Listen up! or stream it below. If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. Remembered by the mainstream as a one-hit wonder (“Possum Kingdom”), the Toadies cultivated a loyal following in the alternative rock scene for slash-and-burn guitars and Vaden Todd Lewis’ untamed wails with Rubberneck. But Disputes with Interscope […]
Spencer Griffith
Bio: Spencer Griffith lives in Raleigh, where he teaches school and writes about bands.
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Future Islands
“Spencer? Hey, it’s Sam. I stole your wallet.” That phone call was a surprising way to end my afternoon with frontman Sam Herring and his bandmates in Baltimore-via-Greenville synthspazz party trio Future Islands. Minutes later, Herring returned with said wallet, which he’d inadvertently grabbed in a hurry to hit some of their favorite Raleigh spots […]
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Strange Faces’ Strange Faces
Relocating from Albany, N.Y., a year ago after the breakup of pop-rock quintet The Wait, longtime bandmates Ryan Barnum, Mark Connor and Art Pierce coalesced in Raleigh as trio Strange Faces and immediately began work on a full-length. Though the three had access to the right tools to repeat The Wait’s modest radio successEric Sarafin, […]
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The Secret Theatre’s Follow Me
Hard to imagine, but three-fourths of the atmospheric rock tracks on Follow Me, The Secret Theatre’s debut EP, are survivors from frontman James Bone’s short-lived venture into solo folk territory: After his last band split, Bone dubbed himself The Loveless Theatre Presents and started gigging on an acoustic guitar. That ended when, as he told […]
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Live: Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer
CHRIS THILE & EDGAR MEYER Wednesday, Oct. 15 Meymandi Concert Hall at Progress Energy Center The syncopated toe tapping of Edgar Meyer’s oxford and heel clicking of Chris Thile’s sneaker were amplified in the unusually intimate setting of Raleigh’s Meymandi Concert Hall Wednesday, Oct. 15. The virtuosos performed selections from their self-titled collaboration of mandolin […]
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The Heydays Come in or Stay out
Listen up! or stream it below. If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. Sun-soaked, sing-along pop-rock recorded by five high school pals bound for dorm rooms and dining halls makes The Heyday the windows-down soundtrack to a southwestern summer. Just one hitch: Though they possess the golden glow of […]
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Live: Common/ N*E*R*D
Common/ N*E*R*D Friday, Oct. 3 Reynolds Coliseum Plain and simple, a pep rally should be full of revelry. So, while 2007’s Pack Howl pep rally and concertfeaturing acoustic acts Guster, The Avett Brothers and Brett Dennenwas mostly a success, it wasn’t exactly a party. The Avetts had the whole arena out of their seats by […]
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The Urban Sophisticates’ Classic Material
Regarded as one of the finer (and only) hip-hop crews in North Carolina to be built around live instruments, The Urban Sophisticates was once easy to reduce into an organic party bandas I did seven months ago in the Independentand call it a day. On Classic Material, however, the Greensboro group stretches its boundaries, working […]
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The High and Mighties
Like every other group currently commercializing a pop reduction of reggae, Chapel Hill band The High and Mighties cites Bob Marley as its forefather. It also claims Marley followers like Sublime, 311 and Jack Johnson as inspirations, though, making its newest release, The Evolution EP, just more of the sameor a copy of more of […]
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The Broken Wests Perfect Games
Listen up! or stream it below. If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. Reviews of I Cant Go On, Ill Go On, The Broken Wests 2007 debut full-length, ran rampant with references to Big Star and Teenage Fanclub. Now or Heaven, the Los Angeles groups sophomore release for Merge, […]