RVA Shows You Must See This Week: August 13 – August 19
FEATURED SHOW
Saturday, August 16, 7 PM & 9:30 PM
Butcher Brown presents: Time For Jazz @ Reveler Experiences – $30-$40 (order tickets for 7 PM show HERE, 9 PM show HERE)
There was a time when Richmond’s music scene was really only known for a couple of genres — metal, punk, post-hardcore, and that was pretty much it. Over the last couple of decades, though, the scene’s versatility has grown, and Richmond has gone on to produce a number of internationally-known acts in all sorts of different genres, from indie queen Lucy Dacus to Americana powerhouse Matthew E. White to Latin-fueled art-pop virtuoso Angelica Garcia. With the international success they’ve seen in recent years, you’d have to consider soul-jazz quintet Butcher Brown another member of this list. Having originally risen to prominence during the heyday of Jellowstone, this band has pushed the limits of their original sound, breaking into totally new musical territory with the hip hop immersion of 2022’s Triple Trey and the exploratory space-age jazz-pop of their latest LP, Letters From The Atlantic. They’re making big moves and finding new sounds, but the fact that these five musicians might also feel the call of their roots at times can hardly be surprising.
That’s why it’s no surprise to learn that this Saturday night, it’s Time For Jazz. Time For Jazz could be considered the same band as Butcher Brown, but it’s also clearly a different project with a different tone. Going back to a more straightforward jazz sound that is if anything even more grounded in the genre’s fundamentals than the earliest music Butcher Brown made together, Time For Jazz explore a sound that would fit right in with classic bebop jazz sounds from the 1950s and 1960s. Marcus Tenney focuses on his saxophone, Andrew Randazzo busts out his acoustic bass, DJ Harrison sits behind an acoustic piano, and while guitarist Morgan Burrs and drummer Corey Fonville’s instrumentation doesn’t change, their approach certainly will, as this quintet focuses on creating deep jazz grooves that leave plenty of room for improvisation while remaining heavy on soul and vibes.
The opportunity to see the members of Butcher Brown don the mantle of Time For Jazz and explore the realms of classic jazz sounds is a priceless one, and it’s taking place within the intimate confines of Reveler Experiences, which makes it twice as special. Fortunately, while Reveler’s capacity is small, it is doubled by virtue of the fact that Time For Jazz will be doing two sets this Saturday night, an early one for which doors will open at 7, and a second one that will get rolling at 9:30. Grab tickets for whichever of these times suits your schedule — or, if they go as quick as I fear they might, whichever time is still available — and head over to Reveler for a lovely evening in a delightful jazz bar where you’ll hear some of the most talented musicians — in any genre — that Richmond has produced, as they take a journey into beloved musical terrain and give us all a chance to see Butcher Brown in a whole new light.
Wednesday, August 13, 8 PM
Natalie Brooke, Lucid Evolution @ The Camel – $16.35 in advance, $19.66 day of show (order tickets HERE)
There’s something really fun about watching someone play a keytar, isn’t there? It’s hard to say whether it’s an instrument we really ever needed — other than giving a keyboard player a chance to jump around and rock out like a guitar player is so often able to do, it doesn’t add an real instrumental functionality. But in the right hands, the introduction of a keytar to the stage is a great way to liven everything up just that little bit more. Baltimore-based singer, keyboardist, and delightful onstage performer Natalie Brooke may not play a keytar all the time, but she knows when to break one out, and her effervescent energy and obvious joy in playing music makes her the perfect sort of musician to do the absolute most and best with a keytar in her hand. She’ll come to The Camel tonight at the head of her talented quartet, fully prepared to create a joyful evening with her performances on a variety of key-possessing instruments.
Natalie Brooke’s most recent release is the 2024 EP, Wicked And Wonderful, and it does a great job of showing off her range, moving from complex, vocal-driven pop tunes to psychedelic keyboard workouts. She’ll surely do a fair bit of that tonight as well; live videos I’ve spotted on YouTube show that Ms. Brooke likes to improvise, exploring different sounds and moving across multiple instruments in her pursuit of keyboard nirvana. Expect to be taken on the ride of your life when she hits the stage tonight. Local psychedelic rock rangers Lucid Evolution will open up the night, and they’ll kick things off by sending us all soaring into the stratosphere with their stretched out lysergic epics. This one is sure to be a blast.
