Photo By Lauren Bland Tater Tots, Double Downs, Beer, and a Fantastic Evening of Music with Admiral Fallow (Sponsored by Speakers in Code) Presenting a show isn’t as easy as it looks – in fact, it’s hard work. We learned quite a few lessons in our efforts to bring Admiral Fallow to Durham, North Carolina the … Read more
Before Bon Iver and Megafaun separately blew the hell up, both bands were collectively part of DeYarmond Edison, the now defunct NC via WI super-group of folk power. Consisting of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and Megafaun members Joe Westerlund, Phil Cook and Brad Cook, they were poised to become the biggest thing to come out … Read more
Gifted with a voice that is as much sandpaper as it is silk, Wylie Hunter has taken his talent to the next level by also wielding a heavy pen. His lyrics are intimate and poetic, and play well beyond the songwriter’s twenty-three years. And the highs and lows that he speaks of are matched by … Read more
Here’s some North Carolina love for this Tuesday morning – from one local artist to another. Scott Avett (one of The Avett Brothers) recorded the video below for your viewing pleasure, performing Bombadil’s song “Marriage” from their album Tarpits and Canyonlands released last year via Ramseur Records. Now I’m not sure which version I like more…
North Carolina’s Some Army are long-time favorites of us here at Speakers In Code, and we’re very pleased today to share the premiere of “Fever”, both the first track off their upcoming long-awaited LP, as well as the primary track on a limited run cassette tape they’ll be sharing this weekend at Hopscotch Music Festival. … Read more
In an email to Matt Robbins, White Cascade’s drummer and just 1 of 3 men named Matt that make-up the band — I described coming back to the blog after a month-long-paternity-leave as a fog slowly starting to lift. Indeed, it’s a slow process re-immersing myself in all things musical. The aural properties have to … Read more
All photos by Agatha Donkar Cardiff noise-rockers Joanna Gruesome brought an electric show to the Cat’s Cradle Back Room last week. Check out our photos below, and the band’s releases to date and remaining US tour dates here.
Note: This piece was written by current teacher of dance arts at Northwood High School in Pittsboro, North Carolina, Leah Smith. I can confer she does indeed know what makes great-artists great, and has all credentials needed for writing the below review. She is Speakers in Code verified. As someone involved with the arts on … Read more
With the release of their stellar mini-album Heretofore a few weeks back, newly-minted North Carolina heroes, Megafaun, are releasing a free MP3 of “Carolina Days” for our listening pleasure. The timing couldn’t be more right for this anthem about their/my home state since the weather down here is finally cooling off and that smell of Autumn … Read more
Daaaamn! It’s almost September, and us cool-music loving people in the Triangle are starting to get fully pumped for the inaugural three-day festival that is the Hopscotch Music Festival. It takes place September 9th, 10th, and 11th all over downtown Raleigh and has some pretty amazing bands (full schedule here) taking to small stages for … Read more
Fellow vinyl lovers in the Triangle area take note! The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is presenting a groundbreaking exhibition that explores the culture of vinyl records through 50 years of contemporary art. The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl features work by 41 artists from around the world, from the 1960s to the … Read more
When trying to introduce Megafaun to the masses, it’s hard not to bring up the fact they were three of the four members of the Raleigh band DaYarmond Edison. Reason being – the fourth member of that band was Justin Vernon, otherwise known as everyone’s favorite indie-folkie Bon Iver. But as our Jam of the … Read more
All photos by Agatha Donkar If you went back and compiled the most used words in my concert reviews from the last six years, I bet you dollars to donuts that “joy”, “connection”, and “energy” are probably the most used. Because that’s what I look for in a live performance, joy and a connection between … Read more
Well, here’s your chance to do something pretty awesome – and of course reap the benefits at the same time. Because good deeds really don’t feel good unless you get some shit in return. The History: It’s been eight long years since the release of Crooked Fingers’ unbelievable Reservoir Songs EP, which found leader Eric … Read more
The musical journey can lead down some unexpected and convoluted roads – and my path to Future Islands has ended with me kicking myself for not finding them sooner. Let me lay it all out for you. My good friend and fellow music junkie Ty recently told me to give them a listen. Living in … Read more
