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Things I Should Have Said: Weekend Playlist by Lefthnd

RVA Staff | October 9, 2020

Topics: lefthnd, music, richmond, richmond va, richmond va bands, RVA, rva magazine weekend playlist, rvamag playlist, Weekend Playlist

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

This week, we come to you with a playlist from Lefthnd, the new solo project from Richmond songwriter and producer Scott Lane. You might know Scott from his years as guitarist for The Congress, his production work with local faves Angelica Garcia, Sammi Lanzetta, and Kenneka Cook, or the label he founded, American Paradox, which has released all kinds of great music from Richmond and beyond over the past few years.

It’s American Paradox that brings us Lefthnd’s debut album, Ad Mausoleum, which was released just last week. It features contributions from Richmond leading lights DJ Harrison, Todd Herrington, and Andrew Carper, as well as the whole American Paradox family adding vocals. The result mixes heartland rock vibes with a smooth retro-soul sound and the warm sounds of 70s AM gold. It’s sure to bring positive vibes to your weekend, as will the playlist Lefthnd has created especially for you, the readers of RVA Magazine. Featuring local faves, talented superstars, and a nice taste of what Lefthnd’s new record has to offer, it’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Feel the vibe, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Purposeful Dissonance: Opin’s Media & Memory

Robin Schwartzkopf | October 9, 2020

Topics: Egghunt Records, electronic, experimental, Jon Hawkins, landis wine, media and memory, music, Opin, richmond va bands, Spacebomb studios, Tori Hovater, WarHen Records

On their latest album, Opin trades in a traditional lineup for a fresh approach, in which every member can play every instrument. 

After their 2017 debut album and an EP the following year, Opin is back with an experimental, electronic sound journey perfectly suited to a year of oddity and struggles. The band’s new album, Media & Memory, drops Oct. 23, and will be accompanied by a remix album.

A broken wrist and unfamiliar instruments — not to mention a pandemic and months of lockdown — might not sound like a recipe for success for a band recording their sophomore album. But for Opin, the Richmond-based trio made up of Jon Hawkins, Tori Hovater, and Landis Wine, the project was an experimental journey years in the making. 

PHOTO: Opin by Warren Parker

The new record, Media & Memory, comes three years after the band’s debut self-titled album, but a lot has changed since the first album’s release. After releasing their first LP with Egghunt Records, Media & Memory arrives via WarHen Records at the end of the month. The new album is the result of more experimentation in writing and production than the band’s previous projects. 

“I feel like we hit our stride with this record, because about 90 percent of it was written with three of us in a room,” Hovater said. “Jamming, picking apart ideas, and playing things over and over again, deciding what we did and didn’t like.” 

While their first album had more of a piecemeal recording process — band members and producers sent bits of material back and forth, from city to city — Media & Memory represented a chance to work together and build the album’s sound from the ground up. 

“We were unlearning what we had to do, and figuring out what we wanted to do,” Wine said. “It sounded more focused, more like a band, and like less like a group of people trying to duplicate the sound of a record.” 

“We all realized we were into the same sound and going for the same thing,” Hovater added. “Rather than ‘this person wrote this song, this person wrote this song,’ we were all able to see it playing in a room together. We gave immediate feedback on each other’s ideas and built on things.” 

With more time to work together, the band was able to try out new instruments. They also took advantage of the group dynamic to learn different techniques. Wine picked up a Bass VI guitar, and Hovater built her keyboard and digital synthesizer expertise. As they discussed how they traded instruments during the recording process, Hovater and Wine bounced answers off each other with a similar ease and excitement. 

“I think our gear and hitting our stride in a collaborative writing process are very intertwined,” Hovater said. “If you asked us two years ago who our bassist was, we would say Jon.” 

Wine added that Hawkins had never played keyboards before joining Opin. 

“Now, anybody could be bassist, anybody could be playing the hook,” Hovater said. “Between us, we all trade parts around and we’ve all written different parts. It’s really cool, because A) We don’t get bored since we don’t do the same thing all the time, and B) It keeps things interesting. It’s a fun way to use our gear to play any part at any time.” 

