RVA Shows You Must See This Week: July 2 – July 8
FEATURED SHOW
Sunday, July 6, 6 PM
RVA Anti-Fest, feat. Lil’ Sleeper, Nacymis, Airport, Wertlos, Greyrot, Black Saturn & Acheleg, Druid Stone, Bodied, Xen-56, Yotzeret Sheydim, Red Terror, Ghostmeat @ Fallout – $23 in advance, $30 day of show (order tickets HERE)
There’s a long tradition of noise music in Richmond’s music scene, generally operating on the fringes of a variety of different underground genres. You get noise that’s an extreme evolution of punk rock, noise that grew from the more atonal fringes of electronic music, noise that’s evolving out of the early days of industrial and forsaking that genre’s later turn toward more danceable sounds (or alternatively, that’s taken the more danceable elements of modern industrial and cranked them up to the point that they’re almost confrontational in tone)… I’ve even seen some noise performers who appear to have evolved out of the world of minimalist classical composition. And if you ask me, this wide spectrum of what can be meant by noise only benefits the genre (to the extent that it is an actual genre) of noise, in that it moves farther and farther away from a point it reached in the not-too-distant past when everything you heard at a noise show was just a different flavor of static.
There’s a lot of variety on the bill at RVA Anti-Fest, taking place this Sunday evening at Fallout (technically, this is night 2 of the fest, but night 1 is happening at a private space, and I’m not gonna blow up the spot). All of the artists performing have some element of the harsh, atonal sound and confrontational approach of classic noise, but the great thing is that they all take it to such different places. Honestly, if you can remember being at noise shows where you sometimes felt like it was just a succession of hissing static blasts, the only thing differentiating them being whether they were being made by a guy in a suit staring intensely at a laptop or three dirty punks throwing things at each other and injuring themselves… well, this show will definitely give you a whole new attitude toward the variety, vitality, and enjoyment a noise show is capable of offering you. Now, if you’re anything like me, you may look at this bill and find most if not all of the artist names on here unfamiliar. And if so, that’s OK — these aren’t massively popular artists by any means. But they all have something great to offer, and the combination of them all into one long Sunday night bill at Fallout is going to be a lot of fun to experience, even if you don’t know at any given moment what you’re going to hear next.
To that end, though, let me try to go through this list and offer you a bird’s eye view on what a lot of these artists sound like, and a picture of how different the sounds you’ll hear over the course of the evening will be. Black Saturn & Acheleg, who recently made a collaborative album with Igor Amokian, will work together to create a strange hybrid of electro-dance, hip hop, and raw harsh noise. Wertlos will bring a dark, metallic cacophony of pounding industrial beats, harsh guitar riffs, and throaty roaring vocals. If you’re looking to bang your head, these guys will certainly satisfy you. Nacymis aka SameStory has a powerful wall of overdriven electro-sludge angst to hit you with — folks who like Liturgy at their weirdest and most occult will find a lot to enjoy here. Druid Stone play really overloaded and blown-out psychedelic acid stoner metal, and I expect their set to be one of the freakier sets of the evening. Bodied are a full-on noisy, sludgy metallic hardcore band — like, the kind of band I might tell you to check out if you went to a Terror Cell show. And yet, if you squint, you can still see how they’re doing something with a strong atonal-noise influence stirred in. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Lil Sleeper, who are closer to a hard techno dance project, only with everything clipping and fuzzing out due to sheer volume. Yotzeret Sheydim keeps it old school with a big wall of static that somehow captures the feel of vintage exploitation films. There’s more than that too, but right now, you know more than enough to know that there’s something on this bill for you, and to know that the sheer variety of the evening will provide you with more than enough entertainment. So end your long Fourth of July weekend at Fallout with a full spectrum of noise. You won’t regret it.
Wednesday, July 2, 6 PM
Anyfolk, feat. Blackwood Station, Valeria Stewart, Caroline Vain, Andrew Magruder & Robert Torrence, Grey Jacks, SirDr @ Hardywood RVA – Free!
