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La Dispute, Touché Amoré, Empath at The Broadberry

John Reinhold | November 25, 2019

Topics: Empath, live music, must see shows, The Broadberry, Things to do in Ricmond, things to do in RVA, Touche Amore

La Dispute with Touché Amoré and Empath at The Broadberry on November 26

Broadberry Entertainment Group Presents!

La Dispute, Touché Amoré, Empath at The Broadberry at The Broadberry with Touche Amore and Empath
Tuesday, November 26th, 2019
$25 in advance
Doors at 7pm, Music at 8pm.

La Dispute – Post- Rock
https://www.ladispute.org/
Spotify: bit.ly/LaDisputespotify
Listen: “ANXIETY PANORAMA:” bit.ly/anxietypanorama

Touche Amore
https://www.toucheamore.com/
Listen: “Benediction:” bit.ly/benedictionTA

Empath
https://empathx.bandcamp.com/
Listen : “Soft Shape:” bit.ly/EmpathSoft

La Dispute has never been a band prone to settling. The five-piece from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is responsible for some of the most uncompromising, experimental hardcore music of the last decade. From their 2008 debut (in their current formation) Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair, to 2011’s Wildlife, to 2015’s Rooms of the House, La Dispute have continually pushed themselves to find new ways to portray some of the most difficult and universally affecting subject matters. Casting a wide stylistic net that includes – but isn’t limited to – jazz, blues, spoken word, screamo and prog rock, La Dispute have developed a sound that, while constantly evolving, is unmistakably theirs.

  • Music

VA Shows You Must See This Week: November 20 – November 26

Marilyn Drew Necci | November 20, 2019

Topics: Addy, Alfred, Ant The Symbol, Archangel, Beeline, Big Sty, Blackliq, Bonsai Trees, Bravo, C Shreve, Cane, Capital Ale House Music Hall, Chance Fischer, Cole Hicks, David Shultz, Dropping Julia, Dropping Ugly, Easalio, Elevation27, Empath, F.R.E.E., Fan Ran, Femme Funk, gallery 5, Garden Grove Brewing, GIANT, GOOGZ, Gumming, Harli & The House of Jupiter, Illa Styles, Immortal Technique, Intalek, Jarv, Jimbo Mathus, Johnny Ciggs, jonathan vassar, La Dispute, Lance Bangs, Linden Row, Marti, Michael Millions, Nick Woods, Nickelus F, Poor Boys, Radio B, Rah Scrilla, Raw Mom Presents, Recluse Raccoon, Reppa Ton, RVA Rap Elite, Shagwüf, Ships In The Night, shows you must see, Sofia Lakis, The Broadberry, The Canal Club, The Dark Room, The Richmonder, The Southern Cafe, Touche Amore, Trapcry, Trey Burnart Hall, True Body, VV, Wild Pink

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, November 22 & Saturday November 23
Raw Mom Weekend, Night 1: Alfred, Trapcry, Archangel, F.R.E.E.
Night 2: Gumming, True Body, VV, Lance Bangs, Sofia Lakis
@ Gallery 5 – single night: $8 in advance/$10 at the door. Weekend pass: $15 in advance (order tickets HERE)

Hope everyone’s getting their wallets limbered up, their psyches strengthened, and their cars fit for traveling, because it’s that time again! Yes indeed, folks, the holidays are coming sooner than you think — Thanksgiving is a mere eight days away, and Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa are only a month past that. It’s coming time to see the fam, with all the happiness and terror that entails. But before the holiday season officially kicks in, let’s celebrate our river city fam with the first ever Raw Mom Weekend at Gallery 5.

My old pal Rivanna Youngpool has really outdone herself with this one, bringing two nights of incredible local talent together on the Gallery 5 stage to celebrate the ever-renewing wellspring of talent that is the Richmond music scene. Night one is the night on which we will all dance, featuring hip hop, ambient electro, and psychedelic dance grooves from several different politically-informed artists of color. Rapper Alfred will headline and bring his lysergic beats and tongue-twisting rhymes to keep your ears burning and your feet moving. Trapcry, meanwhile, brings powerful electric funk with a strong social conscience, as Archangel explores spaced-out anime-inspired breakbeats.

