Hopscotch Music Festival - Friday Day Parties (9/9/16)

On the second day of Raleigh's Hopscotch Music Festival, I hung close to the west side of town for the day parties.  I was staying at an AirBnB in Boylan Heights, so this gave me a chance to freshen up (i.e., shower, nap) before another long night of shows.  As I posted earlier, it's all about the pacing.  Plus the west side of town leaned indie rock that day, which is fine by me.

The first set I caught was Greensboro's the Kneads, at Crank Arm Brewing Company. They've added a fourth member and filled out their sound.  Nice taste of jerky stop-starts, with a side of LOUD, to get me going for the day.

The Kneads...

Then just across the street, at Boxcar Bar + Arcade, I wanted to catch my third -- yes third -- set of the weekend by Secret Guest.  Having seen them in three totally different settings (house show, big club, daytime outdoors on a patio) on successive days, I can verify that they brought it each time.  Slight disappointment this time in that they didn't have quite as much room to jump around; made up for the fact that their end-of-set physical implosion was all that tighter. :)  They had their own secret guest in singer Hunter Park from She Returns from War, who played the Boxcar day party earlier.

Secret Guest...

Just outside on Commerce Place was the Hopscotch Makers Market, with it's own day party.  I just caught the tail end of Palm, who I had seen warm up the crowd for the Snails the night before.  Then I took in See Gulls for the second day in a row.  Yeah, a lotta repetition in my Hopscotch scheduling this year.  But this was special, because it was the last show for Duncan Webster and Leah Gibson with the band.  Check out their own band, Beauty World, who'll be having a release show for their EP, Joypop Turbo, at the Carrack in Durham on October 8th.  

See Gulls...

Closed out my stint of day parties by popping back to the Baxter next door (after a few games of Frogger), seeing a local band I'd never seen, the Affectionates.  They make indie pop with a big stride and a nod to the traditional, banjo and violin weighing in heavily.  Come to think of it, that's the second band I saw in two days to rock the banjo, the previous being the afore-mentioned Beauty World.  Can be tricky, but I love it when it works (it did both times).  Affectionates are a bar band in the best sense of that phrase.  Nice harmonies, too.  

The Affectionates...

So, um, I've still got a ton of Boxcar tokens if anybody needs some.  The music was just too good... plus Frogger was giving free credits!  

Next, I'll post about Friday night; great line-up at CAM + Big Freedia at Lincoln Theater!

Hopscotch 2016 - Thursday Day Parties. Well, PotLuck's, which is the only one that really matters. (9/8/16)

Hopscotch Music Festival's day parties are always a highlight of the festival.  Free all-day lineups of music (and in this case, PIZZA!) at clubs throughout downtown Raleigh provide the budget-conscious music fan a way to see many local, and a handful of touring, bands perform on the cheap.  And there is usually no better day party than PotLuck's Annual Rock'n'Roll Pizza Party, at Slim's.  

So good is it, in fact, that I never ventured to another day party on this Thursday afternoon, despite the fact that there were many within a few blocks' walk.  Durham label / co-op / community PotLuck have so many great bands in their orbit that there was no need to go further for music.

At the PotLuck Pizza Party, bands alternate between indoor and outdoor stages, with barely a minute break between sets.  This year featured:  Teardrop Canyon, The Second Wife, Knurr and Spell, Beauty World, See Gulls, Schooner (above), and Some Army... among others, these were all I saw.  I've written about most of these bands here before, and they're all good.  But The Second Wife, Knurr and Spell, and Beauty World were new to me (though I'd caught snippets of the latter once or twice before).  The Second Wife features powerhouse singer Reese Henry in a pretty raw, stripped-down rock'n'roll setting that's great for her voice.  Knurr and Spell is fronted by a couple of North Elementary members doing their own, more synthy/Brit-sounding pop.  Beauty World feature (until recently) half of See Gulls, Duncan Webster (Hammer No More the Fingers) and Leah Gibson.  Their amalgam of cello, banjo-uke-guitar, drums, etc, although clearly very structured and complex, still comes off as fun and whimsical.

