RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Friday, January 25
Transportation    (http://www.myspace.com/transportation)
Dirty5thirty    (http://www.myspace.com/dirty5thirty)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

This is billed as an Apartment Fire Recovery Benefit. Dirty5Thirty are a 
live hip-hop band. Transportation have been working on this album of 
theirs for, oh, 8 years now, and they swear this time it's almost ready 
to come out. They sport a range of 70s pomp-rock influences, most 
notably/obviously Wings & Queen.



Friday, January 25
Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan    (http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com)
Calabi Yau    (http://www.calabiyau.org)
All the Saints
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

All-too-rare visit by Charlotte spazz/freakout band Calabi Yau. If you 
like your power-trio "rock" to involve lots of scribble-scrabbly noises 
& some high-pitched mumbling, you've come to the right place. Factor in 
the mighty Cantwell Gomez & Jordan (all of the above, plus punkrock) and 
you've got the Show of the Week!



Friday, January 25
Jen Richelson    (http://www.myspace.com/jenrichelson)
Prabir and the Substitutes    (http://www.prabirandthesubstitutes.com/)
Simple    (http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecomsimple)
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Friday, January 25
Grass Widow    (http://www.myspace.com/grasswidow)
Sir Arthur and His Royal Knights 
(http://mannsworld.blogspot.com/2007/08/sir-arthur-his-royal-knights.html)
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh

I just got an email saying that Ahleuchatistas and Grass Widow are 
playing Saturday the 26th at the Downtown Event Center, so this show is 
just Grass Widow & Sir Arthur & his Royal Knights.



Saturday, January 26
Warm in the Wake    (http://www.warminthewake.com/)
Luego    (http://luegomusic.com/)
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham



Saturday, January 26
Red Collar    (http://www.myspace.com/redcollarmusic)
Megafaun    (http://www.myspace.com/megafaun)
I Was Totally Destroying It 
(http://www.reverbnation.com/iwastotallydestroyingit)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Red Collar and I Was Totally Destroying It are all about the anthemic 
sing-along choruses and high-energy jumping-around antics. Megafaun are 
all about the burly beards & the equal doses of oldtime/bluegrass and 
outer-space hiss-and-fuzz. What do they all have in common? Durham. Oh 
yeah, and I guess more directly, being 3 of the 8 bands featured in this 
year's N&O <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/great8/";>Great 8</a>.



Saturday, January 26
Fin Fang Foom    (http://www.lovitt.com/artists/finfangfoom.html)
Caltrop    (http://www.myspace.com/caltropband)
The Cave, Chapel Hill

This is quite honestly way too much volume to fit inside the Cave. Best 
vantage point may very well be the sidewalk up at street-level. Fin Fang 
Foom bring layers & precision & half-buried emotion to their 
sturm-und-drang. Caltrop's layers are more like a thick smoky haze, but 
there's so much thunder underneath you don't need to see 'em to know 
they're there.



Saturday, January 26
Ahleuchatistas    (http://www.ahleuchatistas.com/go.php)
Grass Widow    (http://www.myspace.com/grasswidow)
Downtown Event Center, Raleigh

Got an email from Grass Widow about this show, which is a blast because 
it means you can hit the CGJ/Calabi Yau show in Chapel Hill on Friday 
night, and then head to Raleigh on Saturday, and have an entire weekend 
of brain-melting scribble-scrobble power-trio freakout jams.



Saturday, January 26
I, Crime    (http://www.icrime.us/)
Ill Eagle
Weather Machine
Jon Mackey
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Ill Eagle as in the occasional Al Burian (Milemarker) solo project, not 
the Cleveland rapper.



Sunday, January 27
Kimya Dawson    (http://www.kimyadawson.com/)
Midtown Dickens    (http://www.myspace.com/midtowndickens)
Angelo Spencer    (http://www.myspace.com/angelospencer)
Bull City Headquarters, Durham

Everybody loved Kimya Dawson's music on the Juno soundtrack (OK, well, 
the big hit is actually a Moldy Peaches song, of which Kimya was half, 
but the other original music is all Kimya). I mean everybody: my 
clean-cut and non-indie-rockin' coworker came in last week ranting about 
how he'd been dragged to Juno and loved it, & the music especially.

