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

August's Local Artist of the Month: The Love Language

When you discuss Raleigh music or even North Carolina in general, it is impossible to avoid The Love Language.  They have become a staple of Raleigh music.  Now that they have continued to receive national attention from the likes of Pitchfork and Paste Magazine, they are representing Raleigh to the rest of the world, and they can’t offer a better representation of us.

The Love Language started as the bedroom recording project of Stuart McLamb after a rough breakup and being kicked out of his previous band, The Capulets.  The pop-smart songwriter and multi-instrumentalist set out to make music as a therapeutic excursion in 2008.  The demos made their way around and eventually ended up in the hands of The Rosebuds who invited him along to help kick off their Life Like tour.  Like that, The Love Language became a full-fledged band.

In March 2009, they released their self-titled debut to rave reviews.  They began to grow as their live shows became more renowned with performances at SXSW and Monolith Festival in addition to supporting tours for Cursive and The Rural Alberta Advantage.  Following these highly praised performances, The Love Language was signed to Merge Records.  Their second album Libraries was released in July of 2010 on Merge to even more widespread acclaim.

It has now been three years since The Love Language’s last release and despite its positive reception; those years have not been easy.  With a rotating cast of band members and an on again off again touring schedule, people began to wonder what would happen to The Love Language, but McLamb proved on his latest effort, Ruby Red, that The Love Language is still alive and kicking

Over the past 3 years, Stuart has been carefully crafting the songs for his third album, Ruby Red.  He again teamed up with BJ Burton for what turned into a long road to perfection.   Although the band has still maintained its infectious breed of emotionally-fueled pop, its latest effort is much more sonically experimental as it explores much larger spaces.  This time around they enlisted over 20 other musicians to fully flesh out the songs and fill every corner, and it shines through on this record.  Each song seems meticulously thought out and very carefully put together.  With the release of this new record and a string of strong tour dates ahead, The Love Language boldly state that they are here to stay.

http://www.thelovelanguage.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thelovelanguage

 
You can check out their new music video for the song "Calm Down" featuring some WKNC DJs over at Pitchfork.TV.

 
Check out The Love Language's upcoming tour dates here:
Aug 27 Nashville, TN – Stone Fox
Aug 28 St. Louis, MO – Firebird
Aug 29 Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
Aug 30 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
Aug 31 Kansas City, MO — Czar Bar w/ Schwervon
Sep 01 Omaha, NE — O’Leaver’s
Sep 02 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
Sep 03 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
Sep 04 Boise, ID Neurolux ^
Sep 05 Portland, OR – MusicFest NW
Sep 06 Eugene, OR – Cozmic Pizza %
Sep 08 Seattle, WA – Neumos %
Sep 10 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw w/ Bleeding Rainbow
Sep 11 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Bar
Sep 12 San Diego, CA — Soda Bar ^
Sep 13 Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock w/ Soft Metals
Sep 14 Tucson, AZ — Club Congress
Sep 16 Austin, TX – Mohawk – Inside ^
Sep 17 Dallas, TX – Club Dada
Sep 18 Houston, TX – Mango’s
Sep 19 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa
Sep 20 Atlanta, GA — Masquerade w/ Man Man
# w/ Eternal Summers
* w/ The Critters
% w/ The Dodos
^ w/ On An On

July’s Local Artist of the Month: Bombadil

Bombadil are an eclectic chamber folk band out of Durham, North Carolina. Their name is derived from the J.R.R. Tolkien character Tom Bombadil from the Lord of the Rings. Tom Bombadil is a witty, peculiar character who speaks and sings in playful rhymes. The name "Bombadil" encompasses the quartet perfectly as they deliver their sophisticated pop feel of a bygone era in their eccentric suits.

In 2002, Stuart Robinson (piano) and Daniel Michalak (bass) met on an orientation trip for Duke University. The two began making music together. In 2004, Daniel met fellow Duke student Bryan Rahija (guitar) while studying abroad in Bolivia. They returned to the U.S. with a few demos as well as some of the local flare that still shines through their signature sound. Daniel, Stuart, and Bryan enlisted Daniel's brother John on the drums and the quartet soon began making music together under the moniker Bombadil.

The head of Ramseur Records stumbled upon a few demos and immediately signed them. In 2006, they released a self-titled EP. In 2007, John left the band. One Craigslist ad later, they had found James Phillips to man the drum kit. With the new band assembled they completed and released their first full-length album A Buzz, A Buzz in 2008. The album as well as their energetic live shows found them receiving more and more attention. They found themselves touring all across the U.S. and playing festivals such as Bonnaroo and Floydfest. Now with recognition as well as some mileage as a band, they hit the studio again to record Tarpits and Canyonlands. By the time the album was released, the band had fallen into limbo. They declared themselves in a state of hiatus as Stuart had left the band and Daniel was suffering from nerve damage in his hands.

