The Triangle isn’t just for North Carolinians. People come here in droves for one reason or another, be it school, jobs or some cultural pocket where they fit. Still, it’s surprising to hear that the Nigerian entertainment journalist who helped Fela Kuti return to triumph after his arrest in 1984 lives in Wendell with his […]
Chris Toenes
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Social Memory Complex
Social Memory Complex Prequel EP (Second Law Records) Social Memory Complex’s battle is upHill. That is, their existence is a reflection of what it means to be making rap music in a predominantly indie rock town, a town like Chapel Hill. SMC gigged locally for several months before releasing a wax single, True Light, last […]
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The Campbell Brothers
The Campbell Brothers Opening for blues artist Eric Bibb Friday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham Tickets: $30 www.campbellbrothers.com The Deep South drink houses and juke joints that once emanated the raw blues are all but dead. Record-label normalization of American music has reached a new height through online channels of distribution. Regionalism, you […]
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Branford Marsalis and the Ciompi Quartet premiere marc faris’ Mountain Music
The Ciompi Quartet with Branford Marsalis World premiere of marc faris’ “Mountain Music” for String Quartet and Saxophone Saturday, Nov. 18, 8 p.m. Duke University’s Page Auditorium Tickets: $20 First Course concert Thursday, Nov. 16, 5:30 p.m. Tickets: $5 When the muse is elusive, the artist has to be mobile, like a moth chasing down […]
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Novamen
Afrika Bambaataa wasn’t only pioneering the art of the DJ in the ’70s, back when he was using a flashlight to signal to his partner across the room to cut to the next record. When he dropped Kraftwerk beats down alongside hip-hop and disco tracks, he was birthing electro, too. While hip hop became a […]
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Charalambides
It’s just another day in the life of Tom Carter. He apologizes for the television’s incomprehensible squelch in the background of his home in Oakland, Calif. He’s finishing work on a CD-R collection of archival Charalambides recordings, waiting on a courier delivery to finish the deal. Carter’s home is the headquarters of his Wholly Other […]
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Oakley Hall
Returning to Texas after performing at a memorial concert for Hank Williams Sr. in Alabama last month, Willie Nelson and his band were arrested for possession of more than a pound of marijuana and over three ounces of psilocybin mushrooms. Nelson is 73. The youngest musician on board was 50. The connection between good-time country […]
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Industrious
Goth is dead. Long live goth. Goth music and its encapsulating culture–from The Cure fans that never returned to straight rock to fetish fanciers–have always romanticized death, usually with a coy grin. But, even though American sludge-seekers dig into the marrow of Norse black metal and the long drones of its bastard sons, goth isn’t […]
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The Black Lips
Jared Swilley plays bass and sings in Atlanta’s The Black Lips. Tonight, The Black Lips are playing in either Toronto or Montreal. These facts do not explain why, right now, Swilley is sitting in a New York University dorm room, listening to Dion & the Belmonts “I’m not allowed in Canada. I got a DUI […]
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Before Avalon … and after?
In June of 2002, the Independent glowingly reported on Avalon, a new dance club opening in the Rosemary Street space formerly occupied by Gotham. Avalon owner/operator Dan Markscheid had run Gotham but had taken on a new partnership with several co-owners with ambitious goals. “Gotham had a nice long run for nine years, but it’s […]
