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SHOW REVIEW: Eels
Eels, with Jesca Hoop and Trish Dunn
When it comes to Eels, I figure we all experienced similar introductions--it was the mid-nineties, and they had an exceptionally memorable music video for their tune “Novocaine (For The Soul).” As I would soon discover, this single was incredibly misleading. The musical potential and phases of Eels were barely represented. I realized this while helping a friend move--Eels with Strings: Live at Town Hall served as our soundtrack. Throughout this release, songs spanning their entire catalog were given a new life in terms of presentation. Eels mastermind Mark Oliver Everett gracefully engaged and challenged audiences by demolishing any preconceived notions they may have had regarding his creative output. I entered the Eels show at the National this past Thursday with these ideas in mind.
SHOW REVIEW: Little Master, Canadian Rifle, Constrictor, Real Talk
Little Master, Canadian Rifle, Constrictor, and Real Talk
Thursday, September 23 at Strange Matter
Regardless of the name it's currently going by, the club located at 929 W. Grace St always feels like home to me. I've been seeing shows there since moving to Richmond 17 years ago, and whether it's called Twisters, The Nanci Raygun, or Strange Matter, it's still pretty much the same as it ever was--a dark, grotty hole in the wall, the classic rock n' roll dive bar. And I love that about it, even on nights when I showed up by myself, and setup time leaves me standing around unsure what to do (which, I suppose, is where drinking comes in). Once the music starts, though, none of it matters.
Masters of Mayhem PEELANDER-Z 2NITE!!
Japanese transplants PEELANDER-Z are making an appearance tonight at The Camel and if you haven't seen them live don't miss out. Seriously, one of the most fun shows you will ever go to. Prepare yourself for pop punk, group chanting and dancing, possible human bowling, banging on pots and being swallowed up by the Japanese flavor.
BIG thanks to Trigger System for bringing them back to RVA.
Joan Gaustad's 'LOVE & Other Demons'
Opening this Friday at ADA Gallery, Joan Gustad's 'LOVE & Other Demons' is her first show since the passing of her husband and in that context is a brave exhibition that some might find hard to look at. The new work has the children again as subject matter but all the imagery has been tinged with a sense of something uncomfortable.
Opening Friday October 1, 2010, 7-10 pm
Artist talk and reception: October 9, 2010, 5:30-7:30 pm
ADA Gallery 228 W Broad St.
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" Joan Gaustad has followed her own muse for many years, creating a landscape of ethereal beauty that, perhaps with the waving of a wand or a secret incantation, seamlessy integrates darkly ambiguous social scenarios. There are all kinds of echoes here – from 50’s illustration to the Tantric and the tribal. "
- RICHARD ROTH , artist and writer
Perhaps it is her lifelong fascination with spirituality (Christianity as a child, and Buddhism as an adult), that “lends [her] paintings an almost iconic weight, and suggests the sacred. The tension and power of Gaustad’s art lies in the coexistence of images which acknowledge fear, even trauma, with a way of rendering which implies the hope and dignity possible in any life, however damaged.”
–Wesley Gibson, Art Papers and New Art Examiner
Joan Gaustad (b). September 11, 1948 , Richmond, Va
Education includes art studies in Bangkok, Thailand (1967-1969), Offenbach Hochschule fur Gestaltung, Offenbach, Germany(1970-1971) and a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1974. Joan Gaustad has shown her work throughout Virginia, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, University of Richmond, and the Anderson Gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University. Joan shares her life in Richmond, Virginia with painter Gerald Donato, where they both have been active supporters of the arts. In 2007 Donato and Gaustad were jointly awarded the Thesesa Pollak Award for Excellence in the Arts.
BOUNCE 031 Reinhold's "CHEESE WHIZ" Mix
Well here we go again, and Im back with my wildest mix to date.. Cheese Whiz!
Tastemakers Reinhold and Jennings bring you BOUNCE, our showcase of the best in local and regional deejays sets. PLF/RVA - working on bringing you the newest sounds from all over! For all the information you need email john@rvamag.com.
