“Upper Air moves away from the singular sound and sentiment,” Dead Oceans describes of the album. “Each and every song on Upper Air is a journal entry that stands on its own, each a singular, beautiful piece.”

Leading up to Upper Air’s release, Dead Oceans released the tracks “Beneath Your Tree” and “Northern Lights” to give fans a taste of what to expect on the new LP.

“There are thousands of overwrought songs released every year that beg and plead and all but demand their prospective audience to feel something,” Pitchfork’s David Raposa writes. “‘Northern Lights’ takes the road less traveled and simply asks that you listen.”

On July 6, Bowerbirds will hit the road with Durham-based Megafaun for a cross-country tour through much of the summer. The stint will finish up with a performance at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro on Aug. 22.

Before the tour, Beth Tacular and Phil Moore stopped by to perform a few songs and talk about their new album on Sessions at Studio B.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.

The two-night benefit showcased eight bands from the Triangle. The event featured performances from Lonnie Walker, Lost In the Trees, Schooner, Bowerbirds, I Was Totally Destroying It, Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies, Birds of Avalon and Polvo. Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies was named to this year’s list of The Great Eight artists N&O music critic David Menconi thinks will break out in 2009.

The two-night benefit showcased eight bands from the Triangle. The event featured performances from Lonnie Walker, Lost In the Trees, Schooner, Bowerbirds, I Was Totally Destroying It, Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies, Birds of Avalon and Polvo. Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies was named to this year’s list of The Great Eight artists N&O music critic David Menconi thinks will break out in 2009.

Lonnie Walker made its South by Southwest debut March 18 at the Radio Room in Austin for the Terpsikhore/Favorite Gentlemen showcase. On Friday, Lonnie Walker joined fellow Triangle bands Annuals, The Physics of Meaning, Felix Obelix and Megafaun for the SXSW N.C. Party at 1705 Valeria Street.

The show served as a “dress rehearsal” for the group’s up-coming Norwegian tour in support of Brother of Song, the second album pairing CCL and Fjeld. The tour will kickoff on March 1 in Norway and run through April 2.

The band offered hilarious anecdotes between songs, which mostly centered on the translation of titles and lyrics from Norwegian to English and vice versa. Among them, banjoist Chandler Holt explained that the CCL song “Sun Up” when spoken in Norway apparently means “Mustard.”

“The other thing I figured out — this is all the Norwegian I know — you call a banjo a ‘baño’ over there, which is similar to ‘bathroom’ in Spanish. So we would do this tune and it would be called ‘Mustard on the Five-String Bathroom.’”

The last pairing of CCL and Fjeld, 2007’s Amerikabesøk, scored a Gold record in Fjeld’s native Norway. Brother of Song will be released in Norway on Feb. 24, though a distributer has not been secured for the U.S. release.

If you did not catch Chatham County Line’s performance on Sessions at Studio B, head over to the video’s landing page to check it out. On Feb. 11, Indy Week published its latest installment of “Listening With…,” during which Fjeld and CCL chime in on acts such as J.J. Cale, Emperor and Concord, N.C.-based The Avett Brothers.

The video shows Merge Records recording artists Arcade Fire performing “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” from the band’s 2005 album Funeral at Local 506 in Chapel Hill. Arcade Fire will release the DVD version of Miroir Noir — a documentary about the making of Neon Bible and the album’s supporting tour — on March 31. The documentary is currently available for digital download.

Thanks to Dan London of publisher Lulu.com for finding the video. Dan was lucky enough to be at this show.

The Raleigh expatriate recently covered the track at Music Hall Of Williamsburg on Dec. 12 in Brooklyn and at Wilbur Theatre in Boston on Dec. 14.

Vernon’s former band mates remained in Raleigh and formed the indie roots outfit Megafaun after the singer-songwriter returned to Wisconsin.

You can stream the song in its entirety below.

Let’s Active’s Mitch Easter joined the band for several songs during the set; and during the encore, Michael Stipe sang a few bars from “What’s New Pussycat?” per an audience member’s request.

R.E.M. were regulars in Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Greensboro from the band’s earliest days. The Pier was located in Cameron Village’s underground.

Also, check out our photo slideshow and review of R.E.M.’s concert in Raleigh from this past June.

Moving from Texas to Portland to Chapel Hill to Seattle and back to Oregon, Daniels seems to be living the life of a true traveling troubadour.

While living in Chapel Hill, Daniels co-founded Bu_Hanan Records and released the acclaimed Sharp Teeth in 2007 with Fat Cat Records. In addition, Daniels released The Mayflower in 2000, Out From Under Ligne 4 in 2001 and Angles in 2004.

On April 29, 2008, Daniels released his fifth album, Fear of Flying.

When Ben Folds Five split up in 2000, the band never had a chance to perform a farewell show; much less a farewell performance in its hometown of Chapel Hill.

However, the piano-based trio thrilled fans when it announced a one-off performance at UNC’s Memorial Hall to finally give fans the proper goodbye they’d been waiting for.

The event occurred on Sept. 18, 2008 and was sponsored by MySpace as a part of the social networking site’s “Front to Back” series. The series intends for artists to perform one album live in its entirety.

For Ben Folds Five, that album was 1999’s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner; the band’s final complete LP.

Although the band never officially released a full album, recordings from before the band’s split are floating around the Internet and act as the only known remnants of a band that couldn’t quite get its feet of the ground. However, one friendly YouTube user was kind enough to upload live recordings from the band’s performance at The Brewery in Raleigh on Feb. 4, 1994.