That’s Friday night, and on Saturday, night two brings us a whole different approach that’s sure to be equally invigorating. The noisy, quirky, brilliant, powerful punk rock of Gumming tops the bill and promises to trip you out and rip your head off all at the same time. Things will get more gothic at points with sets from True Body and VV, while Lance Bangs will bring you an always-pleasing dose of slack indie rockin’. Sofia Lakis will kick things off with some beats to ensure that there’s plenty of dancing on this night as well. What better way do we have to celebrate the last weekend before the holidays spread their ambivalent malaise across the next six weeks? I can’t think of one.

Wednesday, November 20, 9 PM
Ant The Symbol, GIANT, Johnny Ciggs, Reppa Ton, Rah Scrilla, Jarv, C Shreve @ The Richmonder – Free!

Over here at RVA Mag, we’ve been following the work of Ant The Symbol for a solid decade now, since back when he was still Just Plain Ant of the Just Plain Sounds crew. He’s been growing and maturing as a producer and musician ever since, and over the past few years, his massive collaborative albums have become event listening for the entire RVA hip hop scene whenever he releases one. THE WHAT?! is the latest in a string of Ant The Symbol releases on his post-JPS home of Gritty City Records, and it shows that as time goes on, the man just gets better at making incredible music for the city’s best to spit rhymes over.

That doesn’t mean he’s getting predictable — even his latest crew of collaborators can acknowledge that. The first thing Kels says on his THE WHAT?! track, “My Way,” is, “I love you, Ant, but this beat’s weird.” Speaking personally, that’s why I look forward to each new Ant The Symbol project — where others get predictable, he gets creative. He’s put out so many records I’ve honestly lost count, and he still hasn’t come anywhere near repeating himself. That’s why you should make a point to show up tonight at Gritty City’s longtime live home, which is called The Richmonder instead of Emilio’s now but is still the same dope spot. Ant The Symbol’s gonna join with his Gritty City crew and a whole bunch of other talented rappers from Richmond and beyond to bring you the freshest new sounds this city has to offer, in the form of his new album. Don’t be left asking, “the what?” Show up tonight so you know the answer.

Thursday, November 21, 7 PM
Wild Pink, Addy, Recluse Raccoon, Beeline @ Poor Boys – $5

If you’ve been seeing the phrase “Prsmcat Presents” on a bunch of good shows lately, you’re not the only one — this new booking project from members of Majjin Boo has brought a cornucopia of excellent live music to the city over the past couple months, and established themselves as a name to look out for. This visit from Brooklyn’s own Wild Pink is just the latest positive result of Prsmcat’s efforts around town, many of which have involved the return of rad live sounds to the backroom stage at Poor Boys, the venue formerly known as Flora and, before that, Balliceaux. I can’t imagine anyone having any complaints about that.

Wild Pink are definitely worth spending a Thursday night in the aforementioned back room. On last year’s Yolk In The Fur, it’s clear why this trio dedicated their latest album to the memory of Tom Petty — that recently-departed heartland rocker is an obvious influence for Wild Pink, one they feed through a 21st century sensibility that evokes the best work by The War On Drugs. It’s smooth, comfortable, and ever-so-slightly melancholy, in a manner sure to evoke a sad smile of recognition. Wild Pink will be joined on this weekend-preview night at Poor Boys by some excellent local indie groups as well, foremost among them Recluse Raccoon. The results are sure to charm you.

Friday, November 22, 7:30 PM
Bonsai Trees, Dropping Ugly, Linden Row @ Garden Grove Brewing – Free!

