Smoke a joint. Play a game of MegaTouch. Maybe take out the garbage. There’s not much you can do in three minutes–at least well–with the exception of a pop song. It might be a little soon to welcome The Cartridge Family to the pop pantheon, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a recent local act […]
Chris Parker
Bio: After a fond stint in the Triangle, Chris Parker lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where he writes about music and politics for a variety of newspapers and magazines. He has written about music for INDY Week since 2002.
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‘My own pimp’
Atmosphere’s MC Slug was raised on hip hop, growing up in one of North Minneapolis’ tougher neighborhoods. It’s not Eight Mile, but it’s close. Though he’s often seen as a white rapper, Slug has a mixed heritage. Still, in his heart he’s true-blue hip hop. He didn’t even hear his first indie rock until his […]
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Cobras on the web
For a look at the Detroit Cobras (playing 506 on Tuesday) and Black Dice and Growing (playing the Cradle on Monday), visit Scan on the Web at www.indyweekblogs.com/scan. Drink up On Friday, the New Town Drunks celebrate the release of their debut EP, …Trust Us With Your Car, with a roving bar crawl starting in […]
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Return of the Rosebuds
The best albums are unusually tinctured colors and odd scents, or if they have real breadth, perhaps they’re a whole season. From the muted earth tones to the bare tree silhouette on the cover, it’s apparent that Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard, aka The Rosebuds, have returned from the summer vacation of their debut, Make […]
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in travellin’ gals
Nanci Griffith started out more of a folkie, but she made the trek from Austin to Nashville and hit gold with Last of the True Believers, after scoring a minor country hit with the title track of her previous album, Once in a Very Blue Moon. Within a few years she abandoned country for dips […]
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Lost, party of three
We’re drawn to those with similar tastes and attitudes, separating into cliques, clubs and chat rooms as if by a change sorter. What’s left behind (and out) gets dusty in dark rooms, mildews, molds and otherwise grows ripe on its own juices. Or perhaps it’s cast into the irregular bin for resale to cost-conscious consumers […]
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Warm, and out of the fridge
Chimes churn like a fire alarm above a scrappy bare beat that sounds like crinkling cellophane. Drill noises overwhelm the chime before the tones begin to alternate, creating a sonic pulse as the beat gathers steam, and gentle melodics insinuate themselves between the sonic heartbeat, looping back on themselves as an insistent hip-hop beat takes […]
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Extreme…and extremely good
The extreme metal and hardcore scenes are flowering like never before, and–perhaps emboldened by the success of groups like Poison the Well and Underoath–things are mutating even faster. One of the most intriguing acts in the white-hot genre is Between the Buried and Me, who call Charlotte home but have boasted members from all over […]
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Kraftwerk to Winnie the Pooh
The Art Lord’s Sam Herring and William Cashion met in art school at ECU, and it was like one of those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercials, only “You got Kraftwerk in my hip hop.” “When I came here I was looking for a producer to make hip hop. I was a freestyling MC,” recalls Herring, […]
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Mountain Goats shall be heard
“It’s weird, pulling into town from tour,” The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle told the crowd at the Cat’s Cradle last October. “I don’t fully realize I’m home.” One of the newer additions to the Triangle’s musical family, Darnielle moved to Durham just over a year ago, setting up house just over a mile from my […]