Local Music News
Ting, the brand-new release by local musician Seth Kauffman, came in at No. 10 on the CMJ (College Media Journal) Top 200 for the first week of March. The album (written, recorded and engineered solely by Kaufmann) runs alongside big names like Jason Collett (of Broken Social Scene) and Calexico.
Local bluegrass group Town Mountain will release their new album Original Bluegrass and Roots Country on Friday, March 24, at the Grey Eagle. The quintet took home top prize last year in the band competition at the 33rd annual RockyGrass Festival in Lyons, Colo. [Look for a review of the album in next week’s Earful.]
Show review
Subramanium with Dark Autumn and U.S. Christmas at Gourmet Perks, Saturday, March 11: Four Stars
• Genre(s): All things Metal.
• Be glad you stayed home if: You prefer dark themes relegated to your coffee.
• Defining moment: “Fruit O’ De Looming Threat” — Subramanium’s drummer Justin Whitlow not only displayed his astute knowledge of polyrhythms, but also a grasp on the art of death-metal vocals.
Perhaps it was the barstool I grabbed out of one chap’s hand before he smashed it over two tangled fighters, or maybe it was the blood that decorated the floor where coffee spills usually reside. Whatever the case, my metal night at Gourmet Perks was one for the ages. Opener U.S. Christmas assailed the ears and enlightened the mind with their sludge/stoner/space rock. Salisbury’s Dark Autumn (whose oldest member is 19) are on their way as a premiere black-metal band, although it’s obvious their drummer is still searching for a seamless double-bass rhythm. Full of seething aggression and unsettling numbers like “Hell Awaits Me” and “Desecrate,” the band incited a full-blown mosh pit, producing the heralded fight of the evening.
Not to be outdone, Asheville’s Subramanium (with Sam Fox on guitar, Sterling Weed on bass, and Justin Whitlow on drums) dazzled the remaining onlookers with a combination of old-school metal, punk, and elements of death metal. The newly formed band’s adhesiveness and proclivity for elegant melodies amid the assaults will garner fans from all musical spectrums. Whitlow was especially enrapturing, creating a blur around his kit reminiscent of a swarm of bees. Too bad they couldn’t provoke a second fight — thus my reason for not awarding the show five stars.
RIP Daniel DeLaVergne
A hell of a paddler, a good friend, and a vibrant individual who lived many lifetimes in his short tenure on Earth.
[When he’s not bending readers to his will, Hunter Pope cooks, gardens, hikes and spends his mortgage money on CDs he’s never heard.]
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