*TO DOWNLOAD mix save on this link: "CHEESE WHIZ"
BOUNCE 031 Reinhold's "CHEEZE WHIZ" Mix
Welcome to the Cheese Whiz mix! Honestly this mix is just so silly, I fell over laughing a few times while recording it. Its a little out of the norm than what I would usually spin live. However, I got an idea In my head to do a concept album of sorts ... and I went with it.
It is my hope that it will make you laugh, and at times bang your head while pumping your fist in the air! I start it off with a 1970's Spainsh Cheese Whiz commercial (below), which of course is pretty appropriate opening for all this cheese. This mix is full of songs that are classics that we love/hate and are in many ways guilty pleasures, and then there are just some killer tracks in here as well. In this mix I go from AD/DC mix to Sandstorm directly into Zombie Nation. Did I mention Bon Jovi? Now, I completely take the blame for all this, and because of it I went ahead and poured Cheese Whiz all over my face - as you can see! I'm sure I will put up the whole photo shoot for it soon for you to check out online - and you can have fun laughing at me and the ridiculous mess that it made. Well, I hope you enjoy listening to Cheese Whiz, and If you stick around to the end you will hear the famed "Meow!" song that I rarely get to play - its always good for a laugh.
Much thanks,
Reinhold - PLF/RVA
Special thanks goes out to Todd Raviotta (Photo), Conway Jennings, and Tony Harris (design) for their help on this mix.
RVA TV: Santo Diablo! by Joey Tran
A comedy in the tradition of Double Indemnity and The Lost Weekend, Santo Diablo! is the story of a young man, driven mad by guilt and paranoia after stealing a can of chili, who becomes convinced that his roommates are plotting to kill him.
Local filmmaker Joey Tran has been making comedies for years, you can see more of his work at www.vimeo.com/metimo.
Gang Of Four Release New Song For Free Download
Legendary early-80s English postpunk band Gang Of Four has had a rather inconsistent history, breaking up and reforming several times over the course of their 30-year history. Originally made up of vocalist Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bassist Dave Allen, and drummer Hugo Burnham, Gang Of Four experienced member attrition after being together for about five years, with first Allen and then Burnham dropping out circa 1983. Gill and King remained together for over a decade, making albums with studio musicians and synthesizers filling out the lineup, but it was never the same, and these "gang of two" albums were woefully inferior to the work of the original band. In 2004, though, that original lineup reformed and began touring, playing songs from their classic first three albums with the vigor and energy one would normally expect only from a much younger band. I saw one of the shows on that tour and was very pleasantly surprised, considering my initial skepticism about the reunion. The reformed band really seemed to have the goods.
Now, six years after that original reformation, Gang Of Four has returned to the studio to bring us their first album of new material in 15 years. The reformed original lineup did record and release Return The Gift in 2006, but that album was a rerecording of the old songs they'd been playing on tour, and featured no newly-written material. And since that album, Allen and Burnham have left the band once again, with Burnham retiring to become a professor at the New England Institute of Art, and Allen leaving for undisclosed reasons. So does this mean that the version of Gang Of Four that's finally brought us new material is as inferior as the "gang of two" incarnation that created the band's noticeably inferior fourth through sixth albums? Where the full album, entitled Content, is concerned, it remains to be seen, but the first song released from the album offers reasons to be encouraged. On "Never Pay For The Farm," new bassist Thomas McNeice has every bit the harsh, growling, yet extremely funky sound that Dave Allen brought to Gang Of Four, while Andy Gill's bright, scratching guitar sound banishes any thoughts of synthesizers fogging up the mix. Mark Heaney's syncopated percussion makes it easier for the listener not to miss Hugo Burnham, and Jon King is as manic and frustrated as ever, delivering politically-tinged lyrics in a powerful voice that is at the same time shaking with anger, or perhaps paranoia.
