FEATURE SHOW
Thursday, July 26th, 10 p. m.
Jel, DJ Abilities, Ohbliv (picture above by thecheatsmovement.com), Void Pedal, Swordplay @ Strange Matter - $10 Advance / $12 Door / 18+
Here’s a hip hop showcase to believe in. Just when society seems out of control, this python falls in our laps. Holy John Marshall Courts Building, this one is going to be a doozy. Jel, the independent hip hop producer and rapper extraordinaire, is in the greatest city in the world tonight. So if you like hip hop that actually penetrates the consciousness, well then, it is mandatory you attend this party.
Many will recognize Jel, not only from his never-leave-home-without-it SP-1200, but from his previous rap groups: Themselves, Subtle, 13 & God, Presage, as well as his works off the mighty collective label, Anticon, out of LA. Having Jel at Strange Matter is a treat of somersault proportions. Can this night get even better? Oh yes, it most certainly may. DJ Abilities off the fabulous Minnesota label, Rhymesayers, does it all with his ideal magic in cuts, remixes, blends, mash ups, and beats.
Supporting will be Richmond’s best hip hop/experimental/all-everything DJ, Ohbliv, while the renaissance man himself, Swordplay, aka Isaac Ramsey, will be emceeing this opposite of lethargic event.
Wednesday, July 25th, 10 p. m.
Iceage (pictured above by Keith Marlowe), Double Negative, Lost Tribe, Zaloa, Unholy Thoughts @ Strange Matter - $10/18+
Well, well, well, look who's back: Copenhagen’s Iceage. These young, ecstatic, hardcore rocking Danish punks deliver the loudness. Noisy is the centerpiece of this quartet’s agenda, and having seen these bedfellows when they were in Richmond before, I walked away from their performance truly understanding the hype. The pavement on Grace Street is certain to unbuckle this hump day evening as Iceage is back at Strange Matter ready to inspire your best impure thoughts.
Double Negative is a divine collective of hardcore cats who were under the tutelage of past great hardcore legends Corrosion of Conformity. Like C.O.C., Double Negative come to us from Raleigh and are flipping out of sight. These guys may blow the lid off. I’m just not sure what lid. Punk rock is in good hands thanks to Double Negative and their violent tendencies.
Zaloa is very mysterious, but I have a feeling folks will go outside to smoke and say, “Those guys were really good. What did you say? My ears are ringing.” Richmond’s peace punk culture club of nastiness and dark groove éclairs, Lost Tribe, and the funky potato scavenger hunt of the disturbing punk, Unholy Thoughts, open the parade of ear massacres. Unholy Thoughts have released a new LP, and this show is a celebration. Buy it people, but it. Then afterwards, buy into the punk rock. It’s worth every cent.
Thursday, July 26th, 9 p. m.
Twangtown Thursdays featuring Bumper Jacksons, Sweet Fern @ Balliceaux – Free/21+
For over a year now, Josh Bearman and Alison Self have been creating a once-a-month string band/Americana showcase at Balliceaux. Twangtown Thursdays feature the best in local and traveling acts that specialize in various forms of American folk and non-folk music. Sweet Fern is Josh Bearman and Alison Self, while this week’s guest is Bumper Jacksons.
Bumper Jacksons is a self-described Baltimore based traditional jazz, ragtime, and pre-war country act. The Bumper Jacksons repertoire paints America's story from New Orleans' brothels to Appalachian hollers. By all means paying homage to the traditions, while fashioning their own unique style, is the Bumper Jacksons’ calling card. Whiskey for everyone!
Friday, July 27, 10 p. m.
Wolf//Goat (pictured above by Becca Weil), Little Smoke, Navi, Hoaxy Owls @ Cellar Door - $TBA/21+
Oh yes, the experimental, independent, frog horn leg horn, rock bashing of Richmond, Virginia is alive and well. It’s just being kept in the cellar. Walking down those stairs across from Jeb Stuart will be worth it tonight. I can honestly guarantee it. Talk about a powerhouse of astute dignitaries. Wolf//Goat, Little Smoke, Navi, and Hoaxy Owls make every day everybody’s birthday.
Wolf//Goat, the open field mammals that they are, are a musical concoction of banjo, violin, keyboards, guitar and drums that has a crowd of young folks and bright eyed bushytailed harlots looking on in awe. Amazing is this quartet of crazy lads. Little Smoke is so good that with a little time I see a big fire enraging. Speaking of fires, Navi is a centripetal force. Then, don’t forget yet another Richmond band with the word “Owls” in their name. But, anyway, these owls are not only intelligent, but are crafty and by all means give a hoot about their musical presentation.
Saturday, July 28, 10 p. m.
Flesh Mountain Boys @ Cary Street Café - $5/21+
Ever been to a Hoot’nanny? Well, whether you have or have not, now it’s time. Personally, I’d be fantasizing about an old fashion Hoot’nanny like it was a Hyapatia Lee film. When diehard musicians comprised with heaps of other talents get together, it’s going to be as special as a Byrd Park picnic.
