Friday Cheers may be taking a bye week, but that doesn’t mean that there’s any shortage of music in our fair city. This weekend Golden Shoals take over Get Tight Lounge for a wonderful outdoor evening of string band music, Ten Pound Snail are loading up the Broadberry with their indie psych friends, and Kidz at Play have a new track of laid back hip hop magic. I’ve got it all for you and more on this week’s edition of SOUND CHECK.
Are you a band with new tunes, a listener with suggestions, or just want to say hi? Send an email to Bones@rvamag.com
out of town acts to see
GOLDEN SHOALS, THE CROOKED CREEK MISFITS & THE HOT SEATS
Sunday, May 19th @ Get Tight Lounge
Doors: 7:30 pm
How else would you rather spend your Sunday evening then by sitting back and taking in some bluegrass? Headlining the show is Asheville based (by way of Boston) duo Golden Shoals. They’re laid back string tunes are sure to fill lazy Sunday air with a wonderful noise to help listeners make the transition from the weekend into the hustle and bustle of the week.
Joining them are locals The Crooked Creek Misfits and The Hot Seats. Both of them play high octane bluegrass (although the hot seats tend to just say string music due to arguments over what constitutes old time, bluegrass or ragtime). Check out Golden Shoals and The Hot Seats on Spotify if you’re not sure there you’re bag before the day, but if you’re a fan of picking, I can’t think of anywhere better to be come Sunday.
local & regional Acts to see
TEN POUND SNAIL, LOBBY BOY, TENTATIVE DECISIONS & WRONG WORSHIPPERS
Saturday, May 18th @ The Broadberry
Doors: 7:00 pm
If you wanted a better night of Richmond indie music, I dare you to come up with a better lineup. Ten Pound Snail headline this stacked show at the Broadberry to celebrate the release of their new single “Come and Kill Me” coming out later this week. Ten Pound Snails neo-psychadelia infuses hard rock into their trippy sound making for a jarring experience that has to be heard to be believed, and I guarantee you they sound even better live on stage in front of an audience.
Joining them are Lobby Boy, whose polished dreamy music combines elements of pop and indie rock to produce something kinda like dream rock. If you want to brush up on their tunes before the day I highly recommend their 2022 album Pretty Songs, Pursuits of Personhood. Also on the stage are Tentative Decisions. Their lo-fi recordings harken back to old school punk almost reminiscent of the Ramones in both sonic quality and performance style. Harsh and uncut, they’re the kind of band that needs to played loud. Opening the show are guitar and bass duo Wrong Worshippers. One might think that the limited instrumentation might limit their sound, but alas not, as they include guitars in their studio recordings, but through a variety of bass pedals they are able to fill out their sound very thoroughly as can be seen on their record (not actually) Live From Hep’s Garage. A great night filled with all the Richmond music one could want, you must make your way out to the Broadberry this Saturday.
local & Regional Releases
KIDZ AT PLAY – EMPTY POCKETS (single)
Kidz At Play have been hitting the big time. Having recently been signed to AWAL, Kidz At Play have put out a variety of tunes, but nothing has struck me quite like this one. Like many of you, I am currently in the process of building my Summer 2024 playlist (I’ll link it HERE if you all want to follow along with me!), and I think I just found another track for it. This laid back song combing elements of mumble rap, indie rock plus a whole slew of other influences make for a delightful little tune that I simply can not stop listening to, and will be on repeat for me all season long.
WhAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO
JAZZ EMU – TECHNICALLY, PROBABLY MORE OF THE SAME, I SUPPOSE, IN THEORY (album)
Oh god, how to describe Jazz Emu. Imagine a funk virtuoso who just happened to be the child of Chris Farley; Jazz Emu. The fifth album offered from the solo project of Archie Henderson, a self described, “very smart self-help god legend” who sees his music as, “unpretentious pseudo-musico-comedological profferings from a shy genius,” perhaps that tells you all you need to know about this enigmatic weirdo. The music is intense, technical, funny and above all, good. Full of personality and chock full of imaginative lyrics while constantly continuing to surprise, I simply can not turn away from this truly bizarre album, and I can’t recommend his back catalogue enough as well if you are not familiar.
Top photo of Golden Shoals Courtesy of Mike Dunn
