New Mountain Goats album "All Eternals Deck" now streaming on NPR

"All Eternals Deck" will be released on March 29th, 2011 on
Merge Records

The new Mountain Goats album, "All Eternals Deck", to be released on March 29 by Merge Records, is now streaming in its entirety on NPR.  It's the first release by The Mountain Goats on North Carolina based Merge Records.  For those that wish to take a peek at the album before its official release head on over to NPR's website and check it out here!

Album Review: "Desert Etiquette" by Floating Action

"Desert Etiquette" was released on February 15, 2011 on
Park The Van

Seth Kauffman is the Black Mountain, NC based songwriter behind Floating Action, and I mean that in every aspect of it.  Kauffman writes, produces, and plays nearly every instrument on the new album "Desert Etiquette", and with all of the entrancing sounds that he produces that should be considered quite the feat.  Kauffman creates an incredible blend of sounds on this record that's filled with reverberated vocals and hypnotic guitar lines that draw you deeper and deeper into this world that Kauffman brilliantly orchestrates.

Hear Here: Week of February 21

Another week of great shows coming up in North Carolina for you to check out, and there is a little bit of something for everybody.  Lots of great local bands have some awesome shows coming up this week with awesome bills all throughout the Triangle!  Between the Birds of Avalon record release show, the return of The Get Up Kids, and a bill that's sure to keep Motorco rocking all night with American Aquarium and Onward, Soldiers.

Album Review: "12 Desperate Straight Lines" by Telekinesis

"12 Desperate Straight Lines" was released on
February 15, 2011 on Durham's Merge Records

Michael Benjamin Lerner set quite the watermark for himself after releasing his debut record with Telekinesis back in 2009 when he released his debut record "Telekinesis!", produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie.  Lerner put out a record full of great pop songs, and naturally the pressure would be turned up for the dreaded sophomore album, where some artists simply fall off of the wagon.  Lerner does not fall into this category with his follow up of "12 Desperate Straight Lines", also produced by Walla.  With a new lineup including Jason Narducy (Bob Mould band) and Cody Votolato (Jaguar Love, Blood Brothers) and a darker direction, this Seattle based artist, signed to Durham's Merge Records, improves leaps and bounds with his songwriting on "12 Desperate Straight Lines".

I Was Totally Destroying It releases new single and announces subscription club

Photo by Jason Arthurs

I Was Totally Destroying It is going to have quite the busy year in 2011.  The band that started out as your average pop punk group has continued to dig deeper and deeper, finding themselves leaving behind the old moniker and ensconcing themselves in a new sound filled with captivating hook and an insatiable need to hear more from this band.  Well in 2011, you'll get just that as I Was Totally Destroying It will be releasing two full lengths this year, the first of which they've just dropped their first single for called "Regulators".

On April 12, the band will be releasing "Preludes" via Greyday Records, but since they're putting out another full length record, "Vexations", as well this year they've set up a cost effective subscription club for their fans to get the most out of their money, and it's definitely a package worth checking out.  The details are as followed:

Hear Here: Week of February 14

For the second installment of Hear Here there's a slight branch out towards the western part of the state to catch an awesome show, but most of the action lies in the Triangle yet again.  Between the stripped down encore performance of Big Star's "Third", another great Local Beer, Local Band, and the second show in the "Bottom String Presents", there's going to be plenty of great live music going on around the state this week.

Hear Here: Week of February 7

Being surrounded by so many great artists and venues, it's hard to keep track of all of the great shows going on around you...so I'm doing it for you!  This is the first installment of The Bottom String's "Hear Here", a weekly update of all of the best shows going on throughout the state that you should be checking out.

Album Review: "Time Taunts Me" by Lost in the Trees

"Time Taunts Me" was released on February 1, 2011
on Trekky Records

Lost in the Trees was a band that you couldn't go a day without hearing about in the North Carolina music scene in 2010.  They were a very busy band, especially after the re-issue of "All Alone In An Empty House" on Anti-Records.  Well the band started off 2011 with a bang as well, announcing the re-release of their 2007 EP, "Time Taunts Me" with Trekky Records, but also including three previously unreleased songs ("Ballroom Dancing", "Utterly Alone", and "Lamp Post"), giving the album a much grander feel than the initial EP.  These re-recordings show just how much Ari has evolved over the years as a musician, especially to go back and finish crafting such already brilliant songs and making them sound even better than before.