The Bottom String's Hopscotch Itinerary

Hopscotch Music Festival is exactly one week away and the region is buzzing with excitement for the festival's second year, topped with legendary acts like The Flaming Lips and Guided By Voices (playing what's allegedly their last show of the reunion), Hopscotch is breaking boundaries in the Carolina music scene.  These boundaries aren't being broken just because of the gigantic bands that will be gracing the City Plaza stages on Friday and Saturday, but instead because of how centralized of a focus there still is on local bands and the local scene.  It's hard to choose between so many incredible acts over the weekend, but luckily we've taken on some help from friends and fellow writers (on our sister site Myxem) in Terry McElhennon and Kyle Bement to make sure that we cover as much of the festival as physically possible.  While the age limitations prevent me from checking out everything I want to see (alas, just one more year!), here is The Bottom String's official Hopscotch Itinerary.

Mandolin Orange announce new double album + Cat's Cradle release show

Haste Make | Hard-Hearted Stranger by Mandolin Orange
will be released on September 24, 2011

Mandolin Orange dropped a bomb on us today when they announced not only that they'd be having an album release party at The Cat's Cradle on September 24, 2011 but also that it was for a brand new double album that they'd be putting out.  Mandolin Orange is a folk-duo that's been on the cusp of something big for the better part of a year now, this release can have the power to thrust them into the limelight of the Carolina music scene right where they belong.  The band will be playing at Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh this September as well as announcing more CD release dates throughout the state including Wilmington, Asheville, and Charlotte.

Haste Make | Hard-Hearted Stranger, the new double album from Mandolin Orange was recorded over the span of the past year with Haste Make being recorded with Jeff Crawford and James Wallace in Winter 2010/2011 at Arbor Ridge Studios and Arbor Ridge Studios West in Chapel Hill and Franklin, NC respectively, produced by Jeff Crawford and Mandolin Orange.  Hard-Hearted Stranger was recorded in the summer of 2011 at Rubber Room Studios in Chapel Hill and features only Andrew and Emily, produced by Andrew himself.