Chris Stamey, Rick Miller, Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, even the Sex Police reunited for a show this winter, giving John Plymale a chance to whip out some licks. But it’s not just old-school producers charging up their amps. Zeno Gill, who heads the artist cooperative/label Pox World Empire, is ready to release the debut full-length […]
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.
Posted inNews
That ol’ space-time continuum conundrum
“You’ve got to roll with the punches,” says Valient Thorr, leader of the earth-bound garage punk band that bears his name. What else is one to do when your time/space travel vehicle breaks down? For the Venusian quintet (actually only four of the members are Venusians), the only answer was to rock the hell out, […]
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Homebrew
It’s a notable truism that sometimes it doesn’t matter what you say so much as how. In the case of Shain, it’s part of an easy-going confidence that amplifies the charm of his songs. The mood on this album is a tad more reflective and atmospheric than 2003’s No Tag, No Tail Light. While still […]
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“You need to puke…”
Joe Romeo doesn’t sport mutton chops or bell-bottoms; he saves such telltale ’60s throwbacks for his band Fake Swedish. The crisp, R&B bounce says Brit Invasion like those classic suits worn by the Beatles and Kinks, while the riffs–slathered in distortion–shimmy like a vertiginous hippy on acid before returning to the sonic fold. Asked for […]
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in prom dates
From the beginning, high school pals Amy Ray and fellow Indigo Girl Emily Saliers have had divergent musical tastes. Ray’s always been the rock ‘n’ roll half of the duo, as evidenced on her 2001 solo debut, Stag, which featured the Butchies on five tracks and an unabashed punk spirit. The loud guitars, crunchy riffs […]
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Homebrew
Wigg Report singer/guitarist Stephen Mullaney moved to the Triangle from Boston where he’d been playing in bands for years. It might explain their resemblance to early-’90s Boston band Small Factory. Like that seminal twee act, the Durham trio combine a ramshackle innocence, lo-fi charm and guitar jangle aplenty. The jumpy rhythms and delicious hooks are […]
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Still spinning
As many musicians have jobs at record stores, you’d think there’d be more people like Sean McCrossin, who not only runs the CD Alley on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, but also operates his own label, Sit-N-Spin Records. While not a musician himself, McCrossin does share a love of music with those who make it, […]
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Homebrew
This is a dreamy, Sunday twilight kind of album. Instrumentalists Choose Your Own Adventure offer a spare, somnambulant ambience on their new six-song album. There’s often a spacey quality at work reminiscent at times of Galaxie 500, as on “Prayers for Savannah” and “Fog Walk,” whose gentle, sleepy, morphing drones are as ethereal and enveloping […]
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Homebrew
Audiophiles and lovers of warm, enveloping tones can now rejoice in the first vinyl releases of these two great Kingsbury Manx albums, collected by Sit-N-Spin Records on a double LP. The fourth album by the Chapel Hill quartet, 2003’s Aztec Discipline, is their best album to date, full of their laconic, psych-rock allure, reminiscent of […]
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Rosebuds load up their calendar
Rest on their laurels? No way. The Rosebuds’ plan for global domination continues full-speed ahead, with no less than four possible releases in the next year or so. This summer they’ll record the follow-up full-length to their critically-acclaimed, pop-driven debut, Make Out. They just finished an EP, have talked with Ben Davis (Bats & Mice, […]