I'm keeping it local this week, because once again the local talent here is just so powerful and concentrated in Richmond that I can't help but talk about every artist at length. On this week's SOUND CHECK, you might actually be able to get tickets to an Illiterate...
Sounds Of RVA put us onto this lovely indie-pop tune from local group Herro Sugar, who (aside from giving themselves a name I'd delicately describe as, um, "racially insensitive") have done absolutely nothing wrong on this lovely video, which features some great shots of RVA in the springtime that appear to have been shot from the handlebars of a...
I have way too many promos scattered around my house and my various hard drives these days. No matter how many in-depth reviews I write for this website, I can't seem to get through them all nearly as fast as they come in. Therefore I've decided to introduce this (hopefully) weekly column, in which I will write up a series of quick blurbs about...
Here are some brand new videos from the local RVA hip-hop scene, with commentary from Roger Tyler, aka RT of The New Juice Crew. You can check out his work HERE, or catch him on WDCE 90.1 FM, Mondays At 11pm-1am, or WRIR 97.3 FM, 1am to 3 am on Saturday, along with Black Liquid and plenty of other local MCs. Hopefully, this will just be the first...
“People that can eat people are the luckiest people of all,” wrote our dearly departed pal Mr. Vonnegut in his late-period novel, Hocus-Pocus – though it’s important to note that Mr. Vonnegut died long before the formation of Yorba Linda, California’s Feeding People. Had he lived long enough to listen to Feeding People’s debut cassette, entitled...
Willie Nelson Sunday, May 20 at Innsbrook After Hours The Miller Light was flowing, and the 'red-headed stranger' was just taking to the stage of the Snagajob Pavilion, historically known as Innsbrook After Hours. This reviewer had last seen Willie at the same venue in 2009. That performance had been fairly tiresome and lackluster, so...
St. Vincent, Shearwater Thursday, May 24 at The National There's a fascinating quote about performing live from My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields. He concludes that, to the best of his abilities, he could never truly dictate what happens on a stage. Performance becomes more of an element that exists within one’s subconscious, and your...
Check it out, folks--it's a brand new video from pretty much the ultimate hardcore supergroup. Featuring original Black Flag and Circle Jerks vocalist Keith Morris, OFF! could probably catch everybody's attention even if the rest of the members were a bunch of no-name yahoos. However, with Hot Snakes/Clikatat Ikatowi drummer Mario Rubalcaba...
Royal Thunder - CVI (Relapse Records) Royal Thunder are an Atlanta-based quartet whose sound is most easily described as stoner rock. There is definitely some room for diversity within that genre--it's nowhere near as rigidly defined and formulaic as, say, d-beat--but nonetheless, with bands who play some variety of the stoner rock sound becoming...
Somewhere back in 2008, Big John Bullen and Adam Kravitz formed Gritter, who were originally known as Rube. The story goes that the two were sitting on a patio late at night, thinking up concepts and ideas for a band. Staring out into the street, they tried to determine what musical direction in which they should go. They felt that before the...
