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The folks over at hard-rocking Durham label Churchkey Records must love to be busy. With a new release from The Dirty Little Heaters just behind them and the debut LP from Free Electric State due from the label in April, Churchkey is now adding another group into its growing fold. Rowdy Chapel Hill garage duo Last Year's Men will enter the studio next month to record its debut album, tentatively called Looking to be Spilled, with release via Churchkey scheduled for later in the year.

For more details, tour dates and some free mp3 downloads, check out Churchkey's press release below:

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but the human being pictured to the side is the offspring of glam-rock starman David Bowie. No, his name isn’t Ziggy Stardust (though I wouldn’t put it past a fantastical celebrity to indulge in obscure nomenclature for his children.)

He is Duncan Jones, the up-and-coming filmmaker best known for directing last summer’s critically acclaimed “Moon,” a sharp and imaginative sci-fi film that so keenly fleshed out dramatic suspense with one single character stationed on the moon (played by the always perfect Sam Rockwell). “Moon” was an impressive testament to Jones’ cinematic eye, featuring both his directorial and screenwriting acumen. Upon seeing the picture, I was fully convinced that Jones had found his niche in the sci-fi genre, having powerfully captured the awe-inspiring/maddening desolation of space that his father once sang about.

Well, I was half-right. Duncan Jones will flex his sci-fi muscle once again in his new project “Source Code;” however, the infinite aura of space is being replaced with the mental frenzy of time travel.

Let me explain. “Source Code” centers in on a soldier named Colter, who wakes up on a commuter train bound for Penn Station having no idea how he got there. He soon realizes that he is inhabiting the body of a man named Sean Fentress, but has no time to investigate because the train soon explodes into smithereens from a bomb set in place by terrorists. The end.

Relax, I’m kidding (about the movie ending there, that is). Colter wakes up again in the same moment in which he originally found himself, seventeen minutes in the past, given the opportunity to prevent this tragedy from taking place again. With each reawakening, Colter explores the characters and surroundings of the train that may shed some light on the devastation.

This week, Assistant Diversions Editor Linnie Greene spoke with Alexis Mastromichalis, owner and manager of Chapel Hill's Nightlight performance venue. As the club prepares to celebrate its seventh anniversary Saturday with a show featuring local Baltimore's Future Islands and Chapel Hill's Wizzerds Of Rhyme as well as DJ's MothersBrothers and DJ Family Vacation, Mastromichalis revealed some of her favorite memories of Chapel Hill music and why you won't mix up the Nightlight with any other club in town.

Diversions: What changes have you seen at the Nightlight since it opened 7 years ago?

Alexis Mastromichalis: There’s been a lot of changes. As you probably know we first started out on the back of Skylight Exchange, doing events only in the evenings. Nightlight is a completely separate business and staff, but we shared a space with Skylight. About a year into it, I started volunteering here, and about three years into it, I became the owner. Nightlight was started by Isaac Troggon and Lauren Ford, and Isaac used to be the music director of WXYC, and about a year later Isaac moved to Berlin, and one of our interns, Ryan Martin, took over as the second owner. And then Lauren Ford wanted to move away, and she ended up selling me the business. One of the amazing things about the Nightlight is that it’s always changing and growing. Every year I try to set goals for the club, and every year we’ve been able to meet those goals. A year ago when I did this interview with Jamie, we had just gotten our liquor license and Skylight closed and we were able to keep the space for ourselves.

The fictional group fronted by the former frontman of Blur, Gorillaz, drops their new album Plastic Beach next Tuesday. 

Featuring guests Mos Def, De La Soul, Lou Reed, Little Dragon, Snoop Dogg and more, this record is as dope as the last two efforts. Dive is going to review the album for its next issue, but before you hear what we say, why don't you make your own assessment. NPR is streaming the album in its entirety, so check it out over your break and check back in two weeks to see what Dive has to say about it.

Stream Plastic Beach 

Here's some downloadable goodies to fill your iPod for a spring break road trip:

Kyle Lucas It's Always Sunny in Marietta

Tony Williams Finding Dakota Gray

XV 30 Minute Layover (The Prelude)

Maybe it's just because I don't get to write about this kind of stuff much being a music writer with a Triangle focus, but I'm having a lot of fun with Feeding The Fire's new DisInfoNation LP. It's progy, but tastefully so, and its focus is less on musical pretension than on just how much sonic fun the Chapel Hill quartet can cram into its arrangements. "Crash Landing" is a great examples of this. Reverbed keyboards warble with Middle-Eastern weirdness only to be switched out with pure guitar god excess. And through it all the pure, piercing tones of Ken Cannon's voice soar to grandiose heights. Melodramatic? Sure. Revelatory? Not really. Tons of fun? You better believe it. So check out the track below, and if you like it, make sure you head out to Local 506 Thursday as the band celebrates its new release alongside bluegrass act Big Fat Gap and Raleigh garage band Rocket Surgeon.

Download "Crash Landing" here.

Holly Miranda

The Magician's Private Library

(XL Recordings)

Sometimes it’s hard not to judge a book by its cover. The same can be said for an album and its title. But if you think think Holly Miranda's The Magician’s Private Library will bring a quirky, whimsical and interesting album, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise.

The attention-grabbing part of this debut album is the arrangements. Synths, piano, and ambient noise swirl together, punctuated by a horn section that pops up every now and then to keep things interetsing. It creates a great atmosphere, due in part to producer Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio. But although TV on the Radio is known for their textured and layered compositions, Miranda’s presence is not strong enough to stand out against such a lush backdrop.

