Scene Recap: Shagwüf, Short Stop, Crystal Flowers

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

• Gutter-glam trio Shagwüf tore through In Your Ear Studios this past Tuesday during their Shockoe Sessions set. Trust me, I was there watching from the hosting couch; that place didn’t stand a chance. I knew I was in for a great night when the first song served me up both fuzzy punk rock and sweet doo-wop, my two absolute favorite genres. This was their first show with new drummer Brittany Horkan (Heavy Friends, Jake The Dog) following Pablo Olivieri’s departure last month, and the band is clearly still processing the shift. Still, there’s an undeniable spark running through this new configuration. I was absolutely mesmerized by how incredible they sounded after only a few rehearsals, but I guess that shows how amazing musicians like that get down. Don’t miss this episode, and not just for the blistering performance. The in-between moments, with Pete Stallings and Sally Rose speaking candidly, hit just as hard, offering the kind of inspiration that lands when you need it most. Give it a watch, and make sure to catch Shagwüf in Richmond next on Thursday, April 23, when they play Get Tight Lounge with Painted World and Heavy Friends, Horkan’s other band, celebrating a single release that day. And also be sure to tune in to next week’s Shockoe Sessions when Richmond legends The Atkinsons take over Studio A. (Shockoe Sessions video.)

• Save the date: music entity Three Brained Robot lands at Plan 9 Music on Wednesday, April 29, as part of The Auricular‘s monthly showcase. I recently wrote a bio for this tripartite corporeal presence, and it might be the most fun I’ve had putting words together all year. Here’s a taste: “Three Brained Robot is not a band, not a person, and barely a thing. It is a transmorphological performance concept born from the vexed consciousness of Terra after a run of arguments with spatial gravity, floral bureaucracy, and a car wash vending machine that refused to accept emotional currency.” You can read the rest of the bio on the event page, and I hope plenty of you will be at Plan 9. Disclaimers and warnings will be issued accordingly. (Event listing.)

• Huge week for new music out of Richmond: new singles from alt-folk artist Sun V Set, punk-turned-ska-turned-advocates Dead Billionaires, affirming songwriter Erin Lunsford, and electronica artist RANESHOUNDS; a pair of new singles from garage punks Cyber Twin; and new albums from post-hardcore wayfarers Northeast Regional, heavy-synth act Delilah Blackthorn, jagged shoegazers No Purchase, and slick & sleek producer Sira Beats. Teenage punks Gaffer released their debut single, and new hardcore group Coded released their demo record. Also, this technically comes out tomorrow, but we covered it yesterday, so why not: Sami Gardner’s new roadtrip anthem. This coming week’s going to be even bigger with new releases, and we’ll have some early listens for a few of them on the site, so stay tuned.

• Are you subscribed to The Auricular‘s newsletter? No? Bold choice. You know, that’s how you stay in the loop when you inevitably decide social media has become a haunted house of your own making and you need to take a break for a day, week, or month. When that happens, the newsletter is exactly what you want: same great music content, none of the digital clutter. As I’ve always said. Or as I’m saying right now for the first time. Or possibly the last. Hard to say. Anyway, just subscribe. (Subscribe here.)

• Brian’s Books just launched Short Stop, a free community newspaper, and I am absurdly excited about it. I haven’t picked up a copy yet, but doing so is sitting firmly at the top of this weekend’s to-do list like a sacred errand. I was already all in when they first announced it, but seeing those photos of the newsprint-style layout? I’m obsessed. Something about that tactile, ink-on-paper energy hits different. Please join me in enthusiastically geeking out over this so I’m not alone. Brian’s Book announcement.)

• Don Harrison wrote about Tristan Dougherty for Style Weekly, covering his record from last year that’s getting a vinyl release next month. I’m about to bother everyone I know until I track down a pre-order link, but while I’m doing that, you should absolutely give this a read. (Style Weekly article.)

• The Richmond Seen covered episode 64 of RVA Rap Elite with Tre Awthenicc taking home top honors for the night. Great recap here. (The Richmond Seen article.)

• Griffin Smalley’s column at RVA Magazine this week covered Cellar Dwellers, Willie Watson, Squeaky Feet, and new music from Lofties. Check it out. (RVA Magazine article.)

• Did you know Richmond artists have already dropped over 100 music videos this year? Sure, a few might gently blur the definition of “music video,” but still, that’s a number that sneaks up on you. We’ve been playing a bit of catch-up on the site lately, spotlighting a bunch of them, and there’s a whole lot more on the way soon.

• Richmond Fringe Fest is this weekend! Style Weekly has a great rundown on it, courtesy of Karen Newton, but don’t miss out on Erin Roukous, Mickey & The Crash, and Bri Major. One of those we’ll be covering soon on the site. (Style Weekly article.)

• Style Weekly‘s Hilary Langford has been covering music for a long time now, so I typically check out anything she writes, music or not, and that includes this recent piece on meeting up with mushroom stomper Stormy Daniels. (Style Weekly article.)

• I talked about rva.lol in the last Scene Recap (and our newsletter from yesterday), but I’ll do the hard sell again for anyone not hip to this great new resource: a continuously updating calendar that pulls in listings for shows and open mics across Richmond. It’s constantly being re-worked, too, with the “just announced” section being the biggest change since the last time I talked about this site here. All the kudos and love in the world to Logan from the Internet for creating this. It’s a game-changer for Richmond music. (rva.lol website.)

