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Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

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Love Like Blood: Weekend Playlist By Unmaker

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag drops a hell of a playlist curated by influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week’s installment is brought to us by Unmaker, the up-and-coming local goth-metal outfit. They just released their debut album, Firmament, back in October on Seeing Red Records, and if you dig this playlist, which is loaded with dark and menacing postpunk, goth, and metal ragers from the past several decades, you’ll certainly want to pick that album up. Until then, spend a snowy weekend haunting shadowy rooms to this ominous soundtrack.

Jam on, Virginia.

Photo by Joey Wharton

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

To The Core: Weekend Playlist by Ace Stallings

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag drops one scorcher of a playlist curated by influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week’s offering is presented by the illustrious Ace Stallings, who made his name in Richmond as the singer for local hardcore mainstays Break Away. He does quite a bit more than that, though, not only contributing vocals to local newcomers Neuromancer but booking a ton of excellent hardcore shows around town and becoming an author with the release last year of his first short story collection, Mourning Songs. His playlist is filled with ragers from all genres, hardcore to hip hop, house to glam metal, and everything in between.

Virginia, it’s time to dance.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

In Loving Colour: Weekend Playlist by Iron Reagan’s Rob Skotis

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag drops one scorcher of a playlist curated by influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week’s comes to us from Rob Skotis, bass playing wildman for RVA’s hardcore thrash heroes, Iron Reagan. Whether you love metal, funk, hip hop, hardcore, or just about any other kind of music you can think of, this playlist is sure to keep you moving and grooving all weekend.

Let’s get down, Virginia.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Lust For Destruction: Weekend Playlist by Vinyl Conflict’s Bobby Egger

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag drops one scorcher of a playlist curated by influential artists, musicians, and institutions. This time around, our playlist comes from a man who should need no introduction for the record-buying faithful of Central Virginia: Bobby Egger, the proprietor of Vinyl Conflict. Located in Oregon Hill, Richmond’s leading punk rock emporium also releases vinyl and cassettes by top local artists, from metallic hardcore scorchers Left Cross to hip hop legend Nickelus F.

This might be a cold and dreary weekend, but Egger’s playlist is guaranteed to heat you up; when you listen to it, you definitely won’t want to sit still.

Start the pit, Virginia.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Black Moon: Weekend Playlist by Converge

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag drops one scorcher of a playlist curated by influential artists, musicians, and institutions. This weekend as you scour the four corners of the Commonwealth for the perfect dark congregation, let metallic hardcore legends Converge be your Northstar with a play list that is as powerful as it is manifold; a masterwork of musical overtures that is perfect for any weekend requirements.

Get to work Virginia.

*Cover photo by Reid Haithcock

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Papa Roach: The #Resistance’s Last Resort Plays The National Tonight

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Are you feeling suffocated by the Trump presidency? Does the thought of another two years of Alice in Wonderland political depravity leave you breathless?

Papa Roach may be the anodyne you’re looking for, more so since the nu-metal luminaries are kicking off a month-long tour starting tonight at The National in Richmond. 

What they might be best known for recently is their viral trolling of President Trump, which has been a welcome development for a band who’s career has been subject to intense scrutiny for the better part of two decades. Most notably, the band mimicked President Trump’s childish, all-caps threat against Iran using lyrics from their 2000 mega-hit “Last Resort.”

For those who are not hard-wired into the world of international relations, the U.S. has been in a tense stand off with the Islamic Republic since they over-ran the U.S. Embassy in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution. Therefore, Trump’s tweet rage should come as no surprise; this bumptious outburst was in response to a speech given by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in July, 2018. Rouhani was quoted as saying, “Do not play with the lion’s tail or else you will regret it,” referring to U.S. efforts to sanction crude oil exports after leaving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or simply “the Iran nuclear deal” – a signature landmark of Obama-era foreign policy. “Peace with Iran would be the mother of all peace, war with Iran would be the mother of all wars,” said Rouhani later in the speech. 

Irrespective of Trump tweets, the intricacies of diplomacy in the conflict-prone Middle East is always complex, leading Papa Roach to weigh with a nuanced response which was surely debated in the halls of each government (and possibly the U.N.); using “Last Resort” to make their point.

Genius.

Papa Roach also joined in the fun after a doctored New York Times article reimagined Paul Ryan listening to “Last Resort” in his SUV after a workout. The band later tweeted a photo of Paul Ryan lifting weights and wearing a Papa Roach shirt with caption, “#RoachGate,” after a joke tweet about Paul Ryan blasting “Last Resort” as he drove away once his healthcare bill failed. 

The cutting my life into pieces did not stop there, however, with the band re-tweeting Kavanaugh inspired memes.

The moral of this story? While Papa Roach might not be your bag, their epic trolling of the Republican establishment proves that even the nu-metal bands of the  90s and 00s can still get down with the movement. Bless.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond