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The 40 Most Essential RVA Albums Of 2018 (Part 2)

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Richmond’s always been a great city for music, and that didn’t change one iota in 2018. If anything, it became a bit overwhelming — indeed, even the most comprehensively-minded local music nerd was likely to overlook a few things. While putting this list together, I found a few that I overlooked myself — and I’m sure you will as well.

This list features our best shot at the most essential and noteworthy albums that our city birthed this year, from any and all genres. Since so many different genres and scenes are thriving in this town, we had to include 40 just to feel like we weren’t leaving anything crucial out. And let’s be real — we probably still didn’t catch everything. The best advice we could possibly give you about following this town’s vibrant musical community is this: always dig deeper. Your new favorite record might be right around the corner.

These 40 albums are a good place to start. Yesterday, we presented the first 20, and we follow up today with the remaining 20 — in alphabetical order by artist name, so it doesn’t seem like we’re playing favorites. Happy listening!

Elizabeth Owens – Coming Of Age (Grimalkin)
This young singer-songwriter has avoided the strict confines of genre on their first album, instead dancing along the invisible borders between a variety of sounds. Lushly-strummed acoustic guitars and haunting vocals center these compositions, even as a variety of both conventional and unconventional instruments form an intricate, multi-layered background. Psychedelic folk in the original, late 60s sense — think Incredible String Band or Pentangle — is a good touchstone, though a better, more recognizable one is hinted at by the song entitled “Ode to Joni.” Yeah, you know what’s up.

Piranha Rama – Piranha Rama (Trrrash)
Piranha Rama is a band full of Richmond underground rock all-stars that took the local scene by storm in 2018. Featuring members who’ve performed with a wide variety of local ensembles and played a wide variety of musical styles, Piranha Rama’s sound is apropos, capturing as it does both the rollicking rock n’ roll spirit that is this band’s bedrock and the wide variety of influences that takes this album in many different directions from song to song. The results are always catchy and fun, even if the album’s overall feel is more like that of a great mixtape made by a crate-digging friend than you’d expect from a singularly driven band. The more voices, the merrier.

Trey Pollard – Antiphone (Spacebomb)
I admit I never would have expected this in the year 2018, but it has in fact come to pass. Trey Pollard, best known as the in-house arranger for Spacebomb Records, has released an album of classical chamber music. The selections found within are the sorts of things typically referred to as “pieces” rather than songs, and are mostly performed by four to eight-piece string ensembles (sometimes accompanied by a piano). Pollard, who acts as composer and conductor here, has created a stunning collection of memorable moments that feel like a score for a film — one that’s playing in your mind as you listen. Close your eyes and let it overtake you.

Natalie Prass – The Future And The Past (ATO)
Natalie Prass had been the fledgling Spacebomb label’s obvious breakout star thus far — along, of course, with label founder Matthew E. White. For her second LP, Prass signed with ATO and moved beyond the traditional soul-R&B feel of the Spacebomb house band, getting into deeper electronic grooves that seem to arise directly out of the pre-New Jack Swing sound of 80s greats like Cameo or Kool & The Gang. When she croons overtop of these, she’s got a real retro-diva sound, like a young Janet Jackson. Who can resist that?

PT & Fan Ran – Airtight (Ear Tite) (Gritty City)
The Gritty City roster of champion rhyme-spitters is deep, and each passing year seems to make that clearer, as new albums bring us strong statements of purpose from previously unheard names. This year it’s PT, which stands for Perfect Timing, who jumped out in a big way. Airtight is a full-length collaboration with Gritty City production mainstay Fan Ran, and the hard-hitting beats he brings match up perfectly with PT’s strong flow and aggressive approach to the mic. If you miss the days when RZA was producing a different Wu-Tang solo album every couple months and they all ruled, this one’s for you.

