Triangle Music

Foot-in-mouth crooner John Mayer has just announced a big summer tour and will be taking Train out for some of the ride. The tour will kick off at Charlotte's Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Friday, July 16 before making it's way the next night, Saturday, July 17, to the amphitheatre at Walnut Creek in Raleigh.

Ticket info for the shows is not yet available, but we'll keep you posted. Tickets for the Raleigh show will go on sale on Friday, April 23 at 10 a.m. here for $63.50 to $30. Check out the full tour schedule below.

Both Mayer and Train were in area recently. Mayer was at the Greensboro Coliseum on March 15 and Train played the Carolina Theatre in Durham on March 10. It's certainly a sign that the concert industry in this part of the state is starting to get a lot more attention from promoters and artists (or at least their booking agents).

The big news is in! The massive 10-venue Hopscotch Music Festival organized by The Independent Weekly, coming to downtown Raleigh on Sept. 9, 10 and 11, has announced the bulk of its line-up, including some big headliners.

The big events will take place in City Plaza on Friday and Saturday nights. Friday night's headliners will be Broken Social Scene and Panda Bear along with The Rosebuds. Saturday night's headliner is iconic rap group Public Enemy backed by a full band. No Age and The Love Language are also on the bill that night.

That alone is insane, but it's much bigger than that. There will be shows each night spread across 8 blocks. The venues are the aforementioned City Plaza, The Berkley Cafe, Deep South Bar, Five Star, The Hive at Busy Bee, Kings (at it's new location on Martin Street), Lincoln Theatre, The Pour House, Slim's and Tir Na Nog.

The local Chapel Hill based Holidays For Quince Records have just released a free compilation album as a download which features twelve songs from the label's roster simply titled Compilation Vol. 1. Some of the bands featured are The Moaners, Caltrop, Mount Moriah, Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies and more.

Check out the full track list below and download the album for free as 320kpbs mp3s here.

Record Store Day is drawing closer, and like previous years, the exclusive releases for independent record stores have ramped up. It will all roll out on Saturday, April 17 and you'll be able to find all sorts of exclusive goodies at Schoolkids Records and Edward McKay Used Books and MOre in Raleigh, Offbeat Music in Durham and CD Alley in Chapel Hill.

This year's lists includes a split 7" vinyl from Merge Records featuring new songs, "I'm So Lazy" from U.K. band Let's Wrestle and "Brittany's Back" from the Triangle's own The Love Language. "Brittany's Back" has made regular appearances in Love Language sets for the past year or so.

Queen of Denmark is the resurrection of John Grant. After the implosion of his Denver-based band, The Czars, and thoughts of taking his life, Grant got second chance when label mates Midlake offered to provide him with recording time and to be his backing band and he's made the most of the opportunity.

The album, heavily influenced by the 70's with its heapings of flute and fascination with space, is varied in its themes covering everything from love lost and found to pop culture to politics. It sounds as if Grant is surveying his life to establish who he is and it's captivating to listen in on this remarkably honest and frank rediscovery of one's self.

Kings of southern rock Lynyrd Skynyrd are teaming up with reality show star and part-time Poison member Bret Michaels for a summer tour. And to top things off, 38 Special will open the tour. The tour will roll into Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh on Friday, June 18. Tickets for the show will go on sale Friday, April 2 at 10 a.m. here for $39.50 to $59.50.

The tour will also hit Charlotte's Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Saturday, June 19. Tickets for that show will go on sale on Friday, April 2 at 10 a.m. too here.

Check out the complete tour schedule below.

The new Raleigh Boutique Amphitheatre (I still can't get over that name) has just announced it's second concert of it's inaugural season. The venue will be a stop on the jampop band O.A.R.'s summer tour, which will roll into downtown Raleigh on Tuesday, Aug. 10. Citizen Cope will open the show.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, April 16 at 10 a.m. We'll keep you posted on the other details. They'll be $29.50 to $19.50 and will be available here.

