RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Wednesday, March 17
I Was Totally Destroying It 
(http://www.reverbnation.com/iwastotallydestroyingit)
Tir Na Nog, Raleigh

On the one hand, I think you'd have to be batshit crazy to go anywhere 
near an Irish Bar on St. Patrick's Day. They open at 10:00 AM for 
chrissake, with Irish music all day long, and I Was Totally Destroying 
It don't bust out their massive U2 tribute until normal rockshow time.

On the other hand, apparently John Booker has been working on a nice 
frosty early-Bono mullet (a la "Live at Red Rocks"), so that alone may 
be worth the enormous hassle.



Wednesday, March 17
Rapid Cities    (http://www.myspace.com/rapidcities)
The Anti-bubbles
Sleep Bellum Sonno    (http://www.myspace.com/sleepbellumsonno)
The Pinhook, Durham



Wednesday, March 17
Unknown Hinson    (http://www.unknownhinson.com/)
Blood Red River    (http://www.myspace.com/bloodredriver)
Berkeley Cafe, Raleigh



Thursday, March 18
Brett Harris
City Sky Scape    (http://www.myspace.com/thecityskyscape)
Jake Winstrom    (http://www.myspace.com/tenderhooks)
Chims and Jo Jo
The Pinhook, Durham

Durhamite Brett Harris has an album coming out in a couple of weeks; 
it's his first full-length, after a couple of EPs, and it offers more of 
his catchy piano-driven, Beatlesy pop.



Thursday, March 18
The Black Lips    (http://www.bomp.com/BlackLips.html)
Box Elders    (http://www.myspace.com/boxelders)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Thursday, March 18
Sunfold    (http://www.myspace.com/sunfold)
NAPS
Tir Na Nog, Raleigh

Nearly every bar on Earth takes New Year's Day off, to rest & 
recuperate, so you'd think every Irish Bar would go ahead & do the same 
for the day after St. Patrick's Day. Not Tir Na nOg, though. They'll be 
open for their weekly Local Bands, Local Beers show, this week featuring 
Annuals alter-egos Sunfold, as well as Lonnie Walker side-project NAPS.



Thursday, March 18
Clawform
Humble Tripe    (http://www.myspace.com/shawnluby)
Mandolin Orange    (http://www.myspace.com/mandolinorange)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Only Nightlight would pair a more-or-less straight country/folk outfit 
like Mandolin Orange with Colin Booy's insane (and brilliant) solo 
death-metal banjo project Clawform.



Thursday, March 18
Fruit Bats    (http://www.fruitbatsmusic.com/ )
Blue Giant    (http://www.myspace.com/bluegiantland)
The Singleman Affair    (http://www.myspace.com/thesinglemanaffair)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Friday, March 19
Rob Watson    (http://www.robwatsonlive.com)
The Small Ponds
Six String Cafe, Cary

The Six String Cafe was a sorta star-crossed venue back in 2001 or so, 
devoted to the kind of acoustic Americana that No Depression magazine 
championed, and possessed of more passion than profit. Not surprisingly, 
it went out of business after a fairly brief run.

It was resurrected late last year, but within a couple of months there 
was feuding between original owner David Sardinha and his new partners, 
to the point that as of 2/19/10, he'd walked out of the partnership and 
tried (but so far failed) to keep his partners from contining under the 
Six String Cafe name. There are even feuding websites. 
http://sixstringcafe.com/ vs. http://www.sixstringcafe.net/

None of which has much to do with the bands playing this show. Small 
Ponds is the new collaboration between Caitlin Cary (Whiskeytown, Tres 
Chicas) and Matt Douglas (The Proclivities).



Friday, March 19
Bitter Resolve    (http://www.myspace.com/bitterresolve)
Fantastico
The Cave, Chapel Hill

Fantastico is another new band featuring the omnipresent Danny Mason 
(Shithorse) along with a veritable rogue's gallery of local talent, 
including Stu Cole (Chicken Wire Gang, Squirrel Nut Zippers), Norm 
Underwood (Orange Driver, UV Prom), Sonar Strange (Twilighter, Foreign 
Bodies, Safehouse) & Jody Kidney (Dexter Romweber's New Romans).