Recluse Raccoon – Recluse Raccoon (recluseraccoon.bandcamp.com)
This band features a rotating selection of local musicians, but Timmy Peele is the true raccoon hiding reclusively behind the name. For this debut full-length, it’s Mr. Peele who lays down vast majority of instruments for the dozen compositions he treats us to. There is at times a decided Animal Collective vibe in the thick vocal harmonies and ringing piano notes, though at other moments he comes closer to straddling that invisible line where the mellowest math-rock meets the most far out of the psychedelic jam sounds. Expect the unexpected — it’s more fun that way.

Roy Batty – Roy Batty (roybattyband.bandcamp.com)
This one just dropped a couple weeks ago, but it demands a place on our radar simply by virtue of the many awesome bands the members have been part of in the past. Specifically, this is frontwoman Lindsey Spurrier’s first return to full-time action after the demise of Hot Dolphin, and I think I’m far from the only one who felt that band ended before their time. Roy Batty has a heavier sound that Hot Dolphin, due to the fact that Spurrier is backed here by metal dudes rather than garage-punk types, but the frantic energy and aggressive spirit remain undiminished. And thank god for that.

Serqet – Oleander (Vinyl Conflict)
This two-song EP constitutes the first release from a local band who’ve been getting some attention on the whole DIY punk scene. I hear kids who are nerdy about that style of music call it “peace-punk” but if you ask me, it’s more along the lines of old-school goth. Maybe a bit Siouxsie and The Banshees, plus a bit of Submission Hold, and even some strong melodies on the B-side that get more into pre-shoegaze UK indie sounds. If you’re looking for something that can simultaneously please fans of Flux of Pink Indians, Sisters Of Mercy, and House Of Love, you’ve hit paydirt with this one.

Shadow Age – Shadow Age (Play Alone)
This trio unfortunately took an indefinite hiatus not long after this album was released, but we can at least be thankful that they left behind such an excellent document of their creativity. Bandleader Aaron Tyree has obviously been influenced by the saddest goth boys of the early 80s UK, and he brings the spirits of Robert Smith, Ian McCulloch, and Adrian Borland into the 21st century with flair and panache. Hazy keyboards, glittering guitar leads, quiet melancholy crooning, all set to an essential driving rhythm section. Turn on the fog machine.

South Hill Banks – No Time For A Breakdown (southhillbanks.com)
This RVA bluegrass band has really cemented a place for themselves on the local music scene over the past year, and No Time For A Breakdown is just part of that — you may also have caught onto their year-long residency at The Camel, or the bluegrass festival they threw over at The Broadberry last month. But it’s this album that’ll give you the best taste of what South Hill Banks have to offer, spotlighting their 21st century take on bluegrass with some excellent melodic songcraft. Of course, they still know how to get down with a traditional speedy instrumental, and their choice to feature electric instruments in the band doesn’t get in the way at all.

Spooky Cool – Every Thing Ever (Citrus City)
Spooky Cool spent the first few years of their existence being the RVA scene’s best-kept secret, staying off social media and restricting access to their music to those who actually came to see them live. Their choice to live like a pre-internet band in the post-internet era paid off in a big way when they finally released their debut EP this year, and the whole world had a chance to hear the catchy indie-psych this quintet had spent the last few years cooking up. It was worth the wait — there are some seriously catchy tunes on this one, but those tunes also feature an unpredictable edge that only adds to their charm. Jam this one — we’ve waited long enough.

Sports Bar – Stranger In My Head (Mister Falcon)
Speaking of long-awaited releases, melodic garage-punk quartet Sports Bar have spent nearly a decade building up to this — a killer full-length full of shit-hot tunes that simultaneously bring the manic, distorted punk attack and highlight the flawless sense of melody that has made this group one of Richmond’s most enjoyable hidden discoveries since back in 2010. This one is a ton of fun, bringing us both angst-ridden singalongs like “Fried” and furious punk blasts like “Love Or Hate.” Get into it.