Damn, y’all, I love it when this happens — when I’m poking through a list of bands, all of which I’m unfamiliar with, trying to find the makings of a killer show. I always find something good — this is Richmond, after all; we do live music RIGHT. But it’s rare that I am totally blown away by a band whose name I’ve never even heard before. However, Connecticut’s Bonsai Trees are that rare band.

This talented quartet’s recently-released Learn To Grow LP came out of nowhere to blindside me with its incredible collection of melodic, emotional alt-rock tunes. The more I listen to it, the more stoked I get. At this rate, I’ll be bouncing all over the room by the time they even take the Garden Grove stage Friday night. And whether you’ve heard them before or not, I pretty much guarantee that once they start playing, you’ll be just as over the moon as I am. The fact that their show is free and also features talented RVA combos Dropping Ugly and Linden Row merely sweetens the already-delicious pot. Is that how that particular cliche works? Oh, who cares. All I care about is you going to see Bonsai Trees Friday night. Seriously, do it.

Saturday, November 23, 8 PM
David Shultz, Nick Woods, Jonathan Vassar, Trey Burnart Hall @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $8 (order tickets HERE)

By now, you’re probably used to seeing “singer-songwriter night” tagged onto certain performances that take place around this city, and you’ve come to expect certain things — talented solo performers who are for the most part just getting started with their musical careers, playing a selection of tunes you probably won’t have heard before but you just might love. This Saturday night show at Capital Ale House’s Richmond Music Hall could accurately be termed a singer-songwriter night as well, but if it were, it’d be a particularly stacked one, featuring as it does multiple Richmond musicians who’ve built decade-plus careers here in the river city.

Take David Shultz, for example. From his days fronting alt-country combo The Skyline to more recent solo acoustic outings and now some brand new tunes created with the assistance of multiple Spacebomb-affiliated creators (perhaps a harbinger of positive things to come?), Shultz has quite the track record going for him — and he’s clearly far from done as a creative musical force. His old pal Nick Woods is similar — once the Richmond-based frontman of indie-folk group Orioles, these days he’s making country-style acoustic music down in Nashville. And of course, Jonathan Vassar’s heartfelt folk-Americana sounds have been a constant here in Richmond for over 15 years now. Trey Burnart Hall is a relative newcomer by comparison, but he’s an incredibly talented one. If it’s a showcase for some of the most talented singer-songwriters this city’s ever produced that you crave, you’re in for a major treat at Capital Ale House this Saturday night.

Sunday, November 24, 6 PM
RVA Rap Elite Season Finale, feat. Team Radio (Radio B, Michael Millions, Cole Hicks, Cane, Intalek) vs Team Petey (Nickelus F, Big Sty, Easalio, Illa Styles, Fan Ran), Bravo vs. Chance Fischer, Big Sty, BlackLiq @ The Dark Room – $10

Battle rap is a strong tradition that dates back to the very dawn of hip hop, but it’s had its ups and downs over the decades. Freestyle battles between talented rappers are definitely on the upswing here in Richmond, though, and have been for the past few years, from the work of the Southpaw Battle Coalition to the star-studded presentations by RVA Rap Elite. This particular event constitutes the 2019 Season Finale for these events, which have relocated with the closing of Champion RVA to The Hofheimer Building’s Dark Room.

RVA Rap Elite majordomo Radio B is really pulling out all the stops for this last event of 2019, too — he and his AGM partner Nickelus F have each formed five-MC teams that will battle it out in a cypher sure to have faces melting and heads exploding all over the Hof. Between Radio B’s enlistment of heavy hitters Michael Millions, Cole Hicks, and more; and Nickelus F’s recruitment of Illa Styles, Fan Ran, and other world-class talents, it’s hard to predict who could prevail in this clash of the hip hop titans. Meanwhile, Bravo and Chance Fischer will strut their own stuff in a battle that’s guaranteed to showcase some devastating rhymes from these two top-level rhyme spitters. And of course, BlackLiq and Big Sty will each bring the fire with sets of their own. If you care at all about hip hop in RVA, you have got to make it out to this one — it really doesn’t get better.

