Nightcreature Archives | Page 3 of 3

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 2/28-3/6

Marilyn Drew Necci | February 28, 2018

Topics: American Nightmare, British Sterling, Capital Ale House, Cat Duggan, Cloak/Dagger, Conan, Deli Kings, Desert Altar, Doll Baby, Eldritch, Fat Spirit, Field Medic, Gold Connections, Grace Vonderkuhn, Gritter, Hardywood, Hate Club, Huntsmen, Jouska, Lair, Livid, McCormack's, NFA, Nightcreature, Pissed Jeans, Protester, shows you must see, Sound Of Music Studios, strange matter, Strawberry Moon, The Broadberry, The Death Vacation, The Ditch and The Delta, Wallows, Young Scum, Zaigoat

FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, March 3, 6 PM
Grace Vonderkuhn, Gold Connections, Fat Spirit, Doll Baby @ Hardywood – Free!
It’s a new year, and a lot of musicians are getting a jump on it with brand new releases intended to take 2018 by storm. It’s kinda been an ongoing theme of the column over the past month or so, as a variety of Richmond artists, heavyweights and newcomers alike, have been throwing record-release celebrations intended to let the city know that they’re here and have something strong to offer. The same thing can’t entirely be said of Grace Vonderkuhn, as she’s technically not even a Richmond artist (she hails from Wilmington, Delaware). However, her brand new album, Reveries, was released last week by Richmond’s own Egghunt Records. And while her show at Hardywood this Saturday might not be billed as a record release show, it’s the first chance Richmond will have to enjoy a full-volume live performance showing off everything Reveries has to offer.

There’s quite a bit to be found, too. Vonderkuhn’s live combo is a lean, mean power trio built around her gorgeous vocals and powerful, distorted guitar work. She’s got some killer songwriting and an incredible voice, something that could also be said about Egghunt’s last big discovery, Lucy Dacus. However, Vonderkuhn’s tunes hit harder, bringing a rock n’ roll swagger and a grunge-punk crunch that’ll surely appeal to everyone who still misses the post-Nirvana alt-rock wonderland of the early 90s. Reveries is capable of fitting right into a playlist featuring The Breeders and Liz Phair, but has the tough-girl swagger of The Runaways and The Shangri-Las down as well. What’s not to like?

This stacked show at Hardywood won’t just offer an opportunity to explore the excellent new sounds from Grace Vonderkuhn, though — it’s stacked with talent originating closer to home, starting with Gold Connections. This Charlottesville band has gotten some high-profile props due to frontman Will Marsh’s early work with Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo, but one listen to their debut EP from last year will let you know that Gold Connections have more than ample songwriting skills necessary to stand on their own. Their sound is a bit smoother and mellower than Grace Vonderkuhn’s, but overall it’s an excellent pairing. As is the pairing of Fat Spirit and Doll Baby, the two killer Richmond openers who shouldn’t really even need an introduction if you’ve been reading this column for a while. Just go. The show is even free — what more could you possibly want?

Wednesday, February 28, 8 PM
Zaigoat, Lair, NFA, British Sterling @ Strange Matter – $5
I love Strange Matter for a lot of reasons, but their Locals Only series is a big part of it. When I’m putting together this column, the middle of the week sometimes looks kinda lackluster, but if Strange Matter is doing a Locals Only show somewhere in there, I know I’ve got at least one pick locked down. This week is no exception, as the latest LO show (#56 in the ongoing series — keep it up, y’all!) brings us a collection of brand new heavies that anyone who loves metal and punk, definitely including me, can get stoked about. Zaigoat are at the top of the bill, and this brand new band might be considered doom under some lenses but seems more accurately characterized as horror-sludge. I sure am down with that.

Then there’s Lair, who absolutely can accurately be described as doom. This band’s debut EP features two songs and a 22-minute running time, so you know they’re serious as a heart attack. Slow-motion headbangs will be the order of the day when this band hits the stage. Which puts them at the opposite end of the spectrum from NFA, which stands for Not Fucking Around, and they certainly are not! This is the latest loud fast n’ outta control old-school hardcore punk barrage from the dudes who previously brought you Omega Boys and Flickerflame — and if you remember those two powerhouses, you know you’re in for a treat with this one. This gig is rounded out with a set from British Sterling, the latest from a bunch of super old-school Richmond heads who were veterans back when my 40 year old ass started going to shows around here — I’ll go ahead and mention Mulch and Ugly Law, and most of you won’t even know what I’m talking about. Get educated; show up on time to this all-RVA banger.

