Ticket Giveaways for Sigur Rós and Nine Inch Nails!

 

This week, WKNC will be giving away a number of tickets for two upcoming Raleigh concerts presented by Live Nation: Sigur Rós at the Red Hat Amphitheater on September 21 and Nine Inch Nails with special guest Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the PNC Arena is a month later on October 21.  All you have to do is listen attentively to WKNC, be the correct caller when the DJ on-air asks for calls, and you can win a pair of tickets for yourself and a friend to have some sweet fun at an awesome concert!  The more you listen, the more likely you'll hear a DJ ask for calls!

Post-Scotch: Mainstream Noise By David

If Merzbow plays a set in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, did the noise actually happen? If I could sum up my takeaway from Hopscotch 2k13 in one sentence, it would be with this simple thought: What other festival could bring a Merzbow or a Wolf Eyes to North Carolina and play him to packed crowds? A Pharmakon show well attended in Raleigh? The band Sleep being a major topic of conversation? To me, these all seem like nerdy music pipe dreams for kids who tweet too much. Yet this is the diversity and breadth of the people that Hopscotch brings together from all over the country. People from all walks of life come together at this festival because they love music, and it's truly a remarkable thing to see. So with these warm fuzzies in mind, here are some memorable highlights from my experience this year!

First, yes. Yes it happened. I finally got to see Grouper live. The clouds parted over Raleigh and I saw the entire universe in a perfect light. Or something. My fanboy dial turned down slightly here though, the numinous atmosphere of Fletcher Opera Theatre and the subtle visuals complementing Liz Harris' spare drone made for a hypnotizing performance that Thursday. I was in heaven. Completely on the opposite spectrum, but equally sonically pleasing was the ever-manic Marnie Stern, who I saw shred faces at Lincoln Theatre that same night. Her ridiculously energetic set guaranteed I'll be humming "Year Of The Glad" for the rest of the fall.

Saturday, I caught The Beets, who are a garage band signed to Hardly Art that I had never heard of, and who ended up being one of my favorite sets of the festival. As you can see from the photo I snapped above, their set was dark and grungy and intimate in the best kind of way. I also saw Swearin, who I really enjoyed, and who are perhaps one of the most underrated indie pop bands (spoke too soon?) touring right now. My soul to be a Crutchfield.

Did things get weird? It's Hopscotch, of course they did. I watched Thurston Moore play a blistering improv noise set with Merzbow for a packed crowd at Kings. I ended up onstage with Mykki Blanco and about 20 other people while she played "Wavvy." I met the mysterious DJ Paypal. I saw Holly Herndon perform at CAM behind weird CGI visuals of Japanese Amazon boxes as they floated through panoramic photos of Asian families. Yes, read that last sentence twice. I saw Pissed Jeans' frontman, semi-clothed, as he taunted the audience and stacked his band's amps in a pyramid in the middle of Pour House's stage. I absolutely saw Ryan Hemsworth drop a remix of a song from the Rugrats movie, and we all danced, because it was phenomenal.

I don't want to be too sentimental or corny about it, but I really loved this year. I love how much I learn about music from this festival every year, and I love the fascinating people it allows me to meet. Pere Ubu and Earl Sweatshirt played 5 minutes from my apartment because of this festival. Viva La Hopscotch.

EOT125 Doctor Unemployment 9/10/13

This week's top stories are a doctor's unemployment crisis in North Carolina and N.C. State's role in the advancement in electric cars.

http://interviews.wknc.org/eot/EOT125_091013.mp3

Post-Scotch: Anastassia's Highlights

Hopscotch is the best time of the year and this year was probably THE BEST time of any year ever. Every year the festival gets better, or should I say stranger.... but this is why I love it so much. It's so unique every year but I think this year was by far my favorite. SO many random and weird things that happened all over downtown Raleigh and it would be impossible and long to list them all but here were my favorite moments.

This year at Hopscotch:

•  I saw Swearin’ twice in one day! Their surprise Slims show was packed and dark and loud but their official Pour House show sounded great and I was finally able to unleashthe punk girl that was waiting for “Here to Hear”.

•  The Breeders became my favorite band after I saw them play at City Plaza. I don’t know what was so impactful, the fact that these women are so badass and my mom’s age or that they sounded so good live. Probably both.


•  I shed a few tears at Angel Olsen and was pretty much bewitched by her voice and then I sprinted over to DJ Paypal, danced for fifteen minutes and sprinted back to Grouper and was hypnotized into staying for her entire space-fuzz set.


•  I also danced on stage at Mykki Blanco, saw two minutes of Merzbow and Thurston Moore's noise collaboration,  attempted to mosh at Pissed Jeans (if you look close enough, the blonde mop of hair is mine in the picture above), and fell in love with Scout Nibblet's voice.

Hopscotch is so eclectic that it provides experiences like no other festival.

Top 10 Afterhours Albums for 9/9

1 VARIOUS ARTISTS    "Verve Remixed: The First Ladies"    (Verve)



2  GOLD PANDA    ”Half Of Where You Live”    (Ghostly)



3 RUXPIN    ”This Time We All Go Together”    (n5MD)



4 ETIENNE DE CRECY    ”Beats N Cubes Vol 2″    (Win)



5 HERMITUDE    ”HyperParadise”    (Elefant Traks)



6 JON HOPKINS    ”Immunity”    (Domino)



7 Pretty Lights    ”Color Map of the Sun”    (8 Minutes 20 Seconds)



8 MODERAT    ”II”    (Mute)



9  HECTIC ZENITHS    ”Hectic Zeniths”    (Self-Released)



10 JONO MCCLEERY    ”Ballade”    (Ninja Tune)

Post-Scotch: Venue Variation by DJ Salinger

Reflecting back on my overall experience at this year’s Hopscotch Music Festival, one thing that particularly stuck out to me was the wide variety of venues and differences between them all. From my personal experience, I would have to say that the venue that provided the most captivating experiences was the Memorial Auditorium due to its wide open ceilings that allowed the sound to echo off into the back of the room. While Memorial provided many great shows from artists like Local Natives, High Highs, and Sylvan Esso, a venue that was the complete opposite could do the same thing a few blocks away. That venue was definitely the Berkeley Cafe; while it did not have the massive chandeliers and tall ceilings, it did provide an intimate setting that allowed acts like Co. and WOOL to rock the crowd out.
Another factor that varied greatly between the venues was the crowds. Of course most of the time it depended on the time and who was playing, but I could almost guarantee that Lincoln was going to be full of those sweaty crowds, while Tir Na Nog was going to be fairly laid back. I feel as though it is these differences that make Hopscotch such a unique and enjoyable festival that will never cease to surprise me year after year.

More Hopscotch Highlights: Saturday