Scan, Indy Week

Video: Chip Robinson at Casbah's songwriters circle

Dan Schram — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:36:00 -0400

Saturday night at the Casbah brought about the continuation of the venue's series of songwriters circle shows, with performances by Jason Kutchma, Chip Robinson, Kevin Abernathy and Mic Harrison. Below are three clips from songs played by Robinson, including two oft-overlooked ballads ("Psychic Friend" and "Two Candles") from the Backsliders' 1999 album, Southern Lines.…

Video: Brett Harris moves forward with new songs

Peter Blackstock — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:33:00 -0400

I first became aware of Brett Harris two summers ago, when I went to see Chapel Hill pop mastermind Chris Stamey play a Tuesday-evening acoustic show at West End Wine Bar on Franklin Street and Harris appeared as an unbilled opener. Between sets, Stamey spoke so highly of Harris' work that it seemed mandatory to check out his 2010 solo debut, Man of Few Words.…

Tonight: The Holland Brothers at Bynum Front Porch

Bryan C. Reed — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:15:00 -0400

After 70 years in business, the Bynum General Store finally closed its doors in 2006. But the people of Bynum—a tiny community just off Highway 15-501 between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro—recognized the historical landmark’s enduring value as a community gathering place.…

Video: JKutchma & The Five Fifths at Duke Gardens

Dan Schram — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:26:00 -0400

Duke Performances' annual summer series, Music in the Gardens, kicked off Wednesday evening as JKutchma & The Five Fifths played a record-release party for Sundown, USA, which Kutchma released in two different versions (with the band and solo). Kutchma and company performed to a full crowd on the lawn of the gardens as, fittingly, the sun went down on a cool late-spring evening.…

Tonight: Cardinal Collective bands at Tir Na Nog

Ashley Melzer — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:01:00 -0400

This week’s Local Band-Local Beer show at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh comprises a trio of regional bands who belong to the Cardinal Collective: the Triangle's Wylie Hunter & the Cazadores, Greensboro's House of Fools and Wilmington's Mike Blair & the Stonewalls (10 p.m. Thursday, June 6, free).…

The future's wide open for Japandroids

Chris Parker — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:01:00 -0400

Now is the moment for Japandroids, and their lyrics reflect that carpe diem attitude. But just as “restless nights turn to restless years,” a band’s second album turns to album three (if they’re lucky).…

Chuck Johnson's quietly triumphant return to the Triangle

Brian Howe — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:28:00 -0400

Playing a solo acoustic guitar set at a crowded bar is a dicey proposition. But Chapel Hill expat Chuck Johnson—visiting Durham from Oakland for the release party of Crows in the Basilica, his new record for Triangle label Three Lobed—worked his six- and 12-string guitars like a snake charmer at the Pinhook on May 23, magically becalming a well-lubricated audience into rapt, respectful silence.…

Video: James McCartney visits Durham

Dan Schram — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:38:00 -0400

Alternating between piano and acoustic guitar, James McCartney played solo Thursday night at the Casbah in Durham. McCartney is currently touring the Southeast, playing small clubs behind his debut LP, Me.…

Carolina Performing Arts unveils packed 2013-14 season

Jordan Lawrence — Fri, 31 May 2013 11:32:00 -0400

All hail the power of competition. How it drives us to be better than we could ever be without it.…

Superchunk update: New album on the way, Laura Ballance steps aside from touring band

Bryan C. Reed — Wed, 29 May 2013 10:31:00 -0400

At this point, it’s safe to say Superchunk is back and won’t be leaving us again anytime soon. With 2010’s comeback album Majesty Shredding, the veteran indie rockers proved they could still deliver the goods.…

Birds and Arrows, but no cello (tonight at Casbah)

Peter Blackstock — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:40:00 -0400

Birds and Arrows’ recent guest spot on WUNC-FM’s “The State of Things” found husband-and-wife Pete and Andrea Connolly joined on banjo by Kyra Moore—but notably without longtime cellist Josh Starmer, who recently departed the band after four years.

Starmer joined Birds and Arrows in 2009 and recorded 2011’s We’re Gonna Run and 2013’s Coyotes with them.…

Videos: Last Year's Men, The Lollipops and more gather at Slim's to support Elijah Von Cramon

Dan Schram — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:14:00 -0400

Last weekend at Slim's, more than 15 bands played to show their support and raise funds for Paint Fumes lead singer Elijah Von Cramon at "LIJApalooza." As detailed in last week's Indy Week, Von Cramon recently spent considerable time in the hospital after being hit by a car.…

Saturday: The Backsliders, PKM raise money to battle Parkinson's Disease

Bryan C. Reed — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:23:00 -0400

Guitarist and producer Mike Gardner may forever be most renowned as one-third of the ‘80s hard-rock outfit PKM. With bassist Pee Wee Watson and drummer Kenny Soule, PKM managed a timely blend of styles.…

The Third Expression will roll tape at Marsh Woodwinds

Peter Blackstock — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:33:00 -0400

Concerts at Marsh Woodwinds are too few and far between, given that it’s the best listening room in Raleigh.

