Vibes blog

Lost In The Trees This is not quite the type of haunting experience you probably imagined encountering at the Milestone. This 12-piece orchestral ensemble from Chapel Hill, lead by mastermind and tortured soul Ari Picker, creates beautiful, soul-bearing music combining folk with unconventional classical that will make your toes curl. Picker could sing about a rock, but with stunning composition and sweeter-than-buttercream vocals, your head would still be spinning in amazement. With Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, LA Tool & Die and Lady Blanche. Milestone (Sam Webster)

Jim Weider’s Project Percolator Actually, he spells it “ProJECT PERCoLAToR,” which I’m sure has some meaning, but I’ve neither the time nor the energy to parse it. No, Jim Weider’s not the weightlifting supplement guy, but rather a seasoned tickler of the Telecaster guitar. His new project (excuse me, ProJECT) features fellow roadhawgs Rodney Holmes (drums), Mitch Stein (guitar) and Steve Lucas, along with a sampler and loop machine or two. Weider’s real claim to fame is having played with The Band, albeit a “The Band” which was a little past its expiration date and perhaps more correctly described as “A Band.” Regardless, Weider’s more than just another guitar player. Double Door Inn (Timothy C. Davis)

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Sequoyah Prep School These boys aren’t the new kids on the block, but they are beginning to stand out with their Southern charm. It’s good time music, for good old boys and girls, with an edge that just barely leaves a scratch but is still so good it makes you want a band-aid anyway. Something is in the water in the Carolinas, and everybody just needs to keep drinking up. With Flagship. Visulite Theatre (Sam Webster)

Castanets Raymond Raposa is Castanets, and through four previous full-lengths, Castanets has been good; often more than good. But with his upcoming September release, Texas Rose, The Thaw & the Beasts, Raposa has taken the Great Leap Forward. Here, the San Diegan channels his inner Willie Nelson into his tightest songs yet, adding the gothic accents (processed beats, synths, howling guitars, etc.) that embellish his best previous work and here take him in even more compelling directions. The result is luminous and organic, songs that glow through the dark like phosphorescent jellyfish viewed in sparkling high-def. (Speaking of which, fans of Matthew Houck’s Phosphorescent, especially, should take note – this, too, is beautifully fucked-up folk-twang.) With Ma Turner (of Warmer Milks) and Bo White. Milestone (John Schacht)

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TUESDAY, JULY 14

The Offspring, Sum 41 There hasn’t been a time warp, and you aren’t having a dream – two of the late ’90s radio-friendly punk rock bands are coming to town. No one can forget those fly white guys and Canadian pranksters, especially since one of them committed the ultimate publicity stunt – dating Paris Hilton. If they can survive after that act, then they deserve to have their three-chord progressions heard. With Frank Turner. Uptown Amphitheatre (Webster)

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SUNDAY, JULY 12

Toby Keith and Trace Adkins Despite “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” Trace Adkins is the real straight-talkin’ country troubadour here. He’s got a real-live, bourbon-aged classic country voice (in contrast to Keith, who’s got about a one-and-a-half octave growl which manages to sound even flatter), and, when he says stupid stuff in the media, it’s actually funny (See his recent appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher, when asked about cattle cloning: “Did cows stop fuckin’?”). Keith, of course, is the draw here, and he does the bad-ass with steel balls hanging from his trailer hitch schtick as good as anyone. However, a gimmick’s a gimmick, and while country music’s history is full of them, they’re usually in the form of a song, not a public persona. Being big and, er, rich is one thing – being remembered 20 years from now is another. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Davis)

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SATURDAY, JULY 11

Bill Noonan and His Fallen Gentlemen The Man That I Can’t Be, Bill Noonan’s latest, still has that whiff of the Rank Outsiders, his former band, but he (in collaboration with producer Mark Lynch) has now hit upon a sound that suits him, featuring a soupcon of ’60s soul, two-car garage rock and classic country. Always one of the more underrated local rockers, Noonan has brought along many of his friends for the party, including David Childers, drummer David Kim, keyboardist Jason Atkins, the horn section of Ray Mitchell and Tom Kuhn, and silky chantreuse Beth Chorneau. The result is some seriously satisfying country soul, a genre that’s been relegated to the sidelines in recent years. Noonan’s impassioned take sounds like the msusical equivalent of a late-round pick who’s finally getting the chance to shine, calling audibles at the line (a cover of Gene Clark’s “Tried So Hard”), and taking over the huddle and making it his own. To further a bad analogy, The Man That I Can’t Be is a touchdown all the way around. Snug Harbor (Davis)

Grids Not for the faint-of-heart or delicate-eared, this CLT quartet just released its explosive 7″ PGCOBUIBQTAUWTCS through Lunchbox Records (yes, that Lunchbox Records). The three Flipper-meets-Big Black tracks are loud and sludgy, but don’t sacrifice song-craft for screamo tropes or the all-too-common metal faux-angst posturing that make the genre so flat-out laughable at times. To paraphrase a colleague, Grids is a fully extended middle finger to Charlotte’s button-down banker’s world, but one that sounds good doing it. With Cult Ritual and Just Die! Lunchbox Records (Schacht)

