Last Wednesday night -- All Hopscotch Eve -- veritable Raleigh house venue the Kosher Hut ushered in Raleigh's 7th annual
Hopscotch Festival early with what I took to calling Kosherscotch. They put together one of the most stunning "club" line-ups of any venue all weekend. It featured bands that would go on to play at least 7 count'em 7 Hopscotch day party or nighttime club shows.
First there was
Hotline, locals that are sounding a whole lot more bad-ass and funky lately. Coming into their own with their new, post-Oulipo, sound (which was good enough as it was), Hotline now just seems to be locked way more into a groove apropos of frontman Ryan Trauley's soulful vocals.
Hotline...
Secret Guest, from Charleston SC, would go on to wow me twice more with great shows at Kings and the Baxter. This night, they introduced me their very fun stage show, one that would prove through the weekend to consistently end up with pieces and parts (and people) flying all over the place. I walked out the room thinking "Pavement-on-steroids", which is kinda true from a song structure (or lack thereof) standpoint. But they have a little bit of surfiness and a darker, psych edge going, too.
Secret Guest...
I had witnessed a memorable show by Sarasota's
Pleasures at the Hut a few months back. Just as good this time, their music also has that dark-psychy thing going (kinda becoming a favorite in my live music choices lately), but with more of an ambitious, jazzy aura and mysterious distorted vocals. I missed their day party show Saturday at Deep South, but heard some ranking it among the best of the festival.
Pleasures...
Another SC visitor,
ET Anderson from Columbia, really wowed me. Like a soul man run through a Mothersbaugh filter, slow grooves quick change into angular pop at the drop of a hat. ET Anderson is maybe my new favorite live band, or at least have pulled into a tie with Zack Mexico (not surprising as they've toured together as the mind-melded "ET Mexico"). These photos aren't the best of them... I'll post better ones later from their Hopscotch-proper show at Deep South when I get the Saturday night coverage up.
ET Anderson...
Speaking of
Zack Mexico, the Outer Banks musical berserkers have developed a rather large following around here. I can't really say much more about them that I haven't said before... except their late-night "Lime in the Coconut" cover bubbles up from my one-too-many-beers / too-late-a-night addled memory every now and then. As best as I can remember, they didn't finish until around 2:30am. I'm surprised I made it to the Friday day parties, much less the rest of the weekend. More on that later...
Zack Mexico...
Let's make Kosherscotch an annual thing, guys!
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