That's right, folks, tonight (Sunday--I still haven't gone to bed on Saturday night, but it's after midnight, so it counts), at Gallery 5 (200 W. Marshall St.), film critic Mike White will read selections from his new book, Impossibly Funky, a collection of writings from his film zine Cashiers Du Cinemart. James River Film Society will also show the cult-classic Monte Hellman film Cockfighter [Hellman is the director of Two Lane Blacktop; Cockfighter is based on the legendary pulp novel by Charles Willeford and stars Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton], as well as Mike White's documentary Who Do You Think You're Fooling?, which spotlights the too-close-for-comfort similarities between Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Hong Kong action film City On Fire (read more about that whole thing here).

This is a free show, and it's just unique and crazy enough that I feel like it deserves some last-minute hype, especially since I just found out about it myself. Go check it out! My weekend's been crazy busy, but maybe I'll see you there (if I'm not totally crashed out by then).

When: Sunday, November 21, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Gallery 5, 200 W. Marshall Street
What: Mike will read selections from his new book, Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection; Skizz Cyzyk and Bearcat will provide musical selections; James River Film Society will fire up the projectors with Monte Hellman’s film, COCKFIGHTER, and Mike White’s WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE FOOLING?, a full-motion montage highlighting the too-close-for-comfort similarities between Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film, RESERVOIR DOGS, and Ringo Lam’s 1989 Hong Kong movie, CITY ON FIRE.
Cost: Free and popcorn (donations encouraged); beer, wine and hot dogs for purchase!

Cherry Bomb is back with it's multi-faceted, bi-yearly arts event RVyAy! This event features musicians and vendors accompanied by an art show with all proceeds going to ART 180, a Richmond non-profit, after-school arts program for kids. Over 40 different artists have donated their work to be shown at the event on December 3rd at Gallery 5 during the First Friday art walk.

WHAT: Cherry Bomb Presents RVyAy!
WHEN: Friday, December 3, 2010, 7PM-11PM
WHERE: Gallery 5, 200 W Marshall St
Free Admission

When you open the door to Spaghetti Project, you are given an experience that is usually found after many turns down hidden side streets from a subway stop in New York or Paris. A small storefront on Brook Road in the heart of our gallery district houses an extremely unique offering of art and merchandise. The counterculture lifestyle boutique’s candy-shop explosion of color radiates through the windows, filling the visual appetite of its patrons.

Edgar Munoz’s enthusiasm for pop surrealism and his passion for collecting limited-edition vinyl toys and other specialty artwork quickly grew into a mission to bring local exposure to the lowbrow art movement. After a visit to one of Edgar’s favorite shops in New York, his wife Arlene saw the need to open a store locally. As the couple planned the reality of the business, they realized that they were defining more than just an independent shop with specialty merchandise. They were bringing an experience that one might only come across in SoHo or the Haight. And they needed a name.

This class project-style experiment would encompass diverse avenues of creativity and celebrate the style of the Italo-Western sub-genre, which made those movies far from mainstream. From these ideas, the Spaghetti Project was born.

From its inception, the Spaghetti Project’s mission involved more than just their storefront. They have a passion for creative collaboration and for fostering a positive effect on the community through art. During their first year of operation, show collaborations included the famous sneaker customizer Mike “TTK” Harris, the in.fa.mousIKB’s wearable art, Toy2R’s custom Quee figure show, and Urban Decay’s custom vinyl and lowbrow art showcase. Paired with fundraising events for local nonprofits such as the food bank, these collaborations led Spaghetti’s excitement to network with more local and national artists to continually grow.

After spending their first year in the conservative Old Town area of Fredericksburg, Edgar and Arlene knew that in order to grow their Project, they would need to make a move to an affordable city that fostered creative collaboration. After extensive research they decided to bypass DC and head to Richmond. With their supporters buzzing about Richmond’s evolving creative class, they checked out a First Friday’s event and felt an immediate connection. Richmond was the city where they would grow their creative roots.

While the selection of their merchandise is very methodical, the duo understands the importance of appealing to the entire spectrum of price ranges. The Project’s walls house limited vinyl exclusives from Kid Robot, Toy2R, Strangeco, MINDstyle, Medicom and many others, as well as unique wearables from Rebel8, Freshjive, Imaginary Foundation, Upper Playground, The Hundreds, and ChiefRocka Industries. They also carry innovative books and specialty magazines that encompass a range of artistic styles, including a strong representation of the graffiti movement. They keep their stock fresh and ever-changing.

Currently Spaghetti is working on creating their own brand of merchandise that will range from wearables to collectibles. Just recently, Kuso Vinyl contacted them to collaborate and design a special colorway of their toy, Fahrenheit, which will be available exclusively through Spaghetti.

Being new to our city, the duo encourage everyone to experience Spaghetti. Whether you’re a die-hard vinyl collector looking for a rare piece, or are in need of new inspiration and have a little lunch money, Spaghetti has something that will satisfy your creative appetite.

WHAT: Spaghetti Project
WHERE: 321 Brook Road
CONTACT: 804 643 TOYS

11/22 Alex Cuba (pictured above), Photosynthesizers, VA Whiskey, Brad Moss @ Alley Katz 8pm. 18+
- Sack of wild peaches began to take over the muscular dystrophy plans for a new scotch child…

11/22 KICK IN THE BASS Dubstep/Drum & Bass Party feat. Alcrani (pictured above), Dubsoulja, Fuerte, JonesE, Big Crack @ Element 7pm.
- Shut the funk up…

11/22 Heathens (pictured above), Loon, Tough Luck, The Pilgrim, Occultist @ The Warehouse (1300 School St. – no booze) 7pm.
- Rip up the minors…

11/22 Cafe Diem Comedy Night feat. A Thanksgiving themed evening of hilarity. This evening's MC is Andrew Pauley (poster just above) @ Café Diem 9pm.
- Go outside…

11/23 The Stuart Tinsley Project, Ghost Owls (pictured just above) @ The Camel 7pm.
- Looks like Sailor Bob is making a comeback…

11/23 T-Division, Point Blank (pictured just above), Pericles (poster below) @ The Triple 10pm.
-Aruba is a dangerous place.

11/23 Uncle Phugly @ Bogart’s 7pm.
- Pew diving, but I can’t keep Al Qaeda from ordering drinks…

11/24 Jackass Flats (pictured above), Big Daddy Love, James Justin and Company @ The Camel 7pm.
Let loose my bastard, and chill out the Grover Cleveland in your prostate…

11/24 Amazing Ghost (pictured just above) @ Balliceaux 10pm.
- What ever happened to Phil?…

11/24 Pre-Thanksgiving Explosion feat. DJ Phenom, Apple Juice Kid (on the drums – pictured above) @ The Republic (2035 W. Broad St.) 9pm.
- Even a lard of monkeys can’t keep me away from deodorant…

Written by John Lewis Morgan/Originally appeared at One Way Richmond

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (G.O.O.D. Music)

Kanye West is the most singular and talented popular musician working today. Since the mid-2000s, he has expanded his middle-class soul rap template to include experimental strains of rock, pop, electronic and hip-hop, while continuing to improve as an MC and add texture and nuance to his production.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is West’s fifth album, the proper follow-up to 2007’s focused blockbuster, Graduation. Since Graduation, West has been through break-ups, a death in the family, an enjoyable but tossed-off synth-pop album, and some egotistical behavior that lost him favor in the eye of the general public. You can hear all of those things at work in MBDTF, a moody, desperate, paranoid, gigantic blockbuster of an album that sounds like a rich hero locking himself in his mansion to play with the world’s coolest toys, then wondering where the hell everyone went.

MBDTF has the most in common with the sprawling, pop-savvy experimentation of best-album-of-the-‘00s, 2005’s Late Registration. But, while Late Registration added an air of “Fuck it, I’ll try this” to the heartwarming soul of West’s 2004 debut, The College Dropout, the recurring, opulent additions to MBDTF are planned. They add a lonely and nauseous mood to the monstrous electronics of Graduation, and indulge in structures and arrangements that recall the stadium-ready prog epics of ‘70s rockers Queen.

MBDTF is more West's A Night at The Opera than his Uptown Saturday Night. The average song is over five minutes long, with “November Rain”-esque piano and string breaks, choral vocals, and ebbs and flows. Usually, West stops rapping after just a couple minutes, and settles in behind the knobs, letting guests step in as he brings different parts of the track to light. Each cut isn’t a song so much as a journey. Consequently, MBDTF isn’t so much an album as an epic.

It’s like there’s two albums at work in MBDTF: the collection of innovative rap songs, then their freaky alter egos. The songs’ beginnings are Kanye bringing the hits; the endings are the accompanying tour through his psyche, where we hear every possible tweak, gamble and second guess. In this, we see the duality at work. The guy who wants people to like his record, and the guy who wants to forget his audience and indulge his every impulse. Lucky for us listeners, the impulses are generally as engaging as the crowd-pleasers.

West relies on the same formula for most songs. After about three minutes of standard verse/hook/guest verse/hook structure, the radio version ends, and West steps into the role of conductor. Then the ballet music shows up. Then we hear the Peter Frampton talkbox on “Runaway;” motherfucking Chris Rock thanking Kanye for cuckolding him on “Blame Game;” or spoken word by a young Gil Scott-Heron. We can predict when the epic stuff is coming, but it is epic nonetheless, and not just big for the sake of being big, but big for the sake of trying new things and pushing the boundaries of what pop listeners will accept. And, because these experiments are always made in good faith--for art, rather than just ego--they are fruitful. Fuss as I will about the grating horns and autotuned diva vocals on “All of the Lights,” none of these eleven songs are duds.

Icaruses with unlimited studio time fly too close to the sun and come up with overshined messes like Axl Rose’s Chinese Democracy, or snatches of compromised genius like the RZA’s 8 Diagrams. The shocker is that West, who seems supremely scattered thanks to drama that he created during the making of this album--the half-hour long Skinemax movie, the apology to George W. Bush, anything he ever Tweeted--has created a cohesive album with a variety of sounds, both new and old. "Devil in a New Dress" returns to his early trademark, chipmunk soul. "Runaway" makes good on 808s And Heartbreak's New Romantic promise. "Power" continues with the arena electro of Graduation. But MBDTF isn’t a tour of an artist’s past triumphs. It’s those victories tinkered with, improved, and combined with an overarching, plaintive mood. It’s a masterpiece.

