Thursday, July 30, 2009
This week's cool shows: BOA!
OK, this is the short and sweet version since I've been called out of town on yet another family emergency. This week's big show is Birds of Avalon's CD-release show at Pour House on Saturday, plain and simple. Read my Five Questions interview with BOA's Dave Mueller on New Raleigh.
Other cool shows this weekend include: Static Minds, Magic Babies and DJ Midnight Cowboy tonight at Tir na Nog; The T's with a Stones tribute band called Some Girls Friday at Slim's (have heard Some Girls is really good), and Unknown Hinson Saturday at the Berkeley.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
If you missed the first night of xxMerge
You can catch up on what happened through Triangle Music. I suspect Grayson and MyNC.com will be blogging later in the day.
Also, several folks, including @indyweek, @RossGrady
Also, several folks, including @indyweek, @RossGrady
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Two artists you won't see at xxMerge
And two of my favorite from the Merge roster. Unless something is happening that I don't know about Breadwinner and Coral, two Richmond bands that grew out of Honor Role, are not playing this weekend's festival. But in honor of Merge's 20-year anniversary, and mainly because I love playing around with my new .mp3 turntable, here's a song from two 7-inch records that I've always loved, and pretty much defined the early 90s for me.
"Filling a Hole/Your Reward" by Coral came out in May of 1991 and literally blew me away. This runs a close second to Pure's "Ballard" as my favorite Merge release of all time. Coral on this release were Bob Schick (Honor Role), vocals; John Kovalcik, guitar; Steve Smith, bass; and Matt McGuigan, drums.
Check out the liner notes that came with the Coral record. Mac talks about the upcoming Breadwinner release (below) and mentions "No Pocky For Kitty" coming out on Matador.
Here's "Your Reward" from Coral
Breadwinner you probably remember as the band often credited with inventing Math Rock. That band included Pen Rollings from Honor Role on guitar, Bobby Donne on bass and Chris Farmer on drums.
In this handwritten insert, Mac announces Pure has broken up and reveals that he likes the new Metallica record, which, I think, would have been the Black Album.
Here's "Prescott [Homecut]" from a 7-inch that was released in August of 1991
And, as an extra treat, here's a track from Breadwinner drummer Chris Farmer's high school band, Flat Stanley, who played in Greenville quite a bit when I was at ECU. This is from their 1987 album "Hot Cauliflower," most of which sounds a whole lot like The Connells (in fact, I'm pretty sure I saw them open for The Connells). This track, "Deciduous Forest," is instrumental, and though it's still pretty jangly, I think you can hear a little bit what Farmer eventually went on to do with Breadwinner.
"Filling a Hole/Your Reward" by Coral came out in May of 1991 and literally blew me away. This runs a close second to Pure's "Ballard" as my favorite Merge release of all time. Coral on this release were Bob Schick (Honor Role), vocals; John Kovalcik, guitar; Steve Smith, bass; and Matt McGuigan, drums.
Check out the liner notes that came with the Coral record. Mac talks about the upcoming Breadwinner release (below) and mentions "No Pocky For Kitty" coming out on Matador.
Here's "Your Reward" from Coral
Breadwinner you probably remember as the band often credited with inventing Math Rock. That band included Pen Rollings from Honor Role on guitar, Bobby Donne on bass and Chris Farmer on drums.
In this handwritten insert, Mac announces Pure has broken up and reveals that he likes the new Metallica record, which, I think, would have been the Black Album.
Here's "Prescott [Homecut]" from a 7-inch that was released in August of 1991
And, as an extra treat, here's a track from Breadwinner drummer Chris Farmer's high school band, Flat Stanley, who played in Greenville quite a bit when I was at ECU. This is from their 1987 album "Hot Cauliflower," most of which sounds a whole lot like The Connells (in fact, I'm pretty sure I saw them open for The Connells). This track, "Deciduous Forest," is instrumental, and though it's still pretty jangly, I think you can hear a little bit what Farmer eventually went on to do with Breadwinner.
Shows of the week: xxMerge, and Merge-related events
It shouldn't be any surprise that xxMerge, which begins tonight over in Chapel Hill, is this week's go-to event. Unfortunately, unless you already have tickets, you're not likely to actually go-to it, because it's sold out and (judging from a quick Craigslist perusal) there aren't many re-sale tickets out there. There will be a "limited number" of tickets available each night at the door, but I get the feeling that people will be lined up all day for each of these, so keep that in mind.
There are a few free official and un-official xxMerge-related events out there, plus the big She & Him/American Music Club(duo)/Wye Oak show at Memorial Hall.
Here are some events I know about so far. Please feel free to e-mail me about others, and I'll update this entry:
Thursday, 5 p.m.: Free Electric State & Embarrassing Fruits, free pre-show, ArtsCenter parking lot
Friday, 3 p.m.: Afternoon house party in Durham with Charles Gansa (Guv'ner, Merge Recs.) + Reid Johnson (Schooner) + Sam Grindstaff (Titans of Filth) + Special Guests
Saturday, 1 p.m.: Free outdoor show at OCSC with Radar Bros., Tenement Halls, Matt Suggs, Portastatic and The Music Tapes
More info including Merge-related films and films with scores by Merge artists, and a kickball game/BBQ here.
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