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Post-Rock As A Second Language

Jonah Schuhart | March 2, 2020

Topics: china, Colin Phils, e r som sa, events in richmond va, events near me this weekend, events richmond va, gallery 5, music, post-rock, Post.Recordings, richmond events, richmond va, richmond va bands, Right At Home, RVA, South Korea, things to do in richmond va, things to do richmond va, Trust Fall

Colin Phils formed in South Korea and released an album while living in China, but over the past four years, they’ve made Richmond their home. Now they’re releasing Trust/Fall, their first full album as an RVA band.

Richmond rockers Colin Phils, who will release their new album, Trust/Fall, later this month, have been performing and releasing music in Richmond for the past four years. But, their origins actually reach back a long time ago, to a country far, far away.

The band had its humble beginnings in 2013, when all three members of the band were working in South Korea, teaching English as a second language. While the group was initially formed by guitarist and vocalist Ben Tiner and two others, over time Tiner replaced them with the band’s current lineup: married couple Ben and Karyn Mauch (on drums and synth/vocals, respectively). Oddly enough, while all three worked teaching English, Karyn was the only one who majored in the language during college.

“All you really need to teach English in a foreign country is you need to get a certificate. We all got that in the first month,” said Tiner. “It’s easy money, they pay for housing. It’s kind of an ideal job to get after college.”

The band stayed in Korea until 2015. During that time, they made their first album Right at Home. However, they all quickly found that Korea offered no room for personal or professional growth. At that point, they moved to China, where they crafted their second album, e,r,som,sa. Eventually, in 2016, they moved to Richmond, and have been making music in the river city ever since.

Since they’ve been here, they’ve had firsthand experience with the differences between making music in Asia and in America.

“The biggest difference [between East and West] is that far less people come to our shows in America,” said Tiner.

“Yeah, but in America there are so many more bands and musicians, and the China scene is still young,” Karyn added. “When we play here, even though there’s fewer people, we’ll be playing with four bands every night who are all REALLY good… Whereas in China, it’ll be just two bands a night. And you may enjoy it, you may not.”

The band’s sounds have progressed over the years, moving from an early sound that they described as being much closer to folk, with a much more devil-may-care approach to writing and recording. 

“The first album was recorded in one weekend,” said Tiner. “We got in a studio…and just recorded the whole thing at once. Which would be a crazy thing to do now.”

Since then, the band has moved towards a post-rock sound, utilizing loops and odd time signatures to construct their songs. They take no breaks from touring to write new music, instead sprinkling new tracks into their sets over time, until they’ve come up with enough to fashion into an album. Their recording style has also evolved; now their approach is much more traditional, recording and rerecording specific parts over a long period of time until they’ve refined the whole song as much as they can.

“I don’t think we’re very rigid,” said Karyn. “I think if we feel like something needs to be changed, we’ll change it. We’ll add something, we’ll take away something.”

This process has been helped along for their newest album by Mitch Clem, an Engineer at Go West Recording Studio.

“We’ve definitely altered stuff in the studio based off of his recommendations,” said Tiner. “And that’s the benefit of having somebody you trust in the studio to offer advice.”

Though the band has released a split LP, Star Charts, with fellow Richmond band Houdan The Mystic, Trust/Fall will be their first full album since they arrived in RVA. The album will be released on March 20 by Post.Recordings, and the band will celebrate its release with a performance at Gallery 5 on Saturday, March 21. The event begins at 7 PM and will also feature performances by Night Idea, Dumb Waiter, and Calvin Presents. Tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite for $7 in advance — or, for $12, you can get both a ticket and a copy of Trust/Fall on CD. For more info, click here.

Honeyed Words: Weekend Playlist by Majjin Boo

RVA Staff | November 15, 2019

Topics: Cardinal, emo, indie, local bands, local music, Majjin Boo, math rock, music, Playlist, post-rock, rva magazine weekend playlist, Weekend Playlist

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

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

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

Let it flow, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Vegan Mustache Jazz: Weekend Playlist by Colin Phils

RVA Staff | June 7, 2019

Topics: alternative, Colin Phils, indie, instrumental, local music, math rock, Playlist, POST RVA Fest, post-rock, rock, rva magazine weekend playlist, rva music, rvamag playlist

Every Friday night, RVA Mag introduces you to yet another outstanding playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This time around, we’ve got a playlist from Colin Phils, a Richmond math-rock band with roots in Korea and a name that it took me six months to realize was a reference to the drummer for Genesis.

This Saturday, the inaugural POST RVA Fest, a one-day showcase of 15 post-rock, math-rock, and complex indie bands, mostly from the Richmond area, will come to the Broadberry. Members of Colin Phils have curated the entire thing, and on their excellent mix, they give us a perfect introduction to the vast majority of the bands playing the event, along with some classic math-rock, post-rock, emo, and indie tunes that are sure to brighten up your weekend. Grab your POST RVA Fest tickets here, and get ready for a full day of mind-expanding melodies.

Add it up, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

One Wing: Weekend Playlist by Cardinal

RVA Staff | March 22, 2019

Topics: Cardinal, emo, indie, Majjin Boo, math rock, post-rock, rva magazine weekend playlist, Weekend Playlist

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

Children Of The New Dawn: Weekend Playlist By Kristeva

RVA Staff | March 15, 2019

Topics: emo, indie, Kristeva, post-rock, Weekend Playlist

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

This week, our playlist comes from Kristeva, an up-and-coming post-rock ensemble from Richmond, which mixes classical stringed instruments and occasional blackened screams into its epic instrumental grandeur. Kristeva will be headlining the Camel’s Shamrock The Block after party Saturday night, which has been cleverly titled “Post-Rock The Block.” They’ll also be releasing the cassette version of Goliad, their newest EP.

You can get a preview of that EP in the Weekend Playlist Kristeva has created for us, along with a fine selection of ambient, emo, post-rock, indie, and even hip hop and metal — plus you’ll hear tunes from the Richmond bands they’re sharing the bill with at The Camel tomorrow night. So what are you waiting for? (Post-) rock it out, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Mathew Roth’s ‘The Vulture & The Sparrow’ offers return to minimal, orchestral post-rock

Brad Kutner | August 29, 2016

Topics: Mathew Roth, post-rock

Remember post-rock when it was just 14 strings and 36 guys yelling on stage? Those were good times. And Ithaca, NY’s Mathew Roth is offering a return to part of that experience with his new release due out next week.
[Read more…] about Mathew Roth’s ‘The Vulture & The Sparrow’ offers return to minimal, orchestral post-rock

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