Scan, Indy Week

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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Deerhunter to play impromptu set in Durham tonight

Jordan Lawrence — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:02:00 -0400

You may well be too late, but Atlanta-based psych-rock outfit Deerhunter is playing an intimate, un-publicized set in Durham tonight. The show is happening at the show at the Carrack (111 W. Parrish St.).…
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Durham's Golden Belt unveils free, outdoor concert series

Jordan Lawrence — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:56:00 -0400

If you live in Durham, and you don't see a free, outdoor concert this summer, you'll only have yourself to blame. Hot on the heels of the recent announcement of the "Find Your Cool" concert series, Golden Belt has unveiled its own string of free shows in the humid air.…
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Live: Mount Moriah rewards the faithful

Jordan Lawrence — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:56:00 -0400

Mount Moriah
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro
Friday, April 12, 2013

It should be mentioned that this wasn't the first time that Mount Moriah took over the Cat’s Cradle for a release party. Almost exactly two years prior, the local folk rock favorites played the legendary Carrboro club to celebrate the CD version of its self-titled debut.…
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Today: Donna Ray Norton channels old ballads at the N.C. Museum of History

Chris Vitiello — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 10:40:00 -0400

Jack Spicer wrote that a poet is a “counterpunching radio.” He also could have been talking about Madison County ballad singers. Just as poets are speakers through which the broadcast of language flows, so are ballad singers like Donna Ray Norton, who gives a free performance Saturday at the North Carolina Museum of History.…
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William Tyler wows as Loamlands debut at The Pinhook

Jordan Lawrence — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:25:00 -0400

Nashville's William Tyler wants his instrumental songs to tell a story or, at the very least, to express some theme or concept that's been weighing on his mind. This is especially true on Impossible Truth, his recently released third LP and his debut for Durham's Merge Records.…
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Neu Romance ends its 10-year run in Raleigh this weekend

Eric Tullis — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:30:00 -0400

Chico Scott doesn't remember the exact date, but sometime back in the early '90s, his then-girlfriend returned from an errand at a nearby Eckerd photo lab with some developed prints and a guy named Shaun.

"I don't know why," says Scott of the invitation.…
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Durham's new free outdoor summer concert series announces lineup

Brian Howe — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:29:00 -0400

“The key thing was to hit the ground running,” Tess Mangum Ocaña says of getting laid off from her job as The ArtsCenter’s music programmer just months after winning an INDY Arts Award for it. And she did just that, recently becoming the special events coordinator for Downtown Durham Inc. She launches its new summer concert series, “Find Your Cool,” on May 9 in CCB Plaza, and the full lineup has just been announced.…
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Live: Chris Stamey brings Big Star to Full Frame

Peter Blackstock — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:43:00 -0400

Nothing Can Hurt Me, Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori's documentary about the ill-fated Memphis pop band Big Star, would’ve made a fine endpoint for this year’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, even without the movie's local connections. As it was, however, the choice struck a nearly perfect note, thanks to its opening act.…
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Simple Music Video Series: Kenny Roby's "The Craziest Kid Around"

Dan Schram — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:39:00 -0400

I first encountered the name Kenny Roby while listening to a Whiskeytown bootleg from The Brewery, recorded Oct. 22, 1999. Not having been in the Triangle during the great alt-country hope, I never got to see the band for which he is best known, 6 String Drag.…
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Live: Hiss Golden Messenger brings friends, family to the record shop

Grayson Currin — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:48:00 -0400

As the early spring sun sank low in Durham on Tuesday night, Michael Taylor glanced up at the crowd pressing close to the makeshift plywood stage at Bull City Records.

“I didn’t really set up a record release show,” admitted Taylor, sitting in the chair he’d toted from his nearby home, “because I kind of don’t like those.”

But in the last few weeks, the excitement for Haw—the album that Taylor’s Hiss Golden Messenger released just yesterday on the label Paradise of Bachelors—has spread in these parts and elsewhere with contagion speed.…
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Live: Dex Romweber Duo rips through the catalog in Durham

Dan Schram — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:12:00 -0400

Friday night at the Casbah in Durham, the underground heroes of the Dex Romweber Duo took the stage. Running through a blistering set, the Duo showed no signs of rust, despite having not performed in some time.…
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Pet-Tich-Eye reaches its Kickstarter goal

Jordan Lawrence — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:49:00 -0400

About a month ago, the INDY asked Ashlie White, the founder of Pet-Tich-Eye, why it was so important for the project's initial Kickstarter campaign to succeed. Pet-Tich-Eye was set up to foster collaboration between Triangle musicians, visual artists and community organizations.…
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