On some level, I have to respect what Tyler Meacham is doing with her ongoing Anyfolk series, which pops up at various smaller venues around town at least once every few weeks to give us all half a dozen or so different performers, who generally play acoustically and approach their music from a slightly different angle than usual. She likes to make the theme of the night the reason you’ll want to go, and I suppose that’s why the lineup is generally not announced in advance. Despite my respect for this overall approach, it can be a little frustrating when you’re a person like me, trying to convince people to go to particular shows. If I want to be convincing when I tell people to go, I have to know at least a bit of what I’m sending them in to see. Luckily for me, I have some connections around the local scene, and can generally figure out who is playing. That’s why, this time around, you’re getting that info several hours in advance.
Blackwood Station are the top band on the list I was handed, and this project, led by Ian Blackwood, has a great psychedelic sunshine pop folk sound that harks back to 60s classics from bands like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Millennium. They’re sure to be a highlight of the evening, but they’re far from the only one. There’s also the up-and-coming alt-pop singer-songwriter Caroline Vain, who’s done a lot recently to generate the buzz she now seems to be benefiting from. If you don’t believe me, there’s a brief yet excellent four-song self-titled EP she released earlier in 2025 to dig into in order to remove all doubt. This woman has real talent. Grey Jacks is a solo project from the leader of the DC indie-folk band The Grey A. If you’re already familiar with that group, I imagine you’ll know what to expect when Grey Jacks hits the stage. Valeria Stewart’s music has a gentle twang and some lovely melodies, with a subtle energy driving it all. I’m not too sure what Andrew Magruder and Robert Torrence will team up to produce for us all, but I do know that the former plays violin and the latter plays piano, so the combination should certainly sound mellifluous. Last but not least, SirDr are a recently formed queer folk-pop ensemble with some beautiful tunes of their own to offer. Whether you’re headed to Anyfolk at Hardywood tonight for any of these artists in particular or if you just want to go check out the vibe, you can expect a great time.
Thursday, July 3, 7:30 PM
MC Chris, Swell Rell, DnD Sluggers @ Cobra Cabana – $18 in advance, $22 day of show (order tickets HERE)
OK, this Thursday night is the night before the Fourth Of July, which has surely become the most bitterly ironic holiday in the history of this country (subversion of the rule of law! terrorism in the streets! corruption! blatant discriminatory actions! LET’S ALL CELEBRATE OUR FREEDOM!). And I don’t know about the rest of you, but lately I’m finding myself delving deeply into art that offers pure escapist joy and fun — because god damn, the world is a bummer. That makes this the perfect time for MC Chris to return to Richmond once again. This legendary veteran rapper is best known to those of us of a certain age for his recurring role as the many mutations of MC Pee Pants on Aqua Teen Hunger Force back in the day. And sure, those MC Pee Pants tracks like “I Want Candy” were a lot of fun. But in the two or so decades since Aqua Teen Hunger Force were in their prime, MC Chris has shown that he has staying power.
The goofball gangster flow and fascination with junk food and junk culture that have always defined MC Chris’s approach remain an endless well of entertaining tracks full of hilarious punchlines and undeniable flow. On his most recent LP, #mcchrisisgoodmusic, he raps about Taco Bell gordita crunches and McDonalds Chicken McNuggets over bouncy beats that you can’t help but dance to, even as he delivers entertaining lines like “Taco Bell’s the shit/ A place you can hang with your friends/ Yes, it might give you the shits/ But I like to call it a cleanse” (where’s the lie though). I know, I know, the world’s falling apart, but wouldn’t you rather listen to this wacky rapper deliver lines about choco-diles and Burger King chicken strips? The bad news of the day will still be there when you leave Cobra Cabana after this show. Openers include Swell Rell, who has a harder trap-style hip hop sound but a similarly goofy lyrical sensibility to that of MC Chris; and DnD Sluggers, who call what they do “nerdcore” and once again inject their hip hop/R&B derived sound with a fair bit of tongue-in-cheek wit. This show will be a lot of fun — and god knows we need fun to survive right now.
Friday, July 4, 4 PM
Riffs & Recovery Presents: Sea, Natural Astronaut, Elabor, Aidan Giuffre @ Gallery 5 – Free!
