Categories
New Album Review

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week 2/3

Animal Collective releases best album yet
Seth White

Named after the famous Maryland venue, Merriweather Post Pavilion is Animal Collective’s ninth record and its finest one to date.

It’s hard to describe the sound of AC to someone who has never heard them. Their songs have only a thin layer of typical structure and enough melodic repetition that may turn away your average listener at first. But much like Radiohead’s Kid A or Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot after a few listens your mind reaches past the barriers of traditional music and discovers the real genius ahead.

On its latest album, the band continues to experiment with all possible sounds blending psychedelic, electronic and progressive rock into new sounds all their own. “In the Flowers” but the turn it takes after that is what makes this album so special.

The vocals of Avey Tare (David Portner) and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) then become reminiscent of The Beach Boys and The Beatles and combined with the high pitch synthesizer and the pulse beat drum welcome you to their own style.

The following track, “My Girls,” captures of the essence of the album as a whole. It builds a slow start that rises to a peak that isn’t there. Instead you are left drifting pleasantly from one note to the next until they slowly disappear. The lyrics, “There isn’t much that I feel I need / A solid soul and the blood I bleed,” retract to innocent childish ideas and routines, the overall theme.

“Summertime Clothes” starts out with a militaristic stomp which then glides to a catchy verse–chorus–verse outfit and back again. At the center of the song, the varied and competing vocals will cater to any of AC’s former fans needs and will attract the attention of first time listeners.

The album ends on one of their best, “Brother Sport,” a phenomenal upbeat closer about moving forward.

Animal Collective has continually changed their sound from one album to the next. Even though each album has been wonderful in it’s own way, Merriweather Post Pavilion takes the cake by combining all the best previous elements together to find a perfect niche for the band.

Merriweather Post Pavilion won’t catch everybody. Listeners who hear bits and pieces will be lost in confusion, but those who truly take the time to let this album run it’s course will be left nothing short of inspired. And if nothing else at least take a look at the cool album artwork.

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

Annuals Performing at Schoolkids Today!

Need to recover from your Superbowl hangover and/or get over the Monday Blues? A possible remedy would be to check out the Annuals performing for free in studio at Schoolkids Records . Show starts at 6pm.

-The Promotions Team

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Gettin Busy With Benzi pt. 2

Dj Benzi x Plain Pat x Kanye West: Sky High – A We Got The Remix Special Edition

After teasing fans with a streaming preview that was available for only one day, the finished product is finally available for download! Sky High features 21 Kanye tracks that have been remixed by top-notch producers and mixed by DJ Benzi. The first half of Sky High has hip hop sound while the last half has a more electronic feel. So after you finish breakin your neck to the first half of the mixtape, go ahead and diversify your bonds with the electronic sound of the latter half.

Favortie Tracks: Sky High (remix) ft. Kid Cudi, Good Morning (The Kickdrums Remix), Champion (Nick Catchdubs Remix), Flashing Lights (Diplo Remix), Addiction (Kenny Dope Remix), Electric Touch (Steve 1der & Mighty Mi Remix), Love Lockdown (Tom Wrecks Remix), Homecoming (Discotech Remix), I Wonder (Scottie B Remix)

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Gettin Busy With Benzi

If you are familiar with Dj Benzi then you know that most of his mixtapes are best described as re-mixtapes. Fear and Loathing in Huntsvegas, The New Deal and Sky High are some of Benzi’s latest projects. I’ll talk about Sky High in part 2 of “Gettin Busy With Benzi” since it can also be categorized under Afterhours.

Fear and Loathing In HuntsVegas – We Got The Remix: Special Edition

DJ Benzi and producer, Diplo, hook up with Paper Route Records (see the Fader Magazine article from October 2008) to create what has to be one of the best mixtapes of 2008: Fear and Loathing In HuntsVegas. This special version contains remixes by Diplo, Emynd, and The Knocks.

My favorite remixed tracks include Rollin (Diplo Remix) by Jackie Chain ft. Jhi Ali which features a haunting sample taken from KRS-One’s Step Into A World (Rapture’s Delight). Bama Gettin Money (Diplo Remix) by PRGz and Soul Glo (The Knocks Remix) by PRGz are equally addictive. (hear the original mixes of Rollin and Bama Gettin Money featured in Fader Magazine.)

The original instrumentals hold their own against the remixes and, in some cases, surpass them. Travelin by Dawgy Baggz ft. Money Addict & B. Dewitt, Shots by Untamed ft. Dawgy Baggz and Grind Baby by X.O all boast innovative instrumentals. Mali Boy ,the producer of the original tracks, deserves just as many props as Benzi. For a relatively amateur producer, his instrumentals are damn good.

While not the most socially-conscious compilation of music, Dj Benzi’s blends along with mind-blowing instrumentals guarantee an hour of non-stop head nodding.

Dj Benzi x 10 Deep: The New Deal

The New Deal is Dj Benzi’s latest collabo with 10 Deep. Does anyone know what exactly 10 Deep is? I thought it was a clothing brand but apparently they produce mixtapes too. Go figure. Anyway Dj Benzi does it again along with ridiculously bangin instrumentals! The mixtape is studded with star power, featuring Wale, Kidz In The Hall, Kanye West, Charles Hamiliton, Blu, Skyzoo and so many more.

My favorite tracks are Party Works by Donnis, 2nd Time Around by Wale ft. Brother Ali, Cool, Relax by Kidz In The Hall ft. Jay Electronica and (yet another) Rollin (Remix) by Jackie Chain ft. Kid Cudi.

