The Art of Cool Festival announced most of the lineup for its second festival, scheduled for April 24–26, 2015 in Durham. The talent will include Roy Ayers, Anthony Hamilton, Snarky Puppy, Kenny Garrett and Avery*Sunshine. If some of those names seem familiar, many were teased earlier in order to drive a festival Kickstarter. Unlike last […]
Eric Tullis
Bio: Eric Tullis lives in Chapel Hill, where he writes about music and basketball.Twitter: http://twitter.com/erictullis
Posted inReviews
Record review: The Beast’s Stories
THE BEAST If you want to start a small war among area hip-hop heads, suggest that the Durham quartet The Beast is more privileged than good (or the inverse). Say, for instance, that emcee Pierce Freelon is simply the son of a jazz star, or that his work with UNC’s Beat Making Lab gives him […]
Posted inMusic
Given the dearth of live soul and R&B in the Triangle, are the rooms, bands or fans to blame?
What happened to the Triangle’s soul? And what of its funk? Outside of hip-hop and jazz, a quick tally of local acts suggests that the Triangle has perhaps never been as infertile of an incubator for black-centric music as it is today. Homegrown soul, R&B and funk acts like Heather Victoria, The Chit Nasty Band, […]
Posted inMusic
Kool DJ Red Alert hits Five Star tomorrow night
For monthly fixes of partying to the sounds of some of hip-hop’s most famed DJs, like DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Young Guru, Ali Shaheed Muhammad or Spinderella, the usual prescription has been 9th Wonder’s monthly 95 Live series inside the Asian restaurant Five Star. But on Saturday night, some different purveyors—The Amazing Soul Diggers and […]
Posted inArt
Monster’s Ball comes back to Ninth Street
MONSTERS BALL 4 Friday, Oct. 31, 10 p.m. $10, Club 9 746 Ninth St., Durham 919-286-0777 The redevelopment that has spat out a new version of Durham’s Ninth Streetnow featuring atrocities such as Tijuana Flats and Panera Breadis a lot scarier than any Halloween costume. Even scarier is having to drive to Chapel Hill’s Halloween party […]
Posted inMusic
Sorry, Beyoncé, but Marsha Ambrosius’ Friends & Lovers offers R&B’s real sexual liberation
Marsha Ambrosius Tuesday, Oct. 21, 9 p.m. ,$27.50–$39.50 Lincoln Theatre 126 E. Cabarrus St., Raleigh 919-821-4111 lincolntheatre.com The British-bred R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius, who was once one half of Floetry, describes the bulk of songs from her recent LP, Friends & Lovers, as “fuck records.” Some of the tunes appeared previously on Fvck & Love, […]
Posted inMusic
The story behind King Mez’s great new “Morris” video
For the most part, Raleigh-raised hip-hop artist King Mez keeps mum about what he’s been up to since late July, when he temporarily migrated to the West Coast to work more closely with Aftermath Records producer Dawaun Parker. But theseInstagram photos, which picture Mez hanging out with Dr. Dre in a recording studio, suggest that […]
Posted inMusic
Mosaic Wine Lounge’s Fall Music Fest ends this weekend
The second weekend of this year’s Mosaic Fall Music Fest launches tonight at Mosaic Wine Lounge, with Brooklyn-based tropical-bass pusher Geko Jones behind the decks. Jones will likely pick up where DJ Mes’ gushing house set left off last Friday, with the exception of jacking-up some of those deep bass lines with snappy cumbia licks […]
Posted inMusic
HaLo’s Mansa Musa
When The Soul Council, Jamla Records’ brotherhood of beatmakers, added the celebrated Virginia producer Nottz to the team recently, label bellwether 9th Wonder tweeted, “Get familiar … and be very afraid.” Almost immediately, the Nottz-produced “Jerk Chicken,” a cut from HaLo’s new Mansa Musa LP, arrived, refamiliarizing Jamla listeners with the sort of hefty drum […]
Posted inMusic
Art of Cool Project reaches Kickstarter goal to fund 2015 festival
An hour or so ago, thanks to The Art of Cool Project’s achieved $35,000 Kickstarter goal, Grammy Award-winning soul standout Anthony Hamilton will be joining the main attractions at the 2015 Art of Cool Music Festival in downtown Durham. As the INDY reported yesterday, Art of Cool had only 33 hours to raise the remaining […]