FLEET FOXES TOMORROW NIGHT AT RALEIGH AMPHITHEATER, WILCO SEPTEMBER 27

They're back!  Fleet Foxes return to Raleigh on the second leg of their whirlwind tour of the world.  They will be joined by The Walkmen for tomorrow night's performance. 

Jeff Tweedy and the gang are performing their special brand of American rock and roll to hoards of devoted fans at Raleigh Amphitheater September 27.  Wilco has been putting out a succession of masterful records for over 12 years, all with a similar core, but with new branches and extensions of their talent on each.  They are out in support of their latest studio effort, The Whole Love

WIDESPREAD PANIC SEPTEMBER 23 AND 24 AT RALEIGH AMPHITHEATER

Word has it the boys from Panic may be hanging it up after this tour.  Last Dance.  As I've written before, I will always have a special place in my heart for Widespread Panic.  A lot of us grew up on their music, going to their shows several nights in a row.  Halloweens in New Orleans, New Years Eve's in Atlanta, summers here in Raleigh.  Those were high times, and i will never forget them or the music.  If Widespread Panic ever meant anything to you in the past or still today, bid farewell to JB, Schools, Todd, Jo Jo, Sunny, and their latest guitarist Jimmy Herring this weekend.

BASSNECTAR TOMORROW NIGHT 9-22 at DISCO RODEO

Thumped out techno and synthesizers with a staggering light show is on tap at the Disco Rodeo in Raleigh tomorrow evening with Santa Cruz based electronic composer Bassnectar or Lorin Ashton( if you're to cool to call someone by their DJ name).  His sets are usually comprised of a meshing of popular tunes saturated with his own bleeps, scratches, samples and manipulated sound waves creating a rave like atmosphere in which not dancing is impossible.  Get your glow sticks, water, vicks inhalers, et all for this one.

HOPSCOTCH FRIDAY

Friday's lineup is loaded with bands I have never heard, which is exciting.  Aside from Raleigh's The Annuals, Singer Songwriter John Vanderslice, and a handful of others, I am clueless.  However, there is one band I can not wait to experience: Guided By Voices.   Led by famous alcoholic Robert Pollard, GBV paved the way and created the template for scores of alternative and independent bands.  Known for their brilliant under 2 minute songs, lo fi sound, and wild stage antics (Pollard especially),  GBV released volumes of work over their  twenty some odd  career.  Formed in 1983 and disbanded in 2004, the band is back and playing at Raleigh City Plaza at 8:40. Unreal.

Also performing at City Plaza before GBW:Southern rock storytellers  The Drive By Truckers and San Francisco indie outfit The Dodo's. 

Check the HOPSCOTCH website for complete schedule! 

HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011 IS HERE!

That's right folks, the second annual Hopscotch Music Festival cranks up tomorrow with around 50 musical acts from all over the country performing in clubs and venues strewn across the downtown Raleigh area. This event is monumental in that Raleigh's history will be forever changed because such an eclectic celebration of music is  happening and will continue to grow right here.  This festival is certainly easy to describe as an "indie" music festival, but I see it as much more.  It is, in fact, a declaration that Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel hill is a fertile breeding ground for the past , present, and future of music. Bands and fans should not only recognize that fact, but also flock to our great city to take part in such an occasion.

I look forward to absorbing as much new music as humanly possible which should be no problem, as I've hardly heard 1/3 of them, save a a single off of a blog or on 88.1. 

Chapel Hill's Spider Bags are set to play the Lincoln Theater as well as  Raleigh's the Love Language-two bands who have made waves in the triangle and beyond.  Atlanta's  Black Lips are "headlining" if you chose to use that word, but I'm guessing the theatrical punk rockers from Georgia are stoked to share the stage with their triangle brethren.

Over at Fletcher Opera Hall , singer songwriter Steve Gunn, composer and avaunt guard musician Rhys Chatham, Australian cult band The Necks  and Dinosaur Juinor's Jay Mascis are on the bill. This lineup exemplifies the fact that this music festival is not pigeonholed by one single genre.

The Pour House welcomes  Prurient, Oneohtrix Point Never, Weekend, and Cold Cave.  these bands fall under the experimental and synth pop genres, so If you're into chilled out techo brushed beats and the like, I suggest camping out at The Pour House.

Scheduled to perform at The Berkley Cafe on Martin Street Man Will Destroy Himself, Durham's Hog, Brooklyn's minimalist rockers Slasher Risk, and San Francisco  noise rock outfit  Oxbow.


Also performing Thursday evening:

VENUE
Tir Na Nog Irish Pub

Twelve Thousand Armies, Tender Fruit, Cheyenne Marie Mize, and Fan Modine.

VENUE
The Hive at Busy Bee

Jack the Radio, Dustin Wong, Reading Rainbow, and electronic duo Ford and Lopatin.

