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...

Hopscotch Music Festival Day Two - Friday Day Parties and Night Shows (Raleigh, NC, 9/11/15)

Friday was to be a mellower Hopscotch day for me.  There was no one I was dying to see that I hadn't seen before, and I the schedule Saturday looked like it was gonna be a burner... it's all about the pacing.  As far as the day parties, I'd just seen Echo Courts the night before, and I was planning on seeing Warehouse on Saturday night.  I did, however, manage to catch a couple of local acts I hadn't seen yet, and the always great Ghostt Bllonde.

Raleigh's Adult Science were one of the locals I had yet to see live.  Their electro-indiepop sounded more rock'n'roll live.  This is a band that sounds promising to me, but I think I'll have to take them in one or two more times to really get a feel for what they do.

Adult Science...

Ghostt Bllonde are one of my favorites, and I've written about them many times before on this blog.  So I won't say much more about them here, other than the fact that they put on a stellar, and fun, set as usual.  The crowd was a big one for a mid-day show, and they were really into it.

The crowd at Pour House wait for Ghostt Bllonde...

Ghostt Bllonde...

Octopus Jones has created a lot of buzz in these parts lately, and I can now see why.  Another local act I hadn't seen, and another that I'll have to take in again before really "getting" them.  But they bring a lot of fun to the stage... and fall sort of midway on the local music spectrum between Dad and Dad and Zack Mexico.  Someone told me they're like Zack Mex with fewer guitars.  I can see that. 

Yes yes, I'm comparing everything to ZM.  I don't think I know anything but local music anymore :p.  And really, that bunch from the OBX is the best around, and I think are beginning to influence many local bands (kinda like Love Language did a while back, which you can still hear in the general vibe of the scene today).  Plus, Zack Mex put on the best show of this year's Hopscotch... more on that later.

Octopus Jones...

I have to say, although I didn't attend much of it, kudos to Younger Brother Productions for a great set of shows at the Pour House and Tir Na Nog.  

Time to pace.  Checked into an Airbnb near Person Street Bar, just in time to head over there for the end of the northernmost Hopscotch Day Party, and Winston-Salem's Judy Barnes.  A unique act fronted by a someone whose pedigree also includes being a professional opera singer, Jodi Barnes.  Her strong voice is put to very different use in this sorta minimal, but still-very-rock'n'roll, combo.  Maybe more minimal than I remember from Hopscotch 2013 because they were missing their guitarist, a slot now filled by Estranger frontman Phillip Pledger.  But with Barnes' strong voice, nice accompanying harmonies, and rather pounding drum kit, it was quite enough.  Besides Barnes' vocals, her keyboard playing also excels, and has bits of 1920s pop laced into the rock. 

Judy Barnes...

Judy Barnes had some of the crowd doing... I believe it was "Gull-robics" or something (jk, it's members of See Gulls, who would play here the next day, and helped put on the party)...

When the night kicked off, I opted to skip TV On the Radio at City Plaza.  Probably not a good move, but #nohopscotchregrets.  I started my night with Raleigh's Naked Naps, seeing them -- criminally -- for only the third time (too many good bands).  

Again, this show was back at the great Hopscotch venue, Deep South.  A nice crowd showed up to catch their always-surprisingly full sound, being only a duo and all.  Catie Yerkes' guitar meshes with John Meier's drums so tightly... they MUST practice a lot.  And the result is a very complex, and still very punk, sound

Naked Naps...

The crowd at Deep South take in Naked Naps...

I stayed at Deep South to catch the almost-debut (2nd show) by new Triangle bunch, Faults.  Faults is Mike Dillon's (Gross Ghost) new outlet, and is in a similar vein.  Maybe a little heavier and not as breezy as GG can be; but this is another band I'll have to see a few times to process.  They're fun, and Dillon's same knack with a tune is there.  The band is a bit of a mini Who's Who of local music (Dad & Dad, Human Eyes, Love Language).

Faults...

Mandatory photo of Tommy 2straws gettin' into it (this seems to pop up in my photography a lot lately... Love Language, Soon, Eston & the Outs)...

