Short and sweet this month. Didn’t process much new stuff, but getting ready to dig in. February will be big! Estrangers — Black Ballroom: a debut release from a Winston-Salem band, this is fuzzy and catchy garage rock, similar to what the Smith Westerns are doing. It shimmers and swings, and the distorted vocals with…
Month: January 2012
review: the other f-word
I love this photo; it’s such a perfect quiet moment with Stephen and Joah Tunnell, and Joah’s daughter Madeline, amongst the furor of TRKFest 2011. Madeline is growing up as the daughter of two musicians, as the niece of two musicians. Her mother spends a large chunk of the year on the road with about-to-break…
studio session: effingham
Last night I got to Durham too late to see the Save Our Arts show with the Beast, Mount Moriah, and Megafaun (sold out! Good on them) so I trundled back to the Thrill and spent the evening hanging out with Jeremy Blair and Effingham, who are recording their first full-length in the Cowboy’s studio….
onward soldiers cd release party for ‘monsters’
There’s nothing more fun than an amped up crowd that’s at least as excited for a release as a band is; or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, both Wilmington’s Onward, Soldiers and the crowd at the Pour House on Thursday were in fine form for the band’s release party for their sophomore…
the where’s the band? tour @ cat’s cradle
When Lisa at Sneak Attack got in touch with me about covering Matt Pryor and the Where’s the Band? tour, I have to admit: I was a little smirky about the tour. Besides Pryor, I made the snap judgment that it was lead singers from candy pop punk bands, it would be full of teenagers,…
kathleen edwards — voyageur
Kathleen Edwards — Voyageur. Out 1/17, Zoe Records. When I fell in love with Kathleen Edwards, between Back to Me and Asking for Flowers, it was on the strength of her songwriting: I am tired of playing defense and I don’t even own hockey skates, or asking for flowers is like asking you to be…
onward soldiers — monsters
Onward, Soldiers — Monsters. Out 2/21, Winoca Records, unless you’re in Raleigh, in which case out 1/26, at the Pour House. The Alpha Site has had a copy of Monsters in my car for a few weeks now, and when we were driving home from somewhere last week, we were talking about why it’s good….
like a record baby right round
I read a bunch of Continuum’s 33⅓ books! Now I am going to talk about them. Behind the jump: Music from Big Pink, Exile On Main Street, Horses, Highway 61 Revisited, Radio City. Pink Moon — Amanda Petrusich: one of my favorite things about this series is the flexibility of form in the books; you…
grown but not grown up
When I Grow Up (Catherine Wiley) I want to be the waitress snapping gum, who leaves an orange crescent on the thick white cup, calls the six a.m. men sagging at the counter “Hon,” even when I know their names. In the rumpled wallet photos, their kids’ hair moves up, then over, ears; tuxes lead…
don’t you know that you’re paid to be funny
For those of you who know me, you know that I have a long and complicated history with Comedy; comedy with a big C, a stand-in for amateur and professional improv, sketch, stand-up. For those of you who don’t know me that well, well: I have a long and complicated history with Comedy. I have,…
brand new kind of photography 