What began as a just-for-fun split-45 by a couple of seasoned songwriters, quickly evolved into something that’s pretty damn exciting to hear. The Parting Gifts, whose core consists of Greg Cartwright of North Carolina’s Reigning Sound and CoCo Hames of The Ettes, have given us a little Monday mornin’ present, and it’s the kind that … Read more
There are a few things that people who grew up in places like North Carolina understand that others may not. The first is it’s not really summer until the sound of cicadas drown out any other noise around. Second, fall smells differently here – and most of us spend the year looking forward to that … Read more
To start the week – a quick geography lesson. The Triangle area of North Carolina includes three primary cities: Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. It’s located in the Piedmont region of the state, nestled quaintly three hours from the mountains and two hours from the beach. Culturally, it’s the epicenter of the state, fueled no … Read more
I met with La Strada’s singer/accordion player James Craft before the show – fully admitting I had no prior knowledge of the band outside a few listens of what they have posted on their MySpace page. The songs I had heard, were somewhat deceptive streaming over the internet on my sweet, tiny PC speakers at … Read more
Photo by Agatha Donkar It’s with great pleasure today that Speakers In Code is sharing Time In The Chevron, the new album from Chapel Hill rockers JPhono1. JPhono1 is the non de plume and often solo outlet of John Harrison, a veteran North Carolina rocker with dozens of projects in his past and at the present, … Read more
All photos by Agatha Donkar Brian Fallon, formerly the front man of the Gaslight Anthem, is on a short East Coast tour promoting his upcoming solo debut, Painkillers, out March 11 this year — with a band made up of a Gaslight bandmate, Ian Perkins (with whom Fallon recorded 2011’s Elsie under the name … Read more
What you see is not there What you feel is not fair What you’re hearing is wrong What you have is not gone Speakers has been fans of Chapel Hill’s Lilac Shadows since their beginnings, and their latest record, Brutalism, is no exception. It’s moody and atmospheric, there’s punctuation in one of the song titles … Read more
Photo courtesy Anti- Records The first time I saw Lost in the Trees, there were 15 or 16 people on stage — nearly half a chamber orchestra, multiple percussionists, all backing the lush songwriting of frontman Ari Picker. Since then, Picker has changed directions and changed his sound, while never losing the lush tones of … Read more
Jon Spencer – Photo | Aggie Donkar The Blues Explosion rumbled into to North Carolina last night…leaving a wake of sweat, ringing eardrums, and frayed vocal chords behind them. And for any naysayer who may have been poised in the crowd, waiting to tattle that the blues is somehow NOT number one, well, they disseminated positively disgruntled, … Read more
While the comparison is rarely made, a music blogger is very much like a gynecologist. While educational level, work ethic, and general IQ vary greatly between said professions, we both have the distinct pleasure of delivering people’s babies for them. The only real difference is — OBGYNs pull bloody, screaming creatures that look like large … Read more
We’re ankle deep in the 21st century by now, and the whole “festival” thing is starting to sound a bit passé, don’t you think? Mark my words, in the not-so-distant future music summits will be all the rage, leaving the music festival behind as a relic of the past. The way I understand it, the … Read more
Chapel Hill’s Mipso have come a long way since I interviewed them a few years ago: dropped a word from their name (they were going by Mipso Trio then), added a full-time fiddler, probably even graduated from college (all three members were students at UNC at then). The strength of their songwriting has changed, too … Read more
Sunday evening, for the first time in my life, I questioned the physical demands of the tambourine. Not only could all that to-and-fro shaking possibly tear a rotator cuff, but the incessant pounding could very well rupture the radial artery running through one’s wrist/palm area, causing a slow and painful death. Seth Sullivan puts his … Read more
Well folks, religion failed me once again. See, I was handed this story from some divine being, which I quickly transcribed and posted to this very blog, recounting the fated evening when Jesus peer-pressured Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger into imbibing irresponsibly, having sex, thus producing offspring that would one day form Foxygen. Much like most stories … Read more
Photo | Ryan Dickie Helado Negro and I come from very different places. He grew up in South Florida, the son of immigrants from Ecuador, where his life was infused with various Latin American cultures. He spent his days surrounded by pounding bass beats from passing cars, boom boxes bouncing down the block, and late-night … Read more