Entering its fifth year, Raleigh’s Hopscotch Music Festival had some changes to face: Grayson Currin, the INDY Week music editor who helped create the festival and served as its co-director, stepped away in January. Former day party coordinator Nathan Price stepped into his role, helping founder and director Greg Lowenhagen book bands for the bulk […]
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
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Winston-Salem’s Phuzz Phest Grows in Year Four
Phuzz PhestVarious Venues, Winston-SalemApril 4-6, 2014 When Philip Pledger arrived at Krankies Coffee in Winston-Salem on Friday night to lead his Estrangers through the second set of last weekend’s Phuzz Phest, he looked exhausted. He was decked in a rumpled T-shirt and comfortably worn jorts, but his stony face clashed with his casual clothing. It […]
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Merge Records signs Hiss Golden Messenger
If there’s one thing that Merge Records have made increasingly clear these past few years, it’s this: They really love North Carolina. Hot on the heels of announcing a single from another group of scrappy Triangle garage-punks Flesh Wounds—this time, Merge has signed Hiss Golden Messenger, the wonderful folk-rock project of Durham’s Mike Taylor. A […]
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UNC’s ConvergeNC tests Southern boundaries
ConvergeNC Southern Music Festival Thursday–Saturday, April 3–5 UNC-Chapel Hill & Cat’s Cradle convergencfest.com If you’re building your own music festival, pay attention for the possibility of happy accidents. This Friday’s show at Cat’s Cradle, for instance, pairs the bluegrass energizers of Mipso with Chris Eldridge, the guitarist of the Grammy-nominated, old-time-updating Punch Brothers. The gig […]
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First bands announced for Merge 25, tickets on sale Friday
Nobody throws a birthday party like Merge Records throws a birthday party—for itself. The Durham-based independent imprint that has grabbed top spots on the charts and pulled down unlikely Grammy wins outdid itself when it turned 20 in 2009. Merge XX took over the Cat’s Cradle for most of a week, running through an impressive […]
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Bradley, a Raleigh band since 1968, plays Kings Saturday night
The description of Saturday’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraiser on the website of Raleigh rock club Kings sells the night’s music by way of oddity, portraying Bradley as a band “who played ’60s music during the actual ’60s.” This is most certainly true of the longstanding, on-again-off-again roots-rock outfit that formed in Raleigh in 1968. […]
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Only one original member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops remains, but the group’s mission spreads
Rhiannon Giddens with the North Carolina Symphony March 14–15, 8 p.m. $18–$65 Meymandi Concert Hall When Rhiannon Giddens walks onto the stage of Raleigh’s grand Meymandi Concert Hall for two appearances this weekend, the Carolina Chocolate Drops will no longer be with her. For the last nine years, Giddens has been part of the groundbreaking […]
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The old pals of Solar Halos emerge with a righteously heavy album
Solar Halos With Irata and Bitter Resolve Saturday, Jan. 18, 9:30 p.m., $5 Cat’s Cradle Back Room Until the luminous but looming Carrboro trio Solar Halos formed about a year and a half ago, its three members had never played together. But none of them are strangers—either to one another or to local music zealots. […]
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WKNC Double Barrel announces 2014 headliners, sends one night to Carrboro
88.1 WKNC may be the college radio station for N.C. State University, but its signal is powerful enough to reach past Raleigh to most every point in the Triangle. This February, the station will try to leverage this broad territory, stretching its annual Double Barrel Benefit into two weekends in two different cities. On Feb. […]
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Listening with Ivan Howard
Though he’s best known for The Rosebuds’ hook-laden, synth-leaning pop, Ivan Howard has long had a taste for soul music. He proved that point last year with a sleek and passionate reinterpretation of Sade’s Love Deluxe, and he’s doing it again with Howard Ivans, a new project that finds him exploring brisk Midwestern funk. Teaming […]