Suppression – Placebo Reality (Chaotic Noise Productions)
2018 was Suppression’s 26th year of existence, an existence that has seen them move from experimental power-violence to electronic noise to postpunk weirdness and now into the world of shit-fi grindcore madness — which really constitutes a return to the roots of bassist/vocalist Jason Hodges’ long-running project. On Placebo Reality, Hodges and drummer Ryan Parrish flail wildly through somewhere north of 70 songs in under half an hour, blowing your hair back with distorted vocals, hyperdrive tempos, and distorted bass rage. A palate-cleanser of the most confrontational sort, this one will erase all your momentary cares in the face of world-ending chaos. Exactly what we all need.

Marcus Tenney Quartet – Moment (American Paradox)
If you pay attention to music in Richmond and beyond, chances are you’ve heard of Marcus Tenney. A full-time member of the legendary No BS! Brass Band as well as soul-jazz quintet Butcher Brown and hip hop duo Tennison, he stays busy. For this album, he took the lead in a quartet featuring several other Richmond jazz luminaries, and created a collection that is grounded in the classic hard-bop sounds of half a century ago, but comes from a thoroughly modern worldview that helps bring jazz into the 21st century. But this album isn’t just an exhibition of instrumental talent — the mellow, melancholy mood evoked on Moment has a deep emotional resonance.

Toward Space – Gently With A Chainsaw (Cult 45)
This raw garage-rock trio has done quite a bit, considering their youth, and Gently With A Chainsaw fulfills the promise they were showing even when they were still playing house shows with foot-pedal drums. These days, their snotty punk rage has been tempered a bit by a power-pop approach to choruses, and the result makes for a number of pleasing singalong earworms on this album. Make no mistake, though, these juvenile delinquents are still ready with a switchblade if anyone messes with ’em — but have no fear. Underneath the snarling facade, they’ve got hearts of gold.

Madison Turner – A Comprehensive Guide To Burning Out (madisonturner.bandcamp.com)
Madison Turner grew up with the classic alternative rock of the 90s, and now that she’s made it out of her 20s she’s headed back to her roots with this, her fourth solo release. Backed by a talented group of musically-inclined friends, she’s created a powerful collection of songs that sound excellent and are catchy as hell. The lyrics, which delve deeply and sincerely into the album’s “burnout” theme, are witty and all-too-relatable, even as the songs keep you singing along all day long. “I don’t know why I’m so sca-aa-ared to reach out to my friends!” So real.

Unmaker – Firmament (Seeing Red)
This quintet shares a few members with local blackened-thrash combo Occultist, but don’t let that fool you — Unmaker have quite a bit to offer in their own right. They distinguish themselves from the metallic pack thanks to Aaron Mitchell’s arresting vocals, which carry an urgency that makes them impossible to ignore. But the rest of the band has a powerful sound of their own, simultaneously exploring the gothic end of the postpunk spectrum while retaining a powerful, heavy rhythm and sticking to an energetic tempo. Fans of Killing Joke will find a lot to like here, but really, everyone should.

Windhand – Eternal Return (Relapse)
Local doom combo Windhand has always been witchy, but they’ve taken it to a new level on their fourth album (and first with only one guitarist), Eternal Return. The psychedelic aspects of their sound are cranked up here, and even as you can hear those low-end rumbles that make these guys a total headcrush live, the album’s production opens up another layer of their sound — one in which vocalist Dorthia Cottrell’s haunting voice is the star of the show, bringing a heaviness of emotion that more than matches the rest of the band’s heaviness of groove. Kill the lights and light a candle.

Womajich Dialyseiz – Live In RVA (Grimalkin)
This improvisational collective brings together a shifting group of “women, femmes, and gender non-conforming people” from around the Richmond scene to create uncategorizable experimental music. The results, documented here on recordings from four different live performances, are ambient and multi-layered, featuring percussion, voices, and a variety of melodies, many of which tend toward the unsettling. Maybe not something you should put on late at night when you are alone, but certainly an important element of the Richmond scene in 2018. Lend an ear.

