Indie rock powerhouses Superchunk are up next for PBS NC's SHAPED BY SOUND, with their episode airing on Thursday, February 20th at 9:30 PM. Over the course of twelve LPs and countless EPs and singles, the band’s mapped out a sound and ethos for alt rock in North Carolina and beyond. Superchunk and Merge Records’ hooky, frenetic form of indie remains influential and vital today.
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Africa Unplugged, led by djembe master Atiba Rorie, are next up on the docket for the Come Hear NC Artist Profile treatment. A compelling fusion of West African rhythm with R&B and jazz song structures, the group is known for putting on barn burning live performances in the Triad, Triangle and beyond.
Skylar Gudasz has a classic voice. From the moment you hear it, you know you’re in musical good hands – it won’t falter, and will be strong enough to carry what it promises to completion.
Winston-Salem’s Sonny Miles has a seemingly effortless ability to blend and mix musics. In a way that harkens back to greats like Stevie Wonder and to contemporaries like Frank Ocean, Miles beautifully weds genres (R&B, hip-hop, jazz and soul to name a few), production styles (lo-, mid- and hi-fidelity, analog and digital), and instrumentation (drum machines and acoustic guitars, live vocals and samples).
Alice Gerrard is this week’s featured artist on SHAPED BY SOUND (Thursday, 3/13). She made four records with Hazel Dickens in 1960s and ‘70s, the first two for Folkways and the second for Rounder. Now considered landmarks of old-time and bluegrass, these LPs have had the natural but distorting effect of downplaying Gerrard’s life and career post Hazel & Alice.
Too many writers now are just transcribers of press releases, public statements, and received wisdom. It’s a problem in all genres of criticism and journalism!
From reinventions of jazz classics on "Standards Vol. 1" to the lush soundscapes of "Breaking English," Rafiq Bhatia's music reflects the influence of multiple continents, his college studies in economics and neuroscience, and the many sonic and geographical intersections of the state in which he grew up. As guitarist and co-producer for Son Lux, his career has taken him from North Carolina to the Oscars stage, when the band composed the Academy Award-nominated score for 2023 Best Picture-winner Everything Everywhere All at Once.