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I Was An Eagle: Weekend Playlist by Deau Eyes

RVA Staff | April 24, 2020

Topics: alternative, Deau Eyes, events in richmond va, events near me this weekend, events richmond va, folk, indie, music, must see shows, Playlist, richmond events, richmond va, richmond va bands, RVA, rva magazine weekend playlist, shows this week richmond, things to do in richmond va, things to do richmond va, Weekend Playlist

Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week, we’re featuring an encore presentation of a playlist made for us by Deau Eyes, the project of Richmond singer-songwriter Ali Thibodeau. After months of anticipation and buildup, Deau Eyes will be releasing their debut album, Let It Leave, on May 8th. In a preview letting us know what we can expect from the album, Thibodeau joined RVA Magazine’s musical livestream this past weekend to perform the album front to back, solo style. You can check that out here if you missed it.

You’ll be able to check out the final version of Let It Leave just a couple of weeks from now, and get the full experience of Deau Eyes’ charming combo of alternative power-pop and classic American rock.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

I Was An Eagle: Weekend Playlist by Deau Eyes

RVA Staff | December 6, 2019

Topics: alternative, Deau Eyes, events in richmond va, events near me this weekend, events richmond va, folk, indie, music, must see shows, Playlist, richmond events, richmond va, richmond va bands, RVA, rva magazine weekend playlist, shows this week richmond, things to do in richmond va, things to do richmond va, Weekend Playlist

Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week, we’ve got a set of great tunes from Deau Eyes, the musical project of Richmond-based singer-songwriter Ali Thibodeau. Straddling the line between 90s-style indie/alternative rock and a more classic Americana-influenced rock sound, Deau Eyes has been making quite a stir on the regional music scene for the past couple of years now — and that’s with only one single having been released thus far!

If you listen to this entire playlist, you’ll get a chance to hear that single, “Paper Stickers,” at the very end, but before you get there you’ll get an amazing assortment of powerful songs in all sorts of different genres — folk, soul, indie, psych, and many more. All of it’s sure to keep your chilly December weekend warmed up, though — and isn’t that what’s most important?

Raise your hand, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Meet Me At The Movies: Weekend Playlist by Fuzzy Cactus

RVA Staff | September 20, 2019

Topics: alternative, Fuzzy Cactus, hip hop, indie, local music, metal, music, Playlist, rock, rva magazine weekend playlist, rvamag playlist, venue, venue playlist, Weekend Playlist

Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This time around we’re bringing you a playlist curated with love by the staff of Richmond’s best new music venue 2k19 (that’s right, we’re calling it now): Fuzzy Cactus. They’ve been open for something like a month and a half and have already put on a ton of essential live shows, with a whole lot more coming in the near future. Indeed, this weekend alone features tonight’s performances by local electro/alt-rockers Opin and RVA-via-NYC experimental musician Ghost Piss, tomorrow’s Surf N’ Turf dance party featuring DJ Devolved and DJ Dogpants spinning tunes all night long, and Sunday’s appearance by raging Catalonian punks Irreal and local maniacs Benderheads.

There’s a lot more where that came from too, so stay tuned to Fuzzy Cactus’s facebook page for updates, and while you’re getting ready to head out to the show tonight, rock to this excellent playlist from the Fuzzy Cactus staff! It’s got a ton of no-frills rock n’ roll to keep your feet moving and get you ready to rage all night long, plus some awesome local artists to remind you that, while this place is still brand new, their knowledge of Richmond music is deep.

Get rockin’, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

For Landon Elliott, Love Is A Hurricane

Julia Raimondi | September 12, 2019

Topics: album release, alternative, American Paradox Records, Americana, country, folk, hurricane, indie, Landon Elliott, local music, music, pop, Scott Lane

“This record is the most honest I’ve ever been with myself and with the songs,” said Richmond songwriter Landon Elliott of his forthcoming album. 

At 8 a.m. on a sunny weekday morning, local Richmond musician Landon Elliott walks into the small but quaint Cafe Nostra near Brookland Park. Based on their brief exchange, it’s clear that he and the barista know each other. Elliott has a friendly tone to his voice, and there’s a spark in his eyes as he sits down to discuss his new single “Hurricane,” which came out at the end of August. Its music video was released shortly after on September 4, with the Richmond-based recording label American Paradox Records. 

“I’m excited to get the record out,” Elliott said. “I’m still processing it’s happening. It’s been a long time coming, and a long journey to make this happen. It has a lot of sonic differences than what I’ve done before, but I’m still staying true to my songwriting sensibilities. This record is the most honest I’ve ever been with myself and with the songs.” 

The partnership between American Paradox Records and Landon Elliott began in December 2017, after owner Scott Lane saw Elliott play earlier that fall at an open mic night at Poe’s Pub. 

