— If you put Pet Sounds and Portishead’s Dummy in a blender, Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr is the metaphorical salad dressing that would result, and I don’t just think that because they do a loopily lovely and genuine cover of “God Only Knows” as a staple of their set. — Sense memory, recent: Ash’s brother B….
Author: brandnewkindof
Photographer, baseball fan, lover of rock music, sweet tea, chili cheese hotdogs, and Matt Wieters.
dawes @ cat’s cradle
Another day, another headliner I’m completely ignorant about: this time it was Southern California indie rockers Dawes, who I had at least heard of, this time around. I had this nagging feeling I’d seen them before — opening for someone, maybe, but who? — but no photos to verify this feeling, and I certainly knew…
two cow garage @ kings
My beloved Two Cow Garage is touring as a three piece these days; subtract the keys, and their punk rock roots — and I wrapped myself up in Black Flag and I flew it as my own — start showing in a completely obvious way. They played for a scorching hour last night, Micah and…
onward, soliders @ local 506
Wilmington’s Onward, Soldiers are one of those superbly talented young bands that it quickly becomes a delight to watch grow up and blow up; they haven’t, yet, but they’ve played the Triangle relentlessly in 2011 after saturating their own coastal market, and they have the same edge to them, on stage, in their songwriting, in their…
sinful savage tigers @ johnny’s
As recently as last summer, I would groan and grouch and roll my eyes at shows in strange venues; the light is wonky, or the background is awful, or everyone is sitting down and I feel totally awkward standing on the side of the stage taking photos. Sometime in the last year that changed —…
bull city undercover
Bull City Undercover — three nights of locals doing cover sets by a single artist of their choosing — has its roots in the old scene at the old Kings, but I, for one, am thrilled that Tamplin brought it over to Motorco with him when he left Tir Na Nog; it was a funny,…
the magnolia collective @ the station, may 2011
One of my favorite things about MagCo’s ongoing Thursday residency at the Station, besides the facts that they’re fantastic, I’ve gotten to meet a bunch of amazing people hanging out there, and the always excellent challenge of shooting the same band over and over again, is their rotating cast of local opens — I haven’t…
acrylics — lives and treasure
I saw Acrylics open for the Morning Benders just over a year ago; if fellow tour partner and opener the Miniature Tigers were the Morning Benders’ rock and roll side, Acrylics’ performance and their lovely debut album, Lives and Treasure, are much more closely aligned to the electronic, hollowly delicate side of last year’s stellar…
college baseball: unc-asheville @ unc
Eleven. A lesson to all young pitchers: if a batter sends a particular pitch 425 feet out of the park, don’t throw it to him again in his second at-bat. It will, like the first pitch, go real far, real fast, right out of the stadium. Bryant Gaines was otherwise stellar, the bullpen was beastly,…
dax riggs @ local 506
There’s something deeply soothing to me about Dax Riggs’ complex, gothic garage rock; he’s a great musician and his voice sounds like oil slicks under a car, and I can absolutely zone out on the sound of his music, just completely blissed out on rock and roll. That’s how the show at the 506 was…
brand new kind of photography 