Thursday, August 14, 7 PM
Abhorrency, Left Cross, Plaguefever @ Cobra Cabana – $17.85 (order tickets HERE)
The latter half of this week is wall-to-wall brutality over at Cobra Cabana, and I’m only sorry I can’t send you to all three days of it; unfortunately, the Crowbar/Eyehategod double-feature happening over there tonight sold out weeks before my deadline. If you snoozed, you lost out on that one, I’m afraid. But fear not — there’s still a double helping of brutality awaiting you at the snake lodge this Thursday and Friday night, and it starts with this incredible triple thrash threat. Ripping California-based ensemble Abhorrency is at the top of this bill with a powerful slab of blackened death metal to rip off your head and… well, you’ve seen Full Metal Jacket, you know the rest. Their 2022 debut LP, Climax of Disgusting Impurities, is a totally blown-out wall of low-end noise, featuring blurry growling vocals, raging guitar riffs aplenty, and gnarly drum pounding that shifts from hyperspeed blasts to raging breakdown terror at the drop of a dime. There’ll be many occasions to headbang while these boys are onstage, so get your neck limbered up for that, because once it gets going, there’ll be no time to reconsider.
Two Richmond-based thrash units will hold down the support slots on this one. Left Cross are veterans of the Richmond scene, bashing out primitive late-80s style death-metallic thrash brutality for quite a few years now. Their latest LP, 2023’s Upon Desecrated Altars, finds them creating a whirling hurricane of low-end fury, calling to mind classic LPs from the early days of death metal — Cause Of Death, Spiritual Healing, Legion, all those Morrisound classics of my long-gone high school days. Expect these guys to steamroll you with pure death-metal power. Plaguefever, who are getting the evening started, probably owe the least to classic death metal of the three bands on this bill, but there’s definitely a major dose of early black metal fury mixed into the sound they dish out on their 2024 debut LP, Flail of Pestilence. Expect some scathing harshness and double-speed rage from these fine fellows. If it wasn’t clear before, you should definitely show up to this one expecting to spend the whole night headbanging. Odds are it’ll happen whether you’re prepared or not.
Friday, August 15, 7 PM
BAT, Heaven’s Gate, Laughing Corpse, Vigil @ Cobra Cabana – $14.48 (order tickets HERE)
The final night of Cobra Cabana’s half-week of raging metal fury finds a BAT invading the Snake Lair, bringing an unstoppable wall of classic late 80s-style thrash rage that should bring a smile to the face of anyone who grew on classic LPs by bands like Exodus, Sacred Reich, and DRI. In a city like this one, it’s no surprise to learn that a band with such a wonderful retro-thrash sound as the sound dished out by BAT has connections to Municipal Waste — and indeed, two-thirds of BAT’s lineup also play in Municipal Waste. Bassist/vocalist Ryan Waste and guitarist Nick Poulos both weild axes for the legendary Richmond thrash-metal masters. They originally formed BAT with former DRI drummer Felix Griffin, but he has since moved on, and these days the throne is held down by a classic Richmond utility player: Chris Marshall, who has previously wielded the sticks for Richmond hardcore bands like Kommunion, Sensual World, and Lipid, among others.
BAT released their long-awaited second LP, Under The Crooked Claw, last year, and it shows that the eight years since their first LP have done nothing to diminish their skill or their rage. These talented metal masters have tons of riffs with which to bludgeon us all, and they’ll be starting circle pits all night, without a doubt. And the same can certainly be said of the bands they’ll be bringing with them on this hellride, most prominently Heaven’s Gate. Led by Municipal Waste frontmaniac Tony Foresta on vocals, Heaven’s Gate also features former members of Cannibal Corpse, Reversal Of Man, and Warthog — all of whom have come together to scorch us all with some unholy grindcore hellfire. Their latest LP, Tales From A Blistering Paradise, is a perfect slab of crossover grind-thrash-hardcore genius, and it comes to us from legendary Virginia label Beach Impediment Records. What more could you possibly want? Oh, you want them to knock your block off when they hit the Cobra Cabana stage? Consider it done. The bill this evening is rounded out by a bashing, furious set of old-school hardcore from Washington DC ragers Laughing Corpse, and a set of take-no-prisoners vicious thrash from local faves Vigil. This one is a great way to get your weekend started on the proverbial good foot.
