Month: September 2011

RVA Music Fest!

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The inaugural RVA Music Fest is upon us, and I’m DEFCON 6 excited. Sure, the Girl Talk show will be a fun, sweaty mess, but the majority of my excitement stems from the fact that the festival promises to be a real celebration of the talented musicians that call Richmond home. I have to confess, when I started writing You Hear That in March, I didn’t realize how much I’d enjoy learning about Richmond’s home-grown bands. In the months since, my eyes have been opened by some amazing and creative groups, many of which are playing this weekend. Plans for Saturday have not crystallized yet, but here’s my Sunday game plan. Step 1: White Laces (Sunday @ 4:40 pm on Stage One). I loved their self-titled EP, and their new track “Hands In Mexico” totally blows my mind. Fingers crossed that they crank it up to Lynchburg volume. Step 2: Black Girls (Sunday @ 6:50 pm on Stage Two). I jumped on the Black Girls bandwagon when I heard their swinging tune “Broadway,” and fell for them even more when I found the live version of “South Carolina” that they recorded during hurricane Irene. Maybe if I’m good they’ll do a song with… Step 3: No BS! Brass Band (Sunday @ 7:40 pm on Stage Two). Unlike White Laces and Black Girls, I have seen No BS a few times, and each show has left me with a huge smile on my face. They’re a true Richmond treasure, so don’t miss this one (even if it means skipping out on some of Best Coast). Lastly… Step 4: Girl Talk (Sunday @ 8:45 pm on Stage One) — the aforementioned fun, sweaty mess. I can’t wait. Make your own game plan by checking out some sample songs below, getting your tickets here, and following this link for all the info you’ll need to attend. See you there!

PJ Harvey

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You know what’s crazy to think about? England. And not just because the Prime Minister’s Questions is a real thing. What’s crazy is how so many of the most important bands are English. It’s bonkers. The Beatles. Led Zeppelin. The Rolling Stones. The Who. Radiohead. Or as I like to call them, Beatledzeppelingstondiwhohead. I could list many more, but you get the idea. Moral of the story? We must keep an eye/ear on them Brits. A great way to do so is The Mercury Prize. It’s given out to the best British album of the year, and I found out about it when Thom Yorke’s Eraser was nominated a few years back. The award show itself is amazing — this year’s included performances by nominees James Blake, Elbow, Metronomy, Ghostpoet and a wild one by winner (for the second time — she won in 2001, as well) PJ Harvey. If you like autoharp and antlers made out of feathers, this is your JAM. Given that I’m just starting to listen to her music, this fragile yet forceful rendition of “The Words That Maketh Murder” is quite the captivating introduction, and I’m excited to learn more about why some of my favorite musicians were so congratulatory in the wake of the ceremony (Jason Isbell tweeted his approval by saying “Screw you to the world for not already giving her EVERY prize we have”). Check out the video of her performance above, listen below and buy her Mercury Prize winning album Let England Shake here.

PJ Harvey — “The Words That Maketh Murder“

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

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I’ve been doing some serious unplugging lately. Between the 4-day, post-Irene power outage and this past weekend’s trip to Chincoteague Island, which has a very high pony-to-Wi-Fi ratio, I’ve been forced to pause, ignore Twitter and reconnect with old musical friends. This was especially important when the power was out, and I needed something that would be comforting in the midst of a crazy storm and its aftermath (for me, “unplugging” still involves listening to music with a battery-operated iPhone speaker dock. I seem to have some technology addiction issues). Where did I turn? The O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, for one. More specifically, the 10th anniversary deluxe edition, which just happened to be my last iTunes purchase before things went crazy. Lighting candles and listening to old favorites like “Down to the River to Pray” and “Po Lazarus,” plus the 14 new tracks that didn’t make the original edition, felt less like weathering a power outage and more like stepping into a time machine with Alison Krauss, Norman Blake and Gillian Welch, bound for Depression-era Mississippi. After a while, Irene-era Richmond didn’t seem so scary. Take a listen below to one of the newly released tracks — the Cox Family’s rendition of “Keep On the Sunny Side,” and buy the deluxe version of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack here.

The Cox Family — “Keep On the Sunny Side”

Kanye West

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The lights are back on at You Hear That headquarters, and I couldn’t be more excited, relieved and guilty at the same time, since so much of Richmond is still without power. With this ambivalent joyfulness in mind, I can think of no better day to observe Kanye West’s obsession with lights. It’s no secret that Kayne is both fascinated and tortured by fame, and lights embody the disorienting scrutiny under which he lives. His last three albums have included songs with “lights” in the title — Graduation’s “Flashing Lights,” 808s & Heartbreak’s “Street Lights,” and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’s  “All of the Lights” — but the most recent example goes the farthest in establishing a relationship between lights and the pitfalls of fame. “All of the Lights” paints a terrifying picture of light, with a frantic chorus and Rihanna ratcheting up the intensity. It’s clearly evidence of a person in distress, but it’s also an astoundingly good song. It’s hard to know what do to with that as a listener, but that’s what makes Kanye so brilliant — when he releases an album, you’re not just hearing songs, you’re hearing how Kanye is doing. Join him on his emotional roller coaster by listening to “All of the Lights” below and buying My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy here.