This week's cool shows: Annuals, Great Band Swap, Isaac Hunter's anniversary and more!

The after-Thanksgiving show line-up in the Triangle looks to be a good one, starting with three fine shows on Tuesday of all nights. If you're into metal, you do not want to miss Crowbar, Black Tusk (one of my current favorite bands) and Chapel Hill's MAKE. If you're into New Wavish singer-songwriters, you do not want to miss Amy Rigsby and Wreckless Eric at Motorco.

But yours truly will be spending Tuesday at one of my favorite, and I believe most underrated downtown watering holes: Isaac Hunter's Tavern. I love this place for their N.C. beer selection, and the fact that they have a Wii, and I can play Wii Tennis when I'm having a Shotgun Betty. The bar will celebrate its one-year anniversary tomorrow with The Loners and Revolutionary Sweethearts.

On Wednesday, there will be a celebration of long-time local music favorites The Connells at Kings. Apparently the entire Connells catalog is now available digitally. That means you can go download "Boylan Heights" before coming out to the show and hearing other local bands do their renditions of Connells songs.  Tonk will definitely be there, which should be interesting.

On Thursday The Loners will be at Motorco, so if you don't see them at Isaac Hunter's, you should check them out then. But the show of the week is that very same night at Tir na Nog with Annuals and Light Pines. Raleigh Denim is sponsoring the show and will apparently give away a free pair of their jeans. If you've seen the price tag on these jeans, you know that's a big deal.

Also that night in Durham, The Great Band Swap will take place at Pinhook. The concept is that every band must perform at least one song by each of the other bands on the bill. This will happen Thursday-Saturday, and will include a widely diverse bill, so it should be pretty amazing. I can only imagine what Hog covering Embarrassing Fruits will sound like.

Friday's big concert is undoubtedly Lost in the Trees at Motorco. But also that night (and on Saturday) Reservoir is celebrating its anniversary with Monsonia, jokes&jokes&jokes and Blag'ard. I'm most likely going to check out J. Roddy Walston & the Business at Local 506.

Saturday the Reservoir celebration continues with Colossus, Backwoods Payback and Caltrop. Finally, that same night, American Aquarium and House of Fools will be at the Pour House.

Lemmy documentary coming to the U.S. next year!

Details on a new documentary about Lemmy will be revealed here tomorrow! Titled "Lemmy: 49% Motherf**ker, 51% Son of a Bitch,"looks to be insightful and totally rockin'. Looks like it's getting rave reviews too. Certainly it's a step up from his cameo in the John Wayne Bobbitt movie (Google that if you don't know what I'm talking about, but keep in mind that it's NSFW). I'm betting, and hoping, this will be at the Rialto sometime next year. Can't wait! 

While I'm at it, Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. I'm headed to Morehead City to celebrate T-day, and my birthday, with family. There's a chance I'll be back in time for Saturday's Hank Sinatra/Stegmonds show at Southland Ballroom. Looking forward to that because I understand from folks who were at the Chip Robinson benefit that the room sounds great. 

Black metal without the silliness

I admit black metal isn't really my thing, mainly because I just find the trappings surrounding it silly. The big exception for me has been Ulver, who have always been willing to experiment, and have refused to allow themselves to be confined based on what people think black metal should look or sound like.


Liturgy is another band that, like their "transcendent black metal" tagline says, plays by their own rules. And they melt faces and expand minds in the process. Rich from Hog was standing beside me last night, and he summed it up nicely: "They made a whole song out of one note and it didn't suck!"

They played last night at Kings, where I managed to capture two new songs (as yet untitled). The first video was their first song, but I was so astounded by the playing of drummer Greg Fox, that I shot a second video where you really get to see him in action. I've seriously never seen anyone play so fast and yet move so little.



I was a little happier with Kings lighting, but it still doesn't present the ideal shooting circumstance. I ended up just playing around with my prints in Lightroom to see if I could get anything interesting out of my photos. See more photos.




Liturgy from Mann's World on Vimeo.



Liturgy 2 from Mann's World on Vimeo.



9 Fingered Thug - "Hun" from Mann's World on Vimeo.
Nine Fingered Thug, which includes Picasso Trigger bass player Sam Mauney, opened up.

In case you haven't seen this yet ...

