Earlier this month, Forbes clocked superstar DJ Calvin Harris’s yearly salary at sixty-three million dollars, which breaks down to a cool four hundred thousand per gig. While those aren’t quite U2 numbers, they’re easy proof that electronic dance music has solidified its spot near the center of mainstream American music fans. Lineups for huge festivals […]
Jeff Klingman
Bio: Jeff Klingman lives in Brooklyn and writes about music and pop culture for the magazine L.Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeff_klingman
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Three New Albums by Triangle-Tied Rock Bands Find the New and Familiar
The Everymen Saturday, August 6, 9 p.m., $5 Slim’s, Raleigh In 2016, much of new music discovery has been ceded to algorithms and paid playlist compilers on streaming services. These bots and humans don’t push their own taste as much as anticipate yours, whatever that might be. Their aim is aided by scores of new […]
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Future Islands Side Project The Snails Just Wants to Have Fun
The Snails Kings, Raleigh Friday, March 18, 9 p.m., $12–$14 When Future Islands delighted David Letterman and subsequently dominated your Facebook feed in 2014, the moment was the viral boom at the end of a long, slow burn. Future Islands hadn’t come out of nowhere, hadn’t been manufactured by some label or financier. A performance […]
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Modern rock radio festivals like 95X’s The Big Shindig ignore modern times
The 95X Big Shindig Sunday, Sept. 13 $20–$62, 1:30 p.m. Walnut Creek Amphitheatre 3801 Rock Quarry Rd., Raleigh www.walnutcreekamphitheatre.com 919-719-5500 When the KROQ Weenie Roast debuted in Los Angeles in the summer of 1993, the upside was self-evident: Stranger tastes were rapidly gaining commercial ground, and radio stations could cash in. Billboard had launched its […]
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Former Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook and the problem of bands that lose their leaders
O-Town Thursday, April 30, $20–$25, 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre 126 E. Cabarrus St., Raleigh 919-821-4111 www.lincolntheatre.com A Joy Division Celebration: Peter Hook & the Light Friday, May 1, 9 p.m., $25 Cat’s Cradle 300 E. Main St., Carrboro 919-967-9053 www.catscradle.com When O-Town comes to North Carolina this week, they will move without their Angel. A […]
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Concerning Delta Rae’s confounding new “Scared” video
Delta Rae, the local folkies gone major, have long been an INDY favorite—favorite punchline, perhaps, or favorite means by which to troll our beloved commenters, maybe? Still, a favorite! Their next big move dropped yesterday via MTV. It’s an ambitious video for “Scared,” the new single from their upcoming second album, After It All.Given that […]
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Zola Jesus makes no apologies for her gothic pop ambitions
Zola Jesus with Deradoorian and VVAQRT Friday, Jan. 30, 9 p.m., $15–$17 Motorco, 723 Rigsbee Ave., Durham 919-901-0875 motorcomusic.com Nika Roza Danilova likes to talk about her childhood loneliness. “When I grew up in northern Wisconsin, I didn’t have any friends,” says Danilova, who records alluring gothic pop under the name Zola Jesus. “I didn’t […]
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As indie rock embraces electronica, Durham’s Merge Records quickens its pulse
Caribou with Jessy Lanza Sunday, Nov. 16, 8 p.m., $18–$20 Cat’s Cradle, 300 E. Main St. Carrboro 919-967-9053 catscradle.com Rock ‘n’ roll initially rejected Dan Snaith, or at least told the Canadian composer and producer that he couldn’t have the band name he’d chosen. In a fit of pique, “Handsome Dick” Manitoba, the flamboyant frontman […]
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With The Books, Nick Zammuto made new, revelatory music; solo, is it fair to expect the same?
Zammuto with Barnaby Bright Wed., Oct. 29, 9 p.m. $10–$12 The Pinhook, 117 W. Main St., Durham 919-667-1100 thepinhook.com Is it copacetic to ask someone to create something from nothing for a second timein one lifetime, in one career, in just more than a decade, no less? That’s the predicament of Nick Zammuto, formerly one […]
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Why should Lorde make rock music when she could make more money with its attitude?
Lorde With Majical Cloudz Thursday, Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m., $39.50–$65 Red Hat Amphitheater, 500 S. McDowell St, Raleigh redhatamphitheater.com Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers With Steve Winwood Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m., $22–$127 PNC Arena, 1400 Edwards Mill Rd, Raleigh thepncarena.com When “Royals” nabbed the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video last month, the […]