Monday, November 25, 7 PM
Jimbo Mathus @ The Canal Club – $15 (order tickets HERE)

It’s entirely possible that right now, you’re thinking what I was thinking when I first saw this listing: “Jimbo Mathus… do I know who he is?” You almost certainly do, but chances are you know him better as the co-founder and leader of the Squirrel Nut Zippers than you do as a solo performer. Everyone remembers the Zippers from their late 90s hit, “Hell,” but that quick taste of success did them a disservice, as their old-time Dixieland jazz approach got them swept into the “swing revival” dustbin with the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and old VHS copies of Swingers when the turn of the millennium rolled around.

Meanwhile, Jimbo Mathus was and remains a world-class talent with a wide-ranging creative sensibility that finds him dipping into the worlds of folk, blues, and Southern soul, as he’s proven with his 2019 solo album Incinerator — his fourth under his own name. The album sees him collaborate with former Zippers bandmate Andrew Bird, as well as Lily Hiatt and members of the Drive-By Truckers. The result isn’t that much like your memories of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but it’s sure to be a hit with anyone who loves heartfelt American music created by truly unique characters that haven’t been homogenized by our country’s creeping suburban wasteland. That’s what you’ll get from Jimbo Mathus, and you’re going to love it.

Tuesday, November 26, 8 PM
La Dispute, Touche Amore, Empath @ The Broadberry – $25 (order tickets HERE)

One of the first articles I wrote for RVA Mag, nearly a decade ago, was about Touche Amore and Pianos Become The Teeth coming to town to perform. While La Dispute wasn’t part of that gig, they were, along with those other two bands, part of the loosely-aligned group known as The Wave. This was a cadre of half a dozen or so bands who formed an affiliation based on their mutual status as groups attempting to thread the needle between emo and hardcore at the dawn of the 2010s. Those groups have gone in a variety of musical directions since then — Pianos Become The Teeth have dropped the screaming and found a deep well of melodic emotion to draw from, Touche Amore have remained closely musically aligned to hardcore even as their exploration of deeply fraught lyrical content has cut ever closer to the bone.

As for La Dispute, 2019 has seen them sign to Epitaph Records and release their first LP in five years, Panorama. On it, vocalist Jordan Dreyer — always the most literarily inclined of The Wave’s songwriters — has gone deeper than ever into his novelistic inclinations, exploring his own emotional responses to trauma and tragedy in the lives of those he cares about over the course of the album’s 10 songs, even as the rest of the band generates dynamic compositions that move from quiet introspection to overwhelming crescendos in a matter of minutes. The result is an incredible musical journey that will have a powerful impact on all who witness it — especially in the live environment La Dispute will create at The Broadberry this Tuesday night. Let it impact you. Be there.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday, November 22, 6 PM
Femme Funk, feat. Shagwuf, Ships In The Night, Harli & The House of Jupiter, Dropping Julia, Marti @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $15 (order tickets HERE)

This Friday night in Charlottesville, The Southern Cafe will bring us the third annual celebration of C-ville’s showcase of femme musicians, Femme Funk. This year’s event is set to benefit Planned Parenthood of Charlottesville, and with the kind of peril reproductive rights and women’s health care face in Trump’s America, you’d be hard pressed to find a better cause than this one. Plus, you’ll get to hear a highly diverse set of sounds from Central Virginia performers of a feminine persuasion, and that’s always a joy.

It’s especially a joy when the evening is headlined by the unrestrained rock n’ roll passion of Shagwuf, whose blues-inflected alt-rock has been blowing minds around VA and beyond for quite a few years now. The evening will also feature as wide a variety of sounds as is possible to find in one room on one evening, from Harli & the House Of Jupiter’s powerful soul-punk fusion to Ships In The Night’s dark, ambient electronic sounds to the rootsy pop of Dropping Julia and the indie rocking of Marti. See how much femme artists have to offer the world of Virginia music and take a drive up 64 this Friday night for Femme Funk — you won’t be sorry.

Tuesday, November 26, 7:30 PM
Immortal Technique, GOOGZ @ Elevation27 (Virginia Beach) – $20-$25 (order tickets HERE)

If you’ve just been following the lists of new releases over the past eight years or so, you could be forgiven for thinking that Immortal Technique had retired from the hip hop game. We haven’t gotten any new music out of the most radical rapper in the game since his 2011 collection, The Martyr, and while he swears he’s still working on long-promised fifth album The Middle Passage, there’s no release date as yet. That’s all the more reason to head to Virginia Beach this Tuesday and see Immortal Technique murder the mic, live and in person.

While these days he’s probably better known for his radical left-wing politics due to multiple appearances on the shows of Joe Rogan and (uh) Alex Jones, Technique’s hip hop mixes those politics with some incredibly harsh lyrical content, leaving him somewhere between political rap and outright horrorcore — a dichotomy clearly visible in songs like “Point Of No Return” and “Dance With The Devil.” Regardless of whether you agree with everything Immortal Technique raps about (personally, I’ve never been a fan of his casual use of homophobic slurs), he’s an incredibly talented and provocative MC of the sort who doesn’t come around very often at all. So go see him, because there’s no telling when you’ll get the chance again.

—-

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]

Top Photo: Gumming, by Joey Wharton, via Twitter

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 9/27-10/3

Marilyn Drew Necci | September 27, 2017

Topics: '68, 10-56, Black Iris, Blue Nine, Brown Piss, Coteries, Dalek, Demon Eye, Dyrt, Fake Object, Flesh Control, Furniture Daniel, Glass Twin, Gouge Away, Idiot Proof, Kyle Flanagan, Muzak City, Plague Vendor, Prison Religion, Pyro Ohio, R Complex, Rafael Toral, Roy Batty, Scant, Sensual Assault, shows you must see, Single Mothers, Stone Garden Jam Temple, strange matter, Street Sects, Tel, The American Dream, The Blue Sky Disaster, The Bronx, The Camel, Thieves Of Shiloh, Touche Amore, Various Eggs, Venomspitter, Vilified, Wilsen, Yoga Demon, Yohimbe

FEATURED SHOW
Friday, September 29, 7:30 PM
Touche Amore, Single Mothers, Gouge Away, Venomspitter @ The Camel – $15 (order tickets HERE)
I will freely admit that I’ve written about both of the touring bands on this bill before. It’s true; there’s no shame in my game. However, if you think Touche Amore and Single Mothers coming to town not only again but together is not occasion to revisit some of the best hardcore/post-hardcore sounds to come out of California so far this decade, you are crazy. The nature of this column is that every show is considered a must-see just by virtue of being here. But seriously, this one is an absolute must, even in terms of the usual fare this column brings you.

Why the vehemence? Well, for starters, Touche Amore have remained a consistently exciting band over the course of four albums and nearly a decade of existence. Their latest, Stage Four, continues to push the boundaries of what they do without losing sight of the energy, passion, and melodic sensibilities that work in concert to make their music a cut above almost anything else you’ll hear within their chosen genre. The melodies are further to the front than they’ve been before, but the band has sacrificed none of their power, finding the sweet spot between driving hardcore and melodic emo that sees them at their absolute peak. It’s seriously their best stuff yet, and with as intense a stage presence as this band has, you absolutely cannot miss them bringing this material to you onstage.

Then there’s Single Mothers. This band is less emotional and more enervated, bringing a snarling post-hardcore attack to wry lyrics about personal decline and witty resignation. First LP Negative Qualities seemed to reach a sort of pinnacle in their channeling of the riff-heavy post-hardcore frustration brought to life in the 90s by bands like Bluetip, but this year sees followup Our Pleasure up the ante on that whole thing courtesy of sharper guitars and even more self-directed lyrical chagrin. With Floridian post-hardcore heroes Gouge Away and local metalcore champs Venomspitter on the bill as well, this is a monster of a show and you seriously, seriously, better be there.

