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

Hopscotch 2011: Day One Photo Recap

Photography by Student Media photographers Alex Sanchez and Marisa Akers


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Hopscotch 2011 Day 1 Gallery

WKNC photographer Alex Sanchez captures performances by Last Year's Men, Spider Bags and The Love Language on the first day of the second annual Hopscotch Music Festival.

Giveaways for this week!

If you can brave the icy cold air and scraping the ice off your car, we've got some hot giveaways for you!

1/12: Obits @ Kings Barcade



1/12: The Walkmen @ Cat's Cradle



1/13: Colossus @ Kings Barcade



1/13: The Wigg Report @ Casbah

1/15: The Love Language @ Cat's Cradle



1/15: The Ettes @ The Pour House



Be the correct caller at the appropriate time to win tickets -- you have to listen to win!

For a more complete list of local shows, visit the Rock Report!

Local Beat preview 11/5/10

Friday evening on the Local Beat will be one you surely do not want to miss.

The first hour of the program Chapel Hill band the Light Pines are coming on to talk with us about a plethora of topics as we promote their First Friday  show at Tir na Nog alongside 12000 Armies and Nudehues.  The Light Pines are almost finished with their debut 10 track album and we will talk about that in plenty.  Also stick around and listen as we chat about their connections with the Love Language and their future touring plans.

From 6pm-8pm I am dedicating two hours to the Troika Music Festival in downtown Durham.  Melissa Thomas and Stuart Horne dropped by earlier in the week to pre-record the two hour interview and it was rather entertaining.  You can go ahead and listen to that interview here, but you can only listen to the Troika bands during the airing of the interview!

As always, the Local Beat is every Friday evening from 5pm-8pm right here on WKNC.  You can also listen online here.  Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

Glorious Giveaways!

Good afternoon!

We have some great giveaways that are going like HOT CAKES!

October 21: The Love Language at Kings

October 22: Goner at Kings

October 23: Airiel Down at Lincoln Theatre

October 23:   Gray Young at The Pour House

October 23:  The Moaners w/ Embarrassing Fruits at Kings

October 24: Small Black at Kings

October 26: Muse w/ Metric at the RBC Center

Remember, you have to listen to win!

"Libraries" by The Love Language

88.1 WKNC's Pick of the Week, written by Drew St. Claire a.k.a. DJ SWITCH

When I was just a newborn, my mom would sit in this old rocking chair and cradle me while she sang her favorite Beatles songs, instead of the traditional lullabies. I’m guessing my dad’s renditions of Led Zeppelin didn’t quite make for good bedtime music. So, while I was listening to The Love Language’s newest release, Libraries, I couldn’t help but see a similar scene playing out in my mind—some trendy Triangle couple crooning this local band’s latest release to their little bundle of joy. It's just got that same kind of simple beauty to it.

A couple of years ago, the Love Language’s frontman, Stuart McLamb, was more likely to be found lying in a Raleigh back alley than rocking the big stage at the Hopscotch Music Festival. After a turbulent series of personal events, McLamb created a new band (The Love Language) and put out a self-titled album about his struggles. Libraries comes out just a year after that debut self-titled album and is a very solid follow-up. If the Love Language hasn’t proven themselves to be heavy hitters in Raleigh’s thriving indie rock scene yet, this album will certainly solidify them as such. The first track, “Pedals,” starts out with a quiet piano intro but then crashes into this rich melody with all sorts of layers to it. Those are going to be the keywords for Libraries: “rich” and “layers.” “A season for the both of us, a reason that rose off the coffin”—those are the first bold words from Stuart McLamb, the lead singer and guitarist. He has a bit of Morrissey (from the Smiths) in his voice, and it works well echoing out over the rich ebb and flow of the music. With those symphonic-like buildups and crashes from the instrumentation, I also got a pretty definite Arcade Fire vibe as well. That lovely riff running throughout “Pedals” sounds just like the outro from “Intervention,” but with a beautiful tragedy that is all its own. Another quick standout for me was certainly “Horrorphones.” This was The Love Language track WKNC included on the Hear Here compilation, which was reviewed by yours truly a few issues back. I still stand by what I said about this song back then—a melodic headtrip that’s equal parts I’m From Barcelona and the Beach Boys. Tracks like “This Blood Is Our Own” and “Anthophobia” give off an almost beach-vibe with their bending and sliding guitar solos. This underlying feeling became so pervasive to me that I checked out the band’s website and, sure enough, I see crashing waves and faded photos of wholesome girls in one piece bathing suits. Songs like these, and ones like “Blue Angel,” put me in what I think a 1950’s prom would have been like, but with a much more hip twist to it (and none of the embarrassment). The album closes out with “Wilmont,” which I assume is an allusion to the historic apartment building just down Hillsborough Street. Like the building it references, the song has plenty of heart and soul, made manifest by an acoustic intro and McLamb’s sincere lyrics, “I want you to be with me, ‘cause I’ve got a big heart to feed.” With songs like that, maybe it’s not too far-fetched for Libraries to become lasting lullaby material. Maybe one of those little babies will even grow up to write CD reviews of The Love Language’s next release.