Saturday, August 16, 8 PM
Ten Pound Snail, Dropheads, DuctTape Jesus, ArtSchool @ The Camel – $12 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I’ve already told you all about the wide variety of musical brilliance Richmond has produced in recent years one time this column, but hey, why shouldn’t we talk about it again? After all, just as this city has recently birthed a number of artists who’ve gone on to be adored the world over, it’s also produced a ton of others that, while not quite as well-known as the first list, are all world-class talents at the top of their genre who the world definitely deserves to know about, sooner rather than later. And a whole bunch of those artists are playing this show together Saturday night at The Camel, so if there were ever a good night for you to get out and see what’s going on in your local scene, up close and in person, this would really be the night. Let’s face it, any one of these artists could headline a show in their own right. Any one of them could be considered a formidable talent within their chosen genre of music. Any one of them is worth the price of admission to this show all by themselves. And all of them have considerably different sounds that will ensure that all of them stand out on this power-packed bill. You will very rarely hear me say this, but this has got to be one of the most essential shows happening in Richmond this year.
So hey, what are you waiting for? Navigate to that link up there and order yourself a ticket. Here’s what you’ll get for the low, low price of $12: a set from headliners Ten Pound Snail, whose psychedelic take on alternative rock hit a new level with their 2024 third LP, Revolving Door, and whose members are widely acclaimed for their talent at their respective instruments. A set from Dropheads, whose beachy yet punky take on indie-style rock n’ roll is always a delight to hear, and who will release a brand new single, “Best Girl,” the night before this very shindig. A set from DuctTape Jesus, whose dark, tripped-out take on hip hop showcases a lackadaisically brilliant flow and some heavy, ominous beats. And a set from ArtSchool, an impassioned young ensemble whose take on classic punk rock brings in elements from folk, reggae, and hip hop to liven up a classic sound that harks back to The Clash and The Jam, among others. It’s going to be a delightful evening from beginning to end, in which every note is essential listening. Don’t miss a single second of this one.
Sunday, August 17, 7 PM
Richmond Synth Collective presents: Ear_Canal, Nova Aletheia, Stimulus Functions, Karacell, Sonakinesis @ Gallery 5 – $10 in advance, $12 at the door (order tickets HERE)
It’s been pretty cool to watch as the momentum has slowly grown over the past year or so for the Richmond Synth Collective, who have been working hard to bring back a sense of community and DIY spirit to the electronic music scene here in Richmond. Their meetups and showcases at venues like Reveler and Gallery 5 have given a scene that is often full of isolated, cerebral people spending most of their time working alone in their bedrooms and garages a place to come together. That’s a beautiful thing. I will admit that this kind of music isn’t the sort of thing I’m all that familiar or conversant with, but I’m always delighted to see a scene come together to grow and thrive. And there’s definitely a lot of great music being made by the various members of the Richmond Synth Collective. So this Sunday evening showcase at Gallery 5 is a great chance for you (and me) to experience that community, and their many fruitful endeavors, for ourselves.
The first artist on our list of new discoveries is Ear_Canal, who show off an obvious inspiration from the golden age of hip hop, specifically production geniuses like J Dilla. They feed their psychedelic take on classic hip hop beats through an electronic soundscape that has elements of classic analog synth instrumentals and the sort of experimental electronics that drove the classic work of groups like Mouse On Mars, or The Orb. I know less about Nova Aletheia, who has apparently also been known as Super Nova Ren, but what I’ve heard of her work has a gorgeous melodic sensibility and a looping kaleidoscopic sound that makes me think at least some of the time of Four Tet. Stimulus Functions is a creator who works with a modular synth setup to play fun danceable tunes full of subtle layers and intriguing sounds. Norfolk’s Karacell makes all-encompassing ambient soundscapes undergirded by subtle yet insistent beats that draw you in. While these artists are enrapturing you with their synthesized soundscapes, artist Sonakinesis will be adding a delightful visual element to the entire experience, making it a multimedia feast for the senses. Get down with this one, folks — you’ll be glad you did.
