RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu

VA Shows You Must See This Week: September 4 – September 10

|

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

FEATURED SHOW
Thursday, September 5, 9 PM
Iron Reagan, Nickelus F, Slump @ Fuzzy Cactus – $10
I’ve been doing this column for nearly six years now (I know, time flies), and sometimes I worry that I’m getting a little predictable. I see a show on my exhaustively-compiled master list of upcoming shows and immediately think, “Oh damn, that’s feature this week for sure.” But then I think, “Wait a minute. Is me picking that show a total cliche? Do I need to branch out, lest everyone figure out that I really am just an aging hipster with a strong nostalgic streak?” I don’t know, I’m probably thinking too much.

So let’s put all those thoughts aside and just embrace the most RVA-Mag-catnip show that’s come down the pike in a while: this Thursday-night bill mingling diverse genres under one roof at Brookland Park’s newest hotspot, Fuzzy Cactus. If I gave Shows You Must See awards at the end of every year (what would I call that, the Showies? LOL maybe I’ll start doing that), these guys would already be a lock for Best New Venue. This three-band bill (the perfect length) only further solidifies their hold on that honor — and this is still their first month of operation!

At this point, Iron Reagan’s become just as well established in the Virginia thrash/crossover scene as the longer-lived bands from which they spawned (Municipal Waste, Darkest Hour, Mammoth Grinder), and last year’s split EP with Gatecreeper shows that they continue to evolve their sound in more brutal, more epic directions. If they were going to share a bill with a hip hop artist, Richmond legend Nickelus F is the perfect one. An institution in his own right, he recently followed up last year’s breakthrough LP, Stuck, with a two-volume collection of archival recordings called The Gold Mine. It’s just further proof that, whether you’re listening to his newest banger or songs he recorded a decade ago, Nickelus F’s talent knows no bounds. This show is rounded out with a set from Slump, a psych-noise/hardcore band with a unique sound and a new LP coming on Feel It Records any minute now. Show up at this show and enjoy yourself. Take it from one who knows — life’s too short to think so much.

Wednesday, September 4, 9 PM
Easter Island, Majjin Boo, Colpa Mia @ The Camel – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s been a long road to bring Georgia’s Easter Island to Richmond tonight, but at the end of it, they’re a stronger, better band, and they’re sure to charm all comers when they take the stage. Having broken up back in 2014, the band’s main creative forces, brothers Ethan and Asher Payne, found themselves coming back together a couple of years ago with renewed inspiration and a clutch of excellent new tunes that expand on the band’s sound. They aptly refer to their genre as “post-rock dream pop,” and whether you’re more into Slowdive, The Cure, or Explosions In The Sky, you’re sure to get a boost from their strong yet beautiful music.

While Easter Island haven’t released an actual record in over five years, they’re currently prepping a brand new album entitled Island Nation for release later this year. Preview singles make clear that it’s a new height of excellence for the band, one that you should absolutely experience in the live environment. And with Richmond’s Majjin Boo on the bill as well, this show is twice as nice. Under the name Cardinal, this band released one of my favorite EPs of the year so far back in the spring. They’ve now returned to their original name, and have a bunch more new material to bring us all in the near future. Get a preview tonight — it’ll be worth it! Local indie-pop up-and-comers Colpa Mia kick this one off. Be there.

Thursday, September 5, 9 PM
Kaelan Mikla (Photo by Debi Del Grande), Cloud Rat, Listless, Melvl @ Wonderland – $10
Iceland, the tiny North Atlantic island country in which a sparse population descended from Vikings lives amongst glaciers and active volcanoes, carries an undeniable allure for Americans trapped in our country’s endless suburban sprawl. That allure has been enhanced by the country’s excellent musical exports, including Bjork, Sigur Ros, and chaotic hardcore quintet Minus. Kaelan Mikla is the latest of these, and — true to Icelandic form — sounds nothing like any of them. Instead, this trio uses synthesizers, programmed beats, and layered vocals to create a dark, atmospheric sound that may be closer musically to gothic postpunk, but has an undeniable appeal to metalheads around the globe.

Perhaps this explains their current American tour, which finds them paired with long-running Michigan grindcore group Cloud Rat. This prolific, ferocious band brings a dynamic approach to the short-fast-loud formula, and on advance singles from their forthcoming fifth LP, Pollinator, they introduce epic riffs and harsh ambience to a sound that is still both fast as hell and heavy as fuck. I’d tell you to bring your earplugs, but the fact is that this trio is gonna rip your head right off. Excellent opening sets will be provided by the brutal metallic crust sextet Listless and the dark ambient solo act Melvl, both of which hail from right here in VA. Get stoked.

Friday, September 6, 9 PM
Material Girls, COQ, Dad @ Wonderland – $10
Atlanta quintet Material Girls is coming to town, and it’s time for all of us to get down — to Shockoe Bottom’s own Wonderland, that is. Despite the name, Material Girls bear no resemblance to Madonna’s classic mid-80s material, and instead are much more likely to remind listeners of New York in the postpunk early 80s. Their scratchy, minimalist grooves draw clear inspiration from groups like the Bush Tetras and ESG, while their creative use of saxophone is most reminiscent of early 80s UK noise-punk freaks Essential Logic.

On their 2018 LP, Leather, this group lays down a ferocious clatter, and it’s sure to draw you straight toward the dance floor, even if you don’t quite know what sort of dances to do once you get there. No matter how herky-jerky and frenetic your moves are, though, they’re sure to be perfect. Richmond’s own COQ are on this bill as well, and they eschew groove in favor of some straight-up clangor. Fans of No Wave leading lights like Mars and DNA are sure to appreciate the damaged noise this group dishes out. Locals Dad open this one up with some raw, dark indie sounds, complete with a strong political thread running throughout. This show will give you all the feels.

Saturday, September 7, 9 PM
Photosynthesizers, DJ Billy Nguyen @ Fuzzy Cactus – $10
Though it’s been a while since I’ve heard it, Photosynthesizers is a name that’s been around the Richmond music scene for a long time now. Formed by rapper BarCodez and guitarist Joshua Bryant, this group has featured quite a few different Richmond music notables over the years, and has actually been pretty close to inactive for the past few. But Photosynthesizers are decidedly back, with a newly solidified seven-piece lineup, and are preparing to celebrate the 11th anniversary of their band with the release of their first proper LP, Apollogy.

The album’s first single, “Terms and Agreements,” finds BarCodez’s rhymes in top form as ever, atop a bed of melodic, soulful music that simultaneously evokes D’Angelo and Radiohead. Clearly this band’s time away has not hurt their ability to nail their unique, memorable sound. It’s good to have them back, and this Saturday night, you could do a whole lot worse than heading over to Fuzzy Cactus and catching the full album release show by this returning powerhouse. Photosynthesizers turntablist Billy Nguyen will kick off the evening with a DJ set; then you’re in the band’s capable hands for the rest of the evening. It’s a good place to be.

Sunday, September 8, 8 PM
Dead Animal Assembly Plant, The Destruct Principle, Gothic Lizard @ Fallout – $7 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
I love a good fictional origin story, and Portland’s Dead Animal Assembly Plant’s got a great one — something about a German slaughterhouse owner in the days leading up to World War I who snapped and started feeding the townspeople to the livestock, instead of the other way around. A gory horror story like that gives you a very good idea of what you’ll get when you listen to the music of this industrial metal ensemble of costumed maniacs.

