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

After an excellent day party at Slim's, it was time to hit the "real" Hopscotch Music Festival (well, the real Hopscotch is the day parties, but...).  First stop was City Plaza for Ought.  They were a replacement for Deerhunter, who had earlier cancelled their summer tour dates, a bummer to a bunch of their fans.  Ought, however, performed admirably in their substitute role (what is this, a sports article?!).  Anyway, they brought their angular, 80's influenced guitar rock to the stage, and music fans were none worse for the wear.

Ought...

Godspeed You! Black Emperor were up next on the big stage.  Friends of mine have sworn by this band for some 20 years, and I always thought they were a band I would like.  I'd just never got around to listening to them (musical locavore that I am, see last blog post).  They began by setting an intense atmosphere with plugged-in cello and violin, very slowly building towards an eventual crescendo.   Other members trickled onstage, adding the more typical rock menu items, as rain began to likewise trickle.

Their intro did drag on a bit... part of me thought they were going to stop cold and break into Mark Knopfler guitar, and Money for Nothing.  Maybe waiting in the increasingly heavy rain added to that feeling.  But at the same time, the rain seemed appropriate for the sound of this band.  Several hundred fans hung around with (but mostly without) umbrellas.  As I left early to catch my first local band of the night, it was still raining.  GY!BE echoing across downtown made a fitting soundtrack for my trek through the dark, wet streets.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor...

Next stop was Deep South, always a good Hopscotch setting.  They know how to do lights and sound there.  Echo Courts are a local band (Greensboro; all NC is local to me) that, like Ought, also bring 80's influenced guitar rock to the stage.  Echo Courts' brand, version, is somewhat less angular and more curved.  Softer edges make their sound one you that you're more apt to melt with than dance to.  I had only seen these guys once before, and was glad I made it my first club stop of the night.  There's a lotta good music coming out of the Triad these days.

 Echo Courts...

The hard Hopscotch decisions really started at this point.  I had planned on catching Wildhoney at King's next, and some of both Advaeta's and Silent Lunch's simultaneous gigs starting midway through Wildhoney.  Yeah, impossible.  That's Hopscotch.  But you try.

However, people at Deep South were talking up Acid Chaperone, up next there.  Since I had a long weekend in front of me (and it was raining), I decided to stay put and check out a local band I had heard little about and never seen... always a good strategy.

Raleigh's Acid Chaperone came off as a more metallic Zack Mexico.  They were about four songs in before I realized there were little to no vocals.  I didn't even notice, or care.  Such was their rocking, veritably (the rest of this write-up will be in Olde English).  Yea, as they held the crowd enraptured...

Nevermind.  Basically, they rocked,  Very tight, ton of stage energy.  Much fun.  

Acid Chaperone...

Missing Wildhoney, and finally accepting that I couldn't be two places at once, I took the advice of the guys in Ghostt Bllonde and head to the Lincoln Theater for Brooklyn's Advaeta.  Pretty good, growling, Bikini Kill-spawned rock.  Didn't bowl me over, but what I caught of them was a good show.

Advaeta...

Back to King's to successfully (for once) fill of my Hospcotch calendar... Dad and Dad followed by Jenny Hval.  Sometimes Hopscotch makes me feel like a frazzled account manager:

So Dad and Dad are a Carrboro band I've seen a handful of times before, and each time, they've gotten better.  This night, as is often the case with locals at Hopscotch, they brought their A-game.  They always had a kind of dance groove to them,  It used to be a bit poppier, but has morphed into a darker, more electronic groove.  They've got a really great rhythm section.  The lighting fit (amazing what a little aluminum foil will do), and they put on an amazing show.  Unfortunately, they'll be laying low as a band for awhile, as one of the members has moved across the country.  Damn!  Just when they were getting good!

Dad and Dad...

What I had heard of Jenny Hval earlier was enough to make me feel that hers would be an interesting set, if nothing else.  Scandinavian, female vocalist, high pitched voice... Bjork light?  You could do worse.

