Categories
Music News and Interviews

Living the Vinyl Life

The analog vs. digital divide is alive and well in music today. Let’s face it Garage Band, Reason, Logic, Final Skratch, the CDJ, and the like have changed the face of music and DJing. But still there’s something unique about the “real” thing–the crisp subtlety of old skool transistors and analog sounds.

Enter Vinyl Life, three guys in NYC making music under the names Richie Roxx, Phaze Future, and Butcha. With their old skool synths, Vinyl Life innovates a sound that’s equal parts (early) techno, (classic) hip-hop, and (nu) disco. Yet the despite the retro feel of the tunes and the band’s media kit—these guys can mine a pop sensibility without the dullness of kitsch, which what 80s inflections usually become. Vinyl Life is a reminder that on the other side of the neon eighties was a time when postpunk, hip-hop, techno, disco, and punkfunk were allied–sharing venues, promoters, and crowds as Andy Warhol’s pop sensibility met Basquiat’s graffiti.

OK, so the band photo is less Gorgio Moroder’s touch of class than party-addled Beastie Boys 1.0 circa Licensed to Ill, but listen to the audio clip. Amid the sonic reference to Kraftwerk and the Zulu Nation and the war against Autotune, an eighties sensibility emerges in more than the music—these guys walk the talk! The clip below is a snippet from their upcoming self-titled artist album. Over at my own blog the Soul Reflector I’ve also posted a 60 minute DJ set from the band called Jack the Hype.

Categories
DJ Highlights

Local Beat preview 7/10/09

All right, we have a jam-packed Local Beat for you today (in a few short hours, actually).

At 5:00 our good friends A Rooster for the Masses will be stopping by to talk about their show for The Club Is Open Festival over at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill.  They’re playing with Red Collar, The Loners, and Rat Jackson tonight.  Talk about rocking.

At 6:00 we’re going in a slightly different direction than usual, with the band Sandbox.  Unfamiliar?  They’ll be performing in studio, as well.

And lastly, Bombadil will be joining us at the 7:00 hour to talk about their CD release listening party.  This from the band’ website:

We are thrilled to announce that Durham’s own improvisational marching band, The Scene of the Crime Rovers, will join the bill with Luego and The Tender Fruit.  We couldn’t be more excited to have them–Daniel and Bryan both played in the SOC Rovers for a little while and found them to be a true inspiration.

Categories
DJ Highlights

WKNC’s picks for top albums of 2009, part one

It’s hard to believe 2009 is half over.

There have been tons of albums out in months one through six that our DJs have released over the airwaves, some of which resulted in countless requests and songs that got stuck in our heads for days on end. It’s hard to narrow them down, but a few of the WKNC music directors have made their picks for the top five albums of the year so far in their respective formats.

Local Music Director Adam Kincaid selected…

1. Bombadil: Tarpits & Canyonlands
2. Colossus: Drunk On Blood
3. The Love Language: The Love Language
4. Lonnie Walker: These Times Old Times
5. Embarrassing Fruits: Community/Exploitation

With honorable mentions for…

Americans in France: Pretzelvania
Hammer No More The Fingers: Looking For Bruce

Disagree with Adam’s picks? Send him an email and let him know which albums you would have chosen.

Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre selected…

1. Cotton Jones: Paranoid Cocoon
2. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
3. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion
4. Harlem Shakes: Technicolor Health
5. Screaming Females: Power Move

With honorable mentions for:

Akron/Family: Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Are there albums you think should have been on the list? Email Jenna to discuss.

Underground Music Director Damion Sledge chose…

Saigon and Statik Selektah: All in a Day’s Work

If you have Underground albums to add to the list, email Damion.

Stay tuned for the next six months of albums on WKNC, and we’ll see which ones come out on top in December!

Categories
Music News and Interviews

ReverbNation and your local favorites

Want easy access to your favorite local bands? Do you want free downloads of your favorite songs? Did you know all this is in the palm of your hand?

ReverbNation is a new company based out of Durham is allowing you, the listener, easy access to information and tunes from your local favorites.

Tracks from bands frequently played on WKNC such as A Rooster for the Masses, Bombadil, Hammer No More the Fingers, The Future Kings of Nowhere, I Was Totally Destroying It, and others are available through ReverbNation.

If you like what you hear from these bands on ReverbNation, don’t forget to check out the Local Lunch, Monday through Friday from noon to 1 p.m., only on the Revolution.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Warped Tour Giveaway on the Untitled Revolution (7/18)!

Next Saturday on the Untitled Revolution, we will be giving away two pairs of tickets to the Charlotte date (7/23) of this year’s Warped Tour! For those of you who don’t know, this is the 15th anniversary of the Vans Warped Tour, an annual summer tour featuring the latest musical acts in punk, metal, and everything in between. Also, there are BMX and skateboarding demos, various nonprofit organizations, and plenty of sponsors showcasing their latest wares.

This year’s tour will be featuring the musical stylings of All Time Low, 3OH3!, A Day To Remember, Bad Religion, Bayside, Underoath, Escape The Fate, InnerPartySystem,  and many other of your favorite alternative acts.  For more information, visit www.warpedtour.com.

Categories
Concert Preview

LA Riots in Raleigh, a dancin’ riot that is

LA Riots, a DJ duo who have heated up the West Coast club scene, are bringing the heat back to NC.  Deep Cover Movement is presenting LA Riots this Thursday in Raleigh at Solas (perhaps not the underground, warehouse dance-party location that WKNC Afterhours listeners dream of, but exciting none the less) and then following up with a Friday, Greensboro performance at the Green Street Club (see the Deep Cover myspace for full details).  The boys have been turning up the heat with remixing dance, and not so dance, faves, ranging from such artists as Hot Chip, VHS or Beta, and Crystal Castles to Weezer.  LA Riots have been running full steam into 2009 after touring with MSTRKRFT in 2008 and being signed to Fools Gold Records, co-owned lable of Kayne West’s longtime DJ, A-Trak.

To get ready for the party, you can check out their Vol. 1 of remixes from their myspace here: PARTY TIME

And for their get-stuck-in-your-head-for-so-long-it-drives-you-insane track, check out this:  Kill Bill

To follow LA Riots into Raleigh, follow twitter feed DanielRiots

:hearts and guitar + dance pants:

Categories
Weekly Charts

WKNC’s top 30 albums from the past week

Here are the top 30 records at WKNC from the past week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:

1. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
3. Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Portland Cello Project – The Thao And Justin Power Sessions
6. Stardeath and White Dwarfs – The Birth
7. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us
8. Still Life Still – Pastel [EP]
9. St. Vincent – Actor
10. Bowerbirds – Upper Air
11. Ha Ha Tonka – Novel Sounds Of The Nouveau South
12. Mew – No More Stories [EP]
13. Deeradoorian – Mind Raft
14. Doves – Kingdom Of Rust
15. American Folklore – American Folklore
16. Veelee – Three Sides
17. Harlem Shakes – Technicolor Health
18. Sonic Youth – The Eternal
19. Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream
20. Americans in France – Pretzelvania
21. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
22. Lonnie Walker – These Times Old Times
23. Passion Pit – Manners
24. Tortoise – Beacons Of Ancestorship
25. Telekinesis by Telekinesis
26. Throw Me the Statue – Creaturesque [EP]
27. Akron/Family – Set Em Wild, Set Em Free
28. Double Dagger – More
29. Horrors – Primary Colours
30. Magic Wands – Magic Love And Dreams [EP]

The following are albums recently added to our library, which you can look forward to hearing on the air:

You And Your Effects – You And Your Effects
Gregory Pepper and His Problems – With Trumpets Flaring
Invisible Cities – Houses Shine Like Teeth
Wilco – Wilco (the Album)

Categories
DJ Highlights

The music doesn’t stop when you leave the country.

When I arrived at the RDU airport after six weeks in Prague to the terminal from which I departede, I felt like I had been gone for about half of that, if not less. It was like a time warp.

Then I went to the WKNC studio for my return to the airwaves, and I was reminded just how long six weeks actually is in the world of music. I am trying to catch up with the latest releases as quickly as I can!

On my show last week, I played a new track from Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies of their EP II, which was great. I’m looking forward to checking out the latest from Bowerbirds out tomorrow! It will be strange to have to learn words to new songs after singing along to “My Oldest Memory,” “Bur Oak,” and “In Our Talons,” for so long.

Tune in for my show this Wednesday (and every Wednesday for the rest of the summer) from 2 to 3 p.m. as I make up for lost time.

Categories
DJ Highlights

Local Beat preview 7/3/09

Just because the mailman ain’t delivering today doesn’t mean the Local Beat is taking a day off.  We’re having Corbie Hill from Battle Rockets and Where The Buffalo Roamed in at 5:00.

Corbie is the organizer of Let Feedback Ring, an alternative choice for weekend musical entertainment.  Alternative to what, you ask? Well, you know

Should be a good conversation.  Check out some of the music to be featured at “Let Feedback Ring” and the full lineup below.

Show is at Sadlack’s Heroes on Hillsborough Street and starts at 1pm

Goodbye, Titan

The White Cascade

Free Electric State

Battle Rockets

Blag’ard

Once and Future Kings

Spy Satellite

Where%20the%20Buffalo%20RoamedBattle%20RocketsFree%20Electric%20State
Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

The%20White%20CascadeThe%20Virgo%209blagard

Quantcast

Quantcast

Categories
Miscellaneous

Remembering the Walkman

My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day. He had told me it was big, but I hadn’t realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book.

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Sony Walkman. As someone nearly that old myself, I felt it necessary to share this BBC article in which a 13-year-old boy trades in his iPod for its much older, distant cousin.