Local acts nominated for Pitchfork Readers' Poll and Grammy's

It's that time of year again.

Year-end best-of lists will be popping up all over the internet and magazines this month, with varying opinions on who had the best record, song, music video, live show, etc. etc.

The music-related website Pitchfork, however, is offering music fans the opportunity to pick their favorites in their annual Readers' Poll. And a few local acts have made their longlist of nominees in a couple of categories. Chapel Hill country-rock band band Spider Bags are nominated for Best New Artist.

Raleigh's own experimental folk group Megafaun's fantastic second record, Gather, Form & Fly, is nominated for Most Underrated Album.

Chapel Hill guitar heroes Polvo are up for Best Reunion/Comeback.

And last, but certainly not least, Greenville ex-pats Future Islands, who also recently signed to Thrill Jockey, are up for Best Hope For 2010. So take a few minutes off from whatever you're doing to waste time at work and head over to 2k9survey.pitchfork.com and help support some fantastic, home-grown music.

And while we're on the subject of nominations, North Carolina hip-hop and soul group The Foreign Exchange have been nominated for a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the track "Daykeeper" off of their recently released sophomore effort Leave It All Behind. Durham-via-Mali kora player Mamadou Diabaté is also up for Best Traditional World Music Album for his record Douga Mansa.

WKNC's top 30 albums from the last week

Here are the top 30 albums from the past week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:







1. Polvo - In Prism
2. Depreciation Guild - In Her Gentle Jaws
3. Port O'Brien - Threadbare
4. Fanfarlo - Reservoir

5. Royal Bands - Let It Beep
6. Still Life Still - Girls Come Too
7. Le Loup - Family
8. Fool's Gold - Fool's Gold
9. Ettes - Do You Want Power
10. Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong
11. Fresh and Onlys - Grey-Eyed Girls
12. Darlings - Yeah, I Know
13. Antlers - Hospice
14. Various Artists - Hear Here: The Triangle
15. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
16. Islands - Vapours
17. Cave Singers - Welcome Joy
18. The Clean - Mister Pop
19. YACHT - See Mystery Lights
20. Mumlers - Don't Throw Me Away
21. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
22. Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love
23. Why? - Eskimo Snow
24. Dead Weather - Horehound
25. Health - Get Color
26. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
27. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes - Up From Below
28. Quixote - Quixote
29. Slarafenland - We're On Your Side
30. Motel Motel - New Denver

Albums recently added to our library:

1. XX - The Xx
2. No Age - Losing Feeling [EP]
3. Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than The Stars [EP]
4. Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath

Broadcasting DBB Night 2

Last night WKNC took over Friday Night Request Rock & Chainsaw to bring you live coverage of night 1 of the Double Barrel Benefit #6 from the Pour House in downtown Raleigh.  The show was a success, a massive sellout with a tremendous crowd and kickass music.  As the show will more than likely sellout tonight as well, we will once again be broadcasting the entire show live (trumping Saturday Night Soul and R&B and D-Cutta's 2.0 Show).

Broadcast starts after the Soulful Renaissance and will air until the completion of the concert.  If you can't get to the Pour House, feel free to rock on with us tonight over your radio or internet connection.

Doors open at 8pm and get there early as there is a limited number of tickets available at the door.  The show starts at 9pm.

Tonight's lineup includes: I Was Totally Destroying It, Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies, Birds of Avalon, & Polvo.

DBB Feature #2: Polvo

Up until a month ago, I often heard  "Polvo" and "Double Barrel Benefit" in the same sentence, but only in the context of: "Hey, you know what would be a cream dream?  Polvo headlining the Double Barrel Benefit."  The conversation would then spiral into fantasies of Zach Galifianakis hosting a lineup of Ben Folds, Whiskeytown, Superchunk, or Archers of Loaf.  Saying it was a long shot was an understatement.  Polvo disbanded in 1997, and despite my past inquiries and pestering of Polvo's bassist and Kings Barcade owner, Steve Popson, it seemed forever to remain "not the right time."

But with Polvo reforming with a new drummer Brian Quast (Cherry Valence) to play last summer's ATP festival,  and a handful of shows afterward, the time became right and Polvo will be  headlining Saturday the 7th for WKNC's Double Barrel Benefit #6.