Popped into Neptunes, and out of my milieu, for a bit of a DJ set by Luxe Posh on the way back to Tir Na Nog.  She was workin' it... intently focused on what she was doing, as was Sylvan Esso's Nick Sanborn (see third photo below).  Good to see a much bigger act so into a local up-and-comer.  

Luxe Posh...

Popped upstairs to King's before heading west to catch a few minutes of another genre out of my wheelhouse... hip hop.  L.A. rapper Nocando had the full crowd in his hands, and impressive feat for an MC who uses such minimal instrumentation and is, basically, up there all on his own.  Figures for someone who still hits the battle circuit somewhat regularly, despite his success.

Nocando...

There was a lot of buzz for the show by Mitski at Tir na Nog.  She was a bit too mellow for my taste, at least on this night, and an odd pairing with the follow-up, Pile (see below).  I can and do get into her type of music sometimes, but she's largely lyrically-driven, and I wasn't very familiar with her lyrics.  Her fans were out in force, however, wrapped and enraptured around the stage.  

Mitski...

Pile was another band that came highly recommended.  They were also right up my alley, a Boston band more reminiscent of a of a lot of DC bands I used to listen to (Discord Records, et al).  Like my night's opener,  Another intense and complex indie band, with a slight tilt towards a hardcore.

Pile...

Up next, a truly memorable Saturday, with the best two sets of Hopscotch, imho.

Sylvan Sprites - Sylvan Esso w/ Flock of Dimes and Ivan Howard (Carrboro Town Commons, 4/3/15)

The first time I saw Sylvan Esso, all I knew about them was that they were an up-and-coming Durham duo with members of two bands I hadn't really listened to:  Amelia Meath from rootsy vocal trio Mountain Man, and Nick Sanborn from local favorites Megafaun (hell, I really just knew Sanborn as a sometime member of the Love Language from way back in 2011).  Dance not really being my thing, they were still fun when I saw them open for the Love Language many months ago.  This was just before they graduated from "up-and-coming local act" to "genuine international buzz band".  Despite being pre-album release and very few live shows in, they already had the audience eating out of their hands.  In that setting, though, I couldn't quite hear what has since become so appealing to me about this band.

But upon listening to their eponymous debut, Meath's liquid, layered vocals began to draw me in, begging to be drunk... to become drunken with them, to drown in them.  In songs like Hey Mami, H.S.K.T., and Play It Right, you can definitely hear a rootsiness.  This made sense since her previous band was one often compared to folkies the Roches, a similarity I (probably not coincidentally) noticed in her Sylvan vocals despite never having heard that earlier comparison.  But with Sylvan Esso, the pastoral is mixed with a siren-like worldliness more befitting a smoky cabaret or, yes, a dancefloor... but perhaps a dirt-strewn, moonlit dancefloor, as on this night.

Meath...

Not to ignore Sanborn's input.  He's the one doing the layering of her layered vocals (no trio to harmonize with here).  He's providing the rhythm, adding the accents, just making the damn thing whole.  Complex yet sparing beats perfectly complement the vocal melodies.  Truth be told, there are scores of stunningly beautiful vocalists out there.  Without Sanborn's skillz, Meath's excellent vocals (as talented as she is) might frankly get lost in the crowd.  But the chemistry between the two of them creates something much more exciting and relevant than just great singing.

Sanborn...

It is for me, however, that voice.  And, back to the setting, that voice could ask for no better space to fill than a grassy field in Carrboro on a stunning spring night.  Christ, the full moon was rising just as she crooned "The modern WOLF..." (the opener to the song Wolf).   It was all smoothly led into by the Rosebuds' Ivan Howard's solo set, and the singularly intense vocals of Jenn Wasner playing as her solo project Flock of Dimes.  This built to an eventual mellow-pagan dancehall vibe, ending with the encore of Come Down, the beautifully resonant closer from the album and perfect postscript for the night.

Carrboro Town Commons adds a great large outdoor venue to the Triangle scene, especially for nights like this one.  Here's hoping they use it more often (and provide more bathrooms, PLEASE!).  Both Wasner and Meath (no strangers to touring) said the crowd of around 4,000-5,000 was the largest they'd ever played before, and it's good to know we gave it to them.  The scene here can do that for more touring (and bigger local) bands.

Ivan Howard...

Flock of Dimes,...

Sylvan Esso...

Ahoooo!