As we nosedive into the sultry sizzle of summer, the city's asphalt starts to offer a small breath of relief but, let me tell you, Richmond's nightlife doesn't know the meaning of chill. This week, our shutterbug in residence, Jody Adams, was beating the pavement,...
Messi - O (messi.bandcamp.com) The debut album of Chocolate Milk’s Joshua Aidan Padarathsingh, under his latest moniker Messi, finds the former noise artist applying his skill for dissonance and tension to the land of Boom Bap Hip Hop. Messi’s off kilter rhythms, reminiscent of both Flying Lotus and Ravi Shankar, stutter and slide over a...
Cannabis Corpse have just released the first video in a three-part series documenting their European tour, which took place in February of this year. Other than some short clips of plane rides and backstage antics, this video concentrates on the music, featuring full performances of two songs, "Staring Through My Eyes That Are Red" (from 2006's...
Make Phantoms - Make Phantoms (Stranger Than Fiction) Make Phantoms are a local group with a keyboard-based, melodic indie sound that, at its best moments, is reminiscent of XTC mixed with Death Cab For Cutie. Their production is a bit overdone, but if you can look past the extremely slick sound, there are some great songs here. Make Phantoms -...
Real Talk, Forensics, and Pujol August 11 at Empire Of the three bands playing the late show at Empire last Wednesday, it was the first band who seemed to generate the most buzz. It was the first show ever for Real Talk, a Richmond supergroup of sorts featuring Kevin Broderick of The Catalyst on drums; Cole Hutchinson, formerly of Operation Latte...
Neu! were a groundbreaking German rock group, active in the early and mid-70s, who have often been credited with the creation of the droning, hypnotic style of music known as Krautrock. Disbanded over 30 years ago, interest in Neu!--never that popular while they existed--built to a fever pitch during the mid-90s, a time when their influence could...
Street Pizza - Cancerous Planet (Sympathizer Records) With the unprecedented diffusion of music brought on by the internet, it seems like every minute sub-sub-genre can now experience its fifteen minutes of quasi-fame. Power violence – a style originating in southern California in the late 1980s which combined the blazing speed of grindcore, the...
Mikey Erg plays more music than anyone you know. He was the drummer of arguably the most important pop-punk band of the last ten years, and he’s not stopping now that The Ergs! have run their course. He plays drums and guitar for countless bands between the east coast and the Midwest, and even spent a little time at Hadad’s last Best Friends’ Day...
Richmond native Chance Fischer (shown here as Mars Blackmon) has put out a mixtape that is getting mad love up north and we are pleased to be passing this along to the hip-hop heads in RVA. The production is excellent and the kid has a sound that harkens back but is still oven-fresh. The opening track "HERE" makes an old man feel good. Check it...
Freddie Gibbs - Str8 Killa EP (Decon) In the last three years, Freddie Gibbs has run and completed a full horrific lap of the mainstream music industry rat race. After establishing himself as one of Indiana’s finest underground artists, he signed a deal with Interscope, endured a painfully typical raw deal at the hands of the media giant, culled...