Young Scum – Young Scum (Citrus City)
I doubt any of the young people in this city’s indie music scene are particularly intending to hark back to the early 90s heyday of Sarah Records and the indie-pop movement that label inspired, but regardless of intent, Young Scum have landed right in that wheelhouse. If you loved Heavenly or The Field Mice, you’re going to find a lot to love here, from Chris Smith’s dulcet vocal tones, which wash over you like a cooling mist, or the glittering layers of undistorted guitar strums laid down by Smith and Ben Medcalf. There are brief moments of tense distortion hovering subtly in the mix, but for the most part this mini-LP is pure indie-pop bliss.

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Wow, we’re done! And of course, as soon as I got this list finished, I realized I’d left out the Candy LP and the Boygenius EP, so go check those out too. What can I say? There was no way I was gonna think of everything.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

The 40 Most Essential RVA Albums Of 2018 (Part 1)

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Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Richmond’s always been a great city for music, and that didn’t change one iota in 2018. If anything, it became a bit overwhelming — indeed, even the most comprehensively-minded local music nerd was likely to overlook a few things. While putting this list together, I found a few that I overlooked myself — and I’m sure you will as well.

This list features our best shot at the most essential and noteworthy albums that our city birthed this year, from any and all genres. Since so many different genres and scenes are thriving in this town, we had to include 40 just to feel like we weren’t leaving anything crucial out. And let’s be real — we probably still didn’t catch everything. The best advice we could possibly give you about following this town’s vibrant musical community is this: always dig deeper. Your new favorite record might be right around the corner.

These 40 albums are a good place to start. Today, we’re presenting the first 20 — in alphabetical order by artist name, so it doesn’t seem like we’re playing favorites. We’ll have the other 20 for you tomorrow. Happy listening!

Ant The Symbol – The Motions (Gritty City)
Over the past decade or so, Ant The Symbol has consistently remained one of the most talented producers in Richmond hip hop. His layered beats are jazzy, funky, and have a lot of emotion built into them, and it’s always interesting to see what rappers do with them. The Motions is full of classic grooves that both present a smorgasbord of Richmond MCs in the best possible light and make clear that, as always, Ant’s beats are the star of the show.

The Ar-Kaics – In This Time (Daptone)
This retro-garage heads return to the spotlight after a year or two of woodshedding with a new LP that is a must for the Nehru-jacketed 60s nerds who sleep with the Nuggets box sets under their pillow. That can’t be comfortable, so maybe this 21st century slab of meat-and-potatoes rock n’ roll can help y’all sleep better. Then again, these songs are so full of fun, snotty energy, there’s no way you’re gonna sleep at all with this record on the turntable. Just get up and dance.

Bad Magic – What’s Wrong With My Eyes (badmagic.bandcamp.com)
This union of three talented RVA music veterans (Julie Karr, Tim Falen, Jimmy Held) produces music that seems to split the difference between their various musical backgrounds (in everything from folk to grunge to post-hardcore) and bring us the best possible distillation of heartfelt, driving, melodic rock music. Vaguely psychedelic and obviously descended from punk rock in at least a spiritual fashion, this album gives us a glimpse at what ruled the university-station airwaves before Nirvana came along.

Saw Black – Water Tower (Crystal Pistol)
This supremely laid-back album comes to us from one of RVA’s foremost purveyors of country-Americana slackness, and has some downright beautiful moments that’ll shine bright for fans of artists like Sturgill Simpson or the Drive-By Truckers. You could probably also play it for your uncle who thinks music has sucked since Garth Brooks, or to expand the horizons of your little cousin who only knows about bro-country. But really, you should probably play it while you’re relaxing on the front porch on a Saturday afternoon with a cold beverage in your hand. That’s when it sounds best.

Scott Clark – ToNow (Clean Feed)
Drummer Scott Clark is a leader in the mostly-overlooked world of RVA jazz, and with his recent work, he’s made quite an impression beyond our city’s borders as well. Clark’s been tapping into his Native American heritage for his recent full-length works, and that continues with ToNow. This album is a contribution to the ongoing protest movement in Standing Rock, in the form of a musical clarion call, an ambient yet intense musical exploration featuring some of the leading lights in Richmond’s jazz scene. Immerse yourself.