Lane had just moved back to Richmond from Denver when he started his new label, he said, and was wrapping up a record production with Kenneka Cook when he decided to take Elliott on. 

Photo by Joey Wharton

Elliott and Lane had already begun a friendship by that time, and deciding to work together seemed like a natural addition to their relationship. 

“Scott has done a good job of pushing me,” Elliott said. “He’s the label, but also my producer. We co-produced this record together. What Scott was able to do was honor my vulnerability and my personality, and my voice as an artist, while also pushing the direction of things a little bit.” 

“Hurricane” is the first single to be released for Elliott’s new record, Domino — and with a yet-to-be-announced release date, the album represents a period of transition and questioning of a lot of things in his life and his worldview. 

As he hinted, the new “Hurricane” single does have a slightly different tone and sound than the Wildflowers EP he released in 2017, under the name Landon Elliott and The Goods. While the EP with The Goods had a stronger country/folk/Americana sound, which clearly had roots in artists like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Elliott said he was more inspired for the new album by the 1980s synth pop-rock sounds of Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, and Fleetwood Mac. 

And it shows. The sound of “Hurricane” is multi-layered, and while you can still hear his original Americana sound, there are also layers of synth and a slightly-more refined and mainstream sound than his earlier EP. The pop sound almost hides the raw, honest lyrics about the difficulty of being honest in a healthy relationship… almost. There are plenty of references to ghosts of the past, and the destruction that they can leave in their wake like a hurricane, as the title suggests. 

“This track is about relationships and its many forms,” Elliott said. “The struggles that go into making love work. Love is hard work, to really care about someone truly and know someone fully takes a lot of work.” 

The music video for “Hurricane” also reflects the struggle Elliott believes can be present in maintaining honest and loving relationships. Departing from the usual music video conventions of its genre, this video presents two dancers in a choreographed and improvised struggle for dominance and equality, before they end their performance in unison. Elliott himself is present, and sandwiched between them as they mouth the final lyrics together. 

“I had this vibe in my mind of an 80s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ aerobic style movement,” Elliott said. “I wanted to do a dance video. For my style of music, you don’t necessarily see a more dance-style music video.” 

Lane liked his idea, and suggested doing something even more out-there, Elliott said. 

“I suggested a total visual departure from his Americana genre,” Lane said. 

Lane had seen a dance performance in New York City based on similar themes of the struggle between love and hate. The performance was by a dancer named Georgia Usborne with Brooklyn’s Gallim Dance Company. Lane reached out to her about the possibility of choreographing something similar for Elliott’s video, and she agreed. 

“What Scott really connected to was the raw physicality paired with a space for emotional connections between dancers, and also that emotionality can draw the audience into a story without there actually being a story or narrative,” Usborne said. “So we used that as a starting point, having a man and a woman, and discussing the light and shade of the relationship that can be shown through big physical movements — and also less physical, highly charged moments.” 

The shoot was done in New York City, where Elliott and Lane met personally with Usborne, the dancers and the music video director. While the two dancers, Kayla Farrish and Sebastian Abarbanell, had been able to rehearse the choreographed parts once before — and some of the material was already familiar to Farrish, as much of the performance was inspired by a previous one of hers — they hadn’t had a lot of prior experience working together. 

Landon Elliott, from the “Hurricane” Music Video

To make the pressure even tougher, they only had five hours to shoot the entire video, including setup and take-down, Lane said. 

Despite the intense time pressure, they did it. Their team managed to film an entire music video, complete with some last-minute decisions, such as putting Elliott himself in the video. 

In the end, the video presents itself as a nearly surreal and chaotic dance. The pair of dancers fight and work together throughout the routine, visualizing the struggle of making a relationship work as Elliott sings, nearly motionless on the floor. At times, Abarbanell is seen leading. At others, it is Farrish. Occasionally they work together, and oftentimes their movements seem to contradict each other. In the end, they appear to make their differences work out, coming to lie down on opposite sides of Elliott as the song comes to a close. 

“This is the first music video I’ve worked where the musician was in the video,” Usborne said. “It was fabulous, I loved it. It was very focused, and we all cared a lot about it; there was real heart behind it. The track was super catchy, and it all came together well. It was a real pleasure, and I’d love to work with them again.” 

After the release of the music video, a new single will be released in September. Right now Elliott is on tour with fellow Richmonder Deau Eyes, and the last few dates of the tour will find them pairing up with Josiah Johnson, formerly of The Head and the Heart. 

Locally, Elliott will also be playing at The Broadberry on September 28 for the Shack Up festival, thrown each year by The Shack Band. This will be his first year playing at The Shack Up, Elliott said, and one of his first times playing solo on a platform that big. 

