RVA Shows You Must See This Week: May 13 – May 19
FEATURED SHOW
Sunday, May 17, 6 PM
Parallel Listening Series, feat. John Bradberry Trio, Kraanerg, Justin Boening, Rosa Castellano, Nat Bergrin, Jules Liebenthal @ Gallery 5 – Free to attend, donations encouraged (reserve your spot HERE)
Don’t get me wrong here — I love spending three hours in a small (or large) room watching three or four bands play loud sets full of their best tunes, dancing and rocking out or just listening, humming, swaying and singing along. I love it more than most people, in fact, which is probably why we’re in year 12 of me writing a weekly column about this sort of thing. However, I certainly know enough by now to recognize that it’s particularly magical when people find a new twist on this tried-and-true entertainment format, shaking up the program and hitting people with whole new ways to see, hear, and appreciate the words, music, and performances that we get together night after night, week after week, year after year in order to experience. That’s why I particularly appreciate the work being done by Vocal Rest Records founder Trey Burnart Hall and Gallery 5 to bring the lovers of art, music, and writing the kind of unusual and delightful evening of entertainment that the bimonthly series known as Parallel Listening provides.
The format is an intriguing one, and not one you might expect just by looking at a flyer listing two musical acts and four writers. This is how it works — each musician is paired with two writers. The first writer reads a piece backed by the musician, who then plays a solo set for a little bit, then backs the second writer while they read a piece to wrap up that portion of the evening. There’s an intermission, after which a second musician comes out and plays a similar sort of set, combined with two more writers. By the end of the night, you’ve heard performances from two different musicians, and heard readings from four different writers, and you’ve heard them all in parallel — as the series name indicates. The goal is to promote reflection and inspiration and help integrate different forms of art rather than keeping them separate, as they so often are in this modern world of creative media.
This time around, the two musical acts on deck for the evening are both groups of some description. The John Bradberry Trio is a jazz group featuring guitarist and keyboardist John Bradberry up front, backed by acoustic bass and drum kit. There’s a real creativity and improvisational spirit at work in this group’s style, which should lend itself well to the format of the evening. As for Houston-based avant-prog collective Kraanerg, who named themselves after a maximalist Iannis Xenakis symphony for 23 instruments running 75 minutes in length. This certainly gives you an idea of what these folks are about, and you get an even better one by listening to 2021’s Veins Preserved In Cold Wire, an epic exploration of off-kilter melody and woozy, out of time structures. If John Bradberry’s Trio is likely to take things in an improvisational direction for this evening, you can expect that Kraanerg will go even farther out on a limb. These two acts will be joined by writers Justin Boening, an award-winning poet and Director of Strategy for design journal Peacham; Rosa Castellano, a poet and educator who co-founded the Richmond Poetry Festival; Nat Bergrin, an architectural designer who will also perform as the leader of Kraanerg; and journalist and space physicist Jules Liebenthal. You won’t see another night of unique performances like this one around here anytime soon — so definitely don’t miss this one.
Wednesday, May 13, 4 PM
Chaos & Carnage Tour, feat. Carnifex, Bodysnatcher, 200 Stab Wounds, Ingested, Gates To Hell, Bodybox @ Canal Club – $26 in advance, $30 day of show (order tickets HERE)
I don’t always know what’s going on with modern metal, so I missed out on hearing about the Chaos And Carnage tour until very recently. Therefore, I never had to hear about the bill with headliners at the top who ended up not making it to the final lineup. And I must say I’m glad, for instead of being disappointed by being promised a band I didn’t end up getting, I instead get to enjoy the bands on this show on their own merits, and be thankful for what I’ve got. Considering our headliner, Carnifex, is a truly amazing example of melodic deathcore — yes, it can happen! — I frankly don’t see what anyone has to complain about, especially when you consider the amount of bands you’re getting for this price. It works out to something like $5 a band, and who can hate on that?
Definitely not fans of brutal modern death metal and deathcore — which, by the way, it’s becoming harder and harder for me to tell apart. I’m sure two diehard fans of the wider genre could get into a three hour argument about which side of the dividing line the bands on this show land on, but I’m not gonna hash out that sort of thing. If you enjoy modern examples of these genres, you will surely find a lot to like here. It’s not just Carnifex, a band with a long history of brutal low-end breakdown mosh terror, either. Florida band Bodysnatcher’s approach hews more closely to the hardcore side of things, with tough, belligerent vocals and riffs full of energetic rage. Cult faves 200 Stab Wounds bring classic death metal power and riffage, avoiding any sort of display of technical brilliance in favor of ripping your head clean off and calling it good. Spoiler alert: it is good, even if your head is rolling down a gutter. Ingested are total death-growl overload powered by plodding, almost sludgy death metal breakdowns and a fury that can’t be denied. Gates To Hell and Bodybox each have their own take on brutal death metal to make the whole affair that much more delightful. This one should thrill all of the headbangers, regardless of who the headliner is.
