#rva

The Hot Seats

/ You Hear That?!? / Leave a comment

The Hot Seats

Call it creative vision. Call it a sense of purpose. Clarity. Self-awareness. However you want to describe it, talking to drummer/percussionist Jake Sellers convinced me: The Hot Seats have it.

I walked away from our recent interview with a stomach full of delicious Pho Tay Do food and a huge amount of respect for the group, which has won fans on both sides of the Atlantic. They strike me as protectors of something vital — something funny and fearless and closer to the actual “root” of the roots music that’s experienced a recent resurgence.

This quote from the article might say it better than any other:

“I think we very much as a band like [what’s] scratchy, looser … I don’t want to say dangerous, but less safe. Take a chance. We’re certainly willing to fall on our faces trying a song we’ve never played before in front of an audience because that’s where the excitement is.”

I love that, and I want to thank Jake for taking the time to meet and explore what he and the band are doing. Click here to read the whole River City Magazine article, or pick up a hard copy at one of these locations.

The Hot Seats — “I Ain’t No Better Now” [Spotify/iTunes]

Lucy Dacus

/ You Hear That?!? / 1 Comment

Lucy Dacus

I’ve been eager to hear a full-length Lucy Dacus album since I first heard “I Don’t Want To Be Funny Anymore” last year. This was my ANTI. This was my The Life of Pablo. My… whatever Frank Ocean’s next album ends up being called.

The craziest part — No Burden is even better than I could have hoped.

It’s easy to write about music you like. It’s hard to write about music you love. There can be so much to say that the blank page starts to feel like that commercial where the cartoon people all try to run through a tiny door at once. The best I can do right now is share — single-file, one thing at a time — reasons I’m so wild about this album.

Her voice. It’s hard not to start here, because it’s so immediately striking. And while you could throw adjectives at it all day (I’ve used “singular,” “arresting,” and “expansive” in the past), it’s not the texture. Dacus’ phrasing is just as remarkable. One example: In “Troublemaker Doppelgänger,” the way “I saw a girl who looked like you and I wanted to tell everyone to run away from her” packs in syllables while somehow sounding perfectly natural AND sneaking in a subtle rhyme… it’s really something. Even with just one word — “sometime” in “Green Eyes, Red Face” — Dacus can pace lyrics in ways that feel musical beyond melody, like the way people say that poetry is musical.

The lyrics themselves call poetry to mind, but in a different way. Here’s what I said the first time I wrote about her:

Dacus’ writing is superb, both in terms of how she puts a song together and how she puts lyrics together. I’d compare her words to my favorite poetry — the kind that’s comprised of clearly stated, boiled-down, complete sentences that would hit you just as hard if they were buried in the middle of a paragraph on related subject matter.

I’m learning from listening to No Burden in full that her words don’t just hit you “hard,” — they can devastate you. Here’s a sampling of lines that I find absolutely crushing, whether they’re sad, touching, or especially incisive.

  • “I don’t believe in love at first sight, maybe I would if you looked at me right.” I first heard this at the Broadberry and went straight for my phone so I could write it down. I don’t even know what I was going to do next — text it to someone, keep it for a blog post about Dacus — I just had to capture it, knowing it might be a while before I heard it an on album.
  • “Without you, I am surely the last of my kind.” This first made me think of a dinosaur that saw all its friends and family die out — probably the most cartoonish interpretation imaginable — but what it’s come to represent is much more serious. After 11 years together, Mrs. YHT and I have so many shared experiences and habits and inside jokes… we’re the only two people who can claim those things. We’re a kind. I can’t imagine being the only one bearing the weight of those shared experiences. It’s truly unfathomable. I need to stop typing about this.
  • “Too old to play, too young to mess around.” Did you know that “I Saw Her Standing There” originally started with “She was just 17/Never been a beauty queen”? It was later edited to employ the edgier “You know what I mean.” This line in “Troublemaker Doppelgänger” gets to that same idea from a different — but just as cutting — angle.
  • “Is there room in the band? I don’t need to be the frontman.” The yearning for identity, the desperation, the self-effacement… it’s like she hacked my middle school brain. It hurts to hear in a really good way. The irony of course is that Dacus absolutely does need to be a frontman. To paraphrase Vanilla Ice, anything less would be a felony.