In the past, O.A.R. has played at Cary's Booth Amphitheatre, so this could be a sign that the booking battle between the two venues. Hopefully, some more interesting bookings are still to come (no offense O.A.R. fans).

Check out the band's summer tour schedule below.

We have two more bands set to play the "Music in the Gardens" series organized by Duke Performances in Duke Gardens each summer. I've been itching to tell everyone that Scottish pop band Camera Obscura will be playing for little while. They will play the gardens on June 2.

Local rocker Billy Sugarfix is also set to play the gardens this summer, though considerably later. He will bring his new project dubbed Billy Sugarfix's Carousel, a five-piece chamber pop group, to the great outdoors on July 28.

So get your picnic gear and your ears ready for a great summer. Check out the complete "Music in the Gardens" series we've confirmed so far below.

The opening track from the immensely intriguing debut album, Relayted, from the collective known as Gayngs has just been released. The track is titled "The Gaudy Side of Town," which is a moody, funky tune featuring some amazing vocals by Justin Vernon. Download the song below.

If you don't know about Gayngs, check out our original post about the group and the album Relayted. The album will be released on May 11, but those who pre-order it starting on April 20, you'll get an immediate download of it.

Also, check out a series of bizarre and risque trailers for the new album below too.

The legendary Neil Young has announced a few solo southern dates in late May and early June, and though he won't be coming to the Triangle, if you're will to drive to Spartanburg, SC, you can see the man in action. He'll play the Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg on Sunday, May 30. Bert Jansch will open all of the shows on the tour.

Tickets for the Spartanburg show will go on sale on Saturday, March 27 at 10 a.m. here, though they're not cheap. The price points are $80, $100, $131 and $231.

Young's latest studio album is 2009's Fork in the Road, though his latest release is Dreamin' Man Live '92 released in December. Stream the song "Such a Woman" from the live album below where you'll also find Young's complete tour schedule.

2010 is bringing us another big release from Merge Records. This one is the first album in five years from veteran Scottish band Teenage Fanclub. It will be their tenth full-length album and it's titled Shadows. The album will be released on June 8.

Download the second track from the album titled "Baby Lee" below. It's a great jangle pop tune with smooth sweeping strings. Check out the complete Shadows track list below too.

The band plans to tour the U.S. in September. We'll keep you posted if they decide to head our way.

With a new album titled Together due out on May 4 via Matador Records, The New Pornographers have just announced a hefty North American tour in kicking off in June that will make it's way to the Triangle. The band will play in Chapel Hill at Memorial Hall on UNC's campus on Friday, June 25.

Not only are we getting the Pornographers, they're brining San Francisco band The Dodos with them as well as Seattle's The Dutchess and the Duke. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday, March 26 via etix for $25 or $22.

Download the song "Your Hands (Together)" from the new album Together below where you'll also find the complete tour schedule.

Triangle ex-patriate Tift Merritt has just announced the details of the follow-up to her 2008 album Another Country. The album is titled See You On the Moon and will be released on June 1 via Fantasy Records / Concord Music Group.

The first track from the album titled "Mixtape" is currently streaming on Merritt's website. The song is quite a departure for her, which features no drums, but a groove anchored by funky string riffs and hand claps.

Check out the complete track list for See You On the Moon below.

A somewhat unlikely pairing are hitting the road this summer on the annual Honda Civic Tour. This year young pop punk band Paramore are teaming up with twins Tegan and Sara on the tour which will kick off right here in Raleigh on Friday, July 23. Not only that, but it's the first show announced at the new amphitheater in downtown Raleigh, which has apparently been named Boutique Amphitheater.

Ticket info for the show is not available yet, but we'll keep you posted. Ticktets will go on sale on Friday, April 2 at 10 a.m. here. Prices are not available yet. Check out the complete tour schedule below.

An early televised Superchunk performance rose from the YouTube treasure trove this weekend. Check out this video of the band performing "The First Part" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on July 8, 1994, while out promoting Foolish. See how many "only in the mid-90s" bits you can pick out. It's all a little too much, and it's glorious.