On most recent EP OFH: Prime Cuts, Dead Animal Assembly Plant deals out a brutal, pounding sound that lands somewhere between Slipknot and Killing Joke, or maybe Machines Of Loving Grace jamming with White Zombie inside a currently-in-operation automobile factory. It’s heavy, but it’s also metallic in the sense of large sheets of metal clanging into each other. And of course, you can’t neglect the always-present element of gory terror. This band is sure to liven up a Sunday night at Fallout; get ready for some serious headbanging at the goth club.

Monday, September 9, 6 PM
Upon A Burning Body, Of Virtue, Speaking With Ghosts, Seasons, WoR @ The Canal Club – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
The week has just started, and already it’s time to headbang once again, as Upon A Burning Body rolls into Richmond with fire in their eyes. This Texas metal band has been raging for nigh-on 15 years now, and it absolutely shows on their latest LP, Southern Hostility. While this ten-song collection of brutal mosh grooves definitely lands on the metal side of the metal/core divide, it’s closer than you might expect, and fans of Killswitch Engage, Pantera, and Sworn Enemy are all going to hear things they enjoy out of this Texas quartet.

Indeed, this is the sort of metal show where you’re just as likely to see spin-kicking mosh pits of doom as you are to see lines of longhairs banging their heads with glee. Upon A Burning Body have a particular skill with brutal breakdowns, so limber up before their set if you don’t want to pull a tendon. They’ll be joined on this bill by Michigan ragers Of Virtue, who have a definite appeal for the Suicide Silence/Whitechapel fans out there, and Chicago’s Speaking With Ghosts, whose new EP finds them blending Sworn In-style gothic moshcore with an eerie electronic undercurrent. This show’s got a lot of variety, but it’s all heavy. Sink your teeth into this one.

Tuesday, September 10, 7:30 PM
The Midnight, Flamingosis @ The National – $20 in advance/$23 at the door (order tickets HERE)
The retro synth wave continues to rise, and LA-based duo The Midnight are riding high on a crest of moody yet melodic gloriousness. The neon-lit nights and pastel bright spots of prime 80s-movie Los Angeles is this band’s metier, and they wield it exceptionally well, creating soundscapes that appeal to the many fans of the Drive soundtrack but also touches a deeper wellspring of emotion that their sound has in common with Euro indie-popstars M83.

On 2016’s Endless Summer and 2017’s Nocturnal, Tim MacEwan and Tyler Lyle struck electro-dance gold with their combination of retro-style production, outstanding melodies, and unabashedly 80s instrumental touches like saxophone solos and vocoder vocals. And this sound is sure to move everyone who takes to the National’s dancefloor this Tuesday night to while away their cares. The 80s weren’t nearly as glamorous a time as our culture remembers it to be, but on this night, you can enjoy that quintessential 80s glamour that previously existed only in movies. Take a trip with The Midnight, and find your own perfect wave.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday, September 6, 6:30 PM
Strand Of Oaks, Apex Manor @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $18 (order tickets HERE)
There’s a really strong vibe to Strand Of Oaks, one that hits a serious sweet spot — at least for me. The solo project of Indiana singer-songwriter Timothy Showalter, Strand Of Oaks is simultaneously steeped in acoustic folk and awash in post-rock grandeur, like early My Morning Jacket (whose members back Showalter on brand new sixth album, Eraserland) at their spaciest, combined with the late, lamented Secret Machines. Eraserland finds Showalter and co. exploring themes of depression, emotional struggles, and the search for a greater purpose from one’s life. God knows we’ve all had those struggles.

Fortunately, Strand Of Oaks is able to spin melodic gold from feelings of despair, and at Charlottesville’s Southern Cafe this Friday night, they’ll help us all to contemplate those moods while still enjoying some beautiful music. It’ll take the edge off, that’s for sure. Fans of Iron And Wine, Band Of Horses, and Sturgill Simpson will also find a lot to enjoy at this show, even if life’s somehow going really well for you these days. Don’t get us wrong, we’re happy for you — just try not to rub it in.

Saturday, September 7, 8 PM
Kississippi, Mas Y Mas, Deli Kings, Coolzey @ Charlie’s American Cafe – $10 in advance/$13 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I like to keep tabs on the music scene down in Norfolk, but if I’m honest, I’ve probably been to less than a dozen shows in that lovely Tidewater city. So I’m not going to pretend that I know exactly what role TBA Productions has played in that city’s music scene over the past four years. However, I’m glad to have any sort of celebration that includes such excellent music on the bill. And if this is the kind of musical taste they show in their work, I’m sure they deserve every bit of celebratory accolades they get.

Philadelphia’s Kississippi top the bill at this musical party, and they have a lot to offer, as they displayed on last year’s Sunset Blush LP. Fans of Mates Of State or The Anniversary will find a lot to love in this band’s gorgeous indie pop tuneage, which shows the perfect ratio of keyboard-to-guitar sound in order to accentuate the melodic beauty of their tunes while still retaining a strong alt-rock bite. Basically these guys rule, and are worth the price of admission all on their own. Which only makes it that much more special that longrunning Norfolk indie rockers Mas Y Mas, along with sandwich-loving Richmond rock n’ rollers Deli Kings and Iowa hip hop group Coolzey, are filling out the bill with their own excellent sounds. Let’s rock.

—-

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

One Wing: Weekend Playlist by Cardinal

|

Topics: , , , , , , ,

Every Friday evening, RVA Magazine brings you an excellent playlist curated by influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week, we get some wonderful sounds put together for us by Cardinal, an up-and-coming Richmond quintet with a wonderful sound of their own. Growing out of short-lived local math-rock trio Majjin Boo, Cardinal combine the intricate guitar melodies of math-rock with a stronger melodic sense and a layered depth of sound.

Cardinal just released their latest single, “One Wing,” and will be playing at The Camel on Wednesday, April 3 with Massachusetts group And The Kids (more info here). Their weekend playlist gives us a preview of their live performance by featuring both of their recent singles, then goes on to present a smorgasbord of post-rock, indie, math-rock, and emo tunes that’ll fill your weekend with inspiration.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: October 31 – November 6

|

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

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, November 2, 8 PM
Brian Wilson presents Pet Sounds: The Final Performances @ The Carpenter Theatre – $67-107 (order tickets HERE)
Richmond, we are in for a treat this Friday night — one that is both rare and unlikely to come again. I suppose there’s an outside chance you won’t recognize Brian Wilson’s name by itself like this, but you’re sure to know a great deal of his work as the bassist, vocalist, and chief creative mind behind the Beach Boys in their 60s heyday. Wilson wasn’t just an advocate for surf, sand, and killer falsetto harmonies, either; while songs like “I Get Around” and “Help Me Rhonda” are indisputable pop classics, it’s the material he created when he started growing up and getting more ambitious that has really made Brian Wilson a crucial figure in the last half-century of pop music.

