Show Review: Mutual Benefit with Al Riggs

Mutual Benefit at Local 506 on Feb. 4

For a Tuesday night, Local 506 was unusually packed. The night started out slowly with the quiet drones of Al Riggs. The band had no drummer, just Al and his guitarist. Two guitars, an acoustic and an electric, intertwined in a melodic fog that was accompanied by cutesy gestures like handclaps. The doodles on Al Rigg's guitars added a layer of quirkiness to his music that set an atmospheric mood of coziness already.

Next up, in the short lineup of the night, was the headliner Mutual Benefit. When I was just expecting a one-man band, six people walked out and began tuning their instruments, which included violins and two synths. The beginning of the first song started slow and calm and kept building with sound until it felt like something was about to break. And it did. Jordan Lee's humble and soft voice broke through all the sound and "Strong River," the opening track from Love's Crushing Diamond began.

Throughout the show,  Lee's onstage banter was quiet and awkward, with a twist of dark humor that kept everyone smiling. The six piece band did a remarkable job at maintaining a beautiful haze over the whole audience. All of the instrumentation ebbed and flowed in the most calm and airy way. I felt entranced by the delicate violin melodies winding themselves around the soft drums, glittery synths and slow guitars. And I honestly couldn't stop grinning the whole time.

Show Preview: Yuck w/ Alvvays, and Estrangers at Local 506

Yuck will be performing at Local 506 on
Feb. 12 along with Alvvays and Estrangers

Next Wednesday, February 12, Yuck is coming through the Triangle to Chapel Hill's Local 506, joined by Alvvays and Estrangers.

The night will kick off with hazy pop rock of Phuzz Records artist Estrangers. The five piece's most recent album, Season of 1000 Colors, came out June of last year. Their songs are fuzzy and easy to listen to, upbeat and lo-fi. They've made their rounds playing all over North Carolina, including playing alongside Spider Bags and The Beets at Hopscotch Music Festival.

Alvvays will continue the bouncy pop vibe with female fronted and harmonized vocals, guitar, and synth. Coming all the way from Toronto, they're fairly new to the game as a band, releasing their debut album later this year on Royal Mountain Records. With an incredibly promising lead-off single, "Adult Diversion," there's a slew of excitement abound for their forthcoming full-length. They've also got quite a bit of clout as individual musicians, lead vocalist Molly Rankin has a successful solo project and comes from a wildly successful family of folk musicians The Rankin Family. Alvvays  have also been part of some great bills, including Wintersleep and Hospitality, giving the band strong footing as a burgeoning indie pop act .

I'm pretty excited to finally see Yuck. Tracks from their 2011 self-titled album have been a staple on virtually any running playlist I've had since. Yuck's sophomore album Glow & Behold came out on Fat Possum last September, a little over 40 minutes in length and also marked the first album without former guitarist and vocalist Daniel Blumberg.The transition in sound is pretty noticeable, with the newer songs being smoother and more melody-based. It will be interesting to see how much of their first studio album they revisit and how it's carried out without Blumberg. The band is also working on an EP to come out this year, so expect some sneak peaks into new material.

Door are at 8:30 pm and the show starts at 9:00 pm. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. For more information about the show and venue, visit www.local506.com.

First Person Plural releases video for "Dead Man"

Around this time last year I was lucky enough to stumble upon Mike Robinson's solo project First Person Plural. Previously known for his work as the bassist for Annuals, Robinson's solo work allows the musician to step forward from the rhythm section and emerge as the stellar songwriter he is.

First Person Plural contributed a track to this blog's first compilation album last spring and later in 2013 released Gold Wasp, an excellent foray into Robinson's ethos. Gold Wasp put Robinson's immersive songwriting on display, showcasing his deep, raspy voice alongside some ornately arranged tracks that range from anthemic to low-key, folk driven ballads.

Late last year Robinson gathered a few talented local cohorts to produce a video for "Dead Man" one of Gold Wasp's standout tracks. With Brian Corum (of Lonnie Walker) playing the titular role, the video follows a Weekend At Bernie's type of format, with the dead man hilariously courting a woman through his effortless swagger. With performance shots of Robinson and his former bandmate Adam Baker interspersed with the quirky video, "Dead Man" plays out as a wonderful visual companion to an already fantastic song.

