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Howlin Rain at Richmond Music Hall

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Howlin Rain w/ Sunwatchers and Billy Neptune
Friday, February 28th at Richmond Music Hall
$12 ADV, $15 DOS
Doors at 7, Music at 8

Howlin Rain
Sunwatchers
Billy Neptune

Howlin’ Rain
Howlin Rain is back on the road this summer. Fittingly, they’ll be celebrating a new series of limited edition live albums entitled, ‘Under the Wheels,’ while continuing to support their acclaimed 2018 studio album, ‘The Alligator Bride,’ which Uncut Magazine called, “classic rock in the most pastoral, sun-soaked ‘70s sense, with traces of Springsteen at his most gospel, Creedence at their grooviest, Free and American Beauty.”
Intended to be a direct conversation with fans, ‘Under The Wheels’ is a no-rules, anything goes series culled from multi-track live recordings made on the road. The debut installment, ‘Live From The Coasts (Volume 1)’ leans heavily to the band’s improvisational side and is the first of a 2-part curation comprised of East and West Coast performances in 2018-19. It’s set for August 30th release via Howlin Rain founding member Ethan Miller’s Silver Current Records, with Volume 2 to follow in Fall 2019.


“No matter how accomplished a studio album a band makes there is still something even more elevated and relatable about a live performance captured well. The audience and musicians engaged in an ecstatic, emotional dance together, the sound of light- speed group creativity under heavy pressure, feats of improvised melody and feel beyond expectation and of course the raw edges, rough corners and deeply human sound of artists completely exposed in the high temp firing and fusing of their hopes, risks, vulnerabilities and ultimately triumphs of imperfection and musical joyrides beyond conscious imagination,” says Miller. “That’s my favorite place for Howlin Rain to be and my intention with the live series is to open a spigot between the fans and these captured live adventures and to leave it open as an ongoing conversation about our spiritual dance together.”


‘Under the Wheels: Live From The Coasts (Volume 1)’ will be available on limited edition and deluxe/special edition vinyl packages that Silver Current has become known for, in addition to limited edition cassette and digital formats. Tracks include an extended ten minute-plus instrumental melodic burner “To the Wind,” the show-stopping first album favorite “Death Prayer in Heaven’s Orchard,” the rarely performed live acid- soul cooker “Goodbye Ruby” and ‘The Alligator Bride’ album keystones “Missouri” and “Coming Down,” the latter having grown into a 13+ minute set closer with all controls set for the heart of the sun.

Sunwatchers
Sunwatchers drew a line in the sand with their last album “II”, a powerful statement of the band’s unique brand of spiritual, free-rock, gonzo attitude and a progressive socio-political worldview. “Illegal Moves” is their latest dispatch and second album for Trouble In Mind Records.

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Of Montreal at The Broadberry

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Of Montreal w/ Lily’s Band and Plastic Nancy
at The Broadberry
Sunday, March 1st
Doors at 7pm, Music at 8pm
$18 ADV, $22 DOS

Two important events occurred during the making of White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. I became “Simulated Reality” paranoid and I fell in LOVE.

Well a lot more happened during the process of writing and recording, but those are the two big ones. I also reached a healthy point of self-forgiveness for my failed marriage and became deeply educated in the lies of America the Great.

I feel like a switch was recently turned on in my brain and now I’m beginning to see through the lies that have been fed to me my whole life by the masters of media and by those who control and manipulate the narrative of our cultural identity and social order.

My paranoia began during the presidential election cycle and reached a dangerous peak shortly after the inauguration. In the meantime I watched and read countless works of art in a mad effort to be reminded of how many truly brilliant people there are living/struggling among us and to try to maintain a positive outlook. The works of Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Chris Kraus, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the Autobiographies of Malcolm X and Mark E Smith were all great inspirations, to name a few.

Musically, I was very inspired by the extended dance mixes that people used to make for pop singles back in the ‘80s. It’s so cool how a lot of the 80’s hits had these really intricate and interesting longer versions that wouldn’t get played on the radio and could only be heard in the clubs. I used that template with these tracks, I wanted them all to feel like the extended “club edit” of album tracks.

I also decided to abandon the “live band in a room” approach that I had been using on the recent albums and work more on my own or remotely with collaborators. I used the same drum sample packs throughout because I wanted the album to have a rhythmic continuity to it. I wanted the drums to have a strong and consistent identity, similar to how Prince’s Linn Electronics LM-1 drum machine played such an important role on his classic albums. Zac Colwell also played a huge role on this album, adding saxophones and synths to most of the songs. I also got a lot of help from long time collaborators, and “of Montreal” touring members, Clayton Rychlik and JoJo Glidewell.

