The GOOD Kinda MOAB (Mother of All Bills) - Zack Mexico, Naked Gods, Lonnie Walker - Nightlight, Sat, 4/22/17

I don't usually promote a show beforehand other than to fire off a quick facebook post, linking to the event.  But this one merits more.  To Be Heard booking have put together numerous great shows since their inception earlier this year.  But this one tops them all.  And by "all", I mean all local shows.  Ever.

Okay, maybe that's hyperbolic.  Musical taste is subjective.  But these three bands are all right in my sweet spot, and in my mind, may just be the three best bands in North Carolina:  Zack Mexico, Naked Gods, and Lonnie Walker.

If you read my blog at all, you know I'm in LOVE with Outer Banks' own Zack Mexico.  ZM is my crush... if I weren't too old to crush, and if I were gay, and if he were a person.  He's HAWT!  Just Google How Strange... and Zack Mexico and you'll see some overlap.  I hate long jams, but I can sit and watch these guys extend a song over 10 minutes and love it.  Hell, I can and often have watched them build a long set out of 4 or 5 songs, and left completely satisfied and musically satiated.  I can't count the number of times I've heard newbies gush after one of their shows, and with a series of opening dates with Future Islands, they'll be making a lot more fans soon.

Here's a vid I took of them at Hopscotch a couple of years back, doing an older song that appears on their latest album, Get Rich and Liver Forever:


Then there's Naked Gods, from Boone.  I kind of consider them to be the mountain equivalent to the beach's Zack Mex... similar mindset, slightly more rootsy vibe.  But they got that indie-psychedelic jam thing going.  Their self-titled album is one of the best by an NC band in years.  Frontman Seth Sullivan is a force of nature onstage.  Expect bear hugs.

Here's them at Hopscotch a couple of years back with a great song from the afore-mentioned album:


Then Raleigh's Lonnie Walker.  They laid off for a while, but are back, and the recent Earth Canals was another one of the best local albums in years.   They lean even a bit rootsier (maybe twangier, really), but really it's just Brian Corum's unique style.  I link them with some of the great Ghostmeat records bands from that Athens GA label in the '90s (Sunbrain, Drip, Tony Tidwell, Dave Dondero... particularly Dondero's band Flatwheelers that predated his solo stuff...damn they were great.).    I regret that I never had time to give ...Canals its due when it came out.  Teenage Poem is perfect pop.  Songs like All Bombs Away and Baby Man are downright incendiary.  And it's all punctuated by sublime slower tunes like No Pure Light and Seasons.

Here's Lonnie Walker doing Summertime at the very same venue where this show of shows will be tomorrow night:


Any one of these bands blows up the stage.  All three, and it might just change your life.  Do not miss this show.  Zack Mexico, Naked Gods, and Lonnie Walker, Saturday, 4/22/17, Nightlight in Chapel Hill.  Mother of all Bills.

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...

Merge 25 - Friday Photo Gallery

Last weekend's Merge 25, Merge Records' 25th anniversary party, was one whirlwind of great music.  "Friday day" and Friday night had some great shows.  I barely made the end of the Dinner Party Download taping at Nightlight, but was able to catch Teenage Fanclub play one song in probably the most intimate setting in which you'll ever see a band of that stature play.  Then I head over to OCSC to catch slightly younger band, St. Rich garage-out the back lot.  

The night at Cat's Cradle started with probably my favorite set of the entire festival, by Hospitality.  It seems I'm always most excited about the new bands I haven't seen live yet... restless musical soul, I guess.  But they were great.  Amber Papini's vocals are truly unique, and the songs are catchy as hell.  Wye Oak were another highlight (as always), and although I missed most of Destroyer's set (and all of David Kilgour's), what I did catch made me wish I had seen more... the horns were chaotic and hypnotic.  But hey, I was talking to Bob Mould, so you can forgive me. :)

More photos from Saturday's big show to come soon.

Teenage Fanclub...

 St. Rich...

Hospitality...

 Imperial Teen...

 Wye Oak...

 Destroyer...

Rogue Band of Youth - "Our Hunter" (Nightlight, Chapel Hill, NC, 3/29/14)

Here we have Chapel Hill's new-ish Rogue Band of Youth performing the song "Our Hunter", from their eponymous debut long-player.  This was from their record release show at Nighlight in Chapel Hill, NC.  The song was apparently Grateful Dead-inspired.  Lately, I've been having my musical tastes challenged quite a bit, which is a good thing.  At recent shows, it's been the dance-y vibe of T0W3RS, Body Games and the like.  Now, it's the opposite extreme: the Deadhead vibe of RBOY (at least on this song).  I thought I hated these things!  Turns out, even my jaded ol' musical ears have room for expansion.

Anyway, this is a beautiful song, and it was a great show... I'll try to post photos later.  Apologies if the distortion provided courtesy the "great" audio of my DSLR takes away from the wonderful harmonies.  If you want to hear the original in its pristine state, buy the album at their bandcamp page.

The Human Eyes / T0W3RS / thefacesblur (Nightlight, 1/24/14)

Great show at Nightlight the other night (they've had quite a few great shows lately).  Since this blog's been asleep for awhile, let's start with impressions...

The Human Eyes make leaps and bounds fleshing out their 80s-heavy pop...
T0W3RS slowly (but surely) perfects their solo (but bigger than a full-band sounding) vibe... thefacesblur carefully stakes out a claim in our growing dance-pop-indie scene...
incidental smoke and mirrors...
soundz by D. Starport...
etc

Adam Graetz has put on some incredible backing graphics for live shows by T0W3RS, Lilac Shadows, and others around the Triangle for some time.  As thefacesblur, it's impressive that he can do the same thing while playing music.  Cool, mellow, dancey, electronic music with a slight international vibe.  Great overall début.

thefacesblur (no pun intended)...

Artist Barbara Barnes (Art Images Live) sketching thefacesblur...

T0W3RS is now solidly progressing as a solo act.  But with the energy and songwriting Derek Torres brings to the stage, I don't know if there's room for anyone else up there anymore.  Few local artists can hold a room rapt as well as T0W3RS (and still make them dance).  I once said that walking around taking photos in my hometown New Orleans is, for a photographer, like cheating.  Shooting Derek onstage is like that, too.  But doing so with a cool lightshow is downright criminal.  Can't wait to hear the record he's finishing up.

T0W3RS...

The Human Eyes are really coming into their own.  Thomas Costello's synth-laden pop-rock is still referenced to New Order, et al, for sure.  But he's bringing a live performance that's thicker with guitar-jangles, and tangles... probably not unlike a lot of bands back then if you were lucky enough to have seen them live.  A breezy, bitterwseet, rolling twang also underscores the electric edge of some numbers, like Another World, Let Me In, and Alex.

The Human Eyes...

T0W3RS play on a bill with The Love Language, GHOSTTE BLLONDE, and Hammer No More the Fingers at Cat's Cradle Friday, February 7, for WKNC's Double Barrell Benefit 11.  Soon after, the Human Eyes open for Merge artists Hospitality at the excellent new Cradle Back Room (Saturday, February 22).  Both promise to be great shows.