Whoever was booking the shows for this week has my sincerest thanks. This week there are a lot of familiar groups for me which makes me tremendously excited. If they’re not super familiar to you, that’s great! You can spend the whole weekend getting first hand experience with all of these exciting and passionate groups. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music with? I am your guy at griffin@rvamag.com.
The Broadberry | Saturday August 3rd
The New Pornographers, Gustaf
Carving a swash through the music of this century, The New Pornographers lead a successful expedition of indie rock. While I call them indie rock, the conglomerate of Vancouver songwriters cannot be written away as one thing, with a diverse range of voices and writing styles, the band really accomplishes anything they set out to do. They consistently put out aggressively catchy power pop, heart-wrenching slow ballads, and energetic jumpers. A constant I found throughout their extensive catalog is the swell. There is a level of build in so many songs, the type of build that you feel in your chest until it starts lifting your feet off the ground, caught in the swell, lost in the sea of voices and sweet guitar. With the 2023 album Continue as a Guest, the band provides that experience once again. I think that’s a key takeaway with this band, experience. Each member came to the band fully formed. This A-Team of songwriters are so capable and touching, I see this being a very intimate and personal show with so much to connect to.
Gustaf first grabbed me by the shoulders when I saw them open for british legends Idles at the 9:30 Club. A pivotal performance of five eccentric and electrically charged New Yorkers bound across the stage in exaggerated fashion. The bouncing bass driving the crowd into a collective pogo, with the distorted and affected dual vocals calling out like a dictator calling his army to war. Since that scene I have had the itch for Gustaf, a withdrawal, a possession. High off the new album Package Pt. 2, Gustaf continues to forge music in the true punk sense, no regard to the expected or traditional. I also believe that singer Lydia Gammill has made a big step up in what were already interesting lyrics and delivery. They are easily one of the most exciting groups to come out of New York in quite a while, building off an impressive history without remotely being nostalgic.
Cobra Cabana | Friday August 2nd
Tentative Decisions, Blab School, Nomad Showers, Charm Offensive
I am a loud and proud believer of Tentative Decisions. The post-punk trio is young, energetic, and relatable, and in my eyes, leads the pack of youthful guitar based music in the city. I covered their most recent single a few articles ago, and I cannot stress how good it is. This band knows what they are about and executes it cleverly. This will be my first live experience with the other local, Charm Offensive. Their debut EP contrasts heavy guitars, seamlessly slipping between shoe-gaze and alternative, and floating vocals. They can really make an entire symphony of sound out of four instruments. I am really excited to see how it fares live, and to see what’s next for this quad.
We have two out of towners on this bill as well. Blab School is a North Carolina based rock group. Garage. With a certain blend of grunge, punk, and maybe something even like the Fall, their new album is raw and real. The riffs are catchy and the songs are sing-along-able, these guys are fun. We also have Nomad Showers from DC. The group has an EP coming out the next day so I am expecting the band to be revving and ready to rock. While somewhat following in the vein of current DC post-punk, the band takes a more diverse approach than other contemporaries, with their Bandcamp offering some serious range of sound and expression.
Live Loud Browns Island | Sunday August 4th
Cake
The penmen of The Distance and Short Skirt / Long Jacket will be on Browns Island on Sunday. I am going to be honest, when I first saw this show come up I thought “oh these guys are just one hit wonders” and then I looked at their Spotify; “oh well of course there is that song too, okay obviously that one, well everyone knows that one, I guess there is also tha-” Cake has got hits. Go ahead, go take a look, I thought so. The band is clean and rhythmic, and the vocals have a sense of security and confidence that are so convincing and alluring.
The Camel | Friday August 2nd
Los Malcriados, Box Factory, NBPhobic
Well well well… once again in the musical saddle of Los Malcriados at the Camel as part of their legendary residency. Another night of sonic debauchery in the greatest form plausible. This will mark somewhere around show 5 or 6 for me with this group, and not once have I yawned, not once have I checked the time. It is nothing but dancing, grooving, singing along, fun. Somehow each Los Malcriados show feels like you are in the basement of a Spanish bar tuning into something you think only you discovered, but at the same time like you are in a 60’s music festival experiencing soul for the first time, with all the passion of that 90’s R&B. As you look around you never left Broad St. It seems like each performance adds new scenes, new moments that can only be caught on these special first friday nights.
The party atmosphere is going to be setting in early. Box Factory is an absolutely tremendous local group. Self described as “Heavily-corrugated psychedelic,” I think these guys appeal to an incredibly wide range of music fans. Actually, I would describe their key demographic as simply, music fans. Their newest single, Cicada, showcases a large part of their sound, a sound you fall forward into, but you never hit the ground, you float into something new yet familiar. Incredibly refreshing sound while still reminiscent of older groups like Television. We also have NBPhobic, DJ and beat bringer. They are setting up the table with some house bounces and hip-hop grooves. This will be a great way to deliver you into that head bopping mood, ready for everything the night has in store.
New TuneS!
Water Me Down by Drug Country
Water Me Down is the second release by Drug Country, a relatively new project by Gnawing member, John Russel. The single was recorded and engineered locally, and the live band (Performing at Get Tight Lounge on 8/4) is backed entirely by local players mainly from the RVA rock scene. This new project has a real “slow and swampy” feel to it, a good reminder we are in the South, with a realistic interpretation of adult life. Listening to the new single I felt a sense of comforting melancholy. I think the tenor banjo and tambourine provide a friend when everyone else has gone.
Main photo by Rob Morgan
