OUT NOW: This Water is Life, Vol. IV ft. Fuzz Jaxx & CoolOutSessions + Tercel

This Water is Life is a self-sustained and ongoing series of split EPs with two express purposes: to highlight new hip-hop / indie rock music from Southeastern North Carolina, as well as to provide a platform for Cape Fear River Watch and Coastal Plain Conservation Group to deliver up-to-date authoritative reports on the health of the Cape Fear River Basin for both human beings and wildlife.

Volume IV features Fuzz Jaxx & CoolOutSessions and Tercel, and is out now everywhere!

Hip-Hop: Fuzz Jaxx & CoolOutSessions

These two hip hop heads Fuzz Jaxx and CoolOutSessions are a force to be reckoned with. Hailing from Georgia (FJ) and North Carolina (COS) the love and knowledge they have for the music and culture is astonishing. Fuzz had bars beyond the average emcee and a stage presence to match. The smooth melodic tones that CoolOutSessions provides compliments Fuzz’s voice and lyrics. The two are creating a different sound that is slowly but surely grabbing ears. Also, the production is far beyond the watered down versions of what hip hop is today. Their sound is a definite throwback and tribute to J Dilla and Native Tongues vibes. 

Indie Rock: Tercel

Hailing from The Cape Fear region, the Tercel sound carries reverence for its homeland. The lyricism of Robin and Savannah Wood pull from the beliefs of climate activism, societal collapse, and the ennui of existence in the modern world. But Tercel is fun. Tercel is joyous. These are heavy words, lightly thrown. Wall-of-noise guitars in alternate tunings, the give-and-take singing between the vocalists, Chris Vinopal’s pedal steel in all its brightness, Taylor Salvetti’s driving drum beats to accent the changes: Tercel knows the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And in this, we are all smothered in the green glow of existence. Go outside. Enjoy the light.

LISTEN TO FULL EP | ORDER VINYL RECORD

In partnership with: - Cape Fear River Watch

- Coastal Plain Conservation Group This Water is Life is brought to you buy: - Dock Street Printing - Fortis Builders - Gravity Records - Persephone's Farm

- Satellite Bar & Lounge

Tercel live at The Cave in Chapel Hill NC

[Repost from Independent Review Crew; by Brian Slattery, February 18, 2024]

After a short break the Wilmington, N.C.-based band Tercel took the stage, interspersing amiable banter with heartfelt anthems that grew more epic as the set progressed. Their songs fit into the mold of melodic indie rock with more than a few rhythmic tricks up its sleeve. Anchored by hard-driving bass and drums, guitars and pedal steel swapped between big hooks and gritty textures, while the vocals soared over it all.

Tercel - "Holiday"

[Repost from If It's Too Loud; by Ken Sears, July 31, 2024]

If you listened to college radio religiously in the 90's, you're going to adore the latest from Tercel. Hailing from the Cape Fear area of North Carolina, the band's released "Holiday" last week, and it sounds like that song you always played on your radio show but just can't remember who it is by. It has all of the interesting quirk and pure indie rock oddness from a band like Archers of Loaf with the harmony and melody of Apples in Stereo. Tercel even throws in some country and surf guitar somewhat unexpectedly, but delightfully. Hearing a song like "Holiday" is a pure joy.

You can listen to "Holiday" below. The single is out now via Fort Lowell Records. For more on Tercel, check out the band on Instagram.

Single Review – Holiday by Tercel

[Repost from Janglepophub; by Darrin Lee, July 24, 2024]

Following the success of Tercel’s first Tiny Towns debut single in May 2024, the Wilmington, North Carolina quartet (seen above) has returned with a second Holiday single that pierces your innermost being WITH IT’S JANGLY INTENSITY.

Commencing with a jangled riff that has a Lost Ships or the Radio Field early 90s type of clarity, the first vocal drop consumes the sound with a gloriously manic Garbage meets The Cure off-kilter vocal mania and a musical aesthetic that juxtaposes the jangly indie-rock/post punk aesthetic of RGV and DIIV with the jangle rock/punk edges of The Wends and Ryan Allen and his Extra Arms dynamism.

I am not sure whether the release of these two singles so close to each other signals a full-length release is coming soon… I can only hope!

