When your friend from far away Portugal hits you up with a message like, "Have you seen this? Do you know this guy? He's from Richmond and he is all over TikTok!" you can't help but check it out. And when you discover it's Chandler Matkins, it's almost a given—of...
Will Oldham is a Louisville, Kentucky singer-songwriter who has been releasing records for nearly two decades under a variety of different pseudonyms--Palace Brothers, Palace Music, Palace Songs, even plain ol' Will Oldham. But in recent years, he's mostly gone by Bonnie "Prince" Billy, a name that simultaneously references 18th Century English...
Flux Pavilion, Cookie Monsta, Brown & Gammon, Mammals Friday, May 11 at The National Two Fridays back, The National sold out. Kids packed the GA floor like sardines for Flux Pavilion. Flux Pavilion, AKA Joshua Steele, is one of the biggest names in all of electronic dance music right now, specifically bass music. To put things in perspective, The...
Thursday, 5/24 Silo Effect, Compass Rose Orchestra @ The Camel 9pm. Thursday, 5/24 Silo Effect, Compass Rose Orchestra @ The Camel 9pm. Thursday, 5/24 Zac Hryciak and the Jungle Beat @ Cous Cous 10pm. Thursday, 5/24 Promethean (pictured above), Hadron Delay, Phantasm, Solace Sovay @ Strange Matter 10pm. Thursday, 5/24 Love Canon @ Ashland Coffee...
Cory Branan - Mutt (Bloodshot Records) Here’s a little weird trivia for you. The first article that I ever wrote for RVA Magazine was an interview feature with singer-songwriter Cory Branan. From the first time I saw him perform, I was sold on the incredible prowess he exuded. His songs were quirky and honest, and his furious guitar playing just...
Father John Misty, Har Mar Superstar Saturday, May 19 at Rock N' Roll Hotel, Washington DC Plentiful hip thrusting and sassy stage presence were close to the last things I was expecting to see at a Father John Misty show. I was honestly expecting to watch a bearded faux-mountain man dude play acoustic guitar for an hour, but was instead...
Here's some downtempo hip-hop that's perfect for this overcast day in RVA. Up-and-coming local hip-hop artist Avance, who's part of the Mix Breed Entertainment crew, released his Aviation mixtape a few weeks ago (which you can download for free HERE), and "Choly Weed" is a track from it. Here's some downtempo hip-hop that's perfect for this...
Cadence Weapon - Hope in Dirt City (Upper Class Recordings) Cadence Weapon is a serious rapper on a label boasting both backpacker and club credentials that has toured with respected indie bands and commands high-profile remixes. A quick Google search absolves me of any embarrassing questions along the lines of “wait, who is this guy?” as it...
Australian quartet Royal Headache are probably considered a punk rock band by most of their fans, but if they'd been around 40 or 50 years ago, they'd have simply been rock n' roll. They write short, hyperactive three-chord tunes with simple song structures and choruses that are easy to remember and sing along with. The guitars are jangly rather...
Sonata Arctica - Stones Grow Her Name (Nuclear Blast) Power metal in the year 2012 is a genre so defined by grandiose pomp and circumstance that it can be tough to figure out what actually makes it count as metal. It can't be denied that even the earliest power metal bands, such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, worked on an epic scale, and there...