The pinnacle of Wilson’s creative genius was Pet Sounds, a 1966 Beach Boys album that saw him skipping tours to stay home in the studio with legendary LA studio band The Wrecking Crew and create a towering masterpiece of symphonic pop. Wilson was known to refer to these elaborate creations as “teenage symphonies to God,” and that admittedly grandiose statement is fully borne out by the brilliant results he achieved. Pet Sounds featured several classic tunes that have been staples of the musical landscape ever since — “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” “God Only Knows,” and more — and went on to influence everyone from The Beatles to Animal Collective. Now, over 50 years after that classic album was released, Wilson is doing one last tour to commemorate Pet Sounds, after which he intends to retire the album from live performances.

Now, Brian Wilson is no spring chicken; he’s 76 years old, and actually had to reschedule this date from earlier this year due to health issues. Fortunately for us, after years of struggling with mental illness and being taken advantage of by unscrupulous managers, he’s been in top form for over a decade now, finally completing SMiLE, his long-abandoned follow-up to Pet Sounds, 15 years ago. He’s released two solo albums since then and, while not perfect, they are both far more enjoyable than what his cousin Mike Love did with the Beach Boys after Wilson left the group (“Kokomo,” anyone? Bleh). He’s accompanied on this tour by fellow original Beach Boy Al Jardine and early 70s Beach Boys bassist Blondie Chaplin, as well as a large complement of talented musicians who’ll reprise the fabulous work of The Wrecking Crew, all those years ago. God only knows, tickets are not cheap, but if you can wait a couple weeks to pay the power bill, you’ll get all the light you need to get you through the cold winter months ahead from this show. Highest possible recommendation.

Wednesday, October 31, 7 PM
Gallery 5’s Halloween Party, feat. Haircut, Unmaker, Alfred, Spooky Cool @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
We went through a solid week of Halloween-related shows last week, but the holiday still hasn’t finished yet, so let’s give it one more round before November begins with this wild night of underground sounds at Gallery 5. You’ll definitely find yourself in the perfect place to enjoy the spirit of the holiday, with spooky decorations everywhere, tons of glitter, and the always-enjoyable costume contest! So get dolled up, hit the Gallery, and get ready for the main attraction — which is, of course, the music. Gallery 5 has brought together several excellent musical acts from the local area with which to celebrate All Hallows Eve, spanning a wide variety of genres. And it’s gonna rule.

Haircut will bowl you over with a blast of angry, speedy punk, complete with bilingual lyrics and some relatable themes under all the vitriol. Unmaker have a goth-postpunk vibe that will appeal strongly to those who are bummed about Shadow Age going on hiatus, but will also connect with those who like the more metallic end of that whole thing (think Killing Joke). This show will constitute a release party for their new LP, Firmament, and where better for a goth band to have a release celebration than a Halloween party? The lineup’s rounded out by Alfred, a young rapper with a fresh approach to the weirder electronic end of that particular musical spectrum; and Spooky Cool, who recently made good on the promise of their years of local buzz with debut EP Every Thing Ever. No matter what flavor of the local scene you enjoy, you’re sure to get a taste of it here — and have an outstanding Halloween as well! Who can complain about that?

Thursday, November 1, 8 PM
The True Commonwealth, feat. Nickelus F, Michael Millions, Radio B, Cole Hicks, Sunny & Gabe @ Gallery 5 – $10
Nickelus F’s been one of the better rappers in this city — hell, this country — for over a decade now. Quite a few years over the past ten to fifteen have seemed like they were going to be his year, but somehow, it never seems to come to pass. 2018, though, seems like it might finally be the one. First he paired up with local punk rock label Vinyl Conflict for a vinyl release of his latest album, Stuck, which by the way is also a high-water mark in a career full of excellent releases. Then he got together with Richmond rap weirdo Lil Ugly Mane for a tour that took him across the country, playing to everyone from true-blue hip hop heads to moshpit-loving metalheads and punk maniacs. It feels like that whole punk rock-hip hop fusion that we all expected to happen after Rage Against The Machine and the Judgment Night soundtrack (instead we got Limp Bizkit. Ugh) is finally coming to pass.

So now, with this True Commonwealth show, Nickelus F stands at the top of a stacked bill featuring several of Richmond’s top hip hop talents. His compatriots in the AGM crew, Michael Millions and Radio B, have both demonstrated their styles and talents this year with new albums of their own — Hard To Be King and Jesus Never Wore A Suit, respectively. Taken in tandem with Stuck and Cole Hicks’s incredible coming-out party, May Day — also released in 2018, natch — the True Commonwealth showcase at Gallery 5 encompasses the top level of rap talent at work in RVA today. And that’s definitely something you’ll want to be part of, especially since the show will also feature a special guest performance from hot VA Beach duo Sunny and Gabe. They’ve got a 2018 album of their own, Peace Of Cake, and it shows off their wide-ranging sound just as they will do to get this party started tomorrow night. Don’t miss a moment.

Friday, November 2, 8 PM
Mothers, Mega Bog, Addy @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
The indie kids should find a lot to enjoy at this show — but they aren’t the only ones. Mothers, who started in Athens, GA but moved to Philly last year, have a sound that definitely hints at the tension between beauty and darkness that marks the best music coming out of the indie scene these days. But they’ve got a good bit more going on, as they display on their sophomore album, Render Another Ugly Method, which just came out from Anti- Records. Its moments of languid torpor (“Beauty Routine”) hint at an uneasiness just under the surface, while the more energetic sounds found on the album (“Blame Kit”) function in lockstep, in a manner that almost sounds more like strained aural nervousness than painstakingly well-practiced tightness.

That is by no means a criticism, though — it’s this tone that suffuses throughout Mothers’ music that really makes them evocative, that brings the ideas the band is expressing through their somewhat abstract lyrics to solid, concrete life. Mothers will take you on an emotional journey, and if you’re not entirely comfortable with all the places you’ll go, you will at least be enjoying some excellent music on the trip. Mega Bog has a similar clearly-delineated wire-tight melodic indie-postpunk sound, but the emotional effect is very different, both brighter and deeper. Connect with both of these bands, and up-and-coming local opener Addy, and see where the night takes you. It’s sure to be an interesting trip.

Saturday, November 3, 8 PM
Abacus, Drones For Queens, Voarm, Hoboknife @ Strange Matter – $7 (order tickets HERE)
We’re heading rapidly toward the winter months, and now is the perfect time to get an increased dose of metal into your life. And rest assured, Strange Matter has the cure for what ails you, in the form of this tour package bringing together examples of brutal metal power from both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Abacus hail from the South — South Carolina, to be specific — and have a thick, dark sound full of harsh guitars and roaring vocals that pummel you just as hard as the punishment their rhythm section deals out.

Drones For Queens, who come from the northward locale of Philadelphia (always a hotbed for music and meanness), are just as ready to inflict some serious metal punishment as Abacus. They’ve got a slightly faster and cleaner approach, which just means it’ll take you longer to realize that their harsh vocals and thrashing guitars have slit your throat. Protect your neck — you’ll need it for headbanging. These two bands are on tour in support of their just released split EP, so make sure you attack the merch table with vigor in order to secure yourself a copy — this is one slab of rage you’ll want by your side throughout the winter months. Local mainstays Voarm and Hoboknife will open this show with a flagrant display of intense heavyosity. Get ready.

Sunday, November 4, 7 PM
Omni, Majjin Boo, Black Plastic @ Gallery 5– $8 in advance/$10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Atlanta’s Omni are back at Gallery 5 once again, thanks as always to their pals at Citrus City Records, and all you indie kids who love to dance are going to want to make sure you’re there for it. Omni’s definitely got a little of that tuneful guitar jangle that we’ve all come to know and love from Citrus City’s many releases, but they bring in a solid dose of Southern-style postpunk as well, drawing inspiration from Georgia underground legends Pylon as well as Wire and The Feelies. I know I’m losing my younger readers with these comparisons, but an obvious modern reference would be Parquet Courts, mixed with the nervous dancefloor shuffle of the Talking Heads and that one Franz Ferdinand song everyone knows (and a lot of their other songs too).

Majjin Boo is a well-paired local to act as support on this bill; they’ve definitely got that same sort of wire-tight guitar bit that permeates Omni’s music, though Majjin Boo seems to derive it far more from the lighter, twinklier take on math-rock that several local bands have done an excellent job with in the past. Are they the next Fight Cloud? We can only hope. Finally, we need to mention the fact that openers Black Plastic suffered a pretty devastating setback recently, in the form of a house fire that destroyed most of their equipment and left members in need of a lot of financial support to get back on their feet. Whether or not you can make it to this show, they’d certainly appreciate whatever you’re able to throw their way via GoFundMe. But they’re gonna appreciate y’all showing up on time and giving them a warm reception just as much — and believe me, their brand of catchy, twangy power-pop certainly merits exactly that. So please, show up on time and give them some love.

Monday, November 5, 7 PM
Yashira, Gillian Carter, Infant Island, In Wolves Clothing @ Strange Matter – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Oh hell yeah. Yashira coming to town is a very good thing, regardless of whether it’s happening on a Monday night. Look, I know you’ll be tired from the weekend, and you’re still coming down from your Halloween hangover or whatever, but I don’t care. You need to go see this band. Yashira are an incredibly heavy band who are incorporating the epic heaviness of bands like Neurosis and early Mastodon with the kind of epic grind-crust madness of Tragedy and His Hero Is Gone. Their latest LP, Shrine, is an excellent example of this sort of thing that gets through its six songs just quickly enough to leave you wanting more.

Of course, now they’ve followed it up with a split EP with none other than metalcore legends Zao, and they’ll be laying waste to Strange Matter this Monday night. What more could you want? It would be so cliched for me to say “you could want the other three excellent bands on this bill,” but when the bands are indeed this amazing, how can I avoid it? Florida’s Gillian Carter are a band with a lengthy history of excellence in the field of metallic screamo, or something like that (even to this day, I can’t type the term “screamo” without cringing). Their new LP, …This Earth Shaped Tomb, is full of the simultaneously heavy and passionately emotional riffage that has become this group’s stock in trade, and proves that regardless of how silly they act on stage, there is real, powerful music at the heart of their existence. VA openers Infant Island and In Wolves Clothing exemplify the next wave of Virginia screamo (ack) and do so in outstanding fashion, so be sure you catch every second of this one.

Tuesday, November 6, 7:30 PM
Scott Bradlee‘s Postmodern Jukebox @ The National – $25.50 in advance/$28 day of show (order tickets HERE)
OK, let’s get this out there from the start — Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is hipster bait of the highest order. Covers of already-proven hits, redone to sound like different genres? Suburban goofballs have been gaga for this ever since the first time they heard the phrase “dynamite hack.” That said, I really can’t deny the talent at work here — nor the fact that jazz, unlike a lot of modern popular-music styles, was throughout its history far less about original composition than it was about putting your own stamp on tunes that might be your own… but might be well-loved standards that everyone knows. After all, it was this tradition that brought us John Coltrane’s take on “My Favorite Things,” and I certainly can’t hate on that.

So should you go see Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox on Tuesday night at the National? Well, probably not if you hate jazz and swing — but if you see merit in these classic American music forms, and would like to see one very talented pianist and quite a few of his equally talented friends update those styles for the 21st century by applying them to songs from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Toto’s “Africa” to Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop,” well, this is the place for you. Feel free to wear your best three-piece suit or cocktail dress and dance it up on the floor. But on the other hand, if it’s a little too soon after Halloween for all that, you’re welcome to just come as you are. Even if you hate hipsters, you’re sure to enjoy yourself.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Thursday, November 1, 7 PM
Mortuary, Battlemaster, Vorator, Rotten, Hiss @ RiffHouse Pub – $10 in advance/$15 at the door (order tickets HERE)
You guys — Mortuary is coming! The true headbangers among you are already stoked, but for the rest of you who need an explanation, let’s discuss the power and brutality dished out by Mexico’s pioneering group, who made their name by bringing death metal to the masses from their support slots on some huge Slayer tours in the late 80s. Their 1990 album Blackened Images is a cult classic today, its primitive and overpowering sound serving to light a fire under all the incredible riffs that come flooding out of every song, backed by incredible drumming and some seriously unhinged vocal roars and screams.

Mortuary were doing their thing before the deep growl became de rigeur in death metal, and the raging howls of their vocalist add a lot to their already blazing sound, connecting the group with its thrash influences and pointing the way forward into the more extreme genres that rule the metal scene today. Some excellent VA-area bands will be demonstrating those sounds from their support slots on this bill, from local legends like Battlemaster and Vorator to up-and-comers like Rotten and Hiss. All of it’s gonna be outstanding, and if you can afford to show up late with a headache to work on Friday morning, the drive down to Chesapeake’s RiffHouse Pub is more than worth it for this opportunity. Make it happen, metalheads.

Friday, November 2, 9 PM
Bantustans, A Deer A Horse, From Overseas @ Taphouse Grill – $5
If you like your underground rock bands both heavy and progressive, you need to be paying attention to what’s going on at the Taphouse Grill in Norfolk this Friday night. Bantustans, a Norfolk-based dual-drummer quartet who don’t have time to mess with vocals, are all set to lay down some heavy instrumental grooves that’ll keep your head nodding and your brain engaged regardless of the lack of lyrics. The complex rhythm patterns laid down by the group’s two drummers are both consistently in step with each other and allow for far more variation and creativity than is typically the province of the percussion. Not to be outdone, guitarist Aaron Evans’s tangled melodies and intricate song construction use a single guitar to add multiple layers of intrigue to this group’s unusual, hypnotic sound palette. They’ll be bringing some new material to this one, too, so it’s sure to delight even the most ardent of fans.

Bantustans are joined on this bill by New York heavy rockers A Deer A Horse, who certainly present just as enticing a musical buffet for the interested showgoer as the hometown headliners do. Having been around for close to a decade now, A Deer A Horse still haven’t given us a full-length yet, but they’re hard at work on one, and if the advance single they released only a couple of weeks ago is any indication, this record is sure to fulfill the promise of this group’s many EPs, showering us with the kind of darkly powerful rock n’ roll that has been the province of NYC since the days of Unsane, Surgery, and Live Skull. Singer/bassist Angela Philips’s name totally deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Thalia Zedek’s, and if you’re tuned in, you know that’s high praise indeed. Norfolk openers From Overseas explore some ambient drone guitar experimentation, beginning this show with some strong atmospherics. It’ll only get more intense from there.

—-

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers–this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Mimicking Birds, Deau Eyes, Majjin Boo, and Hotspit at Strange Matter

|

Topics: , , , , ,

MIMICKING BIRDS (Portland, Glacial Pace)
http://www.mimickingbirds.com/
DEAU EYES (RVA)
https://www.deaueyes.com/
MAJJIN BOO (RVA, solo set)
https://majjinboo.bandcamp.com/
HOTSPIT (RVA)
https://www.facebook.com/HotSpit-309751459834426/

Monday, 9/17/2018 @ Strange Matter
8PM Doors // 9PM Sounds
$10 Advance // $12 Day of Show
18+
Advance tickets: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1761023

Stoked on this last minute killer Monday gig over at Strange Matter coming up in a couple short weeks for Portland Oregon’s indie/synth-pop/ethereal vibes of MIMICKING BIRDS! Their killer debut on Glacial Pace Recordings defies genre boundaries and definitely has us stoked on their debut performance in RVA. Local addition MAJJIN BOO will be providing a rare solo set as well as the amazing and beautful DEAU EYES and brand new act HOTSPIT. In the meantime check out these killer up and comers and show em Richmond don’t care bout a Monday, we’re still gonna rock!

____________________________________
MIMICKING BIRDS: MIMICKING BIRDS’ singer/songwriter Nate Lacy is broadening his horizons. And then shrinking them back down to microscopic levels.

With the band’s immersive and textural new album Layers of Us (due out Jan 2018 via Glacial Pace), Lacy takes us on an epic journey that examines both “the infinite and the infinitesimal” with equal amounts of wonder.

Layers of Us is Mimicking Birds’ third full-length album with producer Jeremy Sherrer (Modest Mouse, Dandy Warhols, The Shins). Recorded at Isaac Brock’s Ice Cream Party Studios, it’s easily their most ambitious work to date. If their self-titled 2010 debut established the band as fearlessly honest, and 2014’s Eons demonstrated added depth and experimentation, then Layers of Us represents the maturity that comes with touring extensively and continuing to expand their sound.

Lacy: “This album was shaped by our travels as a band. And just as much rhythmically and melodically as lyrically. On tour, time seems to stand still—in the songs we play again and again, in the geography we speed past.”

“As a whole we continue to advance and broaden the parameters of our senses.” Layers of Us explores daunting topics like life, death, and eternity with a gentle touch. Lacy tenderly serenades us though this epic 10-song expedition that presents the full prismatic array of musical color.

“Energy, creation/destruction, geography, weather, and micro/macro processes are constantly recurring ideas, along with the notion of linear time vs multiple dimensions. This is relatable to how the structure of a multi-tracked, overdubbed song is interpreted. There are many different layers of time aligned into the same moment.”

“Sunlight Daze started out as a tiny two-bar loop created on a phone. I always felt as though the progression and melody had a sun-stoned, traveling feel to it. Lyrically I wanted to further approach the sunny vibe a bit more scientifically by extending that idea further out into the electromagnetic spectrum.”

The introduction of more synth sounds into the band’s arrangements was inspired by their time spent at Ice Cream Party.

Adam: “We started adding modular synths for Eons. But access to a variety of keyboards at Ice Cream Party helped to evolve the sound for this album.”

VA Shows You Must See This Week: September 12 – September 18

|

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

FEATURED SHOW
Sunday, September 16, 9 PM
Tommy Gunn’s 40th Birthday, feat. Deathcrown, Cruelsifix, Night Hag @ Bandito’s – Free!
If you’ve spent any time around the RVA metal scene over the past two decades, chances are you know Tommy Gunn. This shredding riffmaster has been slinging the axe in some of the best metal bands from Central Virginia since he was a teenager, getting his start in Disinterment in the late 90s and going on to play in Narsilion, Immortal Avenger, and The Medusa, among others, before starting his current project, Deathcrown. He’s also been active with local charity group Punks For Presents, and if you’ve seen any of their fundraiser shows, you’ve surely caught him playing in multiple Christmas-themed tribute acts over the years.

This weekend marks Gunn’s 40th birthday, and he’s taking this opportunity to get a whole crew of his metal-thrashing friends together to present what’s sure to be a blast of a free show this Sunday night at Bandito’s. His current crew, Deathcrown, just released a split LP with Sweden’s Ribspreader (…now there’s an image) entitled Comorbid Diagnosis, and it is a top-quality slice of raging death-thrash sure to please fans of At The Gates and Entombed. On Sunday at Bandito’s, you can expect Gunn and his bandmates to bring these tunes to rip-roaring high-volume life before your very eyes.

What’s more, they’ll have some excellent friends on hand to celebrate with them. Cruelsifix have gotten a lot of attention due to the fact that they share members with Cannabis Corpse, but their actual music more than lives up to the hype — and they proved it earlier this summer with the release of their long-awaited debut, Dark Snake. Their take on death metal is skillful, energetic, and sure to get you up and moving the second they hit the stage, so get those nachos done early! Especially since VA Beach’s Night Hag will be on hand to open the show with their crushing take on sludgy, slow-motion death/doom metal, and you can’t do slow-motion headbangs with a taco in your hand. (Well, you can TRY… but I wouldn’t advise it.)

Wednesday, September 12, 8 PM
Sumac, Dalek, Infernal Coil @ Strange Matter – $13 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Tonight, things will get heavy on an entirely different level. Sumac is coming to Strange Matter, and for fans of hugely heavy riffs that get you thinking even as you’re banging your head, this is a real treat. Sumac is led by former Isis frontman Aaron Turner, who joins here with bassist Brian Cook (Botch/Russian Circles) and drummer Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists) to redefine the “epic metal” category that he had such a huge hand in creating. Sumac’s third album, Love In Shadow, isn’t quite out yet, but you can hear it if you know where to look, and it’s sure to twist your head around.

The album’s four songs stretch over an hour in length, with one track lasting over 20 minutes all by itself. And the songs themselves are made up of movements that evoke the multiple moods and complex structures of 19th century Russian symphonies, even as they remain extremely loud, and powerful enough to level you where you stand. This is an album of titanic proportions, and to see it brought to life on a live stage is sure to be a rare and highly desirable experience. Don’t miss this one — especially since veteran experimental hip hop powerhouse Dalek and premier practitioners of blackened death bleakness Infernal Coil are also on the bill. Getting blown out of your shoes never felt so good.

Thursday, September 13, 8 PM
Sugar Candy Mountain, Don Fredrick, Tecate Tall Boys @ Strange Matter – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Fuzzy psychedelic moods loaded in candy-colored reverb and dreamy delay will be the order of the evening this Thursday night as Sugar Candy Mountain hits RVA once again. This group manages to evoke the slightly queasy adventurousness of late-60s B movies about bad acid trips without once doing anything to disturb the huge smile on your face. Latest LP Do Right, released earlier this year, mixes in some electronic elements to let you know that this band is still firmly rooted in the indie sounds of the 21st century, but their psychedelic elements remain at the forefront, even as their glowing melodies keep you coming back for more.

