Troika Music Festival had me worried, at least at first. I arrived at the free Central Park kickoff show—last year’s co-bill between Megafaun and The Beast there remains a highlight—shortly before 9 p.m. on Thursday night to pick up my pass. The show was nearly deserted, despite a solidly entertaining set from funky hometown rap-rock […]
Spencer Griffith
Bio: Spencer Griffith lives in Raleigh, where he teaches school and writes about bands.
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Troika Music Festival 2010: Saturday, Nov. 6
Troika 2010 website schedule Our Troika guides Thursday Friday Saturday Troika’s finale gets off to an early start with an afternoon Craft Show at the Trotter Building. More than two dozen local artisans will be peddling their waresmostly apparel, jewelry and artwhile Maria Albani’s intelligent indie pop solo project, ORGANOS, and PHIL COOK AND HIS […]
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The Flaming Lips and a dozen more contribute to a local musician’s Guided by Voices tribute
A tribute, track by track For the first time, Misty Dawn Briggs passed along the near-complete roster of her upcoming tribute to Guided by Voices. There are, she notes, “a couple super secret surprise tracks” yet to come. UNTITLED ALBUM Flaming Lips, “Smothered in Hugs” Western Civ, “Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory” and “My Valuable Hunting […]
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The Tomahawks’ Cut Loose
The Tomahawks release Cut Loose at Local 506 Friday, Oct. 15, at 9:30 p.m. Floating Action and Josh Moore open; admission is $7. To be part of Drughorse, the Orange County collective of retro-pop aficionados that has included Max Indian, The Love Language and Ryan Gustafson, it seems you must craft timeless tunes that’d sound […]
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The Old Ceremony makes its most diverse, efficient and best LP
The Old Ceremony celebrates the release of Tender Age at Cat’s Cradle on Friday, Sept. 17. Lifted Praise Gospel Singers open at 9 p.m.; admission is $10–$12. The band also plays on the grounds of a Chatham County farm at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets for that Forty Acres-presented performance are $15. Visit catscradle.com and […]
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Interview: Raekwon
Raekwon joins 9th Wonder’s loaded Lincoln Theatre party on Friday, Sept. 10. K-Hill, Kaze, Skyzoo, The Away Team, Rapsody, The Remix Project, Big Remo, Actual Proof, The Alpha Theory and Thee Tom Hardy open, with Raekwon hitting the stage at 12:10 a.m. See Related Events below. Raekwon’s appearance at Hopscotch wraps the Wu-Tang Clan rapper’s […]
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Itinerary: Spencer Griffith
This guide to your Hopscotch experience will make several assumptions. First, I believe that the Triangle scene compares favorably to any single collection of musical talent in the nation, but plenty of worthy locals are overlooked here in the interest of catching acts that play less often around these parts. Second, it’s understood that the […]
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Valient Thorr’s Stranger
Valient Thorr plays a Hopscotch Music Festival pre-party at Kings Barcade on Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 10 p.m. Junius and Howl join the $5 bill. Read our feature story “Valient Thorr’s hard rock cosmology comes down to earth.” Another album, another shredder for Valient Thorr, whose Sadat Thorrbetter known as Thunderlip’s James Yoppbecomes the band’s […]
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Jon Lindsay’s Escape From Plaza-Midwood
See Related Events below The ambitions of young-and-wild singer-songwriters can be a blessing and a curse. Unwilling or unable to sort through and self-edit the jumble of disjointed ideas in their heads, plenty of otherwise solid songstersConor Oberst and Beck, for startershave obscured inventive tunes and true talent by turning their debuts into a hodgepodge […]
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The Alcazar Hotel’s Suicide King/ Stupid Feeling 7″
Since moving to Chapel Hill in 2008 following a run playing piano, guitar and sax for the second incarnation of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, William Dawson has settled down. Or, at least, as much as he can: Dawson, a lifelong vagabond, drifted around Mississippi and Tennessee between a busking stint in Amsterdam, drumming in juke […]