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Honeyed Words: Weekend Playlist by Majjin Boo

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

This week, we’re celebrating the release of Majjin Boo’s debut LP, Go Between, last month on Egghunt Records by reposting the playlist they made for us back in the spring. At the time, they were briefly using the name Cardinal, but they have returned to their original name for Go Between, a collection of excellent melodic math-rock tunes created over their first few years as a band. If you haven’t yet obtained a copy, we highly encourage you to do so — cassette and digital copies are available at Egghunt’s Bandcamp.

You can pair it with Majjin Boo’s playlist, which brings together a variety of inspiring indie, punk, math-rock, and emo sounds, and goes quite a ways beyond these narrow genre confines as well. The combination of this playlist with the seven tracks on Go Between will create the perfect start to your weekend.

Let it flow, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Ain’t Life Beautiful: Weekend Playlist by Dharma Bombs

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

This time around, we’ve got a selection of tunes from Richmond’s premier old-time string band, Dharma Bombs. With strong connections to the heart of Virginia, this acoustic ensemble has been bringing the powerful sound of Appalachian roots music to the river city for over half a dozen years now. Their new album, Enjoy The View, finds them embracing their local heritage for their strongest collection of tunes yet.

Dharma Bombs’ playlist brings us a fine collection of country, jazz, blues, Americana, and beyond, both pulling from decades past and incorporating the latest up-to-the-minute sounds. It all adds up to a great listen that’s sure to get you stoked for their next show. And you won’t have to wait long — they’ll be headlining a triple bill of excellent Virginia groups, along with Piranha Rama and Chupacabras, tomorrow night at The Camel. Get tickets and more info here, and warm up your cold evening with this excellent set of tunes courtesy of Dharma Bombs.

Take it home, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Game Is My Middle Name: Weekend Playlist by Chrissie Lozano

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

This week’s comes to us from local bass queen Chrissie Lozano, who is currently holding down the low-end in Piranha Rama, as well as acting as one of the group’s many vocalists. She has been in all sorts of other Richmond-based combos over the years — Gouda Mayhem, Ladygod, Fear Of Music, Are You Fucking Serious!?… and probably more; it’s a longer list than even I know, and I pay close attention to this kind of stuff.

Speaking with us about the playlist she put together for this week, she said, “It’s reflective of my love of lady vocals and harmony in general, and how this bunch of tunes is influential to me.” In Piranha Rama, where Lozano often harmonizes with bandmates Angelica Garcia and Kenneka Cook (both of whom appear in solo form on this playlist), the influence of these tunes can clearly be heard. You can see Piranha Rama live at The Camel on Saturday, November 9 with Dharma Bombs, but until then, liven up your weekend with this solid-as-a-rock eclectic collection of postpunk, soul, folk, electronica, and more.

Sing it loud, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Folk Yeah! Diving Into The Richmond Folk Festival

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If you’ve ever been skeptical of attending large festivals, the Richmond Folk Festival might just change your mind.

Where else can you find Tuareg guitar, Tuvan throat singing, and honky-tonk all in the same weekend? The Richmond Folk Festival, of course!

The Richmond Folk Festival took place for the 15th time this year from Friday, October 11 through Sunday, October 13. Over 100 performances were held on seven stages throughout downtown Richmond’s riverfront. Between the music, craft vendors, and food trucks, attendees would have a hard time making their way through the weekend without finding something to love.

Photo by Dave Parrish Photography

Despite how ubiquitous the Folk Festival is in local media and on social media each October, this past weekend was my first time visiting. I’ve always had a bit of a distaste for festivals, with their enormous crowds and pandering corporate sponsors. Cliché as it may be, I’ve always had a preference for smaller shows and the intimate and egalitarian environments that they foster.

But I think the Folk Festival this past weekend may have changed my mind about some things. For the first time in my life, I found myself surrounded by word-class musicians of genres of all types, many of which I had no clue existed. Like other festival-goers, I was free to stroll throughout the area, stopping to listen to anything and everything that caught my ear. And I didn’t even have to pay a dime.

