Categories
Concert Preview

Pneurotics to play at Shack-a-Thon this Thursday!

The Shack is back and the first days of Shack-a-Thon have been great so far! WKNC will continue to be out on the brickyard for the rest of the week raising money with other student organizations for Habitat for Humanity. Come out and support a great cause and visit the WKNC shack! There will be corn hole games, merch to buy and prizes to win!

With all this Shack-a-Thon fun, you might ask yourself, “How can this get any better?!"  Well get excited because on Thursday, September 24, the Triangle’s own  Pneurotics are coming out to N.C. State’s brickyard to play an acoustic set for the volunteers, students, and any one else who wants to come check out this awesome event! The show will be starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday and will be right in front of Harrelson Hall by the WKNC shack.

Come check out the great tunes of The Pneurotics and don’t forget to stop by the WKNC shack during the rest of the week to help us raise money for Habitat for Humanity.

Categories
DJ Highlights

Expand your metal mind

For the past few weeks, I have been playing a set that is quite different from normal metal. Don’t be fooled, it is indeed metal, but it is a thinking man’s metal.

There are so many bands out there in the metal scene all playing the same music that it sometimes makes me lose hope in the metal scene.  Yet there are always those few bands who are bold enough and crazy enough to push not only the metal genre itself forward, but question what it truly means to make music.

I am, of course, talking about the subset of metal including Drone, Doom, Shoegaze, Avant-Garde, and Noise. While these genre names may seem crazy, boring, or downright depressing, they also help push us and question the music. These bands that play these styles are actually one of the few innovators in the metal scene. Where everyone else is trying to sound more brutal with breakdowns and blast beats, these guys achieve true brutality and even evilness with their music. With intricate harmonies layered over feedback, and deep moving lyrics superimposed upon a mournful guitar and lone drum, one can lose themselves in the music. All it takes is some patience and expanding of one’s mind.

And that is what I do during that segment. I force you to open your mind, and to truly question what you know about not just metal, but music in general. For I believe, that to truly be a metal-head, you need not only listen to metal and enjoy the music, but to really embrace it and appreciate all forms of it. For there is so much more out in the metal scene than breakdowns, blast beats, cookie monster growls, and dragons. There is actually true art to be found, and you only need to expand your mind to find it.

Notable Bands:

  • Sunn O)))
  • Boris
  • Rosetta
  • Jesu
  • Ahab
  • My Dying Bride
  • Swallow The Sun
  • Anathema
  • Isis
  • Pelican
  • The Angelic Process
  • Nadja
Categories
Music News and Interviews

The Mars Volta and more ticket giveaways this week (Sept. 21-25)

It’s Shack-a-thon on the NCSU Brickyard, so be sure to stop by and visit WKNC’s radio shack. You’ll also want to keep an ear on 88.1 for these freebies.

Sometimes we get cool giveaways from Live Nation and sometimes we get REALLY cool giveaways. Consider The Mars Volta in the second category. It’s a win-it-before-you-can-buy-it deal to see the experimental/progressive band Oct. 23 at the Disco Rodeo. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. exclusively at LiveNation.com if you don’t happen to be one of our lucky winners.

Other cool giveaways on tap this week include:

  • Holy Ghost Tent Revival with House of Fools Sept. 23 at The Pour House
  • Mae Sept. 24 at Cat’s Cradle

And you don’t need tickets to see The Future Kings of Nowhere this Thursday for WKNC’s Local Beer Local Band night at Tir Na Nog or I Was Totally Destroying It and Luego as we kick off Fridays on the Lawn.

Categories
Non-Music News

The Shack is back!

WKNC will be participating in and will be broadcasting live during this year’s Shack-A-Thon to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.  Shack-A-Thon is an annual event organized by NCSU Habitat for Humanity. The goal of this event is to educate the campus community on the state of poverty housing in this country and abroad. Each year, student organizations build shacks on the brickyard and camp out there for a week, during which they ask students passing by to donate to their shack to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. All funds are then donated to build homes in Wake County and abroad. In previous years, over $25,000 was raised in spare change during Shack-A-Thon.

Here are some pictures from past years of Shack-A-Thon:

WKNC’s shack will be located in front of Harrelson Hall. Come out and visit and help us raise money for Habitat for Humanity. There will also be WKNC merch for sale all week long as well as prize giveaways.

To find more information about NC State’s Shack-A-Thon click here and to find out how to donate to Habitat for Humanity click here.

Categories
Playlists

Top 10: Schooner’s picks

Schooner band members Maria Albani and Reid Johnson have shared their top 10 track lists this week.