In November of 2010, the quartet reconvened at Pendavavis Farm near Portland, OR (where the Decemberists recorded The King Is Dead) for an intense, ambitious 10 day recording session that would become All That Rain Promises. After more than a year off, Bombadil had come back from the brink. The album was officially released in 2011. 2012 saw the return of Bombadil as they began regaining the momentum that they had. They also began test driving songs for their newest effort Metrics of Affection due out July 23rd. Although Bryan has stopped touring with the band to finish grad school, the other three have hit the road hard this year in support of their upcoming album.

After overcoming every possible obstacle, Bombadil is back and better than ever before. They are hitting the road with a new ferocity and cohesiveness. They are four incredibly talented musicians who continuously write music and hone their skills. There are not too many bands these days with 4 vocalists, 4 songwriters, and a producer. If their recent shows are any indication, Metrics of Affection is bound to be their best album to date. Check out the album cover and tracklisting below.



Bombadil will also be playing having a Metrics of Affection album release show at Lincoln Theatre on July 27th at 9pm. They are sure to have some special surprises in store.  If you missed the Local Artist of the Month interview with Bombadil in which we talked about the new album and debuted quite a few new songs, you can listen to it below or you can subscribe to our iTunes podcast.

http://bombadilmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wearebombadil

http://interviews.wknc.org/bombadil071113.mp3

March’s Local Artist of the Month: Birds & Arrows

 

Birds and Arrows began back in 2007 as a husband and wife duo.  Andrea Connolly wielded the guitar as Pete commanded the drums.  On appearance, most people might have shrugged off the music.  With two people who are stuck together for better or worse, how much could their music really have to offer?  Their first batch of EPs easily dismissed these notions.  The instrumentation seemed to amount to so much more than just a couple on stage.  Their vocals complemented each other perfectly and made the music so much stronger than bands who enlist a whole army on stage.  In 2009, cellist Josh Starmer joined the line-up adding a whole other dimension to their already incredible sound.  His cello lines swimming in and out of the music along with their sweet, melodic voices.  Their calming breed of chamber indie-folk is an incredibly refreshing sound to fans of any type of music.

 
Since their inception, they have toured heavily throughout the Carolinas as well as several stints up and down the east coast. They have performed at several WKNC events including last year's Double Barrel Benefit as well as Local Band Local Beer.  In their six years of existence, they have perfected their live show engaging a wide variety of audiences.  They make those who have no experience with folk music sway with their beautifully arranged music and their smooth, infectious melodies.  Their third full length Coyotes, is due out March 19th.  This album promises to be their best effort to date.  They recently released the music video for their first single "Firefly" from the upcoming album in Shuffle Magazine. Their tour dates for their upcoming east coast tour are here.  Be sure to check them out Thursday, March 14 at 6pm as we interview them live at WKNC for our Local Artist of the Month segment!

 

http://birdsandarrows.com
http://www.facebook.com/birdsandarrowsmusic

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBr8qxGjQdE

February's Local Artist of the Month: Baobab

This Durham-based musical project takes its name from one of the most intriguing and diverse trees in the world.  It is the national tree of Madagascar, and it is impossible to find two that are the same.  Much of the same could be said for Phil Torres.  His music is a very unique blend of folk, electronic, and world music.  His music is driven by acoustic guitar, a plethora of percussive noises, a splash of melodic electronic noises, and his vocals which seem to be an instrument of their own.  His self-titled debut was released last year and already it has taken much of the Triangle by hold.  It is incredible how one man could have written, performed, mixed, and mastered such a complex album on his own especially since it is his first effort.

Phil Torres, in addition to fronting Baobab, has a MS in neuroscience and spent a year as a visiting graduate student in the philosophy department at Harvard.  He has just published his first book entitled A Crisis of Faith: Atheism, Emerging Technologies and the Future of Humanity.  Whitney Trettien joins Torres on-stage for live shows.  She is a Ph.D. student in English at Duke University.  Despite their busy lives and amazing intellect, they still find time to wow us lesser mortals with their inspiring music.  They are a spectacle to see live as they loop guitars and synths over vocals complete with live drumming.  In addition to the music, Torres also makes some interesting videos to accompany some of his songs.

Baobab can be seen touring at various venues around the Triangle.  With a double album release party coming up on the 22nd with Virgins Family Band at the Local 506, we can look forward to some great things ahead.  This album, aptly titled BAYOHBAHB, will be released by Hand Eye Records. After playing for a year now with these first batch of songs, we can expect Torres' restless spirit to have somehow found a way to improve upon his already perfected craft of beautiful, percussive acoustics with complementing electronics.  With a project that started for Torres as a retreat from writing his book, we can only hope that Baobab has become as important to Torres as it has to the Triangle music scene.

http://baobabtheband.com/
http://baobabmusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/baobabtheband

Check out the interview and in-studio performance with Phil Torres accompanied by the Virgins Family Band below which also included some exclusive premieres off the upcoming album BAYOHBAHB.

http://interviews.wknc.org/baobab020713.mp3