Photo by Dave Parrish Photography

Venturing into the Folk Festival from Oregon Hill, the first thing I came across was a parking lot full of food trucks. Children slid down a grassy hillside on pieces of cardboard as festival-goers strolled through the lot, seemingly as hungry for the food as they were for the culture. Crowds cheered as a train passed overhead, complete with the happiest engineer I’ve ever seen waving proudly out the window. Afro-funk could be heard in the distance. The whole scene seemed so jubilant; it had the air of a carnival. Any cynicism I originally had about going to the festival dissipated.

Things only got better and better as I encountered more music during my time at the festival. The diversity of music on display is by far the greatest strength of the Folk Festival. Even just staying put at one stage will give an attendee a roller-coaster ride of sound — take Saturday evening at the Costar Stage, for example. Things got started with Julie Fowlis performing traditional Irish folk songs before giving way to the Syrian dance music of the Aleppo Ensemble. Next, Balla Kouyaté and Famoro Dioubaté undoubtedly introduced the crowd to the unique sound of the balafon, a type of xylophone that uses gourds to produce sound. Huun-Huur-Tu closed out the night with their Tuvan throat singing.

Photo by Dave Parrish Photography

Even if the dizzying number of musical acts at the festival failed to interest an attendee, there was plenty left to do. An entire marketplace was set up, offering just about anything you could think of. There were prints from Studio Two Three and jewelry made of recycled musical instrument parts from Lady Bass Music. You could pick up some soap and lotion from Pure Shea Store. Looking for some honey? Rock Hill Bee Farm had you covered.

The Richmond Folk Festival completely shattered my notion of what a festival could be. The sheer size of it was wild — last year, 220,000 attended, and I’m sure this year was either the same or bigger. With something captivating at every turn, I have no doubt that I will find myself at next year’s Folk Festival, and probably each one after that, too.

Top Photo by Dave Parrish Photography

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Ring The Alarm: Weekend Playlist by Chris L. Terry

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an A-plus can’t-miss playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week’s playlist comes to us from Chris L. Terry, a Los Angeles-based author with some deep Richmond roots. Those roots are on display in his new novel, Black Card, which tells the story of a mixed-race musician navigating the RVA punk scene with the help of his black friend, Lucius (who may only exist in the narrator’s mind). When the unnamed narrator stays silent in the face of a racist incident, Lucius revokes his “black card.” Determined to win it back, the narrator attempts to date his black coworker, Mona, only to end up the prime suspect when she is attacked. It doesn’t help that the cop investigating the crime is carrying a grudge against him that dates back to their high school days.

Terry’s rich descriptions of Richmond’s Confederate-obsessed streets and sweltering basement shows draw extensively from his days as a Richmond resident. In the late 90s and early 00s, he was heavily involved in this city’s punk scene, singing in bands like Light The Fuse And Run and the Flesh Eating Creeps. Having departed for bigger cities over a decade ago, Terry will return to Richmond next week for a Black Card release party, presented by Chop Suey Books and taking place at Babe’s Of Carytown from 6 to 8 PM on Thursday, October 10. Terry will read from Black Card, sign copies of the novel, and discuss the book with Stereogum senior editor Tom Breihan.

We highly encourage you to be there and pick up a copy of this excellent novel from an author who’s been a strong part of Richmond’s literary scene since his days leaving stacks of his zine on the racks at Plan 9. And we also encourage you to check out the mix he’s made for us, which draws from hip hop, punk rock, jazz, R&B, and much more to create the perfect soundtrack for what will hopefully be the last hot weekend of the year here in Richmond.

Shake ’em on down, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Shack Up With The Shack Band At The Broadberry

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The Shack Band’s annual music festival is back at The Broadberry this weekend with a lineup specifically chosen to excite the Richmond local scene.

This weekend, The Shack Up is hitting The Broadberry for the fifth time in as many years. On Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, your hosts The Shack Band will close out the month and the summer with a handpicked lineup of musicians from around the region.

Formed in 2008, The Shack Band relocated from their native Blacksburg to Richmond several years ago. After they arrived, bassist Mason Owen and The Broadberry co-owner Lucas Fritz began throwing around the idea of hosting an in-town festival in Richmond.