Monday, August 18, 7 PM
Bug Moment, Women In Peril, Back Up Kid, Machi! @ The Camel – $12 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Here’s an intriguing collision of two different musical forces to liven up your Monday night. We’ve previously discussed the fact that Richmond-based melodic screamo band Machi! are currently in the midst of a month-long Staff Picks residency at the Camel. This residency generally takes place on Sunday nights, and gives the Camel’s staff to let the wider city’s scene know about a particular artist they love, while also giving that artist a chance to play with a variety of different local acts, all of whom combine with their sound in intriguing ways. Well, this Monday night show breaks the usual rules for a Camel Staff Picks residency in a couple of different ways — first, by being on a Monday instead of a Sunday, and second, by combining Machi!’s residence with a performance by an out-of-town band who are coming through on tour. And to be clear, I’m cool with that! After all, rules were made to be broken. Plus, who says there’s any reason why a local residency and an out-of-town showcase can’t happen at the same time?
I certainly do not say that. What I do say is that all of you out there reading this who were excited for the next installment of Machi!’s residency should be just as excited about the opportunity to see Milwaukee-based quartet Bug Moment, who have a fun, catchy sound with more than a little bit of resemblance to what Machi! are doing. While Bug Moment are fundamentally a band that combines math-rock, pop, and emo sounds into something that stands outside all those genres, they’ve definitely got a strong appeal for folks who are fans of more straightforward takes on all of those genres. I hear elements of everything from Sunny Day Real Estate to Tera Melos to Stand Atlantic in their sound, and all of those elements are harnessed into pure musical delight on their latest EP, The Lazer Colllection. Expect their performance at The Camel Monday night to be every bit as delightful. Bug Moment’s tourmates, the Boston-based band Women In Peril, have a more straightforward melodic emo-pop sound, one that should click for fans of Hop Along or Soccer Mommy, and are every bit as great as their tourmates. Relatively new Richmond rock n’ roll band Back Up Kid will offer local support, and of course Machi! will be rocking us all as well. This should be a great night. It’d be a shame if you missed it.
Tuesday, August 19, 7 PM
Elnuh, Kristeva, Lichtenvol, Homey @ Gallery 5 – $12.51 (order tickets HERE)
This is going to be a great one for the emo kids who like it ambient and moody. San Diego musician Elnuh, the alter ego of singer-guitarist Elena Lopez, likes to let her guitar chords ring and her melodies bounce through chains of echo and delay, but when she really gets going, she and her trio can definitely work up some energy. The latest Elnuh album, Entropy, finds the group working through songs that move from quiet atmospherics to noisy shoegaze-style guitar meltdowns, always accompanied by lyrics expressing the difficulty of relationships in an era where everyone is simultaneously extremely observable and very hard to get to know for real. It’s a big mood, for sure, and the way Elnuh’s quiet, downcast vocals and glittering guitar riffs intersect with the driving rhythms and fuzzy noise of the band’s biggest, most powerful moments is a study in powerful contrasts. It’ll definitely enrapture all comers at Gallery 5 on Tuesday night.
A trio of locals will round out this bill with some powerful musical support that’s definitely simpatico with the vibes Elnuh will create. Kristeva in particular is on their wavelength, especially on their recently released self-titled LP. Lengthy post-rock epics build up into driving crescendos that carry powerful emotion with them — not to mention walls of fuzz guitar heaviness. At top volume on the Gallery 5 stage, this band is sure to liven up your Tuesday night. Richmonders Lichtenvol are also on the bill, with a sound that mashes up shoegaze tropes with driving alt-rock riffs in a manner that sometimes resembles classic early-90s indie rock noise projects like the Swirlies and The Lilys. Yeah, I know, old-lady references. Trust me — find them on Spotify, they’re really good. And so is Lichtenvol. Local newcomers Homey will get the evening started off with some riffy, strummy indie rock vibes that will get things rolling on a good note. This will certainly be a good way to liven up that early part of the week when everyone feels a little blah. So hey, show up and get stoked. Even on a Tuesday night.
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): rvamustseeshows@gmail.com
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