Although Wine injured his wrist in the middle of recording Media & Memory, the band didn’t go on hiatus. Instead, a few songs were dropped, some were rewritten, and two tracks were added to the final project. 

“That was dumb as hell,” Wine laughed. “But I was determined. I was like, ‘We’re gonna do this.’” 

A tight record at nine tracks, Media & Memory still has room for a lot of experimentation — and even more character. With so many different ideas, the songs are a cohesive listen with what Hovater calls “a purposeful dissonance.” 

“We have a lot of fun. We have major stuff going on, minor stuff going on, and lines that maybe don’t seem like they should fit… but they lock in with everything,” Hovater said. “If I listen to a part someone is writing, the last thing in the world I want to write is a complementary part that you’d expect to hear.” 

“The more we played together in a controlled environment — and just got used to doing that over and over — we developed our own way of interacting with one another,” Wine added. “Thematically, [the album] develops its own mood after a while.” 

PHOTO: Opin by Warren Parker

The band gathered at Spacebomb Studios to record the album live. It didn’t leave much room for error, but tracks with the relentless spirit of Media & Memory. 

“This record is gnarlier, dirtier, spookier, and more cinematic than what we have done before,” Hovater said. 

After two years of work and facing both personal and global struggles, Opin’s newest release is a small bright spot in a mess of a year. The trials Media & Memory faced during its journey to completion are evidenced in the raw artistry found in each song, and the sprawling creativity of the album in its entirety. 

Find Opin on Facebook and Instagram, and stream their music on Bandcamp. 

Top Photo: Opin by Monica Escamilla

Mindnumbing Pleasure with Richmond’s Loud Night

Will Gonzalez | October 5, 2020

Topics: Andy Horn, Battlemaster, ben powell, jonah livingston, kallen bliss, Loud Night, lp release, mindnumbing pleasure, music, Ramming Speed, record release, richmond metal bands, richmond va bands, Vinyl Conflict

After years of firing up the local metal scene with Ramming Speed and Battlemaster, the members of Loud Night have a new LP for Richmond — and its first press sold out in a week. 

Before relocating to Richmond from Boston in 2013, Ramming Speed’s Jonah Livingston, Ben Powell, and Kallen Bliss were longtime friends with Richmond’s Andy Horn, and always made sure to play with one of his bands in Richmond when they were on the road. 

The Boston area has been known for its punk and hardcore scenes since the early 1980s. The scene has produced influential bands such as SSD, Have Heart, and Converge, but for Livingston and his bandmates in Ramming Speed, Boston changed as the 2000s went into the 2010s and large corporations like LiveNation took over the music scene. 

“Every year it got worse and worse,” Livingston said. “Everything about the city was getting super shiny and corporatized, and the cops were shutting down everything cool about punk and the underground. It culminated with the cops showing up to our house with a photo of me because we were throwing house shows.” 

PHOTO: Via Loud Night on Facebook by Melissa Suarez Photography

This was when Livingston, Powell, and Bliss decided it was time for a change. 

“The heat was on, so [Livingston] got on the horn and called me up to say, ‘Hey, things are getting pretty hot up here,’” Horn said. “I said, ‘Come on down here, lay low for a while. We can secretly gain our strength back and combine forces.’” 

The three then packed up and moved from Allston, a neighborhood in Boston situated between Boston College and Harvard’s campuses, to the Texas Beach area of Richmond. For Livingston, who grew up in the city in Boston, it was his first time having a grassy backyard. After visiting Richmond so many times on tour, Livingston’s expectations were high, and he wasn’t disappointed. 

“Everywhere you turn, it’s like the guy at the gas station is in a metal band, the guy at the pizza place runs a record label,” Livingston said. “Everyone is part of an awesome scene; it was exactly what we were looking for.” 

Horn lived in the same neighborhood that Livingston, Powell, and Bliss moved to, and when the members of Ramming Speed decided to call it quits, the four began playing together as Loud Night. 

PHOTO: Via Loud Night on Facebook by Melissa Suarez Photography

“There’s nothing random about it. It was all fate, if you ask me,” Horn said. “We’ve been really good friends for a long time, and it was only a matter of time before we joined forces to create something new.” 

