Podcast About List
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Skating Polly
Over the past decade, few artists have embodied the unbridled freedom of punk like Skating Polly. Formed when stepsisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse were just 9 and 13, the Oklahoma-bred band have channeled their chameleonic musicality into a sound they call “ugly-pop,” unruly and subversive and wildly melodic. With Kelli’s brother Kurtis Mayo joining on drums in 2017, they’ve also built a close-knit community of fans while earning the admiration of their musical forebears, a feat that’s found them collaborating with icons like X’s Exene Cervenka and Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson, touring with Babes In Toyland, and starring as the subject of a feature-length documentary. On their double album Chaos County Line, Skating Polly reach a whole new level of self-possession, ultimately sharing their most expansive and emotionally powerful work to date. The follow-up to 2018’s The Make It All Show, Chaos County Line finds Skating Polly working again with Brad Wood, the acclaimed producer behind indie-rock classics like Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville. As their songs journey from art-punk to noise-rock to piano-driven power-pop, the band matches that musical complexity with a sharply honed narrative voice that manifests in countless forms (ultravivid poetry, diary-like confession, fearlessly detailed storytelling, etc.). Not only the outcome of their constant growth as songwriters, Chaos County Line’s scope and depth has much to do with Skating Polly’s newly heightened clarity of vision. “All these songs are the most special to me of anything I’ve ever written, and I think Kelli feels the same,” says Peyton. “In the past I didn’t always write with a clear purpose, but this time I knew exactly what I wanted to say. We both ended up writing about the most difficult emotional experiences we’ve ever been through, and instead of being terrified of saying exactly what I was feeling it just all came out so naturally.” Whether they’re opening up about matters internal (identity, disassociation, unhealthy coping mechanisms) or external (obsession, deception, gaslighting), Skating Polly imbue that outpouring with an unfettered emotional truth. On songs like Chaos County Line’s frenetic lead single “Hickey King,” Kelli and Peyton trade off vocals as they share their distinct perspectives on closely related experiences—in this case, the minefield of power dynamics in sex and relationships. “In Peyton’s verse she’s talking about never knowing how far to go or how much of yourself to give to someone, and when my part comes crashing in it’s about guys being possessive and always trying to leave their mark on you,” Kelli says. “To me it’s the most Skating Polly song on the record, because it’s all these different energies happening at once.” Meanwhile, on “I’m Sorry For Always Apologizing,” Skating Polly deliver a bouncy piece of bubblegum-punk in which Kelli calls herself out on certain messy behavior in her past. And on “Double Decker,” Peyton examines her own possibly self-sabotaging patterns, magnifying the song’s mood of confusion with a dizzying guitar solo and breakneck vocal performance. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Kurt Vile and The Violators
Back to Moon Beach (Verve Records) is an EP by no one’s definition but Kurt Vile’s. Clocking in at just shy of an hour, this would be a long full-length record by most any other artist’s yardstick, but for Kurt, the collection is an expression of just how deep his well of non-album material runs. Culled from various sessions over the last four years, and representing a wide swath of the inspirational musical community Kurt surrounds himself with, the core 4 songs of the record (tracks 1, 2, 3 and 6) were born in the fall of 2019 at Panoramic Studios in Stinson Beach, California alongside close musical partners Rob Laakso, Stella Mozgawa, Chris Cohen and with coproduction on tracks 1, 3 and 6 by Cate Le Bon. Later fleshed out with bandmate and producer / engineer Adam Langelotti, additional musical parts were played by “Farmer” Dave Scher and Mikel Patrick Avery. Many other moments (including hella overdubs on the Stinson Beach material) are from intense sessions on planet Philly at Kurt’s studio: OKV Central. It’s been a heavy few years and plenty of excuses to get lost in outer space behind the microphones. Mant Sounds – KV’s go-to recording studio in Los Angeles – was a third and crucial launchpad to ram these sessions home… a familiar spaceship run by Rob Schnapf and often flown by Matt Schuessler as engineer. EP opener “Another Good Year For The Roses” is a richly psychedelic piano-driven earworm with swirling lap steel and catchy blues-pop guitars, and a deeply meditative yet characteristically hooky bend. Written a full year before the pandemic – and recorded in October 2019 just shy of it – “Touched Somethin (Caught a Virus)” was originally intended for Vile’s 2022 full length (watch my moves), but was ultimately left off of that record out of concern that it would be interpreted too literally, given the state of the world that unfolded shortly after its recording. Somberly, the Stinson Beach material in the collection are some of the final unreleased recordings with Kurt’s longtime creative partner Rob Laakso, prior to his passing in early 2023. The EP is rounded out with a few fan favorites — his covers of Wilco’s “Passenger Side” and Bob Dylan’s Christmas song “Must Be Santa,” (featuring vocals by Kurt’s daughters Awilda and Delphine Vile) which Kurt is excited to bring to a wider platform (“just in time for the holidays!”) after its Spotify-only release last year. The final track brings-it-all-back-home with a punched-up, radio-ready version of (watch my moves) standout “Cool Water” – originally recorded with the Violators in January 2020 by Rob Schnapf at Mant sounds and remixed by Rob Schnapf again in May 2023 for this release – and for the radio!Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
David Morris
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The 8:59’s, Jimmy Ray Swagger and The Fussy Eaters, Salt Maps
The 8:59’s: The 8:59’s, a North Carolina based band formed in 2014, blend a range of influences to create a unique yet familiar sound. Based around the songwriting, harmonies, and guitars of Christian Fisher and Neville Handel, the band is rounded out by bassist Mike Beck and drummer Brad Goolsby. Echoes of Nashville, Athens, and Chapel Hill can be heard in the band’s songs, which draw from and cover genres from Americana and Alt-Country to Indie Rock. The 8:59’s have performed at a number of Triangle area venues including participating in the Cat’s Cradle 50th Anniversary celebration. The band’s songs have been featured on multiple local radio stations. In July 2022, The 8:59’s released their second full length album: Return Song. The album is available on all streaming platforms.Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Chapelboro Jimmy Ray Swagger and The Fussy Eaters: Recently transplanted to the Triangle area from their home in Cumby, TX, country music legend Jimmie Ray Swagger and his band The Fussy Eaters have been taking the East Coast country music establishment by storm. Their gritty songs of love, lust, addiction, malfeasance, and pain aim right for the heart and/or groin. After many long months of planning the move to NC, Jimmie’s probation judge finally approved and they haven’t looked back since!Website | Instagram | Facebook Salt Maps: Salt Maps is a Durham-based quartet playing original music with an ear towards country lyricism through a crunchy jagged haze of post-punk. Influences include Silver Jews, Moles, Mekons, Faces, Television, Wire, Kinks. Guitar/Vocals – Hayden Childs (Rapture Clause, Trouble Down South, Salvage Brothers, wrote the 33 1/3 book on Richard & Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out The Lights) Guitar – Chris Rossi (Amor de Cosmos, Lake and Hennepin (ft Reese McHenry), Woodvamp, the Wusses) Bass/Vocals – Paul Cardillo (Soccer, Frydaddys, Red Star Belgrade, Holy Roman Empire, Grey Gardens) Drums – Matt Gocke (Spatula, Kitten Party, Woodvamp)
Marshall Crenshaw
Seated Show. Seating is general admission and first come, first served in two different sections (Best Seats GA and Regular Seats GA). Born in 1953 in Detroit, Michigan, Marshall Crenshaw learned to tune a guitar correctly at age ten and has been trying ever since. His first big break came in 1978 playing John Lennon in “Beatlemania”, first as an understudy in New York, then in the West Coast company, followed by a national touring company. Removing himself from that situation in Feb. 1980, Marshall settled in New York City. Enthralled by the hyper-diverse musical culture of the City, and the local Rock scene in particular, Marshall formed a Rock and Roll band with brother Robert on drums and Chris Donato on bass. After crossing paths with the great and legendary Alan Betrock, Marshall recorded his debut single “Something’s Gonna Happen” for Betrock’s Shake Records label; at nearly the same time, legendary Rockabilly singer Robert Gordon’s recording of Marshall’s “Someday Someway” was released as a single on the RCA label. These two records simultaneously broke big on New York’s WNEW-FM, causing Marshall and his trio’s local popularity to explode. And so began a career that’s spanned four decades, 13 albums, Grammy and Golden Globe nominations, film and TV appearances (Buddy Holly in “La Bamba”) and thousands of live performances. Marshall Crenshaw’s musical output has maintained a consistent fidelity to the qualities of artfulness, craftsmanship and passion, and his efforts have been rewarded with the devotion of a broad and loyal fan base. Presently, along with touring around the country and the occasional recording project, other current projects include producing a documentary film-in progress about legendary record producer Tom Wilson. Says Crenshaw, “This is a road that I’d never imagined taking before, but it’s been an incredible learning experience.” “Although he was seen as a latter-day Buddy Holly at the outset, he soon proved too talented and original to be anyone but himself.” – Trouser Press Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Teen Suicide