Well, interesting it was, to say the least.  I wasn't up front at first, and just heard what I thought was feedback.  This turned out to be Hval caterwauling.  I didn't think she was onstage yet, but as I approached, I realized she was lying, stage front, on a partially-deflated yoga ball, face directly in the crowd.  Pseudo-twin fake blondes jumped around the stage in hospital gowns.  They were as feral children, dancing random steps, loving on each other -- and sometimes Hval -- and shredding plastic bags, or whatever else they could get their hands on.

At first, I thought this was just weirdness for weirdness' sake.  But the more she continued, the more I saw Hval was committed to what was, essentially, a performance art piece (probably about objectification of and violence towards women, but to each their own interpretation).  And the more she committed, the more I did as well.  Her wail would eventually morph into more controlled tones, revealing a refined voice belied by the initial impression.  The overall feeling at the end was that you had witnessed something intense... and entertaining, yes, but with disturbing undertones.

Jenny Hval...

Battles (another Brooklyn band; who isn't?) was likewise a band that I knew, at least, would be interesting.  More "fun", sure, but also different.  What struck me was that here, for the second time in a night, I was watching a band that I didn't realize until halfway through were basically instrumental.  And again, I didn't care.  On the recordings, I thought they sang some of these songs.  But live, it seemed that what vocals there were were pre-recorded (computer-generated?) samples.

Interesting way to get a singer.  But the members of Battles are so busy doing god-knows-what on their instruments that they wouldn't be able to concentrate on signing anyway.  While I couldn't really see what the bass player across the stage was doing from my vantage point, the drummer was, simply, a maniac.  And the guitarist/keyboardist was all over his multiple instrumentation, and at times the stage as well.  Battles made a kind of complex pop that got your brain and your feet moving all at once.  Between them and Jenny Hval, it was nice to get an injection of national (well, international) spice into my Hopscotch menu.  And it was a great way to close Hopscotch Day One.

Battles...

Up next, Friday day and night shows, including Ghostt Bllonde, Naked Naps, Faults, and Pile.

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.

The City That Care Remembered

The first post I ever made to this blog was about New Orleans, and Katrina, and the Saints.  Hey, they were about to win the Super Bowl!   As I sit here now, late on the eve of the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I’m listening to WWOZ, the best radio station on the planet (don't ask me, ask Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol).  And, sacrilegiously, I’m drinking an amber beer that is NOT Abita*, out of my K&B Drugs pint glass.  I'll probably also spend some time seeking out beignets or Popeye’s tomorrow.  I'm pretty sure there's a study published somewhere which found that NOLA ex-pats like myself put forth upwards of 30% of our daily energy expenditure in a constant attempt at recreating what we were taught was “normalcy.”

And of course, as I swelter to the languid grooves of Dr. John and Galactic, my thoughts are on New Orleans.  At the moment, I’m thinking of the night of August 29th, 2005, watching CNN’s coverage from my home just down the coast in Pensacola.  We had experienced twin catastrophes in the prior few months, in the form of two direct hits from Cat 3s (Ivan and Dennis), so my own experiences had left me almost numb to it all.  But I was quickly, painfully, made to feel again, and to realize that what was going on in New Orleans was to be unprecedented. 

I stayed up late, becoming progressively more horrified with each word of correspondent Jeanne Meserve’s emotional, heroic, report, live from the Lower Ninth Ward.  Only able to broadcast audio, she’s choking back tears, and fear, telling of crying and screaming voices... voices calling for help from attics as the waters rise, as she moves through the rooftops in the pitch black, in a small boat.

People were drowning.  People in the neighborhood I was born in.  People in Lakeview, too, the neighborhood my brother lived (and still lives) in.  People by the hundreds.  My people.

I knew then that this was going to be far worse than the spate of hurricanes we in Florida had endured during the prior year.  Worse than Andrew, whose effects in Louisiana I felt first-hand, and whose tremendous Cat 5 devastation I saw weeks later in South Florida.  Worse than Camille, whose 190 mph winds (Cat 6 if there could be one) and 23-foot surge wiped my family’s summer vacation paradise of Clermont Harbor, Mississippi, off the map.  Worse, even, than Betsy, whose surge gave me my very first memories, as traumatic experiences are wont to do.  I can still see the view out the window of the attic we had sought refuge in, onto floodwaters that had engulfed the neighborhood.  I can still remember falling, toddler feet not quite finding purchase on the attic steps, into those same waters, as they took up residence in my home.  Not very long before Alzheimer's would steal such memories from his mind for good, my father told me the story of how we were rescued by a kid in a boat, days after the storm, and taken to high ground at the local school.

