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.

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.

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

More Hopscotch Highlights: Friday

More Hopscotch Highlights: Thursday

Giveaways for the week of 9/9 - 9/15

Keep it tuned to WKNC all week long for your chance to win tickets to any of these great shows below! Just be the correct caller when the DJ asks for it, and you and a friend could be hitting up some of the coolest local acts around.

Tuesday, September 10 - Black Joe Lewis with Dex Romweber Duo @ Cat's Cradle

Thursday, September 12 - Borgore @ Lincoln Theatre

Thursday, September 12 - Paleface with Eric Scott-Guthrie and Rob Nance @ Pinhook

Friday, September 13 - The Old Ceremony with Shark Quest and Curtis Eller @ Cat's Cradle

Saturday, September 14 - Acoustic Syndicate record release @ Cat's Cradle

 

Post-Scotch: Interview with High Highs

Whenever I was told that I was going to interview High Highs I had to admit that I was not terribly familiar with their music. However,I was quick to change that whenever I started listening to their songs and immediately became addicted to their smooth and dreamy vocals. Their lead singer, Jack Milas was kind enough to give us a call just a couple of hours before their show started on Friday Night at the Memorial Auditorium. Now I would be lying if I said I was not a bit nervous for this interview, because I definitely was. With the popularity that High Highs received with their song “Open Season” I was afraid that their fame would get the best of me; but boy was I proven wrong as soon as the conversation took hold.

Once the phone was answered, Jack’s Australian accent was quick to erase any possibly tension that could have been formed prior to. Being very laid back and respectful to all the questions, Jack was able to make the interview seem like a conversation that I could have had with one of my closest friends.

The question from this interview that stood out the most was the one that we asked most the artists we interviewed at Hopscotch which is “If you could describe your sound as a room, what would that room look like/have in it.” Instead of one of the very obscure rooms that I heard in previous interviews, Jack simply put that his room would be a cathedral. It was in this instance that I gained a whole new respect for Jack and the band as a whole, because they were completely correct in the answer. Not just for its wonderful acoustics, but also religious setting, the room seemed a perfect fit for their echoing and powerful lyrics. Jack was able to represent his band beautifully in the all too short interview that he provided myself and the station with on Friday afternoon. You better bet that I didn’t pass up their set that night either.

http://interviews.wknc.org/highhighs090713.mp3

Post-Scotch: Interview with Jamaican Queens

Where do I start with these guys? I knew from the beginning that the interview was going to a little out of the norm just by the way these guys sound and perform their music. With that being said, that is the exact reason I looked forward to the interview so much (and trust me, my expectations were definitely met).

Pretty much exactly on time, the entire three piece band consisting of Ryan Clancy, Ryan Spencer, and Adam Pressley walked right up to our 88.1 WKNC table at Wristband City and formerly introduced themselves. Once the interview was on its way, the band seemed to be having a little fun with it while also pointing out that their music is definitely different than most of the indie rock scene today. When asked how they were different, they did not hesitate to explain that it is because of their live foam party shows and mixture of unique sounds and lyrics. The band went on to say that if they could describe their sound as a room, then it would be the live portion of an Applebee’s restaurant; which you can take whichever way you possibly want.

Throughout the whole interview and even through the end of it, I was having a hard time letting the thought out of my mind that this band could be the next big thing; because it is definitely possible. Being a fairly young band and on the rise with extremely infectious music, how can one not think that? I was just glad Jamaican Queens decided to drop by WKNC on their quick and inevitable ride to the top.

http://interviews.wknc.org/jamaicanqueens090713.mp3

Post-Scotch: DJ DiGiorno's Review

Hopscotch Music Festival has always been one of my favorite music festivals. It is one of the most diverse festivals ever. This year was no exception. The festival included everyone from blues legends from the 50's (Ironing Board Sam) to one of the most iconic MCs (Big Daddy Kane) to the founders of both The Velvet Underground (John Cale) and Sonic Youth (Thurston Moore) to one of the greatest noise musicians from Japan (Merzbow) and everything in between. One of the greatest things about this festival is that while there were certain acts I knew beforehand, many of the acts I only learned about because of the festival.  I discovered a lot of my new favorite acts by looking them up beforehand and listened to them or even just by being dragged to their set during the festival.  Hopscotch Music Festival is definitely one of my most favorite weekends of the year filled with unforgettable experiences.

