Showing posts tagged “WKNC”
Spencer Griffith ·
10 Feb 2010, 5:50 PM ·
1 Comment
KNC, y'all.
WKNC Double Barrel Benefit
The Pour House, Raleigh
Friday, Feb. 5 & Saturday, Feb. 6
As I bemoan yet another Wolfpack men’s basketball loss (don’t laugh, Tar Heels), I’ve come to the regretful conclusion that WKNC—N.C. State’s student-run radio station—may be all that’s left to be proud of regarding my alma mater. Of course, that assumption may be colored by new memories of this weekend’s seventh annual Double Barrel Benefit, which starts another year of KNC-championed local music events: Besides blasting a heavy rotation of Triangle tunes on the airwaves, the station also backs sporadic on-campus shows and a Thursday night Local Beer/Local Band series at Tir Na Nog that offers fine bills for free on a weekly basis.
Making up for a lack of variety and marquee value, the eight-band line-up—while noticeably lacking any hometown representation—offered a solid mix of the area’s rising stars and established vets. Kicking off the festivities on Friday night, fledgling Chapel Hill outfit The Light Pines shared members (but less these days than in their previous gigs) and a sense of pop classicism with sister project The Love Language, though its songs seemed to take on a much darker tone than I remembered from the group’s brief set at the Drughorse Christmas show. Fronted by sometimes Love Language bassist Josh Pope, it should be no surprise that the Pines—which, like Stu McLamb’s aforementioned project, was birthed shortly after the demise of Strokes-soundalikes The Capulets—leans heavily on rhythm, too. I had a tough time grabbing good video, but fortunately Karen Mann pulled through. I did manage to catch some from the Christmas show, for comparison’s sake.
Up next, Carrboro duo Veelee added a surprising amount of energy to what I had previously considered to be gentle bedroom pop tunes. Vocalist Matt Park ripped jagged, crunchy riffs from his guitar—flashing some serious ’90s indie rock influence in the process—and craftily used his headstock and some well-placed duct tape to give himself an extra hand for keyboard flourishes. Alongside Ginger Wagg’s rudimentary drumming, the pair harmonized with a detached coolness through catchy choruses.
Bellafea—who had a relatively quiet 2009 while Heather McEntire and Eddie Sanchez worked on albums with Mount Moriah and Fin Fang Foom, respectively—followed. McEntire’s battle cry led the menacing trio through the sharp turns and tense twists of its tough, shifty tunes. During one particularly intense instrumental passage, McEntire faced her amp and unleashed a throat-shredding scream that seemed to hurl the band forward. Continue reading »
Live Actions: Reviews Bellafea, max indian, Roman Candle, Spider Bags, the light pines, The Pour House, veelee, WKNC
Grayson Currin ·
13 Jan 2010, 3:09 PM ·
Comment
N.C. State’s student-run radio station, WKNC 88.1 FM, announced the lineup for its seventh annual Double Barrel Benefit this morning: The vintage pop of Max Indian will headline the first night of the two-show weekend on Friday, Feb. 5, with The Light Pines, Veelee and Bellafea in the opening slots. Ex-Chapel Hill, current-Nashville album rock enthusiasts Roman Candle headline Saturday, Feb. 6, with The Tender Fruit, Midtown Dickens and Spider Bags opening.
This year’s Double Barrel represents a logical and somewhat necessary shift for the station, away from some of the bigger names that have headlined or opened in recent years—Birds of Avalon, Bowerbirds, Polvo, The Old Ceremony, Annuals, The Mountain Goats, Megafaun—and toward the Triangle’s rich crop of young but hitherto less nationally prominent acts. After all, Double Barrel has only presented six bands more than once in its seven-year run, so the pool is somewhat constricted.
