour alongside powerhouse act, The New Pornographers and White Rabbits. Upcoming dates include playing SXSW, Coachella, and Bonnaroo. In an effort to expand, the one time music project, turn full-time quintet, has recently signed with Secretly Canadian records. Their sophomore album is set to release sometime this Spring. (via Pitchfork)
2. LCD Soundsystem’s frontman, James Murphy, has unveiled that the follow-up to their critically acclaimed “Sound of Silver.” While on track at hitting the projected March release date, Murphy has also been hard at work on the score of the movie Greenburg. (via Pitchfork)
3. Thom Yorke has officially announced a name for the band that he started playing with as. Now referred to as Atoms of Peace (actually named after an Eisenhower policy during the 50s to promote peace in a nuclear age), the band plans on playing shows in New York, Oakland, Chicago, and at the Coachello music festival. (via Pitchfork)
4. Doves have given details on their upcoming best of album entitled, “The Places Between: The Best of Doves.” A three disc set, the first disc compiles some of their best songs, the second focuses on rare b-sides, and the third (which is a DVD) has a handful of music videos they have released. (via NME)
5. Fleet Foxes singer, Robin Pecknold has revealed that he will be joining Joanna Newsom on her upcoming tour dates in March and April. While Fleet Foxes is currently working on their sophomore album, Joanna Newsom is touring in support of her new (absoultely amazing) triple album, “Have One on Me.” (via NME)
Here are the top 30 albums played in WKNC’S Daytime format over the past week, compiled by Daytime Music Director John Hubbard:
1. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
2. Gigi – Maintenant
3. Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
4. Via Audio – Animalore
5. Olof Arnalds – Vig o Vig
6. Oh No Ono – Eggs
7. Angelo Spencer – Angelo Spencer et Les Hauts Sommets
8. Toro y Moi – Causers of This
9. Soft Tags – Mathematical Monsters
10. Beach House – Teen Dream
11. Hot Chip – One Life Stand
12. Yeasayer – Odd Blood
13. Los Campesinos – Romance is Boring
14. Shout Out Louds – Work
15. Butterfly Bones – Pretty Feelings
16. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
17. Xiu Xiu – Dear God, I Hate Myself
18. Vampire Weekend – Contra
19. Four Tet – There is Love in You
20. Ernest Gonzales – Been Meaning to Tell You
21. Midlake – The Courage of Others
22. Laarks – An Exultation of Laarks
23. Donora – Donora
24. Spoon – Transference
25. Final Fantasy – Heartland
26. Field Music – Field Music (Measure)
27. Golden Triangle – Golden Triangle
28. The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack
29. Fan Death – A Coin for Well
30. Ruby Suns – Fight Softly
Sorry for the delay in this post, but a couple of tests had me bogged down this week. I promise not to carry that into tonight on the Local Beat which will be one hell of a show as we have three hours of awesome Local Music.
At 5 p.m. Chapel Hill band Feeding the Fire is coming in to chat about their new album, titled DisInfoNation, that is being released next Thursday, February 4, at the Local 506. Playing alongside them will be Rocket Surgeon and Big Fat Gap.
At 6 p.m., local favorite Wendy Spitzer is joining me to chat about her new release as well, from Felix Obelix, called The Tick of the Clock, the Beat in the Chest. Last time we had Wendy in I unfortunately was taken out by H1N1 and our old friend Stevo had to fill in. Hopefully I can redeem myself tonight. Felix Obelix just recently signed with Pox World Empire who will be releasing the album. The release show is tomorrow night, Saturday February 27 at the Nightlight in Chapel Hill. The Strugglers will be opening for the $8 show (a free CD comes with the price of admission) and there is a really cool letter writing activity that Wendy and I will definitely be talking about.
At 7pm one of our favorite bluegrass bands, the Kickin Grass Band is coming in to play some live tunes and talk about some upcoming shows.
Also, be on the lookout for our upcoming Local Beat Mini Exclusive with Bla’gard who is releasing a brand new album this weekend. More on that to come!
