We learned from Laura Reed’s 2014 debut LP, The Awakening, that the Triangle-based singer-songwriter could nail anything within the soul, pop, and R&B range. However, no one could have anticipated that she’d give a throwback genre like eighties disco funk a go, which is what we have on “Wear and Tear,” the new single from […]
Eric Tullis
Bio: Eric Tullis lives in Chapel Hill, where he writes about music and basketball.Twitter: http://twitter.com/erictullis
Posted inMusic
In Durham, The Ambitious Beat Makers of Raund Haus Are Building Their Own Home for Electronic Experimentation
RAUND HAUS PRESENTS ASTRONAUTICA Saturday, March 18, 10 p.m., $10–$12 Kings, Raleigh www.kingsraleigh.com Last spring, Moogfest’s inaugural takeover of downtown Durham made a strong case that the city could be a burgeoning hub for experimental electronic music. But months before the festival, and on a much smaller scale, a local extended family of instrumental hip-hop […]
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Durham’s Raund Haus Beat Collective Announces New Record Label
Durham beat collective Raund Haus announced via a promo video on Tuesday that it’s got a new endeavor that reaches beyond its regular showcases: a label dubbed Raund Haus Records. The announcement makes plenty of sense, considering the popularity of those showcases, where its resident producers have grown accustomed to turning area venues into their […]
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Art of Cool Festival Adds Common to Its April Lineup
Last month, when Art of Cool Festival announced its 2017 lineup, the festival seemed to have outdone its bookings of the previous three years. After all, which of its years can top two vastly different, legendary music lodestones like funk pioneer George Clinton and hip-hop icon Rakim headlining, as well as another wide-ranging field of […]
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Oak City Slums and ZenSoFly Are Twin Engines Ramping Up Raleigh’s Bass Music
In November, the music-and-tech-focused Moogfest brought its traveling Dial-Tones event to N.C. State’s Hunt Library. Attendees toyed with Moog Werkstatt synthesizers and attended workshops about audio production, coding, and circuitry. After all the brainy stuff was over, everyone was invited to a free after-party and performance featuring several notable Triangle electronic beat musicians, each of […]
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Durham’s Art of Cool Festival Announces Its 2017 Dates
This evening, as part of Northgate Mall’s “Music on the Plaza” series, The Art of Cool Project is celebrating its five-year anniversary as the Triangle’s pivotal jazz and soul scene pillar. While the celebration undoubtedly hits its stride when AOCP cofounder and trumpeter Al Strong puts his horn to work alongside friends of an equally […]
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Durham’s Beats & Bars Festival Looks to Bring Blackness Back to Main Street
BEATS & BARS FESTIVAL Friday, September 16 & Saturday, September 17, 8 p.m., $15–$65 The Pinhook, Durham These days, the ever-changing landscape of the Triangle’s music festival scene is like a game of whack-a-molewhen one festival sinks, or when one of its directors steps down, newer and uncertain forces crop up instantly. But when this […]
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Hopscotch, Night Three: A Big Beat Closeout
Hopscotch Music Festival Downtown Raleigh Saturday, September 10, 2016 One quick note about Erykah Badu’s Friday night Hopscotch performance, because despite everyone’scrankiness over her showing up to Red Hat Amphitheater nearly two hours late, there’s one major takeaway from the situation. For the previous six years, Hopscotch never seemed able to draw as many African-Americans […]
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Hopscotch, Night One: A Hurried Ramble Around Raleigh
Hopscotch Music Festival Downtown Raleigh Thursday, September 8, 2016 Biking back and forth from one venue to another may be convenient, but it’s completely overrated in all of its zippy and unsociable bee lines, as I learned on night one of my seventh year attending Hopscotch Music Festival. For one, you miss the opportunity to […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Where Have Durham’s Black-Owned Restaurants Gone?
The idea of sitting in a funeral home and having a lively conversation about food nostalgia isn’t terribly far-fetchedespecially in a historic district like Durham’s Hayti, where the life and death of black prosperity is obvious from simply walking through the area. John Clarence “Skeepie” Scarborough III, owner of the longstanding Scarborough & Hargett Funeral […]