The last thing I’d point out before the enthusiasm door gets jammed is the way songs build and manage momentum. A few songs have big builds — “Troublemaker Doppelgänger,” “Dream State…” and “Map On A Wall” to name three — and as fun and goosebumpy as those crescendos are, what happens after is really interesting. (It’s convenient that the advance stream was posted via Soundcloud, because you can actually see the dynamics in action.) “Troublemaker” gives you a few blank bars at the very top, holding you there in suspense, “Map On A Wall” deploys a third act, and “Dream State…” has a whole other companion song, “… Familiar Place,” which brings No Burden to a close.

Maybe this is my fondness for meta-connections acting up, but I’d like to think this control — this mindful management of chaos — is an indication of what the future holds for Lucy Dacus. There’s been so much excitement ahead of No Burden, from Rolling Stone to NPR, and I like the idea that this is just the first act. That we’re only starting to see what Dacus and her band are capable of. Regardless, I’m excited to watch the crescendo grow in the weeks and months ahead.

Lucy Dacus — “Strange Torpedo” [Soundcloud/iTunes]

Avers

/ You Hear That?!? / Leave a comment

Avers

Every year, in the hours and days after I publish my Top 10 lists and say to myself “Well that’s done, thank god,” I start planning a mea culpa post that lists all the mistakes I made. This year, for example, I can’t remember what I was doing but “I hit the weekend just like a freight” ran through my head and the realization hit me just as hard: “Shit. I totally left off Nashville Obsolete.” Definitely should have been in my Top 25. Maybe even Top 10. It wasn’t released on vinyl, so I didn’t have a physical reminder around the house, but still… wish I hadn’t blanked on that one.

I never actually write or post these mea culpas — I figure it’s a “Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party” situation — but there’s one regret from 2015 list-making I can’t abide silently, and that’s not listening to Avers’ Wasted Tracks EP sooner.

I’ve been playing it repeatedly since New Year’s, and I really, really like these songs. It’s an interesting collection, because square-peg-round-hole EPs usually come out after the full length album they were trimmed from, but I read that these songs were cut from the band’s upcoming 2016 album. That they weren’t representative of the direction the band is going in. It’s exciting — trying to anticipate what that direction might be, having fantastic songs like “Calling Out To You” and “Come To Me Now” as points of predictive contrast. And “Beautiful Day To Die” is easily one of my favorite songs they’ve done so far.

Here’s to looking forward and backward and the same time.

Avers — “Calling Out To You” [Spotify/iTunes]

Avers — “Come To Me Now” [Spotify/iTunes]

Matthew E. White

/ You Hear That?!? / 5 Comments

Matthew E. White

Guys. Guys guys guys.

Matthew E. White. Natalie Prass. DJ Harrison.

It’s like I’m watching Game of Thrones and two of the baddest-ass families — House Spacebomb and House Jellowstone — just joined forces. What’s a good analog… Tyrion advising Dany, maybe? I dunno, I understand about 5% of what happens on Game of Thrones. But I love watching it, and I love “Cool Out.” The beat… the interplay of Prass’ and White’s vocals… the cover art… love it all.

Westeros is never going to be the same.

Matthew E. White — “Cool Out” (feat. Natalie Prass) [Spotify/iTunes]

Clair Morgan

/ You Hear That?!? / Leave a comment

Clair Morgan

Very excited that my River City Magazine interview with Clair Morgan is up — click here to check it out at Richmond Navigator’s site. Or you can grab a print copy on newsstands now. My favorite is the red stand outside the Byrd Theatre, but there are a bunch of other places you can go. Here’s a full list.

I mentioned this on Instagram last night, but what a privilege this was to work on. These are some of the most talented and friendly musicians you will ever meet, and they took the time to chat about all sorts of fun stuff, including their upcoming album, New Lions & the Not-Good Night, which I’m 100% certain is going to blow minds and win hearts. Morgan won mine in our interview with how much forethought and emotional investment went into the album’s overarching narrative. Check out this snippet from the article:

While the music is light at times, heavier themes lend balance to “New Lions.” “When you think about an adventure you took as a child,” Morgan said, “when you’re looking through that lens, that really happened. But now you’re looking through a completely different lens, whether you’re an adult or a father, and you look back at that scenario from a completely different perspective. What did you not soak in that actually happened that you were not able to absorb?”

Mind already blown. Click here to read the rest, and don’t miss their show at the Camel tonight — they’ll be closing the book on their previous album cycle by playing No Notes in full. Here’s one of that album’s standout tracks, “Battleship Heart.”

Clair Morgan — “Battleship Heart” [Spotify/iTunes]

My Darling Fury

/ You Hear That?!? / 2 Comments

My Darling Fury

Whoa. Just had my socks knocked right off by this new My Darling Fury song. Take a listen below…

How about that sax?!? So punchy and powerful. Timed perfectly, too — the sax kicks in just as the vocals are switching from ethereal and questioning to personal and declarative. Like, “OK, that’s what some people think, but here’s what I think.” I love it. And the breakdown just after the 2:00 mark takes all those atmospheric elements to a whole other level.

The fact that the lyrics take on the subject of being satisfied from the perspective of someone who is is similarly impressive. There’s a reason the satisfaction-related song most people would think of first is written from the perspective of someone who is not. It’s so much easier to write about wanting than having, and writing about having is a small needle to thread without sounding smug. “Satisfied” hits the sweet spot, I think. With its repeated lyrics and unwavering focus, it feels like a mediation. In that sense, it reminds me a little of “My Girls,” a song I hold near and dear.

I have a feeling I’ll grow close to this one too.

My Darling Fury — “Satisfied” [Spotfiy/iTunes]

2015! Holy Crap! Part 4: Resplendent Richmond Releases

/ You Hear That?!? / 1 Comment

Anousheh — Make Noise

Anousheh

When I first wrote about Make Noise, I zoomed in on “Blue Red” and how it’s illustrative of a powerful emotional intelligence:

There is a wonderful specificity to the lyrics — real and focused emotional messages that are often missing from music with the pop signifiers you hear on Make Noise — but my main takeaway has been more general. I hear both sensitivity and boldness in its words, and when you’re going through difficult times, those two qualities couldn’t be more crucial.

Another great example is “Lightning,” The burn is slow, building from the verse to a passage that would serve as the chorus were it not for an even more intense, imploring chorus that follows. All the while, you get a glimpse into this private world of motivations — one where strength and vulnerability are tuned on their heads: “Your lightning keeps on burning holes in my thick skin.” Each track on Make Noise presents this kind of lived-in universe worth exploring with patience and empathy. In that sense, this could be one of your favorite albums of 2016 as well.

Anousheh — “Lightning” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

Scott Clark 4tet — Bury My Heart

Scott Clark

Ambition is best when paired with honor, and Bury My Heart is proof. In communicating the tragic story of the Native American genocide, Scott Clark has issued an open invitation to consider more deeply a part of American history that is too often (and callously) ignored. The fact that he set out to convey such weighty subject matter wordlessly is where the ambition comes in. To say he let the notes do the talking would be to downplay how difficult it is to imbue an instrumental piece with specific ideas and emotions; the capacity to do this has always seemed borderline magical to me. Clark clearly has that capacity, and it’s inspiring to see the gift used to such a righteous end.