Thursday, May 14, 7 PM
Sensual World, Visiting Hour, Skeksis, Star Sign @ Studio Two Three – $15
I’m always into the idea of catching punk and hardcore shows in venues that aren’t the stereotypical rock club or whatever, so I love that Studio Two Three is doing occasional live shows at their new location over on southside. It’ll certainly be a great place to catch this gathering of four punk bands, which is headlined by the one and only Sensual World. This Richmond quartet was getting quite a bit of attention in the months before the pandemic ended live music for a year and a half, releasing their debut album, Feeling Wild, in September 2019. Fronted by Americana troubadour Julie Karr on vocals and guitar, Sensual World — like Julie’s previous band, Bad Magic — did some amazing work of recontextualizing her bluesy, heartfelt vocals and jangly guitar playing by giving it a different sort of musical environment than it would have in her stripped-down solo work. In this case, the hazy atmospherics and moody octave basslines took things in the direction of post-punk and deathrock, drawing in fans from a decidedly different lane of the underground that Julie’s solo work ever reaches.
But of course, the pandemic made it a lot harder for bands to exist — even to practice, let alone play shows, write new material, make new records, any of that kind of thing. And working-class musicians have a lot going on at the best of times, so it’s no surprise that at the end of the pandemic-induced end of local live music for a good while left some bands in poor shape to make it back. Sensual World has rarely performed over the past 7 years, and they still haven’t released anything new since Feeling Wild seven years ago. That said, their pre-pandemic recordings and performances were more than enough to keep their reputation intact, and I’m sure I’m far from the only one who is delighted to see them making a rare live appearance here in Richmond. Whether they’re active enough to be planning new material is not info I’m privy to, but it’s likely you’ll learn more about that by going to see Sensual World for yourself. Fellow Richmonders Visiting Hour, who are preparing to release a debut full-length of their own, have some definite elements in common with Sensual World. However, they take them in very different directions, resulting in a sound that is far more psychedelic and pastoral than Sensual World’s, even as I can fully imagine fans of one liking the other a whole whole lot. Richmond newcomers Skeksis are named after some of the weirder puppets in cult classic Dark Crystal and have an apocalyptic crust sound that Amebix would be proud to have landed for themselves. Openers and brand-new local phenomenon Star Sign gets things started well with some melodic yet wistful tunes. Don’t be afraid to dip in for yourself.
Friday, May 15, 7 PM
Mid, Hugo Antes, Aloe Garden @ Gallery 5 – $14.64 (order tickets HERE)
Considering the direction that modern slang has taken over the past several years, the existence of a young Richmond rock band called Mid feels almost like an invitation to crack a particular joke. I will definitely resist the temptation, though, because of all the things that could be described by the slang term “mid,” the band Mid isn’t one of them. Their new EP, Slugger, is coming out this Friday, and brings together three very different sounds across its three songs, all of which are a delightful listen. One is a peppy, bouncy jangle-pop number, another is a heartfelt ballad with a bit of an R&B feel, and the third is a yearning, guitar-driven indie heartstring-tugger. All of these songs add up to a great new release from a band that’s catching quite a bit of hype in the youngest parts of the local rock n’ roll scene, and a decent insight into the sorts of bands that will be the rock n’ roll heroes of tomorrow.
Support act Hugo Antes offer some intriguing insights of their own, for the first of two openers picked out especially by Mid is coming from a rather different musical tradition. Instead of a jangly guitar feel, Hugo Antes sinks headfirst into slow, enveloping guitar haze and synth cloudiness. The result, on their own latest single (released only two months ago), are a delightful pillowy cloud of blissful indie-shoegaze vibrations. The bill is rounded out by Aloe Garden, who have thus far released exactly one song. And of course, this makes it very hard to speak on what a band sounds like based on a single song, but if that first Aloe Garden single can be taken as a signpost for the band’s sound in general, well, there are some definite Prince vibes here. “Golden” sounds like the legendary purple one in full guitar-hero balladry mode, and should definitely grab the heartstrings for anyone who loved classic Prince albums like 1999 or Sign O’ The Times. The varied genres and constant creativity of this bill certainly tell us one thing; the Zoomers aren’t any less excited about making music that’s all their own than any generation that has come along in the past, and it would be silly to suggest otherwise.
