Mac McCaughan + The Non-Believers w/ Blackball (Nightlight, Chapel Hill, NC, 12/11/15)

Mac McCaughan's new album, Non-Believers, to me sounds closer to his Portastatic catalogue than his Superchunk one.  It's (usually) somewhat mellower, even atmospheric at moments.  Fine by me, as I've been a fan of Portastatic almost as much as 'Chunk over the years.

But knowing his backing band are the members of primordial garage rockers Flesh Wounds, I was curious how they would manage to, well, frankly... rein themselves in.  Flesh Wounds as a band simply explodes on stage.  That kind of energy could simply swamp McCaughan's finely crafted pop tunes.

Short answer:  they do just fine.  And so does Mac.  Restraint by good players really goes a long way, and can be as important as balls-to-the-wall punk. They played 2 sets, the first of which was mostly stuff from the new album, and a few Portastatic tunes.  I LOVED the amped up version of Angels of Sleep.  The second set was, I think, mostly covers (Iggy Pop, Tall Dwarves, Superchunk... would that count as a cover?).  It gave them all a chance to cut loose a little more, and Mac was clearly having fun with the covers. Dan McGee from Spider Bags got up to sing along on one tune.

Speaking of balls-to-the-wall, openers Blackball (from Raleigh, NC & Richmond, VA) brought the primal energy.  Their singer Ericka screams vocals as if her lungs were twice their size... she is pure id.  Intense hardcore from a very tight band.

Some photos, and a couple of videos of Mac's band, follow (yeah yeah another version of Slack Motherfucker).  As you can see, fog machine was stuck in overdrive.

Blackball...

  Mac McCaughan + The Non-Believers...

The Love Language, In Residency at Slim's (Night 4, 5/6/11)

The Love Language closed out their 4-night residency at Slim's Downtown Distillery in Raleigh, NC, Friday night. The opening band was Lonnie Walker, who I have seen before and liked. But they totally won me over this time. Their sound reminds me of some of the 1990's Ghostmeat Records bands (Sunbrain, Tony Tidwell, Drive by Truckers), in feel if not exactly sound. Is it just me, or is Lonnie Walker frontman Brian Corum the spitting image of Paul Westerberg here?


After covering the Velvet Underground's entire White Light/White Heat album on Night 3, the Love Language returned to close the week with a mix of originals from both of their CDs. As with Night 1, the show was a raucous party. The small space was I'm sure fun and familiar to a band with the not-too-long-ago penchant for playing house parties (but maybe never again). They enjoyed every minute as much as the audience, as all danced and sang along to "Blue Angel", "Manteo", "Lalita", "Providence", and about a dozen others... probably about an even split between the two CDs.

The encore included "Pedals", which I'd not heard played live (and was beautiful). Brian from Lonnie Walker helped close the night signing "Louie Louie" with the Love Language backing, and bodies were flying everywhere (see last picture: off the monitors, over the crowd...). Slim's was definitely pushed to the limit on this night.

What a great band, club, scene, and all-around vibe to have something like this happen in Raleigh. After following idols like Arcade Fire and Guided by Voices around the country (and making idols of themselves to more than a few I'm sure), to come and host what basically was a 4-night party in such an intimate venue was a downright gift to fans and downtown Raleigh alike. Guitarist/producer BJ Burton says they're looking around for a space in Raleigh to record their third CD this summer; so hopefully we'll get another gift in the reasonable future (though they haven't played any new songs yet that I know of).

A few photos and a video below (the haunting "This Blood Is Our Own", preceded by some chatting with the crowd about the week). Pics are a little different than Night 1, as I only used a 80-200mmm zoom on night 4, which probably wan't ideal for the venue and show. Just thought I'd try something different on the second go-round.



The shirt, the shirt...

Too much of this...

...leads to this...

The Love Language, In Residency at Slim's (Night 1, 5/3/11)

This was the first night of the Love Language's 4-night "residency" at the small downtown Raleigh club, Slim's. The place MAYBE holds 100; your name was on the list when they checked off your ticket. All-in-all a pretty intimate venue for a band getting used to Coachella and opening gigs for Arcade Fire.

And it just demonstrates the energy of club shows. These guys are always great, but I saw them open for Phoenix at the Koka Booth Ampitheater, and here at little ole Slim's... and there was no doubt which of those shows packed the most punch (hint: THIS one...)
They played the self-titled debut CD in it's entirety, then came back for a T. Rex a cover with members of the opener, Left Outlet, and closed with Blue Angel, Heart To Tell, and This Room from their sophomore CD, Libraries (I think Brittany's Back was in there, too).

Just a picture dump here; no time to write more. The first pic has Missy playing with Left Outlet at the end of their set, where the keyboards got mighty funky! It was a GREAT show, and I'm looking forward to Night 4 Friday! (see bottom for a video, too)













And here's a video of Nocturne, a sweet, sublime song from the debut CD, in which the LL, in typical fashion, really rawked out with live.