Scott Clark 4tet — “Broken Treaties” [iTunes]

–

Brian Cruse — Brian Cruse presents: The B-Snap-tet

Brian Cruse

From my interview with Cruse for River City Magazine:

In 2014, he set his sights on recording a new album, and he decided to do so under a new name – the B-Snap-tet… Under the guiding hand of Minimum Wage Recording owner Lance Koehler, who also recorded and engineered Con Legno, Cruse produced a truly eclectic listening experience, from the hip-hop-inspired “Nightlight” to the album’s meditative centerpiece, “26.1,” which takes on the grave topic of the previous year’s Boston Marathon bombing.

Brian Cruse presents: B-Snaptet — “Side Steppin’” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

The Diamond Center — Crystals for the Brass Empire

Diamond Center

From when I first posted about the album in October:

Crystals is excellent; I got my vinyl copy a few Fridays back and felt transported — each track felt like it was dropping me on the set of a different old movie.

The Diamond Center — “Bones” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

Manatree — Manatree

Manatree

From my review of the album:

A glowing YHT review of this album is long overdue. Same goes for Manatree’s live show — both are polished and powerful to a degree that’s rare for a band promoting a debut full-length. These songs are so sharp, precisely pivoting from clean to heavy, all the while building melodies that hold tracks together. The word “agile” comes to mind. This is the music Fender guitars dream of when they’re not being played.

Manatree — “Fat Jackson” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

No BS! Brass Band — Brass Knuckles

No BS Brass Band

From my review of the album:

I don’t think No BS! will stop acting as ambassadors of Richmond fun anytime soon, but judging by their new album, Brass Knuckles, they have their eyes set on an even bigger role. By taking up the banner of social justice in songs like “Act Like You Know” and “Tyrannis,” the group is using their force-of-nature arrangements and abilities to amplify the voices of those in the community who are taking progressive stances on issues related to race, inequality, and policing.

No BS! Brass Band — “Brass Knuckles” [Soundcloud/iTunes]

–

Positive No — Glossa

Positive No

I’ve written about Glossa a few times since its release (check those posts out here, here, and here), and I was so thrilled to see “Pedal Through” included on NPR’s favorite songs list. Congrats to Positive No on an excellent year!

Positive No — “Pedal Through” [Bandcamp]

–

Natalie Prass — Natalie Prass

Natalie Prass

From my RVA Mag blurb:

This was the album I reached for when friends and family came for dinner or a visit. I loved playing them “It Is You,” a marvel of a song, and hearing the beat to “Bird Of Prey” and the powerful conclusion of “My Baby Don’t Understand Me” meant pinching myself — reconfirming that this phenomenon, with roots in Richmond, was real.

Natalie Prass — “Why Don’t You Believe In Me” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

Sam Reed — This is Love

Sam Reed

From my RVA Mag blurb:

When I first heard This Is Love, I couldn’t get over the one-two punch of “Come Inside” and “Real Feel Sound.” I kept replaying them, amazed by the confluence of soul, gospel, jazz, R&B and hip hop. Reed’s voice soars in spots and seethes in others, and the backdrop provided by the Jellowstone family — especially the gritty bass in “Come Inside” and the enormous chorus of “Real Feel Sound” — had me enthralled. It’s such a lush, detailed landscape.

Sam Reed — “Come Inside” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

The Trillions — Superposition

The Trillions

From my RVA Mag blurb:

Most bands would kill to be as complex or as catchy as the Trillions can be, yet it’s the balance they bring to those forces that makes them truly exceptional. “Dead Meat” is my favorite illustration yet. There’s more musicality in opening seconds than in some entire albums, yet the intro gives way to a verse that exudes strength via sparse precision. Throw in a sweetly sung, slightly unsettling chorus and you have the Trillions at their best — a powerhouse as discerning as it is dynamic.

