Neutral Milk Hotel Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Saturday, Feb. 1 He has a chimerical concept of authenticity, wears lots of indifferent plaid and often regards popular and electronic idioms with suspicion: For this certain breed of indie music fan, the 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, by the Athens, Ga. band Neutral Milk Hotel, […]
Brian Howe
Posted inCulture
“A lot of the writing process is just radically preferring something to something else.” George Saunders on writing
In anticipation of George Saunders’ reading at Duke on Tuesday, Feb. 4, we called him at his Syracuse home for this long conversation about the art of writing, the life of the modern author and the “misfires of empathy” that comprise Tenth of December. The full transcript is below. Click here to return to the […]
Posted inArt
The worlds of the suddenly hot George Saunders
George Saunders reads in the FHI Garage in Bay 4 of Smith Warehouse (114 S. Buchanan Ave.) on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. Sponsored by the Duke English Department, the reading is free and open to the public. The comic heir of Mark Twain filtered through a baroque postmodern voice, George Saunders has long […]
Posted inMusic
Pop Up Chorus launches at Motorco tonight
Debuting tonight at Motorco, the Community Chorus Project’s new Pop Up Chorus is a chance for adults whose busy lives don’t allow for rigorous rehearsal rehearsal schedules to test out their pipes, in a motley group setting, on songs drawn from indie rock as well as contemporary and classic pop. Every Monday through St. Patrick’s […]
Posted inMusic
Live: Hilliard Ensemble performs in Duke Chapel for the first and last wonderful time
“This is our first and last performance in these beautiful acoustics,” said baritone Gordon Jones before Britain’s Hilliard Ensemble sang its encore, Peter Erskine’s “Romeo and Juliet,” in Duke Chapel on Tuesday night. It was the sole piece of American music on a program that spanned 12th-century France and 21st-century Estonia, all knitted together in […]
Posted inMusic
Sylvan Esso announces new single; debut LP forthcoming
Sylvan Esso, one of Durham’s most promising new bands, is the duo of singer Amelia Meath (Mountain Man) and electronic producer Nick Sanborn (Megafaun). The folksiness of their established projects gives way to intricate, dynamic electronic pop that mines an unsuspected seam between the experimental vocalism of tUnE-yArDs and the acid house of 808 State. […]
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The Hopscotch Music Festival returns to Raleigh
As was just announced on the festival’s website, the fifth annual Hopscotch Music Festival takes over downtown Raleigh Sept. 4–6. Though the lineup has yet to be announced, the festival promises to spread more than 160 bands from different genres throughout Raleigh nightclubs and performance spaces, surrounding the epicenter of a large outdoor stage in […]
Posted inMusic
Q&A: Raleigh native Evan Rogister returns to conduct the NC Symphony
Evan Rogister, a 34-year-old opera and concert conductor based in New York, is a fast-rising star within classical music. After leaving Raleigh about 15 years ago, Rogister made his name on the international circuit, manning the podium for many of the nation’s great orchestras and serving as Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 2009 […]
Posted inMusic
Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz’s Genevieve & Ferdinand
When listeners refer to singers as “elemental,” nature’s flashier forces, like lightning or fire, often spring to mind. But the jazz vocalist Kate McGarry taps into the humbler elements of earth and wind, with a voice like a slow breeze swirling up dust on a vast plain. Eschewing the immaculate pitch and intonation often associated […]
Posted inCulture
Future Islands’ leader Sam Herring makes his big-screen debut
2014 looks to be a big year for Sam Herring, a North Carolina expat currently based in Baltimore. His darkly emotive synth-pop band, Future Islands, is leaving Chicago’s Thrill Jockey label and joining the roster of legendary British indie 4AD to release new album Singles in March. Less expectedly, Herring also makes his acting debut […]