Perhaps this time, Gang Of Four have learned from their previous attempts to carry on after the disbanding of their original lineup. Instead of moving in a more synthetic direction, instead of acting like Gill and King are the band's only members and filling in the holes with computerized instruments and people who don't really care about the band, they've recruited new members who can play in the spirit of the original lineup and allow the band's classic sound to stay intact. Hopefully this means that Content, unlike so many latter-day Gang Of Four releases, will be able to stand alongside their classic albums Entertainment! and Solid Gold. If nothing else, though, at least they've given us one more great song.
Stream or download "Never Pay For The Farm" from ReverbNation here. (Download requires email address)
PLAYLIST: The Jams Of Terry (Oct. 2010 Edition)
Playlist link: College Town Nostalgia
Here we are back with the second we-can-bump-uglies-if-you-ain’t-got-your-monthly installment of The Jams of Terry. I’ve got my butt a little tighter than I did on the last playlist, bringing you some college town nostalgia for back to school. This is mainly what I consider to be the original college rock, the melodic stuff from the mid-‘80s that came out after punk but before alternative. There are a few digressions, because nostalgia is a funny thing. You never know what will have you looking into the past, but I know that it happens more when the weather gets chilly. Who knows what’s next. J-Pop? Reggaeton? Tuareg Guitars? All I know is that this playlist is best enjoyed while wearing corduroys and flannel.
DAILY RECORD: Bastard Noise
The Bastard Noise – A Culture Of Monsters (Deep Six Records)
When considering contemporary music, much of which has come to rely on dissonance and traditionally non-musical sound, the question sometimes arises of what elements constitute “noise.” Going by the strict dictionary definition of noise as an unwanted sound, any application of the term to music is an extremely subjective measure, and not just in a curmudgeonly “damn kids and the noise they listen to nowadays” sense either. Whole genres have predicated themselves upon elements which, until recent decades, would have been considered verboten – rock and roll’s love affair with distortion and the record scratching of hip hop come to mind. Even as a defined genre, “noise music” – the sort of aleatoric scraping and shrieking of artists like Merzbow and Wolf Eyes – seems like a contradiction in terms. That is, if noise exists as a genre with practitioners and fans, it is no longer an unwanted sound and by definition ceases to be noise. Noisy, perhaps, but not noise.
This semantic argument may or may not provide a better understanding of A Culture Of Monsters, the newest release by The Bastard Noise – but it may have some bearing. The band’s name itself was a sobriquet chosen to differentiate the members’ experimental material from their work in seminal prog/hardcore band Man Is The Bastard. They initially dealt in the exact sort of corrosive soundscapes that the term “noise music” brings to mind. Recent releases, however, have found the band incorporating more concrete structural elements which, though not unlike the oddball brutality of their parent band, could hardly be considered a nostalgic rehash either, forsaking any preconception which could be inspired by the name or the members’ past endeavors.
RVA TV: GET UP. Part 3 - RVA Graffiti Scene
In the fall of 2009, Virginia Commonwealth University students Emma Ellsworth, Kenyatta Watts and Nathan Madden walked into a documentary film class as strangers—not only to each other, but to the art of film-making as well. The trio quickly developed an idea, narrowed a focus and began developing an outline for their film that was tentatively expected to explore the graffiti culture in Richmond.
Our interview with film-maker Emma Ellsworth:
I graduated from VCU this past December with a BA in Mass Communications- Broadcast Journalism. I have only made two films thus far; the "Get up" documentary and a short adaptation of "Alice and Wonderland". I thoroughly enjoyed both genres, however I think I would like to try my hand at music videos.
"Get up" was the product of a documentary class I took at VCU and our groups were chosen by our teacher based on who she thought had similar ideas and would work well together. I think the other members of my group will agree that there were times when we butt heads (we spent A LOT of time together), but we also had a boat-load of fun. I'm sorry that was a little cliche but also true. Despite any differences, it would have been close to impossible to have completed this project alone in the time we had.
I learned a tremendous amount about film-making through this documentary, but I still have a lot to learn. I am looking to help out with smaller films or get an internship. I also recently acquired an old camera that I am looking forward to tinkering with.
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