Thursday, March 1, 8 PM
Conan, The Ditch and The Delta, Gritter, Eldritch @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s Thursday night, and things are getting even heavier over at Strange Matter. Conan is flying in from England, and although Arnold Schwarzenegger is not at all involved, this powerful three-piece will waste no time evoking apocalyptic tales from the Hyborian Age with their brutal, steamrolling metal power. Recently following up their killer 2016 full-length Revengeance with a collection of awesomely grimy demos entitled Man Is Myth, these Brits are fully set to obliterate Strange Matter with a wall of low-end sludge heavyosity. As doom bands go, these guys are actually rather concise, and keep things moving at a relatively non-glacial pace, even as their riffs seem to extend for days. Fans of High On Fire are gonna have a field day with this one.

Meanwhile, fellow touring doomers The Ditch And The Delta come to us from Salt Lake City, which seems like one of the weirdest environments to grow up as a metalhead that I can imagine. From the home base of Mormonism, The Ditch And The Delta bring us a sound that is cleaner and darker than that of Conan, more like early Mastodon or mid-period Neurosis. These two excellent doom crews should pair well together, and they’ll receive capable support from local vets Gritter, whose new LP, Nobody Cares, sees them further refining their take on downbeat NOLA-style sludge metal. The evening kicks off with a set from local newcomers Eldritch, who get points with me for taking a name from HP Lovecraft’s vocabulary list, and for their resemblance to departed sludge-doom legends Burning Witch. This one is gonna rule, friends.

Friday, March 2, 8 PM
Livid, Huntsmen, Desert Altar @ McCormack’s – $7
It’s a doomy week here in RVA, as Friday night finds Between 2 Beers and McCormack’s bringing Shockoe Bottom into the act. Thankfully, Livid — who share a label with The Ditch And The Delta from the last show I wrote about — have their own disctinctive take on this sometimes-repetitive genre, keeping this week from blurring into a single long, sludgy riff. This Prosthetic Records crew hails from Minneapolis and released an excellent LP last summer entitled Beneath This Shroud, The Earth Erodes. This should give you some idea of where this group is coming from; if not as persistently gloomy and depressing as Loss or 40 Watt Sun, they nonetheless have a spooky vibe that mixes intriguingly with their progressive leanings. Fans of Helms Alee or early Isis will get a lot out of this band’s darkly fascinating sound.

They’re joined on this bill by Chicago’s Huntsmen, who are not the long-gone 60s garage band. This relatively new and frankly bizarre band mixes doom vibes with Americana, interjecting elegaic Southern folk reveries into the midst of melodic doom metal songs. Rather than doing so at random or in a jarring manner, the Huntsmen take advantage of the lengthy running times common in the doom metal genre to create smoothly building structures that take their songs from quiet folk beginnings to incredibly heavy crescendos, and sometimes back down into acoustic reveries. Plenty of doom bands have had apocalyptic-folk side projects over the past several years, but the Huntsmen have found a way to integrate these two disparate yet spiritually similar sounds — something I never would have predicted anyone could pull off. In a genre that can sometimes be a bit samey, they are unique, and that’s impressive. Don’t miss them.

Saturday, March 3, 7 PM
American Nightmare, Pissed Jeans, Protester, Cloak/Dagger @ The Broadberry – $20 (order tickets HERE)
Let’s start with an important note: as of this writing, this show is not sold out YET. But if you don’t even need me to tell you why you should care, and somehow forgot to buy your ticket already, skip the rest of this writeup and click that ticket link NOW (or try the facebook event page — there are at least a few people selling tix over there). OK, now that that’s out of the way, let me try to explain to the rest of you why some people are freaking the hell out that American Nightmare is coming back to town. See, this band went away for a long time. One of the bands — if not THE band — to ignite the early 00s hardcore revival, American Nightmare mixed the erudite, emotional lyrics of Wes Eisold with a rage-filled take on Boston hardcore riffage and some 21st century speed to start a new movement within the genre.