Unfortunately, many, many, more first memories (and some last) would be made the night of August 29th, 2005.  And yes, Clermont Harbor was wiped off the map, again. 

Change is inevitable.  Trauma is often a part of it.  Both of them shape what we, and the world, move on to become.  And so catastrophic change has shaped – and is shaping -- what New Orleans will become.  It’s happened before:  from the hurricane in 1722, which spurred adoption of the grid pattern we still see in the Vieux Carré today, four years after the city’s founding, to great fires later that century, to yellow fever in the 1800s, to the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. 

Perhaps a catastrophe was the only way possible to make real change in a city known, and proudly so, as the one that “care forgot.”  Some have said this change is for the worse, some have said it’s for the better.  I know that the loss of large segments of mostly poor and black NOLA residents has and will continue to negatively impact the culture of New Orleans.  But I also know that there has been a tremendous upsurge in appreciation and conservation of many elements of that same culture.  You can call it Disney-fication.  You can say gentrification has gone overboard.  And there are cases to be made on those points.  But one thing that has been consistently apparent in every one of my many visits back since the storm:  Care has remembered.  

Nothing stays the same, much as we would often like it to.  But now, in New Orleans, people have remembered how to care.  On every issue.  On every side of every issue.  From the upswing in public interest to the influx of young artists and entrepreneurs.  From breaking backs rebuilding homes and neighborhoods to breaking down the doors of public officials.  I love the city that I grew up in.  But this part of NOLA is not like the one I grew up in.  And that is good. 

Another thing on my mind tonight are, well, two things – rather, two groups of people:  the hundreds who lost their lives (in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast), and the countless thousands who have gone down, and continue to go down, to New Orleans to help rebuild.  From Brad Pitt and his Make It Right Foundation, to Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis’ Musician’s Village, to the barista who told me recently that she was about to go on her third trip with her church group to help with recovery. 

While looking through my Katrina-related photos to post for the anniversary, I found the one at the top of this page, which perfectly brings together those two groups of people.  It’s an installation called “Remembrances of Katrina”, by New Orleans artist Mitchell Gaudet.  It was on display some time ago as part of a Katrina-related exhibit at the Presbytere, the New Orleans history museum on Jackson Square.  The artist stated that he wanted visitors to feel as if they were “moving up and out from being underwater.” Each of the 1,600 bottles held a prayer for those who died (in New Orleans), and the glass hands honored the many who came from around the country, and world, to help.  To me, this embodied the yin and yang of Katrina, the very worst and very best of the human experience.  Despite all of the bad things Katrina wrought, it also brought – and continues to bring – some good.

They say we’re made by our experiences.  Perhaps as time goes on, the good from Katrina will start to outgrow the bad, as New Orleans and the Gulf Coast grow beyond this disaster, and become better than they ever were before.  Those there see it, in fits and starts.  It’s a process, for sure.  But it is happening.

Everyone from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast -- even those like me who weren’t living there at the time -- measures the world Pre-K and Post-K.  The question is:  will the Post-K era be better than the Pre-K one?  I hope, I believe, that it will be.

(*So sue me... I couldn’t find Abita Amber this week!  But I’m starting to think the Dos Equis gives me headaches.)

Eston and the Outs - AM Gold (Potluck)

The opening number of Eston & the Outs’ new record, AMGold, begins as straightforward doo-wop/rock.  But its simple nature belies the complexity behind this wonderful collection of songs.  Eston Dickinson can’t string us along for even half a song, though.  The downshift from Donna to Nancy in Whatever Donna / A Notch for Nancy is downright majestic, recalling Dan Bejar (sans affectation) with his own Neko Case (courtesy ex-L-Daddy Issues’ Lo Davy), channeling the most anthemic moments of Twin Cinema.  Piano, organ, cello, and trumpet add to the lushness… seems Eston’s got his own Wrecking Crew. 