Seattle's Mighty Tiger takes inspiration from sunny 60's pop, but don't stereotype them and lump them in with all the other bands in the category. Mighty Tiger isn't concerned with creating an atmosphere, a sense of nostalgia or a hippie attitude. On their debut, Western Theater, they use their influences to mold their songs, not their image, and it pays off with some compelling harmonies and memorable melodies.

“33 1/3” earns every bit of praise it is getting on the web. Its melody – and I do not write this lightly – is perfect. The vocal line ascends into a short, but soaring climax and listeners will be singing along by the end of their first listen. Every bit of the song (well, except for the weak drum solo outro) is delicious.

Here is easily one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. At his recent concert in Charlotte at the Fillmore, Ben Folds logged on to the new random chat service called Chatroulette and played songs for and about the people who popped up to chat. He has been kind enough to share a video of the experience with us. The toilet guy is particularly funny. Don't worry about content because they edited out the penises. Check it out below.

Folds will be playing at Meymandi Hall in Raleigh this Thursday, March 25 with the North Carolina Symphony. Tickets are currently sold out, but a few more may get released closer to the show. Check here for more info.

As the South By Southwest Music Conference is well into it's third day down in Austin, TX, I thought I'd round up a few videos of local bands that have made their way online thus far. Below you'll see the new Love Language line-up performing "Blue Angel," Carolina Chocolate Drops performing "Hit 'Em Up Style" and Mac and Laura from Superchunk performing "Throwing Things."

There are a lot more local bands down there, so hopefully we'll see some more of them soon. Stay tuned.

Here's an update on the showing of the documentary Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields. The film will be screened on Saturday, April 10 at 10:20 p.m. at Fletcher Hall at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. Advance tickets for films will be available starting on April 1. They will be $15 in advance. Box office tickets will be made available on April 8 for $10.

See you there.

Amazing singer-songwriter and producer Alex Chilton, best known as part of the band Big Star, has died at the age of 59. He was taken to a New Orleans hospital where he was pronounced dead. He is believed to have suffered a heart attack.

Chilton was scheduled to to perform with Big Star at the SXSW Music Conference in Austin, TX on Saturday, March 20.

Chilton wrote so many great songs during his career, so I pulled two of my many favorites for you to stream below, "September Gurls" and "Life is White." Time to give the my copy #1 Record / Radio City a spin.

The big announcement about the Hopscotch Music Festival was supposed to happen at the end of February, but the month came and went. It's a big undertaking, so it's natural that things are taking a little longer than planned, but in the meantime, we're getting a bit antsy. The organizers have been dropping some not-so-subtle hints about the line-up on Twitter, so check out the six bands that are just a drop in the collective bucket below.

We'll bring you the big announcement as soon as we can. It'll hopefully be in the next few weeks.

[UPDATE: The event is on Sept. 9, 10 and 11. According to info that's popped up on etix, three-day, all venue passes will be $85. A three-day pass for just clubs will be $45. There will be VIP three-day passes for $120. It's not clear yet what each price level will entail. There will also be individual tickets available for shows at City Plaza on Sept. 10 and 11 for $30 and $25 respectively. We'll get this all cleared up once the official announcement is made, but at least you have an idea about how much money you need to set aside.]

The jam band that just keeps on going, for some reason, have announced a big summer tour that's coming to the Triangle. Of course I'm talking about Phish. The band will hit the amphitheatre at Walnut Creek on Thursday, July 1. Tickets for the show go on sale on Saturday, April 3 at 10 a.m. here for $42.50. There is also the obligatory pre-sale via Phish's own ticketing service.

The band will also hit Charlotte's Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre the following night, Friday, April 4. Ticket info for that one is not available yet.

Less than a year after the break-up of The Everybodyfields, singer and songwriter Sam Quinn is already gearing up to release his first full length album. It's titled The Fake That Sunk a Thousand Ships and was recorded with his new band Japan Ten. It will be released on May 11 via Ramseur Records

Quinn and the Ten will take the album on tour this year, and one of the first dates announced is at Local 506 in Chapel Hill on Friday, May 28. Tickets are on sale now via etix for just $8.

