Scene Recap: Liner Notes, Nath, Hyrule

Countless great outlets, organizations, and individuals cover the music scene in Richmond, so many that it might be hard to keep up to date on all of them. We’ll try and collect some great articles, coverage, and news bits we’ve read each week here at The Auricular.

• The second season of Liner Notes premiered this past Tuesday on HearRVA’s YouTube channel featuring the wonderful Ms. Jaylin Brown. I love this interview so much — it really speaks to the effortless beauty and charm of her music. I’ve listened to it twice now, both times followed by her amazing EP Take It Easy (Newlin nominated record I might add). This interview series gets my highest possible recommendation. Kudos to Elijah and the rest of the HearRVA crew for making something that’s so enjoyable to watch and also super beneficial to the scene. Make time to watch this (or just listen if you want) and also make sure you’re coming back each week for more. The rest of the line-up for season 2 is insane! (YouTube link here.)

• Forgot to mention this last week, we started an “On This Day” section on our website on May 1st. We’re highlighting notable releases from years past that were made right here in Richmond. Hip-hop, metal, folk, pop, rock, punk, electronica, experimental, ambient. We’re covering it all with these daily lists so either check out the website each morning or look on our social media to learn more about Richmond’s illustrious musical history! (Website link here.)

• You might want to reserve the evening of Saturday, September 23rd in your calendar. There will be a fun announcement soon!

• Harrisonburg band Dogwood Tales (basically Richmond, come on) released a new single “Stranger” last week and Davy Jones from Style Weekly chatted with them to learn more about the intention and inspiration behind it. (Article link here.)

• Andrew Bonieskie’s weekly Sound Check column at RVA Magazine covered locals Chris Leggett, Tiara & Andrew (another Newlin nominated artist!), WKNDR (another Newlin nominated artist!), Kendall Street Company, and Gnawing (hey, the Newlin hat trick in this column!). Check it out. Oh, and more on Bones below. (Article link here.)

• Vy Truong has put out some good articles over at theMSQshop recently and here’s another one: a review of Khaos Ky’s December record Waiting Room! (Article link here.)

• Don Harrison talked about Mandy Barnet’s unbreakable link to Patsy Cline before her performance at the Beacon Theatre tomorrow. Read the article over at Style Weekly. (Article link here.)

• This one was interesting. Peter McElhinney at Style Weekly looked at husband-wife duo Nefesh Mountain who weave Jewish sentimentality into American roots music. (Article link here.)

• Lots of good coverage going on in the scene lately. We’re always looking for more people to help out around here. Shoot us an e-mail or DM if you’re interested!

• DC-based electroacoustic group Fuse Ensemble stopped by Shockoe Sessions Live! this past Tuesday. As a fan of boundary-pushing chamber acts like Victoire, this was a fascinating performance. Wish I could have been there. Up next for the In Your Ear studios: Pebbles Palace, a group fronted by Andrew Bonieskie, the driving force behind RVA Magazine this year. They just put out a fantastic new single entitled “It’s Better Getting Up With You” that you should go listen to right now. Until then, check out Fuse Ensemble’s performance! (YouTube link here.)

• There was apparently something fun shot this past weekend with a ton of local musicians. Guess we’ll wait to see which way the wind blows.

• Episode 80 of River City Sounds breaks the formula a little, featuring the cast of local music podcast ADGROD for an entirely improvised episode. Love listening to every episode of this podcast, but this episode is definitely special. (Spotify link here.)

• Scum City Spotlight returned with their fifth episode talking to metal band Bend The Knee so check it out! (YouTube link here.)

• You might want to be following HOUSHOW on Instagram. I don’t know. Might be something interesting coming out of there soon… (Instagram link here.)

• Hearstrings Festival has delayed their lineup announcement, but tickets are still on sale and everything is moving forward for the three-day festival at the very end of September. Check it out if you haven’t already! (Website link here.)

• As you can see, a lot is going on in town and that’s all fueled by a music scene constantly putting out new records and singles. If you didn’t know, I cover all of the new releases every week, scouring the internet for singles, EPs, and LPs from artists big and small across Richmond. I’m covering literally everything imaginable in these columns from dubstep and Riddim to noisecore and glitch to hip-hop and punk. You should check it out and find something new and local to love! (Article link here.)

• On top of the recorded music, there are also more concerts going on each week than we know what to do with. Luckily, we have tireless devotees to local music like Marilyn Drew Necci and the duo behind RestlessRVA who help sift through concerts every week. Mrs. Necci has a weekly column here highlighting some key shows coming up in the next week (Article link here), while the RestlessRVA folks have “tasting menus” of all concerts from Thursday through Sunday (Instagram link here). Make sure to be checking out both places so you can keep up-to-date on some amazing shows in the city, both from local artists and nationally touring acts.

• Let’s wrap this column up by talking about a good local song and not fixating on the fact that Amazon has yet to deliver my copy of Tears Of The Kingdom. Thankfully, there’s a local musician out there with a song that just might tide me over until that package arrives (right now, it says by 11 PM… pray for me). I’ve mentioned before I have a long list of artists or songs that I want to talk about in this weekly column. One such artist is Nath, an emotive and sentimental singer-songwriter who I’ve had my ear on for a few years now. She’s been releasing music since 2014 when she put out Sirens, a moving four-song EP that grabbed me just by the title alone. I’ve talked about it before, but the mythological creatures are my absolute favorite musical motif, trope, call-back, whatever. “Song To The Siren” by Tim Buckley is one of my all-time favorite songs (and all the different cover versions are incredible, specifically the John Frusciante one), and more recent additions to that rich canon like “The Sailor And The Siren” by Korbe Canida are also favorites of mine.

That record by Nath is not what turned me on to her though. It was actually “Masks,” a single she released in March of 2020. I’m not sure when I heard it that spring, but I know it was played a lot in my home office the day a friend e-mailed it to me, helping to expand that small room with her gorgeous voice as the isolation soldiered on. From there, I went back through her discography, discovering Sirens and 2016’s The Flames That Forge Us which has a really moving song more locals need to hear entitled “Oh, Richmond.” Listening to that song feels like a melding of conversations I’ve had with artists who’ve moved away and then back to town, or with non-natives who stumbled onto the city in one way or another. It feels so true to the Richmond experience, one I’ve heard expressed in other songs too, most notably “Indecision” by Carbon Leaf.

“Oh, Richmond” is actually the song I wrote down to talk about in this column, but seeing as today is Zelda release day, I’m going to distract my FOMO by talking about her sweeping track “Let’s Save Hyrule Together” from last July. Written as an anniversary present for a couple she knew, this isn’t a song that’s dripping with lyrical references or musical easter eggs. This is just a song that embodies the feeling of wide-eyed exploration that inspired Shigeru Miyamoto to create the acclaimed series all those decades ago, a journey that’s always better with someone by your side whether it’s Navi, Midna, the King Of Red Lions, Ezlo, or even Fi. Joining Nath on this song is Steve Davis, who really helps embody that sturdy partnership the song is looking to celebrate. This song is absolutely wonderful and even without it being a monumental day in Hylian culture, I’d still give this song a strong recommendation. But it is Zelda day, so I’ll be playing this song on repeat for a while… as you should as well if you don’t have the game yet. I’ll catch you all next week.