Alaska, Andrew Cedermark, White Laces, and Tungs
Friday, November 19 at Strange Matter

When you're the sort of person who gets nervous in anonymous crowds, reviewing shows has its pitfalls. One of them is the dreaded circumstance in which you get to the show and realize you don't know anyone. Whenever that happens to me, I try to find a random spot in the crowd and avoid making eye contact with anyone. It's easier to deal with when I'm at a big show, like at The National or something, where the crowd is large enough to render anyone relatively anonymous. But when going to a small venue that you attend on a regular basis, it's singularly disconcerting to walk in and find a decent-sized crowd consisting of absolutely no one you know. On the other hand, it's also kind of awesome, especially in cases like last Friday night, when you feel like you've found a whole new pocket of the local scene you didn't know existed. I knew that there was a buzz around bands like Tungs and White Laces, a psychedelic/shoegaze revival within the local indie scene, but I didn't know who was going to those shows or what sort of scene existed for that style. Now I do. And I'm glad to see that those bands aren't just playing to nobody, that they have their own followings within the local scene.

Tungs are the sort of band whose members switch instruments between songs. As with any band that does this, some of their instrumental configurations are better than others. They opened up with two guitars, bass and drums on the first track, and that version of their lineup sounded pretty good. However, having heard their studio recordings before, I can see where a studio environment puts them at a slight advantage. The ability to fill in space within their arrangements with layers of tracked-in atmosphere and noise gives their songs a robustness that they are sometimes missing live. That absence became more noticeable on the next two songs, on which they switched to a configuration featuring one guitar player, a drummer, a conga player, and either a keyboard player or a bass player. The congas no doubt add something to the studio recordings of these songs, but as I was listening to them, I couldn't help but feel that they'd have been better served by using a different instrument in the live arrangement. It was sometimes hard to hear the conga, and even when you could hear it, it didn't seem like it was being played all that well, with rhythms going on and off beat frequently as the songs progressed. Based on the songwriting Tungs does, and the sort of sound they create live, it's clear that they are heavily influenced by psychedelic bands of previous eras. At this point in the set, though, I was reminded less of famous bands at the top of that genre than I was of the sort of garage-band records that were released in the late 60s. You know the ones, where the band who was playing "Louie Louie" three years before is trying to follow the direction in which the sound is progressing, only their ambition outstrips their talent and sometimes leaves them fumbling around with an instrument or arrangement that they can't really quite play yet. Don't get me wrong, though--I love that kind of stuff. I'm a huge fan of bands who cover their technical limitations with noise, and who constantly push their limits even when it means reaching for things they can't quite do yet. And on the last couple of songs Tungs played, I saw that they can do quite a bit right now. The guy who'd played conga and bass earlier in the night got on the drumkit for these last two. It immediately became clear that drums were his best instrument, and that he was the best drummer in the band. With this more assured rhythmic backing, Tungs blasted into the stratosphere on their last two songs, bringing the entire set to a climax with a saxophone solo that shared characteristics both with Archie Shepp-style free jazz freakouts and the sort of sax solos that Hawkwind's Nik Turner laid down on classics like "Brainstorm." Tungs may not always be able to quite carry off what they're trying to do, but they deserve points for trying, and their best moments are good enough to make it all worthwhile.

White Laces were next. At some point during the evening I realized that I knew their drummer, Jimmy Held, who has also played in a million other Richmond bands--Field Day, Segway Cops, Flechette, Resonance, etc. I just didn't know he was in White Laces. I don't know where he finds the time for all these bands. Anyway, White Laces initially reminded me of the heavier end of the early 90s shoegaze style--a few British bands, like Ride and Swervedriver, but more commonly the American bands who were influenced by the British bands, as they tended to rock harder than their British counterparts. While bands like My Bloody Valentine, The Pale Saints, and Lush seemed to spend most of their time on post-Cocteau Twins ethereality, American bands like Versus or the now-sadly-forgotten late 90s Richmond band Damn Near Red cared more about rocking out. However, both of those bands were also more melodic than White Laces, and I felt like this was where Jimmy made a big impact on their sound. Every other band I've ever seen him play in has been hardcore, or at least post-hardcore, and he brought that edge to his drumming in White Laces. Even when the tremoloed-out guitars were playing overt melodies, Jimmy was beating the hell out of his drums, and when everything got loud and distorted, he just pounded on them that much harder. The set ended with "Sick Of Summer," my personal favorite from White Laces' newly released self-titled EP. In a live environment, that song delivered on everything the studio version had promised and then some. It ended with a huge, powerful half-speed breakdown during which singer/guitarist Landis Wine nearly dropped his guitar and, after a few clear repetitons of the riff, everything just dissolved into loud, chaotic noise. It was the perfect ending to an excellent set that was probably the highlight of the night.

Next up was Andrew Cedermark, who used to play guitar in Titus Andronicus and therefore has a certain amount of buzz in the indie scene right now. For most of his/their set (it's always weird when someone billed as a solo artist has a backing band--is it proper to refer to them as "they," like they're a band, or just as "he," acknowledging the reality that the frontman is at least being billed as a solo act?), I found myself wondering what the shouting was about. While the songs had decent melodies, were performed well, and impressed me with their distorted volume, his songwriting seemed to be missing the energy level required to really make it work. To be more specific, all of his songs were really slow. I found myself thinking of Yo La Tengo, only I was imagining a strange hybrid between two different versions of their sound. Cedermark's songs were played as loudly as Yo La Tengo's big, upbeat numbers, but at the speed of their slower, quieter numbers. It was OK at first, but the cumulative effect left me a bit bored. On the last couple of songs they played, they picked up the pace a little, and though they never got quite as upbeat as I wanted their loud, melodic songs to be, they did catch my interest a little bit more. I'd even go so far as to say that the last couple of songs were good, and that if there had been more like that interspersed throughout his set, I'd probably have enjoyed the whole thing quite a bit more. As it was, though, I spent most of Cedermark's set zoning out.

Alaska were the final band of the evening, and they truly got a raw deal. By the time they set up and were ready to play, it was 1:25 AM, and almost everyone had left the show. There were off-duty Strange Matter employees drinking at the bar, and a few members of the other bands that had played were still packing their equipment, but only two people were watching when they started their set--the bass player's girlfriend, and me. I was tired as hell by that point--I'd been up since 8:30, I'd worked shifts at both of my non-RVA jobs over the course of the day, and I'd come straight to the show after working for 12 hours. I had to get up and do it all again the next day, including reviewing a different show (Joanna Newsom at the National), and I was hoping to head for home as quickly as possible. However, once I was one of two people watching a band play, I couldn't really leave without it being very awkward. Thankfully, Alaska's set was good enough that, once they started playing, I didn't really want to leave. They were an instrumental power trio who played catchy, poppy tunes that were really enjoyable to listen to. I definitely found myself thinking at multiple points during their set that they'd be better if they had a singer--there were a lot of points during the songs where a vocal melody really would have livened things up. Even without a singer, though, they were quite good. The interplay between the different instruments in the band worked particularly well, with the bass and guitar trading lead melodies back and forth and creating layers of sound even in spite of their relatively small lineup. The drummer was really talented too.

It's a damn shame that they spent most of their set playing to almost nobody. Avoiding this kind of situation is the responsibility of the show's promoter, and the promoter dropped the ball here. Part of what you need to do as a promoter, especially when you're setting up a show for an out-of-town band who can't count on their friends filling up the venue, is create a situation in which every band on the bill plays to as many people as possible. Whoever figured out the order for this show made a number of mistakes. Having both Richmond bands play at the beginning of the show was a bad call, because you almost always want a local band to close out the night so their fans will stay for the whole thing. When you have a headliner who is well-known enough to fill a significant portion of the club by themselves, you want to put them on as late into the bill as possible, too. In this case, pretty much the same amount of people watched all three of the first three bands. Andrew Cedermark is based in Charlottesville, and it seemed clear that some of his friends had made the trip down. Really, as long as Alaska had played before he did, they would have been well-served. It might have been a good idea to have White Laces play last, though it seems like it wasn't necessary. But giving the show-closing spot to the band with the least draw out of everyone on the bill was the worst move possible. The idea of booking a relatively unknown band when they're on tour is to expose them to new listeners who may enjoy their music. You can't do that if everyone has gone home before they play. Alaska were a good band that played well. They deserved better.

In a couple of weeks, at the beginning of December, veteran indie-punk troubadour Ted Leo and his band, The Pharmacists, will be doing a very short tour to promote their latest album, The Brutalist Bricks (Matador Records, 2010). On the final date of that tour, they'll be stopping right here in Richmond to play an all-ages show at Strange Matter. There are only six shows in this tour, and Richmond is the farthest south they'll be playing, so we're lucky to be getting them at all. It may be years before they make it back, too, so this is a rare opportunity that we'd all do best to take advantage of.

Here are the details, in handy-dandy bullet point form:

WHAT: Ted Leo And The Pharmacists take over Richmond
WHEN: Wednesday, December 8th, 7:30 PM
WHO: Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, plus special guests Hex Orkest
WHERE: Strange Matter (929 W. Grace St.)
ADMISSION: $12 in advance, $14 at the door (Tickets are available at Strange Matter and at Steady Sounds Records, 322 W. Broad St.)

For those who are not yet familiar with Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, or who just can't get enough of their excellent, tuneful music, here's a hilarious video they recently made for their song "Bottled In Cork," also from The Brutalist Bricks, in collaboration with funnyordie.com. It features Paul F. Tompkins in a hilarious role as a musical theatre producer, and... I really shouldn't say any more. Just watch it.

