In the Studio
Thursday, August 27, 2009
In the Studio / News flashes New Charlie Poole set from Loudon Wainwright
Posted by Rick Cornell on Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 3:21 PM
Speaking of Charlie Poole: On August 15, the same day that Tompkins Square released its two-disc Red Fox Chasers anthology, Loudon Wainwright III released his latest, titled High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. On the two-disc set, Wainwright—with help from the likes of David Mansfield, Geoff Muldaur, and Chris Thile, as well as various Wainwrights and Roches—tackles songs from Poole's repertoire and contributes nine new songs centered on the life of the rambling and roving Poole and the times that couldn't contain him. Among other things, this project adds to the already-abundant off-the-beaten-path promise of this fall's Rich & Loud show in Greensboro. For those not on a first-nickname basis with the duo, that's Richard Thompson, who's been known to dig back, oh, 400 or 500 years for a tune, and Wainwright.
And Danville, Va.,'s Kinney Rorrer is again in the thick of things again. Wainwright's Web site highlights Rorrer's Poole bio, Rambling Blues, as a chief inspiration, and Rorrer showed Wainwright and High Wide & Handsome producer Dick Connette around Poole's Spray, N.C., stomping grounds as they geared up for recording. Click here to download "Milwaukee Blues," an outtake from the new set.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
In the Studio / News flashes Phonte Coleman on new Roots, Apathy albums
Posted by Eric Tullis on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 6:18 PM
While still touring and promoting his most recent The Foreign Exchange LP, Leave it All Behind, Little Brother's Phonte Coleman is somehow finding time to churn out all sorts of other projects. Whether he's hosting his Raleigh dance night, serenading over a joyful Jazzanova track or guest-emceeing on a R&B record from two rising soul vocalists (Anthony David and Algebra Blessett), Coleman—who will also be featured on the upcoming The Roots album, How I Got Over—remains one of the Triangle's busiest, most in-demand artists.
We figured we'd keep you up to date just in case you aren't doing your fair share of Twitter stalking: Via I'm Flashy, here's a brand new track featuring Coleman, entitled "True Love" and from Connecticut emcee Apathy's upcoming Wanna Snuggle LP. Apathy is mostly known for his collaborative effort with Jedi Mind Tricks, Army of The Pharaohs. Here, Phonte's subject matter is women and their misdirected love-affair with hip-hop, or, as he addresses, "Sex and the City hoes" and "Raphael 'Saad-idy' hoes". Leave it up to Mr. Coleman to form labels like this one...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
In the Studio Joe Scudda on Reservoir Dogs, his new tape with Big Pooh, Jozeemo & Chaundon
Posted by Eric Tullis on Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 11:50 PM
Joe Scudda is known mostly as the sort-of-country (and white) emcee who shows up unexpectedly on Hall of Justus tracks and delivers unforgettable, often-hilarious guest verses. This time, though, as part of the four-man rapping cartel Reservoir Dogs with fellow Hall of Justus emcees Rapper Big Pooh, Chaundon and Jozeemo, Scudda is finally steering the wheel. We asked Scudda a few questions about the upcoming Reservoir Dogs mixtape and his acting career.
INDEPENDENT WEEKLY: This seems like a very no-holds-barred project where everyone is just getting some very angry shit off their chest. What’s the reason for the collaboration? Who’s idea was this?
JOE SCUDDA: It was Pooh and Big Dho’s idea. You gotta keep shit in peoples’ iPods nowadays. You have to pump mad shit out. It took about five days. It was just us straight spittin’ and gotdamn rappin. There was no rhyme or reason to the shit, so we were just running around in the studio. It was a platform for everybody to showcase where they’re at right now with their bars. It’s just straight rap. It’s just us going in and jacking somebody’s beat. But we didn’t aimlessly rap over joints. We reworked some songs and had a little fun with it. We took the Jamie Foxx song “Blame It (On The Alcohol)” and talked about girls with no “Ass-At-All." [Editor's Note: Really?] We just wilded out and banged out a damn mixtape.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
In the Studio / News flashes Ex-WKNC DJ Steve O))) returns to radio Friday
Posted by Grayson Currin on Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 1:07 PM
2008 Indies Arts Award winner Steve "DJ Steve-O" Salevan will return to radio with a new show, The Hidden Places, Friday on Internet radio station, Taintradio, which I have yet to type without giggling. Salevan, a former WKNC 88.1 FM DJ, will co-host the show with Rachael Oehring, a Chapel Hill-based music publicist and, along with Salevan and Independent Weekly contributors Bryan Reed and Allie Mullin, co-owner of label Neckbeard Records.
The mixed-format show will air weekly on Fridays from noon to 2 p.m. and will combine local tunes with chats with musicians, fans and enthusiasts across the state. This Friday's pre-recorded premiere episode includes Pox World Empire kingpins Zeno Gill and Maria Albani, as well as Bull City's Jim Brantley, discussing, as Salevan says, "what it's like to be someone in a band around here, what it's like to start a group, and the culture of the Triangle."
