Correction: This article has been revised to correct an error that misstated Raleigh-based band Kooley High's hometown.
When B.J. Burton first envisioned a compilation of the Triangle’s finest musicians, he knew it would be no small undertaking.
In an area known for its record labels, venues and a music scene that has nurtured everyone from Superchunk to Ben Folds Five, the task of encompassing the best up-and-coming bands in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill is an intimidating prospect.
Months later, with a list of bands that reads like a who’s-who of local music, Flying Tiger Sound, Burton’s new Raleigh studio, and Terpsikhore records have created Hear Here: The Triangle, an album that spans genres, labels and three different cities — a compilation that encapsulates the best music the Triangle has to offer.
“When we first opened up in March, it was kind of an idea that I had floating in my head,” Burton said of the compilation.
“It was kind of hard to execute without the help of someone that’s in music.”
When Terpsikhore Records, the label behind such local bands as Lonnie Walker and Sunfold, entered the equation, he found an industry ally. Once Annuals bassist Mike Robinson and Mikey Perros of N.C. State radio station WKNC signed on, Hear Here went from a dream to a reality.
Burton, Robinson, and Perros met at Local Beer, Local Band night at Raleigh’s Tir Na Nog pub, where many of the featured artists on the compilation have played.
Perros found that the similarities between WKNC and those involved in crafting Hear Here made the station an ideal partner.
“I feel like WKNC’s mission statement, in my view, is to cultivate the local music community, and I feel like this compilation does that or at least helps to do that,” he said.
Along with the mission of promoting local music, the compilation will support visual art by supporting the Visual Art Exchange, a Raleigh-based charity that assists emerging artists and fosters art in the community.
When making this record, its creators wanted to make sure they weren’t focusing on any one genre of music.
“We wanted to do something that really put Raleigh on the map as far as how many different types of music we have here,” Burton said.
“From day one, we were like, ‘Alright, we don’t want to overdo this with indie.’”
Groups like Kooley High, a Raleigh-based hip-hop group, and Colossus, a metal band, exemplify the diversity Burton strived to achieve with this compilation.
Though the songs on Hear Here span almost every conceivable genre, it would be a mistake to write the compilation off as disjointed.
Burton’s distinctive recording style ensures that each track melds with the album as a whole, despite major differences in each group’s sound.
“I have characteristics when I record,” Burton said. “I try not to sterilize people’s music.”
The clear sound of his recording is especially evident on The Love Language’s “Horophones,” which cleans up the band’s sound without eliminating the lo-fi quality that distinguished the band’s first album.
With Hear Here’s impressive line-up came the challenges of accommodating each band’s schedule.
Scott Nurkin of Birds of Avalon, one of the groups included on the compilation, found that coming up with a track for the album meant getting creative with the recording process.
“I did some prerecording at a home studio, and then had to go away for a job, so they took what I did and went to the studio and recorded the rest of the stuff there,” he said.
Scheduling conflicts also meant that Birds of Avalon, like many other groups, didn’t get to interact with other musicians on the compilation.
“As far as being involved with the other musicians, it was pretty isolated,” Nurkin said. The upcoming show at Cat’s Cradle will give featured acts The Never, Birds of Avalon and Hammer No More the Fingers a chance to interact.
Burton found similar challenges when trying to record the tracks at Flying Tiger Studios.
“I left open three weeks and said to the bands, ‘Tell me when you can come in and we’ll do it — if it’s four in the morning, we’ll do it,’” he said.
With the help of a few recording sessions that lasted throughout the night, Burton managed to produce 17 mixed and mastered tracks in a matter of nine weeks.
Despite the challenges of bringing together 17 different bands, Burton said the chance to see local acts create and experiment made the project worthwhile.
“It was cool to see them experiment and get to do things they normally wouldn’t do in the studio,” he said.
For Perros, the ideal outcome of Hear Here would be seeing similar projects in the future.
“I just want people to appreciate our local music scene,” he said.
“I hope, doing projects like this, that other people are inspired to do similar projects — something that benefits the community just to benefit it and not to make profit.”
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