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week is published in every Friday in the print edition of Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.comwknc.org. and

Loved Language- A Look Back on the Libraries CD Release Show

For those who pride themselves on being familiar with local indie music within the Triangle, it would be a cardinal sin to overlook The Love Language's rise within our tight knit music community in recent months. Indy Week gave the Raleigh band a nice cover photo and article last week, which chronicled the almost Cinderella story of Stu McLamb's personal setbacks with the broken band this past December and his ability to bounce back to release Libraries on Merge Records, Love Language's second album. Personally, The Love Language's recent openings for international band Phoenix this June in Raleigh and Charlotte have cemented their growing momentum.

Although I admit that Libraries did not top their self-titled first album, I could not deny the raw energy that was present on stage at Cat's Cradle Saturday night. The lead singer was composed, on point, and looked sincerely grateful to play the sold out show. He opened the night playing solo in deep spotlight, embodying the loneliness but also the his perseverance through the past few months. As McLamb finished quietly, the rest of the band transitioned perfectly in with "Horophones," which symbolically represented the new band members' solidarity. Although the show was aimed at showcasing Libraries, fans were treated with old favorites and special guests such as members from local band Lost in the Trees.

I couldn't help but notice the various types of people that packed into the spacious Cradle, which signified that McLamb and friends are producing wide appeal. However, the Cradle wasn't just teeming with life before the headliners walked on stage. Although I made a late appearance that night (due to an unscheduled pit-stop to gather some delicious French fries,) I luckily caught most of The Light Pines' set. Last time I saw these guys was at the largest Local Beer Local Band night I've experienced where they attracted a huge crowd. Thankfully, things haven't changed much since then. The boys seemed in step with one another producing their familiar haunting melodies. Guitarist Carter Gaj's riffs were so rewarding that they warranted an impromptu and ecstatic Facebook status update.

Tommyboy was able to fill me in on opening act, Shit Horse, whom I knew relatively nothing about. However, apparently I missed a great deal of antics as the front man was extremely charismatic, soliciting responses now and then from the crowd. On their final number, they brought out a topless girl (both nipples pierced as I'm told) wearing a horse mask. Certainly, it had to have been an unforgettable performance.

Love Language at the Cradle tonight

The Love Language's much anticipated Merge release Libraries dropped recently into the hands of a salivating clientele, and tonight we have the privilege of celebrating the occasion.  I could waste my time (and yours) by giving a most likely inadequate review here, laden with underwhelming vocabulary and confusing or inappropriate allusions, but I know better.  I shall leave that task to the better equipped--those who do the album the service it deserves.

So rather than try to steer your take on the album, I'll just give you some simple procedural advice: consider purchasing a ticket for the show tonight. Openers Shit Horse and Light Pines dictate attention, regardless of the situation. (But is there a better situation than this? An almost certainly sold-out Cat's Cradle, bursting at the seams for one of the Triangle's most lauded outfits in recent memory? I lean toward no.)