Kenneka Cook – Moonchild (American Paradox)
2018 was Kenneka Cook’s year. This singer with the powerful, hypnotic voice put the entirety of Richmond under her spell, and Moonchild was the way she did it. The songs on this album move back and forth between soulful, jazzy R&B ensemble pieces featuring a bevy of talented local backing musicians and intriguing solo pieces constructed from electronic beats, synth hums, and massive stacks of multi-layered vocal loops, all constructed by Cook herself with electronic sequencing tools. It’s hard to say which of these two aspects of her music are more pleasing — in the end, it’s probably the combination of the two that gets best results.

Cruelsifix – Dark Snake (cruelsifix.bandcamp.com)
RVA metal is alive, well, and raging as ever. Cruelsifix finds some leading lights from the local scene coming together to fill their downtime with yet another rip-roaring contribution to the local metal landscape. They made their mark this year with a six-song debut EP that shows off their thrashing blackened death metal sound, and, with song titles like “Rabid Christ” and “Satan Earth Fuck,” makes clear that they aren’t just kidding around with the whole evil-as-hell-name move. Bang your head.

Lucy Dacus – Historian (Matador)
Certainly the RVA album of 2018 that got the most attention outside RVA, singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus has gone from house show sensation to international bright young thing in the space of two years, and has given us all yet another reason to be proud of our hometown. Dacus’s gorgeous, heartfelt tunes — which pair her smooth, beautiful voice with powerful melodies driven by a surprisingly tough rhythm section — took a leap beyond her already-assured debut album on Historian. Kudos to her.

McKinley Dixon – The Importance Of Self Belief (Citrus City)
In a city with a variety of different hip hop movements taking place, McKinley Dixon exists in a class by himself. He simultaneously brings a multitude of talented friends of various musical backgrounds together to take his music to a higher plane, and remains committed to first principles: those being strong rhymes, powerful beats, and most importantly something real to say. Even as he’s telling hard truths about oppression and struggles, he’s also uplifting your spirit with positive messages — look no further than the title track.

Fly Anakin & Ohbliv – Backyard Boogie (Mutant Academy)
Fly Anakin has been on fire lately, working hard to get himself and his crew, Mutant Academy, established in RVA and beyond. You can hear how much energy he’s bringing to the struggle in the hyperkinetic rhymes he spits on this album, which zap your ears with their sharpness even as they leave Anakin himself gasping for breath. Celebrated production legend Ohbliv contributes all of the production here, bringing a unified feel and a deep mood to Backyard Boogie, and providing a much-needed contrast with Fly Anakin’s manic intensity.

Gumming – Human Values (gumming.bandcamp.com)
The name of this group always makes me think of nursing home residents mashing down soft foods without benefit of dentures, but if you turn your back, rest assured, Gumming will show you just how much bite they’ve got. Human Values is a wall of angry noise that splits the difference between experimental psychedelic weirdness and pure punk rage, like the Butthole Surfers if they were fronted by X-Ray Spex’s Poly Styrene. Oh values, up yours.

Cole Hicks – May Day (colehicksva.bandcamp.com)
No one really wants to talk about this, but the fact is that hip hop tends to be a very masculine genre. It’s rare to hear a female MC spitting rhymes at all, let alone one that can stand toe-to-toe with the best in the game. On May Day, Richmond’s Cole Hicks adds her name to that list, contributing one of the best albums to come out of the genre in RVA this year and landing a top spot in what was already a banner year for Richmond hip hop albums. The beats hit hard, her rhymes hit harder, and her lyrical flow is unmatched, so quit tripping and start bumping May Day now.

Andy Jenkins – Sweet Bunch (Spacebomb)
Kinda country, kinda indie, and very Southern — that’s local singer-songwriter Andy Jenkins in a nutshell. The latest overnight sensation from the world of Spacebomb Records, Jenkins’s debut full-length, Sweet Bunch, has a laid-back, smoothly rolling feel that’ll put you in the frame of mind to rock contentedly in a porch swing as the lazy river rolls by. Some moments hit upon a sort of pastoral Van Morrison-ish feel, while others bust out the sunbaked twang of the Bakersfield sound. All of it is easy to enjoy.