This is also the last live Local Beat for a month as N.C. State Baseball will be taking over WKNC’s radio waves this Spring. Keep on the lookout for online material for the rest of the Spring!
The following are the top 10 albums played on WKNC’S Chainsaw format over the past week, compiled by Chainsaw Music Director Jonathan Newman:
1. High on Fire – Snakes for the Divine
2. Overkill – Ironbound
3. Ihsahn – After
4. Devin Townsend Project – Addicted
5. Droids Attack – Must Destroy
6. Wrath And Rapture – Wrath And Rapture
7. Anima – Enter the Killzone
8. Sovereign Strength – Reflections
9. Heathen – The Evolution of Chaos
10. Close Your Eyes – We Will Overcome
88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week 2/25
Wrath and Rapture
Jonathan Newman
What happens when you combine power metal with black metal? You get Wrath and Rapture, a Carolina band from Winston-Salem. Though what may seem like an odd combination, actually works quite well. Though the vocals made it sound evil, I still couldn’t help but raise my fist during the bridges because they reminded me so much of power metal, that it brought a smile to my face. Never before have I smiled while listening to black metal. However, the style of music is not the only thing that makes me smile, but the talent that these Carolina boys have with their instruments.
When the CD first opens we have a keyboard intro which reminds me so much of Rhapsody its not even funny, yet it still has you bobbing your head along with it and then just as it slows down to the ubiquitous sound of thunder, a evil voice prepares you for what is to come, but nothing can prepare you for the kick in the teeth that is “The Dirge of Fallen Heroes”. With a powerful guitar and gutteral vocals it prepares you for a black metalness, but then suddenly throws in a power metal keyboard riff which confuses you yet mesmerizes you at the same time. Then the song takes a huge leg left into technical black metal and beats you down. “Disbodiment” mixes about 5 different genres together in one song, but while this may seem disorienting, it actually works quite well and makes one of the most memorable songs in the album due to its sheer chaos. The next three songs are all instrumental that all bleed into one song before beating you in ears with a sonic blast with “A Breathtaking Tragedy”, a straightforward black-core song. Nothing too fancy about it, but it shows that a band can take many different paths and not just have to stick to only one genre. However, besides “Dirge” one of my favorite songs on the whole album is “Cosmic Wasteland” because it sounds like Sonata Arctica and The Faceless wrote and performed the song. I could just picture a knight riding a robot dragon across the cosmos while the song was playing. Very epic.
The only problem with this album is all the instrumentals. There are ten songs on here, and yet half of them are instrumentals and one is a cover song. That doesn’t leave much original material, and this could have made a good EP, as the whole album is only 30 minutes long. It’s still a great release though, and I look forward to see what they put out next.
88.1 WKNC DJ Pick of the Week is published in every Tuesday print edition of the Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org./blockquote>
This week we feature segments based only around Black History month. In VIP Alison talks to member of the Civil Rights movement from N.C. Hear This features the topic of freedom songs, and WoW covers Professor Reavis’ involvement in the movement.
Everyone seems to have had their say about the show at the Pour House Music Hall last Friday, which featured Annuals with support from Gray Young and Bright Young Things. I was there and it rocked.
(Seriously, check Cabbage’s review of the show as well as Karen Mann’s always excellent coverage.)
But let’s not forget the 2/11 Local Beer, Local Band show at Tir Na Nog that featured Bright Young Things with support from Luego and Naked Gods (straight outta Boone).
And let’s not forget the three interviews in one hour preceding that show. That’s right, I shuffled all three of these bands in and out of the studio. Better yet, Bright Young Things played a Jayhawks-inspired version of their own “She Left You Dreaming.” Luego followed with Patrick’s solo version of “Run Away” that will be on their album Ocho, to be released later this year.
Check the interview below – the catch is that you have to sift through to my voice to catch the live songs. But they’re worth it! Enjoy.
Bright Young Things, Luego, Naked Gods interview!
(But wait, there’s more! Free Bright Young Things music at Bandcamp!)