Tonight promises to entertain, to satisfy, and to satiate. (Ok, so you did end up getting some underwhelming vocabulary.) Doors are at 8 and the show starts at 9.

T.A.
(If my camera charges, I'll be sure to put up some pics.)

7/5 RPM albums for WKNC's Daytime music

	Artist	Album	Label
#1	TAME IMPALA	Innerspeaker	Modular
#2	GRAND LAKE	Blood Sea Dream	Hippies Are Dead
#3	MAPS & ATLASES	Perch Patchwork	Barsuk
#4	CASIOKIDS	Topp Semning Pa Lokal Bar	Polyvinyl
#5	LIGHT POLLUTION	Apparitions	Car Park
#6	VILLAGERS	Becoming a Jackal	Domino
#7	PEGGY SUE	Fossils And Other Phantoms	Yep Roc
#8	THE LOVE LANGUAGE	Libraries	Merge
#9	LIGHTS ON	Here Comes the Ocean	self-released
#10	DAN SARTAIN	Dan Sartain Lives	One Little Indian

This Week's Schwag

This week we're giving away some of the coolest goodies ever seen!



We're giving away tickets to Rasputina on July 13 at Cat's Cradle,



Doco on July 17 at The Pour House,



and The Love Language on July 17 at Cat's Cradle.

We're also giving away movie passes for Knight & Day, Grown Ups, Twilight Eclipse, which are showing at Cary Crossroads 20

Keep the dial locked to 88.1 to win these and other prizes on WKNC!

Special K's Hopscotch Giveaways

The Hopscotch Music Festival has now become synonymous with headliners: Broken Social Scene, Public Enemy, and Panda Bear. However, the Triangle's largest music festival features plenty of local acts. That's why every Friday for the next few weeks, Special K will be getting back to North Carolina's musical roots by keeping spins local and giving away Hopscotch festival wristbands to lucky callers during the Local Lunch (12pm-1pm).

Listen only on 88.1FM or streaming online during Local Lunch for your favorite local Hopscotch bands like The Rosebuds, Bowerbirds, The Love Language and many more! For the full line-up of Hopscotch bands, visit their website here.

Local Beer Local Band 2/18

This thursday, Febuary 18, is another installment of Tir Na Nog and WKNC's Local Beer Local Band night. The show is Free and doors open at 10 p.m. Thursday night's line-up consists of a solo performace from Stuart of The Love Language followed by The Proclivities and finishing off the night will be North Elementary.

As always, Tir Na Nog will have a fine selection of local beers on tap. For more information about this show and future Local Beer Local Band nights, check out www.Tnnirishpub.com.

Hope to see you there!

Eye on the Triangle recap: 12-07-09

Last semester was quite the semester for N.C. State University and its image. The University was in national news -- and it wasn't pretty, whether it dealt with decisions administrators made, budget cuts because of the economy or corruption within the higher-ups. This image problem affected faculty, staff, students, donors and alumni alike. However, last year was also a  great one for local music, with many memorable events bands have taken part in. So, for the last episode of the semester, EOT brought you an N.C. State semester-in-review of news and sports, and a review of some of the things the local music offered you and the surrounding the community.

NEWS
Tom Anderson and Mike Alston filled in for Evan Garris to bring you this week's local, national and international news. Listen to the podcast if you missed it for updates on the Obama exit strategy for the war in Afghanistan, bipartisan opposition to the Honors Services Law, the most recent bombings in Pakistan, the creation of the new aircraft: Spaceship 2, Raleigh's rating as the 21st city in the nation with the "best bang for the buck," former State Senate Democrat Cal Cunningham running for U.S. Senate, a Gastonia murder trial and more.
News

VIP
I interviewed former student body president and current senior class president, Jay Dawkins, and Student Body President Jim Ceresnak about N.C. State's image, the good, the bad and the grades they give its issues -- ranging from the former N.C. first lady Mary Easley's scandal, which caused the resignations of the University's three top leaders, to the Rally 4 Talley campaign, to research developments at the University. Although Jay and Jim seemed to remain optimistic, it's clear the University has its work cut out for it. Listen to Jim and Jay's analysis here:
VIP