This joint has a little something for everyone, from the hardcore Underground heads to the Baltimore Club fiends.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Ticket Giveaways Feb 1st- 7th

WKNC’s Promotions Team is coming at you with some awesome ticket giveaways! Listen in all week to win tickets to the following shows:


Citizen Cope playing Feb 2nd and 3rd  (Lincoln Theater)

Brett Dennen with Angel Taylor playing Feb 5th (Cats Cradle)

Toubab Krewe playing Feb 6th (Cats Cradle)

Appetite For Destruction playing Feb 6th (Lincoln Theater)


Bob Marley 8th Annual Birthday Bash Featuring Mickey Mills and Steel, Jamrock, Chalwa, Joel Keel, and Cayenne The Lion King playing Feb 7th (Cats Cradle)

*Special Movie Pass*– The Dark Knight at IMAX (Good Through April 9th!)

Don’t forget to check the Rockreport for other great shows!

The Promotions Team

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Slipknot- Scaring Up Greensboro

Love them or hate them, either way they’re coming to NC! With their homemade Halloween masks and industrial jumpsuits, they will be making their appearance Monday- February 9th at the Greensboro Coliseum at 7pm. Luckily for you, KNC has tickets to giveaway. So tune in, suit up, and listen to the Revolution to win your pair!

-Promotions Team

Categories
Band/Artist Profile

DBB Feature #3: Lonnie Walker

Lonnie Walker: it’s a band, not a dude. Although I suspect that in due time that will be common knowledge. The one-man act—Brian Corum playing a guitar and stomping on a bass drum—turned five-man band has really caught on among WKNC DJs and listeners, self included. There seem to me to be 2 sides to Lonnie Walker, as we’ll demonstrate with 2 of their songs.

First, let’s take a look at “Summertime,” a song you’ve definitely heard if you listened to WKNC with any regularity in 2008. It’s awfully hard not to tap your foot or dance along as they alternate between spewing clever lyrics and frantically banging away on guitar while a drum beat in what, to my untrained ear, sounds like 2/2 time moves the whole thing along at a breakneck pace. And if you’re thinking about accusing Lonnie Walker of taking themselves too seriously, consider this verse:

“And I do the best I can with this head that I got.
And it’s a mighty fine nice head, and it’s got mighty fine nice thoughts.
And if my brain had legs and it could walk around the block,
it would wear a pair of sunglasses and Coppertone sunblock.
And all the people would be jealous as they saw it walk with style,
with its spinal cord a-wagging and its neurons running wild.
But there is no need for bragging all the words that it may speak,
because there are no legs attached to the ideas that it keeps.”

Very clever and playful word use that moves along so quickly that you don’t quite realize it the first few times you hear the song.

But a look at “Wider than White” reveals their other side. From the somber keyboard intro to the overlaying chord progression to Corum’s unmistakable moan to the shredding guitar solo a mere 50 seconds into the song, the entire orchestration has a very epic feel. The lyrics that operate in the not-quite-literal world lead us to the realization that there’s another, more sober side to Lonnie Walker. I’m not sure which I like more, but I do know this: I haven’t heard a song of theirs that isn’t damn good.

They have yet to release an album, but it is reportedly in the works. Which means that you’ll just have to check them out at the Pour House on the first night of the Double Barrel Benefit 6, Friday, February 6. See you there.

In the meantime, check out their interview with Mz Kelly on WKNC from June 5, 2008:

Lonnie Walker interview

Categories
DJ Highlights

Local Beat preview 1/29/09

This Friday, the 29th, The Local Beat has a wonderful show in store for you.

Join us from 5:00-8:00 PM as we’ll have two guests. Sleepsound, who are having their CD Release Party Friday night at The Cave in Chapel Hill.  Stevo and I will be discussing with the band, among other things, their album, Breathe.Quantcast

Also joining us on Friday will be a representative of the Raleigh Undercover event taking place at Tir Na Nog all weekend.  

Be sure to tune in, and don’t forget that if you’re not in the area you can always stream us.

Categories
Non-Music News

Tribute to Kay Yow aired on WKNC

More than 1,000 people attended a tribute to the late Wolfpack Women’s Basketball Coach Kay Yow, according to an article in today’s Technician. WKNC was honored to carry the event live and reproduce the audio for you here. Many thanks to WKNC Engineer Austin Page, Evening Exchange host John Boyer and everyone else at WKNC who made this broadcast possible.

The hour-long tribute features words by Director of Basketball Operations for Wolfpack Women’s basketball Robin Pate, Director of Athletics Coach Lee Fowler, Chancellor James L. Oblinger, Assistant Coach Jenny Palmateer and Interim Coach Stephanie Glance. As pictures do not translate well on radio, a video tribute to Coach Yow was not included. We instead rebroadcast an interview from Tuesday’s Sports Revolution featuring Patrick Kinas, play-by-play announcer for the women’s basketball team.

Tribute to Coach Kay Yow 1/28/2009

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Interview with HNMTF Cancelled

Obviously, since it is 7:15, and the interview was supposed to start around 6:15, the interview with Hammer No More The Fingers has been cancelled.

WKNC apologizes for this inconvenience and it is our hope that this does not cause any problems with our listeners.  We hold our listeners in high regard and events such as this are not common on our station, and we hope to avoid such situations in the future.

Also, thanks to Music.MyNC for helping to promote the interview.  The support is much appreciated.