A few weeks ago, I was part of the vibrant crowd packed into El Taco Guapo—shoulder to elbow, beer to brow—glued to the local cowboy rockers shaking the concrete of Broad Street. Bucko came together out of necessity. Through the natural progression of friendship, word...
The Shins, Ra Ra Riot Monday, May 27 at The National "Indie rock royalty" is a phrase thrown around about a lot of bands these days. Whether it be in an album review, a press release, or by some overzealous fans, the term is pretty widespread, and almost meaningless by now. It also makes it extremely hard to distinguish those bands that truly do...
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood – Black Pudding (Ipecac Records) The first immediately noticeable facet of anything involving Mark Lanegan is the voice at the songs' core – the disconsolate yet stoic rasp, granite hard yet frayed as an old blanket. His voice's raggedness, sounding half fallen apart and half adhered only through stubborn force of...
It’s no secret that VCU attracts kids from all over the state and beyond. The constant influx of new students keeps the local artistic community thriving, with new scenes popping up in the vicinity of the university campus all the time. One recent musical movement, known to some as the "art punk" scene, features bands who've applied the DIY...
Take the speed and aggression of 80’s punk, plus the gloom, doom, and fuzz of 70’s metal bands, and bless it in the blood of a virgin sacrifice to Lucifer. The result is Satan’s Satyrs, a three-piece metal band based in Herndon, Virginia, who will be bringing their blasphemous onslaught to Strange Matter on Tuesday, May 28. Take the speed and...
The Stone Soul Music and Food Festival, which bills itself as Richmond’s “largest R&B, Gospel and Hip Hop festival,” is back, taking place this year on Saturday, June 1st 2013. This year will mark the ninth annual occurrence of this local event, which is presented by Radio One. The Stone Soul Music and Food Festival, which bills itself as...
Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge – Twelve Ways To Die (Soul Temple Music) There was a time when a listener could purchase anything affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan without worrying whether the level of quality would hold up to that of their larger body of work. For several years after their inception, the group's output, alongside that of its...
This weekend, we've got a special presentation for all you fans of hip hop, partying, and good times. Veteran RVA rappers Luggage have created an epic video trilogy in collaboration with local production house Studio 7E, and we'll be premiering one video from this trilogy per day throughout this weekend! This weekend, we've got a special...
In less than two months, Shannon Cleary will be presenting the third annual installment of WRIR And The Commonwealth Of Notions Presents, the annual live music series in which he presents a variety of local bands that have caught his fancy over the past year. He's got big things planned for this year, so without further ado, here is Shannon to...
Everyone thinks of Memorial Day weekend as the awesome start to a fun-filled summer; the three-day weekend where you are obligated to go to a music festival, the beach, the mountains... just generally get out of town and have fun. It's almost like if you don't go out and have fun this weekend, you are branded as a boring stick-in-the-mud who's...
