Fiddler Caitlin Cary’s solo EP is a stunner: Cary’s gorgeous, unaffected alto weaves through the traditional, countrified arrangements with simplicity and power. Cary gets a helping hand from Whiskeytown cohorts Mike Daly and Ryan Adams, producer Chris Stamey, Tres Chicas’ pals Tonya Lamm and Lynn Blakey and her partner and soon-to-be husband, Skillet Gilmore. From […]
Angie Carlson
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Word on the Street
Scene 1: You’re a parent with a teenage daughter. You drop her and her friends off at the local mall where they hit the usual mall-rat hangouts like Claire’s Boutique and Afterthoughts. Besides a really cool beaded choker, she returns with a freebie hyping the soon-to-be-released debut of Aaron Carter, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter’s like, […]
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Calling shotgun
It is fitting that low-key but talented performers Aimee Mann and Michael Penn met at an informal show at Los Angeles’ Largo several years back. The now-famous club (profiled recently in Rolling Stone), where guests like Elliott Smith quietly take the stage, provides a supportive, casual atmosphere for songwriters and comedians. During their weekly gig, […]
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The last days of Mammoth
On June 30, the doors will close for the last time at Mammoth Records’ headquarters in the old Broad Street coffee building in Carrboro. The brick building, with its tastefully exposed wood interior beams, had been remodeled to accommodate an up-and-coming major record label. Across the street over Acme restaurant, more employees resided in similarly […]
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Talking about our generation
There’s something addictive about those VH1 Where Are They Now episodes: Each segment usually contains crash-and-burn tales of drugs, bottoming out, comebacks and cosmetic surgery. Reality is far more mundane. People move, continue their education, become parents, learn computer skills and assimilate into the “mainstream.” Yet the Triangle has produced its share of notable rock […]
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Cries and whispers
After 13 years on and off the road, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley (the married two-thirds of Yo La Tengo) have released their most autobiographical album to date. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out pulls back the curtain–lyrically–on one of indie rock’s longest marriages. Although it’s no Bergmanesque Scenes from a Marriage, it’s not exactly […]
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To the end of the night
After 20-some records in more than two decades, the Mekons continue to wander off the path of the formulaic, writing songs filled with bravado, scatology, skewed sexuality and dark beauty, yet never losing their Northern sense of dry bemusement. Their latest album, Journey to the End of the Night, is their most overtly introspective to […]
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Kenny Roby
As I recall, Mercury was the winged-booty sportin’ deity who sped all over creation delivering messages to the other gods and living the “I can’t be tamed” lifestyle of a fleet-footed rover. Well, in Kenny Roby’s world, even those “wings can feel like weighted chains.” Of course, as Roby decides later in the album’s title […]
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Sharking Teeth
Sometimes, being a critic of local bands blows. I don’t want to be a back-slappin’ champion of all things local, no matter how turd-like. Yet as a musician, I know how hard it is to get a record recorded and released. However, in these DIY times, getting people interested in your music is no real […]
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Chicken Wire Gang
With their offbeat hash of musical styles, side projects and whatnot, the Chicken Wire Gang men have done their share of chitlin tours of our fair Southeast for the past decade. Ironically, Galvanized is their first full-length offering, although the band members–all versatile knowledgeable types–have played with everyone from the Flat Duo Jets and SCOTS […]