You can forgive owner Rodney Marsh for the infrequency: His priority is the instrument sales and repair store downstairs, so the shows in his second-floor space—lovingly decorated with a sensory-overload motif—are a bonus, born of his desire to fill the building with warm and radiant sounds when time and circumstances allow.…

Interview: Lost in the Trees' Ari Picker discusses the band's new, non-orchestral lineup

Jordan Lawrence — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:40:00 -0400

About a month ago, the crowd at Krankies Coffee in Winston-Salem was treated to a far different Lost in the Trees than anyone had seen previously. Playing the city's third annual Phuzz Phest, the Chapel Hill outfit—known for swelling strings, complex arrangements, and the uninhibited emotions of frontman Ari Picker—debuted a new line-up.…

Live: Phil Cook and his Guitarheels celebrate Ry Cooder

Jordan Lawrence — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:00:00 -0400

Phil Cook and the Guitarheels
Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw
Friday, May 10, 2013

When it was released in 1972, Boomer's Story felt original, even though it contained no original material. As with much of Ry Cooder's work at the time, the influential LP features his versions of traditional folk numbers and blues favorites, soul songs and diverse instrumentals.…

Live: The Darkness thrusts itself upon Raleigh

Spencer Griffith — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:57:00 -0400

“We’re The Darkness from the United Kingdom, and we’re here on business!” By the time frontman Justin Hawkins made that introduction early in Friday night’s set, it was unnecessary: The nearly full Lincoln Theatre was clearly familiar with the British quartet, and the band was giving the crowd exactly what they came to see. While opening with the crude, autobiographical “Every Inch of You” from last year’s comeback record Hot Cakes, The Darkness eventually played through almost all of its breakthrough debut Permission to Land, only leaving off album closer “Holding My Own” from an album stuffed with more legitimate hits than a Time Life compilation.…

Two weeks without the Possum, Part Two: Tom Maxwell considers George Jones' vocal poignancy

Tom Maxwell — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:41:00 -0400

Editor's Note: Country legend George Jones died two weeks ago, on April 26, 2013, in Nashville. Longtime area musicians John Howie Jr. and Tom Maxwell provided reflections on Jones.…

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Two weeks without the Possum, Part One: John Howie Jr. reflects on his youth and an evening with George Jones

John Howie Jr. — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:21:00 -0400

Editor's Note: Country legend George Jones died two weeks ago, on April 26, 2013, in Nashville. Longtime area musicians John Howie Jr. and Tom Maxwell provided reflections on Jones.…
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The Love Language returns with new single and a third LP due in July

Jordan Lawrence — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:58:00 -0400

“Calm Down” (streaming below) is the opener from Ruby Red—the third album from Chapel Hill and Raleigh's reliably hook-happy and heartbroken The Love Language, due via Merge Records on July 23. That’s the cover art at the top of the post.…
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Raleigh hardcore bands Last Words and Abuse. ready new LPs for To Live a Lie Records

Bryan C. Reed — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:43:00 -0400

Since debuting in 2005 with a split 7-inch featuring California’s Godstomper and Maryland’s Magrudergrind, To Live A Lie Records—the one-man operation of Raleigh’s Will Butler—has steadily issued solid slabs of grindcore, powerviolence and hardcore from bands across the globe. Of the 91 titles in its catalog, though, only a few are homegrown.…
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Mandolin Orange's third album, This Side of Jordan, out on Aug. 6 via Yep Roc Records

Jordan Lawrence — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:21:00 -0400

Long one of the Triangle's more popular young bands, Mandolin Orange is now taking a big step toward the national spotlight. In an announcement earlier this week via CMT Edge—the country TV station's online sounding board for alternative Americana—the Carrboro folk duo revealed that This Side of Jordan, the group's third album, will be released by Yep Roc Records, the N.C. label that claims such stalwarts as Nick Lowe and Robyn Hitchcock.…
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Pierce Freelon (The Beast) and Apple Juice Kid's Beat Making Lab now subject of PBS digital series

Jordan Lawrence — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:50:00 -0400

A new digital series from PBS will shed some national light on one of the Triangle's more unique music initiatives.

In the fall of 2011, local producer Apple Juice Kid, otherwise known as Stephen Levitin, began teaching a class at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.…
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Without Doc and Rosa Lee Watson, Merlefest marches on

Dan Schram — Wed, 01 May 2013 09:56:00 -0400

The 26th annual MerleFest returned to the campus of Wilkes Community College last weekend. One major figure was missing, of course: This year's Merlefest somberly marked the first without the festival's patriarch, Doc Watson, who passed away in May 2012.

Many asked if, after the passing of Watson, his beloved gathering in western North Carolina would change.…
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Annuals drop first full-length in five years

Jordan Lawrence — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:51:00 -0400

"It's been a couple years since I gave a fuck/ It's been a couple more since I ran out of luck."

That's the opening couplet from "Omnicide" — the lead-off to Time Stamp, Annuals' first full-length in five years — and it couldn't be more blunt about the struggles that have forestalled its release. Since ascending to major label success — 2008's Such Fun came out on the Columbia Records subsidiary Canvasback — the group has parted ways with the imprint and endured the financial fallout from a pretty devastating break-in and theft at their practice space, all while weathering the advancement of time and lives that too often upends bands, even ones who haven't been hit with such bad fortune.…
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