Lazy photog's way out:  I've still so many Hopscotch shots to process that I just don't want to edit them all, so these have been converted to Black & White.  Actually, the stark light (especially outside) at Slim's that bright day lent itself better to B&W.

Except for one shot of See Gull Tom Sowders.  That shirt! (bought in a Magazine St. shop, for extra  NOLA points)  I just couldn't bring myself to wash it out.  In fact, I bumped that shit to 11.

Teardrop Canyon...

The Second Wife...

 Knurr and Spell...

Beauty World...

See Gulls...

I apologize in advance for any seizures this may cause...

My colleagues were out in force for See Gulls...

Schooner...

Some Army...

Check out the PotLuck link above.  Several of these bands have recent releases which are excellent, including Magnolia Collective and Jphono1 (who, though I missed each, opened and closed the party, respectively).

See Gulls - Curtain Call EP (Potluck)

See Gulls have had enough, and they’re fed up.  Their frustration is mostly apparent in the push-pull relationship dynamic of the songs penned by front-gull Sarah Fuller… tales of overbearing exes and sleazy broheems.  But Curtain Call, the excellent follow-up EP to You Can’t See Me, opens with bassist Leah Gibson venting workplace anxieties on Boss Hogg (which she penned).  It’s a crunchy, grinding number that’s musically perfect for the topic:  a boring job and a boorish boss; See Gulls’ own Slack Motherfucker (“I’ll go fetch some coffees while you sit and take a rest / let me guess / at your desk”).

When …Hogg premiered as a single a few weeks back, I thought it marked somewhat of a departure from band’s sound.  But upon hearing the entire record, it actually sets a tone for and completely meshes with the overall vibe of this collection.

Curtain Call is certainly less angular, more curvy, than the debut.  But it does hop on and continue down the same road traveled by Long Gone (perhaps the best cut off that record).   While the themes here are often of defiance and strength, there’s also a soft, bittersweet side.

The second entry, Where Are We Going, exemplifies this.  See Gulls have always been great at incorporating a kind of heart-achy, ‘50s-‘60s vibe into a more contemporary style.  That’s perhaps realized better than ever in this song.  From the “ba da da da dom” intro whispering up from somewhere deep in the past, to the archetypal setting of driving down a lonely road.  Reflecting on the past, with the ghost of a long gone significant other riding shotgun, Fuller sings “It’s an older tune your Daddy played for you.”  This song sounds and feels like it might actually be one of those tunes.

Kidding Me shelves the tenderness, though.  Can’t a lady have a beer to herself without being harassed by her ex?!  He whispering “not-so-sweet nothings” in her ear (to more crunchy guitar and sick, funky little organ bloops), she telling him to “hush your mouth” like the petulant child he is.

I Want It also visits the “so familiar” (as Kidding Me put it) chore of trying to get rid of a guy.  Hard shots of reverb, and again that ‘50s vibe, back this one. “I wanted you to have me, ‘til I found him” / “I wanted him to have me, ‘til I found you.”  Here, it seems conflicted, like being caught in an endless cycle, obsessed again.  Despite the doubts, there are great lyrics of reclamation and control.  “Could you see that I am not / just the thought you have of me!”

I Wrote It is maybe the most musically upbeat song.  While the title and lyrics revolve around intra-band dynamics and coming out of the shadow of a boorsish frontman, they could just as easily refer to any relationship one’s seen before and is -- simply -- tired of. “You will never see what becomes of me / and you’re blowin’ it.”

You’re Here returns to the bittersweet vibe of Where Are We Going.  It’s the slowest cut, and filled with more cool echoes and reverb.  But despite feelings of reminiscence and loss, the closing statement is another of control, relegating the memory to being that, and only that, repeating “You’re here / in my song.”