Large Margin – Large Margin (largemargin.bandcamp.com)
Anyone who caught Brief Lives when they were around is bound to have thought the same thing I did — “that guitarist really goes off!” Brief Lives is gone, but the guitarist in question, Chris Compton, has moved on to becoming the frontman for Large Margin, joining up with a variety of local post-hardcore luminaries to exhume the spirit of Fugazi’s classic early 90s work and infuse it with a massive amount of frantic energy and 21st century political fury. One listen to this LP and you’ll want to rock out as hard as Compton does onstage.

Lipid – Freak Beat (Vinyl Conflict)
The growth of out-and-proud LGBTQ hardcore punk in this town has been one of the best things about 2018, not just for “representation” but also because it’s brought us a lot of great music from voices we weren’t necessarily hearing before. Lipid is probably the closest to old-school punk of this new crop of RVA queer-power bands, with a sound that mixes the sarcastic punk snarls of the Dead Kennedys with the sort of burly stuff that was coming out of NYC a while back — think Crazy Spirit, or The Men before they became a dad-rock bar band.

Love Roses/The Donalds – split (Tired & Pissed)
These two local punk bands are mainstays of the Shockoe Bottom punk scene that orbits around Wonderland, McCormack’s, and other venues the downtown hipsters aren’t necessarily clued into. They’ve both got a ton of anger to work through, mostly at the pathetic state of the USA today, and they do so with rage, melody, and humor. The Donalds are more midtempo, Love Roses more melodic, but both bands are a ton of fun.

Manatree – Engines (manatree.bandcamp.com)
This band of teenagers has really matured on their latest album, which reflects the stripped-down sound Manatree’s increasingly taken on as the lineup shrinks. Frontman Jack Mayock’s considerable talent on guitar and keyboards gets a lot of room to show itself on Engines, as does the sort of growth he’s done as a vocalist since his high school days. Manatree’s math-rock roots are still clear on this album, but as a band, they’re getting weirder, more cerebral, and more fascinating. I guess this is growing up.

Michael Millions – Hard To Be King (Purple Republic)
Dropping back on January 2, this LP acted as the starting gunshot for an amazing year of RVA music. Michael Millions brought the realness from the opening moments of this one, working with some of the most talented hip hop producers in town to create the perfect instrumental tracks for his powerful lyrics and rock-solid flow. And Millions clearly had a lot to say, filling all of these tracks with powerful declarations of what it’s like to be a working class African-American man in the neighborhoods of Richmond that the Scott’s Addition hipsters don’t even know exist. You can’t afford not to listen to this one.

Nickelus F – Stuck (AGM)
From one AGM heavyweight to another. This year saw incredible statements of purpose and power from all of that formidable crew’s leading lights, and Nickelus F’s Stuck was the hardest-hitting of them all. It’s only fair, considering how long he’s been working to advance his sound; that said, we’re all reaping the benefits, because Stuck proves that after a decade and a half of steady grinding, Sweet Petey is better than ever. If you didn’t catch him on tour with Lil Ugly Mane, you need to at least grab this. It’ll twist your head around.

Ostraca – Enemy (Skeletal Lightning)
People are starting to notice Richmond’s thriving screamo scene; Noisey even wrote about it this summer. If you’re not hip, Ostraca is the first name you need to get familiar with. This scorching trio has been honing their sound for over a decade, arriving on their third album at the strongest and most assured collection of material they’ve brought into the world yet. From harsh screams over furious lightning-speed metallic rage to long, slowly-building post-rock epics, Enemy displays the full range of Ostraca’s considerable talents. Dig in, and remember — there’s plenty more where that came from.

That’s the first half of the list — tune in tomorrow for the rest!

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond