AltWeeklies Wire
The instructive joy of artist-led labelsnew
Little labels started by musicians work because they understand the music industry and its oft-diminishing margins.
David Menconi recounts Ryan Adams' Raleigh yearsnew
Often funny, sad and poignant at the same time, Losering distills all the tales you might've heard about the booze- and drug-addled nervous wonder of Whiskeytown into 100 or so brisk pages.
INDY Week |
Grayson Currin |
09-19-2012 |
Nonfiction
Can reissues stretch fans too thin?new
As ever-frank heavy metal critic Kim Kelly recently wrote, "Quit reissuing things. Not everything is a fucking 'classic.'"
Tags: Album reissues
Oulipo's Primitive Waysnew
Primitive Ways sounds like the next step of an almost great band, drunk on possibilities but still learning how to present them.
Escaping the Digital Piracy Debatenew
We're not going to take away the internet, its access or the expectations of the youngest generation of listeners anytime soon, so arguing about a return to a system that has suffered for a reason seems like a waste of logic.
Sacha Baron Cohen spoofs post-9/11 U.S. in The Dictatornew
The most immediate criticism of The Dictator is also its biggest strength: It is extremely offensive.
Tags: Sacha Baron Cohen, The Dictator
The progressive interest in stylistically conservative musicnew
To call it apologetic would be reductive; to say that it's driven in part by the need to experience, understand and connect several once-forbidden dots seems closer to the essence.
INDY Week |
Grayson Currin |
04-09-2012 |
Commentary
Caltrop's Ten million years and eight minutesnew
When it's exciting, Ten million years is a reminder of the energy to be found at the borders of hard rock and heavy metal. (Holidays for Quince)
Organos' Conchanew
Organos and Concha are happily different both in source and sound, offering a humbly memorable reappraisal of the limits of pop.
Tags: Organo
Jphono1's Living Is Easynew
Living Is Easy is a new double collaboration between Jphono1—the solo project of John Harrison, veteran frontman of stormy psychedelic act North Elementary—and area graphic artist Regina McCoy and Atlanta musician Corey Pallon.
Tags: Jphono1
Gauchiste's mix of metal and electronics is free to possibilitynew
"I know a lot of metal guys who would hear the Gauchiste and go, 'So, is this a soundtrack? Are these sound effects you guys made?'"
INDY Week |
Grayson Currin |
01-18-2012 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Gauchiste
The Triangle's Top 10 Albums of 2011new
During a year when several of the Triangle's best-known bands didn't release records, area acts released, by my count, at least 30 albums that will henceforth belong in forever rotation.
North Carolina is an Inexplicable Hotbed for American Idol Heavyweightsnew
What unites Fantasia, Scotty and Clay also unites them with a lot of other artists in these parts, historically and now.
The Year in Music 2011new
Musically, in the Triangle, there's an awful lot that we don't get to every week. At the close of this year, we check a few of those pockets.
Tags: Year in Music 2011
T0W3RS' Summertimenew
In the 10 minutes of their debut EP, Chapel Hill's T0W3RS suggest a special, multivalent magic. (Diggup Tapes)
Tags: Summertime, TOW3RS
