VICE in the City of Oaks: A Hopscotch Preview

When I was mapping out things to do, and events to cover this year, I had originally planned to be in Charlotte, NC this week for the Democratic National Convention. But as time marched on I decided to just keep driving northeast to Raleigh and hit the Hopscotch Music Festival instead. I figured there'd be just as many whitey liberals hanging out, not mention better parties, a more relaxed dress code and an infinitely better soundtrack. Besides, press access to Hopscotch was much easier to garner so, you know, path of least resistance and all that.

In order to give you some idea of what's going on I trolled hard through the list of confirmed acts, over 165 of which will play across eighteen venues, and came up with eight that I really think might be on my do-not-miss list. Your mileage may vary, of course, but if you're planning in stalking me in Raleigh this week here's an easy cheat sheet for you but keep in mind that everything is subject to major change. Some of them are playing multiple sets so just scour the official Hopscotch page for times and dates.

Dope Body (Baltimore, MD): I feel like I'm taking a wild chance on these scuzzed out Balto rockers. My gut feeling after repeatedly spinning their sophomore album Natural History is that I'll leave feeling elated, or covered in Miller High Life from the can. Maybe both? Either way, “Weird Mirror” is by far the catchiest and most easily remembered track on the album so it's no wonder it was the lead promo thing several months back.

Liars (Los Angeles, CA): OK, I admit full stop that the only reason I'm listing Liars is because my chances to see them outside of a festival setting is slim to none. They're not a band I'd drive a bunch of hours to see on their own and, truth be told, seeing them in a festival setting might well slant my overall opinion of them toward an unreasonable positive but, whatever. I think the latest album WIXIW is a completely reasonable listen even if a little trend-hoppy. Did you happen to ever see this totally sick video they made of a fat man attempting to kill the band and stuff them in a laundry van? Such funny boys!

Flesh Wounds (Chapel Hill, NC): This trio both answers and adds to the eternal Rock-N-Roll question that is “How many different ways can you play the same three chords?” Blistering all the same, though.

White Hills (New York City, NY): Good God this band can do no wrong. Or, if they can, they haven't. Or won't. Everything's louder than everything else and they're solidly in the running to be the official band of earplug weather.

Corrosion of Conformity (Raleigh, N.C.): Because you can't go to Raleigh, NC and not see Corrosion of Conformity. Don't blame me. This has been a rule for, like, 30 years. Even though they'll sound nothing at all like the video below this is exactly the reason I know I'm gonna catch them. For the memories.

Guardian Alien (Brooklyn, NY): All the hype surrounding this band seems to center on the the fact that its drummer used to be in Liturgy. Well, WHOOP-EH-DEE-DOO! But, seriously, Guardian Alien creates these walls of noise with bits of embedded melody in such a way that it's really a jazz structure. Remember, free jazz was never “free” in terms of chaos but, rather, free in terms of limitlessness. This is that.

Holograms (Stockholm, Sweden): Out of all the bands listed here so far I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm most hype on Holograms. They're like the house band for a never ending winter. Everything seems darker than it probably is and everything is consistently understated. But there's a relentless underlying tension that propels it all. Remember when I said my schedule was subject to change? Well, that true except for this part. This is for certain.

So, yeah, you're thinking “What? Eight bands out of 165 or so? That’s all you've got?”  No, but that's all I'm going to bother previewing. Will anyone ever need to read another sentence about Sunn 0))), The Roots, Zola Jesus, NOBUNNY, Deerhoof, Yo La Tengo or even the deservedly beloved Jesus & Mary Chain? Exactly.

Stay tuned for our coverage of the event!

@gordonlamb