Teen Suicide is a band from Orlando Florida; a quartet comprised of Sam Ray, Kitty Ray, Sean LaBree, and Nathan Munizzi. Together they create music that is as enjoyable as it is unclassifiable, eschewing the algorithmic nature of the modern music industry in favor of something more personal and much more interesting. Broadly speaking, they are as much a power-pop group as they are a sludge-metal band, with as much else in-between as that suggests. Though they draw influence from a bevy of different styles, they aim to create something uniquely synergistic out of them, rather than let them rot next to each other as pastiche.While the band has existed in many phases – first as a solo project of Sam Ray, then as a two piece with original drummer Eric Livingston, and later as a loose collective of likeminded musicians & semi-permanent touring partners – the present lineup remains the first time there has been a dedicated and full-time group to write, record, and perform together. Innervated by this recent development, the members have remained hard at work writing and recording new music – their first since 2021, and the first ever that’s been created in such a collaborative manner – and are looking forward to debuting much of it on tour in the spring & summer.In addition to Teen Suicide, the band members are involved in many different notable projects. Kitty records – and produces – beautiful synth-pop/psychedelic music under her own name, as well as fronting the seminal dance-pop duo The Pom-Poms with Sam. Sean & Nathan comprise the post-punk band The Synthetics. Sam releases ambient/experimental electronic music under the name Ricky Eat Acid & has at various times over the years released music with the bands Julia Brown, Starry Cat, American Pleasure Club, among many others.Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
The Ocean Blue
In 2024, the band will be playing a select number of shows, performing their first two albums in full – The Ocean Blue and Cerulean – in dates throughout the U.S. as they continue work on a new album (full list of tour dates below as they announce).Getting their start as teenagers in the late ‘80s in Hershey, PA, The Ocean Blue released their self-titled debut on the famed Sire Records that launched many of their heroes in the U.S., like the Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen. Embraced by MTV, the band quickly made their mark on the onset of the Alternative Music scene. Their early singles “Between Something And Nothing” and “Drifting, Falling” notched them Top Ten hits on College and Modern Rock radio, setting in motion a run of four successful major label albums, followed by a string beloved independent releases from 2000 to the present. With eight albums and several EPs under their belt (Sire/Rhino reissued their first three albums in 2015), the band continues to do what it has always done with more plans for touring and releases on the horizon.The Ocean Blue is David Schelzel (vocals, guitar), Oed Ronne (guitar), Bobby Mittan (bass) and Peter Anderson (drums).The Ocean Blue arrived as the 1980s drew to a close, and their debut record on the famed Sire Records label in 1989 seemed to summarize the best of the passing musical decade. With the release of The Ocean Blue, the band of four teenagers from Hershey, Pennsylvania quickly achieved widespread acclaim and radio & MTV airplay with top 10 Modern Rock/College Radio hits like Between Something and Nothing, Drifting, Falling, and Vanity Fair. They followed their debut with the dreamy and atmospheric Cerulean, which includes perhaps their most beloved song, Ballerina Out of Control. Their third Sire release and highest charting pop album Beneath the Rhythm and Sound featured the single Sublime, with a video of the band in the sublime landscape of Iceland. The band’s fourth major label album on Mercury/ PolyGram, See The Ocean Blue, delved into wider 60s and 70s stylings but with the band’s 80s DNA peeking through.The band left the majors in the late 90s and released several independent records in the ensuing decade, including 2000’s Davy Jones Locker and 2004’s Waterworks. In 2013, after a long hiatus and much anticipation, the band released their first full length record in a decade, Ultramarine, on Korda Records, a label cooperative the band helped launch that same year. The record was a welcome return for both long-time fans of the band and a younger generation of like-minded fans, and it garnered widespread praise as one of their very best albums. In 2015, the band worked with Sire Records to reissue their first three albums on vinyl, and did wider touring in North America and in South America, where some of their most passionate fans reside.In 2019, the band returned with the beautifully powerful Kings and Queens / Knaves and Thieves, and has continued to tour for this release and the newly re-issued vinyl of See The Ocean Blue (2022) and Davy Jones’ Locker (2023). The band is on tour with select dates in 2024 performing their first two albums in full.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
Camera Obscura
