Category: Blog

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Concert Review

Recap: Rosebuds, Megafaun and Love Language at Cat’s Cradle

Saturday night at Cat’s Cradle was perfect. I trudged through last week, snow and school and all, and what was really getting me through was knowing that on Saturday, I’d get to see The Rosebuds and just dance it out.

Every time I see The Rosebuds, it reaffirms my theory that Kelly and Ivan are actually the coolest people on earth.  It’s so obvious that they give it their all, and that’s why as a result their shows are always really fun. Saturday was no exception. I won’t go into great detail about their set, because if you weren’t their it will just make you feel jealous and bummed out, but rest assured, they put on an excellent show, complete with pink Christmas lights and a very confused little dog who appeared on stage during the encore.

The Rosebuds, photo by Mike Alston

The Rosebuds were great, but they’re always great. What made Saturday night so especially awesome was that it was a great show from start to finish.

Lately I’ve been really loving  The Love Language, who started off the night. They are all so energetic and cute, I saw them at the Local 506 back in December and had been looking forward to seeing them again ever since.  Even though they apologized several times for having colds, they did not disappoint. If they hadn’t mentioned it, I don’t think I would’ve suspected that they were not feeling up to their A-game. I highly recommend checking out their MySpace, because every last one of their songs is spectacular.

Oh, and Megafaun. They’re from your backyard. These guys seriously rule. Much like The Rosebuds, they were very in touch with the crowd. I like feeling like a show is interactive, so I give them points for initiating an elaborate singalong during which they divided the crowd into three sections with three different singing parts. Bonus points also for burning incense during their set, and for their very long, very manly beards.

Bradley Cook of Megafaun, photo by Mike Alston

Long story short, Saturday night at Cat’s Cradle was totally awesome. There is such a wealth of local music in the Triangle, and I think that’s something that we’re all really lucky to be a part of. This music comes from your neighbors, you know? Whenever I’m listening to these bands and thinking about how much they rule, that’s what really blows my mind about it all. This music comes from my neighbors.

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Local Music Music News and Interviews

Local Metal Act, Colossus, Brings Goodies To WKNC

On 1/22/09, Colossus band members  Sean Buchanan and Bill Fisher dropped in during Local Lunch for a quick interview.

The day started off with Colossus’s Sean Buchanan and Bill Fisher stopping by the studio for a quick interview and exclusive debut of two tracks from their next album.

Colossus brought WKNC a belated Christmas gift in the form of 2 exclusive, not yet released, songs from their next album that is set to hit the streets in a few months. Colossus played at WKNC & Tir Na Nog’s Local Beer, Local Band on Thursday, January 22nd, with Double Barrel Benefit 5 alumni, Tooth.

Check out Murdoc’s Picture Blog and exclusive review of Colossus’s next album!

You can listed to the songs Kill More Better and The Mountain in the interview below.

Colossus interview

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Local Music Music News and Interviews

Zombies + Cannibal Warriors = Metal Awesomeness

Local metal act Colossus is at it again with another very solid CD release. Colossus’s thrash metal music mixed with power metal lyrics combines to produce a 5 track record about killing zombies, cannibalizing one’s fallen enemies, and kicking ass. The album is full of awesome guitar solos, and hardcore headbanging. The album is yet to be named, but it is well worth putting on your list of CD’s to keep an eye out for in the coming months.

Colossus singer Sean Buchanan and guitarist Bill Fisher dropped into the WKNC studio last week for a quick interview and to debut 2 new singles from the upcoming album. Click here for a taste of metal awesomeness.

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DJ Highlights

Liar, Liar

This will be a short post about a short song for a short week.

Point is, with the holiday and the snow day, it was a short week.  Appropriately, the song I got stuck in my head fit the truncated work schedule.

“Liar, Liar” by the Castaways is fantastic.  It was their hit, reaching number 12 on the charts in 1965.

I think, though, it was the video I found on YouTube that caused me to listen to this song so much.  Check it out. Dancing party chicks and everything.

That is all.  Carry on.

-La Barba Rossa

Listen to Mystery Roach every Saturday from 8-10 am for Garage, Prog, Psychedelic, Fusion and noise from the 60s and 70s.

