After a Year Off, Rock ‘n’ Roll Partyfest Revs Up Again at Slim’s

To some extent, every music festival is an endurance test. But whereas most music festivals are marathons, Raleigh’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Partyfestback in action after a year offis a two-night sprint, a mad dash that crams more than twenty bands into shotgun-shack Slim’s between early evening and last call. The sonic breadth covered by the actsa wild mix of punk, garage, psych, and morepromises some interesting pairings. On night one, Obnox’s dense, noise-slathered garage guitar heroics contrast with Natural Causes’ synth-punk spasms; Zodiac Panthers’ grimy garage-punk somehow meshes with Cruzer’s dense, lo-fi psych-pop and Crystal Meh?’s acid-punk. During night two, Paint Fumes’ throttling garage-rock butts up against The Dinwiddies’ self-referential pot-party psych, and Stevie’s lo-fi, floral femme-pop is juxtaposed with Konvoi’s icy, debonair post-punk. Night two’s special treat is the return of Royal Nites, fusing hardcore intensity and seventies hard-rock grooves, albeit as a cover band with rotating singers.