Wednesday, September 27, 8 PM
Wilsen, Glass Twin, Various Eggs @ The Camel – $10 (order tickets HERE)
Here’s an intriguing sound that seems airlifted from a completely different era. Wilsen is a group born from the softly plucked nylon strings of Tamsin Wilson’s acoustic guitar, now embroidered with everything from ambient electric guitars and unobtrusive percussion to string swells that sound lifted straight from symphonies. The final result, when combined with Wilson’s riveting voice, is something to marvel at, and if you remain very still and don’t make any sudden moves, you may just find yourself wowed.

Wilsen comes to The Camel in support of their debut full-length, I Go Missing In My Sleep, a titular sentiment I can relate to as a sometime somnambulist (look it up). They may not be the loudest band ever to grace that Broad St. stage, but they’re sure to pull you into their aura nonetheless. With support from local alt-rockers Glass Twin and Various Eggs, this show looks to be a night of musical contemplation for the heavy thinker. Nothing at all wrong with that.

Thursday, September 28, 7 PM
Pyro Ohio, The American Dream, Vilified, Idiot Proof, The Blue Sky Disaster @ The Camel – $7 (order tickets HERE)
I must say, y’all, I missed a lot during my time shelving greeting cards for Hallmark and generally overlooking any music not made by the bands I covered in this column (due to sheer fatigue more than anything–I don’t miss that job). One extremely clear example of just how much I missed during my years in the wilderness is Pyro Ohio, a band from the nearby metropolis of Blacksburg who I am just discovering now, on their farewell tour. If you’re like me in this regard, we’ve got some lost time to make up for at The Camel this Thursday night.

Pyro Ohio’s 2015 album Keepsakes does an incredible job of bridging the gap between djent-adjacent technical metalcore and post-Chiodos heavy, progressive emo. Songs like “It’s Not My Tea, But I’ll Drink It” and “The Truest Reflection” stun with powerful chugging riffs and intense screams one minute and incredible melodies topped with beautifully sung lyrics the next. They’ll get you banging your head even as you marvel at their incredible melodic sense. How did I miss out on this band? Thank god I have one last chance to see them. And with a stacked support lineup including metallic screamo up-and-comers The Blue Sky Disaster as well as a few other locals I’m less familiar with but certainly seem at first blush to have a lot to offer, this show promises maximum headbang for your headbuck, or something like that.

Friday, September 29, 8 PM
Demon Eye, Roy Batty, Tel @ Strange Matter – $8
Raleigh’s Demon Eye are bringing a treat for old school Richmond heads when they appear this Friday night at Strange Matter, and not just because all the old heads are suckers for throwback doom metal sounds, either. This band features guitarist Erik Sugg, who some of you will remember from his younger days as a Richmonder playing in the late 90s local rock n’ rollers Dragstrip Syndicate. His former bandmates are mostly involved with Horsehead these days, and while their mutual decision to name bands after body parts of non-human creatures is strangely congruent, Demon Eye is an entirely different sort of beast–or, er, part of a beast–than Horsehead.

Proof of the intriguing differences here can certainly be found on the latest Demon Eye LP, Prophecies And Lies, released about a month and a half ago by Soulseller Records. Their sound is groovy rather than draggy, which is always nice from a retro doom band, and I’d most quickly compare them to Pentagram and Spirit Caravan, a couple of personal faves in that style. So even if you don’t remember Dragstrip Syndicate at all, rest assured this show is well worth your time. Sweetening the pot will be Roy Batty, the latest from former Hot Dolphin vocalist Lindsey Spurrier and former Avail drummer Erik Larson, along with some members from Hoboknife and La Mere Vipere, among others. Spooky local doomsters Tel kick the whole thing off in just the right fashion.