Thursday Highlights
-Thursday night I received my first unforgettable introduction to Body Games. They are an incredible new group from Chapel Hill whose brilliant indie electro-pop complete with a great lights show and Lion King projections had they whole crowd grooving along.  They even covered Michael Jackson's "Will You Be There" from Free Willy which oddly enough fit perfectly as everyone nostalgically danced along.
-New local stars Sylvan Esso blew everyone out of the water.  Their beat-driven breed of infectious electro-pop had everyone dancing and Memorial Auditorium shaking.
-Kurt Vile and The Violators played last to close out the night at Lincoln perfectly with their warm wash of guitar driven rock as everyone lost themselves in his music.

Friday Highlights
-Thurston Moore, although not on the official Hopscotch bill, played a day show at Kings with drummer John Moloney.  It was incredible to see such an iconic legend in a setting such as this.
-Future Islands have become local music gods so it is obvious that would be one of my highlights.  Future Islands performed new-wave synth-pop to perfection as Sam's antics kept the crowd entertained.  They played many favorites from over the years as well as some songs from their upcoming effort that they announced.
-Speedy Ortiz was one of the bands I was looking forward to see the most of this festival and they did not disappoint.  Their hour long set was rock solid made full use of the stage and filled every corner of the room with their guitar driven noise-pop.

Saturday Highlights
-As a fan of the Pixies and more recently of The Breeders, it was a dream come true to see them perform live at Hopscotch.  The entire band was having a great time as they joked back and forth between songs off of The Last Splash.  Their energy fueled that crowd as everyone sang and danced along.  They even got to play a few more songs after the last song on their album that they were playing in full.  Their performance was utter perfection and you could see the excitement of them playing together again.
-City Plaza not only knocked "seeing The Breeders," off my bucket list, but "seeing Spiritualized" as well.  They played a perfect mix of songs that spanned most of their career complete with projections and lights.  The whole show and atmosphere was just an incredible experience as dusk began to settle.

Hopscotch: Thursday Night Highlight Photos

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Hopscotch Day Party Highlight: College Radio Showcase

WKNC, along with our friends at WUAG and WXYC, is kicking Hopscotch Music Festival off right on Thursday with a free day party at Tir Na Nog featuring College Radio Showcase. There will be four bands and all sorts of fun from noon to five pm!

The lineup is as follows:

12:30: Ameriglow

1:30: The Human Eyes

2:30: Once and Future Kings 

3:30: Solar Halos

For more information, check out the event page!

 

 

Hopscotch Road Maps: Our Map to Hopscotch by WKNC DJs

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The KNC crew got together to gracefully plot out their Hopscotch 2013 plans with some lovely crayon. Click each image twice to zoom in and check out the individual paths of each DJ through the festival. Still on the fence about the tough decisions, like whether to see Marnie Stern or Merzbow? Let these schedules drawn with love and care guide you to where you truly want to be.

September's Local Artist of the Month: Loamlands

While Loamlands may be a name that is new to us, Kym Register and Will Hackney are seasoned veterans of the Triangle music scene. Kym and Will were half of Midtown Dickens, the post-folk quartet that stole the hearts of everyone in the Triangle and had even begun garnering national attention from the likes of NPR. Midtown Dickens began as a DIY duo between Kym and Catherine Edgerton. Soon it began to grow into much more as Will and Jonathan Henderson joined the line-up. Midtown Dickens released three full-lengths that spanned an impressive eight year career. But as 2012 came to a close, the quartet began to see themselves going in different directions. In February, Midtown Dickens announced their indefinite hiatus and Loamlands was born.

The new duo immediately set to work constructing their debut EP Some Kind of Light due out September 24th on Trekky Records. In July, the duo set to work to record the EP with Brad Cook from Megafaun on the bass and Kyle Keegan from Lost in the Trees behind the drums. These five songs pull from a lot of the great talent surrounding them in this musical hotspot, but when put together create something entirely new. This EP is a promising glimpse at what is in store for this experienced duo. Be sure to tune into The Local Beat on September 20th for our exclusive Local Artist of the Month interview and live performance from Loamlands.



http://loamlands.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Loamlands
http://www.trekkyrecords.com/bands/loamlands/

Check out their first single here!

