Blogs

We all know what happened once Punk Broke and Chapel Hill had its 9 months in the "Next Seattle" spotlight. But what about in the two decades before? You've probably heard of Let's Active, The Connells, Flat Duo Jets & Corrosion of Conformity. But how about Stillborn Christians, Foreign Bodies & UV Prom?

Tune in tonight (Monday 2/28) at 8pm for 2 hours of North Carolina Music circa '72 - '92.

 Yep, that's right, fresh off a whirlwind tour of Japan that just ended a few days ago, Mac McCaughan & Jim Wilbur of Superchunk will be joining us on Sunday afternoon (2/27) at 4pm to do that acoustic thing that has been a staple of Superchunk b-sides for the past 15+ years.Will we spend the entire time talking about Japanese food? Entirely likely. Tune in at 4pm to find out.

Hey, y'all. This is Alex pulling tech support for Mark and Michael. This is the awesome music map Mark made to guide our show. Enjoy!

Alex Cuba, "Alex Cuba" (Caracol, 2010)

Catchy, earthy Afro-Cuban pop from Smithers, British Columbia

Born Alexis Puentes in Artemisia, Cuba, this singer/songwriter, guitarist is forging a new, more authentic path for a Latin pop artist. Merging Cuban folk ("trova") with pop and funk, Alex Cuba's soulful, silkysmooth vocal and hooky songwriting have already earned him a Grammy nod and several Latin Grammy wins. READ MORE>>>>

With this self-titled, second solo album in English and Spanish, Alex edges closer to the commercial mainstream without caving to the conventional formulas of Miami Latin pop. The long-time Canadian resident first recorded traditional Cuban music with his fraternal twin brother, salsa singer Adonis Puentes. Their father was a guitar teacher in Cuba, so music runs deep in the Puentes household.

Skeedaddle plays live on The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown  this Tues, Feb 15 in the 7:00pm hour.  Durham's Skeedaddle plays pre-war swing, jug band music, jump blues, rockabilly, old time, Hawaiian music and novelty tunes from the 20's and 30's. National steel-bodied guitars, mandolins and ukes are the norm here, along with upright bass, trumpet, sax, clarinet and jug.  Tune in for some raucous acoustic music Tues, 6pm-8pm.

Tessa of Blue Pane Studio and I partner with the RTP Foundation to sponsor www.scienceinthetriangle.org.  Its mission is to offer people who are curious about science, but not necessarily scientists, a place to find out what is happening in related ways around our RTP.  While promoting SIT, it occurred to me that many academics and scientists have an interest and talent for music.  Obvious to many at our station, of course. 

Having this 30 minute show gives me the chance to reveal that often unknown side of people in our science community (which we interpret broadly) while making the show appealing to our XDU audience.  I am grateful for this chance to experiment.  If I luck out, we'll come across as a regional version of Terry Gross and Radio Lab. Dream on!

The first guest will be Tyler Dukes who covers the gaming beat in the Triangle which is the second largest concentration of gamers in the country.  There are more than 40+ related companies including Epic and Emergent.  We'll hear Tyler's opinion of the industry and the how/who picks their music.

Tonight, Nobody's Driving will feature the Washington D.C. hardcore scene that (among other things) birthed the straightedge movement, revitalizing and refocusing punk and hardcore music during the early 1980s (all in the shadows of Capitol Hill and Ronald Reagan). Tune in to hear the bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat who forever altered the trajectory of hardcore music as well as some underrated and forgotten classics like Void, Faith, Double-O, and Untouchables.

Tonight, College Radio Primer focuses on the 2nd generation of weirdos and misfits that kept the NYC underground afloat after punk exploded across America.  Artists like Lydia Lunch, James Chance, Arto Lindsay and Glenn Branca created new and exciting ways to mix art with punk energy and created a scene that became breeding grounds for some of the most important alternative bands of the past 30 years, most notably Swans and Sonic Youth.   Tune in tonight!  8-10pm. 

Crass, the British punk band/collective credited with spawning the anarcho-punk movement/aesthetic, established a record label to release their own work. Upon the success of their first records they reinvested their capital in like minded artists, under the premise that the bands receive all profits and move on to create their own labels. On this edition of Nobody's Driving we will review the output of this label, often overlooked and overshadowed by Crass the band.