“There’s all these cool festivals, and tons of them are in Virginia,” Owen said. “But there weren’t so many in town where you can come for the day, come and go as you please, take a break, get a bite to eat, and sleep in your own bed at the end of the night.”

Photo: The Northerners, by Zachary Norris. Courtesy Broadberry Entertainment Group

Finally, after The Broadberry opened in 2014, they had a venue option. It was a prime location with a parking lot large enough to hold a stage, and also provided indoor amenities like air conditioning, a full bar, places to sit, food options, and indoor restrooms. The Broadberry is also adjacent to The Fan and Scott’s Addition neighborhoods, with easy walking access to those that live in the area. All of this made it an ideal spot to host the first Shack Up in 2015 — and The Broadberry’s been hosting it ever since.

This year, eleven bands will play on two stages — one indoors and one outdoors — over the course of the weekend on Friday night and all day Saturday. Jouwala Collective, Mo Lowda & The Humble and The Northerners will play Friday, while Saturday will feature a myriad of local and regional artists headlined by The Shack Band and People’s Blues of Richmond.

The organizers explicitly sought out acts that weren’t necessarily in the mainstream, or well-known by the general public. Instead, they booked bands that they believed brought out the best Richmond and its regional music scene has to offer.

This made it easier to seek out bands that they already knew personally, but they also sought out bands they didn’t know as well, but had seen before, and that thought they fit in with what they were looking for. Occasionally, they even chose bands they had never heard of before, but who sounded great when they came across the organizers’ desks.

Photo: People’s Blues Of Richmond, courtesy Broadberry Entertainment Group

“The lineup is pretty diverse,” Owen said. “We always wanted to be diverse. It has never been our goal to book a giant headliner and a bunch of support acts. We want more quality than just one name that might draw people that don’t go to shows very often. We want this to be a party for the Richmond music scene and its fans.”

One of the regional acts that event organizers secured for The Shack Up is Bennett Wales. Wales is from Virginia Beach and has played with his band since 2016, performing a mix of roots, rock n’ roll, and progressive rock.

Wales has performed before in Richmond at locations like The Camel, and most recently The National. There, he opened for The Wallflowers along with Landon Elliott — another artist performing at The Shack Up.

“Richmond folks are more perceptive to original music than Virginia Beach audiences,” Wales said. “That’s one of many reasons why we jumped at the opportunity to perform at The Shack Up. Everyone is super friendly, and I’m looking forward to sharing our music with those who haven’t heard of us before, and having a good time with friends.”

Photo: Jouwala Collective, courtesy Broadberry Entertainment Group

The Shack Up has been planned since the beginning of 2019, starting with deciding the date and getting a general sense of what bands they wanted to perform at the festival. They also hired a production company for the staging, and secured all the permits needed to perform in the parking lot between The Broadberry and the Exxon gas station next door.

“The first two years, The Shack Up was in the parking lot behind The Broadberry’s patio, and not in view of Broad Street,” Fritz said. “In 2017, we went much bigger and moved it into the adjacent lot to the Exxon, sourced a much larger and more legitimate stage, and took it from there.”

This included bringing in outside vendors and food trucks, such as New Belgium’s Fat Tire beer, PBR (the beer, not the band), and this year’s nonprofit sponsor, Keep Virginia Cozy. Along with selling food and alcohol, vendors will also be providing stations with different activities and giveaways to give The Shack Up a more festival feel, according to Erin Brennan, The Broadberry’s marketing director.

Photo: Holy Roller, courtesy Broadberry Entertainment Group

“We do work with nonprofits and other brands to make The Shack Up super engaging and fun, because all day Saturday is a long time, and having incentives will help make people want to stick around,” Brennan said. “We will have stuff for everyone to walk away with at least a koozie, and people like free stuff.”

Doors open Friday at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. with The Northerners. On Saturday, doors open at 2 p.m. and the first set begins at 3 p.m. with Weekend Plans and ends at 1 a.m. inside The Broadberry with Fear of Music. For full lineup, tickets, and other info, click here.

Top Photo: The Shack Band, via Facebook

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond