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Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

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School Lunch: Weekend Playlist by Smyth Knight

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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.

Never Created, Never Destroyed: Weekend Playlist by Opin

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

This time around, we’re bringing you a great list of tunes from Opin, the Richmond band formed from the ashes of White Laces and Navi, among others. Their second full-length album, Media & Memory, will be out next month on WarHen Records, and will be accompanied by a remix album as well. The first single, “Ezprt,” is out now, and you’ll be able to check it out as part of the playlist Opin have assembled for us.

Their playlist has plenty more to offer as well, everything from ambient shoegaze to hard-hitting hip hop, as well as some groundbreaking early influences and a whole bunch of local friends and peers. According to Opin’s Landis Wine, “It’s a mix of what we’ve been listening to during quarantine, tracks that influenced the record and folks we either worked with on the album or played with in the past year or so.” If you want a varied, unpredictable, but always entertaining listen for this cool, cloudy final weekend of summer, you can’t do better than this collection of tunes brought to us by Opin.

Soak it in, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Old Devil Moon: Weekend Playlist by Spacebomb House Band

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

This time around, we bring you some sweet sounds from the Spacebomb House Band, the loose-knit collective of musicians who give the sounds recorded at Spacebomb Studios their distinctive soulful groove. Led by Pinson Chanselle, Trey Pollard, and Cameron Ralston, the group incorporates a huge cast of talented players. In addition to backing up Spacebomb artists like Matthew E. White, Andy Jenkins, and Natalie Prass, and also creating soundtrack music for the makers of the Serial podcast, they’ve been producing quite a bit of work bearing their own name lately.

Their ninth collection of tracks in an ongoing series of cassette releases known as Library Music, which has been coming out regularly for over two years, dropped last month. IX: The Best Played Lands is a heaping helping of their signature instrumental sounds, and features a ton of great Richmond musicians fleshing out the lineup, including Treesa Gold (Goldrush), Hector “Coco” Barez (Bio Ritmo), JC Kuhl (Agents Of Good Roots), and many more. You definitely want to dig into this one ASAP, and you can check it out by clicking HERE.

But before you head that way, make sure you take a deep dive into this collection of weekend-expanding tracks prepared especially for you by the Spacebomb House Band, who present you with everything from devilish blues to sanctified gospel, along with just about everything in between, in just 31 songs. How can you resist?

Get you some, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Friday Forever: Weekend Playlist by Broadside

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

This week’s comes to us from Broadside, a long-running Richmond band who’ve progressed from their early pop-punk sound of nearly a decade ago to a mature alt-rock sound that is exquisitely showcased on their brand new album, Into The Raging Sea. That record, which marks Broadside’s first for SharpTone Records, comes out today, and whether you’re a longtime fan or a curious newcomer, you’re well advised to hit the streaming services and check it out.

But before you head that way, dip your beak into this weekend playlist Broadside have put together for us, showing off the wide spectrum of their influences and faves, from dancefloor bangers to grungy punk rockers and even a little bit of heartfelt country twang. It’s a smorgasbord of outstanding sounds to get your weekend rolling.

Dive into the sea, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Dull Fangs: Weekend Playlist by Dumb Waiter

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

This week’s selection of killer tunes comes to us from Dumb Waiter, the avant-garde jazz-metal quartet that unifies the sounds of such disparate acts as Frank Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Iceburn, and John Zorn’s Naked City. Their complex, progressive instrumentals have been fascinating the musically adventurous in Richmond and beyond for years now, and earlier this year, they released their fourth full-length album, Tsk, which follows in the footsteps of third album Heck in taking its name from a popular interjection.

Releasing an album during a pandemic is bound to be a tough proposition, but it’s worth it to get a new collection of unique tunes for Dumb Waiter; copies are still available on vinyl and cassette from the band’s Bandcamp page now. You know what to do. And while you wait for the postman to arrive, rock your hot and humid weekend with this eclectic collection of inspiring tuneage from the musicians of Dumb Waiter. You’ll get sounds from every genre they incorporate and then some, resulting in an impressively wide variety.

Prog out, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Stay Sane: Weekend Playlist by Cardinality

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

This week, we’re bringing a selection great tunes from Richmond’s own Cardinality, a duo combining the powers of Richmond musicians Ty Sorrell and AG Himself. Their self-titled debut is coming later this month from local mainstay Grimalkin Records, and features collaborative assistance from producer Rathawn and poet/visual artist Rob Gibsun. The smooth, soulful sound of Cardinality incorporates hip hop, electronic, and R&B flavors, showcasing these talented local musicians through some seriously chill grooves.

You can pre-order Cardinality’s self-titled debut on 10 inch vinyl, cassette, and digital formats from the Grimalkin Records Bandcamp page, but while you wait for it to ship, kick off a smooth summer weekend with a formidable selection of jams handpicked especially for you by the duo. It features quite a few tracks from Cardinality’s local musical comrades, including Alfred., Shormey, and Billy Capricorn, as well as some great hip hop, classic pop, electronic sounds, and much more! On a weekend that promises way more fireworks than you can handle, this will be a very sweet antidote.

Let’s kick back, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.