The band encountered a series of setbacks in their early years, ultimately being forced to give up their original name by another band that had copyrighted the phrase. However, with their return to full-time action in 2016 (after over a decade apart), they were able to reclaim the name, and just recently released their self-titled third album on Rise Records. The album shows that Eisold and co. haven’t lost a step, incorporating a slightly higher percentage of melody into the same angry riffage and passionate lyrics that made the scene fall in love with them nearly 20 years ago. As if that isn’t enough reason to go to this show all on its own, the fact that they’re joined by post-hardcore sludge-monsters Pissed Jeans, DC straight edge rippers Protester, and veteran RVA garage-hardcore hybrid Cloak/Dagger should be more than enough to get you to pony up the ticket price for this jammer. But act fast! Tomorrow may be too late.

Sunday, March 4, 6 PM
Hate Club, The Death Vacation, Nightcreature, Deli Kings @ Capital Ale House – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
This Sunday, Albany invades Richmond, as Hate Club and The Death Vacation roll into town and set up shop at Capital Ale House, of all places. Albany’s always had a pretty unique scene, and it doesn’t require knowing much more than the fact that Self Defense Family hails from that city. That band’s amorphous lineup and unpredictable take on post-hardcore seems to exert at least a little bit of an influence over the whole city, not least because almost every musician in Albany has been in SDF at one point or another. Indeed, two members of The Death Vacation are former members of SDF spinoff band Aficionado — but then, Aficionado were always a pretty strange exercise in and of themselves, and The Death Vacation is pretty far removed from their own former band. At which point, my whole analogy blows apart like a house of cards.

So what the heck can you expect from Hate Club and The Death Vacation when they arrive in RVA? Well, Hate Club have the sort of jangly, poppy sound that derives influence from early 90s slacker grunge crews like Pavement and Guided By Voices, and therefore should be a big hit with the whole Citrus City scene, who are spiritually very much in line with that whole aesthetic. The Death Vacation like to stomp the distortion pedals a bit harder, and therefore are a bit more reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr, only crossed with early Weezer to add that proper note of weirdo pop goodness. Basically, it’s all killer, and the addition on this bill of post-You Go Girls up-and-comers Nightcreature is pure gravy. Get stoked!

Monday, March 5, 7 PM
Wallows, Field Medic @ The Broadberry – $15 (order tickets HERE)
Sometimes I just give bands whose names I don’t recognize a brief listen before writing about them to make sure I’m into them enough to give them my stamp of approval. Then I google them when I’m actually about to write the column and find myself going, “Oh holy shit, I didn’t expect that!” Such is my current situation, where the catchy indie-rock of Wallows was pleasing enough at first listen that I picked them for the show column this week without ever discovering that frontman Dylan Minette is on that Netflix show 13 Reasons Why… until right now. Oops.

But it’s really not a big deal; after all, if Wallows were good when I just thought of them as three random dudes from LA or wherever, they’re still good now that I know one of them is a random famous guy. They’ve got some really catchy tunes that sorta remind me of early Strokes, sorta remind me of Parquet Courts, but mostly just get my feet tapping in an excellent manner. They don’t have an album yet, having only released a succession of four digital singles with themed covers, but those songs give more than enough reason to expect a killer set from this band when they show up to The Camel Monday night. That way, even if the front row is full of blushing teenage girls that only came out to get a glimpse of Clay Jensen in the flesh, there’ll still be some people there to appreciate the music. Which is really what it’s all about.

Tuesday, March 6, 7 PM
Young Scum, Jouska, Strawberry Moon, Cat Duggan @ Sound Of Music Studios – $5
Those days early in the week when it’s sometimes hard to find anything fun to do, it’s nice to find an old reliable friend dishing out the killer jams and giving us a chance to dance, long before the weekend rolls around. That’s the role Young Scum are playing Tuesday night as they head up an excellent bill over at Sound Of Music. It’s been a while since they had some new tunes out — 2016’s Zona EP was the last new release — but those songs haven’t dulled any with age, and at this point it’d be a big surprise if there weren’t at least a couple new rockers the band’s ready to spring on us all. So either way, we win!

The Scummers (actually the most clean-cut nice-looking fellas, but hey, I didn’t name them) are joined on this bill by touring crew Jouska, who like the touring bands on Sunday night’s show are from Albany. Interesting. Their sound is, as you might expect from that previous writeup, pretty unusual, and definitely engaging. It mixes quiet, emotional moments with off-kilter jangle riffs and some outright ambience to bring a unique overall vibe to both their forthcoming Tiny Engines EP, From Elson To Emmett, and to Sound Of Music Studios, where such styles are always welcome. Local openers include ambient pop star Strawberry Moon and folksy strummer Cat Duggan, who are sure to sweeten the pot.