Look to the East, Look to the West, the new album by Camera Obscura, is a revelation. The Tracyanne Campbell-led outfit, reuniting with producer Jari Haapalainen (Let’s Get Out of This Country, My Maudlin Career), have crafted an album that simultaneously recalls why longtime fans have ferociously loved them for decades while also being their most sophisticated effort to date. It is also the most hard-fought album of Camera Obscura’s career. Following the 2015 passing of founding keyboardist and friend Carey Lander (to whom the penultimate track “Sugar Almond” is addressed), the band went into an extended hiatus. They remained in contact, but their status was uncertain until they announced their return, having been invited to perform as part of Belle & Sebastian’s 2019 Boaty Weekender cruise festival, along with a pair of sold-out warm-up shows in Glasgow. Donna Maciocia (keys and vocals) joined founding members Kenny McKeeve (guitar and vocals), Gavin Dunbar (bass), and Lee Thomson (drums and percussion) for those shows and has since become a regular songwriting partner of Campbell’s. Recorded in the same room where Queen wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Look to the East, Look to the West feels big, a widescreen reframing of Camera Obscura’s sound that, paradoxically, saw the band go back to basics—there are no string or brass arrangements, with more emphasis placed on piano, synthesizers, Hammond organ, and drum machines, and, perhaps most strikingly, the group have dropped the veil of reverb that characterized their previous albums. The tinges of country and soul that give Camera Obscura’s baroque take on pop music its bittersweet edge have never been more apparent—guitars shimmer into the distance, keys haunt, and Campbell’s voice searches for the heart, reflecting on love, loss, and the passage of time. Lead single “Big Love” relishes in the space between country rock and prog, a pining break-up anthem featuring the soaring pedal steel of Tim Davidson. It’s a Nashville Sound heartbreaker, tackling the complexity of wanting to rekindle a bad relationship with Campbell’s uncanny ability to render the past: “It was a big love, she said / That’s why it took ten years to get her out of her head,” she begins.“We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World” was co-written with Maciocia for filmmaker Margaret Salmon’s 2021 film Icarus (After Amelia). (Salmon, in turn, shot Look to the East, Look to the West’s cover photography featuring Fiona Morrison, who was on the cover of Camera Obscura’s debut, Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi.). Ironic and sincere, the two navigate the reality of being women in the music industry, somehow floating over Davidson’s pedal steel and Maciocia’s keys. “The Light Nights” is a swooning song propelled by a western shuffle and killer guitar, striking a balance between a particularly good honky-tonk joint’s jukebox and a lost gem of California pop music waiting to be discovered in a 7-inch bin. Camera Obscura’s uncanny dexterity in juxtaposing genres, moods, and emotions is most keenly felt in opener “Liberty Print,” an elegy that breaks itself open over a crushing synth line. It’s a daringly constructed song, showcasing Campbell’s command of lyrical narrative that allows space for grief within the structure of pop music.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Briscoe
West of It All, the debut album from Americana folk-rock band Briscoe, is a coming-of-age soundtrack set against the backdrop of the Texas Hill Country. Written in the Lone Star State and recorded in North Carolina, it’s an album that charts its own musical geography, with production from Grammy nominee Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats) and adventurous songwriting that bridges the gap between classic American roots music and its modern-day incarnation. From free backyard performances on the outskirts of UT Austin’s campus to sold-out gigs at Antone’s Nightclub and The Continental Club Gallery, Briscoe’s growth — like the group’s music itself — has been organic. Bandmates Truett Heintzelman and Philip Lupton met as teenagers, reunited as students at UT Austin, and built their grassroots following the old-school way: by carving out a sound that nodded to the golden era of folk, rock, and pop music, then getting onstage and building a genuine relationship with their audience. Signed by ATO Records while still pursuing undergraduate degrees, the Texas natives wrote West of It All as graduation loomed in the distance, funneling the stories of their college experience — from heartbreak to hard-won lessons to weekend trips into the rural countryside — into a raw, rugged blend of classic and contemporary influences. With contributions from drummer Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver) and multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger), West of It All offers a singular version of genre-fluid folk music, from rootsy rave-ups like “The Well” to brainy, literary songs like “Sparrows.” It’s a self-assured album that follows no directions but its very own, stacked organic performance and sharp songwriting that negotiates the transition from adolescence to adulthood.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