Check out video performances of two songs from the new album, "Hello" and "Late the Other Night," recorded at Ramseur Records HQ below.

It's a big day for tour announcements. Next on the block is Nashville rockers Kings of Leon. The band have just announced a massive summer tour, which will bring the quartet back to the Triangle.

The band played Cary's Booth Amphitheatre in April 2009, and will take a big step up to the big shed in Raleigh. They'll play the Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek on Monday, Sept. 13. Tickets for the show will go on sale this Saturday, March 20 at 10 a.m. here for $36.50 to $56.50.

They'll also stop in Charlotte at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Friday, Sept. 10. Tickets for that show will on sale on Saturday, March 20 at 10 a.m. too here at the same price points.

With their latest EP, Sweet Sister, Annuals has given us a sampler of varied pop soundscapes they can create. While all five tracks are markedly different, they all share the same tight production and smooth vibe.

The EP starts strong with “Loxstep,” a high energy mix of Latin and island rhythms. Every second of the track is filled with multiple instruments: guitars, drums, synths and even vibraslap. In the hands of a lesser producer it would be a mess, but the production of frontman Adam Baker fits everything together perfectly.

Hot on the heels of her "Telephone" video release, Lady Gaga has announced the North American leg of her 2010 Monster Ball tour, including stops in both Raleigh and Charlotte.

Lady Gaga will play Raleigh's RBC Center on Sunday, September 19, and Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena on Saturday, September 18. Tickets will go on sale in select markets on March 19, but no official word on Raleigh or Charlotte ticket sales just yet. Virgin Mobile and Citi customers will have access to ticket presales tomorrow, March 16, at 10 a.m.

[UPDATE: Tickets for the RBC Center show go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 9, for $49.50, $85 or $175. Charlotte tickets will go on sale at the same time for $51.50, $87 or $177.]

Depending on your opinion on Lady Gaga, whose fame has skyrocketed this past year, this news will either be met with a shrug of indifference or an all out joygasm. Gaga loyalists, whom the artist refers to has her little monsters, treat concerts the same was a Star Wars geek would a convention. That is to say, the costumes and garish makeup won't be limited to the stage.

Lady Gaga's latest video, a nine minute Tarantino-inspired collaboration with Beyonce, is after the jump, as well as a complete list of tour dates.

The local lads and lady of I Was Totally Destroying It have spread their reach to the southern hemisphere. The song "Come Out, Come Out" from the band's latest album Horror Vacui is being used in television ads for the Brazilian wireless phone service provider Vivo.

It's fitting that the company picked that song, because it's by-and-far, the strongest song on the album. Hopefully the band was able to pick up a little scratch for licensing the song too. Check out both the full-length version and the 30 second edit of the commercials below.

Baltimore duo Wye Oak just keep cranking out new music. They just released their latest full-length album The Knot last July and have a new EP out. It's titled My Neighbor / My Creator and will be released digitally via the usual outlets on April 20 and on CD on June 8. But, the EP is available now as a digital download via the Merge Records' website.

The EP features four new tracks and a remix of "That I Do" by Mickey Free. Download the new song "I Hope You Die" below along with the tracklist.

The CD version of new EP will be available in advance of the release date at Wye Oak's upcoming tour dates, including the date with Shearwater and Hospital Ships at Local 506 on Thursday, March 25. Tickets are $10 in advance here. Check out more dates below.

The new incarnation of The Love Language (with the new band members) have lined up some new shows ahead of the SXSW music conference in Austin, TX.

The very first show featuring the new line-up will be at Broad Street Cafe in Durham tomorrow night, March 12 with The Pneurotics, The Loners, The Travesties and D-Town Brass. The show is a benefit for Reese McHenry of The Dirty Little Heaters, who was slammed with a health insurance premium hike after surgery in December. The cover is just $5, though I'm sure a little extra won't be turned away.