Opening act Heks Orkest have significant credentials of their own--the band features former Action Patrol vocalist David Grant, guitarists Jonathan Fuller (Engine Down, Sleepytime Trio) and Cam DiNunzio (LazyCain, Denali), bassist Keeley Davis (Engine Down, Sparta), and drummer Ed Trask (Avail, Holy Rollers, Kepone). While Ted Leo and company are undoubtedly worth the price of admission on their own, it's safe to say that we can expect great things from this collection of musicians as well.

In conclusion, this is a show you just do not want to miss. Plenty of tickets are still available as of right now, but as the event draws closer, that will undoubtedly change. Don't miss out--get yours now.

With his cleverly sampled acappellas that served him as his own hype-man of sorts, last Friday night at The Canal Club, Doorly threw down one of the single most enjoyable sets I have ever seen. It instilled hope in the crowd and me that true talent was still available behind the decks, and there was more to being a DJ than just pressing a few buttons and fading tracks into each other. He was a one-man band that evening, layering musical elements on top of each other like you would expect from any other group of performers or band. I know that when I left that early morning around 3AM, I felt I got what I came for: a performance for the Richmond party-goers textbook.

I was able to sit down with the man before his performance that evening--the same man who made you question why your pants were so wet when you got home the next day. If you haven’t taken note of Martin Doorly by now, you might want to start soon. He has some big things in store for all of us. Hope you enjoy a little trip into the mind of this one-of-a-kind DJ.

RVA: For those who might not be familiar with you and your work, tell us a little about yourself.
DFDJ!: My name is Martin Doorly. I’m from the UK. A small place near Leeds that you’ve probably never heard of. I’m a producer, I’m a DJ, I set up club nights and I do radio shows. I kind of, well I guess you could say music is my life.

RVA: What were you doing before you kind of broke into the whole music scene?
DFDJ!: Honestly, it’s kind of hard to remember. I was at a University and was a DJ there.

RVA: Did you study music there?
DFDJ!: I studied English, actually. I have an English degree. But I didn’t go to the University to study, I went there to get laid and have fun.

RVA: Nice outlook!
DFDJ!: Yeah, it worked out. I kind of became a DJ then, where music was more of just a hobby. I can’t imagine where I’d be if I wasn’t doing this.

RVA: When you go home and relax--think if you had nothing on your agenda (if that’s even possible for you)--what’s something you enjoy doing?
DFDJ!: It’s quite rare. I have a home but I’m never there. I usually live out of hotels and airplanes. When I do go home, my ultimate goal is to switch off my phone and laptop, and I try and do nothing. I sit on my sofa and just watch really shitty 80’s films and just try to get away. Just watch something that doesn’t involve much thought. Just sit there and pet my dogs and try to mellow out.

RVA: Earlier this year you were at Alley Katz here in Richmond. I wasn’t able to make it and I wanted to shoot myself in the foot for missing it. How was that for you?
DFDJ!: It was a good night. I really enjoyed it. Look at it this way: this place (The Canal Club) is huge, and I enjoyed myself last time, but tonight, so far, is just looking to destroy everything I did last time (laughs). I was here at 9:30 and the club was already packed.

RVA: Do you feel that you have to one-up your performance at Alley Katz or whenever you play a city in general?
DFDJ!: Oh always. Every good DJ should do that. I doubt I’ll even play any of the same tracks as last time. You've got to keep changing yourself, to keep people interested. I’ve got a lot more of my equipment with me this time.

RVA: I was going to ask about that! I saw somewhere that you were trying to tour with some more of your hardware.
DFDJ!: I usually play with 4 CDJ’s and they were able to get me those, but tonight I only need 3. I got another piece where I have a bunch of samples and accapellas all loaded up and ready. Shout outs/sirens/effects, so I can really change my set up.

RVA: I’d say you’re more known for a genuine LIVE set than a lot of other DJ’s on the scene right now. You’re up there doing a REAL set.
DFDJ!: I like to do everything live, make it a real performance. I play instrumentals of tracks, rather than the whole thing, and have the accappellas alongside them so I can change the track as I go. It means that I’m constantly remixing live rather than just playing a track a million times. I’d rather play it different every time.

RVA: Leading up to your performance tonight, I’ve had your Bang Bang live set from earlier this year on constant repeat (available for download HERE). When people asked me about Doorly or asked what I should listen to by you, I’d point them in that direction. You seemed to cross over so many genres in that mix. I remember there was a point where you were going into what seemed like a Dr. Dre song and then mixed in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tune.
DFDJ!: Oh wow! Amazing how small the world is. I was playing on my birthday in Europe and my buddy recorded it and put it out on Twitter and now there’s this guy on the other side of the world in Richmond saying it was like a huge hit. Hah.

RVA: Going back to the whole Richmond thing, you have to realize that Richmond has a lot of love for you.
DFDJ!: Oh wow, right on. Sounds good.

RVA: Richmond isn’t really known (yet) for being a staple in the electronic touring scene like some other cities; New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, etc.
DFDJ!: I know I had a good time here last time, so I wanted to come back. You guys have a good thing going on here and Steez Promo does a good job promoting the shows. I always guage how shows are on Twitter. When I announced the Richmond show, I had about 60-70 people messaging me asking if it was Richmond, Virginia or another Richmond somewhere else. When I said Virginia it seemed to be that that was the “right” response I guess you could say. I probably sold about 20 tickets just by saying that on there.

RVA: This city seems to be pulling in a lot of heavy hitters lately though. From personal experience, I know that if you want to see some of the bigger acts in the scene today you’ll usually have to travel to DC, NY, etc. But now, there seems to be more of a demand here in Richmond and as a result, they’re able to book some of the bigger names, like you for instance.
DFDJ!: Thank you very much. Good stuff here.

RVA: Is there any particular reason you don’t cross over this way so much?
DFDJ!: It’s quite hard to travel this way really. I live in Ibiza, where I have a residence there, and you have to connect a lot of flights to get here. In the summer I came out here 4 times, a gig here, a gig there, all way living in Ibiza. You have to focus on your bigger festivals and shows when there is that much travelling. Maybe 2 times a year I’ll do a full tour.

RVA: This was your first date on the tour right?
DFDJ!: Yeah, yeah, I actually played a festival last night in London and went straight to the airport afterwards.

RVA: I think I saw a post from you about that actually. You played with Drop The Lime at some point recently too, right? He seems to be a local favorite here as well.
DFDJ!: Yeah, I played a gig with him and B. Rich as well.

RVA: I was able to interview him a few weeks ago [See our new print issue, out in the next couple of weeks--ed.] and he seemed to hint that Richmond had one of the craziest parties in America.
DFDJ!: Well, coming from him that means a lot. That guy likes to party!

RVA: What do you have coming up in your future music-wise? Albums, singles, etc.
DFDJ!: I started my own record label called Pigeonhole This! Basically, well, especially Americans seem to be really digging this dubstep thing right now. Dubstep is like 5% of my game. I like techno, I like drum and bass. I kind of wanted to create a label so I could release under a bunch of different genres. I also potentially have a Radio 1 show soon, hopefully around January.

RVA: I feel that if you were to say that to anyone else, it would potentially fly over their heads.
DFDJ!: I probably wouldn’t say that in a British interview. It’s all UK radio stuff, just like I’m sure you guys have your radio stuff going on here.

RVA: Sadly, our radio stations pale in comparison to that of the BBC, which leads me to my next topic. You just released your second, count them, SECOND, Essential Mix for BBC Radio1. That is mind-boggling. We can probably count on 1 hand how many DJ’s have been asked to put together 2 Essential Mixes. Tell us about that.
DFDJ!: I should probably ask them how many they have asked actually, probably not many. I don’t know how many DJ’s have done that. It’s a testament to like being relevant over such a large period of time. It’s a great honor to be asked 3 years apart to prepare a second mix. I still feel like im a new person on the scene, compared to some of the bigger guys. It was really nice to do it. I tried to get a lot deeper and do more creative things as a producer on the latest mix.

RVA: You’re known for your remixing abilities. What do you have on your future agenda?
DFDJ!: Well I did 48 remixes last year, they’re all listed on my MySpace. I’m working on an album actually, kind of like how Deadmau5 released an album before he was signed called Random Album Title, which was just a compilation of random tracks mixed together. We’re thinking about doing something like that, with my own tracks all mixed together. I’ve got EPs lined up for the next 6 months, all original stuff. I’ve been concentrating more on the originals lately, so I haven’t had much time for the remixes. I do have really good management, though, so they help me figure out all my releases.

RVA: Do you hear a song and say, “Hey, I would love to remix this!”
DFDJ!: Actually yeah, I heard the Crystal Castles tune featuring Robert Smith and asked if I could remix that. It just got accepted, so that will be my next remix. Also, once a month for the next twelve months, I plan on releasing a free remix of a classic track through my new label to help promote it, of sorts. I just released a Mr. Scruff remix through Ninja Tune. It’s fun taking a classic track and making it into a contemporary thing.

RVA: You kind of branch out, it seems, with your remix choices. I saw you remixed Sia, The Temper Trap, Marina & The Diamonds. Do you frequently listen to these different styles of music?
DFDJ!: I’m a massive fan of all styles of music. To be offered to do a remix in my own style of these artists, it’s amazing. I’ve been able to test my abilities, to be able to do remixes of so many different artists. It kind of scares my fans sometimes when I do something so far from some of my other stuff.

RVA: I feel like the US is so behind when it comes to all the music “fads.” It seems to stay in the UK, and then they move on, and the US finally gets it.
DFDJ!: It’s like dubstep. It seems that America really loves dubstep now. I don’t see some of the “harder” genres to listen to hitting America anytime soon. DJs like Joy Orbison, I don’t see exploding on the American scene, mainly because it seems people over here like the music that’s all fast paced and full of testosterone.

RVA: You mentioned earlier that you have a residence in Ibiza. You have a residence in the UK too am I right?
DFDJ!: Yea at Wax:On. Well, I run a lot of club nights over there. I used to play a lot more but now I help run some stuff. I do some key nights there and Fabric.

