When Mark Szafranski bought the building at 117 West Broad Street in 1991, the property was in disrepair. Water seeped from the upper floors, the windows were falling in, and downtown Richmond was, at the time, more forgotten than revitalized. But Szafranski, a...
According to Ben Rellick, Monopolyopolis is an experiment in how many o’s you can fit in a band name. But in reality, the instrumental solo project is an experiment in much more than that. The project, headed solely by Rellick, had been toying around with multiple combinations of sounds and textures for about a year and half before releasing...
“This is my daughter!” shouted a hip-looking guy to a group of equally hip-looking parents, introducing his pre-teenager, as concertgoers rapidly filled the space around him. A crowd of fans young and old descended on the National Wednesday night for The Shins’ sold out show, fresh from the previous night’s show at Norfolk venue the NorVa and...
I spent the weekend in Durham, NC, at a festival devoted to the synthesizer and some of the best acts from the show are stopping in RVA tonight. It’s also gonna help if you like terrifying noise music. I’m gonna run down Moogfest in the next week or so (as I am still recovering) but one of the stand out acts, NYC’s Pharamakon...
“This band is like the soundtrack of my childhood, like what my dad used to listen to,” said Corey Fonville, who plays drums in the Richmond-based groovy instrumental quartet, Butcher Brown. Fonville, along with Devonne Harris (DJ Harrison, keys), Marcus Tenney (saxophone, trumpet), Andrew Randazzo (bass) and Morgan Burrs (guitar) make up the...
Back in April RVA Mag gave you the lowdown on R&B heartthrob Trey Songz making a stop in Richmond this Saturday as part of his national tour (swoon). Well, not only will the singer perform tomorrow night at the Dominion Arts Center, but he’s hosting an afterparty at Kabana Rooftop to celebrate. Doors Open at 9pm and Trey Songz will...
Before Anneliese Grant was captivating us with her incredible vocals in The Folly, the singer/songwriter was performing on her own and after a two-year break, she’s come back with a new EP, Out to Graze. The five-track album showcases her talent and is a bit of a different direction than The Folly’s sound. This will mark Grant’s third solo...
For a band quintessential to the pop punk burst of the early 2000s, Say Anything has been vigilant in its capacity for recreation – for holding true to a fundamental attitude, which could be described as sentimental amity behind an impish smirk, without epitomizing the sound that once made them the generators of angsty anthems like those...
Precise sampling, smooth jazzy interludes and effervescent beats meet in the intelligent and harmonious way that has come to be expected from Satellite Syndicate’s BSTFRND in his fourth album, Neuromelanin. Pioneered by producer, multi-media and hip hop artist Jefferson Harris, the 12-track album’s cerebral themes begin at the title, which...
If you’re new to the world of instrumental metal music, you may not have heard of DC’s Animals As Leaders, a reference to Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael. And if you’re new and near a device like most people are, you might soon find yourself, jaw dropped, seeing this trio of progressive musicians with advanced playing techniques unfurled, slicing...
