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08.28.09Get Out, NC! – Midtown Dickens CD Release ShowIt's no secret that the North Carolina music scene is exploding with great local talent, and with the popular releases of both Megafaun and Bowerbirds this summer it seems the eyes of the alternative nation are shifting toward the Triangle. I wonder if the folks at Pitchfork know that there's another highly anticipated local release happening this summer that everyone should be just as excited about, and that's the Midtown Dickens new album Lanterns. We here at Dust Sleeve have already introduced you to the folksy female trio, so hopefully you've been following them closely enough to realize their album ...
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04.20.09Music Lesson…TRKfestWith last weeks lesson on this summers upcoming local NC festival, XX Merge Fest, I felt it was only fitting to unveil the likes of another epic festival to your summers. No, it's not Bonnaroo or that Lollapawhatsit, but TRKfest. Chapel Hill's Trekky Records is home to some of the best local artists around, and they sure know how to inspire the d.i.y community. In celebration and support of one of a the Trekky Artist Collective mark your calendars and get your worlds rocked at the second annual TRKfest. With performances from: MegafaunLost in the TreesIvan RosebudEmbarrassing FruitsHammer No More the FingersThe ...
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04.06.09Music Lesson: Merge RecordsA while ago I did a series on the differences between what makes a record label major or indie. Today I'd like to point some attention at a local NC label that is doing a little celebrating this year, Chapel Hill's own Merge Records. In 1989 the group Superchunk (originally just Chunk) decided they wanted to release a record, so they made up their own label and decided to call it Merge. Exactly 20 years later Merge has gained one hell of a track record, from being the relocated home to some of the Elephant Six Collective (Neutral Milk Hotel, Music ...
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03.30.09Music Lesson: Elephant Six Recording CompanyFor some reason I never got around to making all of the connections on the Elephant Six Recording Company until last year when I read about their reunion Holiday Shows, specifically the one in Louisville, KY (details). I was a huge fan of the bands Neutral Milk Hotel, Of Montreal, and The Apples In Stereo, but I had no idea that they were connected. Once I started researching E6 and it's interconnected members, I felt like I was being inducted into some secret society (although the label isn't much of a secret, and I guess I wouldn't be much of ...
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02.23.09Music Lesson: UnsignedThis is the last installment in the Music Lesson series on labels. Just to recap, we've learned: a) A band is considered to be signed to a major label if they release music under one of the big four, whether directly or through one of their many sub-labels. b) A band is considered to be signed to an independent label if they release music under one of the many independently owned labels who do not operate through one of the big four. This week we're going to look at the last category of label signage, and that would be the unsigned or self-released. Most ...
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02.16.09Music Lesson: Independent Record LabelsFor last week's music lesson I attempted to clear up the confusion behind what constitutes a record label to be considered "major". This week we'll delve into the independent label. Luckily this is really simple. Any label that is not owned or funded by one of the big four (EMI, Universal, Sony and Warner) is considered Independent. There are a lot of alternative artists on labels that you might assume are independent, but check into them first, you'd be surprised by how many labels the majors secretly own. Independent record labels are not a novel concept. One of the most famous examples ...
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02.09.09Music Lesson – Major LabelsThanks to our good friend the Internet a lot has changed in the music industry. Seriously. A lot. The words "independent label" or "self released" or "major release" get thrown around a lot and I think some clarification is deserved on this topic. So the next few Music Lessons will be a series that will hopefully clear up any label confusion. This weeks lesson: Major labels. It used to be that you needed to get signed to a major label to "make it", so to speak. In other words, if you want to be able to schedule a tour, have proper ...
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02.02.09Music Lesson: ShoegazingBefore there was grunge in the US, there was shoegazer rock in the UK. Through my throws in the music sea, I've heard the genre "shoegazer" tossed around quite a bit but never really understood what kind of music it referred to. I finally decided to get my wikipedia on and here's what I know.During the 80's there was a trilogy of British bands who encouraged a wave of bands with similar behavior and sound (the shoegazers). These preemptive three were The Jesus & Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine. What resulted as the 80's grew into the 90's ...
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01.26.09Music Lesson: Ambient MusicFriday's brief dip into Brian Eno's musical repertoire encouraged me to dedicate an entire post to the term and genre that the maestro coined - "ambient music".You've probably heard the term before, and you probably know what it means. At it's simplest, ambient music is what you think of as background music, or environmental noise. There are no words, no lyrics, and usually only a few instruments. Dance music such as house and trance technically falls into this genre, although it is inherently very different from its predecessors. According to wikipedia, it is a genre in which "sound is more ...
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01.20.09Music Lesson: Protest Songs and the Civil Rights MovementIn honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., today's music lesson will touch on protests songs during the civil rights movement. As previously mentioned I host a folk show at my college radio station. During my research and investigation into the history of the genre I quickly learned that folk music has constantly been a medium for social and political activism since the birth of this country. Traditionally, folk songs tend to be simple in composition but poetic and meaningful in their lyrical content, providing the natural genre for songs of protest. During McCarthyism folk music was shoved into hiding, but ...