The two title concept came to me when I was thinking about how difficult it is to frame the message of a song with just one title, because so often the songs are about so many different subjects. ‘White Is Relic’ was inspired by James Baldwin’s writings regarding the creation and propagation of a toxic American White identity. I’ve come to learn how it’s just a tool wielded by the 1% to give poor white people a false sense of superiority in an effort to keep the masses placated and numb to how deeply we’re all getting fucked by our capitalist rulers. An ‘Irrealis Mood’ is a linguistic indicator that something isn’t yet reality but does have the potential to become so.

I’m always searching for new identities so this concept of the death of “Whiteness” appeals to me greatly. Might be the only way to save the world.

-Kevin Barnes, January 2018

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Montreal

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The Atkinsons w. Giant Squid at Hardywood Sat, Feb 29th!

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The Atkinsons are coming back to one of our favorite breweries in Richmond on Sat, Feb 29th at Hardywood!!! This time we will be joined by the one and only awesome Giant Squid (Richmond’s loudest Cajun Rap act)!!! This one is gonna be a blast! Come on out and celebrate Leap Day with us! There’s hasn’t been a February 29th since 2016 – we’ve heard you can have more fun, drink more beer, stay up later, lose weight, look younger, and have good luck if you just come out, so make sure to come out and hang with us! 🙂

Giant Squid – “Giant Squid has the tastiest licks, the biggest nuts and the superfly ladies!”
https://www.facebook.com/Giant-Squid-132727733494494

Bbigpigg, Prayer Group, Faucet, Recital at Boogaloo’s

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Friday, February 28, 8 PM
Bbigpigg, Prayer Group, Faucet, Recital @ Boogaloo’s 

Speaking for myself, I am totally used to the fact that the world of noise-rock is often unfathomably bizarre. I grew up in the days when the Melvins and the Jesus Lizard were in their prime, so I’m totally desensitized now. However, if you’re a noise-rock newcomer, a lot of aspects of the band Bbigpigg might throw you for a loop. For a start, there’s the fact that there name looks like a typo of a late 80s Australian funk group they have absolutely nothing to do with. Then there’s their minimalist internet presence, which is matched by a less-than-prolific discography featuring nothing more than a few EPs, the last of which came out damn near five years ago.

But if you can get past all these aspects — and you should — there’s a lot to appreciate here, from this band’s undeniably Jesus Lizard-ish tendency toward bent notes and off-kilter chords to the driving stomp that makes their music so unstoppably awesome and fun. If you wish the Melvins would experiment a little less, or that Captain Beefheart was still kicking, this is the band for you. They’re joined on this bill by Richmond’s own Prayer Group, who engage in a slightly sludgier and significantly rantier take on Bbigpigg’s noise-rock attack, making this the perfect pummeling pairing for you noise nutcases. Make a note of it.

MEAN JEANS, Brower, The Ar-Kaics, Sports Bar at Hardywood

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A lot of people credit the Ramones for having invented punk rock, and many of them feel that the music made by those four New York weirdos in leather jackets has never been improved on. Therefore, it can’t be too much of a surprise that, even after the Ramones spent over 20 years cranking out album after album of their stripped-down, razor-sharp, but always incredibly catchy tunes, there are still bands out here trying to find new ways to wring glory out of that classic Ramones sound.

That’s where Mean Jeans comes in. Having existed for over a decade now, this toe-tapping trio released their fifth album of Ramones-worshipping punk ditties, Gigantic Sike, last year on Fat Wreck Chords. And even if you’ve heard every Ramones song a thousand times, that album and this performance by Mean Jeans at Hardywood on Sunday are guaranteed to prove that there’s still magic left in that classic (one-two-three-)formula. The evening will also feature a performance from New York’s Brower, a glam-punk/power-pop solo project sure to keep you smiling. And of course, consistently talented Virginia punk rockers The Ar-Kaics and Sports Bar open this one up with the retro-garage rock and punky power-pop that you’ve respectively come to expect from them. Get stoked for this one.

FREE EVENT!

Valentine’s Day Feat. Lightmare, ZunZun, Prabir Trio, Past Palms at Gallery 5

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It’s not just eating candy hearts and spending the evening with friends that’ll get us through this one emotionally unscathed, though — it’s really great music. And Raw Mom Presents has a killer lineup awaiting us this Friday night, topped by DC’s uncategorizable DIY powerhouse, Lightmare. Expect something somewhere between soul, punk, synth-pop, disco, and garage rock from this six-piece combo with creative energy to spare. I have no idea who ZunZun are (googling only turned up a husband-and-wife flute duo from California who I can’t imagine are on this bill), but it’ll certainly be interesting to find out, and we’ll get a set from the Prabir Trio, the latest vehicle to bring us the ever-reliable pop songcraft of Mr. Prabir Mehta. All that plus newcomer Past Palms — plus, I’d be willing to bet there will be sour hearts. I’m calling it now: Gallery 5 is where you need to be for V-Day this year.

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