Saturday, September 30, 7:30 PM
Rafael Toral, Furniture Daniel @ Black Iris – $6-10 (sliding scale)
There’s a lot going on in the world of experimental noise these days, and a lot of it is certainly worth hearing, but there aren’t many new approaches taking place within the genre, which makes any that come along deserving of special notice. Therefore, it’s critical that the performance of Rafael Toral this Saturday night at Black Iris not escape your attention if experimental noise is relevant to your interests. In a world of avant-garde academic approaches, punk-influenced destruction, and outsider mania, Toral is all but unique in his free-jazz approach to noise. In collaborations with artists as noteworthy as Jim O’Rourke, Rhys Chatham, and John Zorn, Toral uses electronic instruments including oscillators, modular synthesizers, and even bizarre shit like “glove-controlled computer bass sinewaves” to create totally new sounds exploring the limits of the “new thing” Ornette Coleman laid down over 50 years ago.

Furniture Daniel mastermind David Dominique explores similar territory in his solo work, often leading jazz octets with hybrid instrumentation. His work as Furniture Daniel specifically explores spaced-out terrain of the sort sometimes covered by Klaus Schulze, using loop effects to tweak and modify sounds from synth, drum machines, and the human voice into intriguing soundscapes. Both of these artists mix jazz with noise and ambient vibes to create an intriguing atmosphere that will be taking over Black Iris this Saturday night. Be a part of it.

Sunday, October 1, 7 PM
Blue Nine Fest & Memorial, feat. Kyle Flanagan, Scant, Yohimbe, Stone Garden Jam Temple, Brown Piss, Coteries, Dyrt, Fake Object, 10-56, Flesh Control, Thieves Of Shiloh, Yoga Demon, Sensual Assault, Muzak City @ Strange Matter – $5
Sunday night sees a significant gathering of the more punk-based experimental noise scene here in Richmond; sadly, it’s to commemorate a tragedy. Local noise musician Bobbie Peters, who performed under the name Blue Nine, passed away earlier this year, and their many friends in the local scene are gathering to celebrate their life with the sort of harsh noise they loved. Whether or not you knew Bobbie, this is an important event for the RVA noise scene, one that is worth checking out as much for the chance to engage with the full spectrum of the local scene as for the opportunity to memorialize a fallen compatriot.

There are way too many artists on this bill to explore even half of them to the extent they deserve, but some that merit special mention include Brown Piss, the damaged electronic harshness generated by Suppression/Mutwawa/Chaotic Noise Productions mastermind Jason Hodges as a solo performer; Scant, the harsh, foreboding chaos generated by mid-Atlantic noise renaissance man Matt Boettke; Coteries, the enveloping atmospheric noise terror of Van Ficken; and Eric Tomillon’s monster of harsh noise, Fake Object. But honestly, everyone who’s anyone in Richmond’s experimental noise scene is here, so if you need a crash course, this is your perfect opportunity to get one. It’s a shame it had to happen for such a sad reason.

Monday, October 2, 8 PM
Dalek, Street Sects, Prison Religion, R-Complex @ Strange Matter – $12 (order tickets HERE)
Some underground legends of independent hip hop will return to Strange Matter this Monday, and if you don’t already know Dalek, it’s time to get familiar. This collective first presented itself to the world in the late 90s with Negro Necro Nekros, a groundbreaking collaboration with punk rock label Gern Blandsten, and the seven albums they’ve released since those days have continued to stretch the edges of what could be considered hip hop. These days, they make their home on Ipecac Recordings, the Mike Patton-owned home of a variety of somewhat uncategorizable but undeniably heavy musical legends. Dalek may not sound too much like labelmates The Melvins, but they are just as creative–and just as heavy–as those groups.