RVA: I tried to find more information online but was having a hard time. Tell us about “Afterparty”
DFDJ!: It’s basically a club night where you go after all the other clubs are closed. It goes from 2AM – 10AM. We’ve had Fatboy Slim, 2manyDJ’s, Pendulum, Rusko, Annie Mac, everyone.

RVA: That sounds too good to be true. Wish we had something like that over here. Now for a quick little Q&A! What were your first record purchases?
DFDJ!: Phats & Small – Tonite was my first record. David Morales – Needin U was probably my first cassette tape.

RVA: Your first musical experience?
DFDJ!: I was at a club to see Erick Morillo in Manchester and he was using 2 CDJ’s. I think he was the first to use them actually. He was looping and chopping stuff up and I was like, "Wow." He really inspired me. I was more of a hip-hop turntablist before then, but watching Erick kind of made me want to play more diverse music.

RVA: What are some items you don’t leave on tour without?
DFDJ!: Laptop, I guess, if you can count that. Uhm, my neck cushion, that’s a good one. It like, locks me in, and I wake up feeling so refreshed. Good purchase. I actually forgot it this time--ironic.

RVA: Can you play any other instruments?
DFDJ!: I can play the recorder. "Three Blind Mice" and "Happy Birthday," actually.

RVA: If you could play with any musician/producer dead or alive, who would it be?
At this point, Doorly noticed what appeared to be the DJ before him playing his track.
DFDJ!: That guy is playing my track! I don’t remember which one it is though, hah. What was the question again? Oh! Well, probably the Beatles. It would be nice to produce the Beatles with the technology we have today. I would also like to be in a band with the singer of Joy Division.

RVA: We've got an all-star lineup going on here, keep going.
DFDJ!: I’d like to have David Dewaele from Soulwax on synths. Probably Ringo Starr on drums. Jimi Hendrix on guitar. And we’ll see what happens. Worst case scenario, we’ll get in every magazine just because of the lineup.

RVA: Final question: of all the recent touring and playing you’ve done, what was the most memorable experience you’ve had? Where you just said to yourself, “Wow, this is the life."
DFDJ!: It was probably when The Prodigy asked me to open for them at a festival that they had created. There was thousands and thousands of people there. I was truly honored to be asked to play that gig. That was probably one of the highlights of my career.

And thus, the interview with the world-renowned DJ known as Doorly was over. It was time to watch Skrillex, and for Doorly to plot his game plan. After an over-the-top performance by Skrillex, Doorly had his work cut out for him. However, none of us were prepared for the insanity that was released when Doorly stood behind the turntables.

Words by Alex Rose
Photos by Erik Fox/Dope On Plastic

DJ Doddie and Long Jawns, two founding members of the Audio Ammo crew are at it again returning to one of the original stomping grounds for dance party madness. Sweat Shop at NY Deli will be sure to blow speakers and minds with heavy bass tracks to get all bodies in the joint moving.

WHAT: RVA Presents Sweat Shop w/ DJ Doddie & Long Jawns
WHEN: Saturday, November 27, 2010, 10PM-2AM
WHERE: NY Deli 2920 West Cary St

The Gods of The Bobble Heads Radio Show will be penetrating the ears of avid listeners at the end of the month live from Amsterdam! They will be participating as guest judges at the 23rd Annual High Times Cannabis Cup, where they will do two live broadcasts during the week of November 18th through November 24th! Aside from shooting their documentary of their journey, The Amsterdam Invasion, they will be conversing with a variety guests in Holland on their show while abroad, being a part of the concerts, seminars, and ceremonies.

The show temporarily moves overseas to engage in the game, becoming immersed within the culture, all while keeping fans from all over the world viscerally entertained. The two shows will take place live from Cannabis College, the non-profit foundation widely known for educating the public on cannabis and its medicinal benefits, and AMNESIA Coffeehouse where The Gods of The Bobble Heads will be surrounded by patrons of Cannabis College, and interviewing guests including, legendary cannabis activist John Sinclair, SOMA of Soma seeds, Ken Post, Superdude from Andy Warhols' Factory, and TOR.

The anticipated shows are less than two weeks away and are expected to be filled with energy and excitement as the gentlemen of Gods of The Bobble Heads embark on new territory. Be sure to be part of the show by listening to the podcast either on iTunes or The Gods of The Bobble Heads website.

Peep Kulture make a leap frog of an appearance at 2:35.

Crispin Hellion Glover is undoubtedly best known for his roles in classic 80s movies like Back To The Future and River's Edge. However, while he might seem like a marginal figure to those who see the world through the filter of a Hollywood lens, in truth Glover is a multi-talented artist who has spent the past three decades putting the majority of his energies into his independent projects. These projects range from producing and directing low-budget independent films to releasing albums to writing books, all of which reflect Glover's unique sensibility. His more recent work in big-budget Hollywood movies also reflects this sensibility to a great extent, as Glover typically portrays eccentric characters in his more recent film work. Among those roles are the title role in the 2003 remake of the 1971 film Willard, that of the Creepy Thin Man in the Charlie's Angels film series, and that of Grendel in Robert Zemeckis's 2007 adaptation of Beowulf.

In 2005, Glover released What is it?, a film he'd been working on for over a decade, financing it with the paychecks from his appearances in big-budget Hollywood films. What Is It? was a shocking experimental film dealing with taboo subjects such as racism and prejudice towards the handicapped and disabled. Most members of the cast have Down Syndrome, although the condition is not addressed during the film. In order to best present the film, and deal with the questions it was sure to raise, Glover chose to forego typical avenues of film distribution. Instead, he took the film on tour and presented it himself at independent theatres, accompanied by a question and answer session, as well as a slideshow presentation of several of his books entitled Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show. Glover's books are just as much works of visual art as writing; he constructs them by radically modifying books from the 19th Century that have become part of the public domain. He has published several through his production company, Volcanic Eruptions, but many more remain unpublished. Glover is currently touring with his 2007 sequel to What is it?, entitled It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. This film was written by and stars Steven C. Stewart, who also appeared in What is it? Glover produced the film and co-directed it with David Brothers.

His tour will bring him to Richmond's Byrd Theatre on Friday, December 3rd, in an appearance facilitated and sponsored by the James River Film Society. The event will start at 9:00 PM, and will consist of two programs: Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show Part 2, a one hour dramatic narration of eight different, profusely illustrated books; and a screening of It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE (35 mm, 74 minutes). Tickets are $10 for each program, or $20 for both, and are available at Chop Suey Books and Video Fan.

Todd Raviotta got in contact with Mr. Glover over email to ask about his films, his books, and how he balances his work within and outside of the Hollywood studio system.

TODD: What is your process and ritual in the book making?

CRISPIN:I made all the books in the shows in the 80’s and early 90’s. I would find older bindings from the 1800’s and images from around the same time and rework them. I usually reworked the text with india ink and the photos and illustrations with graphite and india ink. I would use rubber cement to glue in the illustrations. Some of the books were made over a period of months or even years, if they were put aside for a time, and some of them were made more rapidly. There usually was some revising of them after having gone through the pages, and then at a certain point it would become apparent that the book was completed.

The books are taken from old books from the 1800’s that have been changed into different books from what they originally were. They are heavily illustrated with original drawings and reworked images and photographs. When I first started publishing the books in 1987, people said I should have book readings. But the book are so heavily illustrated, and the way the illustrations are used within the books, they help to tell the story. So the only way for the books to make sense was to have visual representations of the images. This is why I knew a slide show was necessary. It took a while, but in 1992 I started performing what I used to call Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Side Show. People get confused as to what that is, so now I always let it be known that it is a one hour dramatic narration of eight different profusely illustrated books that I have made over the years. The illustrations from the books are projected behind me as I perform the show.

TODD: How do you strike a balance between the experience of working on big impersonal projects and that of making complex intimate smaller films?

CRISPIN: I do not really use the same vocabulary to describe the balance of my film work. I will explain what you are asking this way: In the last ten years I have been acting in films that I have been utilizing the money to finance my own film projects. I often see it written as though I am only acting in other people’s films to finance my films, but this is not true. I enjoy acting in other people’s films. Actually financing my own films with the money I have made acting in other people’s films has made me enjoy acting in other people’s films more and be more grateful for it.

TODD: When did you first start working on your personal films? What got you started on making them?

CRISPIN: I have been making films starting when I was thirteen and purchased a Minolta super 8 camera with an intervalometer. I do not quite remember what attracted me to making movies at that age, but I did like it.
Some details about the two feature films I have completed are as follows:

What is it? is my psychological reaction to the corporate restraints that have happened in the last 20 to 30 years in filmmaking. Specifically, anything that can possibly make an audience uncomfortable is necessarily excised, or the film will not be corporately funded or distributed. This is damaging to the culture because it is the very moment when an audience member sits back in their chair looks up at the screen and thinks to themselves, “Is this right what I am watching? Is this wrong what I am watching? Should I be here? Should the film maker have made this? What is it?” And that is the title of the film. What is it that is taboo in the culture? What does it mean that taboo has been ubiquitously excised in this culture’s media? What does it mean to the culture when it does not properly process taboo in its media? It is a bad thing when questions are not being asked, because these kinds of questions are when people are having a truly educational experience. For the culture to not be able to ask questions leads towards a non educational experience, and that is what is happening in this culture. This stupefies this culture and that is of course a bad thing. So What is it? is a direct reaction to this culture’s film in content.

I have completed part two of the trilogy entitled It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. Steven C. Stewart wrote and is the main actor in It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. I put Steve into the cast of What is it? because he had written this screenplay, which I read in 1987. When I turned What is it? from a short film into a feature, I realized there were certain thematic elements in the film that related to what Steven C. Stewart’s screenplay dealt with. Steve had been locked in a nursing home for about ten years when his mother died. He had been born with a severe case of cerebral palsy and he was very difficult to understand. People that were caring for him in the nursing home would derisively call him an “M.R.” short for “Mental Retard.” This is not a nice thing to say to anyone, but Steve was of normal intelligence. When he did get out, he wrote his screenplay. Although it is written in the genre of a murder detective thriller, truths of his own existence come through much more clearly than if he had written it as a standard autobiography.

