Sometimes it’s nice not to be surprised.
Patrick Wall
Bio: Patrick Wall lives in Winston-Salem. Find himon Twitter: @weekendsofsound.
Posted inMusic
Fucked Up Dives Headfirst Into a New Chapter of Its Labyrinthine Mythology on Dose Your Dreams
The Canadian band storms Kings on Sunday.
Posted inMusic
Spider Bags Ride Again with a New Record in August—Listen to Two Tracks Now
About halfway through the winding country-punk stomper “My Heart Is a Flame in Reverse,” which opens the B-side of Spider Bags’ forthcoming record, Someday Everything Will Be Fine, frontman Dan McGee hits on a pithy aphorism filled with beautiful and brutal truth. “To live is to suffer and smile,” he croaks, “and to succeed at […]
Posted inCulture
After a Year Off, Rock ‘n’ Roll Partyfest Revs Up Again at Slim’s
Saturday, June 23-Sunday, June 24 Slim’s, Raleigh 6 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday, $15-$25 www.slimsraleigh.com To some extent, every music festival is an endurance test. But whereas most music festivals are marathons, Raleigh’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Partyfestback in action after a year offis a two-night sprint, a mad dash that crams more than twenty bands […]
Posted inMusic
Record Review: With Where the Wildest Spirits Fly, The Pinkerton Raid Gives a Kiss-Off to Lost Causes
Where the Wildest Spirits Fly Self-released ________________________ The Pinkerton Raid Friday, May 25, 9 p.m., $10 The Pour House, Raleigh www.thepourhousemusichall.com The debate over Confederate iconography has exploded in recent yearssee the 2015 removal of the flag from South Carolina’s state capitol grounds in Columbia, last year’s toppling of a Confederate monument in downtown Durham, […]
Posted inMusic
Record Review: The Coke Dares’ Fake Lake Is a Fast, Funny Romp
THE EWFR The Coke Dares Fake LakeFake Lake Third Uncle Records Raleigh band The Coke Dares, once the rhythm section of the late Jason Molina’s Magnolia Electric Co., trades in zippy bursts of punky power-pop with the arty verve of Wire, the sinewy energy of The Minutemen, and the pith of Guided by Voices. So […]
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Record Review: Ocean Meets the Animal
BLANKO BASNET Ocean Meets the Animal Self-released When Blanko Basnet released its self-titled debut in the sweltering middle months of 2013, it was easy to mistake the songs for new Hammer No More the Fingers jams. After all, Blanko Basnet is a Joe Hall joint, and his singular playing stylebuilt on a thickly sweet single-coil […]
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As Bat Fangs, Betsy Wright and Laura King Outstrip Their Parentheticals
BAT FANGS Saturday, Feb. 3, 9:30 p.m., $10 Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro www.catscradle.com Bat Fangs guitarist Betsy Wright found herself with some time on her hands. Ex Hex, the power-pop band led by Mary Timony in which Wright plays bass, wound down for a breather following a rigorous touring schedule following the release of […]
Posted inMusic
Record Review: Durham’s Wailin Storms Delivers a Noise-Rock Squall on Sick City
WAILIN STORMS Friday, Nov. 3, 9 p.m., $10 The Pinhook, Durham www.thepinhook.com Sick City Antena Kryzku It’s not that Durham’s Wailin Storms never lived up to its name. The Bone Colored Moon and Shiver EPs were moody but spare, producing not torrents of sound but acting, in hindsight, as billowing thunderheads signaling the coming storm. […]
Posted inMusic
Record Review: Drug Yacht Slings Hot Riffs and Hilarity on The Van Warmer
DRUG YACHT The Van Warmer Self-released The Van Warmerthe second release from the three Daves (Bjorkback, Cantwell, and Heller) of Drug Yacht following a fourteen-year hiatusbegins with a feint. “Switchblade Kid” kicks off with a dissonant, vibratoed seven-second head fake that quickly collapses and dissolves. Then the real riff kicks in: a sassy, sauntering sleaze-rock […]