Check out their upcoming tour dates:
September 7th, The Pour House Music Hall, Trekky Records & Team Clermont present DAY-DREAM: Hopscotch Day Party
September 20th, The Pinhook, Loamlands EP Release with Hiss Golden Messenger and Miles Cooper Seaton

http://interviews.wknc.org/loamlands092013.mp3

Playlist: A Guide to Hopscotch 2013

Hopscotch Music Festival is quickly approaching. If you haven’t had time to check out all of the bands yet, I have made a comprehensive Spotify playlist that includes a couple of songs from each of the Hopscotch artists that are currently on Spotify to help you out. Check out the playlist to help you decide which artists you absolutely must see at this year's festival. As always, tune in to 88.1 WKNC Raleigh to hear these artists as well as other great artists all day. We'll see you there!!!!!

Check out the playlist here!

Oak City 7 Final Free Concert of the Season this Thursday, August 29

Oak City 7, Downtown Raleigh's free concert series at City Plaza will be serving up their final installment of the summer this Thursday, August 29. Events take place from 5pm to 10:30pm on Thursdays, beginning the Thursday after Memorial Day and ending the Thursday before Labor Day.



The line-up will include Matt Phillips & The Philharmonic at 6:25pm, Catie King at 7:25pm, Rosco Bandana at 8:20pm, and Captain & The Keels at 9:15pm.

Some food trucks you can expect to see from 5:00pm - 10:30pm include The Humble Pig, Baguettaboutit, Sarge's Chef on Wheels, Tarheel Creamery, Foster's on the Fly, and Baton Rouge Cuisine.

Other onsite vendors that will be there from 5:00pm - 10:30pm include House of Swank, Bordeaux Lane Studios, The Record Swap, Carolina Railhawks, Safe Ride, and Carolina Hurricanes.

Hopscotch Day Party Highlight: ORIENTATION IN SPACE IV

On Thursday, September 5th, the first day of Hopscotch, Raleigh's Diggup Tapes, Asheville's Apothecary, and Greensboro's Bitheart Studios are taking over King's and Neptune's for a blowout featuring acts pulled from all corners of North Carolina. The schedule is as follows:

 

KINGS BARCADE:

Moss of Aura (4:30 pm)

Oulipo (3:30 pm)

The Bronzed Chorus (2:30 pm)

Zack Mexico (1:00 pm)

 

Neptune's Parlor:

Casual Curious (6:00 pm)

Savage Knights (5:00 pm)

Alligator Indian (4:00 pm)

Heralding (3:00 pm)

 

The event is free thanks to Lone Rider Beer, whose locally-crafted microbrews will be on tap, and Nice Price Books. For more information, you can check out the event page here.

 

Hopscotch Day Party Highlight: Rock N' Roll Pizza Party

WKNC is sponsoring Rock N' Roll Pizza Party, a Hopscotch Music Festival Day Party presented by Naked Gods that promises to be one of the best of this year's festival.   The day party will take place from noon to 5 pm at Slim's Downtown on Thursday, September 5th.  This day party features some of the best local acts as well as free pizza from Mellow Mushroom.  The schedule is as follows:

12:00 - Gray Young
Raleigh's Gray Young creates huge driving instrumental rock. His breed of anthemic rock rivals that of some of the best post rock bands on the scene.   His crescendos and grandiose builds fill every corner of the venue as he fully immerses the entire crowd into his world.

1:00 - The Critters
This Asheville quartet delivers their infectious breed of psych pop-rock with an imperfect perfection that will be sure to have you dancing along.

2:00 - Invisible Hand
Born in Charlottesville, VA this creative band combines acid rock with power pop guitar hooks.  Their newest effort Lies, Lies, Lies is an impressive album that is due out soon.

3:00 - Naked Gods
Psychedelic pop rockers from Boone leave every audience instant fans of their band. Their perfected, high energy performance is always a worthwhile sight to see. They promise a stellar set including some new additions from their as of yet untitled album that they are currently working on.