Already it feels like we’ve run through a whole album in the first song, but AM Gold continues to shine.  I’ve barely been listening to it for 24 hours, and my favorite song has changed 4 or 5 times.  There’s not a weak link on it. 

The title cut reminisces -- lyrically & musically -- about the heyday of AM radio, arguing you can still enjoy it today, “in a hoopdee or a Model-T” (for free! without an iPhone!).  Luxy’s Last Kiss is a straight-up homage to Scott Walker.  Clinking keys, melancholy cello, and pining “ahh ahhh ahhhs” underpin this gloomy tale of a femme fatale.  Seems to be a lot of that particular species populating the songs here:  Luxy is a “cunning minx, she had a plan for me”, Donna/Nancy leaves you “licking your wounds” / ”with a heart of blue.”

Just Another Holiday has crunchy organ and thudding rhythms apropos to the subject of a vacation from one’s own brain.  This one’s probably more than a little influenced by fellow Out Stu McLamb’s more recent, heavier Love Language (if not SOON) material.  As Easy As You Please is a jumpy bit of post-Mersey beat/pre-psychedelia Brit Pop, right down to the song title... maybe even a hint of PRE-Mersey skiffle in there.

Color… wow.  Just.  Wow.  It’s a heart-achingly beautiful pastoral.  This is the type of song that should have scored some sad, romantic film from 1968.  Cello and flute slo-mo thrust and parry a minuet, as Dickinson relates relationship-as-painting metaphor, harmonizing with Davy (who is again a highlight here).   

The closing number gets more literally pastoral (Green Pastures), and is perhaps the most upbeat song on the album.  It’s a zen-like acceptance of moving forward with the life you’ve got, and is full of great imagery… always love me a good nautical metaphor.  It ends the album on an optimistic note:  “Within all the good seeds that you root, it's the hearts you leave unbruised.”  

As you would expect from the title, the influences of AM Gold run deep.  While its soul lies in the earliest days of rock’n’roll, its heart lives in late ‘60s and early ‘70s California.  Nothing is ever totally new; everything builds on the old.  But nowadays, with access to practically every artist that has ever recorded (which I’ve said before and I’ll say again is the best thing to happen to modern music), good songwriters have a near infinite well upon which to draw.  Dickinson takes full advantage, harvesting this boon and creating something original in the process.     

While definitely its own thing, Gold is sonically closest to an Elephant 6 record as I’ve heard around here (thinking Beulah and the Gerbils).  Maybe it's the instrumentation.  This is thanks in no small part to the afore-mentioned crew, so I have to name them.  They’re a veritable Who’s Who of local music.  Besides Davy and McLamb, there’s Ben Carr (Last Years’ Men) on trumpet, guitar, etc, Mark Connor (SOON, Strange Faces) on guitar and bass, Dan Grinder (Gray Young) on bass, Tom Simpson (Love Language, SOON, Human Eyes, The Dead Tongues) on drums, Morgan Friedman (Flash Car) and Autumn Ehinger (Love Language) on keys, Jeff Crawford and Jon Lindsay on piano, and Hart Dementi on acoustic guitar.  Notably, Emily Pate plays the wonderful flute on Colors, and Josh Starmer (The Star Makers, and anytime anyone else needs a great cellist) plays cello throughout. 

I’m not sure how many of these guys are formally Outs, but I hope they ALL show up – to a number --and play at the CD release show for AM Gold.  This, by the way, is at the Cat’s Cradle Backroom, tomorrow (Fri, 8/21/15).  The mysterious Shelles and John Howie, Jr. (solo) open.   

Lakes & Woods / Jphono1 Split 12" release show, w/ Hectorina & Little Books (Cat's Cradle Backroom, Carrboro, 7/10/15)

Last weekend, there was yet another Potluck Foundation release show:  to celebrate a split 12" featuring Jphono1 and Lakes&Woods (also playing were Hectorina and the Little Books).  This Triangle collective of like-minded folks just keep'em coming, supporting music of a slew of the better local bands.  As much music as they share with us, they share band-members with each other even more.  Case in point, Jphono1, the formerly-solo alter-ego of North Elementary's John Harrison, plays keys in Lakes&Woods.

