Photo by Jordan LawrenceStriking and intense, Xiu Xiu at Kings Xiu Xiu, OulipoKings BarcadeMay 1, 2012 At this point, Xiu Xiu’s knack for darkly twisted cover songs is semi-legendary. The electro-flavored avant-pop outfit makes a habit of subverting well-known tunes to fit the bleak and frenzied aesthetic that leader Jamie Stewart has refined during a […]
Jordan Lawrence
Bio: After seven years in the Triangle, Jordan Lawrence followed his fiancée and their fluffy cat to Greensboro. He has written about music for the INDY since 2010.Twitter: http://twitter.com/JordanLawrence
Posted inMusic
The Old Ceremony sign to Yep Roc, announce new LP
Photo courtesy of The Old Ceremony For most of its seven-year run, The Old Ceremony has been its own home. Of the band’s four full-lengths, three have been released by Alyosha Records, run by the band’s leader, Django Haskins. After years of intermittent toil and triumph that have seen The Old Ceremony become one of […]
Posted inMusic
The Roots’ Carrboro surprise
Last night, attendees of The Station‘s weekly open-mic night were witness to an unexpected treat. In Chapel Hill for a Tuesday taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Roots took to the Carrboro bar’s small corner stage for an impromptu 30-minute set. The overwhelmingly talented hip-hop outfit is the house band for Fallon’s NBC […]
Posted inMusic
Record Store Day in review: Schoolkids sets a record
Stephen Judge didn’t sleep Friday night. Saturday would be his first Records Store Day as owner of Raleigh’s Schoolkids Records. In its fifth year, Record Store Day offered hundereds of limited-run releases to bolster independent shops that have just had to pay their taxes. Determining what records to stock is always a gamble. Judge figured […]
Posted inMusic
In the wake of suicide, Lost in the Trees shade tragedy with triumph
Read an early 1980s newspaper article about Karen Shelton’s art. Lost in the Trees play Cat’s Cradle Friday, April 20. The Toddlers and Brice Randall Bickford open the $15 show at 8:30 p.m.. A Church that Fits Our Needs, the new album by Chapel Hill’s Lost in the Trees, bears one of the most striking […]
Posted inMusic
Schoolkids Records changes hands
Record Store Day at Schoolkids features a full slate of performances starting at 1 p.m.: The Dexter Romweber Duo, Michael Rank & Stag, John Howie & The Rosewood Bluff, The Chris Stamey Quartet and Delta Rae. Admission is free. Not so long ago, Schoolkids Records was more than just an institutional Raleigh music shop. Before […]
Posted inMusic
Red Collar debuts new single, “American Me”
“The first words I ever learned/ Were ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy’ and ‘heartbreak!’” Jason Kutchma roars at the onset of “American Me,” the first single from Red Collar‘s new LP Welcome Home — due June 12 via Tiny Engines. The outsized Durham punk band has long mined the fractured ends of romantic ideals, but that line […]
Posted inMusic
Pontiak’s relentless hard rock evolution
You will find few brothers who work together better than Jennings, Van and Lain Carney. You’ll also find few bands that work as hard as Pontiak, the lead-heavy Virginia psych rock trio comprised of these siblings. In just five years of existence they’ve managed five full-lengths and an EP. The pace would suggest a workman-like […]
Posted inMusic
Amateur Love, featuring Megafaun’s Cook brothers, to see Bon Iver-endorsed reissue
In his acceptance speech at this year’s Grammy Awards—at which he took home the trophy for Best New Artist—Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernon spoke to the mixed feelings he had about accepting the award. “There’s so much talent here on this stage,” he said from the stage, “and there’s a lot of talent that’s not here […]
Posted inMusic
Documentary offers insight into the life of a folk legend
Roscoe Holcomb and John Cohen—two names so entwined into the history of folk music that it’s tough to overstate their importance. Hailing from Daisy, Ken., Holcomb was a coal miner who also sang with the accompaniment of banjo, harmonica and guitar, unleashing a piercing falsetto that is seen as a definitive example of the “the […]