Album Review: Midnight Plus One - Unlearn Everything

Midnight Plus One put on some of the most thrilling concerts locally and with Unlearn Everything they’ve translated it onto an album.

This band is a juggernaut that gains momentum and can’t be stopped. It starts with John “JB” Bowman’s relentless drumming. It’s heavy yet remains nimble enough to propel each song. This frees guitarist Nick Senese develop the few hooks these songs have and then push them further. This duo builds the energy and tension to its threshold. That’s when singer Casey Cook pounces turns on the energy kinetic.

Midnight Plus One, Positive No, Static is a City 'Let Feedback Ring'

Photos by Justin Weber

About four blocks west from the heart downtown Raleigh’s nightlife that stretches from Salisbury Street to Blount Street is Legends Nightclub. The rainbow hues that splash against its front on West Hargett Street invite newcomers to open a door that’s locked before realizing they’ll need to walk around the back and gain admittance through an airlock-like ID check. The club’s interior eventually leads patrons to the “Spotlight Theater” in the very back. It’s here on the first Friday of most months since last November that Let Feedback Ring, a locally-sponsored punk rock showcase, takes place.

Let Feedback Ring is put on by Raleigh-based Negative Fun Records, more specifically Chris DeFusco and Corbie Hill. The regular first Friday series evolved from a successful day party — also at Legends — at last year’s Hopscotch. The series sometimes features bands appearing on the label and its new cassette tape imprint, Antiquated Technologies, but it's not limited to them. The purpose of the series is not to highlight a specific label, but to help build a community. As such, DeFusco and Hill book every kind of band: brand new bands, under-appreciated veterans, out-of-state groups branching out, and established acts (December’s lineup was headlined by Whatever Brains). The music in the series covers most of the aural tendrils that branch out of punk from the poppier, melody driven styles to those that are all about volume, speed, and energy.