Look, here's an article in the NYTimes about the Juno Effect on her 
shows, so now I suppose the only question is how assiduously her new 
local fans check the show-listings (any of y'all reading this now?): 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/arts/music/21juno.html



Sunday, January 27
Ships
The Nothing Noise    (http://www.myspace.com/thenothingnoise)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is a 506 Free For All show.



Monday, January 28
Fujiyama Roll    (http://www.myspace.com/fujiyamaroll)
Triple Overhead Cam    (http://www.myspace.com/3ohc)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is a 506 Free For All.



Tuesday, January 29
Super Furry Animals    (http://www.superfurry.com/)
The Fiery Furnaces    (http://thefieryfurnaces.com/)
Holy Fuck    (http://dependentmusic.com/a_holyfuck.htm)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Tuesday, January 29
Asylum Street Spankers    (http://www.asylumstreetspankers.com/)
Berkeley Cafe, Raleigh

The Asylum Street Spankers are oldtime/gypsy-style buskers from Austin. 
Their gimmick is/was that even at club shows, they play sans PA. My 
friends who love them *really* love them.



Tuesday, January 29
Wigg Report    (http://www.synchronizedswim.org)
Future Kings of Nowhere    (http://www.thefuturekings.net/)
Dain's Place, Durham

Dain's Place is a year-old bar & grill (they've got pierogies!) on 9th 
Street in Durham, and lately they're booking bands on Tuesdays. Don't 
tell too many folks, though, as the place only holds about 40 people. If 
you've been waiting for the New Jo & Joe's to finally appear, sounds 
like this is it.



Wednesday, January 30
The Hem of His Garment    (http://www.myspace.com/thehemofhisgarment)
Sound of Singles    (http://myspace.com/soundofsingles)
Marpessa Dawn
Hiss Golden Messenger
DJ Lady Factual
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Nightlight sez:

FIELD DAY MUSIC FEST - 9PM $6 - An act of musical vigilantism benefiting 
two awesome folks who got rustled over the holidays: Marpessa Dawn 
(Brendan Greaves) / Hiss Golden Messenger (Mike Taylor) / Sound of 
Singles (Gerald Schoenherr) / The Hem of His Garment (Aaron Smithers & 
friends) / DJ Lady Factual (Ali Neff)



Wednesday, January 30
The Sammies    (http://www.myspace.com/thesammies)
The Whigs    (http://www.thewhigs.com)
Bull City    (http://www.bullcitytheband.com/)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

The Sammies are from Charlotte & though they primarily make stripped 
down modernized Southern Rock, they thrown in enough odd postpunk 
flourishes & other weirdness to make them intriguing.

Bull City are from Durham, and their Southern Rock also seems to split 
its time between straight-ahead (albeit via Crazy Horse) and some of the 
genre's weedier detours, a la Alex Chilton.



Wednesday, January 30
Jucifer    (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Vine/6452/)
Transient
Caltrop    (http://www.myspace.com/caltropband)
Volume 11 Tavern, Raleigh

I've managed to lose the Jucifer mp3s I downloaded years ago, so I can't 
remember why I had a soft spot for 'em. No matter: the massive sludgy 
stonerism of Caltrop is well worth yr time all by itself.



Thursday, January 31
Hammer No More the Fingers    (http://www.hnmtf.com)
The Love Language    (http://www.myspace.com/thelovelanguage)
Tir Na Nog, Raleigh

Tir Na Nog & WKNC have been doing a weekly local beers/local bands night 
for quite a while now, but it has taken me a while to get far enough 
past my aversion to Irish Pubs to be able to list the shows. (I'm sorry, 
but c'mon, they're the Cracker Barrels of bardom.)

Hammer No More the Fingers put out one of the best indie-rock EPs of 
2007. The Love Language is one or more of the peeps formerly known as 
the Capulets, who failed to properly release what would otherwise have 
been one of the more enjoyable, albeit overly Strokes-y, albums of '05, 
or was that '06?



Thursday, January 31
Resist Not    (http://myspace.com/resistnot)
Lam! Lam!    (http://www.myspace.com/lamlamband)
Somebody Sam
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Thursday, January 31
Noncanon    (http://www.myspace.com/noncanon)
The Moon and Bad Times    (http://www.myspace.com/themoonandbadtimes)
Reservoir, Carrboro

Once upon a time there was a band called Hourly Radio, who re[de]fined 
the local 90s sub-version of screamo & then promptly broke up. Two of 
'em reformed as Mothlight, and fried so many brains as a two-piece with 
their spaced take on blues-drone that they too had to split up.