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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] [yes, my email is through GayRVA, don’t get weird about it]

Top image by Vivienne Lee

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 2/14-2/20

Marilyn Drew Necci | February 14, 2018

Topics: .gif From God, angelica garcia, Awaken I Am, Bat Fangs, Coteries, Crucial Rip, Dark Hollow Falls, Deau Eyes, Dog Lagoon, Erin And The Wildfire, Faded, I Set My Friends On Fire, Keilan Creech, Kenneka Cook, Kissing Candice, Lakeside Tavern, Mirrors For Psychic Warfare, Mistaker, Nightcreature, On The Cinder, Perpetuated, Rare Colors, shows you must see, Smoke Break, Smoke Signals, strange matter, Superchunk, The Broadberry, The Camel, The Flavor Project, Under Broken Skies, Weird Tears, Wonderland, World Peace

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, February 16, 8 PM
Kenneka Cook, The Flavor Project, Keilan Creech @ The Camel – $8 in advance/$10 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Sometimes a wave is happening that you just can’t deny or ignore. Kenneka Cook is riding one of those waves to total dominance over the RVA music scene right now, and we’re lucky enough to get swept away in the tide. Her debut album, Moonchild, will be dropping this Friday, and she’ll be celebrating that release with a big ol’ party over at The Camel. Join the fun — it’ll be THE live music event of the season, guaranteed!

Moonchild comes from American Paradox Records, and the collaboration between Ms. Cook and American Paradox head Scott Lane (The Congress) has borne fruit in a big way with this release. Cook’s initial rise to dominance in the local scene was driven by the unusual, unforgettable combo of her soulful jazz vocals and her multilayered programmed loops, but Lane got her into working with a full band, and brought in an all-star ensemble featuring members of Butcher Brown, KINGS, No BS! Brass Band, and more to give her gorgeous songs a fuller, more traditional backing. The resulting album encompasses both sounds, bringing powerful jazzy blues vibes on full-band tracks like excellent single “My Universe,” while Cook’s playful cover of Vampire Weekend’s “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” showcases the full range of her looping abilities.

Friday night’s live performance will aim to split the difference between these two sounds, as Cook is joined onstage by a stripped-down combo featuring Lane, who not only released but also produced Moonchild, on bass, along with pianist Calvin Brown and drummer Josh McCormick. One can imagine that Cook’s looping equipment will get its time in the spotlight too, though the full extent of the wonders on display won’t be realized until she takes the stage. Regardless, you’re going to want to be there. Bring a couple extra bucks to pick up a brand new copy of Moonchild for yourself, and arrive on time so you can catch opening jams from Gabriel Santamaria and Armando Munoz’s ever-growing funk ensemble, The Flavor Project, as well as from introspective singer-songwriter Keilan Creech. Don’t miss it.

Wednesday, February 14, 7:30 PM
Sweethearts at The Camel, feat. Angelica Garcia, Erin And The Wildfire, Deau Eyes @ The Camel – $8 (order tickets HERE)
The night before Valentine’s Day was the night for the single-and-lonely folks to get their time in the spotlight over at The Camel. But now, it’s Valentine’s Day, and The Camel has turned this night over to the lovers with an evening of sweet music from some of the most talented musicians this town has to offer! Is it really any surprise that all of them happen to be female? I guess that depends on who you ask, but if you’re asking me, I’d say it’s just about the least surprising element of all this.

After all, Angelica Garcia is guaranteed to open your eyes wide with her spunky, energetic rock n’ soul, which mixes melodic mastery with wry lyrics that’ll draw a chuckle of recognition from us all. She’s gotten a lot of press, and released an album on a major label, but RVA still seems to be sleeping on her a bit. This is a great time to change that. C-ville ensemble Erin And The Wildfire rocked a lot of asses around town with their latest album, Thirst, which brings a lot of funk for a group I’d previously written off as a folky jam band. Oops! Don’t make that same mistake, y’all — come find out what this band has to offer. The bill is rounded out by Deau Eyes, who’s gone from not being on my radar at all to seemingly being everywhere within the past few months; I’ve got to figure that’s due to the sheer strength of her alt-rock songcraft, which really is bulletproof. Be a sweetheart, reader — go to the Camel tonight and delight in all these wonderful sounds. Bring a date! This time you won’t get charged extra.