Flesh Mountain Boys has been that band everyone in Richmond needs to hear, see, make love to, whatever, at least once. If you have endured this juggernaut before, then you know what I’m talking about. For your tasteful desires regarding a guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, drums, kazoo, and ukulele, I give you the Flesh Mountain Boys. Slide on down to SOFA (South of the Fan) at Cary and Mulberry and find out the true definition of flabbergasted. You can thank me later.
Saturday, July 28, 5 p. m.
Bruce Hornsby And The Noisemakers, Leftover Salmon @ SnagAJob Pavilion (Innsbrook) - $20/All Ages
You’re a bit older, yet a bit more carefree in life than you ever have been. Put down the wine and cheese and pick up where you left off back in the haze that was the eighties. Leftover Salmon and that tall Williamsburg native, Bruce Hornsby, are in lovely West Glen Allen, home of the white guy, tonight. Should be a donnybrook.
Bruce Hornsby, the Grammy Award winning maestro of the piano, and his band the Noisemakers, will be taking the Innsbrook Pavillion stage. I can’t call it SnagAJob Pavillion because it’s a stupid name for a glamorized temp agency. Besides, they’re in trouble; tons of layoffs recently. Sorry, where was I? Oh…
As many Virginians know, Bruce Hornsby first broke onto the international music scene in 1987 with his then-band, the Range. Since then, Hornsby hasn’t looked back. After selling millions of albums, and performing around the world to millions of fans, Hornsby continues to perform and record quality music. Along with his many solo accomplishments, Hornsby has performed and recorded with the Grateful Dead, Bela Fleck, and Dave Matthews. A Bruce Hornsby show is a guaranteed delight, and you know any band that backs up Hornsby will be comprised of the best musicians around. The Noisemakers is obviously no exception.
If that isn’t enough, the longtime rock, bluegrass, country, Cajun, and zydeco band, Leftover Salmon, will be opening.
Sunday, July 29, 9 p. m.
Canary Oh Canary, The Fire Tapes (pictured above by Mary Dobson) @ Bandito's – Free/21+
Charlottesville’s the Fire Tapes, for only being a band of two years, has steam rolled onto the Central Virginia musical landscape with their cherished psyche rock.
If you missed Canary oh Canary’s two most recent shows at Gallery 5 and Strange Matter, then you made the biggest mistake of your life. You know how good they are; stop avoiding, and present yourself at the front of the stage. This is a must see show. To hell with church--swing your loco in the Devil’s Triangle tonight.
Monday, July 30, 9 p. m.
This Old Ghost, Apache Radio, The Kindling Kind @ The Camel - $5/18+
What a glorious night of singer-songwriter type folk rock that tugs at your heart strings. Upstate New York’s This Old Ghost is a pleasant rock and roll appeasement towards the senses. Just listening to them now, I can illustrate in my head a marvelous camping trip with these silhouettes.
The Richmond constituency will be well represented by the original down home rock sounds of Apache Radio and the highly underrated The Kindling Kind, featuring future dynamite Miriam Martin on supernatural vocals. If you haven’t witnessed the goose bumps du jour music of the Kindling Kind, then you just are not into ambient folk rock. In other words, you are in a sad state of affairs.
Make your way down to the Camel tonight, and wash away those Monday blues.
Tuesday, July 31, 10 p. m.
Temple of Bon Matin, Glassslipper, and late night DJs @ The Nile - Free/21+
Temple of Bon Matin is amongst the asteroid’s rock meshed with improvisational out-there-and-loving-it jazz. Things can get very obtuse when these Philadelphians ransack Laurel Street. To be able to comprehend this piercing ear core with tone up, not down, will be a torture of experimental romancing.
Glassslipper will heed the early call playing in the middle of the riff raff. Oh yeah, Glassslipper is noise perfume featuring Gary Stevens of Mutwawa fame, and by his side, the titillating Amber.
Tuesday, July 31, 8 p. m.
Brighter Fires, Dead Fame, DJ Scarey Pete @ Fallout – Tickets at www.subcultserver.com/fallout/tickets/ or at Fallout / 18+ (No photography of any kind allowed)
Brighter Fires features Gopal Metro and Andy Deane of Bella Morte. Brighter Fires creates a deep, melodic, emotive, and memorable sound. Brighter Fires influences draw from the 80s, 90s and 00s modern dark rock scene.
Joining Brighter Fires will be Richmond’s seminal indie, post-punk band, Dead Fame. Dead Fame blends contemporary pop with darker ethos. You like Wire, Gang of Four, Bauhaus, and New Order? Well, you will love Dead fame. No one in this city sings with such passion as Dead Fame’s Michael Means, and the pouring out of unadulterated emotion not only from Means, but the rest of the band, is nothing short of a candid moment. Let Dead Fame usurp the echoes, and sequester the balance of beautiful music. Be here tonight.
DJ Scarey Pete is scary good, let me tell you. Scarey Pete will be spinning around, right round, in between sets of this séance.
By John Lewis Morgan (onewayrichmond.com)