SPORTS
John Cooper Elias, Tyler Everett and Derek Medlin gave us a wrap-up of the semester in sports, a football rundown and expectations for the next semester as well as next year for several sports, including men's soccer and men's and women's cross country. We also discussed the firing that week of Volleyball Coach Charita Stubbs due to what can be considered a terrible tenure for her with the team, as well as the incident surrounding what she perceived to be a racist cartoon, which was actually intended to show that the volleyball team was finally winning some games last season. Be sure to check it out the whole podcast if you missed it:
Sports

HEAR THIS
Kelly Reid gave us a list of best local moments of 2009 including Bombadil shows, the Raleigh Undercover event, the journey to the Love Language's Debut album and more. Be sure to check it out if you haven't:
Hear This

COMMUNITY CANVAS
Mike Alston sat down and spoke to Eric Hirsch and Pierce Freelon from The Beast to talk about some of the programs and "hip hop" curriculum the members take to N.C. schools. Hirsch discusses the importance of music and scholarship, and how the band was able to put the two together for schools around the nation:
Community Canvas

WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK
Damian Maddalena sat down with Logan Scarborough, Forestry Club president and senior in forest management. Scarborough talked to us about the club and its activities, including its forestry competition, Rolleo. Listen to the fyll segment here: Wolfpacker of the Week

As always, be sure to let us know what you think/want to hear more or less of at publicaffairs@wknc.org. We'll be back in action for the spring semester -- same time, same place!

Double Barrel Benefit 7 presents: The Light Pines

Go ahead and set every clock in arm's reach thirteen minutes fast.  This is the necessary preparation for the first night of Double Barrel Benefit 7.  Thirteen minutes will allot for an extra two minutes to get out the door, seven minutes to figure out that the best parking place is in the City of Raleigh parking deck on Wilmington Street, and four minutes to grab a sweet spot for the first band --Chapel Hill's The Light Pines.  The six-piece will kick off Friday night at The Pour House and will serve both as  the opening band of the night and the first performance of the two day mini-mecca of local music.  It could, perhaps, be thought of as intimidating, being first in two senses, rather though, it should be deemed cherished.  Especially after last year's opening act, Lonnie Walker, took the opportunity to ramp their buzz in the following year and create quite a stir in the local music scene.

The Light Pines is a band of familiar faces.  It is the project of the bassist for The Love Language, Josh Pope.  The members have shifted since its incarnation over two years ago, but the current line-up is an assembly of long time locals, including Love Language members Kate Thompson on keyboard and vocals and Tom Simpson on drums, as well as three members from Max Indian: Carter Gaj on guitar and vocals, James Wallace on keyboard and vocals, and Ryan Gustafson on guitar and vocals.

The 24-track EP that was recorded in rehearsal spaces, bedrooms and living rooms across Raleigh was made available eight months ago (no official release yet).  It has started to circulate and create quite a stir, including earning them a spot at MusicFest NW in Portland, Oregon in which the band received an instant label offer post-performance. However, DBB wil be the band's first Raleigh performance, and one of the very limited Triangle performances to date so far.  This is a video from a December performance at Chapel Hill's Local 506.



The sound that The Light Pines creates is built on a foundation of lo-fi pop but it flares into realms of mysticism and fantasy that at times can feel eerie.  The collection of songs is like a maze of mirrors that serves as the entrance to a grand party hosted by Jay Gatsby.  In order to attend the party the guest must wind their way through the complex pathways of of twisted, tilted, and manipulated mirrors all while listening to infectious, slightly fuzzy, and undeniably catchy music.  Pope explained that the inspiration for the sound of The Light Pines came from the adolescent excitement of perhaps the best holiday of the year, Halloween,

"Do you remember what it was like being 8-years-old on Halloween?  Before you came to appreciate it is as an adult?  On that day, as a kid, there is so much excitement and mystery and this overall darkness to everything.  That's what I want it to feel like when listening to the Light Pines," Pope said.