Thursday, July 2, 2009
In the Studio / Live Actions: New Bills Midtown Dickens announces release party for Lanterns
Posted by Grayson Currin on Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Midtown Dickens will release its sophomore album, Lanterns, on Friday, August 28, with a show at Duke Coffeehouse. The band—now a quintet—recorded the album in Monroe, N.C., with Scott Solter (The Mountain Goats, Pattern is Movement, John Vanderslice), who also mixed. Dave Harris at Charlotte's Studio B mastered. The band will self-release Lanterns with a one-purchase, three-format approach: The vinyl, CD and digital download will be sold together, as with last year’s Lost in the Trees album, All Alone in an Empty House. Hit the jump for the tracklist.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Live Actions: Reviews / In the Studio Live: Tigallo's debut Two-Step Thursday lacks, but a white lady disagrees
Posted by Eric Tullis on Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 6:48 PM
Globe, Raleigh
Thursday, June 11, 2009 (continuing every other Thursday)
Thanks to some handstand-breakdance maneuver I hoped to land on the dance floor at the first of Phonte’s weekly Tigallo’s Two-Step Thursday affair at Raleigh club Globe, I nearly fractured my thumb last week. It's not broken, I think, but it is about the size of a chicken nugget. At least it’s a casualty of war with which I’m willing to live.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
In the Studio / News flashes Uhh, Polvo signs to Merge
Posted by Grayson Currin on Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Well, there's this, which we've been hearing rumors of, but mostly around a Raleigh basketball court and on MySpace:
Merge will release Polvo's new album, In Prism, on Tuesday, Sep. 8, the band's first LP since 1997's Shapes and first on Merge since Today's Active Lifestyles four years before. The eight tracks were recorded with Brian Paulson at Asheville's excellent Echo Mountain. Only two dates are scheduled so far (one being at Mergefest in July; the other being at New York's Seaport Music Festival later in July), though more gigs are expected for this Fall. Maybe Black Taj will open? Tracklist is after the jump, and more info as soon as we get it.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
In the Studio / News flashes Jack White records, releases Dex Romweber Duo 7"
Posted by Grayson Currin on Thu, May 7, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Dexter and Sara Romweber stopped by Jack White's home studio in Nashville, Tenn., last week to record. Along with engineer Vance Powell, White lent his talents to the sessions by producing, playing guitar, saw, bass and singing. The two tracks cut over the two-day session—Geeshie Wiley's great "Last Kind Word Blues" and Dex's own "The Wind Did Move"—will be released through White's label, Third Man, later this month. Third Man, a vinyl label, currently has one release to its name: "Hang You From the Heavens," a seven-inch slab by White's new band, The Dead Weather.
"It feels good. I can go to my grave and at least know I accomplished something," Romweber told Nashville's Metromix over his long-purported influence over The White Stripe. "Nothing gigantic. But still, it’s something. It’s touching." Complete track details after the jump."
Friday, April 17, 2009
Live Actions: Reviews / In the Studio / News flashes 9th Wonder recording with David Banner in Durham; Banner speaks
Posted by Grayson Currin on Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 6:10 PM
During his packed Thursday night show at Carrboro's Cat's Cradle for the opening night of the 2009 Signal Electronic Music Festival, D.C. rapper Wale welcomed a special guest to the stage: Wearing a leather coat and, as Wale noted, Jordan 3's, Durham's Grammy-winning producer 9th Wonder ambled onto the stage, greeting the hometown crowd before mentioning Back to the Feature, his long-awaited mixtape with Wale. Neither Wale nor 9th offered a definitive answer as to when the tape would finally be available, but the pair did reveal more details about 9th's contribution to Wale's forthcoming Interscope debut, Attention: Deficit, due later this year. The track includes Def Jam soul singer Chrisette Michele. Excited to hear that.
After Wale launched into a diatribe about saving hip-hop, 9th brought the crowd back around by "introduc[ing] a friend of mine who came out here to work with me for a coupla days." The guest, Mississippi rapper David Banner, had been lurking in the shadows at the back of the stage in a green Adidas jacket and thick-rimmed black spectacles.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
New Music / In the Studio / News flashes Horseback's back: two releases, approaches, premieres
Posted by Bryan C. Reed on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Never content to stick to any one sound for too long, Jenks Miller—returning to his Horseback alias—has announced two new releases.
Neither sound at all like his masterful debut, Impale Golden Horn. Yes, for all you keeping track at home on your handy little conflict-of-interest scorecards, that was released by Miller's Holidays For Quince label and Burly Time Records, the label formerly run in part by Indy music editor Grayson Currin. Nor do these two releases find their soul in the meandering guitar approach that was last year's Approaching The Invisible Mountain, released under the name Jenks Miller. But, as has become custom for Miller, the slow pacing, thoughtful construction and sonic weight remain.
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