I put Steven C. Stewart into What is it? when I turned What is it? into a feature film. Originally What is it? was going to be a short film to promote the concept to corporate film funding entities [of] working with a cast wherein most characters are played by actors with Down’s Syndrome. Steve had written his screenplay in in the late 1970’s. I read it in 1987 and as soon as I had read it, I knew I had to produce the film. Steven C. Stewart died within a month after we finished shooting the film. Cerebral palsy is not generative but Steve was 62 when we shot the film. One of Steve’s lungs had collapsed because he had started choking on his own saliva, and he got pneumonia. I specifically started funding my own films with the money I make from the films I act in. When Steven C. Stewart’s lung collapsed in the year 2000 this was around the same time that the first Charlie’s Angels film was coming to me. I realized with the money I made from that film, I could put straight into the Steven C. Stewart film. That is exactly what happened. I finished acting in Charlie’s Angels and then went to Salt Lake City, where Steven C. Stewart lived. I met with Steve and David Brothers, with whom I co-directed the film. I went back to LA and acted in an lower budget film for about five weeks, and David Brothers started building the sets. Then I went straight back to Salt Lake and we completed shooting the film within about six months, in three separate smaller productions. Then Steve died within a month after we finished shooting.

I am relieved to have gotten this film finally completed because ever since I read the screenplay in 1987, I knew I had to produce the film, and also produce it correctly. I would not have felt right about myself if I had not gotten Steve’s film made. I would have felt that I had done something wrong and that I had actually done a bad thing if I had not gotten it made. So I am greatly relieved to have completed it, especially since I am very pleased with how well the film has turned out. We shot It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE while I was still completing What is it? And this is partly why What is it? took a long time to complete. I am very proud of the film, as I am of What is it? I feel It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE will probably be the best film I will have anything to do with in my entire career. People should join up on the email list at CrispinGlover.com as they will be emailed with information as to where I will be where with whatever film I tour with. It is by far the best way to know how to see the films.

TODD: What is your experience with the handicapped and disabled? What attracts you to telling part of their story?

CRISPIN: I should reiterate that What is it? is my psychological reaction to the corporate restraints that have happened in the last 20 to 30 years in filmmaking. And although most of the actors in the film have Down’s Syndrome, the film is not about Down’s Syndrome. The second film in what will be the trilogy is the film I will be showing at the Byrd Theatre. I am very proud of this film.

TODD: How has touring with your independent films affected the way you see the country and the world?

CRISPIN: When I show What is it? outside of the United States, I get a much different reaction than when I show it in the United States. People become much more aggressive in the US in the Q and A session. I would attribute this to the fact that the control of the US media is more stringent in the US by corporate interests than it is in other countries. Therefore What is it? feels more alien and more questionable in the US than it does in most of the other parts of the world I have shown. Strangely, the only other countries that I have had similar kind of aggressive questions as the US are in Ireland and Germany. My experiences in Canada, Norway, Spain, Japan, Australia and Finland were that the audiences were far less aggressive about the material that they witnessed. It could have just been the mood of the particular questioners in the audience though. I have had less aggressive questioning in the US as well. I did notice that cities in the US that would be often considered liberal cities had the more aggressive questions, and that cities that may be considered more conservative in the US would have less aggressive questions. I would not consider What is it? either a liberal or conservative film, but I do not think either film would be appropriate for anyone under the age of 18.

TODD: Do you have any hope for 21st century independent media in the US?

CRISPIN: I think the continuing tightness of the constraints over the corporate funded and distributed media will make it necessary for non-corporately funded media to be funded and distributed by individuals who want to express specific thoughts that corporately funded media will not fund or distribute.

TODD: What do you look out for in visiting places where you share your films?

CRISPIN: It is more about the aggressiveness of the people involved with the venue in getting me to them than it is about me searching out and pursuing venues. I have to admit I love playing in genuine vaudeville theaters because I can feel that they were constructed for live performance, but the individuals who are passionate about bringing unusual films and media to help educate their community are true unsung heroes!

TODD: What directors or artists first inspired or continue to inspire your creativity?

CRISPIN: Werner Herzog, Luis Buñuel, Stanley Kubrick, Tod Browning, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Fritz Lang, F.W Murnau, Federico Fellini, Roman Polanski, Gaspar Noé, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Diane Arbus, and many more.

TODD: Do you make work with an audience in mind?

CRISPIN: I often am thinking about my own enjoyment, but for the films I also know that I have to recoup the investment, and if there is a limited audience for what my personal interests are, then I have to be very careful with the budget.

TODD: One of my favorite moments from Wild at Heart is the Cousin Dell parable. Can you share thoughts on developing Jingle Dell?

CRISPIN: I loved working with David Lynch. That performance is the most concisely directed performance I have ever done. As much as I am very happy with the performance and being in the film, I have to say that it was to the second precisely directed by David Lynch.

TODD: I found your portrayal of Andy Warhol in The Doors to be very interesting. How difficult is it portraying an art icon that has been interpreted many times over in numerous other films?

CRISPIN: I shot that film in 1990. To my knowledge, I was the first person to portray Andy Warhol in a feature film. I had met Andy Warhol and talked with him a bit at Madonna and Sean Penn’s wedding in 1985, five years previous to portraying him. After I spoke with him I stood back and watched him and how he moved. I thought he would be an interesting person to play sometime. The first time I hard about a film that had him as a character was for The Doors, and I pursued the role and auditioned for Oliver Stone. I did have certain concerns about how to portray the character, but many of the concerns were about having the character say less, and Oliver Stone was very good to work with as a director.

TODD: How do you feel about being forever connected with George McFly?

CRISPIN: I am glad that I was in Back To The Future. The character of George McFly was an excellent role, and I feel good about the final results in that film. I need to clarify that I did not play the character in the sequels to the film. There was never an agreement reached for me to appear in the sequels to Back to the Future. The producers hired another actor and, with a false nose, chin and cheekbones, made him up to look like me, then inter-spliced a very small amount of footage of me from the original film in order to fool audiences into believing it was me playing the character. Because of my lawsuit, there are laws in the Screen Actors Guild that make it so no producers, directors, or actors are ever able to do this again. I am proud of that. I have noticed, however, that Bob Gale, who was the co-writer and one of the producers on the films, and one of the chief architects of the concepts that led to the lawsuit, has been stating false things about me to attempt to lessen his wrongdoing. I do not like his false statements and would like to remind that what he did caused laws in the Screen Actors Guild to be changed to protect actors from his kind of wrongdoing. I ended up having an excellent working relationship with Robert Zemeckis on Beowulf, which was released in 2007. Despite the negative aspects of Bob Gale, I am glad that I played the character in the original film.

For more info on the work of Crispin Hellion Glover, please check out his website: CrispinGlover.com.

For more info on Glover's appearance at the Byrd Theatre: jamesriverfilm.com

11/ 25 Go suck an egg!

11/26 Pop Therapy Dance Party benefit for Diversity Thrift feat. DJ Rometti (poster above) @ The National 9pm.

11/26 Conditions (pictured above), Life on Repeat, Safety Word Orange, Mayfair, The Greater The Risk, While They Sleep @ Canal Club (this show will be held upstairs) 6pm.

11/26 The Fox Hunt, River City Band, Russell Lacy (pictured above) @ The Camel 8pm.

11/26 Double Rainbows, Blackout Twins, Party Favors (poster above) @ Empire 10:30 pm.

11/26 Bubble feat. Omar Faison and DJ Phathum (poster above) @ The Cellar Door 10 pm.

11/27 Clash Party 8 feat. Young Richmond Outkasts (pictured atop), Checkbook, Our City Boyz, Hard To Kill Ent, P.R., G Mook, Young Burna, D.H.B., Ayss Boogie, Supremeteam Ent, Lani, Idiom Ent, TGUNN, Knuckle, Twave (poster above) @ Alley Katz 9pm. 18+

11/27 Love Logic feat. Chuck Dawson on bass (pictured above), Brad Moss @ Sprout 10pm. free.

11/27 J3 Project (pictured above) @ City Dogs (in The Fan) 9pm.

11/27 Parlour Shakedown (pictured above), The Weather, Euphio Machine, The Delegates @ Alley Katz 6pm-10pm. (early show) all ages.

11/27 Maki, Long Arms (pictured above, by Greg Bethmann), Young Sinclairs @ Poe's Pub 10pm.

11/27 Dustin Wong, Avocado Happy Hour, Holy Ghost Party, Nelly Kate @ Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar (414 E. Main St, Charlottesville – (434)-293-9947) 8pm.

11/28 Ben Kweller, Julia Nunes @ The Camel 7pm.

11/28 From Ashes To Empires, The Apprehended, Postcards, Vessel (pictured above), Fixtures @ Strange Matter 6pm. all ages.

11/28 Slave To The Metal Festival feat. Fat Kid Wins Cake, Transgression, Epitome of Evil, Through Faith Alone, Frail Humanity, Milestone, Make Like Murder, She Died in my Arms (pictured above), Hateful Bones, Not Liable (poster below) @ Canal Club 2pm.

Written by John Lewis Morgan/originally appeared at onewayrichmond.com

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding (Merge Records)

I’m one of those people who first started to listen to Superchunk a year or two ago and now hail them as one of the greatest bands ever. I’m sorry I was late to the party. Excuse my ignorance. Despite my tardiness, my enthusiasm for this band is genuine. The band’s new album, Majesty Shredding, is their ninth full length, and has been one of my most anticipated records this year.

I put off buying this record until a week ago. Merge, the Superchunk-owned label that released the record, was selling it for $19 on their website and I couldn’t find it much cheaper anywhere in town. While I think that is a price worth paying for this record, my own financial situation doesn’t justify me spending that much money on a record very often. I finally found it at Vinyl Conflict for $16, and the three-dollar difference was enough to convince me to give in to temptation. The record has not left my turntable since its purchase.