VENUE
Slim's

Super Vacations, PC Worship, XRay Eyeballs, and JEFF the Brotherhood. 

VENUE
Five Star:

Yair Yona, Black Twig Pickers, Frank Fairfield, and William Tyler.

VENUE
Kings Barcade

Dinosaur Feathers, Lower Dens,  Grandchildren , Woodsmen, and Lonnie Walker.

VENUE
Deep South

Bustello, Invisible Hand, Apache Dropout, and Empress Hotel.


VENUE
 White Collar Crime

Oulip, Le Weekend, Xiu Xiu, Dan Melchior Und Das Menace.

VENUE
The Union

Cassis Orange, Yardwork, Filthy Bird, Mandolin Orange.

Ghostland Observatory Septmenber 9 at Cat's Cradle

From Austin, Texas Ghostland Observatory melds electronic synth and funk- compatible melodies with an ultra trippy light show which brings audiences into a dance frenzy not dissimilar to something you might see at a Daft Punk performance. The duo shouts lyrics, but rely mostly on the computer/synthesizer, drums, occasional guitar, and overwhelming lights to get from start to finish.  If you're into techno rock, I highly recommend seeing Ghostland Observatory at Cat's Cradle Friday September 9.

The Hold Steady at Cat's Cradle this Wednesday 8-31

If Thin Lizzy and Bruce Springsteen had a baby, it would be Brooklyn's The Hold Steady.  Since 2004, Craig Finn, Tad Kubler, Galen Polivka, Bobby Drake, and Steve Selvige have been tearing through cities putting on one of the most originally raucous live shows around.  Their style of storytelling  before a backdrop of full throttle classic rock inspired sound is one of a kind.  No topic is taboo within the narrative of The Hold Steady, giving them an R to X rated edge.  I caught them at The Cat's Cradle about 4 years ago and vividly remember thinking to myself how much I'd love to see them in a small bar somewhere.   No matter what size venue they play, The Hold Steady evokes that uniquely rowdy bar band feel.  Catch them back at Cat's Cradle Wednesday, August 31.

Kurt Vile and The Violators Tuesday 8-9 at The Cat's Cradle

My interest in Kurt Vile began with a suggestion from friends whose taste in music I trust when I must admit I'm getting weary of all these new bands - the lines are starting to blur I suppose ,or maybe I'm getting old and crotchety.

I finally decided to give Vile's Smoke Ring for My Halo a spin and was instantaneously lured into the dark corners of his psyche. I appreciated his bitterness while paralyzed by the simple yet swirling musicianship in each song.  His dialect seems untraceable, not by region, but by time.  After I had listened to "On Tour" for the millionth time, making sure I had the lyrics: "watch out for this one, he'll pump you full of lead for turning your head wrong". 

They were absolutely right, and in sync with my car singing voice (which is amazing, btw). Then I put two and two together: Kurt Vile is a nom de plume borrowed from the great German composer, Kurt Weill. And  it all came together - the societal remarks from my new Kurt compared to 1920's Kurt Weills’s socialist commentary from The Threepenny Opera began to connect.  

I don't think the Kurt Vile playing at The Cat's Cradle Tuesday August 9 draws a great deal of influence from Kurt Weill, but it's astonishingly satisfying to know the  history.  Maybe I'll get lucky and hear "Mack the Knife" next Tuesday.

This Week:

Alternative Country singer songwriter Gillian Welch and musical partner David Rawlings will bring thier spooky brand of Bluegrass and Americana  to the North Carolina Art Museum Wednesday 8-3

Acoustic guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke is performing at the NCMA Saturday 8-6.

Local musicians Matt Douglass and Chris Boerner's latest jazz outfit, The Hot at Nights, are celebrating the release of their new album at The Pour House in Raleigh Saturday 8-6.

STEELY DAN: JAZZ ROCK AMBASSADORS TO THE GALAXY this Thursday 8-4 @ the DPAC

 The one and only Steely Dan are performing this Thursday evening at the DPAC in Durham on their SHUFFLE DIPLOMACY 2011 TOUR. I've been an avid fan of the ever changing genius-centric outfit since high school, attracted primarily to the masterfully produced jazz rock elements of their seemingly perfect albums.  The older I got the more I realized that if I could live within  the lyrics of any band , it would be those of Steely Dan. An endless sex laden adventure through episodes of danger, secrecy, open joy, and more sex, all while wearing a perfectly fitting tux and a black limousine as my chariot?  Yes Please.

We haven't heard any new material from the wizards behind the curtain (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) in quite some time, so guessing from shows past, we will get a few hours of anything and everything from the immaculate Steely Dan Cannon.  I hope to hear "Pearl of the Quarter" or basically anything else from their 1973 release, "Countdown to Ecstasy."  Touring and performing with the boys this time around: The Miles High Band featuring the Embassy Brats.