Category: Podcasts

Your standard Magpie Feast song feels reminiscent of a dirty southern take on Devendra Banhart. These tracks are firmly based in blues-rock stylings while interspersing traditional folk melodies, yet they somehow find their way into sprawling territory that gives this music a modernistic hue. Magpie Feast’s most recent release Out of the Womb sheds the lo-fi veil in favor of a much more dynamic and engaging approach, taking this already riveting sound and piling on layers to enrich the experience. 

On Friday, December 13 I’ll be joined by Magpie Feast to discuss the evolution of this promising and under-appreciated act and to find out where they stand amongst a crowded North Carolina scene. Magpie Feast will be performing some stripped down takes on tracks from Out of the Womb, so tune in from 6-7 for our last Artist of the Month feature before the new year begins!

Upon hearing Haskins’ song, acclaimed North Carolina artists Caitlin Cary (of Whiskeytown) and Jon Lindsay decided to band together and form the NC Music Love Army, a project that snowballed into something far more encompassing than anyone could imagine. Within the 6 months since the Moral Monday protests, the NC Music Love Army has already written, recorded and now released a full-length album of protest songs geared towards the N.C. state legislators. Last week I spoke with Caitlin Cary, Jon Lindsay and Skylar Gudasz about the formation of the Love Army, some of the pitfalls that they’ve come across since its inception, and where the project will go from here.

This past Saturday (Nov. 30) the group celebrated the album’s release at Cat’s Cradle, a show that was filled with protest anthems both new and old, along with a slew of special guests. During our conversation, we speak about these member’s favorite protest songs, what listeners could expect from the show and heard an unreleased song from the Love Army, “Dear Mr. McCrory.”

When The Art of Cool began it was little more than a way for local jazz musicians to find quaint and intimate places to share their sounds. But what began in art galleries around the Triangle has swiftly flourished into one of the most promising festivals in recent memory. This past summer the Art of Cool announced their plans to hold a two-day festival in downtown Durham and on Nov. 15 they announced their brilliant lineup. Art of Cool is bringing some of the most renowned jazz artists from the area alongside some of the fastest rising upstarts to make for a unique and mesmerizing weekend in Durham.

This past Friday, Al and Cicely joined me in the studio to talk a bit about how the project came together, took of so quickly, and what people can expect from this exciting festival. Throughout the hour we ran down some of the most anticipated artists that will be performing on the weekend of April 25 along with some of the weekends festivities–which include master classes, day shows and artist panels.

Whatever you want to call it, it’s damn good. Last week I was joined by several members of this massive seven-person crew to chat a bit about how so many voices can come together to create such a rich and seamless sound. Roach comments on how the band pulls their influences from a variety of regions, one minute you’ll hear traditional West African rhythms bleeding through and on the next track you’ll hear some Russian-inspired folk musings.

Together the band of multi-instrumentalists play on a huge array of instruments, their latest full length The Sea Has Spoken featured over thirty instruments. During our conversation I spoke with the band about just how one goes about learning such a wide variety of instruments, what some of the most unique and region-specific instruments are that they’ve found, and how they go about morphing these songs from studio works to live performances.

Check out our full conversation below to find out about the intricacies that go into working with such a large band and the work that’s gone into their forthcoming full length album.

What resulted was a spastic interview that covered everything from the band’s origins with local music to their favorite cereal and youtube videos. The conversation is a bit indicative of what you can expect from the band’s music, regardless of how the direction you’re taking with it you know that you’re in for something that’s entertaining. While Whatever Brains’ past three untitled full-lengths have displayed a gradual progression from spastic punk stand-outs to electronically leaning front-runners, the band’s humility continually shines through. Whether you’re looking to find out about the band’s upcoming release, slated to be a “rock opera” split-single, or to hear about what they’re listening to in their free time, our Local Artist of the Month feature pinpoints what makes Whatever Brains tick.

Vocalist Rich Ivey delves into his songwriting process and the importance of lyrics while one of the band’s numerous keyboardists William Evans tackles the topics of contemporary influences. For the next forty minutes you can immerse yourself in our off-kilt conversations about the past, present and future of one of the region’s most underrated acts, Whatever Brains.

Little did we know Spitzer was biding her time by crafting insanely dense, yet brief pieces of vibrant music. The Ringtone Album is Felix Obelix’s latest offering, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. Inspired by the often mundane tones that we become so frequently attached to, Spitzer decided to craft a 30-track album of one-minute songs that were intended to be consumed as ringtones. While many may scoff at an idea so far out in left-field, the folks at Potluck Records warmed up to it pretty quickly and agreed to put the album out before even hearing it. When you debut with as strong a record as Tick of the Clock…  though, one can understand why.

The Ringtone Album is filled with just over thirty minutes of whimsy, much to my surprise I found myself unable to turn away from these brilliant tunes. I spoke with Wendy on Oct. 25 to find out what her reasoning was behind this concept and found myself pleasantly surprised at the answers. Throughout the thirty-minute conversation Wendy disclosed a bit of her inspiration for the idea and how she intends the record to be consumed, but the conversation quickly morphs into the state of the recording industry and how this unique idea fits within that structure.

Throughout the hour Mike spun a slew of his favorite local tunes, which we sadly can’t share with you guys, but we do talk a bit about how he came to know and love the North Carolina music scene. Mike and I chatted a lot about how Gross Ghost has come to solidify their lineup, the process that goes into translating their live energy into studio energy, and who we need to be looking out for in the local scene. Without giving too much away, Dillon gives a fantastic peek into the machinations of Gross Ghost’s songwriting process and how the band comes together to create a cohesive vision that encapsulated every member’s creative voice.

Fans of this swiftly rising local act will have quite a bit to indulge in with this recent conversation, as I for one loved to hear about the origins and future plans for one of my favorite local acts.

The idea got kickstarted after Let Feedback Ring hosted a massive Hopscotch Day Party at Legends that housed 13 bands throughout the day. While the feat would drive most people to hang it up and accept that they’ve done their duty for the area, Hill and DeFusco craved more, as did Legends. On Nov. 1, Let Feedback Ring hosted the first of their monthly showcases with Ghostt Bllonde, Le Weekend and Corbie’s band Alpha Cop. So the week of the show I was joined by Chris, Corbie and Legends’ representative Matt Causey to talk about how this all came together. While many were probably surprised at the location of this indie rock-based event, listeners will quickly realize just how natural this collaboration can be.

Throughout the hour we talked a bit about the origins of Let Feedback Ring, the intended future of the event, as well as the struggles of maintaining regular events while running a record label or writing for numerous local outlets. As we now know, Let Feedback Ring is certainly continuing as a monthly event, as they recently announced their December event which will feature our November Artist of the Month, Whatever Brains, along with Wool and Goner on Dec. 6. Check out our full conversation below to hear the ins and outs of planning these events and the struggle to maintain so many different aspects of the music scene.