Let's Wrestle's debut In the Court of the Wrestling Let's is an honest introduction to a band that relies on energy, humor and decent melody to make its music.

At its best this album sounds like the perfect soundtrack to a summer afternoon of imaginary WWE in the backyard. Songs like “We are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon” and “Song for Old People” are carefree, driving and triumphant and conjure up images of some goofy chaps running about and creating mischief. It obvious this is the sound with which Let’s Wrestle is most comfortable.

The eighth LP from Matt Pond PA will be out on April 6 titled The Dark Leaves, and the New York group will hit the road this spring to promote it. The tour will stop at Local 506 in Chapel on Saturday, May 22. Bobby Long will open the show and tickets go on sale Friday, March 12 for $10 via etix. Hopefully the band won't suffer the from the same bad mixing that plagued their March 2008 show at the Cat's Cradle.

Download the song "Starting" from the new album via the link below. You'll also find more tour dates below too.

With the release of She & Him's sophomore album Volume Two just a couple of weeks away (March 23 to be exact), the first music video has been released for the lovely tune "In the Sun." The charming video features Zooey Deschanel and a group of dancers following M. Ward, the too cool for school guy, through a school. Ward's retro outfit alone is worth a viewing. Watch it after the break.

The video was directed by Peyton Reed who has directed videos for Superchunk as well as the films Yes Man and The Break-Up. He and Phil Morrison were the MCs for one of the nights of the XX Merge Festival in Carrboro last July. Speaking of XX Merge, check out photos and a review of She & Him's set from the festival here.

Have you ever wanted to know more about the seemingly grumpy, but phenomenal songwriter Stephin Merritt? Now you'll have your chance. It has just been announced that the new documentary about Merritt titled Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields will be screened during the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, which will take place on April 8-11.

The specific date and time of the screening as well as ticket info is not available yet, but you can buy a pass to the entire festival here. We'll keep you posted on the Strange Powers details.

Check out the trailer for the film below.

The Oscar winning duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, better known as The Swell Season, are gearing up for a new U.S. tour that will bring them back to Raleigh. They last played here in May 2008 at Meymandi Hall, which was a fantastic show. You can read that review here.

This time, the band will grace the outdoor stage at the North Carolina Museum of Art on Friday, May 21. Ticket info is not yet available for the show, but we'll keep you posted. Tickets are on sale now here for $30 or $20.

Check out the Triangle Music review of The Swell Season's latest album Strict Joy here.

Here's a quirky little nostalgia tour rolling across the United States this summer. REO Speedwagon and Bat Benatar are teaming up for a co-headline tour that will bring the the 70s/80s hit-makers to Cary's Booth Amphitheatre on Thursday, Sept. 2.

Tickets for the show will go on sale Friday, March 12 at 10 a.m. here. Tickets for reserved seating and tables will be $59.50 and lawn seats will be $39.50. Strangely, the show is currently scheduled to start at 6 p.m., which is early for a show on a weeknight. How many people are going to get stuck in traffic trying to make it to the show from work?

Check out more tour dates below.

Virginia born songwriter, singer and musician Mark Linkous, who lived western North Carolina, has sadly died after committing suicide on Saturday, March 6. Little has been confirmed yet about the incident, and many reports are even unable to confirm his age.

[UPDATE: The New York Times has reported that Linkous shot himself in the heart in an alley outside a friend's home in Knoxville, TN and was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 47.]

Linkous is known as the creative force behind Sparklehorse and was reportedly close to completing a new album that would have been released by Anti- Records. His collaboration with Danger Mouse titled Dark Night of the Soul that was leaked last year after disputes with EMI arose, is finally going to be officially released sometime later this year.

I mentioned back in January when we posted The Rosebuds' Daytrotter session that I'd love to hear a Megafaun session, and know that wish has been granted. The band's session went up on Saturday and features "Gather, Form & Fly," "Kaufman's Ballad," a funkalicious version "His Robe" and an extra-long version of "Drains," clocking in at 10 minutes. Stream or download the excellent session here.