Thursday, February 15, 9 PM
Mistaker, On The Cinder, Smoke Break @ Wonderland – $5
Wonderland is still Shockoe Bottom’s home for punk rock, and if you can keep your ear to the ground consistently enough to keep up with what sort of musical entertainment they’re offering to the city, you’re going to catch a lot of incredible shows. This Thursday night sees yet another one rolling down to the Bottom, and just because it’s not the weekend quite yet is no reason to stay closer to home. Mistaker is the latest band from the crew of Southside boys that brought you Top Heavy and Before Falling in the past. They’re older, they’re wiser, and they’re developing a surprisingly mature and introspective side that leavens their party-punk crunch with melody and emotion. They’ll strike a chord with you whether you’re a punk rock rookie or a jaded lifer.

On The Cinder is our touring band for this night, and they come to us from Buffalo, NY, with a sound that’s both speedy and catchy. Debut LP The Fight Against Ourselves came out back in 2016, and the band’s planning on releasing another one this year, so they’re sure to be chock-full of killer riffs when they hit town! It’ll be a real treat — their melodic hardcore sound kicks more butt than anything out of Buffalo since the second Goo Goo Dolls album. (If you think that’s a joke, go google the second Goo Goo Dolls album. I’ll wait.) Smoke Break kicks things off, with members of Hold Tight, Close Talker, and Springtime getting down with some of that old-school speedy pop-punk for fans of Crimpshrine and J Church (google them too). This one is gonna be a ton of fun, so deal with the strenuous bike ride home afterward — it’ll be worth it.

Friday, February 16, 7 PM
Perpetuated, Crucial Rip, Faded, World Peace, Under Broken Skies @ Lakeside Tavern – $8
Oh look, the Lakeside Tavern survived their first metal show! And not only that, but they weathered it well enough to host another one! Maybe some local headbangers have really found a good thing here. Either way, let’s enjoy it while it lasts, shall we? This Friday night throwdown sees DC’s Perpetuated coming to town with some gloomy, doomy death metal that’ll slowly (and sometimes speedily) rip all our heads off. Who doesn’t love that? They’re joined by fellow District of Columbians World Peace, who are coming at things from more of a crossover approach, mixing chunky metal riffs and the occasional blastbeat with some raw d-beat hardcore stylings to create a storming sound that’s sure to please all the black-denim-vested among you.

That’s not the entirety of the out-of-town bands on this lineup either, as VA Beach’s Faded are also on board for this extravaganza. Their sound is a welcome return to that early 90s metallic hardcore style that brought us other great Hampton Roads hardcore bands like Mayday and Jesuit. Squeals and chugs everywhere, I love it — and the headbangers will too! All you headbangers will want to be here, too, as local gore-metallers Crucial Rip are on the scene with guttural, gurgling vocals and double bass rumble aplenty. Newcomers Under Broken Skies round things out with some brutality that splits the difference between the more metallic bands on this bill and the more hardcore-derived. These genres have a lot more in common than you may think, y’all, so whichever you swear allegiance to, you should definitely be in Lakeside Friday night banging your head.

Saturday, February 17, 7 PM
Superchunk, Bat Fangs @ The Broadberry – $20 in advance/$25 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Sure is great to see Superchunk still going strong after nearly 30 years. I myself got really into them when I was in high school, and they were the first band I ever saw live. 26 years after that fateful show, I’m still going to shows, and they’re still playing them. And unlike a lot of other bands one could say similar things about, Superchunk are still really good! This year sees the release of What A Time To Be Alive, the third Superchunk LP since the band returned to action earlier this decade and their 12th overall.

The band members are solidly into their 40s these days, with different concerns and frustrations than animated them back at the dawn of the 90s when they were barely out of college, but between the political clusterfuck dominating this country and the depressing realities that accompany getting older and realizing that life doesn’t get any easier, they’ve still got plenty to rage about. Planned Parenthood-benefiting single “I Got Cut” is a particularly solid slice of killer melodic punk, with plenty of vitriol lying just beneath the surface. They’re not as young as they once were (and god knows neither am I), so they may not bounce around the stage quite as frenetically as they once did, but they’ll still rock your socks off. Missing Superchunk in 2018 is just as bad a life decision as missing Superchunk in 1992 would have been; don’t do it.

