In a new recurring feature, I’ll be profiling local DJs of all tribes. Radio jocks, performing club vets, technical wizards on decks or the digital drops. Since the role of being a music selector began long ago on the Triangle’s airwaves and DJ booths, it’s appropriate to start out with a devoted local radio fixture, […]
Chris Toenes
Posted inMusic
Martin Eagle and Friends’ Tomorrow
Though jazz has suffered a long decline in popularity, both internationally and in this area, little has slowed its vessels, the players, from forging ahead. Pianist Martin Eagle is one of those steadfast souls. On Tomorrow, he and a core trio and two guests run through a set of one-take, mid-tempo improvisations with a solid […]
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Ear Pwr’s goodtime tunes are an invitation for would-be electronic addicts
Contemporary dance music has a way of intimidating would-be enthusiasts: “I can’t dance.” “I’m uncomfortable.” “I don’t understand it.” Peak your head beneath the beats, and you’ll hear all these things. It’s an understandable reaction, especially as the current cross-pollination of dance and indie scenesthanks to acts from Cut Copy and !!! to Justice and […]
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Tonight: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, wrestling with originality
The pockmarked path of devoting your new band to a vintage sound rides bumpy at best. It’s often a process of osmosis, though, that leads one band to sound like a whole bunch of older bandsless looking directly in the rearview mirror for something to recreate and more just playing some variation on what’s funneled […]
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Signalfest: On New Wave Hookers and brand new noise [CHRIS TOENES]
For any locals entering Vespa last weekend, what they saw had to shock: No, there weren’t carnival-style two-headed goats on display or Gorgoroth-like animal sacrifices. But the Italian restaurant had fully converted into a dance club, complete with front and back rooms, and it was packed Friday. Shoulder-to-shoulder packed for Signal Electronic Music Festival. In […]
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Cy Rawls/Angels Among Us Karaoke Fundraiser
When Cy Rawls, local music super-fan and keeper of the flame, passed away last fall, his friends and family endeavored to keep his memory alive. CyTunes, a repository of songs donated by bands all over the country, is chugging along. They also continued supporting the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University, which […]
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Four years in, electronic music festival Signal recalibrates
⇒ See also: 7 Signals to see; Interview with Wale Any music festival rubs up against scores of obstacles that burrow, like parasites, into the organization’s skin. Running a specialized event, then, breeds another set of possible plagues: The potential audience is smaller. The at-large interest is lighter. The sponsorship opportunities are tighter. Signal, Chapel […]
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Obits’ “Light Sweet Crude” & “Pine On”
Listen up! or stream it and Obits’ “Light Sweet Crude” below. If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. The Obits story plays out in turns both modern and old school: The band has been practicing discretely since 2005, never playing a live gig. Two members brought extended lineages in […]
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Infection in the Sentence poetry festival at Duke includes ambitious, varied lineup
Infection in the Sentence: A Festival of Poetry Duke Campus Feb. 26-28 Poetry straight from the tongue trumps that on the page, and this week at Duke, a festival puts poets in a series of workshops to do just that. Or perhaps we should borrow the metaphor of the conference’s eye-catching, Emily Dickinson-derived title, “Infection […]
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Techno standard-bearer charts FrequeNC
FrequeNC Records‘ name clearly states their allegiance to two things: electronic music and the North Cack. In the last few months, the vinyl-only Chapel Hill label’s profile has risen domestically and internationally, busting its rep well beyond state lines. Just a few days ago, legendary Dutch dance music label Clone heaped praise on the label […]
