Signalfest This Weekend in Chapel Hill

Signal, the Southeast Electronic Music Festival, kicked off its fifth year last night with a hip-hop show at Cat's Cradle featuring Pac Div, Kooley High, King Mez, and others and continues through Sunday in various Chapel Hill and Carborro venues. The festival features a wide array of acts, both national and local, from many different subgenres, including Le Castle Vania, Cex, Sammy Bananas, Tittsworth, The Beast, The ExMonkeys, and WKNC's own Brooklyn Airlift.

Weekend passes for the fest are available for $40 today at the Ackland Art Museum from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., Tallula's starting at 10:00 p.m., and at Vespa on Friday night starting at 10:00 p.m. Individual tickets for each show will be available at the door of the venue the night of the show.

For more information on the festival, including schedules and past acts, check out their website here

The ExMonkeys on WKNC Wednesday night

Local electronic duo The ExMonkeys will be coming in to the WKNC studio for a full live performance and interview this Wednesday, February 24, at 8 p.m. Yes, I looked at the NCSU sports broadcast schedule this time and no, we will not be broadcasting a game on Wednesday. As mentioned, they'll be doing a full live set, followed by an interview where we'll discuss their sound, electronic music in the Triangle, and their monthly electro/noise night (co-hosted with the awesomely insane Cheezface) at The Pour House, Technoiz. So tune in, bob your head, and move your feet if you feel the need to do so.

The ExMonkeys to re-schedule their appearance on WKNC

Local electronic duo The ExMonkeys will not be in tonight, January 28, as previously stated. With so many schedules to keep up with, I forgot to check our women's basketball schedule. We will be broadcasting the game tonight, so The ExMonkeys will have to reschedule, hopefully for sometime next week. Apologies for my goof up. --Chuck

December brings more ticket giveaways!

December means many things: cold weather, final exams, continuous holiday music pretty much everywhere, and new ticket giveaways!

Here's what we have this week:

Ex-Monkeys @ The Pour House Wednesday, December 2

Viva Christmas feat. Los Straitjackets and El Vez @ Cats Cradle Wednesday December 2nd

American Aquarium @ The Pour House Saturday December 5th

Southern Culture on the Skids @ Cats Cradle December 5th

Listen only on 88.1FM or streaming online for your chances to win!

Lately, All I Want Is Local Music

I haven't had the chance to do much music buying lately, as my bank account's been slightly restricting as of late. However, my birthday is this coming weekend (Valentine's day, a blessing and a curse) and I'm using that as an excuse to head over to Schoolkids and buy me some new jams. What kind of jams? Well, there's only three non-local records that are on my list right now (new ones from Animal Collective, Antony & The Johnsons, and Bon Iver). There are several local records, however, that I really want. First off, there's Hymns For A Dark Horse and Bury The Square, the debut records by Bowerbirds and Megafaun, respectively (Megafaun have a new one on the way and if the new songs they played the Cat's Cradle show I caught recently are any indication, this one will be just as great as the first). I'm headed up to Boone this coming weekend and both bands' take on folk (Bowerbirds' being dark and haunting, Megafaun abstract and rambling, both reflective) would serve as an excellent soundtrack to a weekend driving around the mountains. Then there's the new debut from The Love Language, with their excellent lo-fi take on 50's pop. Lonnie Walker, with their rambling folk rock, are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands, and I'm holding my breath waiting for the release of their debut record, as well as the new one Schooner is working on.

One of my favorite releases of the past decade was Hotel Lights' self-titled debut, full of melancholy and beautiful folk-pop gems. I've spun their new one, Firecracker People, on my show a few times, but have yet to pick the record up This must change, as everything I have heard off the record has been excellent. I've managed to catch EAR PWR's dance party live show three times within the past couple months, and am dying to pick up some of their records. Same goes for Greenville ex-pats Future Islands (who also have some great new songs). There are great new records from David Karsten Daniels and Gray Young.

My record collection is calling out for the wonderful, Cat Power-like musings of Alina Simone. New ones from I Was Totally Destroying It and The ExMonkeys are on their way. The fact of the matter is, out of all the new records coming out, for the most part, the best ones seem to be coming either from acts right here in North Carolina or NC ex-pats. And that's saying something. Time to go buy me some records