LBLB Thursday 11/18

Come down to WKNC and Tir Na Nog's Local Band Local Beer on Thursday 11/18 to see Embarrassing Fruits, Kid Future, and Americans In France! The show is free! 10 p.m. 21+.



Embarrassing Fruits


These guys played on NCSU's Harris Field for the first installment of Fridays on the Lawn this semester.  I thoroughly enjoyed their show. On the one hand, they sang a song about conspiracies and on the other, something so love sick my heart ached. My favorite line? something like, "I want to be the one to kill spiders for you." Oh please, Embarrasing Fruits, if you kill spiders for me there will be no Long Distance Breakup Summer.  Promise.


Kid Future

Seriously the sexiest new band to hit the Raleigh scene.

"The three-dude Kid Future is an upstart in the most absolute sense, having played about a dozen shows and released only a handful of rough recordings online. Those tunes are keyboard-and-guitar gestalts, given to verses and hooks that look to serve the mood, not themselves. Think The National in the basement with drum machines and synths." —Grayson Currin, The Independent

Americans In France

"Though they're a little more Black Flag than Buddy Holly, there's a sloppy, rudimentary straightforwardness to Americans in France. That's not to call their debut, Pretzelvania, simplistic, though. Actually, the Chapel Hill trio plays with a great deal of skill, shifting styles (punk, post-punk, ballad, droning space rock, peppy rave-ups) with the precision of an Indy car shifting gears coming out of a caution flag. But their ragged, kitchen-sink experimentalism is far from pretentious, striking a playful, clowning tone that doesn't take itself too seriously." —Chris Parker, The Independent

All three bands (hopefully!) will join me at the station this Thursday at 7 p.m. It will be a cozy interview.

We have Troika Music Festival passes!

For 3 days, from November 4-6, Durham comes alive with music and art. Troika Music Festival began in 2002 and is still going strong. Bands featured this year include Birds & Arrows, Veelee, Old Bricks, I Was Totally Destroying It, Red Collar, The Small Ponds, Americans in France, Phil Cook and His Feat, Chatham County Line, Mount Moriah, Gray Young, Spider Bags, and even more! They'll be performing at venues around Durham and WKNC has 3-day festival passes to give away!

Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for it now through November 3, and you could win a pair of 3-day festival passes!

LBLB For September

New Raleigh has beaten us to the punch announcing this month's Local Beer Local Band, but we are just excited as everyone else.  This could possibly be the best month's lineup yet, and features three extra dates not on Thursday!  Check it out:

Wednesday, September 2- The American Princes with Magic Mike (FREE)




Thursday, September 3- Max Indian & Mount Weather (FREE)




Saturday, September 5- Lonnie Walker with Americans in France & Anti-Bubble ($5 cover)




Thursday, September 10- The T’s & Embarrassing Fruits (FREE)




Saturday, September 12- Rollergirl after party featuring Red Collar, I Was Totally Destroying It, The Demon Beat, & Pink Flag ($5 cover)




Thursday, September 17- Sparkcon kick off featuring Bright Young Things, The Jackets, Aminal, & Starmount ($5 cover)




Thursday, September 24- Future Kings of Nowhere & Dry Heathens (FREE)

Every week WKNC interviews our Local Beer Local Band bands, so be sure to check back to the blog for dates and times of live, on-air, interviews.

Also, don't forget that every week the Hear Here compilation will be on sale at Tir Na Nog!

Top 10 tracks selected by Brian Corum of Lonnie Walker

Brian Corum, front- man for everyone's favorite Lonnie Walker, has graciously given us his top song list this week.

Make sure to check out Lonnie Walker September 5 at Local Beer Local Band at Tir Na Nog with Americans in France and Anti Bubbles.

"I couldn't put any kind of order to this list so these are just 10 of my favorite jams right now," Corum writes.

1. Future Islands - Pinnochio

"I love these guys with my heart deepness. Their new songs keep getting better and better and Sam's lyrics and his lyrical placements are something I look up to."

2. Girls - Lust for Life
"This song is ridiculously catchy and the first line is a guy singing, 'oh I wish I had a boyfriend' which I've caught myself singing out loud before and in turn have gotten some strange looks from people."

3. Fleetwood Mac - Not that Funny
"It's got this weird tone that comes in and out of the mix and I really like the snarl in Buckingham's vocal delivery."

4. The Rentals - Sweetness and Tenderness
"I hadn't really listened to the Rentals much since high school, but I played the album Return of the Rentals the other day while driving and was over-flooded with sweet memories."