Horn, who does vocals in Battlemaster and previously sang for Organ Donor and Cannabis Corpse, learned to play bass and sing at the same time for the band. The name “Loud Night” came from All Crusties Spending Loud Night, a collection of videos of Japanese hardcore punk shows from the 1990s and 2000s. That name was inspired by pioneering Japanese hardcore band Confuse, and their EP Spending Loud Night. In Richmond’s Loud Night, the band members wanted to capture the raw energy of Japanese hardcore, and combine it with classic metal sounds like Judas Priest. 

The title of their new LP, Mindnumbing Pleasure, comes from one of the tracks on the album called “Skinflick.” The song is about the amount of violence shown on TV news. 

“All sorts of things get censored these days, but there’s no shortage of grisly war footage and pointless combat,” Horn said. “Civilians, men, women, and children just ripped apart… It sucks, and it’s on TV every day. You can easily become desensitized to that stuff.” 

All of the material for Mindnumbing Pleasure was written and tracked prior to the end of 2019, but on May 31 of this year — the same day Mayor Stoney announced there would be a curfew in Richmond in response to protests over George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis — the band released a single titled “Curfew.” The revenue the release earned on Bandcamp went to the Richmond Community Bail Fund. 

The band teamed up with Bobby Egger of Vinyl Conflict, a record store in Oregon Hill, and Blue Sprocket Pressing in Harrisonburg for the physical release of Mindnumbing Pleasure. The first pressing came as a yellow and black record. Since its release in late September, the first pressing has already sold out. According to Horn, Blue Sprocket described the color of their next pressing as “milky-white natural.” 

Loud Night hasn’t been able to book a tour to support the release of Mindnumbing Pleasure because of COVID-19, but when the pandemic is over, they’re planning to hit the road. As soon as shows can take place safely in Richmond, Horn believes the scene will be as loud and as wild as ever. 

“It’s like a massive bonfire. Even if the fire looks like it’s out from far away, the coals are always rippingly hot,” Horn said. “And there’s really no putting a fire like we have in Richmond out.” 

To learn more about Loud Night and stream their new record, visit the band on Bandcamp, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Blade Runner Blues: Weekend Playlist by She

RVA Staff | October 2, 2020

Topics: music, richmond, richmond va, richmond va bands, RVA, rva magazine weekend playlist, rvamag playlist, She, TRL 2004, Weekend Playlist

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

This week, we’re hearing from She, a local indie group who’ve just released their debut EP, TRL 2004, on Bandcamp as of a couple weeks ago. Originally the vehicle for singer/songwriter Liza Grishaeva, the new EP documents the band’s growth into a powerful indie-pop quartet with tunes that are sure to worm their way into your brain and set up camp permanently.

In addition to a one-song preview of their new EP, She bring us a couple dozen incredible jams from all over the stylistic map on their excellent playlist. From hip hop and shoegaze to quiet folk and dark ambient soundscapes, this is a highly varied set of tunes that’s sure to keep your weekend popping until Monday morning.

Enjoy, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

We Could All Use A Band-Aid Right Now

Timothy Cantrell | September 28, 2020

Topics: Americana, band-aid mitchel evan music video, mitchel evan & the saboteurs, mitchel evan and the saboteurs, mitchel evan music, music, richmond va artists, richmond va bands, RVA bands

Mitchel Evan’s self-titled album is what we all need right now. With a sense of familiarity for longtime fans woven into a fresh new sound, the Richmond artist gears up to release a new self-titled album after the premiere of its first single, “Band-Aid.” 

Soon after the pandemic hit, Mitchel Evan was laid off from his day job. At the same time, social distancing and quarantine made live music performances all but impossible. 

“Between March and July, I think that was the longest I’d gone without playing a show… period,” Evan said. 

Evan, who leads Mitchel Evan & The Saboteurs, used to work a part-time landscaping job to bring in extra money and supplement his income from performing. Since losing both streams of income, things have, fortunately, trended upward. The band met their goal for funding their new self-titled album two days early. 

“I’m incredibly humbled and grateful,” Evan said. Crowdfunding an album was a new concept for the artist. “It’s something I didn’t have the courage or confidence to do until now.” 