Birds of Avalon have a new album coming out on Bladen County Records in January, and New Raleigh has a sneak peek, with a download of the first song, "Invasion."Check it out!

Bad news for Leslie!

Well, this sucks, especially considering what an awesome show they put on a couple of weeks ago at Slim's. Leslie's gear was stolen last night in Delaware! Here's the e-mail from the band:

All of Leslie’s gear was stolen last night in Delaware. They have no insurance to cover replacements and are currently filing a police report and checking pawn shops around the area.
Any donations would be greatly appreciated to help the band get back on their feet & can be sent to http://bit.ly/bixoW9 or you can mail a check payable to “Leslie Entertainment” to the address below.
Leslie Entertainment, PO Box 50009, Summerville SC 29485
We appreciate your support during this incredibly tough time for the band.

This week's cool shows and music: Monsonia, Static Minds and more

This week's two best shows are tied to CD releases, and luckily for you, I have some music for you to check out before the shows.

The first is Monsonia, who will celebrate the release of "33.3," out now on Holidays for Quince, with a release party Friday, Nov. 12, at Nightlight. This record reminds me a lot of one of my all-time favorite bands, The Jesus Lizard, with a little Shellac and Honor Role thrown in. MAKE and Minor Stars are also on this show.

Also on the same night, Static Minds will celebrate their CD-release, "Electricity,"  with The Loners and Maldora at Kings. You can stream "Electricity" here.

Looking ahead, Brooklyn "transcendental black metalists" Liturgy will play with Nine Fingered Thug and Here Lies ... at Kings on Thursday, Nov. 18. They'll have a new album out on Thrill Jockey next year.


Finally, N.C. expats Future Islands, Lonnie Walker, NAPS and Veelee will be at Kings the following night, Nov. 19. Check out the Jason Urick remix of my favorite Future Islands song, "Tim Man," here.

Cough at Nightlight

Friday was another night where I had a difficult decision: Cough and Black Skies at Nighlight in Chapel Hill, or MAKE and In the Year of the Pig, at the exact same time, over at Troika in Durham. Since Cough are from Richmond, I opted to check them out, but thought I might stop by Durham first, and see what was happening there. The Sames were about to start over at Motorco (which, if you haven't checked it out yet, is a very nice, big club) when I realized I had left the battery to my camera back on the charger in Raleigh. I halfway considered just witnessing Cough without shooting photos, but at this point, it's really kind of weird for me to be at a show without my camera. It didn't take much for me to drive back home, get the charger and head out, thus missing Troika. 

Cough were definitely worth the effort, and lived up to their name. They have a sound that makes me think of all the good things about drinking too much cough syrup (slow, numbingly heavy) without the spins and intense vomiting that usually come afterward. Cough has an album called "Ritual Abuse" out now on Relapse.  See more photos. 

Cough from Mann's World on Vimeo.

This week's cool shows: Troika!

Troika fest is easily the best way to see as many local bands as possible in a short amount of time and for a great price ($25 for three days). This year's line up is a fine one, with some of my favorite local heavy bands. See the full schedule here, and check out my list of the best shows of the festival.


Thursday: Valient Thorr with Double Negative and Hog at Motorco
Friday: In the Year of the Pig with MAKE, Americans in France and Naked Gods at Pinhook; also, try to catch Whatever Brains at 618 Foster
Saturday: Organos with Phil Cook & His Feat at the craft show (1 p.m.); Filthybird and Chatham County Line at Motorco (7 p.m.); Pink Flag at Motorco (midnight); Mount Moriah at Fullsteam (11:30 p.m.) and Spider Bags at Pinhook (11:30 p.m.)


Also, not part of Troika, but happening at the Casbah on Friday and definitely worth your time: a heavy show with Black Skies, Cough (doomy Relapse band) and Resister (from Greensboro). CORRECTION!: This show is at Nightlight in Chapel Hill on Friday. Lurch, Black Skies and 38 Gauge are at Casbah TONIGHT (Wednesday)

New video from The Love Language

The Love Language - Heart to Tell from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Extra bonus: It was created by my former co-worker, the supremely talented Jason Arthurs. I'm pretty sure this footage is from last year's joyously crazy Pour House show, where the entire audience ended up on stage with the band.