Sunday, February 18, 6 PM
I Set My Friends On Fire, Kissing Candice, Awaken I Am, .gif From God, Smoke Signals @ The Camel – $13 in advance/$15 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Haha oh my goodness. I kinda can’t believe this is happening, but apparently I Set My Friends On Fire are on tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of their full-length debut, You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without Laughter. This goofy, critically reviled slab of bizarreness took the whole Genghis Tron/Horse The Band Nintendo-core formula in a direction that mixed in emo melodies and random shots of death metal to create a genre-fucked mess that seemed to make everyone over 18 at the time want to retch. That said, all those teenage MySpace metalcore kids are in their mid-20s now, and I suppose it only makes sense that even bands like this will have their moment of trimphant resurgence.

So is it worth reassessing I Set My Friends On Fire? Absolutely! Honestly, in a world that has seen bands like Brokencyde and Attila come to the fore, it’s clear that we just had no idea what we were in for back in those halcyon days of 2008. Had we but known, we might have celebrated the honestly catchy choruses on tracks like “Things That Rhyme With Orange,” and tried to understand why the heck sudden Cookie-Monster-style growls seemed appropriate to throw right into the middle of those, rather than just writing it all off as an adolescent mess. Chances are it’ll really connect in a live setting, especially since those chunky riffs are bound to be the loudest and hit the hardest. Maybe it’ll even help the adolescent humor and mawkish sincerity that seem to equally co-exist against all odds within I Set My Friends On Fire’s music to finally make sense to everyone who’d safely exited their teen years by the time MySpace was a thing. If nothing else, it’ll be entertaining, and will certainly be less predictable and comforting than anything else you could be doing on a Sunday night.

Monday, February 19, 8 PM
Mirrors For Psychic Warfare, Coteries, Dark Hollow Falls @ Strange Matter – $10 in advance/$12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
If you’ve been following the career of Neurosis for a while, you know that despite ostensibly existing in the world as a metal band with punk roots, they are prone to some serious weirdness. The same is true of Sanford Parker, the sludge-metal musician and producer who first came across my personal radar due to his involvement with Nachtmystium. Parker and Neurosis’s Scott Kelly first joined together for the Corrections House project, which also involves members of Eyehategod and Yakuza. However, a few years ago, they started Mirrors For Psychic Warfare, another collaborative project featuring just the two of them, in order to explore the landscape of sleepless nights.

Both on their debut EP and on their self-titled full-length album, released in 2016, Mirrors For Psychic Warfare do an excellent job of musically representing insomnia-fueled terror and the misery of lying awake in bed during the wee hours of the morning. Foreboding ambient hums, atmospheric soundscapes, and dark, downtuned guitar riffs work together to creep you the heck out in the same deliciously frightening manner that the best horror movies operate. How this will work in a darkened club full of contemplative metalheads remains to be seen, but we anticipate a Sunn 0)))-like vibe, though perhaps with less fog (and maybe a touch less volume… but only a touch). As live music goes, this one will be an experience, and it’s one you should look forward to having, assuming you know the terrifying joy of a watching a really great horror movie alone in the dark.

Tuesday, February 20, 8 PM
Dog Lagoon, Rare Colors, Nightcreature, Weird Tears @ Strange Matter – $5
It feels like almost every week I am writing about Strange Matter’s ongoing Locals Only series, and if that doesn’t tell you they are doing something right over there, I don’t know what will. The presence of Dog Lagoon at the top of this bill might help, though — this relatively new RVA band certainly has turned some heads with their recent EP, Moneyball. The absolutely killer A-side, “I Don’t Smoke,” resembles the long-gone and fondly remembered VA emo-punk trio Algebra One (or we can just say Jawbreaker, for you young-uns), and is an excellent anthem for the awkward post-teens of the new millennium.

There’s plenty more where that came from, too, so if you show up to this show just to see Dog Lagoon, we’d kinda understand. However, there’s a lot more for you to get down with on this bill, starting with Rare Colors. This synth-fueled band sees former members of Flechette and White Laces embracing the synth-tronic ambient pop that fellow ex-White Laces group Opin has also moved towards, but with a stronger emotional edge and an early 80s haze that lands on that fuzzy dividing line between New Wave and goth. It’s hypnotic, it’s ethereal, it’s absolutely worth your time. The bill is rounded out by a couple of newer projects, including Nightcreature, which emerges from the ashes of the You Go Girls, and Weird Tears, which sees members of the Cherry Pits returning to action with what one can only imagine will be another heaping helping of garage-pop greatness. Let’s find out together.

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Top image by Vivienne Lee