The video is directed by Marisa DeLuca Shields and features scenes from Raleigh locales like The Alley and Oakwood Cemetery. Gold Wasp is currently available for purchase on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Ears to the Ground: "Creme Brulee" by Virgins Family Band ft. T0W3RS

Watching a band grow and evolve is probably one of my favorite parts of being a music listener. It's what makes it such a joy to find a band in their infancy, it's like aural cartography, watching this rich voyage taking place in front of your eyes. Such seems to be the story with Virgins Family Band, I was beyond thrilled to come upon the band before they released their first full-length record Honeylion around this time last year and sure enough here we are debuting their first new track since said debut.

"Creme Brulee" is a big step into the psychedelic frontier for Virgins, it's a fresh and invigorating take on a sound that was already brilliantly polished. While Honeylion was filled with sounds that just felt natural, "Creme Brulee" makes the listener reach a bit. Playing on heightened tensions and sharp synth lines, Virgins Family Band have taken my expectations and shattered them with a tightly focused bit of electronic experimentation.  The track reels the listener in with smooth melodies and throws them for a loop with brisk rhythmic changes and seemingly random guitar and bass fills, but there's a sense of structure to all of this absurdity. The vocals initially float wistfully atop the mix, reminiscent of their previous work, but as the track progresses they slowly mesh together with the instrumentation as harmonies bleed in and help to create a lush lyrical arrangement.

All in all "Creme Brulee" serves as a welcomed change to what I thought was an un-toppable sound. When speaking with the band about their inspiration for Honeylion they said that they chose the name for the album because that's what they felt their music sounded like. The same can be said for "Creme Brulee," while the base of the track is built around sweet and delectable melodies, it's contrasted brilliantly by a crunching synth,  and spastic instrumentation. Or maybe I just really dig food, who knows.

Check out the trippy, kaleidoscopic video for the track below or stream it on Virgins Family Bands' bandcamp page.

Show Preview: Mutual Benefit with Al Riggs

Mutual Benefit is performing at Local 506 on Feb. 4
Image courtesy of Pitchfork

Tuesday nights are good nights for shows that make you want to cry, so it's perfect that Mutual Benefit is playing a show on February 4th with Al Riggs. These two bands will take you on an emotional ride much less like a rollercoaster and more like a slow drive at dusk.

Al Riggs opens with songs that are reminiscent of Yo La Tengo's shoegazey drones. A North Carolina native, Al Riggs is a self described songwriter between Greensboro and Raleigh. Mixing electric guitar with acoustic and a lot of reverb. Al Riggs goes into intense psychedelic jams while maintaining grip on reality with sincere lyrics. 

Next, the headliner, Mutual Benefit will probably make you feel a lot of things at once including nostalgia, happiness sadness and everything in between. Mutual Benefit is the one-man project of Jordan Lee, but its not always a one-man band, just depends on his surroundings. His most recent album Love's Crushing Diamond is a folky, watery pop gem with songs taken from years of collaborating with friends. This album was one of the first bandcamp releases to be named Best New Music on Pitchfork which is quite a feat for a band that's been transient over the last couple of years, with Jordan Lee finally residing in Brooklyn, NY. Mutual Benefit is an absolute auditory treat that will leave you speechless and probably in a better place in your life.

The doors open at 8:00 PM and the show is set to start at 9:00. Tickets are $8 in advance and $9 at the door, you can purchase tickets at Local506.com

Shakori Hills announces initial lineup for Spring 2014

Indigo Girls will be performing at Spring Shakori
alongside The Del McCoury Band, Ben Sollee,
Dirty Dozen Brass Band and more

It's never to early to get amped for Shakori, the semi-annual music and arts festival that takes place in Pittsboro, NC. At this point it almost goes without saying that I'm beyond excited for these events, and with Shakori's recent land purchase there's a whole lot to be excited about now. Organizers plan on making improvements to the festival grounds and it seems as if the number of events taking place on this beloved farm are going to start increasing as well. With the hefty land acquisition behind us now, one can only imagine how thankful and excited all of the attendees for this spring's festival are going to be. Those that attend Shakori can attest to how regularly every hoped and wished for this very purchase to go through, solidifying Shakori's permanence around the community. And so far it looks like the festival is going to be giving us a lot to celebrate, as they just announced a very brief but impressive initial lineup.