Thursday night, come back to Strange Matter to immerse yourself in Sugar Candy Mountain’s sounds once again. And show up in time for the opening bands, because they’ll have some great sounds for you as well. Locals Don Fredrick are doing a similar sort of mixture combining 21st century indie sounds with late 60s vibes, but the result is mellower, more pastoral — sorta like Neil Young circa 71 jamming with Wilco circa 01. Something like that. Openers Tecate Tall Boys have a name that seems highly likely to get them sued by a beer company, so before that happens you should come out and catch a pleasant dose of their bedroom folk sounds. The whole evening will do you a ton of good.

Friday, September 14, 9 PM
Hurry Up, Bad Magic, DJ Dogpants @ My Noodle & Bar – $5
One unfortunate reality of the kind of writing I do in this column is that you’re always at the risk of being overtaken by events. This is never more true than when bad weather patterns are approaching and everyone is at least considering cancelling their shows. Of course, as Hurricane Florence draws ever closer, predictions of the storm’s path keep moving it further south into the Carolinas — the latest thing I saw said we might not even get 5 inches of rain here in Richmond. Even if it goes far better than any of us are preparing for, if there’s one place you’re sure to encounter some pretty serious weather, it’ll be a noodle shop in the basement of an apartment building on a Friday night.

That said, there’s at least a decent chance you’ll also encounter a really great band there, so I’m saying damn the predictions — go see Hurry Up at My Noodle & Bar anyway. This energetic garage-punk band brings together two members of The Thermals and one member of the Bangs to kick out the jams in a raw and mighty way. Hurry Up are sure to get your feet moving, even if there isn’t half an inch of water on the floor. And with Bad Magic on hand to kick out their own flavor of passionate, rockin’ jams and DJ Dogpants spinning the rad jams and celebrating her birthday, this is sure to be a really fun night — even if you are soaking wet by the time you get down the venue’s front staircase.

Saturday, September 15, 6 PM
Daniel Bachman @ Steady Sounds – Free!
Daniel Bachman is a unique and interesting guitar player, and we’re lucky to have him here in Virginia, where he lives and works these days. The fact that he is relatively close by probably explains how the folks at Steady Sounds were able to lure him to Richmond to give us a free in-store performance this weekend, and if the weather ends up wrecking this event, we will all be poorer for it. Picking up on a similar thread as those followed by fellow Virginia pickers Nathan Bowles, Jack Rose, and Mike Gangloff, Bachman explores the America’s rich folk music traditions through instrumental solo acoustic guitar compositions, finding a through-line that brings us from the past up through the current moment and into the future.

Bachman’s new album, The Morning Star, finds him getting more experimental than he ever has before, beginning with a long, noisy track full of dissonant percussion and droning fiddles, and going on to incorporate field recordings and background noises in a manner reminiscent of John Fahey in his late 60s prime. But it’s Bachman’s incredible virtuosity on his chosen instrument that makes his work such a riveting listen, and it’ll be on display in all its unadorned glory at Steady Sounds this Saturday evening. There’s also a whole store full of records and vintage gear and apparel to explore, and possibly some DJs spinning tunes, but Bachman is the real reason for the season. No hurricane better spoil this one.

Sunday, September 16, 3 PM
Forced Order, Division Of Mind, Paper Trail, Dead & Dreaming, Illusion, Neuromancer @ Strange Matter – $12
If there’s one thing we should all know about hardcore kids by now, it’s that they aren’t afraid of getting things started early as hell. Add in a weekend when no one is at school, and sometimes things will just get started right around the time you’re getting out of brunch. Case in point, this Forced Order show at Strange Matter on Sunday. But let’s be honest here — what reason do we have to complain about this? What were you going to be doing on Sunday afternoon between brunch and sunset anyway? Homework? Please. Put the books down and come to the show. You can finish your math work before you go to bed.

What will you find when you arrive? Well, first of all, there’s California’s Forced Order, who are on their final tour before breaking up. This group features members of groups like Fury and Twitching Tongues, and cranks out some heavy, angry hardcore with pit-starting riffage aplenty on their 2016 LP, Vanished Crusade. It’s enough to get you moshing hard — and this is your last chance to do so, since they’re breaking up after this tour, so be there already! You’ll get a nice selection of VA hardcore’s up-and-coming heavyweights opening up the show as well, from the bone-crunching heaviness of Division Of Mind to the aggressive energy of Neuromancer, plus the furious mosh power of Dead & Dreaming, some thrashing crossover sounds from Illusion, and metallic crunching rage from Paper Trail. Get ready — high fives and stage dives await you.

Monday, September 17, 8 PM
Mimicking Birds, Deau Eyes, Majjin Boo, Hotspit @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s going to be a difficult few days with all this intense weather going on, so by Monday night, we’re all going to need a chance to relax. This is what Strange Matter will be offering us with a performance by Portland indie-folk group Mimicking Birds. Their latest single, “On The Warm Side,” not only offers us a pleasant vision of weather to aspire for with its title, but also combines gorgeous vocal melodies with pleasing, intricate musical structure highlighted by interwoven guitar leads that hit all the right notes without ever being predictable.

They’ve got plenty more killer tunes where that one came from, and their entire set should be a joy with which to soothe your troubled nerves this Monday night. What’s more, you’ll be able to enjoy some pretty amazing local sounds as well, most prominently from Deau Eyes. This rock n’ roll group with a 90s alt-rock energy and some excellently chunky guitars are sure to get you dancing, while twinkly local math-rockers Majjin Boo will break things down to their essential parts with a rare solo set. Brand new local openers HotSpit will kick things off in fine fashion and get you ready for an excellent night of sensational sounds.

Tuesday, September 18, 7 PM
Dark Rooms, Prabir Trio, Rebekah Rafferty & The Wakes @ The Camel – $5 (order tickets HERE)
Dark Rooms are not the sort of group you can easily predict, or categorize. Their synth-driven pop music has a dark undercurrent, which is often communicated through strange voices, random dropouts, and ambient moments that leave you feeling slightly wrong-footed. But their melodies always come through in the end, absorbing your mind with a warm, glowing soundscape that’ll make you smile and feel right at home only a moment later.

If you’ve seen 2017 film A Ghost Story, you’ve caught Dark Rooms’ music on the soundtrack, and you’ve understood a little bit of the strange mood their music creates. How will that mood translate into the live environment will they take the stage at The Camel? That’s not a question we can yet answer, but whatever it turns out to be, it’ll surely be a fascinating experience to find out. You’ll be joined on this journey by the Prabir Trio, a crew of local stalwarts in a brand-new configuration; and Rebekah Rafferty and the Wakes, a talented band of local musicians backing an unforgettable singer-songwriter. It’s going to be an excellent evening.

Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:

Saturday, September 15, 7 PM
Tim Barry, Julie Karr, Andrew Alli, Josh Small @ Shaka’s – $13 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Long after the band that made him famous, Avail, stopped playing shows and faded from the memory of the local scene (something none of us would ever have predicted 25 years ago), Tim Barry is still making excellent music about living in Virginia and trying to survive in an increasingly alienating world. He released his sixth studio album, High On 95, last year, and demonstrated that his grasp of excellent melodies and incisive lyrics is just as strong as it ever was. And if there’s one thing Barry’s solo career as a whole has proven, it’s that he doesn’t need a loud rock band behind him to be profound, powerful, and punk as fuck.

