Vote For Us!

 

Every year, Independent Weekly holds a vote for the best of that year in the Triangle.  Voting for the Best of 2013 has already begun.  Vote for your Triangle favorites in the six different categories: Wine & Dine, Out & About, Goods, Services, Media and Comments section.  Voting will end April 15th.  Be sure to get in your votes for all sorts of awards such as best local brewery, best restaurants, best place to people watch, best venues, and most importantly best radio station.  So get out there and vote to give your favorites in the Triangle the chance they deserve to be recognized!You can vote here.  Here are the categories that we are in the running for:

 
Best College Radio Station
Best Non-Profit Radio Station
Best Local Internet Radio Station
Best Commercial Radio Station (if you're feeling really crazy and want to stick it to the man)
Best Radio DJ- Vote for Adam Kincaid the host of The Local Beat Fridays 5-8pm
Best Local Blog

Local Beat preview 9/2/11

Friday, Sept. 2 on "The Local Beat" is the first live program since July and it is jammed full of some amazing guests.


Last year we had Independent Weekly Music Editor and Hopscotch Music Festival Curator  Grayson Currin on the program for a full three hours to talk about the first ever Hopscotch. This year we toned it down a bit and Grayson, along with Hopscotch Marketing Director Greg Lowenhagen are coming in for one hour from 5-6 p.m. Join us as we chat about this year's festival from the eyes of the men behind it.

At 6 p.m. local hip-hop act Kooley High is dropping in for the first time in quite awhile. The group is playing at Kings Barcade with King Mez, HaLo, and Drique London. The show is all ages and cost $1, with the starting time planned for around 10 p.m. I'll be catching up with Kooley High and talking hip-hop.

The final hour of the show will belong to Hunter MacDermut, aka The Tourist, who is releasing a brand new 12 track album Sept. 3 at Marsh Woodwinds in Raleigh. Scott Phillips (of Goner, Monologue Bombs, and about 20 other local bands) will be opening and the show at 8 p.m. Hunter and I are going to talk about the new album and the show and spin some tracks off of it.

As always “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

Independent Weekly's Best of the Triangle...

Okay okay okay, so we don't know yet who the winners are... yet.
If you tune in the WKNC from 3-5PM June 8th,  you can be one of the first to know! We will be discussing all things Indy-- Best of, Best of Party, and Hopscotch all while playing the music you love!

I have heard that WKNC is a finalist for a few "Best in the Triangle" awards... but you didn't hear that from me.

WKNC has won Best in College Radio and was a finalist for Best Nonprofit Radio Station. WOO! For a full list of details, look here.

A big thanks to all of our listeners and everyone who voted! See you at the party!

Hopscotch Schedule is HERE

After seeing the amazing lineup for Hopscotch, you have probably been trying to figure out how in the heck you will be able to see all the bands you want. Luckily, this festival takes place in downtown Raleigh, so all show are but a walk, a rickshaw, an R-line away.
They have released 14 new bands to the schedule and have added 3 new venues --White Collar Crime, The Union and Fletcher Opera Theater in Progress Energy Center. The show I am most excited about will be taking place in Fletcher Opera Theatre, featuring The Prayers and Tears, Bombadil, and Lost in the Trees. After checking out the schedule here, what show are you most excited about?

There are only a few 3 day passes left!

Hopscotch Lineup to be Released 4.20

Hopscotch, the Independent Weekly's annual music festival in downtown Raleigh will be releasing the lineup for their September 3-day festival on Wednesday, April 20th. Greg Lowenhagen of Independent Weekly will be on-air with our very own Chuck from 11-noon to talk about the show and this year's line up.

Last year hosted names like Panda Bear, Public Enemy, The Rosebuds,  Sharon Van Etten, Megafaun, Best Coast and more than 100 other bands.  This year is sure to be even better; full of national acts as well as great local talent.  Tune in to find out who!

Tickets will go on sale as the lineup is released on April 20th. Free 3-day wristbands were given out at local record stores for Record Store Day April 16. Stay tuned to WKNC and keep reading Independent Weekly to find out ways you can win tickets.

For more musical fun, Hopscotch is hosting a few free local shows throughout Raleigh on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (4/21-4/23) in celebration of their lineup release!

Beggars save night from colossal failure

Kings Barcade hosted the kickoff of the Beggars and Colossus’s 2011 North Carolina statewide tour Thursday, Jan. 13. Fortunately for the audience, the opening act was worth the $6 admission price.



The Beggars, classified as punk/rock/soul on their MySpace page, is a five-piece band from Detroit proper. Almost 700 miles is a long way to come to play for the two dozen or so people milling around Kings at the beginning of the set, but the group didn’t seem to mind. Vocalist Steven Davis swaggered around the stage wearing a red polo, khaki pants and a pair of white wrist sweatbands looking like he could be right at home at a 1980s Sunday afternoon family reunion – until the music started. Davis and his band mates were, in a word, enthusiastic. The singer’s theatrics included frequent jumps into the audience, losing his loafers and socks on more than one occasion, tossing the microphone around, crawling on his knees across the stage, a string of “fuck, yeah!”s in between songs and a backwards somersault from the floor back onto the stage. With all the jumping around, he even split his pants (a fact they specifically requested to be put in this blog). Davis slipped off the stage at the start of the last song, returning with “super limited edition” tour merchandise – a six-song CD and spiffy black tee.

The 45-minute set opened with “Same Costume as Mine,” a quirky song about matching outfits punctuated by the superb saxophone work of Rod “Pool Party” Jones. That got the crowd pumped up and kept them there through “FRK,” “It’s All About Me,” “Gold (My Neck I'll Hang Around),” “25 Miles,” “Us Dudes (Wee get so Rad),” “Sleepaway Camp” and “Thieves.” Their finale “Stop, Drop, Rock n’ Roll” had the crowd chanting the chorus and pumped for the show’s headliner.

Colossus lead singer Sean Buchanan joined the Beggars on stage for “Stop, Drop, Rock n’ Roll,” which gave the first hint of intoxication. He made it clear he had a few too many when he crashed in to the drum kit in the middle of the second song. After a brief interlude, Buchanan regained his composure and the show continued. When he knocked over another drum, the band called it quits after the fourth song. The lyrics weren’t coherent enough to get any song titles.

Those who saw Colossus before Thursday should choose to remember them from previous performances. For those experiencing the Raleigh rock/metal band for the first time, consider giving them another chance. Colossus really does display “talent like a Viking lets blood on a battlefield as Independent Weekly’s Bryan Reed wrote. While the crowd did grow from the original two dozen, perhaps it was best there were limited witnesses.

The 2011 North Carolina statewide tour continues Friday, Jan. 14 at Pinups in Greensboro and Saturday, Jan. 15 at Reggie’s in Wilmington. The Beggars conclude their trip of the Wolfpack state Sunday, Jan. 16 at the Reservoir in Carrboro. Colossus will play again Saturday, Feb. 5 for the second day of the Bull City Metal Fest at Casbah.

DOUBLE BARREL BENEFIT 8 RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!

For many years, WKNC has been a gracious and privileged member of the triangle music scene. The most recent edition of the Independent Weekly features a cover story detailing the ever-developing and fantastically powerful music scene in which residents of the Triangle have somehow fortunately found themselves immersed.  These periodic self-checks--just to make sure we all are on the same page with how lucky we really are in a  community such as this, are undoubtedly necessary and unarguably true.

The gradual synthesis that's at the root of it all may very well never be fully understood. We're fine with that. Let's have a party!!

WKNC's Double Barrel Benefit 8 is Friday and Saturday, February 4th and 5th at Kings in downtown Raleigh. As always, each night will feature four North Carolina bands.

Friday's lineup will be announced Monday, January 10th during the Local Lunch on WKNC, with Saturday's lineup coming during Tuesday's Local Lunch spot. Tickets will go on sale via the Kings website on January 11th.  This event has sold out in years past, and we expect this to be the case again; so get your tickets quickly, folks.

~*~*~BONUS!!~*~*~Attendees of WKNC's Double Barrel Benefit 8 will receive a free eight-song compilation album featuring an original, previously unreleased track from each of the eight bands. Seven of the eight tracks were engineered and mixed right on N.C. State's campus by WKNC's exceedingly-talented and ever-patient Sessions Director, Eric Scholz. The tracks were  mastered by Kitchen Mastering, and duplication services were provided by Triangle Duplication.

2011 marks a return to the event's original venue, though obviously not in its original space. Kings (version 1.0) hosted the first four benefits.  Upon the venue's "hibernation," as we'll call it, the folks at the Pour House welcomed the event with open arms for the next three years. Such a vibrant and enjoyable music community demands patronage to multiple venues.  Just as any fan of music should never pin him/herself to one venue, neither should an annual fundraiser concert.  As obvious as this should seem, it ought to be said that the Pour House and its folks are top notch. (Rumor has it that NEXT year's benefit will attempt to transcend venue boundaries. We'll see.)

Hope to see you all there! Stay tuned for further details!

Fridays Are For Local Music

This past Friday (November 19) was a great day for local music in Raleigh. Hopefully most of you dropped by after work or class and came out to the Harris Field lawn to check out our November installment of Fridays on the Lawn featuring The Tender Fruit and The Tomahawks.  Despite the chillier weather, we experienced a great turnout as people came out with blankets and snuggies to enjoy the free pizza and music.

The Tender Fruit was represented solely by Christy Smith, an N.C. State graduate in English, who managed to hold her own as she worked the kick drum and strummed her guitar. Smith's voice is really something to admire. On the band's recent album, Flotsam & Krill, I was blown away by her vocal dynamics, especially on track "Get Out of the Car." Performing live, she was equally as powerful and her set proved to be calming but also a pleasant juxtaposition against the grittier headliners, The Tomahawks. This past August, Indy Week covered an interesting story on Smith, her past relationship with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and how Flotsam& Krill is a response to Vernon's hit album For Emma, Forever Ago. You can check out the article here.

Although the concert was over before 9 p.m., local music fans were in luck as Future Islands were headlining at Kings Barcade in downtown Raleigh that night as well. Well, that is, if they had bought a ticket in advance as the show was sold out. Although I missed the opener NAPS, I was greeted by the familiar and pleasant sounds of Veelee upon walking into Kings. Matt and Ginger focused their set on their newer songs off their latest album The Future Sight. Veelee recently opened for Merge Record's powerhouse, Caribou, on Halloween, which is a sign there are bigger and better things awaiting them.

Lonnie Walker was the last band to perform before the headliners came on stage. The bands are well known friends as Walker and Future Islands recently put out a split 7" together. The crowd at this point of the night were getting into a frenzy. The front part of the stage where I had posted myself had become a dance floor. My head was particularly swaying to many of the tracks on Island's recent album, In Evening Air. The night was everything to be expected of Future Islands: funny antics from lead singer Sam Herring, stage dancing, and great music.

Local Beat recap 9/3/10 (Hopscotch Edition)

September 3 was the Friday before Hopscotch Music Festival, and I was joined by Grayson Currin, music editor of the Independent Weekly who was also Hopscotch Curator. Hopscotch is the biggest music event to ever happen in Raleigh, so I dedicated the entire three hours of the show to chatting with Grayson about everything associated with the festival.  Caitlin Cary (Small Ponds, Tres Chicas), Reid Johnson (Schooner), and Brian Corum (Lonnie Walker) also came on the show, and Reid and Brian played some brand new tunes (which you can download here). What ended up happening was three hours of a fascinating, entertaining conversation with insight into Hopscotch. Listen below:

Hour 1:
Hopscotch on the Local Beat 9/3/10 (Hour 1)

Hour 2:
Hopscotch on the Local Beat 9/3/10 (Hour 2)

Hour 3:
Hopscotch on the Local Beat 9/3/10 (Hour 3)

MORE HOPSCOTCH HOPSCOTCH HOPSCOTCH

DAY PARTIES:

WKNC is sponsoring two day parties:

-Tir Na Nog's show featuring Cellar Seas, Veelee, Filthybird, Temperance League and A Rooster for the Masses (FREE noon-5pm Friday 9/10)

-The "Local Time" stage Sain front of the Raleigh Times featuring The Flute Flies, NAPS, The Loners, Maple Stave, Red Collar, Des Ark and The Old Ceremony. Our street team will be doing live broadcasts throughout the event. (FREE 11am-6pm Saturday 9/11)

Details about these and all the other day parties are available here.

FIVE STAR:
Thursday night at Five Star, WKNC Afterhours DJs (Hennessey, Jose Jose, Chocolate Rice and Brooklyn Airlift) will be spinning from 10:30at night until 2 in the mo'nin. Buy a club wristband, or risk it waiting in line, to attend.