This new collection of Superchunk’s poppy, anthemic alt-rock features a lot of the classic 90s pop riffs, twangy guitar leads, and full, nasally vocals that made this band popular with the college and indie crowds years ago. Many bands that have been around as long as Superchunk have lost their appetite for studio prowess, focusing mainly on their live performances and touring on the hits that made them relevant in the first place. Superchunk seems intent on remaining at the crest. The record’s second track, “My Gap Feels Weird,” seems to be a song in recognition of the fact that Superchunk’s members are likely nearly twice the age of many of their listeners: “Here is a song for the kids down on the corner, with the look that tells you you don’t even know them and you never will.”

A major part of a great pop record is pacing. Credit must be given to whoever was in charge of arranging this album, as the songs all seem to fit perfectly in place with one another. Fast to slow, poppy to solemn--this record transitions flawlessly. From the fast, terracing verses of the albums opening track, “Digging for Something,” to the sad, haunting “oohs” in its closer, “Everything at Once,” this album hits on all the right spots.

11/29 RichCity Productions pres. Gamma Raze - a Sleaze & DJ Dizz hosted hip-hop event feat. So !lla, F.Low, Nyce, Soulfully, Me, Tre-Ski, Blaq Fire (poster atop) @ The Camel 8pm.

11/29 No One Will Ever Love You - A Comedy Showcase! feat. David Marie-Garland, Katrina Johnson, John Reeves, Chris Martin, Bill Metzger, Ron Rogers, Joe Hafkey, Zach Caron, Tyler Newbold, Sean, McGhee, Alex Mossa (emcee), Amber Wolf (haircuts) (poster above) @ Strange Matter 10pm.

11/30 Alchemy From Ashes, East Coast Secondaries, The Canary Promise (pictured above) @ The Camel 7pm.

11/30 Abandoning Arborland, Slit Throat Symphony (pictured above), The Outsyder @ Element Lounge 9:30pm.18+

11/30 Ohbliv, Hit Machine (pictured above), Car Seat Headrest, and others @ Strange Matter 10pm.

11/30 Bio Ritmo (pictured above) @ Balliceaux 10pm.

12/1 Farther Than Forgotten (pictured above), Us From Outside, All Quiet, With Life In Mind @ Alley Katz 5pm. all ages.

12/1 Remain, Dammit Mathew Dammit (pictured above), MerrinKaras @ The Triple 10pm.

12/1 Snack Truck (pictured above), Roy G. Biv, Picayune, Hammer No More The Fingers @ Strange Matter 10pm.

12/1 Tyrannosaurus Awesome, The Dirty Nubs (pictured above), Harsh Realm @ Sprout 10pm.

Written by John Lewis Morgan/originally appeared at onewayrichmond.com

Joanna Newsom with Neal Morgan
Saturday November 20 at The National

The environment inside the National during the Joanna Newsom show was a lot different than it normally is; chairs were set up covering the normally empty general admission floor, and people got assigned seats as they walked into the building. Some congregated in chattering groups near the bar while waiting for the show to start, but most assumed their seats and settled in like an audience at an orchestral concert hall. I saw people dressed up in nice clothes, middle aged families with kids in tow, and even the casual indie kids recognized that the air was different than the shows they usually attended. Maybe it was Ms. Newsom's use of a harp as her main instrument that made the distinction between this crowd and the indie-rock crowd that I'm used to, but I confess that it had never occurred to me in advance that anything about this show would be different from a normal show. And at any rate, my experience wasn't really all that different; with our press passes we were unable to attain seats, and instead stood in one of the separate areas behind the soundboard where there were no seats. I was totally happy with that spot, even though I wasn't as close to the stage as I'd have liked--being behind the soundboard put us in an ideal position where sonics were concerned, and the floor where we were was raised to about the level of the stage, so we had a perfect view.

After a short opening set by Neal Morgan, who turned out to be the drummer in Joanna Newsom's band, Ms. Newsom took the stage along with her six-piece band. She began the set playing her harp by herself, performing "Bridges And Balloons," which opens her first album, 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender. In arrangement, this version was almost identical to the album version, but as she played it, it became clear to all watching that something special, perhaps indefinable, was added to the performance just by virtue of it being live. I spent the first couple of days after seeing this show explaining to friends of mine not in attendance that it was not something one could put into words, that there was some special quality about the performance that I couldn't qualify. There is at least one quality I still can't verbally capture, and that is the way Newsom's music gets under your skin and makes you feel perhaps like you are being transported to some other plane of existence. It clearly affected everyone in the place, too; during the performances of her rather quiet songs, you couldn't hear a single whispered conversation or fidgety rustle. Everyone in the place was transfixed. By contrast, when she finished that first song, as well as all that came subsequently, the crowd erupted in roaring applause that was far too vehement to be inspired by mere politeness.

Before beginning her second song, Joanna engaged in a bit of banter with the crowd, exposing a perhaps-surprising fact: that when she is not singing, she has a perfectly normal voice. Even people who aren't fans, who are only dimly aware of Joanna Newsom's existence as a musician, generally know two things about her: she plays a harp, and she sings like some bizarre combination of Bjork and Lisa Simpson. Her voice polarizes people--they love it, or they hate it. You'd think that anyone with such a distinctive and unorthodox singing voice would speak in a version of that same voice, wouldn't you? That's what I expected. And yet, as she went around introducing the members of her band (Neal Morgan on drums, Mirabai Peart and Veronique Serret on violins, Andrew Strain on trombone, and her arranger, Ryan Francesconi, on guitar, banjo, recorder, and a variety of other stringed instruments), she sounded just like any other random twentysomething American woman you could meet. And the crowd loved her. Taking advantage of the opportunity afforded by the long pauses between music, the relatively quiet hall, and Ms. Newsom's inviting friendliness, multiple young men in the hall began calling out comments to her. One said he'd driven all the way from Pittsburgh, and when she seemed impressed, another tried to impress her with the fact that he was from a mile away. She kept trying to start another song, but was unsuccessful on her first few attempts because the guys yelling from the crowd kept cracking her up. Eventually, though, she was able to begin the second song of the night, the 11-minute title track to her latest album, Have One On Me.

I mentioned already the high-art trappings of this show at the National, the things that made it seem more like a classical or operatic performance than that of an indie musician. Joanna Newsom's music has always had a bit of that air around it, by virtue of the fact that she plays a harp. On her first two albums, the presentation of her music bore out this impression; on the first record, she mostly performed alone, while on the second record she was backed by an orchestra, with arrangements by baroque pop-classicist Van Dyke Parks. It's only on her most recent album where a far more populist aspect of her music comes to the fore, and it's songs like "Have One On Me" that make it clearest. Most of the time, the players backing her up contribute accents to her music rather than playing along with the songs as a backing band. On "Have One On Me," a lot of the backing accents were provided by the two violinists, but rather than bringing the classical, orchestral touches that the violins added to her music on her second album, Ys, the violins on this song sounded basically like fiddles straight from the heart of Appalachia. That old-time mountain music that became the roots of country and western nearly a century ago traces its lineage directly back to the British Isles, from which the working classes brought their folk songs and instrumentation when they were shipped to America as indentured servants in the 17th and 18th century. When Joanna Newsom has violin players play parts that sound like hillbilly fiddles, she's harking back to that same British Isles folk music tradition from centuries past. Rather than seeing this tradition as something separated from the Renaissance musical styles that she inevitably calls up by performing her songs on a harp, and continuing with the strict class divisions that have kept these sounds and traditions separate for hundreds of years, Joanna reaches back to a time several centuries in the past when these styles hadn't yet been pulled apart and uses her music to join them together again. The violin and banjo accents on songs like "Have One On Me" make this clear, but the song that made it most apparent during her performance last Saturday night was "Colleen," a tune driven just as much by Francesconi's banjo and Morgan's drumming as it was by Newsom's harp. Lyrically, the song tells what sounds like an ancient folktale, beginning with the lines "I'll tell it as I best know how, and that's the way it was told to me." In combining these ancient and often opposed strains of musical history into an integrated and singular style, Newsom creates sound without an associated era, which is, in that sense, quite modern.

In fact, her sound is modern enough that, while I can imagine Joanna Newsom playing similar music 20 or 40 years ago, I can't imagine her finding a similarly accepting and interested audience as she's been able to capture in our modern era. I have been known to rant and rave, at times, about how disappointing it is that the indie rock sound that existed and thrived 15 to 20 years ago is no longer in favor, and that even in years when bands like Superchunk and Dinosaur Jr release new albums, it seems as if their sound is vastly outnumbered by the soft-rock descendants of the indie sound, like The Shins or The Decemberists. In all honesty, though, I recognize that I shouldn't complain, because the expansion of the indie scene to a general aesthetic from a specific sound is a positive development. When barriers to experimentation and different musical styles are removed, it can sometimes lead to a soft-rock renaissance, which may leave me frustrated at the sound of The Suburbs or the eighth Death Cab For Cutie album or whatever. On the other hand, it also allows room for someone like Joanna Newsom to go on tour with a harp and a backing band in which most of the musicians play instruments not seen as part of the "rock" canon at all. Considering the high quality of the music she produces, both live and in the studio, this is a good thing, no matter how much further it causes the boundaries of the traditional indie sound to be phased out.

Interestingly enough, when Ms. Newsom plays piano rather than harp, as she did on about half of the songs in last Saturday's set, it seems as though she comes much closer to a role laid out previously in the history of rock music. It's not an indie role, though--instead, she resembles the piano-playing singer/songwriters of the pre-punk 70s. In fact, with her strange voice, her narrative lyrical style, and the predilection she has shown on her piano-based songs toward rollicking barrelhouse playing, she comes closest to the early work of Tom Waits. Songs like "Soft As Chalk" or "Good Intentions Paving Company" bear a striking resemblance, at times, to tunes from Waits albums Blue Valentine or Heart Of A Saturday Night. On these same tunes, Newsom veers from her traditionally fantasy-based lyrics to the confessional songwriting favored by modern indie troubadours. Indeed, she shows quite the confessional streak herself on "Easy" or the aforementioned "Soft As Chalk." By playing Milk-Eyed Mender's "Inflammatory Writ" within a portion of the set that mostly consisted of more recent, more straightforward tunes, she allowed for a new way of hearing that song, presenting one of that album's only non-harp compositions in a completely different context than it originally appeared. Suddenly, elements of the song's construction that I'd never noticed before--it's in waltz time!--jumped right out at me, and made clear that she's always had the potential within her sound for the songs that sounded so new and different upon initial listens to Have One On Me.