“I love the Broadberry,” Elliott said. “They’re all really good friends of mine. I’m looking forward to hamming it up with them. There’s a lot of bands I love on the bill.”

Top Photo by Joey Wharton

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Vegan Mustache Jazz: Weekend Playlist by Colin Phils

RVA Staff | June 7, 2019

Topics: alternative, Colin Phils, indie, instrumental, local music, math rock, Playlist, POST RVA Fest, post-rock, rock, rva magazine weekend playlist, rva music, rvamag playlist

Every Friday night, RVA Mag introduces you to yet another outstanding playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This time around, we’ve got a playlist from Colin Phils, a Richmond math-rock band with roots in Korea and a name that it took me six months to realize was a reference to the drummer for Genesis.

This Saturday, the inaugural POST RVA Fest, a one-day showcase of 15 post-rock, math-rock, and complex indie bands, mostly from the Richmond area, will come to the Broadberry. Members of Colin Phils have curated the entire thing, and on their excellent mix, they give us a perfect introduction to the vast majority of the bands playing the event, along with some classic math-rock, post-rock, emo, and indie tunes that are sure to brighten up your weekend. Grab your POST RVA Fest tickets here, and get ready for a full day of mind-expanding melodies.

Add it up, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Richmond’s Lance Bangs drop debut bedroom rock EP, ‘Lance Mountain’

James Miessler | September 8, 2016

Topics: alternative, bedroom rock, Citrus City Records, Lance Bangs, rva music

RVA’s Lance Bangs have released their first EP, Lance Mountain, via local indie label Citrus City Records, a labor of love that was conceived through hard work, a basement, and dad’s recording gear.

The alternative three-piece band, consisting of Colin Thibodeau (vocals/guitar), Joel Alicea (bass) and Drew Lanzafama (drums), began jamming together loosely in high school, but decided to solidify as a group in Richmond.

Initially, Lance Bangs performed under the name Colin Thibodeauxx, but as their creative juices flowed and songs were written together, they decided to change their name to represent their transformation into a group as opposed to a solo act.

“The project was turning more from like just my solo work into like, a collaborative effort,” Thibodeau said. “So, I would say that’s the main driving force behind changing [the name], was just us practicing a lot more together and writing stuff. Our collaborative efforts are way better than just my solo, hang out in my bedroom, smoke weed and write music efforts go.”

Lance Mountain, which dropped Sept. 6, marks the first official release as a group for the boys. Prior to this EP, the band already recorded two EPs and a split album as Colin Thibodeauxx. It’s five tracks of what the band likes to call “bedroom rock”, short and catchy rock songs that were written in do-it-yourself, fuck it jam sessions, with inspiration from bands like Taking Back Sunday.

“I like to call us…we’re clearly not what you’d think of as bedroom pop, but maybe bedroom rock,” Thibodeau said. “We do it all ourselves, and we write all these songs in a basement or a bedroom.”

Though it was recorded in a basement (like many Richmond contemporaries do), don’t be fooled – the sound quality is surprisingly high, courtesy of Thibodeau’s father’s recording equipment. His brother, who mixed it, also did a fantastic job, resulting in an EP that sounds like it was recorded in a studio.

The interesting thing about Lance Bangs, besides their bold first EP, is the fact that they keep it simple and have no plans to change their formula any time soon. The term do-it-yourself is perfectly applicable to a band like Lance Bangs. Using average equipment, they still manage to create a dense, layered sound on their heavier songs. It’s an embodiment of the spirit of Richmond.

While Lance Bangs has undeniable talent, they’re a testament to the guys who just plug in, play, and see what the fuck happens.

“I’m not really a big pedal guy or effects guy,” Thibodeau said. “I stick to two pedals, and I’m like, pleased with what we’ve been working with.

They stick to jamming – it’s how they write their songs – and don’t really want to try any other methods. The quality of their work is impressive, especially considering they stick with the basics.

“We’ve never really tried to stray off into something, like, to be crazy,” bassist Joel Alicea said. “We’ve always just kind of been jammin’ with what we have.”

The band recently returned from a two-week tour with Sports Coach, hitting east coast cities like Miami, D.C., New York City and Boston. And though they have love for Richmond, their current goal is to spread their wings and play more gigs outside the city.

“To get where we are now, not that we’re anywhere,” Thibodeau laughed, “To be playing the amount of shows we’ve done now, we had to play anything that was given to us for a whole year. So now that we’re like, we did this tour, and we’re about to put this [EP] out, we’re trying to play less in Richmond, and just more out of town in Virginia. We don’t want to flood the market and ruin everything.”

Check out Lance Bangs’ new EP Lance Mountain here, or grab it on cassette here.

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