Nowadays singer/guitarist Danny Vaughn is fronting Noncanon, and he's so 
fukken dangerous that he actually emits a sort of unearthly glow.



Friday, February 1
Michael Rank    (http://www.sleazegrinder.com/teensleazehanoi.htm)
The Cave, Chapel Hill

This is the Early (8:00-ish) Show. Michael Rank will be joined by his 
Snatches of Pink bandmate Marc E. Smith for this set.



Friday, February 1
North Elementary    (http://www.northelementary.com)
Annuals    (http://www.myspace.com/annuals)
The Never    (http://www.trekkyrecords.com/never.html)
Future Kings of Nowhere    (http://www.thefuturekings.net/)
Pour House, Raleigh

This is the umpteenth-annual WKNC Double Barrel Benefit, which was held 
in many previous years at dear departed Kings Barcade. Tonight is the 
first of two nights, and is the catchy/poppy night of the pair.



Friday, February 1
The Physics of Meaning    (http://www.thephysicsofmeaning.com/)
Nina Nastasia    (http://www.myspace.com/ninanastasia)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Friday, February 1
Bringerer    (http://www.myspace.com/bringerer)
The Cave, Chapel Hill

This is the CD-release party for the new Bringerer CD, "'fflicted." I 
haven't heard it, but last week I heard quite a few of the new songs 
live, and I can safely say that they're the same old ragged-but-right 
Bringerer that you know & love.



Friday, February 1
The Sibling Project    (http://www.thesiblingproject.com/)
The Tourist    (http://www.myspace.com/thetouristnc)
Dylan Gilbert
American Tourist
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Saturday, February 2
Sorry About Dresden    (http://www.sorryaboutdresden.com)
Fin Fang Foom    (http://www.lovitt.com/artists/finfangfoom.html)
Red Collar    (http://www.myspace.com/redcollarmusic)
Tooth
Pour House, Raleigh

This is the second night of the WKNC Double Barrel Benefit, and it's by 
far the heavier of the two. Red Collar and Sorry About Dresden will 
still provide plenty of catchy singalong choruses with their Big Rock 
Action, but Fin Fang Foom like to stretch out & brood like a 
horizon-filling thunderhead. And Tooth? They're the force-five tornado.



Saturday, February 2
Dawn Chorus    (http://www.myspace.com/dawnchorus)
Butterflies    (http://www.myspace.com/butterfliesnc)
Wood Ear    (http://www.myspace.com/woodear)
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Saturday, February 2
Mowgli    (http://www.myspace.com/mowglimowgli)
Dead to Society    (http://www.myspace.com/deadtosociety101)
The Black Sheep    (http://www.myspace.com/anuphillbattle)
Jack Sprat Cafe, Chapel Hill



Saturday, February 2
The Ex-Members    (http://www.myspace.com/theexmembers)
Pony Pants    (http://www.myspace.com/ponypants)
Vytear    (http://www.myspace.com/vytear)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

The monthly FrequeNC Records nights at Nightlight are purportedly the 
Dance Party of the Month--I wouldn't know, I'm from the early '90s.



Sunday, February 3
Ben Davis + The Jetts    (http://www.lovitt.com/artists/bendavis.html)
WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham

Ben Davis & his Jetts I'm sure you know about by now. What started out 
as some lullaby-esque songs written on piano for his son Rick have 
morphed over the years into a big, highly distinctive rock machine. 
Though I'm told that Ben's just about to become a Double Dad, so mebbe 
it'll be back to the quiet piano lullabyes for a while.

Either way, you'll hear it here first, because the show's an hour 
earlier now: 4:00 p.m. 88.7 FM or wxdu.org.



Sunday, February 3
Kapow! Music    (http://kapowmusic.net)
Wil Donegan and the Apologies
Doog
Grampall Jookabox
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Monday, February 4
Mowgli    (http://www.myspace.com/mowglimowgli)
Midnite Sun    (http://www.myspace.com/midnite_sun)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is a 506 Free For All, meaning there's no cover, and thus precious 
little excuse for you to not go drink a pint & watch some young 
up-and-comers.



Tuesday, February 5
Gray Young    (http://www.myspace.com/grayyoung)
Sleepsound    (http://www.sleepsound.org/)
Stella By Starlight    (http://www.myspace.com/stellabystarlightband)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



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