The full Hopscotch schedule (minus the day parties) is available here.

STILL HAVE UNANSWERED HOPSCOTCH QUESTIONS?
Grayson Currin (festival curator) and Greg Lowenhagen (creative director) of the Independent Weekly will be this week's VIP(s) on Eye on the Triangle tomorrow night at 7pm. Comment on this post if you have any specific (or general, I guess) questions to be answered straight from the big-wigs themselves.

Local Beat Roundtable: Series 1 preview 8/13/10

Tonight, the Local Beat will be a who's-who in the local music scene. As you well know, the Local Beat is mostly dedicated to local bands and musicians who are well documented by fantastic bloggers, great deejays, newspaper writers, event organizers, photographers, and more. Tonight, you are going to have a chance to meet some of these dedicated chroniclers of the local scene as I have invited several on for what is the first in a series of the Local Beat's "Roundtable."

Throughout the evening, Karen Mann, Betsy Harris, Bryan Reed, Linnie Green, Jake Seaton, and hopefully several more prominent local music raconteurs will be sitting down as we chat about their services to our music scene and relate anecdotes and stories. In addition, they will be choosing the local music we will be playing throughout the show.

Among many things, Karen Mann is one of the most notable bloggers in the region with her personal music blog, Mann's World, which is a treasure trove of videos, photographs, news stories, album reviews and more.
Related Links
Mann's World
Vimeo
Twitter
Flickr


Betsy Harris (aka Temples of Grey) is one of the most recognizable local music photographers in the region.  I swear I see her at every single show I attend.
Related Links
Fotki
Youtube
Twitter
MySpace

Jake Seaton is the mind and body behind Music.MyNC.com who is famous for their live sessions with local bands and for breaking almost every important story about North Carolina music.

Bryan Reed is a writer for Shuffle Magazine, the Independent Weekly, and seemingly countless others.

Linnie Green is the new editor for Diversions of the Daily Tar Heel.

Best in the Triangle 2010!

WKNC 88.1 FM is back on top with the release of Independent Weekly's 2010 Best in the Triangle Reader's Choice poll. WKNC earned the title of Best College Radio Station after the category was divided into college and commercial categories this year. The station was a finalist for Best Radio Station in 2009 and won top honors in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. WKNC's DJ Ones was also named a finalist for Best Radio DJ, one of four WKNC DJs to honored in the last five years.

Independent Weekly's Greg Lowenhagen stopped by the WKNC studio Thursday afternoon to present General Manager Tommy Anderson with the station's award and talk about Independent Weekly's Hopscotch Music Festival September 9-11 in Raleigh.

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Hopscotch impresarios on WKNC

Greg Lowenhagen and Grayson Currin of the Independent Weekly will be talking Hopscotch Festival with yours truly tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.

If you've been covering your eyes and ears for the last couple months, check out the festival's site here.

WKNC a contender in Independent's Best of the Triangle

It's that time again! The Independent Weekly's 2010 Best of the Triangle poll is live. This is your opportunity to vote for the best restaurants, bars, music venues, and, of course, radio station in the triangle area. You can vote here, and the polls close April 15.

WKNC is in the running for Best Radio Station in the Triangle. Also, the staff has nominated DJ Ones for best DJ.

Don't forget to vote!

Double Barrel Benefit 7 presents: Veelee

When you listen to Carrboro duo Veelee, you hear music inspired by a wide range of sources. For band mates Matt Park and Ginger Wagg, elements of music from bands such as Young People, Low, Lungfish, Stereolab and Pram went into creating Veelee's unique sound. Also, according to Matt, Fleetwood Mac's 1977 hit "Dream" has also served as a major influence on the way he and Ginger create music -- everything happening in the song goes hand in hand its unchanging baseline.

Ginger, a first-time drummer, describes her percussion style as "simple and straightforward." Veelee is the first band in which she has been a member. However, it seems doubtful the band's success comes from beginner's luck. Hard copies of its EP "Three Sides," which came out  in May 2009, are sold out. The release received local acclaim from sources such as the Independent Weekly.

Until recently, Veelee had performed primarily in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Durham.

"We've gotten to play with all sorts of fantastic local bands. [Artists in the Triangle] are really supportive of one another," Park and Wagg said. "They are very welcoming and inclusive."