This solo show finds Barry backed by several Richmond-area friends, all of whom are talented as hell and have excellent songs of their own to sing. However, it’s Barry himself who is still the star attraction, much as he’s always shunned the spotlight. And whether he’s breaking out classics from his early days as a solo artist or picking out choice cuts from his latest collection of tunes, he’s going to have you smiling and singing along. Whether you’re a lucky Tidewater-area fan or a Richmond head with some extra gas in the tank, this show is absolutely worth whatever effort you need to expend to get to it. You know what to do. [Note: and this is why weather makes my job difficult. Between when I wrote this and when the column is published, this show was cancelled due to the hurrican. Sorry, folks! Better luck next time I guess… –Drew]

Sunday, September 16, 7 PM
War On Women, HIRS, Demons @ Taphouse Grill – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Oh wow, a double-shot of incredible femme-punk fury hitting Norfolk? How could you possibly miss it? War On Women have been around for most of a decade, dealing out their angry, metallic hardcore sound and its accompanying intelligently furious lyrics in an urgent and powerful response to the increasingly desperate political situation we all find ourselves in here in the good ol’ USA. They just released a new album in the spring; entitled Capture The Flag, it turns up the heat on their usual raging sound, simultaneously dealing with important and infuriating topics on songs like “The Violence of Bureaucracy” and “Predator In Chief,” and adding an engaging dose of catchiness to their raging-as-ever riffs.

War On Women’s set is sure to get you moving; HIRS, on the other hand, just might stop you in your tracks. This Philadelphia grindcore collective has been responsible for literally hundreds of million-mile-per-hour thrash-grind blasts with a trans-power theme over their past seven years or so of existence, but they’ve stepped things up in a big way on new LP Friends, Lovers, Favorites, which features a ton of high-profile guest spots, and more importantly, some extremely heavy riffs that veer back and forth at the drop of a dime from hyperspeed carnage to head-crushing mosh power. You’re going to need earplugs for this one, and wearing reinforced-toe shoes wouldn’t be inadvisable either. Norfolk noise-rockers Demons will kick off this show with some heaviness of their own. Get ready to rage.

—-

Top Photo by JJCA Photography

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers–this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected] [and yeah, there’s plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 9/20-9/26

|

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

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, September 23, 8 PM
The Broadberry presents RVA Live! feat. Matthew E. White, Natalie Prass, Tim Barry, Bio Ritmo, Clair Morgan @ Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Arts Center – $10-80 (order tickets HERE)
OK yes I am usually on some more underground/DIY type stuff than anything that takes place at the Carpenter Theatre but sometimes something too big and important and cool to ignore comes along and you just gotta send people to the big bourgeois theatre in the center of town, right? Well, that’s my opinion anyway. This event is also being presented by The Broadberry, a relatively small venue with deep connections to the local independent music scene, so its DIY bona fides are pretty well beyond question.

Therefore, I must tell you that something amazing and very difficult to rationalize missing is happening downtown at the Carpenter Theatre this Saturday night, and tickets start at a very reasonable $10, so there’s really no excuse not to be in attendance. RVA Live! is an evening featuring several of the Richmond scene’s most noteworthy veteran artists–everyone from salsa stalwarts Bio Ritmo to punk-gone-country troubadour Tim Barry–performing in collaboration with the Richmond Symphony. With orchestration and arrangements being handled by Trey Pollard of Spacebomb Records, who has done string arrangements for artists ranging from Matthew E. White to Foxygen and The Waterboys; along with Bio Ritmo members Marlysse Simmons and Toby Whitaker; this is going to be a collaborative project on multiple levels, bringing the best of Richmond’s singer-songwriter community together with the leading lights of our local classical music scene–a scene that popular-music fanatics like myself, and probably yourself, tend to sleep on.

With Matthew E. White and Natalie Prass at the top of this bill, you know Spacebomb is going to be representing itself admirably at this performance. Bio Ritmo’s Latin swing and jazzy funk influences will get a whole new twist when recontextualized through the lens of the Richmond Symphony, and will add a multicultural strain to an evening that could get decidedly monochromatic without them. Plus, we’ll get the mathematical pop of Clair Morgan and the austere country blues punk of Tim Barry, embellished with the sorts of layers neither of their sounds generally contain. All of this will be fascinating for any music lover. And with so many hotshot performers on the bill, you’re sure to get caught up in the awesomeness of it all, even if seeing the symphony at the Carpenter Theatre generally isn’t your thing.

Wednesday, September 20, 8 PM
Polyphia, Night Idea, Paint Store @ The Broadberry – $15 (order tickets HERE)
The worlds of screamo, math-rock, prog-metal, and metalcore have some pretty surprising intersection points at times, and the whole prog-metalcore scene that’s built up around bands like Periphery is one of the strangest and most interesting ones. Polyphia are a metallic instrumental quartet of young post-metalcore dudes with swoop haircuts and skills for days, and they’re hitting Richmond tonight on a day off from their current tour opening for prog-metalcore pioneers Between The Buried And Me. If you want to dig into the shred-heavy instrumental end of this whole scene, this show is your perfect chance to do it at a relatively small venue for a reasonable ticket price.

Polyphia’s latest release, The Most Hated EP, sees them dipping into more electronic layers, including programmed beats and synthesized background swells. However, the guitar pyrotechnics remain on full display, with occasional licks copped from the dawn-of-the-90s micro-trend of blazing metal guitarists putting out instrumental solo albums. What I’m saying is, these guys have a definite Vai/Satriani tinge to their djent-inspired riff fests these days, and the intersection of these surprisingly congruent sounds is a lot of fun to explore. With local openers consisting of poppy math-rockers Night Idea (the only band this night to feature a vocalist) and fellow math-obsessed instrumental shredders Paint Store, this show is guaranteed to fill your quota for riffage, even if it does run slightly low on vocalizations. You definitely won’t get bored in their absence.

Thursday, September 21, 6 PM
El Malpais, Candy Spots, Worse Curses @ Champion RVA – Free!
And we progress from one instrumental group to another as we go through this week’s picks, landing once again at Champion RVA on Thursday night to shed the night-before-payday blues with some excellent free sounds from both local and touring artists. The stars of this Thursday night’s show will be El Malpais (“the bad country,” if my rusty high-school Spanish hasn’t failed me), who come from Charlotte, NC with an original and fascinating instrumental sound pairing guitar and drum rhythms with flute to create the kind of unusual and engaging sound that “jazz flute” might have conjured up in your head if it weren’t for that phrase’s eternal association with Anchorman.

Regardless of whether you would ever expect a group based around flute melodies to be able to rock with aplomb, you should definitely be in the house when El Malpais takes the stage, because they’re guaranteed to erase all doubts. Their excellent self-titled LP from earlier this year is full of somewhat foreboding tunes accented by riveting melodies, which create the overall impression of tiptoeing through a forest late in the afternoon, on the hunt for forgotten old huts where strange creatures may or may not still live. OK, maybe I’ve read too many horror novels in my time, but still, this band rocks. They’ll be joined on this bill by local alt-garage rockers Candy Spots and catchy up-and-comers Worse Curses for an evening of jams that would be cheap at twice the price (because after all, zero dollars x2 is still zero dollars).