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New Album Review

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week 1/20

‘Onmyradio’ Fails to Disappoint
Mir.I.am

When Musiq Soulchild stepped on the scene in 2000 with his classic debut album Aijustwanaseing, he carried on the tradition of Neo-Soul music started by artist including Erykah Badu and D’angelo. From “Just Friends” and “Love” to “Don’t Change” and “B.U.D.D.Y.”, Musiq has remained a consistent force in the realm of Neo-Soul for almost a decade. With his latest release “Onmyradio”, the 30 year old Philly native fails to disappoint.

For Musiq fans, the release of the first single from “Onmyradio”, “Radio” was a confusing. The crunk track does nothing to compliment Musiq as an artist or appease his fan base and failed to chart. With the state of R&B as it is, the watered down production, uninspired vocals and no originally, one would wonder why Musiq, would try and conform. Thankfully, the poor choice of a lead single is in no way indicative of the remainder of the album.

“OnMyRadio” opens with the up-tempo, hard hitting, bass driven “Backagain”, where Musiq explains how he thought he was over a break-up, until they came back.

“Until”, reminiscent lyrically of Stevie Wonder’s classic “Always”, tells of how he’ll love his significant other until the end of time. It is one of the albums stand-out tracks.

The second single, “IfULeave”, a duet with the Queen of Hip/Hop R&B Soul, Mary J. Blige is a well balanced duet of back and forth banter between a couple on the verge of a break-up. Production-wise, it is similar to”Teachme”, a gem released from Musiq’s last album, “Luvanmusiq”.

Momentum comes to a stand still with “Special” and “Deserveyoumore” On “Special” the melody and beat are competing with each other and “Deserveyoumore” sounds like a 70’s bland love song by an all male vocal quartet.

The piano driven “Dearjohn” is a letter explaining how Musiq, lacking the courage to break up in person instead opts for a pen and piece of paper. The sadness in Musiq’s voice, remorseful lyrics, vocal arrangement, harmonies and production make this the best track on the album.

Next, “Loveofmylife”, is equally endearing and gross as Musiq sings how he “can loose a car, even body parts”, but could never live without the love of his life. Feeling the recession, “Moneyright”, an up-tempo electro-pop groove has Musiq pledging to give his love all they desire once he gets his funds together. In terms of production, where as John Legend has “Green Light”, Musiq has “Moneyright”, minus Andre 3000.

On “Someone” Musiq delivers what he does best. Love ballads. The dulcet melody and beautiful words express how we all want someone to love us despite our imperfections.

The only other feature on the album, “Iwannabe” featuring Damian Marley infuses a bit of Reggae and Caribbean vibe on a song surely to make you want to move.

“Sobeautiful” is another moving love ballad where Musiq displays how his vocal prowess has matured in the past 8 years trying out his falsetto.

Albums are often judged by their first single, but there are exceptions to every rule, “Onmyradio” being one. Musiq, although with a few missteps, has stayed true to who he is as an artist while remaining relevant. Although “Onmyradio” may not be Musiq’s best, it is a solid effort and a solid effort from Musiq is still better than what’s currently playing—on the radio.

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

Phone Interview With The Duhks 1/24/09

Quantcast

Join myself, DJ Caid, on Americana Blues & Co. Saturday as I will be filling in for DJ Sweet Annie Rich and interviewing The Duhks.  The interview is scheduled for right after 10:30am.  Tune in and enjoy your Saturday morning with some true American (and sometimes Canadian!) music.

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Music News and Interviews

Tab-One Music Video

While everyone else was busy playing in the snow on Tuesday, local MC Tab-One (of Kooley High & Inflowential) was busy making a music video- a remix of “FlowGlow."  And while the lip-syncing may be a little off and picture quality from a homemade video may be a bit shady, it still just furthers some more promotion for ”One Day“ which I am supa-psyched about.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Why Hate On The Power?

Ok, this has been bothering me for a while. I get crap from the prisoners, from strangers, hell even from our own Caid. WHY THE HATE ON POWER METAL?!?!?!? Seriously, I don’t understand it. Is it because they sing about dragons? Is it cause they sing about fighting in medieval Europe alongside King Arthur? What, what is it? People say power metal is not “brutal” enough, or is “pansy” metal. Why? Is it because they can actually sing and play their instruments with good skill? I enjoy listening to death and black metal as much as the next guy, but sometimes I actually want to be able to understand what my vocalist is singing about, not Cookie Monster vocals with maximum distortion on them. I want to be able to hear a guitar solo that actually uses all six strings on the guitar, not just the one. Is that too much to ask? And I can guarantee you that power metal has been around longer than these other genres and will continue to exist even after those have gone.