In case you missed it before, the band will be playing a big show at the Cat's Cradle on Friday, May 7 with Mount Moriah and Great White Jenkins. Tickets are available now for $10 via etix or the usual places around the Triangle. Check out the rest of Megafaun's upcoming dates below.

Canadian musician/group Caribou have announced a huge North American tour in support of his new album Swim which will be released on April 20 via Merge Records. The tour will bring him to the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro on Wednesday, May 12. Tickets will be $12 and will go on sale soon via etix. South Carolina's Toro Y Moi will open the show.

Check out the rest of the north American dates below along with a download of the track "Odessa" and the video for the song. Check out more info on the album Swim here.

We're still well over two months away from the start of the always awesome Summer in the Gardens series put on by Duke Performances, but a trio of bands have already been announced. Local bands Annuals and The Kingsbury Manx will grace the gardens on May 26 and July 14 respectively. The third performer is Oklahoma songstress Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers on June 29, who is signed to Ramseur Records out of Concord, NC. The full Summer in the Gardens schedule will be released on April 15.

Check out mp3s from each of the three bands below, including a brand new track from Annuals upcoming EP Sweet Sister, due out on March 30. Keep an eye out for a review of the EP in a few weeks.

Check out our past coverage of the Summer in the Gardens series here.

It's about time for another free local show organized by the folks over at The Daily Tarheel's Diversions blog. As always, the show will be at Local 506 in Chapel Hill and this semester it will feature Luego, The Beast and The Dirty Little Heaters. It'll happen on Friday, April 9, so we're still a month away so mark your calendars.

Luego's latest album Taped-Together Stories is available to download via BandCamp via the name your own price system (though there's a $3 minimum). Check out some mp3s from the other bands below.

It would seem that Alice In Chains really isn't Alice In Chains without founding member and frontman Layne Staley who died in 2002, but don't tell that to the remaining members. The band reformed in 2006 with a new singer, William DuVall of Comes With the Fall, and he's been with the band ever since.

Now that the history lesson is done, the band are currently out on a tour supporting their new album Black Gives Way To Blue, released in September. The first leg of the tour is sold out, including tonight's show in Charlotte [the Charlotte show was postedponed until April 20 due to band illness], but new dates have been added, including a stop at Memorial Auditorium in downtown Raleigh on Wednesday, April 21. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday, March 5 at 9 a.m. here for $45.

The energetic and fun-loving Chicago quartet (now living in Los Angeles) that go by the name OK Go are hitting the road this spring in support of their new album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The band will play Raleigh's Lincoln Theatre on Tuesday, May 11. Tickets will go on sale Friday, March 5 via etix for $15. Earl Greyhound will open the show. Check out OK Go's tour schedule below.

The band has been in a battle with their label EMI over the distribution of their new video via YouTube and other sites, leading to frontman Damian Kulash's New York Times op-ed last month. The fight is over the embedding of the band's videos, so on that note, you can view the video for "This Too Shall Pass" here, but we can't embed it. It's another clever and kitschy video from the group, featuring an ever growing marching band in a grassy field.

One of the best and most ambitious bands in the Triangle, Lost in the Trees, are moving on up in the world. The band, led by songwriter and singer Ari Picker, have inked a deal with Anti- Records. The label is home to many great artists including Neko Case, Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Dr. Dog.

The label will rerelease Lost in the Trees full-length album All Alone in an Empty House on May 11 with two new tracks. The album will finally be available on CD at the time. Via Trekky, the album was vinyl or download only.

Since their first record, Cove, was about as quiet as can be, A Weather had only one way to go on their follow-up: louder. Everyday Balloons is more dynamic and makes use of all five members of the band.

A Weather's rhythm section, once relegated to only keeping the beat and announcing chord changes, has a much more prominent role. They drive the dynamics louder, play off the vocals, and are even given the occasional counter-melody. Enough restraint is shown that when the band does rise above mezzo forte or introduce an intricate line, it stands out. While their role is increased, the rhythm section is once again not the attraction.