Maria Albani: Bass

1.De Cara a la Pared –  Lhasa

2. Scrap ing Past – Atlas Sound

3. Daily Routine  – Animal Collective

4. Leeora- The Sea and Cake

5. Operation- Deerhunter

6. I’m an Animal- Neko Case

7. When I Laugh- The Glands

8. San Cristobal de las Casas- The Swirlies

9. The Ghost of Old Bill Lee- Arthur & Yu

10. Poor Thing-Wes Phillips

Reid Johnson: Vocals & Guitar

1. Old fool- Magnetic Fields
2.  Brothers and Sisters- Wes Phillips

3. Can’t do Nothing Without You-  Danny White

4. Rainy Night Dub- Lee “Scratch” Perry
5. Clapping Yer Hands (ooh la Yeah)- Waumiss
6. She Cracked – The Modern Lovers

7. Pick Me Up on Your Way Down- Patsy Cline

8. I’m Not Saying- Nico
9. Star of Bethlehem Pt. 1&2- Loren Connors
10. All Set – Welcome

Make sure to check out Schooner on Saturday, November 7, for the night show at Duke Coffeehouse for the Troika Music Festival.

Schooner is also playing on October 30 on  N.C. State’s Harris Field. It’s free, so no excuses!
Categories
Non-Music News

EOT04 Raleigh v. Durham 9/14/09

Monday’s episode of Eye on the Triangle focused on the Raleigh-Durham divide and how various people view the two cities, in addition to a couple of segments on SPARKcon, and more.

VIP:
In this week’s VIP segment, Adam Compton interviewed Durham Mayor Bill Bell and Caitlin Cauley spoke to Triangle residents Josef Komenda and Rachel Nabors. I also spoke with our resident Triangle expert, who many of you may remember as WKNC’s general manager last year, Kyle Robb, about the history of the two cities and what he thought about Caitlin and Adam’s interviews.

HEAR THIS:
In Hear This, Kelly Reid gave listeners a sneak preview into the SPARKcon music lineup.

For the full lineup of MusicSpark events, click here. To also listen to an interview Kelly conducted with Telekensis, check out this blog post.

COMMUNITY CANVAS:
In Community Canvas, Mike Alston gave listeners a look into SPARKcon arts, and interviewed Sarah Powers, who works with Visual Art Exchange, to talk about the call for artists at ArtSpark.

WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK:
Jacob Downey sat down with the student of the week, Scott Richardson, former membership president of the N.C. State Chapter of Toastmasters. Richardson discussed his involvement with the organization and the leadership opportunities it provided him with.

SOUNDBYTES:
Caitlin Cauley went around campus asking students what they thought about the University’s athletic program.

Send all your comments, suggestions and nominations for Wolfpacker of the Week to publicaffairs@wknc.org, and check out tomorrow’s blog post about next Monday’s show at 7 p.m.

Listen to episode four.

Categories
New Album Review

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week 8/31

Hear Here: The Triangle Various Artists Flying Tiger Sound, Terpsikhore Records, and WKNC
Drew St. Claire

I’m going to level with you. We write these CD reviews to tell you if something’s good or bad. Whether the stuff in it works or it doesn’t work. Who it sounds like and who it doesn’t sound like. Yet this one, Hear Here: The Triangle, is a different animal. It’s quite literally my baby, our baby actually, seeing as you fund the student radio station that compiled it.

So how can I just pick this thing up with some stylized tweezers and plop it into a genre’s zip-lock bag? I can’t.
It’s too diverse and too unique to its creator. Like the old adage says- you never think your kid’s ugly. Well, I guess I’ll have to abandon the normal objectivity and just tell you how beautiful this kid is.

Fitting to geographic location, the album features three solid hip-hop artists. Kooley High’s track “Can’t Go Wrong” speaks for itself. With beats reminiscent of hip-hop’s golden age and smooth rhymes how could you go wrong?

I bet if you crank this up while cruising down Hillsborough Street you’ll enter a time warp back to L.A., circa 1993. Blount Harvey’s “the Three” is an ode to big, beautiful women accompanied by soulful female vocals and Inflowential’s contribution, “Sherriff”, is a rendition of Marley’s classic reggae hit.

Keeping things particularly intense on the hard rock front are Colossus and Static Minds. With guitar virtuosity that’s taken straight from the Valient Thorr playbook and vocal power that rivals the late Freddy Mercury, Colossus reminds you exactly why they have a copyright on such an epic band name.