Saturday, May 16, 7 PM
A Kiss Before Burial, Mydiarytoyou!, Jesus Stopped Working, Fatal, Heavyweight Champs @ The Camel – $13.22 (order tickets HERE)
It’s been decades since the low-end arms race got started in the world of metal, going all the way back to the advent of the nu-metal bands and their love for tuning down so low that they had to restring their guitars with thicker strings. Soon bands were playing seven-string guitars as a matter of course, and finding new ways to tune down ever lower. The latest innovation, which I first started hearing about a few years ago, was bands integrating sub-low-end digital bass drops into their breakdowns, so that an 808-style boooom would hit the listener right as the super-tough riff kicked in. The bands who began using this technique often hid it so well that listeners were unlikely to pick up on it, only noticing how heavy a band’s breakdowns are. However, the technique has gotten less subtle and more intense over the years it’s been in use, and Virginia Beach deathcore mavens A Kiss Before Burial have gone pretty hard with it, blowing out your speakers and making your headphones hiss with static at the moment the bass note hits. The result is every bit as pummeling as the rest of this band’s breakdown-intensive metallic deathcore sound, and will surely make their live performance hit even harder — especially if it pushes the venue’s subwoofers as hard as it pushes the low end of my JBLs.
Richmonders Mydiarytoyou! offer extremely capable support on this bill, providing a heavy sound based around intense vocal screams, but taking things in more of a melodic yet metallic screamo direction than the pure brutality of A Kiss Before Burial. Folks who don’t know this up-and-coming new project should check out their latest EP, the excellently titled You Have A Way With Last Words, to hear what this band has to offer for themselves. Underoath, Satellite Years-era Hopesfall, and A Static Lullaby are all great reference points for Mydiarytoyou!’s sound, but I have no idea if younger music fans even remember these groups. If not, it’s high time to get familiar; as delightful as these modern bands are, there’s plenty more where that came from. Start with the basic building blocks, though: go see Mydiarytoyou! at The Camel on Saturday night. The memorably named Richmond newcomers Jesus Stopped Working are also on this bill, and while I haven’t gotten a very clear listen to them just yet, my first impression is that they play harsh screamo with a slight metallic undercurrent — always a delight if you ask me. This bill is rounded out by the brutal metallic hardcore of Virginia Beach band Fatal and the belligerent punk-laced hardcore of fellow VBers Heavyweight Champs — making this a majority 757-based bill right here in the 804. That’s always fun!
Sunday, May 17, 7 PM
Salem Trials, Lay Waste, Hanahaki, Coded @ Bandito’s – $15 (order tickets HERE)
If your idea of great hardcore means a whole heck of a lot of metal mixed into a template that remains undoubtedly on the hardcore side of the line, you should definitely be paying close attention every single time Rival Booking announces a show here in Richmond. This sound is undeniably their stock in trade, and it has led to them bringing a whole ton of excellent bands to town over the past year and a half or so. Ottawa, Canada’s Salem Trials is just the latest in a long line, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they blur or blend into previous bands that have come through under the auspices of Rival Booking. Instead, Salem Trials distinguish themselves admirably with a sludgy undercurrent in evidence on latest single “Left To Bleed,” which is from upcoming EP Heavy Is the Head (inspired by some Richmond friends, perhaps?). Building on the unrelenting heaviness displayed on their previous EP, Nocturnal Creation, these folks are proving themselves to be ready to go for the jugular at any occasion — a brutal move at the best of times, but we all know how metal fans feel about brutality by now, right?
So yeah, the Salem Trials headlining set on this gig is sure to be absolute fire. But what about the local bands acting in support? Well, Virginia’s Lay Waste have been getting a fair bit of attention recently, but for decidedly different reasons — this politically-inspired grindcore group are fueled by the need to play as fast as possible, as often and as openly as they can, regardless of their audience’s ability to handle it. This doesn’t make them a band that goes over perfectly with everyone who hears them, but it sure does make me happy, and any true metalhead witnessing this musical marvel of sound should feel the same way. Richmonders Hanahaki bring a particularly intense take on harsh metallic hardcore, cranking up the fury and letting us all scorch a bit. That’s fine, it’s good for you. The bill will be rounded out by Coded, the latest project from the folks behind Rival Booking themselves. Their first EP shows this band at their rough caveman hardcore best, bashing out three-chord ragers full of chugging chords and roaring vocal tirades. If that’s your kind of thing (and it’s definitely mine), you’re gonna love what this Sunday night show has to offer.
