Music Features
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Vocal Powerhouse Adina Rey Unleashes Stunning, Moving Debut
Thick piano chords, plangent guitars and cantering percussion set the stage on “Hi & Lo,” one of six subtly challenging pop tunes on Adina Rey’s self-titled debut EP, which dropped Wednesday. It is the previously unknown singer-songwriter’s powerful, supple and emotionally rangy vocals, however, that grab the spotlight. Rey’s voice,…
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Gauxstman Represents Charlotte’s Southside on New Album ‘28217’
Charlotte rapper Gauxstman comes from a long and mostly venerable tradition of shit talking. Rappers like Too $hort, Suga Free and even Snoop Dogg circulated narratives of salacity and sagacity, playing off of their predecessors like Red Foxx, Moms Mabley and Richard Pryor. These comics built off an earlier tradition…
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True Optimist Creates a Musical Getaway with ‘Parlor Palms’
The opening of True Optimist’s new single “Make Money All Day” suggests a soca madrigal entwining with a 1980s new-wave dancefloor hit. Shaking percussion rains down on ricocheting high-life guitars and a plangent, bittersweet bassline. Then a braided stream of swarming voices transforms the tune into a whirlpool of shifting…
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How DOMii Is Transforming Charlotte’s House Music Scene
An Instagram video clip from late April captures DJ, musician and event promoter Ariel Dominguez doing what she does best: creating music to captivate a crowd and set bodies in motion. Manning the decks at Novelty House in Uptown, Dominguez, who deejays and composes as DOMii, lays down a steady…
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Catt Daddy Transitions from Hip-Hop to Southern Soul
When Maurel Nichols enters the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Raleigh, he steps into the spotlight — metaphorically speaking, anyway. His entrance marks the opening shot of the video that accompanies “Love My Southern Soul,” the February 21 release by Nichols, the singer-songwriter who performs as Catt Daddy. Catt is…
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Shelby Punks Y’ALL’RE Do It for the Love of Music
Riding a roaring Ramones-fueled guitar-and-bass riff and splashy, zipper-tight drums, Shelby foursome Y’ALL’RE kicks off its 2024 debut EP First Edition with Galaxy Lineberger’s high-spirited, smart-ass vocals. “I’m tired of playing with the newbs/ Their games are dumber than gelatinous cubes/ We best the big, bad evil guy/ Because our…
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Gene Brown Marks Three Years of Producer Showcases in CLT
One cold night in December 2019, toward the end of a month-long sojourn in New York City, I was eager for a taste of home. I was in the midst of my third year of a Ph.D. program in English at UNC Chapel Hill and I had spent the last…
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Wild Recluse Spreads Message of Self-Love and Exploration Through Multiple Mediums
On a warm April night, Petra’s is packed for “Sam on Someday,” a multi-act, genre-fluid jam launched by Sam Tayloe, founder and frontman of Charlotte folk rock band Time Sawyer. The talent onstage is prodigious — guitarist Justin Clyde Williams, drummer Tim Haney, bassist Kerry Brooks, piano player Jason Atkins…
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Local Songwriters Take Musical Roles in ‘The Righteous Gemstones’
For a song parody to land, the music has to be good. Mike Mitschele and Rick Randall know that, while they can write lyrics as silly as they like, the music always must be on point or the whole thing falls flat. In a varied career, the two Charlotte natives…
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Sam on Someday Showcases Charlotte’s Talented Singer/Songwriters
Seven musicians are packed onto the Evening Muse’s stage, but the band doesn’t seem cramped or crowded. In fact, the vibe among the players is convivial as they sashay through a rocking version of iconoclastic country-rocker Mickey Newbury’s “Why You Been Gone So Long.” Vocalist and guitarist Justin Clyde Williams…
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Femme Fest Expands in Second Year at The Milestone
Femme Fest, a homegrown benefit concert showcasing bands or artists that include at least one woman, femme-presenting or LGBTQIA+ member, will return this spring, doubling down for two days of music. After a successful one-day inaugural run in 2024, the event that won Best New Music Festival/Event in Queen City…
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Springadelia Fuses Sound and Vision at Snug Harbor
Snug Harbor is getting a jump on the vernal equinox this year with the return of Springadelia, a three-night festival scheduled for March 6-8 on Gordon Street. Zach Reader, the venerable Plaza Midwood music venue’s talent buyer who launched Springadelia in 2024, describes the multifaceted happening featuring 24 musicians and…
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‘How to be an Ethical Slut’ Explores Lessons and Logic of Polyamory
Blake Valentini has a problem. She’s wrestling with her desire for a loving, monogamous relationship and the simultaneously dawning realization that there may be alternative — and better — ways to forge meaningful romantic and sexual connections. In short, Blake is contemplating How to be an Ethical Slut — not…
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Tim Scott Jr. Is a Quiet Force in Charlotte’s Music Scene
At the top of Tim Scott Jr.’s New Year’s resolutions list this year was one item: learning to take credit for his accomplishments. There’s plenty to claim; Scott’s achievements within the music scene are so numerous they were hard to compile in the process of putting this article together. The…
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Ali Forrest Lands a Knockout with ‘Cagefighter’
Ali Forrest’s harrowing, compulsively catchy single “The Maze,” which dropped in October 2024, is the perfect teaser for her debut album Cagefighter, the much anticipated LP by the artist Queen City Nerve called the city’s Best New Singer-Songwriter in our 2024 Best in the Nest issue. The accompanying video for…
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Girl Brutal’s Electronic Rage Attracts Metalcore Fans
Like a nighttime artillery barrage, stuttering strobe lights flash over electronic noise punk trio Girl Brutal. Clad in bunny ears, clownish Joker makeup and thong underwear over her tights, Grace Nelson stalks the stage, stomping, screaming, squatting and rolling on the floor as drummer Music Knight lays down chaotic, pummeling…
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