You should be really excited right now because Troika 2009 starts today. What looks like the best iteration of the Troika Music Festival tonight kicks off tonight at 7 p.m. at Durham Central Park with the Beast and Megafaun. We previewed some of the shows you should definitely check out (the aforementioned one among them) in today’s recess. You can check it out here:
Also noteworthy (I could go on about all the shows–Pipe!–but Trekky has a good guide here) is the Rock Paper Scissors art/music event Saturday afternoon. If nothing else, you can be a humanitarian and buy some of Red Collar drummer Jonathan Truesdale photos to help him work out some medical bills caused by CMJ (see the story for clarification).
See you at Troika.
[Photo of Bowerbirds in Paris by Oliver Peel. Courtesy Flickr.]
Brad Cook played with Megafaun and Bowerbirds at last night’s show, earning the hard-worker award. And for “The Ticonderoga,” Phil Cook joined Bowerbirds. Bowerbirds, who headlined, closed out their encore (and tour) with all of Megafaun joining them on-stage as they performed a cover of the Rosebuds’ “Hold Hands and Fight,” dedicated the Rosebuds’ Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, both in the audience.
Bowerbird’s latest release Upper Air is an enchanting album. But the live experience at their homecoming show with Megafaun last night, which was a triumph. But the surprise, likely stemming from the fact that Phil Moore, Beth Tacular, Mark Paulson and Brad Cook just returned from an extensive tour promoting the album, was how familiar these songs felt. The songs from Hymns for a Dark Horse were as great as ever, but the one’s from Upper Air, released July 7, felt like old favorites. Here’s a sampling of two songs: one older and one newer.
Capping off an international tour alongside Bowerbirds, Megafaun returned home to North Carolina playing to a sold-out crowd at Carrboro’s Arts Center. At Saturday’s show, an especially amazing outstanding Megafaun delivered big time. Here’s a clip of there first two songs, the old favorite “Beloved Binge” and, from their barely-month-old new release Gather, Form & Fly on Home Tapes, “The Process.”
Two major updates in the local music scene we’re a bit late on:
1. The bands for Troika 2009, set for November 5-7, have been announced and the list is amazing, including Bowerbirds, Hammer No More the Fingers, Embarrassing Fruits, Bellafea, Pink Flag, the Future Kings of Nowhere and many many more. Check out the full list here.
2. Flying Tiger Sounds, WKNC and Terpsikhore Records are releasing a compilation of 18 Triangle bands benefiting The Visual Exchange. The album, entitled Hear Here: The Triangle, will have an official release Aug. 29 at the Cat’s Cradle with performances by Hammer No More the Fingers, Annuals, Birds of Avalon and the Never. Other contributing bands include the Rosebuds, the Beast, the Love Language, Americans in Paris, Kooley High and the Old Ceremony.