It’s not like this will be news to anyone who has known me for a while, but I’m a sober person. Specifically, I call myself straight edge, and have for almost 35 years now. I was fortunate to see what direction my interest in substances was heading, and to cut myself off before things got bad. Unfortunately, some people end up in some pretty bad places before they can find their way to sobriety. And some of those people are involved in underground music. It’s for people like that that Riffs & Recovery was started. This Richmond-based sobriety support group holds weekly meetings at Gallery 5 helping folks who are finding their way through the world without substances. This month at Gallery 5, in celebration of their one-year anniversary, Riffs & Recovery are presenting a multi-artist exhibition called “In Bloom,” which features work celebrating “growth, renewal, and transformation through the lens of sobriety.” This show is the First Friday opening of the “In Bloom” exhibiltion, and in keeping with the theme of Riffs & Recovery, it’s an alcohol-free event featuring a mocktail bar and NA beer & wine options.
It also features several local artists performing their own music for all comers. None of them are all that well known, even locally, but all of them have some great things to offer. Natural Astronaut is guitar-driven ambient melodies with heartfelt vocals that can sometimes, from what I’ve heard, feel quite intense and emotional. Elabor, the solo project of musician Eric Eckhart, is an ambient drone experience that manipulates sounds from guitars, electronics, and other noise-making devices into hypnotic, gorgeous humming. I’m not sure exactly what to expect from Sea — I know they have connections to Black Plastic and Cave Death, but haven’t heard any of their music under their own name. The connections alone are enough to intrigue me, though — they should do the same for you. The evening is rounded out by a set from local singer-songwriter Aidan Giuffre, whose three singles over the past three years have revealed an off-kilter pop wunderkind in the offing. Expect catchy tunes with an intriguing atmosphere from this set. Come to this show and enjoy an evening free of the pressure to alter your mental state. It’s well worth your time.
Saturday, July 5, 7 PM
Brookhouse, Theocles, Dietz and the Dilemmas @ Gallery 5 – $12.51 (order tickets HERE)
Brookhouse is a relatively new artist to the Richmond indie music scene, one I don’t really have too strong an understanding of on a purely sonic level. The only recording I’ve heard by Brookhouse is a live recording from a performance at an earlier edition of Anyfolk, and the notes on the recording say the studio versions of these songs will sound quite a bit different once they come out. So there’s an extent to which I’ll be as fascinated and surprised by Brookhouse’s performance this Saturday as anyone else in the room; this is the arrival of a talented new artist who has not really been heralded by a lot of advance press. This show is a celebration of Brookhouse’s debut single, “American Sounds,” and I haven’t heard that song yet, but if you tune back in here at The Auricular tomorrow, you’ll get the chance to hear it at the same time the rest of the world does, because we’ll be premiering it.
I expect a similar sort of feel that I derive from the Live at Anyfolk recordings, which feature energetic, guitar-driven acoustic pop songs full of revolutionary fervor and a strong influence from Latin American music forms. For Brookhouse, the creative act of making music is heavily informed by his multi-cultural background, with one side of his family coming to the United States from Cuba in the 60s, and the other side hailing from the wilds of West Virginia. The mixture of these cultural influences produces a distinctive blend of Americana and Latin jazz as well as a variety of other influences, all of which get fed through this artist’s keen songwriting ability and come out as brilliant music for the people of all nations. There’s real potential for world domination here — get in on the ground floor by coming to Gallery 5 this Saturday night. Guitarist Theocles, who uses a loop pedal to create catchy, thickly layered acoustic soul-pop tunes, will contribute an opening set, as will talented guitar popsters Dietz And The Dilemmas. This one’s gonna be a great time.
Sunday, July 6, 7 PM
Slaat, Colo, Die Standing, Opium Church, Paradiso @ The Camel – $10 in advance, $12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It makes me happy to see that young bands are still playing hardcore music, even if the kind of music they land on isn’t exactly like the hardcore of my youth. Take this Sunday night gig at The Camel, for example — when I was young, all of these bands would have been seen as closer to death metal than hardcore. Today, though, they fit right in. Richmonders Slaat have made a name for themselves over the past couple of years around town, and their music has real velocity to it at times. To my elderly ears, their breakdowns feel downright sludgy, and their downtuned chugging riffage and the occasional vocal growls mark them as a band that evolved after hardcore began to be heavily influenced by sludge, slam, and death metal. The two great tastes do taste great together, though, so you’ve really just gotta love it.