Their latest album, Endangered Philosophies, just hit the streets a few weeks ago, and shows the group continuing to pair the incisive lyrics and hard-hitting delivery of frontman MC Dalek with dark soundscapes that envelop the listener with an ominous undercurrent. They’ve been compared to shoegaze artists in the past, but it’s closer to the truth in my humble opinion to invoke the classic early material by Wu-Tang Clan or Mobb Deep, only drenched in the same sort of industrial darkness found at the heart of the best material from Godflesh–who, as it turns out, are actually their labelmates these days. The openers on this bill all share certain aspects of sound with Dalek, though each shares a different aspect–Texas’s Street Sects have a thudding industrial feel combined with postpunk song structures; locals Prison Religion combine heavy hip hop with harsh noise; and opener R-Complex explores an ambient industrial harshness of their own.

Tuesday, October 3, 7 PM
The Bronx, Plague Vendor, ’68 @ Strange Matter – $18 in advance/$20 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Let’s get back to some rock n’ roll to round out the week, shall we? The Bronx, who hail not from New York but LA, have been a reliable source of hella rockin’ punk sounds for quite a while now, and they just this past week brought their fifth album, The Bronx V, kicking and screaming into the world with the same sort of catchy, energetic songcraft that’s made their previous work so memorable. Lead single “Sore Throat” has an understated melody, driven primarily by bent-up guitar leads, but the main factor at work is its screaming intensity. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t expect the same sort of post-garage riff-stravaganzas that got you dancing like crazy on previous albums. Far from it–The Bronx are bringing the fire, the desire, and the inspire with the same fury they’ve always had.

There aren’t any local openers on this bill, either–just a nonstop blast of fury from a tour package that’s hard to beat. Fellow Californians Plague Vendor will directly precede The Bronx with a bit of a darker sound that evokes Ex-Cult and the Murder City Devils and is sure to draw you in. Meanwhile, ’68 start things off with what was originally a bit of a curveball from former Norma Jean/The Chariot singer Josh Scogin, who picked up a guitar, joined up with drummer Michael McClellan to create a rockin’ two-piece that retains The Chariot’s heaviness while exchanging some of its metallic riffing for a bit more of a straight-up rock n’ roll approach that makes perfect sense in light of the bands they’re currently touring with. Expect a bit of headbangs along with the dancing when these guys play, but hey, if you’re doing it right, your hair is always flying everywhere when you’re dancing anyway, so that shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

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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] [the rvamag address isn’t working for some reason, I haven’t had time to look into it! Bear with me]

Fest 13: Three days of hectic Halloween punk rock action

Marilyn Drew Necci | November 14, 2014

Topics: Candy Hearts, Caves, Circle Takes the Square, Close Talker, Descendents, Dikembe, Dowsing, Florida, Foxing, Gainesville, Halloween, Hold Tight!, Into It Over It, Kittyhawk, live music, Ma Jolie, music, Paint It Black, Post Teens, Rapturous Grief, RVIVR, Spraynard, Strike Anywhere, sundials, The Fest, The Hotelier, The Marked Men, The Menzingers, tim barry, Timeshares, Touche Amore, Typesetter, Underground Railroad to Candyland, Vacation, You Blew It!

The 2014 edition of the long-running punk music event known simply as Fest was held Oct 31, Nov 1st, and Nov 2nd at various venues, restaurants, bars, and public parks in Gainesville, Florida. Bands playing The Fest come from all over the globe–including quite a few from Richmond.
[Read more…] about Fest 13: Three days of hectic Halloween punk rock action

Enjoying The Punishment: An Interview With Touche Amore

Marilyn Drew Necci | July 11, 2014

Topics: interviews, Is Survived By, music, The Broadberry, Touche Amore

Whether you think of Touche Amore as post-hardcore, emo, screamo, or just plain punk rock, there can be no doubt as to their intensity, which shines through in their recordings as much as their live performances. Having previously played in Richmond with Title Fight and The Menzingers in a totally packed warehouse, they return to RVA this weekend with a performance tomorrow night at The Broadberry, this time in the company of Pennsylvania melodic punk band Tigers Jaw and NJ emo-punk duo Dads.

[Read more…] about Enjoying The Punishment: An Interview With Touche Amore

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