Back when Joanna Newsom first came into the public eye, her publicity images featured her standing in snow-covered fields, or wearing hats apparently fashioned from the heads of animals. Mixed with her unusual voice and choice of instrumentation, these depictions were enough to create the image in many people's minds of a woman who came from a cultural background far from typical, who had no place in modern society and did not share enough of a mutual worldview with any of her listeners to be able to write songs that we could relate to. Instead, her music was presented as a dispatch from some alien cultural background that none of us were aware of. At least at first; I think the point soon came where Newsom realized that this was not how she wanted to be seen, and as early as the publicity interviews for Milk-Eyed Mender, she was telling stories about the death of her dog and how that inspired her song "Sadie," as if trying very hard to make clear that, contrary to popular belief, she was just like the rest of us. And yet, the image stuck, and she was characterized constantly in internet discussions as an elf, a gelfling, a wood nymph--never a real person, who played real music. And meanwhile, as everyone is stereotyping her as an otherworldly creature who plays completely alien music, she's made a habit of subtly playing against type and writing emotionally open songs with direct personal relevance, in styles recognizably drawn from rock music's standard canon.

"Good Intentions Paving Company," which is the big single off Have One On Me if anything is, is the clearest example of a case where Ms. Newsom does all of these things, putting together a single song that goes against every stereotype that's built up around her. Whatever they say she is, that's what "Good Intentions Paving Company" proves she is not. She and her band played it third-to-last in their main set on Saturday night, with Joanna making a joke out of a standard rock-show cliche before launching into it: "If anyone brought a trombone with them," she said, "feel free to play along with this next one." The crowd laughed, then recognized the opening notes and cheered loudly. Regardless of how unlike her earlier work this song may be, it's clearly a favorite amongst her fans. The entire band seemed to have a blast playing it, too. The song's lyrics are about a relationship that is complicated and running into trouble, but the narrator clearly still has strong feelings and wants to try and make it work out even if the circumstances aren't ideal. Toward the middle, the song goes into an extended bridge in which Joanna plays the same part over and over, and even though the backing instruments are mostly quiet during this section, the conjunction of the repeated piano figures and the steadily intensifying lyrics and vocals build up quite a bit of tension, until a longing, emotional climax is released, and suddenly the entire song turns to a jazzy, upbeat trombone solo. This final section went on for several minutes live, with Joanna clearly enjoying the hell out of herself as she for once got a chance to move out of the spotlight and just play her part as Andy Strain's excellent soloing captivated the crowd. The lyrics to "Good Intentions Paving Company" may not be the most upbeat, but this final instrumental section was the feel-good moment of the night, and even in the back of the room we could all tell that Joanna was grinning from ear to ear.

Throughout the evening, the construction of the set inspired recontextualization of Ms. Newsom's musical output. Hearing a song from her first LP right before or right after a much newer song sometimes shed new light on both compositions. By following "Good Intentions Paving Company" with a performance of "Monkey And Bear," from Ys, Joanna and her band created yet another of these moments. The long, epic structure of "Monkey And Bear," plus its original orchestral background and its lyrical tale of anthropomorphized animals in a Renaissance fantasy setting, makes it a classic example of the way Joanna Newsom's music fit in with the reductive analysis that built up around her in the first few years of her career. However, hearing it right after hearing "Good Intentions Paving Company" led me to notice quite a few similarities between the two very different songs that I'd never caught before, and to think that maybe there never was much substance to the stereotypes that surrounded discussion of her work. Towards the end of "Monkey And Bear," there's a bridge that repeats over and over, with Joanna starting on a high note and slowly walking down through the scale to end up on the same note with which she began, but an octave lower. As she and her band repeated this section, moving the song's narrative quickly along, they played louder and louder, building the intensity of the piece until eventually they were playing quite loudly. For a show that had been quiet enough, through most of its duration, for whispers and rustles to be clearly audible, it was unusual to have the volume rise to this extent. It just made the moment more effective, though.

The main set of the evening ended with "Peach Plum Pear," another tune from Milk-Eyed Mender. The album version was played on a harpsichord, but the new full-band arrangement had her playing it on harp. More importantly, a great deal of the song's melody was played by Francesconi on what I believe to have been a tambura, with Peart and Seeret playing pizzicato on their violins and Strain adding trombone accents throughout. This version was very different from the original, but if anything, it felt more affecting, with the layers of melody established by several different stringed instruments providing a fuller bed of sound for Newsom's plaintive vocals to be buoyed upon. The ending of the song stretched out for several minutes, but never felt self-indulgent at all. If anything, we all wanted it to go on longer, as was proven by the loud, extensive standing ovation the band received as the song ended. They left the stage as if the show was over, but no one in the crowd was willing to accept that. Oftentimes, I feel like crowd demands for encores have become standardized, with musicians writing the expected encore performance into their set lists and every single crowd expecting that performance as their due, rather than saving it for occasions when a performance has really merited such an outcry. This was one night, though, when it seemed only right and proper for the crowd to demand more songs. After the kind of playing we'd just seen, it would have seemed more like an insult to the artist not to demand an encore. Fortunately, Joanna Newsom seemed just as excited to keep playing as we were to have her do so, and she came dashing back onto the stage by herself after a moment or two to regale us with a solo performance of "'81," from Have One On Me. It's not my favorite of her new songs, by any means, but she did a good version of it, and thankfully, it was really just a prelude to the true high point of the entire performance.

After "'81" was finished, the rest of the band rejoined Joanna onstage for what would be their final song. Ms. Newsom moved to piano and they launched into "Does Not Suffice," which also ends Have One On Me. That album, being three entire CDs and about two and a half hours in length, has been hard for me to completely absorb, and "Does Not Suffice" is one of several songs on it that, at the time of the show, I still hadn't really gotten to know. It's a slow, sad ballad, most of which is played only by Joanna, with her singing melancholy lyrics about the dissolution of a relationship. It narrates the process of breaking up with someone and moving out of their house, and all of the emotions that go along with that process. The combination of the downbeat music and depressing lyrics made it an incredibly bleak listening experience, especially considering how much sheer talent she put into the performance of it. The part of it that was most crushing--and most beautiful--was the way the song ended. After Joanna sang the song's last line, "Everywhere I tried to love you is yours again, and only yours," the rest of the band finally joined with Ms. Newsom, at first carrying the song's melody with her. But soon the violins replaced the initial melody with high, keening notes, and then Joanna followed them, banging on the highest notes of the piano with both hands as Neal Morgan played thunderous rolls on his tom-toms and the entire song dissolved into an atonal wave of noise, which built, crested, and broke across the entire room before slowly spiraling down until Newsom was just playing an occasional high note on piano and Morgan was pounding his toms intermittently. Finally the song trickled out completely, all pretense of melody gone, the song having dissolved into a fractured, broken emotional state just as the relationship chronicled in its lyrics had. Stunned, the audience took a few seconds after all sound from the stage had stopped before we realized that the song was over. As the houselights came up, we turned and shuffled out of the room, most of us remaining quiet as we did so. We had just seen something that could scarcely be summed up in words. What was there to say?

On the 20th of November the Audio Ammo Crew brought down Chicago's Willy Joy for it's monthly rager known as Brain Drain. The Hat Factory quickly filled up and the dudes kept the crowd moving until security was kicking them out at the end of the night. Heavy Bass Champ Willy Joy was gladly welcomed as he played banger after banger amongst a sea of machine gun toating dub step fans who never want the party to stop. Here's a sample of what photographer Phil Bowne was able to capture in the madness.

Check out more of Phil's work here.

Since their critically acclaimed release Lord Willin back in 2002, the Clipse have been recognized by fans and artists alike as one of the most venerable duos in the industry. The "industry" itself, though, has not always been so kind. Label problems from early on, and being labeled “coke rap,” did not help the grit-laced brothers. They have had a wild ride from the get up, and are now on the “re-up” with two different paths. Gene Elliott Thornton Jr (Malice) and Terrence Thornton (Pusha T) are on the verge of doing some really good things. Whether it be the success of their clothing line "Play Cloths” (which can be found at West Coast Kix in Carytown), or the creation of Re-Up Gang Films, the duo is creating and visualizing a whole new track list.

Malice is finishing up a book this December entitled Wretched, Pittiful, Poor, Blind and Naked, which will serve as somewhat of an autobiography. “I tell my son you gotta pick your friends better, I love Geezy to death but I have yet to write a letter,” he says on his promotional track “Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked Freestyle.” This is a reference to Clipse’s former manager Anthony “Geezy” Gonzalez, whose 32 year sentence for drug trafficking was a very close call to home. Malice has also started a blog site at maliceoftheclipse.com, where he is making short films based on true stories of hardship and redemption.

Meanwhile Pusha is finding his place on the stage and in the studio these days. There had been rumors since the beginning of summer of Pusha signing with Kanye’s label G.O.O.D. Music, and they were recently confirmed. Whether its rocking out this year’s VMAs, or appearing on Saturday Night Live, performing the number one hit “Runaway” with Kanye West, Pusha is not quite done yet.

The brothers Thornton have nothing but love and respect for each other as they follow their own endeavors. Recently I was lucky enough to see both perform in DC as they rocked out Howard Homecoming. “2011 Pusha Solo album, 2011 new Clipse material, 2011 new Re-Up Gang material--we back by popular demand y’all.” Beat drops and the place erupts. This was the scene on stage, and after it all died down, I was able to speak to them separately about their upcoming endeavors.

Part 1: Malice
RVA: What can you tell me about the book?
MALICE: The book covers my life in the industry, the affects it had on me--positive and negative both. I think it serves as a eye opener for a lot of younger people who have aspirations of not just getting into this industry but any form of entertainment. Just being in this realm for fame, fortune, success or whatever their idea of that is.