Slaat are joined on this bill by a few out of town bands who come from elsewhere around the state. In particular, both Die Standing and Opium Church come from Lynchburg, a city that, not so long ago, seemed to only produce Christian metalcore ensembles. Neither of these bands has any allegiance to that genre, and I’m thankful, as the music they make is far more interesting for it. Die Standing bring the mosh with some rough hardcore riffs that don’t get all that fast but always, always stay heavy. Fellow Lynchburgians (Lynchburghers? Probably not, right?) Opium Church take things in a doomier direction, working up some solid early-Eyehategod vibes that’ll fit right in with the heavier moments the more hardcore bands on this bill are dishing out. Northern Virginia band Colo have a faster, more uptempo overall attack, but they retain the ability to hit some proper heavy breakdowns as well. I expect great things from these folks. Richmonders Paradiso will start things off with some heavy, thrashy metallic hardcore action. This whole night should be a lot of fun for anyone who enjoys heavy music, whether your idea of what hardcore sounds like was formed back in the 90s or in the last few years.
Monday, July 7, 7 PM
Beefcake, Rubber Dagger, Text Brian By Friday, Stuck Down @ Bandito’s – $10
What do you expect when you hear that the headlining band on this Monday night bill at Bandito’s is called Beefcake? Is that expectation changed if you find out that the band’s debut EP, …Is the Cat’s Name, makes clear that the name is ironic in tone? Now that you know that, are you less surprised to learn that Beefcake is an acoustic indie-folk-pop project? OK, OK, I’ll write a sentence in this blurb that doesn’t end with a question mark. You happy? Anyway, this group not only brings a subtle wit to their lyrical approach (I caught that MF Doom lyric lift at the end of the song about the cat), they also bring strong pop songcraft and some memorable melodies that’ll make their set at Bandito’s this Monday night a true delight. If you haven’t picked up on them yet, this is a great time to do it.
As for Rubber Dagger, these folks have been hanging around the Richmond scene for a few years now, but they’ve recently taking things up a notch with the release of their debut full-length, Spaghetti Dinner. Filled with the kind of catchy, upbeat lo-fi punk that seems to draw just as much on classic street punk as it does on catchy guitar-driven indie sounds, this is an album that should please fans of both Guided By Voices and Sham 69, if you can imagine. I know, I wouldn’t have believed it myself — that’s why you gotta come to Bandito’s on Monday and hear it for yourself! Other bands on the bill include the memorably named Text Brian By Friday, who play some undeniably fun Weezer-ish indie-dork tunes, and Virginia Beach band Stuck Down, who bring an energetic, aggressive spirit to their upbeat, catchy punk rock tunes. This one’s gonna be fun — especially if you order a plate of nachos before the bands play.
Tuesday, July 8, 7 PM
Battlemaster, Baazlvaat, Glorious Descent @ Cobra Cabana – $10
Boy, it’s always a delight to see another appearance by the legendary Battlemaster pop up on the upcoming-shows calendar. I’ve been seeing this band of seriously talented thrash metal shredders rock hard and rip faces off for something like two decades now, and as the years go by, they continue to deliver the goods. Granted, they hit the stage and tread the boards less often today than they once did, but that’s only further reason to make any Battlemaster live performance appointment viewing. After 2023’s Greedgripped & Spellspoilt made clear to everyone that this band still had every bit of talent they’ve always had, any concerns of their continuing relevance should be wiped away for at least another eight years, minimum. Battlemaster dispenses high-speed, thrash-tastic guitar-shred metal of the highest possible quality — the sort of thing fans of everyone from Death to Slayer to Emperor to Decapitated should get a big kick out of. And best of all, they’re an incredible live band. You do NOT want to miss this performance.
For this show, Battlemaster have joined forces with Flint, Michigan-based lo-fi black metal maniacs Baazlvaat, who — in keeping with the classic black metal tactic of drawing on musical styles with connections to their own ethnic folk roots — mix traditional Celtic sounds and instruments with harsh screams and classic double-time guitar riffs. 2024’s Ridiculed by the Common Soldiery has a surprisingly upbeat feel to the riffs even as the drums pound and the guitars shred harshly. As with a lot of great metal bands, this stuff can be a lot of fun, even if you are taking your riffs very seriously. This is the sort of thing I wish more death metal bands knew, and the sort of thing that will make this Tuesday night show at Cobra Cabana even more of a blast than it already promises to be. Pennsylvania gothic black metal shredders Glorious Descent will get this evening started with some serious rage and powerful old-school metal riffage. Expect a Tuesday night to remember from this one.
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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