Not to be left out is Static Minds. Essentially, they’re the best proto punk band you’ll ever hear, the only difference is they’re from 2009, not 1969.

Here’s a rundown of the other local talents. The Love Language combines the best aspects of I’m From Barcelona and the Beach Boys.

Never’s “Littlest Things” is a crooning acoustic ballad, like a modern version of the Beatles’ “Because”. Despite the grisly implications of Kingsbury Max’s “Custer’s Last Stand”, the song feels very bright and shimmery.
It’s almost like you’re taking a whimsical monorail made of sunlight through a happier version of Dark Side of the Moon. And although Americans in France may give a nod to European aesthetics with their band name, the fuzzy chaos of “No Love For a Prophet” is pure grunge-era Sonic Youth.

I racked my brain over how to typify the other bands, most notably the Rosebuds, Hammer No More the Fingers, and Birds of Avalon. But then, I came to a realization.

Would the Sex Pistols have been punks if they grew up in Topeka? Would Johnny Cash have been the man in black if he lived in Manhattan? Would the B.I.G. be Notorious if he came from the suburbs? No. The fact of the matter is that local bands are great because they are ours.

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.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Pavement Reunion?

I am not usually one for “gossip” (okay, that’s a lie), but I wanted to report it has been confirmed by Entertainment Weekly & Pitchfork that Pavement is reuniting for a benefit show at Central Park SummerStage on September 21, 2010.

This will mark about 11 years since the the band’s final performance.

Anyone up for a road trip?

Categories
DJ Highlights

Sweet Annie Rich on Goodnight, Raleigh!

Several WKNC DJs have been featured on Goodnight Raleigh, and Sweet Annie Rich has now joined the ranks.  Check out this small glimpse into WKNC’s Saturday mornings!

Categories
New Album Review

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week 8/24

Engineers’ latest release a dull effort
Jon Gomes

Shoegaze, in a nutshell, is theme music for dreaming. In a semi-conscious drift, substance gives way to texture. Emotions are established rather than statements. The sound can bloom from a whisper into a wall of reverb-drenched guitars, awash with frothy vocals and crash cymbals. It’s difficult to take it all in, but shoegaze is meant to sweep you away. Sometimes the experience is breathtaking. Other times, it all seems like haphazard noise. The sophomore effort by the British post-rock group Engineers, Three Fact Fader, finds itself vacillating between these two extremes.

Four years have passed since the release of their stellar self-titled debut in 2005. Since then, Engineers have focused on further developing their sound: a meld of ambient post-rock, shoegaze, and psychedelic influences. Though still sonically distinct (especially with the pillow-soft vocals of lead singer Simon Phipps), the end result is a lukewarm album that lacks substance.

Three Fact Fader comes on strong but cannot sustain itself. The opener, “Clean Coloured Wire,” establishes a swirling, smoldering sound which harkens back to their previous album. The song’s latent energy makes it an excellent prelude for the next track.

The album climaxes all too soon with the glorious “Sometimes I Realise.” The first lyric captures the dreamy essence of the song: “Time works slower in red / Flowing back to the start.” The driving bass line of the verse escalates up to the chorus, an afternoon thunderstorm of distortion and drums — easily the best moment on this album.

The cloudburst excitement of “Sometimes I Realise” is quickly dissipated by the next track, melancholically titled “International Dirge.” Slightly somber and flavored with psychedelic flourishes, it’s a decent song but does not mesh well with the established sound of the album. Fader begins to wander at this point with two more slow and sedated tracks.

Thankfully, the energy begins to rise again with “Hang Your Head,” an upbeat number with an insistent beat and huge swaths of guitar chords. Engineers also achieve a similar sense of liveliness with the title track, “Three Fact Fader.” But the sound changes, for the worse yet again, from animated to anemic for the next song.

With the possible exception of the final track, the back half of Three Fact Fader consists of decent yet forgettable songs. There are a few successful moments here and there: the string orchestra section at the end of “Emergency Room,” or the sudden transition in “The Fear Has Gone” from calmness to calamity. Yet overall, these tracks fail to provoke any emotions. Despite the tidal waves of droning guitars and cascading drums, there’s no feeling of majesty that groups like M83 or Sigur Rós accomplish so well.

In the end, Three Fact Fader loses itself in the ennui of shoegaze. Tracks like “Sometimes I Realise” demonstrate what Engineers are capable of, but the album as a whole fails to reach its potential — a disappointment considering some of the excellent parts in some songs. Fader sounds like a dream but it never awakens from its comatose state.

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.