RVA:What led you to write this book and make these blog films?
MALICE: I think it was the platform that I’ve been blessed with, and I feel like I would do a disservice to only paint one side of the picture. For years you have seen the ups of the Clipse and you have seen me at my pinnacle. I think it’s only fair to show that there are two sides to every coin. We have had a lot of stellar moments and that’s what the media portrays and shows. You see us in all our splendor, but it’s not always like that.

RVA: What is maliceoftheclipse.com about?
MALICE:The site is basically geared towards the youth, to those people I feel can still be molded and can still be taught. You still have influence on them to be thinkers, and not to always conform to what they see the next man doing. I know every person has talent and I don’t want that talent to be wasted on a figment of your imagination.

RVA: You recently changed your blog site--
MALICE: The new direction of the blog site is basically to promote the book, and then eventually the film. All the video blogs are true stories. They all basically have an interesting tale which I narrate over and give the background. They are all events that have happened in my life. I find it to be very interesting because they have direct parallels to the Bible. It’s 2010 and I see a lot of the same stories that were documented over 2000 years ago. It just overwhelms me how the same things going on today were going on back then.

RVA: As far as music goes, your brother is doing a solo album, will you be featured?
MALICE: I would have to say more than likely that I would be featured on my brothers album. The only question that comes into play is whether or not I feel compelled to rap (laughter).

RVA: You told me one time that it was a blessing that rhymes were not coming to you, and you were just choosing to follow another path.
MALICE: That has since changed, because right now I feel like a beast rhyming. I recently did a song with Ab Liva. It’s called “Where Do We Go.” I know I still got it, obviously, but I have another focus right now. I found another source of fulfillment with these video blogs, the book and the movie. I feel like that is my new found passion. Rap will always be there, but it’s just not my focus at this point in time.

RVA: So there could be a solo album coming out?
MALICE: Definitely. Don’t ever rule that out, but I have just been really enjoying this down time to finalize my book and promote it. I think I get a lot of satisfaction from helping people, and the testimonies that people have received lately are very satisfying. I’m just reading the comments and feedback and I feel like what I’m doing is a very needed thing. That to me is very satisfying.

RVA: How do you feel about your brother and where he is headed?
MALICE: I think he has been put into a really good position. You know I am with my brother all the time, so I know how talented he is. So it doesn’t surprise me. As long as his soul is right then he is a total package.

Part 2: Pusha T
RVA: So it is official, you are with G.O.O.D. Music?
PUSHA: Yes, 100% official.

RVA: When did this all begin? I know you went out to Hawaii to Kanye’s studio several months back and started collaborating.
PUSHA: I want to believe it was around March. I went out there for three days initially, which turned into a month. There would be days where I would literally take a flight from VA to Hawaii, go do a show and studio and come back. It ended up being a month and some change.

RVA: Did you have an idea after the last album, Til The Casket Drops, that you wanted to do a solo project?
PUSHA: It’s always been in the plans for Re-Up Gang Records, honestly. Anything that builds upon the Clipse brand, Re-Up Gang Records and, while building that brand, solo projects were always part of it. I look at my favorite acts like Outkast and Mobb Deep, and they did solo projects. You have to remember Malice and I are brothers, and there will never be a non-Clipse. So there is no breaking up with us, we really have to do things that build upon the brand.

RVA: During the DC show, you announced that your solo album will be coming out in 2011. Do you have an expected release time on your album?
PUSHA: We talk tentatively about it, but at the end of the day we are taking it project by project. Right now all the focus is around Kanye’s Dark Twisted Fantasy album. That and the tour that will be around it, which should be in the near future.

RVA: How do you feel about the direction your brother is taking?
PUSHA: I love it, I love everything that he is doing. I think his direction explains, and makes me have to explain less, the dichotomy of the Clipse. I think people are getting wind and really seeing how far his greatness spans. It’s really dope because there is a level of sincerity and a level of consciousness in it.

RVA: I asked Malice if he will be featured on your album, and he said more than likely, but only if he is “compelled to rap.”
PUSHA: Now if he says if he is compelled to rap? Well all I am going to say on that is if you have heard the Ab Liva and iCan Y.E.S. project, he just dropped a verse on that a couple of days ago. I don’t think there is a question of him and rapping.

RVA: Is Kanye producing this album from top to bottom? I heard you and Bangladesh (Producer) were in the studio working together.
PUSHA: Yeah, see that’s the thing, we have been in and made solo records together. But it’s really hard to talk into that project until [Kanye’s album] is over with. He will just send me records, and I will get it and record to it. At the end of the day, while he is not doing that, I can be in the studio with Bangladesh or Pharrell. I am trying to be everywhere. I just have to create and I have to keep creating.

RVA: You are probably on the best label right now with Common, Kudi, Mos Def, the list goes on.
PUSHA: Oh my god, yeah, man. (laughter)

Pusha at VMA's performing "Runaway" with Kanye

RVA: How has VA influenced this upcoming album?
PUSHA: My whole thing is life experiences, man. I think that is the best way to even discuss it. I was born and raised here, and it’s the only thing I know how to do. It’s actually harder when you are making up a lot of things, I’m not that imaginative.

RVA: When does inspiration take place?
PUSHA: Some things I think, off the cuff and I’m like, ‘Yo, I need to put this to a beat.’ You got guys who build some great sound beds for some of my words, and I try to seek them out and find them. I try to be everywhere getting with people.

RVA: Will you be working with the Inkredibles, who are based out of Richmond VA?
PUSHA: I would like to. I am actually going to be seeing them very soon.

RVA: When are you coming to Richmond, man?
PUSHA: I just left Stony Point mall if that answers your question. (laughter)

Wipers – Out Takes (Zeno Records)

First and foremost, I would like to say that the Wipers are one of my all-time favorite bands. Albums like Over The Edge and Youth Of America are absolutely perfect releases that combine morose punk energy with a reverence for rock and roll’s history and a penchant for experimentation rarely found in their contemporaries. That said, it’s difficult to approach Out Takes; which, as the name suggests, is a collection of b-sides and otherwise non-album material which had previously been available on the band’s triple CD collection of their first three full-lengths. What, in that context, had been an interesting footnote to a distinctive body of work raises questions when amassed into one album.

It’s difficult to really determine how to assess a record like this. If a listener is familiar with the band’s better-known work, these songs sometimes feel like sketches for Guernica or rough drafts of Candide--essentially, pieces which might not be terrible, and might demonstrate the creator’s ability, but fall substantially short of what they would later evolve into. Of the songs present on Out Takes that did not end up included on any albums, unfortunately most were recorded towards the beginning of the band’s existence. And I say “unfortunately” not because they’re terrible--at worst, they fail to distinguish themselves from many comparable bands--but because they tend to lack the darkness, the drive, and the grit that characterized many of the band’s subsequent albums. There are exceptions, however, and songs like “No Solution,” recorded after the band had existed for several years, show the musicians more comfortable in their skin, working within expansive parameters that they had set for themselves, rather than being simply another punk rock band.

And then there are the alternate versions of more recognizable songs. I never really considered Is This Real?, the band’s first album, to be all that great. There are a few great songs, but the band hadn’t quite hit their stride. That said, of the alternate versions of album tracks present, more than half are from that album, and are definitely not the record's better songs. And even when they dig into some better material--such as the alternate mix of “Youth Of America” (in my humble opinion, one of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time) with slightly louder guitars than the album version--it can be difficult to determine the point. Have we, as music consumers, tired of the magic such songs are capable of when taken at face value? Do we need all the minutiae of the creative process presented to us for dissection?

This review started off with something of a disclaimer for a reason. I do love the Wipers. I even think that Out Takes is a good album, even if I don’t necessarily get the point of some of it. But it’s a record for completists. Dear readers, if you are a fan of music made with guitar, bass, and drums, possessing even a modicum of energy and rawness, and have not listened to the Wipers, proceed to your nearest record store immedi-fucking-ately and buy Over The Edge and Youth Of America. Turn them up loud, bask in some of the best music the past thirty years has had to offer. If you’re still down, go pick up Is This Real? or the Complete Rarities ’78-’90 album (if you want to spend a little dough). And if your curiosity isn’t sated by that, by all means pick up Out Takes. Not for the casual fan, this is probably the least essential record by one of the most essential bands of its genre--which is hardly the insult it might at first seem to be.

Wiz Khalifa with Big K.R.I.T.
Wednesday, November 17 at The National

For the second time this season, Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T. and their WAKEN BAKEN tour have come through RVA to a sell out crowd. This time they were at The National, with a crowd almost twice as large as before. This show was not much more than a larger-scale repeat of the last one at CenterStage, but in no way was that a bad thing.

When I arrived at The National the line was winding up and around the block. There were so many in attendance that, by the time Big K.R.I.T.’s set began, the ticket check and box office were still frantically trying to get the crowd inside the already packed venue. As at the last show, K.R.I.T. set the bar high with his opening set, but Wiz was up for the challenge, albeit after baiting the crowd for an hour.

When he finally hit the stage, the room lit up, both literally and figuratively. The strobes kept firing for as long as the crowd kept screaming, but Wiz, always the showman, didn’t wait for his fans to settle down before jumping into his set. One thing that has to be noted about this upcoming hip hop star is how charismatic and energetic he can be in the spotlight, in spite of how much weed he claims to burn through daily. It’s this infectious energy that sells out venues everywhere he goes and brings out Taylor Gang pride in everyone who listens to his music. The Pittsburgh rapper distributes his own brand of Taylor Gang culture and slang wherever he goes, growing his cult of fans with every new listener that catches on.

Many people judge Wiz as just another pot-head rapper, but by the end of the show, anyone who was on the fence about his legitimacy as an artist could rest assured that shows like this just don’t come out of performers without talent. It may have only been an hour-long set, but the Wiz knows how to build and climax the energy of a show in a way that makes you feel like you’ve been singing along to him for hours. Great turnout, great show. I can’t wait for his next stop in RVA.