However, the band just embarked on its first tour, along with Raleigh's Gross Ghost, which it said was a great success.

Now that they're back in town, Veelee will play at The Pour House Friday, February 5, during night one of Double Barrel Benefit 7. Friday's set also includes The Light Pines, Bellafea and Max Indian.

For the complete Double Barrel schedule and ticket information, click here.

WKNC finalist for Best Radio Station and Best DJ

N.C. State’s student radio station earned recognition as one of the best in the Triangle in Independent Weekly’s annual “Best of the Triangle” reader survey. Kyle Robb, the station’s general manager for 2008-2009, accepted the award during his Jun. 10 radio program.

WKNC 88.1 FM, along with Clear Channel’s G105, received finalist honors for Best Radio Station. WUNC 91.5 FM, the NPR-affiliated station from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earned the top award.

Kelly Reid, known as Mz. Kelly to WKNC listeners, was a finalist for Best Radio DJ. She is one of three WKNC staff recognized as among the Best in the Triangle in recent years. Tom Wharton was voted Best Radio DJ in 2006 and Sam McGuire received a finalist nod in 2007.

Mike Alston, who took over for Robb as general manager in April, thanked the listeners for their loyalty. “We are honored to be finalists,” he said. “We can’t compete with larger stations in terms of resources, but we have a dedicated staff and dedicated listener base.”

“The fact that a group of students can earn this kind of recognition year after year shows the value the student media have to N.C. State University,” Jamie Lynn Gilbert, the station’s advisor, said.

More than 3,000 people filled out the 2009 Best of the Triangle ballot, voting on everything from best pet specialty store to best comfort food.

Independent Weekly voted WKNC Best Radio Station in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The station was named Best College Radio in 2004 and 2005, as well as Best Radio for Music in 2005. WKNC also earned top awards from Spectator in 2001 and 2002.

6/4 – Local Beer Local Band Night – Regina Hexaphone and the Stars Explode

As most of you all know, WKNC and Tir Na Nog do this thing called Local Beer Local Band Night.  Each Thursday at Tir Na Nog we have a free show with great local bands and great local brews.  This week's line up is Regina Hexaphone and the Stars Explode.  Also, tune in to 88.1 at 5pm on Thursday, as I will be interviewing Regina Hexaphone.

Here's a qoute from the Independent Weekly about Regina Hexaphone:

"The rustling sun-kissed beauty and easy charm of Regina Hexaphone's folky pop echo the sweet, generous vibe of frontwoman Sara Bell. Just as a wayward smile from someone attractive can brighten your day, nothing feels quite as welcoming as Hexaphone's soothing sonic embrace. A preview of their forthcoming album, Into Your Sleeping Heart, is impressive, indeed, from the nomadic surf-inflected pop of "Waiting for the Wind" to the Dresden-bound gypsy bounce of "The Fortyniner." Elsewhere, they work in a hazy, pillowy drift of receding detail, like a watercolor pulling away and over the horizon." --Chris Parker, Independent Weekly

"The Stars Explode is the new rock band led by Doug Edmunds, co-founding member/songwriter/drummer/vocalist for 90s rockpop underground wonders, Gladhands, and most recently the drummer for Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies. The Stars Explode builds on Edmunds' musical legacy while looking squarely to the future. With influences ranging from the rugged British rock of Paul Weller to the loud guitar pop of the Posies to latter-day singer-songwriters like Grant-Lee Phillips, Jon Brion, and Rhett Miller, Edmunds' new band offers up a delicious blend of musical offerings."--the Stars Explode's Myspace

Here's a video of Regina Hexaphone playing live in Chapel Hill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0FW6XjdYrE

So come out and support your community!

Local Beat preview 1/29/09

This Friday, the 29th, The Local Beat has a wonderful show in store for you.

Join us from 5:00-8:00 PM as we'll have two guests. Sleepsound, who are having their CD Release Party Friday night at The Cave in Chapel Hill.  Stevo and I will be discussing with the band, among other things, their album, Breathe.

Check out the Independent Weekly's Review of Breathe here.

Also joining us on Friday will be a representative of the Raleigh Undercover event taking place at Tir Na Nog all weekend.  More about this can be found here.

Be sure to tune in, and don't forget that if you're not in the area you can always stream us.