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FRIDAY, JULY 10

Buckwheat Zydeco Front man Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural Jr. is celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary with a tour and new album, Lay Your Burden Down. The accordian-friendly zydeco is sure to get feet moving, but I have to give an honest warning – you never know how long it will last live. I caught the band in Chapel Hill a few years ago and it took 40 minutes to play just three songs. Just as the crowd was finally getting warmed up and their feet moving, the show was over. Yep, just three songs and 40 minutes. Hopefully, he’ll stick around a little longer this time. Visulite Theatre (Jeff Hahne)

Truckstop Preachers The Preachers boast enough countrified charm and respect for their elders (Hank Sr., Ernest Tubb, Buck Owens) that, were someone to pull a Resistol down over your eyes – and perhaps pour a couple-three Lone Stars down your gullet – you could conceivably believe you were at one of Willie Nelson’s old hell-bent-for-Spanish-leather Fourth of July Picnics. And fireworks they got: Singer Nate Palmer, boasting the best Carolina country voice this side of the Two Dollar Pistols’ John Howie Jr., is worth the price of admission by his lonesome. Double Door Inn (Timothy C. Davis)

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 8

Dylan Gilbert Charlotte’s true gem in the indie scene, Dylan Gilbert is on his way to making his name familiar to the world’s lips. Having already captured the heart of the East Coast, Gilbert has accomplished more in his lifetime than some musicians can even fathom. His young tenacity and fearlessness in his music shine through brighter than the stage lights that Gilbert is destined to sweat under. With Arielle Bryant and Jim Seem. The Evening Muse (Sam Webster)

Venice Is Sinking The recently released sophomore disc – AZAR, recorded with local producer Scott Solter – from this Athens quintet is a dynamic, ambitious work, sliding in somewhere between chill-out Yo La Tengo, Norfolk & Western’s orchestral twang and the Album Leaf’s cathedral interludes. The songs are meticulous, vertical creations, tackling tiny, specific moments and exploding them outward in what you could probably get away with calling ambient chamber rock (which I just got away with). With Little Buddha and Red All Over. Snug Harbor (John Schacht)

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T-Model Ford As you might expect from a T-Model, this one’s kind of aged (somewhere between 75 and 80) and takes a while to start, but once all the pistons start firing, you’re in for a rollicking (if rickety) ride you’ll not soon forget. The Mississippi Native and Fat Possum Records “find” (like he’d not been seen before?) has all the backstory that “blooze” biographers look for (worked on a mule farm, drank a shit-ton, spent time in jail on a murder rap), but the real draw here is his unorthodox-yet-fraught-with-power picking, which is at least on par with Junior Kimbrough, if not as searingly, screamingly honest (or ominous, perhaps). Highly recommended. With Andy the Doorbum, Gravelroad. Snug Harbor

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Hank III Not sure whether spending our nation’s birthday with somebody other than Hank Williams’ grandson might be contrary to the Patriot Act, but I’ll look into it. Hank III’s live shows come in two flavors, of course: the country one that links him to his grandpappy like there never was a Williams Jr., and Assjack, Hank III’s brutal hard-core alter-ego. There’s nothing too original in either, but it’s all done like Hank III’s life depends on it. Given his partying proclivities, it just might. With Lucky Tubb. Amos’ Southend

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Loser Life If people aren’t sufficiently sick of seeing the whole Bastard Baby musical analogy yet, allow me to say that Loser Life could be the John Doe spawn of the Riverdales and Minor Threat, if, say, the Riverdales had also slept around with Black Flag circa My War, and maybe some random, mustached college kid with an armload of Suicidal Tendencies sides and the original vinyl of Zen Arcade. Fun shit, regardless. With Lowbrow, Meth Mountain. Lunchbox Records (Timothy C. Davis)

Benji Hughes Kid Crooner does a two-night stand at a venue that affords him serious home-court advantage. What that means live, as any who’ve seen him in Snug’s snug confines know, is a loosey-goosey Hughes free to wander off the script (and stage) because his crack East coast band – ex-Muscadine mate Stacy Leazar on bass, time-keeper extraordinaire David Kim, keyboards whiz kid Jon Phillips and guitar hero Peter Gray – is good enough to reel him back in. If you haven’t heard Hughes’ summer-iffic A Love Extreme yet – what the hell are you waiting for? With the Poontanglers on the 3rd, and the Troublewalkers on the 4th. Snug Harbor (John Schacht)

311 The rap rockers are returning on the band’s annual summer Unity Tour. This time around, they’re bringing along Ziggy Marley. While one hopes that an onstage collaboration would be done with some of the tour partners, I haven’t witnessed it the last two years. The band plays a variety of hits from their albums over a long set, but they’re sure to break out tunes from their new album, Uplifter, too. I can guarantee the new single, “Hey You,” will be in there somewhere. Now, if I could only guarantee that they would still end their show with “Fuck the Bullshit”… It’s just not the same without it. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Jeff Hahne)

Sugar Glyder Sugar Glyder is proof that UNCC can produce more than architects and business majors. Following in the footsteps of other UNCC alum, The Sammies, Sugar Glyder seem poised to become one of the next big things in music. Surely it won’t be long before we hear them in the background while one of our favorite TV characters has a revelation, dances around in their underwear, or well, something. You’ll hear some tunes off the band’s new CD, too, since this is the release party. With Terminal Reynaldo and Atriumantra. Tremont Music Hall (Sam Webster)

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