Jphono1 has been playing off and on as a solo act for a while, complete with lots of looping and other assorted effects to fill in his sparse, atmospheric songs. The result has been a rather psychedelic, rolling, drone of a sound.  While this single ("Castles")  is similar to that, the full band is just coming into its own.  Heavier and less reliant on effects and more on the usual guitar-bass-drums ethos, providing a different outlet for what are good songs either way.

Jphono1...

Hectorina are a Charlotte band that I think has been around for a while.  I caught them briefly in Wilmington some time ago, and was a little taken aback at first by a somewhat poppy and schizophrenic sound; are they funky? Are they Animal Collectiv-ites?  Wasn't sure what to think.  On second listen, I gained a greater appreciation.  Maybe if Interpol had more funk and a sense of humor, Hectorina might be the result.  They were sorta mathematical and jazzy, too.  Definitely not like anything in the Triangle.

Hectorina...

Lakes&Woods have a clean, jangly sound that traces it's lineage back through the Connells, dBs, Big Star, maybe all the way back to the Byrds.  Really, though, front-man and songwriter Matt McMichaels' earlier band, Mayflies USA, were  practically contemporaries with the later bands in that lineage, so he's just continuing to do what he does.  Also not a lot of stuff like this in the Triangle (anymore).  Occasional ukelele & harmonica, and organ from Harrison, provide nice depth to their straight-ahead power-pop songs.

Lakes&Woods...

The Little Books were a touring band (from Jacksonville, FL) added to the end of the bill, which made for a very pleasant surprise.  They're just a duo, a fact belied their sound.  Though they would sometimes settle down for a sweet folk number or two, they alternated this with frenetic, punky, K-records-style rippers.  I wonder if they  remember Crowsdell, another Jacksonville band from the late 1990's (or subsequent solo music by that band's frontwoman Shannon Wright).  Little Books kind of reminded me of them... especially on the song "The Cure" (see video below).  Dig up the song "Sugar-Coated", from Dreamette, Crowsdell's debut LP produced by Stephen Malkmus of Pavement.  Nevermind, I've done it for you.  And watch the Little Books video below to the end to see what they do to their equipment when they get carried away.  Also, see the other video below, of Lakes&Woods performing "The Future of the Payphone".

This weekend, there's another Potluck joint going on:  See Gulls' much anticipated EP release show at Kings!  'Course, if you saw the Indy this week, you could not possibly have missed that.   

The Little Books...

This weekend, there's another Potluck joint going on:  See Gulls' much anticipated EP release show at Kings!  'Course, if you saw the Indy this week, you could not possibly have missed that.

A couple of videos from the show...

SOON (Local 506, Chapel Hill, 7/10/15)

So I snuck away from the Jphono1/Lakes&Woods 12"release show at the Cradle Backroom (more on that later) to finally see SOON.  Being a fan of the soaring pop of the Love Language, I was always intrigued to see what a band made half from them (Stu McLamb and drummer Thomas Simpson), and half from vets of local metal bands GROHG (Mark Connor) and Bitter Resolve (Robert Walsh), sounded like.  Short of some old hardcore, my tastes don't usually run metallic, or especially heavy.  But within the 3 songs I managed to catch, SOON won me over. 

What stood out from the first song I saw were the multiple vocals... downright operatic (or at least dramatic).  A thunderous kind of melody.  The penultimate cover of Pink Floyd's the Nile Song showcased the vocals even more.  Their last tune (don't know the name) began as a thudding crawl, and was taking so long to build I was wondering when the pay off would come.  Starting very low and slow, teasingly... almost torturously... building gradually, into a long, slow explosion.  But it didn't stop there.  It ramped up to a cathartic barrage of guitar, bass, drums, & voices.  Sometimes ya gotta hold back before the payoff.  Yeah, this one definitely paid off. 

I'll have to catch a full set by these guys soon (no pun... well okay, pun intended).  

Snorkeling and Zack Mexico: NC Coastal Wildlife Above and Below the Waves

Set some underwater snorkeling video taken at Wrightsville Beach NC to the music of excellent coastal NC band, Zack Mexico.