Beyond the album release, Evan has had the opportunity to play shows again, some of which have promoted the release of the new album. In particular, a socially-distanced show the band played at Another Round Bar and Grill on September 18 featured a premiere of the music video for the single “Band-Aid” as well as a live performance.

The journey Evan made in the conception of this album is something any person struggling through the pandemic can relate to. The story behind its songs can serve as inspiration for those living through the uncertainty of this time. 

Evan started making music in Richmond, but soon parted with the River City to head west to Colorado. However, after years of performing, Evan eventually came back to Richmond, picking up where he’d left off. 

“I spent about four years in Colorado,” Evan said. “I look at those years I experienced out there as my version of going to college. I came back to Virginia with that knowledge ready to make a new record, and I think the professionalism and experience I picked up over those years helped. From Alabama to the Rocky Mountains, all of that shows on this record.” 

PHOTO: Via Mitchel Evan on Facebook

Knowing the backstory of this album — of Evan’s long journey across the country, with prevalent themes of love, loss, and grief — gives this self-titled collection resonance. Even though some of his experiences are heart-wrenching, Evan and the band were able to come together and make something beautiful out of it. Considering his stories, while at the same time knowing he prevailed, moved back to Richmond, formed a band, and created a new album out of hard times, can give the listener a sense of hope. That feeling is something we could all use a bit more of these days. 

Evan’s backing band, The Saboteurs, features members like Blake Smoral with harmony vocals, Daniel Stein on guitar, drums, keyboards, and pedal steel, Martinus Van Peppen on electric bass, Spencer Conroy on the violin. Evan himself fulfills a slew of roles, including lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, and more. 

PHOTO: Mitchel Evan & The Saboteurs by Addie Harris

In addition to the core members of the Saboteurs, a larger cast of studio musicians helped record the album. Everything was recorded at Richmond’s Go West Recording Studio, where Evan says he feels right at home. He was particularly impressed with sound engineer Mitch Clem. 

“He’s a truly talented engineer, and an exceptional listener,” Evan said. “There’s no one else, and nowhere else, I would have rather made this record.” Evan noted that Clem had a large impact on creating the album; so much, in fact, that he intends to make two more with Go West Recording Studio in 2021. 

For this album in particular, longtime listeners will feel a sense of familiarity in the inspiration for the songs. Evan’s music has derived from his personal experience in the past, and the latest record continues the story. 

“Most of these songs were written over the course of the past two years, and some as far as three years,” Evan said. “The album is personal. It’s very internal and reflective.” 

PHOTO: Via Mitchel Evan on Facebook

The album’s sound still fits within the scope of the Americana genre, but Evan has added some new sounds to his discography. “There are a lot of electric guitars,” he said. “Almost the full album, except for a song or two, is a full band. There’s a lot of energy behind it.”

While Evan’s experiences traveling across the country certainly fueled his inspiration for a great deal of the album, he was able to create and record the tracks where it all began. “This record feels like it’s made by the Richmond community,” he said. 

Evan and the band are hoping to release the full album this November or December. To find out more about the album and keep up with announcements for its release date, find Mitchel Evan via website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

School Lunch: Weekend Playlist by Smyth Knight

RVA Staff | September 25, 2020

Topics: Kidz At Play, music, richmond, richmond va, richmond va bands, RVA, rva magazine weekend playlist, rvamag playlist, Smyth Knight, smyth knight north chesterfield album, Weekend Playlist

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

This week brings us a jam-packed list of bangers from Smyth Knight, an up-and-coming local rapper who’s developed a buzz among quite a few veteran local heads. Knight released his latest mixtape, North Chesterfield, at the end of July. On that release, he tackles the experience of graduating high school and going from youth to young adulthood in the year 2020. This project, which comes to us from local label Kidz At Play, is an essential listen for this crazy year.

Much the same could be said for this playlist, a heaping helping of hip hop, soul, R&B, and funk flavors brought together into a delicious gumbo of sounds by Smyth Knight. You’ll get a preview of what his North Chesterfield mixtape has to offer, along with some great tracks from other RVA locals, some classic old-school jams, and a whole lot of killer head-nodding beats.

Get down with it, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

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