Let me give you a brief history of the great genre of dragons. Power metal is a style of heavy metal music combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed or thrash metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a later more widespread and popular style based in Europe and Japan with a lighter, more melodic sound and frequent use of keyboards.

Power metal is today associated with an epic sound tempered by characteristics of speed metal, power metal’s musical forerunner. Power metal’s lyrical themes, though as varied as metal itself, typically focus on fantasy, mythology, camaraderie, hope,  personal struggles, emotions,  war, and death.

Power metal is highly focused on the vocalist, with “clean” vocals being much more prevalent than the growling vocals. The majority of the genre’s vocalists sing in the tenor range, capable of hitting very high notes. There are however many exceptions such as Pyramaze / Iced Earth frontman Matt Barlow, Falconer frontman Mathais Blad, and Sabaton frontman Joakim Broden; they sing in either baritone or bass range, though in certain songs like Creator Failure, Barlow hits very high notes reminiscent of Rob Halford. Power metal vocalists Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray, andHansi Kurch of Blind Guardian record multi-layered vocals reminiscent of Queen, creating a choral effect.

Power metal guitarists and bassists generally play rapid streams of notes, but change chords comparatively slowly, with a harmonic tempo of once per measure or slower. Fast and demanding guitar solos, however, are almost guaranteed.

A number of power metal drummers generally play with two bass drums for added speed, utilizing them to play a constant stream of sixteenth notes with snare drum accents on the beat. This style is fairly common in power metal as in other heavy metal subgenres, though it is by no means universal. Power metal though has become the most prevalent in the use of this technique.

Power metal bands often incorporate keyboards into their musical arrangements, something popularized by Jens Johansson of Stratovarius, though their usage varies from subtle accents to a full-blown melody line. Some symphonic power metal bands such as Rhapsody of Fire, Fairyland and Nightwish have also been known to record with more symphonic elements, and as such, they utilize a full orchestra to fill the role a keyboard plays in other power metal bands.

Notable Power Metal Bands:

3 Inches of Blood

Avantasia

Battlelore

Black Majesty

Blind Guardian

Chinchilla

Circle II Circle

Demons & Wizards

Dragonforce

Dream Evil

Edguy

Elvenking

Excalion

Fairyland

Falconer

Firewind

Freedom Call

Galneryus

Gamma Ray

Grave Digger

HammerFall

Helloween

Iced Earth

Iron Fire

Into Eternity

Jacob’s Dream

Jag Panzer

Kamelot

Labyrinth

Lost Horizon

Manowar

Metalium

Mystic Prophecy

Narnia

Nightwish

Nocturnal Rites

Pagan’s Mind

Pyramaze

Raintime

Rhapsody of Fire

Sabaton

Saxon

Sonata Arctica

Steel Attack

Stratovarius

Symphony X

Twilightning

Vision Divine

Wizard

For More See Here

Aid for History Came From Wikipedia

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Local Music Music News and Interviews

Colossus Interview During Local Lunch 1/22/09

Colossus will be bringing metal mayhem to Local Lunch on Thursday, January 22nd, for an interview.

Colossus’s Rylan Wilshire & Sean Buchanan will be in studio for the interview at around 12:30pm. Afterwords, Colossus will be playing with WKNC Double Barrel Benefit 5 alumni, Tooth, at WKNC & Tir Na Nog’s first Local Beer, Local Band that will feature Metal music.

For more details about the show, check out the WKNC Rock Report, and don’t forget to tune in for the interview!

Categories
Music News and Interviews

The Beast and Cashmere Live on WKNC 88.1 FM Tonight

The Beast will be live in the studio for DJ J Wall’s underground show tonight at 10pm. Also Cashmere will be calling into the DJ Nominal Late Nite Mix Show at 12am. Don’t forget to check out The Beast, Edgar Allen Floe, and Natalie Steward (½ of Floetry) at the Brewery on Friday January 23rd at 8 pm.