Hopscotch 2011: Day Two Photo Recap

Photography by Student Media photographers Alex Sanchez and Marisa Akers


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Hopscotch Announces 2011 Ed McKay Artists and Author Series

This year's Hopscotch Music Festival is set up to be another amazing event coming to the area. The icing on top of the cake comes with all of the accompanying day parties and various other events held that highlight talent in music. One of these is the Ed McKay Artist and Author Series. Similar to last year's event, this year's event will bring several members of some of the larger acts including The Flaming Lip's Wayne Coyne and Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers.

The Series is three days long and corresponds with the afternoons before the main activities of the night take place. Each event takes place at the Raleigh City Museum from 3-5 p.m.  The first of these programs is titled Present the Past: Honoring and Outstripping Influences City Museum. The second is titled Simple Words: The Power of Narrative Songs. The final of the three is The Bubble: The Limits of Pop Music.

For more information about who will be participating in these events read up on the event at Hopscotchmusicfest.com

Swanky Giveaways for this Week!

The local shows keep rolling, after a successful weekend of Hopscotch Musical Festival, and the upcoming SPARKcon, the Triangle is the place to be!

We have a lot of giveaways for you this week. You know what that means—listen to WKNC throughout your entire day and you could win tickets to:

9/15- Jay Clifford at Cat's Cradle



9/16 - Shooter Jennings at Cat's Cradle
The Small Ponds at The Pour House

9/17 - Holy Ghost Tent Revival at Lincoln Theatre

Old Ceremony at Cat's Cradle **CD release party!

Urban Sophisticates at The Pour House

9/18 - Billy Bragg at Cat's Cradle

Free Electric State at The Pour House

9/19 - Drive-By Truckers at Lincoln Theatre

JP Chrissie & Fairground Boys at Cat's Cradle

On-going  movie tickets—The American and Resident Evil: Afterlife at Crossroads 20 in Cary

Even if you don't win tickets, stay up to date on all local shows with our Rock Report!

Now Playing: 3/26/10

Here is a compilation of the latest new music we have received in the past week.

Free Energy- Stuck on Nothing



Sounding closer to Thin Lizzy and Cheap Trick, Free Energy emits a fun, upbeat, guitar heavy album.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7OE3W0VSZs

Drive-by Truckers- The Big To-Do



Probably the best southern rock album you'll listen to this year. Imagine Dinosaur Jr. with a country slant --if you haven't listened to one of their other nine excellent albums. Get out your lighters y'all.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un9jmeLNBqY

Love is All- Two Thousand and Ten Injuries



High energy Swedish pop. Eccentric album with a collage of traditional and not so traditional rock instruments, i.e. saxophone. The female vocals can get annoying at times but the excellent clash of sounds make up for that.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl1PqiluWic

Arctic Monkeys- My Propeller (single)



Solid B-sides that play of of the similar down tempo beats from Humbug. Although they don't do anything revolutionary for the band, they are still quite enjoyable for the fans.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5vZovv8cPk

She & Him- Volume Two



Pop favorite Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward are at it again with another charming album. This time it's more she than him. Really sweet and endearing, although after the first few tracks you start to lose your sugar high.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ3cTwI9bIw
Slow Club- Yeah So



This UK indie-duo has sweet lyrics, simple guitar melodies and interesting harmonies. They take turns with lead vocals and never disappoint. Every song is interesting, up-beat and give you that feeling of: I want more more more.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2dZSHToVGc

Pavement - Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement

Well, hot damn.  Listening to this compilation, it's remarkable to hear how genius Pavement's music is--their low-fi aesthetic perfectly melds with Stephen Malkmus's lazy, idiosyncratic wordplay .  This compilation is absolutely essential--it's sequencing is flawless and the track choice balances their singles with album gems.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMdkyeZOqE

Jason Collett - Rat A Tat Tat



More good stuff from the Arts & Crafts Label.  Collet's tunes are impassioned with twang and swagger and his music walks the line between alt-country, 60s pop, and the more soulful dispositions of indie rock.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsQP_1U-sDg

One For The Team- Ghosts

Catchy, unpretentious, and unabashedly fun power pop.  It sounds like Mates of State with punk grit or the New Pornographers playing Something Corporate.  Lots of crunchy guitars and incessant harmonies.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_16ziKaaWc

Josiah Wolf- Jetlag

I really like this album! Here we have the solo album from the drummer of WHY? Seeing as I am not a huge fan of WHY? I was somewhat skeptical, however  I was totally wrong. I am really into this folky Paul Simon-esque experience.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjZHiYmbYGg&feature=related

Goldfrapp- Head First

You know I love this. Rocket might be the catchiest song ever. Think Xanadu meets David Bowie, a mixture of '80s glam rock and '70s disco.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjcTUmipxZY&feature=related

Drink Up Buttercup- Born and Thrown on a Hook

Psychedelic mixture of the Beatles and Man Man. A weird pop experience for sure.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRaLxVaD5Ic

Let's Wrestle- In the Court of the Wrestling Let's

Scrappy British punk music. They are on Merge Records and have been getting a lot of press.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5HnZP5v6s

Dum Dum Girls- I Will Be

This is sort of a mixture between '60s girl pop and shoegaze buzz garage rock. Sort of falling the trend of most of the bands out right now, but this one is surprisingly good.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwck4XOp1vQ

Black Tambourine- Black Tambourine

This band has pretty much influenced every popular band out right now. Shoegaze pop that resembles A Sunny Day in Glasgow, but a lot darker.

[youtube width="425" height="25"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wva074MGZi8