Besides great songs and wonderful all-around musicianship and production, one thing that can’t be understated on Curtain Call is Fuller’s voice.  She’s honed into a finely tuned instrument; little changes in tone alone evoke different, even conflicting, emotions, sometimes within the same line.  It’s been fun to watch her stage presence blossom from the band’s first gigs… a little hesitant at the beginning, now fully in control.  Appropriate, then, that I Want It ends with a twist on the earlier line:  “You will never see what becomes of me / and I’m runnin’ it!”  She sure is.

I’m hesitant to say any song here is the “best.”  I DO like the quieter, soulful vibe of …Going and You’re Here.  But this is an extraordinarily consistent EP.  Every song is a gem.  All I really want out of it is, maybe, 2 or 3 more.  Please?

Curtain Call proves that See Gulls early splash was totally deserved.  While it may be right up my (admittedly subjective) alley of musical preference, I’d still say by any standard, it’s one of the best local releases this year.

Hopscotch Music Festival Day One - Thursday Day Parties (Raleigh, NC, 9/10/15)

I've sometimes wondered why I spend so much time and effort going to mostly local bands' shows at Hopscotch, with all the big-ish and buzzy bands attending. But I have to face facts: I'm a musical locavore. With such an incredible scene here, Hopscotch is a three-day buffet of great local music. There are local bands that seldom play -- maybe that I haven't even been able to see yet -- so I get to enjoy them. And there are my favorite local bands that I see more often. My favorite bands ARE local, so to see ten of them in one day is really a pretty nice deal.

Add to that a the spice from sometimes stunning shows by national acts: this Thursday for me it was Battles and Jenny Hval (photos to come later)... and by the end of just one day, I'm simply stuffed. Appropriately, I started this year's Hopscotch at the always great Potluck Foundation Hopscotch Pizza Party at Slim's. Basically, I spent all day there. Below are my first slew of Hopscotch photos, and a couple of videos... all local bands, all from the Potluck Party. More to come later, from Thursday night and beyond.

I walked up as Schooner was echoing through the concrete slabs of the Moore Square parking deck, a "venue" that's becoming a bit of a Hopscotch tradition, as there are always people hanging out there taking in the tunes from Slim's outdoor stage.

The crowd in the back at Slim's Downtown taking in Schooner...

Heading inside, the first proper show I caught was by Greensboro's the Kneads. Their tight brand of indie-guitar-rock was a pleasant jolt (in lieu of coffee) to start the festival. 

The Kneads...

I took a break to try to see Asheville's great Nest Egg at Kings. As a result, I unfortunately missed a trimmed-down Wyrms set that I didn't think was going to happen...AND I missed Nest Egg anyway! #hopscotchproblems

But I did return in time for Horizontal Hold, a new-ish post-punk band with a bunch of veterans of the local scene.

Horizontal Hold... 

Eston and The Outs, another new-ish local band (one that I've raved about here recently), were next. His whole Carolina Wrecking Crew were there; Eston has a great supporting cast, appropriate for the wonderful songs on his second album, AM Gold. See the video below for one of the live songs.

LOOK!  It's Eston and the Outs...

The Carolina Wrecking Crew...

Josh Starmer's cello really fleshes out the Outs' sound...

Talk to the hand, 'cause Eston ain't listenin'... :)

Here's Eston and the Outs performing the first song off AM Gold, Whatever Donna / A Notch for Nancy...

Then it was back inside for Jphono1, who have filled out nicely as a full band now. Note Patrick O'Niell, foreground below, playing his 3rd of what will be 6 sets at Hopscotch by the time it's over... Schooner, Wyrms, Jphono1, Some Army, Schooner... who am I missing? Did he sneak up onstage with Dwight?

Jphono1...

The always great See Gulls had a treat in store with former member Jacki Huntington returning tfor Hopscotch. She sang Don't Write Me Love Songs and Bam Bam, along with backup (and bubbles) throughout. See a video of Bam Bam below.

See Gulls...

Here's See Gulls doing Bam Bam...

After the first day parties were over, a quick storm blew over, and the rainbow over downtown signaled that a great Hopscotch was underway.

Up next, Thursday night:  Jenny Hval, Battles, and more great local bands.