Music » Music Feature  How the Longbranch country music dance
hall became an electronica hotbed   1 comment  It's approaching
midnight on a Thursday evening, and Raleigh's largest rock club
teems with neon-clad 20-somethings. Huge balloons bounce from
outstretched hands. Clouds of multicolored confetti blast from
side-stage cannons. Hip kids with modified leaf blowers shoot
streams of toilet paper into the air.  The scene's soundtrack is
a manic collage of popular music samples, with iconic rock riffs
finding new life as the fuel for filthy-fun rap verses.
Shirtless and drenched, a wiry white dude jumps to the top of
the DJ booth and pleads for the crowd to become even more
energetic. Somehow, they manage it, dancing and shouting like
it's all they know how to do.  But overhead, a faded sign glows
resiliently: "The Longbranch is QDR country," it proclaims,
marking the scene with the emblem of the Triangle's longstanding
country radio station. For anyone looking at the near-capacity
crowd from the back of the