Throughout the album, Miranda’s smooth and smoky voice almost never rises above a thoughtful mummer. It’s a baffling move – live performances like on the popular Black Cab Sessions, show she has a soulful and strong voice that will bring comparisons of Cat Power and Norah Jones. But here, it’s a droning afterthought on each song, hardly inviting you to listen to her lyrics.

And yet there are flashes of what this album could be, if Miranda actually focused the spotlight on herself. “No One Just Is” is a dark, slow-building breakup song that allows Miranda’s voice to be at the forefront and bring suspense. And “Slow Burn Treason” lets Miranda showcase her range.

The talent here is clear, but buried. Miranda is going to have to make some different stylistic choices in the future, because right now what she’s offering up is not compelling enough for listeners to put any effort into digging for it. 

Efterklang

Magic Chairs

(4AD)

On Magic Chairs, Copenhagen’s Efterklang employs a mesh of electronic indie pop, but without the same big band effect that normally occupies their upbeat musical playground.

This trend is exemplified by opener, “Modern Drift”. As melodic keys build throughout, the band elaborates the arrangment with dreamy strings, strategically played synth and soft lyrics.

While its energy may be subtle, the combination of optimistic instrumentation and barely there vocals draw the listener into a playful, yet relaxing atmosphere of assorted instrumentation.

Throughout the entire album, the familiar characteristics of Efterklang are sure to linger—a strong and steady drum beat, bursts of trumpet, and tasteful electronic bits . But Magic Chairs contains only distinct traces of these elements and overall, the rest of the album is seemingly less lively than its opener.

Songs like “Scandinavian Love” and “Raincoats” epitomize the overarching whimsical sound, with layers of sharp, clinky synth, hand claps and the chorus of vocals that consistently fills the album with a hint of energy. Combined with quirky lyrics, Efterklang seeks to create fun-filled nonsense that remains relaxed.

While the album still creatively reigns in a variety of musical sources, the exhaustion of these sounds is lackluster. Efterklang employs the same techniques as usual, but with Magic Chairs, slows things down to a tempo that could ultimately use a little more spirit.

In the very first entry of this blog I posted the early trailer for the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” remake. Unfortunately, the latest trailer has done nothing to allay my skepticism of the film, primarily because the remake lacks the most distinctive element of the franchise: Robert Englund. Most slasher-movie villains like Jason and Michael Meyers are simply mute, hulking brutes whose personalities rely on appearances, not words. Englund’s Freddy Krueger is iconic, speaking frequently and creating a persona that was chilling and darkly comic. As this new trailer shows us, Jackie Earle Haley’s Krueger just can’t compete. Haley sounds exactly like the Rorschach character he played in “Watchmen” and doesn’t seem to bring any of Englund’s macabre wit to the screen. It may still be too early to judge, but this remake looks to be entirely disposable.

The Whiskey Smugglers - Local 506 - Feb. 27

Consistently great and stylistically varied, the display at Local 506 Saturday night was incredibly satisfying. Put together by Asheville/Durham's Alive And Well Records to celebrate their release of Saint Solitude's Journal of Retreat, the show featured the excellent Asheville alternative rock act opening for Chapel Hill bands Aminal and The Whiskey Smugglers. Saint Solitude, the solo recording project of Dup Crosson, was fleshed out into three piece live. In only its second show the trio was impressively tight, adding raw feeling to Crosson's spiritual musings. The mighty Aminal took the stage next, channeling all the raging existentialism of a quarter-life crisis into rough and ready indie rock power. After the modern ruminations of Solitude and Aminal, The Whiskey Smugglers ended the night with some good ole country fun. Harnessing fiddle and banjo to songs full of witty one-liners, the outfit had the crowd dancing, laughing, hootin' and hollerin'. Mixing a little jollity with a host of real emotion, it was a perfectly balanced set for a rocking Saturday night.

(Courtesy of Music.MyNC)

1. The Love Language has finished its new LP, and  first to be released on Merge Records. In addition to being completed in about a month and a half, frontman Stuart McLamb also reports lineup changes, as members have moved on to pursue their work in The Light Pines. That being said, Libraries, which is set to be released mid-summer, was primarily conceived by McLamb himself. Although the future lineup has yet to be finalized, The Love Language is set to play a handful of upcoming shows including Trekky Records’ Carolina Jubilee Mar. 18 as part of Austin's annual South By Southwest Festival.

(via Music.MyNC)

2. Chapel Hill's resident indie pop orchestra Lost In The Trees has signed a deal with California's Anti- Records. The longtime member of Chapel Hill's Trekky Records will play the label's Carolina Jubilee at SXSW. LITT has released two albums on Trekky, 2008's All Alone in an Empty House and the 2007 EP Time Taunts Me.

(via Trekky Records)

2. Chapel Hill's Drughorse Collective, comprised of 20 or so local musicians, has plans to release a new EP March 26. Bands such as Mount Moriah, The Love Language, Max Indian and The Light Pines are just a few of the bands in the collective, and the EP, named Drughorse One, will feature two songs each from Max Indian, The Light Pines and Ryan Gustafson. The album release show will be at the Local 506.

(via Music.MyNC)

4. New Jersey rock band Titus Andronicus will release its sophomore album, The Monitor, on March 9. “A More Perfect Union,” the album’s 7 minute opener and first single, is currently streaming over at Pitchfork.com. In support of this follow-up to 2007's surprisingly successful The Airing of Grievances, the band will begin heavy touring, including a stop at Chapel Hill’s Local 506 on April 18.

(via Pitchfork)

5. Radiohead's Thom Yorke has named his side project, featuring producer Nigel Godrick, Mauro Refosco, Flea, and Beck/R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker, Atoms for Peace. Named for a speech and program from the '50s, the band plans to tour this spring, with dates lined up in New York, Chicago , and Coachella.

(via Pitchfork)