Frightened Rabbit Scottish rockers Frightened Rabbit show a different side on its new full-length release Pedestrian Verse. The album contains a collection of energetic rock songs, featuring electronics and guitar solos. Dive Verdict: ???
Airstrip Willing In its debut album, Willing, Airstrip stirs up a heavy and ominous space for its “nightmare pop” to flourish with bruising rhythms and sinister melodies. Dive Verdict: ???
It’s no fairy tale. “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” trades sugarplums and fairies for bloody limbs and severed heads. It is a movie of blood-filled chaos and gory action. “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” is the story after — the tale following the tale. The film takes place after the classic children’s recounting of two young kids who are lured to a witch’s house made of candy. Dive verdict: ??1/2
“I’ve got a thing for you, and I can’t let go.” A lyric from the first track on Jessie Ware’s If You’re Never Gonna Move EP, “What you Won’t Do For Love,” expresses just how her latest work makes listeners feel. Pick up a copy and you won’t let it go — even better— you won’t stop moving. Dive verdict: ????1/2
Describing its sound as “nightmare pop,” Airstrip is a local band helmed by Matthew Park (formerly of Veelee) that includes artists from Caltrop, Gross Ghost and Horseback. Roughly a year after its inception, the band has finally readied its debut album, Willing. Staff writer Jay Prevatt talked to Park about the record’s atmosphere and inspiration.
Foxygen is here to deliver us the values and culture of the ‘60s, bringing a frustrated and confused young generation the music and ideas of their disgruntled predecessors from 50 years before. It’s a difficult cause, but with its new album, the band shows it’s possible. A schizoid fusion of acid soundscapes, punk attitude and modern pop, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic shines in its ability to form a vintage, yet still relevant, psychedelic symphony from the chaos of its elements. Dive verdict: ????½
Virgins Family Band’s members are young, many still students at UNC. But you wouldn’t know that by listening to their new album, Honeylion. Boasting a mixture of everything from smooth jazz to upbeat pop, the new album sounds like it’s the product of musical maturity cultivated from many years of playing together. Dive verdict: ?????
Character studies are exactly what they sound like — studies. They primarily pique your interest and secondarily capture your spirit. Love stories, unsurprisingly, have reversed priorities. An elegant character study just aching to stir feeling in love-story fashion, “Rust and Bone” leaves two deep footprints in your heart and mind rather than something truly fathomless in either such area. Dive verdict: ???½
When a film’s tagline is an apology stating “they’re sorry for anything that’s about to happen,” you know you’re stepping into surrealist territory. That’s exactly what director Don Coscarelli does in “John Dies at the End.” Based off David Wong’s comic book of the same title, this movie is about a new drug released on the streets called Soy Sauce, which takes its users through time and space. Unfortunately, when users return, not all of them return as human. Two college dropouts, John (Rob Mayes) and Dave (Chase Williamson), take it upon themselves to kill the evil that Soy Sauce has created and save humanity. Dive verdict: ?????
This weekend, one of the Triangle music scene’s marquee events is turning double digits.
The third annual Bull City Metal Fest is returning to Durham at Casbah this weekend with two nights of heavy metal music. The lineup includes returning bands such as Caltrop, Hog and Colossus and festival first-timers like Weedeater, Solar Halos and Dawnbringer. Electric guitars will be plugged in, amps will be maxed out and the streets will rumble. Time: 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1 Location: 1007 W. Main St., Durham Info: casbahdurham.com
Indie rock vets Yo La Tengo kicked off a 2013 tour in support of their latest release Fade last Wednesday night at the Cat’s Cradle.
Formerly VIRGINS, Virgins Family Band is readying the release of its latest album Honeylion. Born out of a desire to capture the essence of its live performances, Honeylion was recorded live to 2-inch tape. “It resembles a lot more of our live show than our previous record,” said vocalist and guitarist Saman Khoujinian. He said the analog recording methods utilized strongly influence the music.
The New River Boys is a folk rock band from Boone, and will be performing at Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro Friday night. Senior Writer Brooke Pryor talked with vocalist and mandolin player Aaron Simpson about the band and coming to Chapel Hill.
Julian Koster is the man behind The Music Tapes, an experimental pop group from local label Merge Records, known for its unusual song writing and instrumentation. Coming to the Cat’s Cradle on Monday, his band’s “Traveling Imaginary” is more than just a concert — it’s a spectacular of music, games, magic and stories — all held beneath a circus tent. Staff writer Bo McMillan recently spoke with Koster to find out just what’s behind the unique schema of the band, and also to explore his past as a member of indie-rock legend Neutral Milk Hotel.
Chaz Bundick has had a busy past few years. He’s the name behind electro-pop outfit Toro Y Moi, and Anything In Return is impressively his third full-length in three years. But what was named as a key part of 2009’s “chillwave” movement is now a distinct project that has appropriately matured in its own vein. Feel-good, laid-back, Anything In Return is simultaneously a build on and a departure from Bundick’s two previous LPs. He has created more creative distance with each of his albums, but it certainly isn’t a bad thing. There’s a more polished feel to the album, a refreshing result of the greater infusion of smooth jazz and striking synth. Dive verdict: ???½
“I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed.” No, that’s not your mother speaking. If you’ll indulge the hypothetical, that’s actually you criticizing “Mama” — an old-fashioned ghost tale that teases viewers with flashes of greatness it never manages to fulfill. After their father murders his wife and commits suicide, two young sisters — Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly DeSange (Isabelle Nelisse) — hide away in a forest for five years. Dive verdict: ?????
Picture eloquently delivering your “Drake is the best rapper out there” diatribe in a heated music debate.
Like excellent visuals and writing, a killer soundtrack is helpful to the success of many great movies. Various Artists Soundtrack Dive Verdict: ????
Big Freedia is a bona fide professional in booty shaking. Staff writer Jay Prevatt spoke with Freedia about her upcoming projects, the hierarchy of Divas and what to expect from her Cat’s Cradle show on Jan. 22.