There are a lot of phenomenal bands coming in from out of town this week, and they're all staggered if you wanna try to catch them all. With a enormous spread from Umphrey's McGee coming to jam at The National for hours on end Sunday Night, to Moon Hooch playing their...
“I still have no idea what I’m doing, even with this record,” Grant Hunnicutt jokes in regards to his debut full-length, Grant Hunnicutt Sings Jonathan Vassar. It’s a recording that feels like it belongs to a different time. Hunnicutt spent only the greater part of a weekend recording the twelve tracks that would end up on the record, a method...
Caves – Homeward Bound (Yo-Yo Records/Specialist Subject Records) When I was on tour with them this summer in the UK, I learned a drinking game that involved drinking every time you heard a “whoa” in one of Caves’ songs. The first night I saw someone play that game, I saw him finish five pints in the band’s twenty-five minute set. Readers...
GWAR-B-Que 2011: GWAR, Darkest Hour, Kepone, Battlemaster, Argonauts, Druglord, Mensrea, Occultist, DBX, Bloody Crackdown, Groundscore Saturday, September 17 at The National I was really disappointed when, a few days before this event took place, it was moved from Hadad's Lake to the National. For one thing, it involved yet another act of...
Craft – Void (Carnal/Southern Lord Records) I've got to hand it to Craft. Black metal was never short on nihilism or misanthropy, but this band has employed a wider-angled lens of hatred than most – that their previous album was titled Fuck The Universe offers a succinct summation of where they're coming from, just as the title of their newest...
Monday, 10/10 Precious Fluids (pictured above), Challenges, Take Charge @ The Camel 7pm. Monday, 10/10 Wayside benefit BEEPSHOW featuring DJs B. Ultra & Basic, Paranoid Androidz, Joanna O, Pixeltank @ Strange Matter 9pm. Monday, 10/10 Cafe Diem Open-Mic Comedy Night with James Paulk @ Café Diem 9pm. Monday, 10/10 Secretly Y’all - The unique...
Big Sean, CyHi the Prynce, Shawn Chrystopher, Nickelus F (with Conrizzle), Suburban District Wednesday, October 5 at The National Make no mistake, Big Sean is “Famous.” The Detroit native welcomed a large hip-hop crowd to The National Wednesday night; headlining a night of GOOD Music. Thanks to my friends over at Slapdash (Cain McCoy and Octavion...
Southport – Armchair Supporters (Boss Tuneage Records) England’s Southport features members of prominent English punk band Snuff, but you’d never know it by listening to them. Armchair Supporters shows a diversity of range in songwriting styles that Snuff may never have demonstrated. Simon Wells, lead singer and guitar player for Southport, has...
Veteran Richmond singer-songwriter Jonathan Vassar and his backing band, The Speckled Bird, have just released a video for "Turn To Face The Wind," from their album Signs And Wonders, available from local label Triple Stamp Records. The video was shot by Richmond-based director Kevin Gallagher, Vassar and the Speckled Bird's music has a quiet,...
Brain F≠ - Sleep Rough (Grave Mistake/Sorry State Records) An argument has been proffered by many writers more inclined towards authoritative statements than myself that the seven-inch EP is the perfect format for punk rock. The line of reasoning is that the short, sharp shock aesthetic is dulled by the attempt to reach past the twelve minutes of...