Friday, September 22, 7 PM
Madeline Kenney, Rikki Shay, Majjin Boo, Minor Poet @ Gallery 5 – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
The Broadberry’s showing up all over town this week. This show, which is actually the night before that RVA Live! show up at the top of the column (my chronology’s a little weird, deal with it), sees the larger venue collaborating with generally awesome (and kinda cavernous itself) DIY art gallery space Gallery 5 to present an evening headlined by Oakland singer-songwriter Madeline Kenney. You may be unfamiliar with this artist, but Kenney’s brand new album, Night Night At The First Landing, gives all the reason you need to change that in a hurry. In a manner that is spiritually if not entirely sonically similar to alt-rock shredder Marnie Stern, Kenney takes that whole singer/guitarist/songwriter mold and smashes it over her knee on her new album, integrating dreamy guitar textures with an ambient overall sound and topping them all off with evocative vocal melodies and profound lyrics that cut to the heart of the emotional issues that plague so many young women in this world.

Expect her live performance to do just as much to both destroy and elevate your expectations from a “female singer-songwriter” (kill that cliche forever please). Kenney’s openers on this bill definitely reflect the Broadberry’s involvement in this evening, with recent Broadberry performers Rikki Shay and Minor Poet making a rare appearance at Gallery 5. That’s good, though, maybe it’ll bring some new people out to check out this excellent venue. Madeline Kenney is really all the inducement you, the super clued-in RVA show attendee, should need to add this show to your calendar, though. She’s worth the price of admission all by herself.

Saturday, September 23, 8 PM
Meg Mulhearn + Elisa Faires, Dazeases, Womajich Dialysiez, Rachel Lynch @ Vagabond – Free!
OK, this is two awesome free shows in the space of three days; you should definitely take advantage of this phenomenon, because it’s not something that occurs every week by any means. This evening over at up-and-coming new live music space Vagabond brings us a couple of heavy hitters in the ambient/experimental music world, on a collaborative tour linked to a still-in-production album-length collaboration that’s apparently on the way next year. You can get a preview of it this Saturday night at Vagabond though, and that’s certainly worth doing.

Meg Mulhearn is a violinist who has worked with US Christmas, Void Ensemble, and others, and releases solo recordings under the name Divine Circles. Elisa Faires is an experimental vocalist who has taken part in projects like Astral Magick Soundtrack and Xambuca. Both of these artists use electronic effects to loop, layer, and otherwise accent their instruments, and the two together bring to life a lush ambient soundscape that seems way bigger than anything two musicians can produce by themselves. Combined with the soulful vocal-driven ambience of Dazeases, the constantly-evolving improvisational experimental project Womajich Dialysiez, and experimental performance artist Rachel Lynch, this bill will explore all sorts of different musical and performative avenues, and should take the listener on a sonic journey that is not too frequently experienced, but all the richer for that fact.

Sunday, September 24, 6 PM
Common Ground Fest South, feat. Bren Lukens, Daisyhead, Centerfolds, Something More, Small Talks, Telltale, Nominee, She’s A Legend @ Strange Matter – $14 (order tickets HERE)
OK yes there’s always gonna be some emo coming to you in my column, and I guess this is where it arrives, because seriously–how could I neglect this excellent event? Common Ground Fest, a one-day mini-festival of emo/pop-punk bands put on by Common Ground Records and taking place in three different cities across the US over the course of this month, brings its southernmost incarnation to Richmond VA, and we are in for a treat. After all, not long after Modern Baseball co-founder Jake Ewald hit the Strange Matter stage with his Slaughter Beach Dog project, we get the other Modern Baseball co-founder, Bren Lukens, coming through with a solo acoustic performance. How sweet is that?

But that’s just the beginning. If you ask me, one of the biggest thrills on this whole lineup shows up down towards the bottom of the bill in the form of excellent up-and-coming emotionally-driven pop-punk band Nominee, whose January EP Drag Me Out has been a big one for me so far this year. Hearing songs like “Stay” and “White Water” live might just be enough to get me to pay the full ticket price all by itself. But even with both Bren Lukens and Nominee on this bill, so many other awesome groups are showing up that it’s hard to even attempt a full encapsulation. That said, Nashville’s Daisyhead, who released a killer LP In Case You Missed It on No Sleep earlier this year; and Baltimore’s Something More, who impressed all comers with their 2015 EP compilation Physical Copy, are just some of the additional reasons to make sure you’re right up front for this entire gig. I could say more, but this should be enough. Be there.

Monday, September 25, 8 PM
Love Roses, Brainbuster, The Donalds, Skumboyz @ McCormack’s Irish Pub – $5
I was introduced to Love Roses’ fun, speedy take on punk rock earlier this year when my admittedly pretty screamo band played a house show with them. It wasn’t exactly a predictable pairing, but we ended up meshing pretty well, and I really dug this band’s energetic rage. Since then, Love Roses have been busy, releasing a brand new split on local label Tired & Pissed with Fredericksburg punks Brainbuster, who by no coincidence at all are also on this bill. Love Roses and Brainbuster are just finishing up a tour together, and this is a much more predictable pairing of VA punk bands than anything involving my band would have been.

Brainbuster have a Dead Kennedys-ish sarcastic approach to their lyrics and an early-80s LA punk approach to their music, showing influence from bands like the Adolescents and Bad Religion as well as a snottier edge that gives the whole thing a harsh bite. That split is gonna be a real ripper when it hits, that’s one thing I know for sure. Local punks The Donalds and Skumboyz round out a lineup full of Tired & Pissed artists who are sure to please the circle-pitting punk fanatics of this town–of whom there are more than you think–as well as anyone who gets a kick out of speedy riffs that are both angry and fun.

Tuesday, September 26, 8 PM
Dryjacket, Eaves, Sleave, Nine Line @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
And here we have some more emo, because it’s awesome. New Jersey’s Dryjacket really impressed many listeners, myself among them, with their debut full-length For Posterity. That album, released earlier this year, shows an introspective, multi-layered approach to the sort of emo-revival template that the best bands from that slowly-fading era are still building and improving upon. Dryjacket definitely demonstrates their own qualification for that top tier of still-extant emo bands with a sound incorporating the complex guitar arpeggios that led people to throw the term “twinkle” around a few years ago and some incredible pop choruses that seem to draw as much influence from The Beatles as from Dads–always a welcome phenomenon.

And how about the RVA bands on this bill? Well, Eaves has certainly shown their own bona fides in the whole introspective, multi-layered emo genre over the past little while, and their contribution to this show is therefore sure to be both apropos and entirely welcome. Sleave has a gruffer approach that draws a great deal from that whole vibe of bands like Hot Water Music or Latterman, but with a chunkier guitar sound that shows a bit more hardcore influence than you might expect. Newcomers Nine Line hark back to the 90s days of the more emotionally-driven Fat Wreck bands like Lagwagon or Good Riddance, which is a refreshing change. There’s definitely some daylight between these four bands, but all share a similar feel, one that’s sure to move you.

—-

Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers–this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected] [the rvamag address isn’t working for some reason, I haven’t had time to look into it! Bear with me]