OUT NOW: Tercel "Holiday" [Digital Single]

Hailing from The Cape Fear region of North Carolina, the Tercel sound carries reverence for its homeland. The lyricism of Robin and Savannah Wood pull from the beliefs of climate activism, societal collapse, and the ennui of existence in the modern world. But Tercel is fun. Tercel is joyous. These are heavy words, lightly thrown. Wall-of-noise guitars in alternate tunings, the give-and-take singing between the vocalists, Chris Vinopal’s pedal steel in all its brightness, Taylor Salvetti’s driving drum beats to accent the changes: Tercel knows the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And in this, we are all smothered in the green glow of existence. Go outside. Enjoy the light.

Recorded and produced by Jerry Kee of Duck-Kee Studios in Mebane, North Carolina (Archers of Loaf, Polvo, Superchunk), "Holiday" is the second single to be released by Tercel, and is available now on all digital music platforms.

Sneak Peak of New Song "Holiday" by Tercel, hosted by Radio 3hive

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW

BMN Exclusive Premiere: Tercel "Tiny Towns" - Your New Fav Indie Rock from NC

[Repost from Blood Makes Noise; May 9, 2024]

Melodic up-beat despair, sparking nostalgia for things you’ve never known. Tercel’s debut single release “Tiny Towns” is a symphony of escape and acceptance, a tune you’ll surely hear in your wildest dreams.

 Both Robin and Savannah Wood's vocals bring the sound of wind through wheat grass, sweet like honey suckle and you can taste a subtle southern root just the same. Poetic lyrics keep the water in your eyes, instead opting for a heavy longing in your chest that hurts just right. Picture the wrought iron fences, striped shirt lawn jockeys, wrap around porches piled high with broken parlor pianos, diaper changing tables waiting for another generation, loud calls for another beer to the kitchen, that’s the America Sound I found in Chris Vinopal’s guitar. Riffs I’d swear I’ve always known found in this song, reaching through my memories and making them dance. Soft drums from Taylor Salvetti tap out a metaphor of life's passing. As the snare cracks the dawn of rising intensity there’s a feeling that this moment might last, only for a slow fall to take us back down to the soft rhythm that brought us in.

 Tercel has the glow of a summer tan, of lightning bugs, of the final days on the coast before vacation's over. Music to dance to, to make you feel life between your fingers and toes as you roll around in Bermuda grass, to repeat quietly, without realizing, as you make eggs in the morning. The soundtrack of being alive.

 “Tiny Towns” is being released by Fort Lowell Records on Tuesday, May 14th as a digital single that will be available on all music platforms worldwide.  The track is Tercel’s official debut release, although there is one earlier Bandcamp-only release Tercel made available last year titled Grow Light – The Stowe Tapes.  Today, Blood Makes Noise is excited to provide you with the World Premiere of “Tiny Towns” in advance of the release.

Tercel - "Tiny Towns"

[Repost from If It's Too Loud; by Ken Spears, May 14, 2024]

Hailing from the Cape Fear region of North Carolina, Tercel are going to make you nostalgic for a slice of indie rock you may have forgotten a but. Their debut single, "Tiny Towns," is filled with power pop and melodies, but it also has a bit of the quirkier side of indie rock and plenty of dissonance. It's the kind of track that both repels you and draws you in, often at the exact same time. At various points I'm hearing influences ranging from Archers of Loaf to Sebadoh to Superchunk, with some Wussy thrown in. "Tiny Towns" is a great debut single from a band we're looking forward to hearing more from.

You can listen to "Tiny Towns" below. The single is out now via Fort Lowell Records, and is available for download over on Bandcamp. For more on Tercel, check out the band on Instagram.

OUT NOW: Tercel "Tiny Towns" [Digital Single]

The first official debut release — a digital single titled "Tiny Towns" — for Wilmington, North Carolina's own Tercel is out today on all digital music platforms.  For fans of Archers of Loaf, Blab School, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, Cursive, Desaparecidos, Fucked Up, Horsegirl, Japandroids, Jawbox, JEFF the Brotherhood, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Lifeguard, Pavement, Pissed Jeans, Sebadoh, Ty Segall, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Superchunk, The Thermals, Titus Andronicus, Unwound, Wavves, Wolf Parade, Yuck.  

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