Polvo formed in 1990 in Chapel Hill and after releasing the double 7" "Can I Ride" on Kitchen Puff, signed with Merge Records to release their debut album "Cor-Crane Secret".  They followed tours wtih Babes in Toyland and Superchunk with the release of "Today's Active Lifestyles" in 1992 and the EP's "Celebrate the New Dark Age" and "This Eclipse" in 1994 and '95.  After switching to Chicago label Touch and Go in 1996, Polvo released the double length album "Exploded Drawing" and put out their final record "Shapes" in 1997.

In the 12 years since their final release, Polvo's members have kept making music and staying involved in the Triangle music scene.  Guitarist and vocalist Ash Bowie played with Helium and released an album in 200o under the name Libraness.  Dave Brylawski (guitar, vocals) played in Idyll Swords and joined bassist Steve Popson in Black Taj.  And of course Popson was one of the owners of beloved Raleigh music institution Kings Barcade (RIP).

Now, it is entirely possible that some of you may not be as utterly geeked as I am about this development.  Some of you may not have already bought your tickets for the second night (as if the promise of I Was Totally Destroying It, Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies, and Birds of Avalon wasn't enough).  That is fair.  Polvo stopped putting out albums in the 90's and some of the listeners of this station may have been born in that decade.  So let me do you a favor and provide the following three good reasons you must not miss out on catching Polvo, Saturday February 7th at the Pour House.

1. Polvo put their own stamp on the Math Rock genre.

Along with bands like Slint, Drive Like Jehu, and Shellac, Polvo's use of different tunings, complicated time signatures, and dense layering of sound, created a whole new twist on rock music.  Polvo especially involved rhythms and drone-type sonics that drew heavily from Eastern music, creating music that could be appreciated by both shoe-gazers as well a punk rock fans.  But their songs were never without that great pop hook, making Polvo a great band for new fans to acquaint themselves with the Math Rock genre

2.  Polvo influenced your favorite bands.

Explosions in the Sky were such fans, when they curated last years All Tomorrow's Parties in England, Polvo was on the top of their wish list.  You can hear Polvo's influence in national acts such as Pilot to Gunner and Pterodactyl, as well as local acts Des Ark and Noncanon.  Even looking back at previous Double Barrel Benefit vets, you can hear Polvo's inventive sonic layers in The Nein and complex beat counts in We Versus the Shark.

3.  This is a rare chance to see a legendary band, in an intimate venue, in their home base.

Polvo may or may not play another show.  Getting an opportunity to see a seminal band from the hey-day of the Triangle's indie rock expolsion is a rare treat.  This is along the same level of  Slint's 2005 reunion; an infuential band, whose members have not lost a step, coming together because they love the music they made.

Speaking as the past curator of Double Barrel Benefit's, this year's lineup ranks as one of the best.  Top to bottom, both nights, is a solid representation of our vibrant local music scene.  And if you have been to past DBB's, you know that bands kick it up a gear when they play this event (Red Collar, Mountain Goats, and The Nein come to mind).  And to have a band like Polvo reform and play this event for no compensation is both humbling and exciting.  The Pour House looks to be rocking, and so will I.  See you there.

- see the Polvo Myspace for tracks, or just make a request.

-BFSac

WKNC Announces Double Barrel Benefit #6

Set your calendars For Friday February 6th, and Saturday February 7th for WKNC's annual Double Barrel Benefit #6 at the Pour House in downtown Raleigh.  Both nights are loaded with 8 of the best bands in our area for a small price, with all proceeds going to WKNC & NC State Student Media.

Prices are $7 in advance and $9 at the door.  There is a $5 surcharge for all attendees under 21.

Bands on Friday include (in order of appearance):
Lonnie Walker
Lost in the Trees
Schooner
Bowerbirds

Bands on Saturday include (in order of appearance):
I Was Totally Destroying It
Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies
Birds of Avalon
Polvo

WKNC will be broadcasting live from the site both nights.

Throughout the next month WKNC will begin featuring exclusive blogs about each of these fantastic bands leading up to the show.  Be on the lookout for those as well as listening to each of these bands on WKNC 88.1 fm.

In addition, the two days leading up to the show, WKNC will play 100% Local Music during its Daytime Format.   More information on this later.