Rounded out by two highly revered acts of widely different stylings, Spring Shakori brings The Del McCoury Band and Indigo Girls to the farm and helps prove the leaps and bounds that traditional folk and bluegrass music has made. Del McCoury is one of bluegrass' gatekeepers, a living legend in the genre that will be making his long awaited return to the farm (his band last performed in Fall 2007). While McCoury's band is steeped with traditionalism, Indigo Girls are a Grammy award-winning contemporary folk act that brilliantly melds a variety of rustic stylings with rich storytelling to create a moving product of folk-rock excellence. While big-name acts like McCoury and Indigo Girls always brings a slew of new-comers to the festival, the best parts of Shakori always lie within the undercard. Widely heralded acts like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the virtuosic cellist Ben Sollee will be making their Shakori Hills debut (Sollee is one I've been hoping for since I first started attending Shakori nearly four years ago) alongside Grassroots favorites like JP Harris & the Tough Choices, Driftwood and Donna The Buffalo.

Other standouts include The Last Bison, Baloji & L’Orchestra de la Katuba and local standouts Morning Brigade. Spring Shakori will be taking place from April 17-20 in Pittsboro, NC. Tickets are currently on-sale at ShakoriHillsGrassroots.org at the early-bird rate (until Feb. 23) of $90 for a 4-day weekend pass. Daily passes will become available during the regular pre-sale period of Feb. 24 - April 14. Keep an eye out for more lineup announcements, we'll keep you posted as soon as we get news!

No Age, Kool Keith & White Fence to headline Phuzz Phest 2014

Phuzz Phest is held from April 4-6 in Winston Salem, NC

Throughout the past few years the Winston-Salem music scene has slowly been revitalized, thanks mostly in part to the good folks behind Phuzz Phest. Whether it be their recently started record label (aptly titled Phuzz Records) or their work within Estrangers, it seems like Winston is firing on all cylinders lately. While previous incarnations of the festival have boasted some pretty impressive lineups, none have been as large as the just announced 2014 roster. In previous years local and regional standouts like William Tyler, Lost in the Trees and The Love Language would headline the festival, but this year there's a crew of highly esteemed nationally acclaimed acts that have filled in the marquee slots with a diverse array of locals rounding out the undercard.

Headlining this year's Phuzz Phest, which will take place at various venues around Winston Salem from April 4-6 will be No Age, Kool Keith, White Fence and Jessica Lea Mayfield, providing an incredibly rounded group of widely respected acts from multiple genres. No Age have been spearheading a new wave of D.I.Y punk, taking part in every aspect of the release of their latest album An Object (that includes packaging, recording, producing AND writing). Kool Keith has long been heralded as one of the premiere experimental hip-hop MCs, whether it be through his variety of pseudonyms like Dr. Octagon (an extraterrestrial gynecologist from Jupiter) or under his regular alias, Keith weaves together bizarre images with lyrical acrobatics that leave the listener yearning for more. White Fence is the name that Tim Presley has adopted for his fuzzed out, crackling brand of intimate rock n' roll that will fit in perfectly with the Phuzz Phest aesthetic. Jessica Lea Mayfield rounds out the national headliners with an earnest burst of heartfelt songwriting inspired by equal parts folk and country for a set that's sure to tug at heartstrings.

And while the top bills are pretty damn impressive for this local festival in its fourth year, the undercard shines just as bright. Diarrhea Planet will be bringing their highly buzzed about brand of guitar rock to Winston alongside touring acts like Ex-Hex, Yip Deceiver, Woodsman and Ex-Cult. However, the local aspect of Phuzz Phest is certainly where fans like myself are foaming at the mouth. Standouts like Mount Moriah and The Love Language are on the bill alongside punk rock mainstays like Brain F≠ and Whatever Brains. Local favorites T0W3RS, Josh Moore, Loamlands and seldom seen Trioscapes will be performing in Winston as well. Really I could just run down the entire lineup with enthusiastic boasts about these performers, but I'll leave that until closer to showtime.

Tickets for Phuzz Phest are now available on Phuzz Phest's website. A 3-Day pass runs a cool $50 while single-day wristbands are $20. Phuzz has also taken on some non-musical activities this year as well as well, as daytime events include bike races, hangover curing brunches, and a skate competition. The festival will take place across various venues in Winston-Salem including The Garage, Krankies, Ziggy's, Single Brothers Bar, Small Beer Batch Co. and West End Mill Works. Be on the lookout for more Phuzz Phest updates as they come in!