It’s been a minute, but Sounds of RVA is back with a bunch of new music for your eardrums. People (i.e., we) are starting to emerge from their mid-winter hibernation, and all of the awesome upcoming shows will be our reward.
It’s been a minute, but Sounds of RVA is back with a bunch of new music for your eardrums. People (i.e., we) are starting to emerge from their mid-winter hibernation, and all of the awesome upcoming shows will be our reward. For instance, The Queers will be at the Camel 2/27, and Noah-O’s “The Rebirth” is the next night (2/28), also at The Camel. Don’t forget Nick Coward and The Last Battle’s CD release on 3/15 (also the Camel)! At Strange Matter, Cough will play on 2/23, and Iron Reagan’s LP release will be 3/9. Dirty Dozen Brass Band will play @ Capital Ale House 3/2. Now that our show salivary glands are active, let’s get to the music.
photo by Dylan Jon Wade Cox
First of all, our pals in Lobo Marino are currently on tour (and will be back in Richmond to play The Listening Room on 2/26). Before they left, though, they played a show at Greenwood Manor with bands Broken Fences (Pittsburgh folk duo) and Swamp Trees (RVA folk). Kontra captured a song from each of the bands as well as a final collective performance from everyone. Laney Sullivan from Lobo Marino mesmerizes with her intoxicating vocals and hypnotic Harmonium.
The moody, soft rock from To the Captain comes next, and the band has released four out of five tracks from the new EP Deep Water. The album was co-produced by Josh Woods of j2 Music. Daniel Johannesson, originally from Sweden, provides vocals, acoustic guitar, and bass. It took us a second to be sure, but it looks like this is Christian worship rock. Recommended if you like Jars of Clay.
Changing pace a bit, let’s check out the new one from Dismissed (with band members from Down to Nothing and Fire & Ice). These three tracks are pretty effing hard, and the vocals are totally approachable. Technically, the band is no longer in existence, but that doesn’t stop them from releasing high quality recordings.
Bastard Sapling (feat. members of Inter Arma and Battlemaster) just (2/9) went on a brief, three-date mini-tour, and (((unartig))) of NYC caught this video in Brooklyn at the Acheron. The progressive black metal will make you vow to witness this band’s next hometown appearance. Just don’t look into vocalist Mike Paparo’s eyes.
Catch Bastard Sapling in June (6/30) in Brooklyn for MARTYRDOOM FESTIVAL II!
ThaLSD (aka Jae Dallas, pictured just above) and Trance de Chancellor have teamed up for the latest track, “Do tha Knowledge” from LSD’s album MixTapeMadMan.
Speaking of Trance da Chancellor, he just dropped a ten+ minute track called Molded Minds Freestyle. You can’t go wrong with a Homer Simpson “doh!” sample. It looks like Trance and Jae “Dilly” Dallas will be at The Nile on 2/15.
Cons the Child (pictured just above) and Charles Diamond got creative with A Tribe Called Quest’s “Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Movin’ Butts).” Check out “The Art of Moving Souls”:
Hardcore/black metal Ashling released an EP in January, and it’s noisy, ambient, guttural, and gory. Band members come from other bands like Brother Wolf, Captives, and Antiphons.
Singer/songwriter Jonathan Vassar and The Speckled Bird have released an album called The Orchard, and it is a collection of songs recorded back in 2009. Some of the songs have been released before as “singles, exclusive tracks, and free downloads.” Vassar and his wife Antonia (accordion, vocal saw, vocals) have recently welcomed their first child, Casimir, to whom the album is dedicated. Vassar recently recorded with Allen Bergendahl at Viking Recording Co. with Wil Loyal, Grant Hunnicutt, and Elaina as the band Mercy for the Undeserving.
photo by Zach Gibson
Ugly Thrash Demon is a band of eight people, two of which reside here in Richmond. The band just released an album called 2008, and it starts with an upbeat jangling and horn section. Vocalist Chris Smith takes cues from Morrissey, but not too obviously. The album on the whole is a folk-horn pop triumph that has multiple facets. The band has an obsession with nostalgia, as is referenced in the song “Nostalgic. . . Again.”
Stay tuned for next month’s edition of On the Horizon!
By Sarah Moore Lindsey (soundsofrva.org)