Friday, March 19
Fin Fang Foom    (http://www.lovitt.com/artists/finfangfoom.html)
Mercury Program    (http://www.mercuryprogram.com/)
Antarctic    (http://www.myspace.com/antarcticsounds)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Lovitt labelmates Fin Fang Foom & the Mercury Program both have new 
records out right-about-now.



Friday, March 19
Pros & Cons
NAPS
Drunk Tigers    (http:www.myspace.com/drunktigers)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Saturday, March 20
Billy Sugarfix    (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/billysugarfix.htm)
John Harrison
Houston Brothers    (http://www.thehoustonbrothers.com/indexhoustons.html)
Anna Bullard    (http://www.myspace.com/annabullard)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Billy Sugarfix's new-ish band, Billy Sugarfix's Carousel, includes 
upright bass, viola & oboe, in addition to Billy's guitar. They've 
worked up some great chamber-pop arrangements of the heartwrenchingly 
sad & beautiful songs from Billy's solo debut, Summer Tempests. Highly 
recommended.



Saturday, March 20
Pariah Piranha    (http://www.myspace.com/pariahpiranha)
Athens Boys Choir    (http://www.myspace.com/athensboyschoir)
Pink Flag    (http://www.myspace.com/pinkflagnc)
8 Inch Betsy    (http://www.myspace.com/8inchbetsy)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Pink Flag just got back from a whirlwind tour up & down the east coast, 
which led, indirectly, to a fateful moment in bassist Dork Flag's 
educational career, which she commemorated in this tweet: "ever had 1 of 
those nightmares where you show up to class with no idea that you're 
taking a test? me too! except today wasn't a dream :("

Come out & prove to her that choosing rock over paying attention in 
class wasn't the wrong decision.



Sunday, March 21
Schooner    (http://www.schoonermusic.com)
Deerhunter    (http://www.notownsound.net/deerhunter/)
Free Electric State    (http://www.myspace.com/freeelectricstate)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Schooner will have just returned from the mayhem that is SXSW; they've 
been getting a fair amount of uniformly excellent press for their Duck 
Kee Sessions EP, which can be procured online at http://cytunes.org

Free Electric State recently did the "strategic early MP3 single blog 
release" thing with "Six Is One" from their upcoming debut, which led to 
it being posted at largehearted boy -- not too shabby. Maybe we can 
finally find out whether MP3 blog attention actually translates into 
anything more tangible . . .
http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2010/03/daily_downloads_2211.html



Sunday, March 21
The Strange Boys    (http://www.myspace.com/thestrangeboys)
Pinche Gringo    (http://www.myspace.com/pinchegringoband)
Last Year's Men    (http://www.myspace.com/lastyearsmenband)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Last Year's Men recently became the latest addition to the 
rapidly-expanding Churchkey Records roster, and there are songs for the 
downloading over at the Churchkey website. 
http://churchkeyrecords.com/artists/lastyearsmen/



Monday, March 22
Israel Darling    (http://www.myspace.com/israeldarling)
Caleb Caudle & The Bayonets
Martha Ann Motel    (http://www.myspace.com/marthaannmotel)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, March 23
The Ruby Suns    (http://www.myspace.com/ryanmcphunandtherubysuns)
Toro Y Moi    (http://www.myspace.com/toroymoi)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This week's WXDU charts looked a little something like this:

WXDU Charts for the Week Ending: March 14, 2010

1....Joanna Newsom...Have One on Me...Drag City
2....Johnny Cash...American VI: Ain't No Grave...American
3....Ruby Suns...Fight Softly...Sub Pop
4....Magnetic Fields...Realism...Nonesuch



Tuesday, March 23
Tatsuya Nakatani 
(http://www.hhproduction.org/TATSUYA_NAKATANI_WORKS.html)
Nervous Creep
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



--------> http://www.trianglerock.com <--------