Hopscotch 2015 Night 2: Discovering music in three ways

All photos by Kevin Norris

Hopscotch is about many things, but one of the most important is discovery. Discovering new music is an obvious benefit, but it goes beyond that. Hopscotch makes a habit of bringing back older artists which allows for rediscovery of old favorites. It gives musicians the freedom and ability to craft performances that wouldn’t happen elsewhere so you can see your favorite artists from a new perspective. I encountered all of those facets of discovery on Friday night.

New to me were Carlitta Durand, the compositions presented by New Music Raleigh, Luxe Posh and Mitski. Durand, an R&B artist from Durham, opened the night at the main stage in City Plaza. A 6 p.m. start time meant that the crowd was small. Durand’s enticing voice added a breathy layer over hushed grooves and funky bass lines. It was a nice change of pace from the rock and roll I consumed all afternoon at day parties and it made me think that Hopscotch needs more R&B in its lineup (or I needed to pay more attention and seek out the R&B that was available at the festival).

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, TV on the Radio, Dwight Yoakam to headline Hopscotch

The Hopscotch Music Festival, returning to downtown Raleigh for a sixth year on Sept. 10-12, has announced its long-awaited lineup with nearly 140 bands and performers.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor will take the City Plaza stage to kick things off with Deerhunter on Thursday, Sept. 10. TV on the Radio, Tycho, and Carlitta Durand will follow suit on Friday, with Dwight Yoakam, X, American Aquarium, the The Vibekillers closing it down Saturday night.

Owen Pallett will serve as this year's Improviser-in-Residence, headlining at Fletcher Opera Theater on Saturday and joining others for their performances on Thursday and Friday.

Moogfest 2011 adds even more bands, TV on the Radio, St. Vincent & more

TV on the Radio

The incredible music festival Moogfest in Asheville already had an impressive lineup for 2011 with acts like The Flaming Lips, Moby, Passion Pit and many more, but now they've added even more great bands.

The new bands include TV on the Radio, James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, St. Vincent, Flying Lotus, Zomby, SBTRKT, Yacht, John Maus, Childish Gambino (the hip-hop alter ego of actor/comedian Donald Glover), Beats Antique, The Drums, Baths, Savoy, Araabmuzik, Cloudland Canyon, Fareed Haque + MathGames, Grimes, Mimi Goese & Ben Neill, Moon Duo, Warm Ghost, EOTO and Fine Peduncle.

Check out the full updated lineup below.

TV on the Radio leak Bonnaroo line-up

The Bonnaroo Music Festival's 2009 line-up was not supposed to be revealed until tomorrow, but TV on the Radio let it slip early on their MySpace blog. The Manchester, TN festival will feature headline sets Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and the freshly reunited Phish. Phish will actually headline two nights. As one would expect, there are a ton of other great bands playing the festival including a few local ties including Tift Merritt and Bon Iver.

Check out the list of performers below. Each artist's individual performance day has yet to be released, but heck, the list as a whole isn't supposed to be out yet. Let us know if you plan to make the trek from North Carolina to Tennessee for the festival.

[A quick note: As I was writing this, Bonnaroo published the line-up. I wonder if TV on the Radio forced their hand? Either way, it's officialy out, though the site is running pretty slow. Check out their little video previewing the line-up at the bottom of the post.]

Bonnaroo 2009 performers:
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish (2 shows), Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, David Byrne, Wilco, Al Green, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Costello (solo), Erykah Badu, Paul Oakenfold, Ben Harper and Relentless7, The Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gov’t Mule, Andrew Bird, Merle Haggard, MGMT, moe., The Decemberists, Girl Talk, Bon Iver, Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Galactic, The Del McCoury Band, of Montreal, Allen Toussaint, Coheed and Cambria, Booker T & the DBTs, David Grisman Quintet, Lucinda Williams, Animal Collective, Gomez, Neko Case, Down, Jenny Lewis, Santogold, Robert Earl Keen, Citizen Cope, Femi Kuti and the Positive Force, The Ting Tings, Robyn Hitchcock & The, Venus 3, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Kaki King, Grizzly Bear, King Sunny Adé, Okkervil River, St. Vincent, Zac Brown Band, Raphael Saadiq, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Crystal Castles, Tift Merritt, Brett Dennen, Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue, Toubab Krewe, People Under the Stairs, Alejandro Escovedo, Vieux Farka Touré, Elvis Perkins In Dearland, Cherryholmes, Yeasayer, Todd Snider, Chairlift, Portugal. The Man., The SteelDrivers, Midnite, The Knux, The Low Anthem, Delta Spirit, A.A. Bondy, The Lovell Sisters, Alberta Cross