• Of course, that’s just a listing of the shows. If you want something more in-depth, Marilyn Drew Necci’s RVA Shows You Must See This Week column is always a great read, and this week’s edition is no exception. (RVA Shows You Must See This Week.)

• Time to end this column with a local song. There’s a bit of overlap happening between this column and the newsletter I put out. In theory, the newsletter keeps you up to date on everything the site is pumping out, while this column exists to catch all the other moments around the city that you may have missed. Both of these end with a local track, though, because apparently I have exactly one idea and I’m sticking to it.

The upside? I’m not hurting for options. I’ve got spreadsheets on spreadsheets on spreadsheets of Richmond releases from the past decade, complete with color-coded keys and corresponding notes that say “need to cover this,” “you should mention this,” and “WHY HAVEN’T YOU WRITTEN ABOUT THIS ONE YET?” Totally normal behavior. And that’s before even getting to the physical side of things, which recently turned my local collection into a full-blown Richmond music library thanks to a generous donation from radio legend Jay Smack. So again, no shortage of choices. Just an ever-growing pile of things I’m not getting to quickly enough… or giving nearly enough space.

That’s where the guilt creeps in, especially with the newsletter. Sometimes, a great song gets 40 or 50 words, and I move on like I didn’t just shortchange something deserving of a full spotlight. I felt it after writing about Timothy Maverick in February (shout-out Sui Generis), and I definitely felt it yesterday trying to sum up Crystal Flowers in a few sentences. So, for the six of seven of you keeping up with both the newsletter and this column, consider this your warning: time for more overlap.

Crystal Flowers was formed by Brendan Callan following the dissolution of his previous band, Venus Milo, whose 2018 track “Stranger” came out just months before this site existed and, honestly, helped spark the whole thing. I remember hearing it and thinking, “How is no one here covering music like this?” Sadly, that was a thought I had over a dozen times that year… and something that’s still prevalent despite this site being around for over seven years. On one of those spreadsheets I mentioned earlier, the note next to “Stranger” reads: “Richmond needs more nebulous grooves.” That thought also remains true to this date.

The next year, I caught 2 Weeks & Some Change when it dropped on Bandcamp. This was the first proper release under the Crystal Flowers name, which was inspired by a similar project from Japanese Breakfast. Basically what most people now know as FAWM (February Album Writing Month) and feels ubiquitous within songwriting circles, but felt completely fresh at the time. Eighteen tracks deep, it’s packed with moments that still stick, especially “Moon,” which would later get a single release in January 2020, a month that felt full of promise, as if the year were lining up to be something special… right before everything came to a very abrupt halt.

Anyway, Crystal Flowers brought together so many incredible musicians that it always felt like a challenge to sustain as a regular project, which is why the debut album taking until 2024 didn’t exactly surprise me. Still, it was one I’d been waiting on for a long time. And it absolutely delivered. Elegant grooves, captivating melodies, rich vocals, and a sense of cohesion that makes all those moving parts feel effortlessly aligned. Like perfect serendipity in lithe musical form.

I meant to write a full review when Move On first dropped, but my schedule at the time was completely unhinged, and I couldn’t quite wrangle my notes into anything resembling a coherent piece. Mostly because those notes say “this song good,” “this song better,” and “how is this one even better than that.” Not exactly Pulitzer material.

Thankfully, there was at least a little more substance buried in there, and I’ve pulled from those notes for this column. I’ve touched on this particular knot in my brain before in this column. It’s not quite writer’s block so much as writer intimidation. That moment where you’re trying to translate something vivid and tangled in your head into actual language, and all that comes out is… “this song good.” Which, as established, I had already accomplished.

Anyway, I can’t recommend Move On enough. Seriously, spend some time with it. It’s utterly sensational front to back, and I can promise at least one song will sink its hooks into your brain and refuse to let go. For me, it’s several. I shouted out “You Are So Cool” in the newsletter yesterday, calling it “pure melodic bliss contained in three perfect minutes,” and I stand by that completely. There’s also a Sunroom Session video of that song from last year that’s absolutely worth your time. But for now, let me point you toward another standout from the record.

It would be easy to point to “Friend,” which features Avery Fogarty, since I’ve been vocal about my love for Hotspit, but I’m instead going with the other song that features a featured artist: “Nice Guy” with jia. Sure, the “I don’t want to go out tonight” opener hits a little harder with each passing year, but what really stands out on this song is the energy. It feels like a distillation of the entire record: tight, focused, and fully alive. Four minutes that somehow display everything Crystal Flowers is about. That’s the clean version, at least. My 2024 notes were less refined, but still feel true. Here’s a pull from that unfinished review:

“There’s a blistering saxophone run at 3:15 that feels like it cranks the record’s energy valve until the knob just snaps clean off, spilling into the album’s most electrifying stretch. The line ‘I need to fix myself’ that follows hits like a release valve. Pure catharsis, pure escape. Just incredible.”

I’m not sure if the valve imagery actually works with what I was trying to say, but I still stand by the feeling there. The whole record is just incredible. But don’t take my word for it. Go hear it for yourself. Starting with “Nice Guy” below.