But, Roman Candle excepted, what this lineup might lack in history it makes up for with plans and promise: Led by the yearning Southern warble of Christy Smith, The Tender Fruit, for instance, is currently cutting an LP with Megafaun’s Phil Cook. Veelee’s only get one self-released, three-song EP to its name, but the duo’s intricate, winding miniatures offer plenty of intrigue, and they’re set to record more this year. Same for The Light Pines, the doppelganger of The Love Language: Led by Josh Pope and backed by his fellow Love Language members, The Pines debuted with an ecstatic, engaging show in Portland, Ore., late last year for Musicfest Northwest. This will be their full-on local premiere. And they sometimes share members with Max Indian, who, like The Light Pines, are part of a Chapel Hill band network called Drughorse. And, as I said here, look for big things from that gangly collective in 2010.
So, yeah, no “stars” this year, but plenty of reasons to listen—and for cheap, too: Tickets are $7-$9 for each night, and the music starts at 9 p.m.
Live Actions: New Bills, News flashes Double Barrel Benefit, WKNC
Grayson Currin ·
1 Oct 2009, 12:00 PM ·
2 Comments
Cherry Bounce, the downtown Raleigh music festival launched in 2008 by local marketing and media consultants Greg Behr and Billy Warden, has unveiled its second annual lineup. Though last year’s rain-beleaguered Cherry Bounce put bands on a stage in front of Raleigh Times Bar on Hargett St. for only two days, this year’s bill stretches to seven nights and visits six downtown clubs before ending with another free show on Hargett St.
The lineups are largely local, with the notable exception of Sunday night’s opening night headliner, Atlanta songwriter Angie Aparo, and the final night’s headliners, Chicago’s mash-up bros The Hood Internet (guess Girl Talk was busy) and Man Man. (After you book Islands for year one, Man Man just makes sense, right?) Three media presenters—New Raleigh, NBC 17’s Music.MyNC.com and WKNC 88.1—will host one night of the festival each in a club. New Raleigh’s Friday night looks like a fantastic bender (with bar-rockers The T’s and bawdy bro The Infamous Sugar), while WKNC’s is essentially a great Local Beer, Local Band installment with Gross Ghost and Free Electric State, plus Asheville’s The Poles. The best bill, though, belongs to Music.MyNC.com: Veelee, Americans in France and Gray Young are among the best new bands at work in the Triangle, and they’re totally worth your Tuesday night. Most of the club shows will carry the usual nominal cover ($5), though the finale, as well as the shows on Monday and Thursday, are free.
The diffuse booking strategy for this year’s Cherry Bounce is certainly interesting, especially given the competition it will face: The N.C. State Fair runs nearby during the entirety of the series, which also comes just two weeks in advance of this year’s strongly booked and curated Troika Music Festival in Durham. In fact, this year’s Troika does an especially good job of creating interesting bills around a sound and an idea, while little ties these Cherry Bounce shows—or the week, for that matter—together from one end to the other, except the snappy insignia up top. Raleigh Wide Open IV (this year, in conjunction with City Plaza’s opening) and Art Raleigh should help foster a crowd for the last night, at least.
In any case, yeah, I’ll probably go see Man Man for free downtown. Continue reading »
Live Actions: New Bills Cherry Boune, Music.MyNC.com, New Raleigh, Raleigh Wide Open, WKNC
Andrew Ritchey ·
11 Feb 2009, 7:55 AM ·
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Double Barrel Benefit Night One: Bowerbirds, Lost in the Trees
The Pour House, Raleigh
Friday, Feb. 6, 2009
A couple songs into his band’s headlining set at The Pour House Friday, Bowerbirds’ Phil Moore said, “This is what we call a party.” A few cheers followed. “Just continue to party,” he said. “Maybe in a more subdued way,” Moore’s bandmate, Beth Tacular, pleaded from across the stage.
The vibe was happy for the first night of WKNC’s sixth-annual Double Barrel Benefit, but people seemed more interested in hanging out than hearing Bowerbirds. Constant conversation filled the air, delicate vocal harmonies and guitar picking struggling versus the storm. It made for quite the contrast with the set the band played through an actual rainstorm in Duke Gardens this past summer. Continue reading »
Live Actions: Reviews Bowerbirds, Lonnie Walker, Lost in the Trees, Megafaun, Schooner, The Rosebuds, WKNC