Keep an ear to The Light Pines.  With The Love Language wrapping up recording at Flying Tiger Sound in the next month and half, The Light Pines are planning on recording for an official release and ramping up their show dates in the months to come in 2010.  Who knows, maybe the Triangle will see the best Halloween party to date, hosted by The Light Pines.

The Light Pines will take the stage for night one of Double Barrel Benefit 7 on Friday, February 5 at The Pour House followed by Veelee, Bellafea, and Max Indian.

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

Hear Here Photo Slideshow

Photographs by Matt Moore from the Hear Here finale Oct. 3, 2009. All photographs (C) 2009 NCSU Student Media.

The Love Language signs with Merge Records

Chapel Hill's The Love Language has signed with Merge Records, according to a release from Pitchfork today. The band is joining the ranks of  The Rosebuds, Spoon, Neutral Milk Hotel and M. Ward, just to name a few from the label's seemingly endless list of indie artists.

The Love Language will be playing at the Hear Here finale show Saturday at the Pour House. Doors will open at 8 p.m. and tickets will be $7 with copies of the compilation available for purchase.

Ticket Giveaways from WKNC

Here are the great shows happening this week to which WKNC is giving away tickets:

Wednesday, Sept. 30:

Ra Ra Riot with Maps and Atlases and Princeton @ Cat's Cradle



Friday, Oct. 2:

SMNMNMN with Josh Drye Consortium and The Toddlers @ Nightlight



American Aquarium with Shawn Fisher and the Juke Box & Gabriel Kelly @ The Pour House



Saturday, Oct 3:

Hear Here Finale Show feat. The Love Language, Inflowential, and Motor Skills @ The Pour House



This is the second and final Hear Here show to promote the all-local and all-amazing tunes of some great artists from the area. The first show of the two part series was sold out and presented at Cat's Cradle. If you weren't able to attend the first show be sure to get your tickets now or listen to WKNC for your chance to win tickets!

Hear Here Finale Show Line-Up Released

Its official, the Hear Here Finale Show has a lineup and a solid one it is.  Colossus, Inflowential, and the Love Language will all be playing October 3rd at the Pour House in downtown Raleigh.  Tickets are going for $7 but unlike the August 29th show in Carrboro, the compilation will not be included with the price of admission.  Copies of the album will be available for $5 once inside.

Hear Here is a local music compilation album of 17 different Triangle based artists featuring all new unreleased material sponsored by Terpsikhore Records, Flying Tiger Sound, and WKNC 88.1.  For weeks WKNC has been slowly releasing tracks over the airwaves during Local Lunch (Mon-Fri 12-1pm) and the Local Beat (Fri 5-8pm) and many local blogs have been posting leaked songs from Hear Here on the internet.

The album is set to be released this Saturday at the Cats Cradle with Annuals, The Never, Hammer No More The Fingers and Birds of Avalon bringing up the bill.  Tickets are going for $10 with a copy of the album included with admission.  Organizers plan on selling out, so go ahead and get your tickets early.

The October 3rd show in Raleigh is the finale of the compilation release.  Doors will open at 8pm with Colossus starting up at 10pm.  Inflowential and the Love Language will come on sequentially.

Two FREE Local Shows Tonight

Today is Thursday and if you live in the Triangle you should know by now about Local Beer Local Band night every Thursday at Tir Na Nog Irish Pub in downtown Raleigh.  WKNC & Tir Na Nog put the show on every Thursday,  free of charge, with local brewery specials on tap.  Tonights show includes Free Electric State and A Rooster For The Masses.  It is starting at 9pm.

However, going on in Chapel Hill is the Locally Grown Festival which features two local favorites The Love Languge and Lost in the Trees.  The show is going to take place at 150 E. Rosemary Street at Wallace Plaza.  This show is also free and kicks off at 7pm.

If you are a brave soul I suggest carpooling with some friends and hitting up both of these FREE shows back-to-back.  It could possibly be the cheapest and best music night of the summer!