5. Americans in France - Nose Job
"I really like the snotty nose brat aesthetic that this band does so well -- and they are local. I got the album Pretzelvania, and I think it's great. We're playing together on Sept. 5 at Tir Na Nog too, along with a new band called AntiBubbles. I'm real excited about this show!"

6. Gillian Welch - By the Mark
"The best song about Jesus Christ, ever. So pure, and her voice. I love her voice."

7. Talking Heads- Animals
"Super paranoia -- this song is pretty strange even for the Talking Heads. It's filled with a bunch of jagged rants about how the animals are laughing at the human condition."

8. Angelo Badalamenti - The Straight Story Soundtrack
"The Straight Story is one of my favorite David Lynch films. It's tame compared to a lot of his stuff, but you can still tell Lynch made it. The score fits so great, too."

9. Magnetic Fields - Kiss Me Like You Mean It
"The line, 'come here baby and kiss me like you mean it,' sounds like it should be an old Humphrey Bogart quote."

10. Cluster - Zum Wohl
"The album Sowiesoso was playing at Schoolkids one day while I was looking around and I ended up buying it instead of everything else. It's a super warm sounding electronic album, great to work to, and I thank Brad for talking me into buying it."

WKNC's picks for top albums of 2009, part one

It's hard to believe 2009 is half over.

There have been tons of albums out in months one through six that our DJs have released over the airwaves, some of which resulted in countless requests and songs that got stuck in our heads for days on end. It's hard to narrow them down, but a few of the WKNC music directors have made their picks for the top five albums of the year so far in their respective formats.

Local Music Director Adam Kincaid selected...



1. Bombadil: Tarpits & Canyonlands
2. Colossus: Drunk On Blood
3. The Love Language: The Love Language
4. Lonnie Walker: These Times Old Times
5. Embarrassing Fruits: Community/Exploitation

With honorable mentions for...

Americans in France: Pretzelvania
Hammer No More The Fingers: Looking For Bruce

Disagree with Adam's picks? Send him an email and let him know which albums you would have chosen.

Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre selected...



1. Cotton Jones: Paranoid Cocoon
2. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
3. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion
4. Harlem Shakes: Technicolor Health
5. Screaming Females: Power Move

With honorable mentions for:

Akron/Family: Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Are there albums you think should have been on the list? Email Jenna to discuss.

Underground Music Director Damion Sledge chose...



Saigon and Statik Selektah: All in a Day's Work

If you have Underground albums to add to the list, email Damion.

Stay tuned for the next six months of albums on WKNC, and we'll see which ones come out on top in December!

Local Beat recap 4/10/09

Wow, what a day.  We started off the Local Beat with an interview and in-studio performance by one of my favorite bands around, Bombadil.  They played previously unreleased "Kate and Kelsey" and were also kind enough to let us spin a few tracks off of their yet-to-be-released album, Tarpits and Canyonlands (see video below)
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/3382352[/vimeo].

We talked about the imminent loss of Stuart, Daniel's injured hand, the NC State Brickyard preachers, and how none of these things will stop the momentum that Bombadil has with new album to be released soon.

Lastly, they provided a hint as to their concert garb for the evening (see pictures below).  Check out the interview.



Bombadil 4/10 Part 1

Bombadil 4/10 Part 2

Bombadil 4/10 Part 3

As Bombadil was leaving the studio, we were shuffling Double Barrel Benefit 6 band Lost in the Trees (2/13 of them, anyway) into the studio.  They also played a previously unreleased track called "A Church that Fits our Needs," a stunningly beautiful song with, as we noted, a touch of folk.  We also talked about their upcoming date at the Shakori Hills Festival and some work the band is doing in schools (promoting rock, or pop, or whatever it should be called). Finally, we talked about the band's next album, which should be released sometime this fall (check the Trekky Records website for more info).  They also spoke a little about the show that night at the Lincoln Theatre.

Check out the Lost in the Trees interview below.



Lost in the Trees 4/10 Part 1

Lost in the Trees 4/10 Part 2

Lost in the Trees 4/10 Part 3

The lineup for that show was as follows:

Lost in the Trees

Benji Hughes (who put on just about the drunkest, most hilarious act I've seen in a while)

Bombadil

Our last guest of the evening was Ryan Richardson of the Kingsbury Manx, who joined us by phone.  We talked about the band's label, Odessa Records (owned and managed by band member Paul Finn).  Odessa was having its "label release" party at Cat's Cradle that night, which included all 3 bands on the label:

Americans in France

Impossible Arms

Kingsbury Manx

Check out the interview below.

Kingsbury Manx 4/10 Part 1

Kingsbury Manx 4/10 Part 2

Check out the pictures from the Lincoln Theatre show below and visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/not_a_photographer/ for more of the same.