4:00 - Lonnie Walker
Raleigh's Lonnie Walker has been a WKNC favorite since their release of These Old Times in 2009.  Their intelligent breed of indie rock with a hint of post country embodies the city of Raleigh for me.  The fast-paced nature of the songs and the energy of their live performance will round out this day party perfectly.

https://www.facebook.com/events/560384460691582/?ref=2

Hopscotch Must-See: WOOL

“Like cries from a wolf at night, on acid.”

This is a personal artist spotlight on WOOL by Toast for Hopscotch.

While I find WOOL’s sound a little less animalistic than their proclamation, there is none the less a good case of the swampy-womps riddling their music. Headed by local fella, Troy Brian Hancock, this band came on the scene in 2011 and in January of 2012 released their latest album, “Bulletin Air” and apparently another on the way in the spring. Bright guitars by Zack Oden really launch the experience, backed by bassist/keyboardist Johnny Hobbs and drummer Raymond Finn. The album has a definitively optimistic but not too sunny sound, like moseying around with no real place to be on the first day of fall. It’s sway side to side, bob your head stuff, perfect for an easy night out without all the fuss and jump you may find at other shows. You may actually get through the set without someone spilling a beverage on or near you, which in my mind, is a feat in itself.

Favorite Track: “Bulletin Air” on Bulletin Air

Berkeley Cafe, Friday September 6th, 9PM

Kings Barcade will celebrate 3rd anniversary of new location with "blowout weekend"!

The "new" version of Kings opened on Aug. 28, 2010 at 14 W. martin St after a nearly three year absence following the demise of the original Kings building.  In honor of the 3rd anniversary of the opening, a very special weekend of shows has been planned for Fri 8/23, Sat 8/24 & Sun 8/25

The Friday lineup of Birds of Avalon, The Lollipops and Tonk is a fantastic representation of the diversity and strength of local bands that Kings has always been supportive of and been proud to have play our room.  The show includes two bands that contain three of the four Kings owners (Birds and Tonk). Unfortunately, Polvo is not playing live at the present time or all of the owners could have taken a turn on the stage.  Having not played Kings since November of 2011, Kings is excited to welcome the return of Birds of Avalon who are working on their 4th LP and will be joined by ex Love Language and Toddler Missy Thangs. Amazingly, in addition to her role as Birds' guitarist, Cheetie Kumar has recently opened Garland -- the restaurant (currently just a take out window) that is underneath Kings.

Tonk, who include a wealth or Raleigh's best musical talent, are set to release their debut record of authentic sounding country tunes in the Fall.  The Lollipops, Raleigh's up and coming popsters, are also working on their debut release. Their two minute pop anthems are extremely engaging!

The Saturday night linup features the Olympic Ass Kicking Team reprising their amazing performance as ELO at last year's Great Cover Up along with the fantastic Wusses.  Each year during Kings annual benefit bash, the Great Cover up, there tends to be one or two bands that deliver an unforgettable set and OAKT was said band in 2012.  If you missed them last year for the incredible (and difficult) performance of ELO hits, then you have another chance!  Sharing the bill with them are Chapel Hill's soft rock heroes, The Wusses.  The Wusses also got their start via the Great Cover Up at the old Kings doing amazing sets as the Little River Band and Three Dog Night before adding more like minded band's songs into an amazing set of 70's smooth standards!

Sunday night will move away from our local talent and feature Alex Bleeker and the Freaks.  Real Estate band members enjoy putting out solo records and playing on each other’s albums.  R.E. Bassist Alex Bleeker is no exception. His new record’s collection of “freaks” includes members of Woods, Big Trouble, Real Estate (of course) and Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso & Mountain Man among others.  His songs have a way of veering into Grateful Dead jammy territory yet retaining a pop song format.  We think that he’ll provide a great conclusion to the weekend.   Matt Northrup will open the show.
Kings is proud to have returned to Raleigh's music community in 2010 and been able to continue to bring an array of bands and artists to the capital city.  Looking back through the acts who have graced the Kings stage these first three years will reveal a diverse and interesting lineup of national and international acts.  We were honestly surprised at the number and variety.  For reference we have attached them here in alphabetical order.  Booking started with the owners, but the addition of Michael Perros as “Duke of Booking” has increased the overall number and diversity of national touring acts while still having plenty local shows to help nurture our very vibrant music community.