Monday, May 18, 7 PM
Jackie-ing: The Music Of Thelonious Monk, feat. Jack Byrnes, Ayinde Williams, Scott Clark, Jason Scott @ Reveler Experiences – $15 (order tickets HERE)
Digable Planets once told us that the best day to pull your soundtrack from the jazz stacks is Sunday, but surely Monday can’t be far behind, especially when what’s getting pulled out is a full-length tribute to legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Monk — one masterminded by a quartet of the best jazz musicians this city has to offer, no less. It’d need to be that sort of quartet to really do Monk justice, if we’re honest. One of the most talented jazz pianists ever to come along, Monk mixed a strong basis in the fundamentals of jazz that allowed him to play as traditionally as you pleased without a single slip-up with a fearlessly innovative approach that caused him to push the whole genre into new avenues of exploration and take jazz where, up to that point, it had never been before. It’s this fearless spirit that the quartet of musicians who will gather at Reveler Monday night to play Thelonious Monk’s music are attempting to tap into.
They are certainly well set up to do it. Richmond-based jazz pianist Ayinde Williams is set to play the musical role of Monk himself, and this young player has certainly done a lot so far in his career to prove that he’s more than equal to this challenge. Still in his 20s, Williams has been to a variety of jazz workshops around the world and played at some of the country’s most prestigious venues — and more importantly, he’s collaborated with quite a few of Richmond’s most notable jazz talents. He’ll be doing so on this show as well, with none other than avant-garde jazz drum hero Scott Clark behind the traps. Clark should need no introduction to anyone who follows this city’s jazz scene, but on the off chance this is your first time hearing the man’s name, his work at establishing Out Of Your Head Records, his boundary-pushing recent albums as bandleader, and his lengthy resume as a collaborator tell all that anyone should need to know. Former Clark collaborator Jason Scott, who previously brought his saxophone to the Scott Clark 4tet, will lay down some powerful sax lines on this session. And of course, the ringleader of this entire project is bassist Jack Byrnes, who can be heard around town backing everyone from Maddy Curtis and Ceili Galante to a variety of different Shockoe Sessions performers. When this crew comes together to tackle the best of Thelonious Monk, you should certainly expect the musical ride of your life. Rest assured they will be glad to give it to you.
Tuesday, May 19, 7 PM
Napalm Death, Nastie Band, Today is the Day, Restrictor Plate @ The Broadberry – $36.60 (order tickets HERE)
OK, we’ve had quite a few metal shows in the column this week, but the final one to show up on the list might very well be the most noteworthy, so: metalheads of Richmond, prepare to recognize greatness in our midst. Way back in the early 90s when I was a teenage high school kid, Napalm Death was one of the three death metal/grindcore bands to make up my first exposures to the genre (along with Morbid Angel and Carcass, if you’re wondering). Back then, Harmony Corruption was their latest effort, a slab of chunky riffs and high-speed drumming topped by Barney Greenaway’s memorable roar and confrontational political lyrics. Fifteen albums and 35 years later, the core of that group — Greenaway, bassist Shane Embury, and guitarist Mitch Harris — remains intact (though Harris no longer tours with the group), and their music remains as vital and intense as ever. Unlike many bands as long-lived as this nearly half-century old institution of metal, Napalm Death have stayed creative and pushed their music to continue evolving as the years have gone by, and you can certainly see that on their latest effort, a full-length collaborative album with none other than the Melvins.
Don’t expect any of that material to invade the evening’s set list, but fear not –whether they’re drawing from 1992’s Utopia Banished or 2014’s Apex Predator — Easy Meat, their sound will remain impeccably brilliant and brutal. Napalm Death are joined on this performance by the inimitable Nastie Band, a product of the irrepressible Roddy Bottum (Faith No More, Man On Man) and a cast of truly odd characters playing dirge riffs and avant-garde soundscapes. The legendary Today Is the Day — the ever-changing project of heavy music genius Rev. Steve Austin — are also on this bill, touring behind their 12th album, Never Give In. Mixing the band’s fundamental sound of heavy noise-rock with moody interludes and synthesized vibrations, this is yet another of the many stylistic shifts Today Is The Day have undergone in three decades or so of existence. Expect their set to be every bit as brilliant as that of this show’s headliners. Richmonders Restrictor Plate will open up with their patent-pending brand of NASCAR-themed metallic moshcore; they’re sure to get this affair started with a bang.
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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