The Trillions — “Right ’til Proven Wrong” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

Matthew E. White — Fresh Blood

Matthew E. White

From my RVA Mag blurb:

White’s taken his hushed vocals and preternatural knack for gathering talent and applied them to subjects ranging from simple pleasures (“Fruit Trees”) to church abuse (“Holy Moly”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Tranquility”) to music itself (“Rock & Roll Is Cold”), all the while lifting up the R&B tradition to which he’s making significant contributions.

Matthew E. White — “Tranquility” [Spotify/iTunes]

–

More retrospective fun!

Part 1: Fav Physical Releases
Part 2: Blasts from the Past
Part 3: Excellent EPs

2015! Holy Crap! Part 1: Fav Physical Releases

/ You Hear That?!? / 5 Comments

Animal Collective — Live at 9:30

Animal Collective

Animal Collective does vinyl porn right. Hand-numbered (just 2,000 made — mine is 1,998) and meticulously put together — complete with a reprint of the characteristically trippy poster from the 2013 show the album documents — the whole thing is gorgeous. The kicker: From the back cover art, it would appear that the front reacts to black light. I don’t have a black light, which makes this the Schrödinger’s cat of album packaging — as long as I don’t try to verify the black light thing, it’s both true and not true.

Animal Collective — “Did You See The Words” (live) [Spotify/iTunes]

–

Grimes — Art Angels

Grimes

Art Angels would have made this list on the stunning cover art alone (designed by Claire Boucher herself), but the vinyl package includes individual pieces of art for each track, and I’d bet the farm — easy for me to say, because I don’t have a farm — that Boucher designed those as well. It’s a flood of distinctive, expressionistic creativity — so fitting for a collection of songs that offers the same.

Grimes — “Kill V. Maim” [Spotify/iTunes]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooWkA_-lOHA

–

Joanna Newsom — Divers

Joanna Newsom

Much like Art Angels, there’s an insert for each song in the Divers vinyl package, but these feel more practical. The designs are simpler, and they function nicely as a delivery mechanism for Newsom’s lyrics, which can fly past so quickly that whole stanzas get lost. But practical and amazing aren’t mutually exclusive, and the experience of listening to Divers and reading it at the same time really is amazing. It reminds my of something I wrote about Lucy Dacus recently — “You read the song and listen to it at the same time, like two forms of art unfolding simultaneously” — except even more literal.

Joanna Newsom — “Sapokanikan” [iTunes]

–

Positive No — Glossa

Hats off to the Positive No gang for this one. When they decided against pressing vinyl for Glossa, they didn’t forget how engaging the medium is — how a physical object with detailed notes and beautiful design can strengthen your connection to a collection of songs. Guitarist and founding member Kenny Close produced 12 unique pieces of lyric art and put them togehter in a 7×7, 28-page lyric book, which came with a digital download of the album and a bookmark. The package I got in the mail even included a copy of the band’s entry in the Negative Fun Singles Club 7-inch series. What an awesome surprise, and what an awesome way to start a relationship with a new album.

Positive No — “Northern Aggressor” [Spotify/Bandcamp]

–

Matthew E. White — Fresh Blood

Matthew E. White

From my review of the album:

As much as I enjoyed Fresh Blood when I streamed it via NPR First Listen, having the deluxe vinyl edition — which includes an alternate, stripped-down mix of the album called No Skin — is a whole different ballgame. I keep going back and forth between the two discs, and I’d even recommend starting with the No Skin version. It’s a great way to take in the structure of the songs, Cameron Ralston’s amazing bass lines, the texture of White’s voice, the full glory of the guitar build that brings “Holy Moly” to a close…

Switching then to the official version is like opening the shutters on a bright and beautiful day. With apologies to Beyoncé, I’m finding Fresh Blood to be a very visual album. All the depth and shading that come from the string, horn and choral arrangements make the songs feel sculptural, and I think having No Skin as a second vantage point has a lot to do with seeing that third-dimension. (I’m reminded of the “Camera 1, camera 2” routine from Wayne’s World, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Matthew E. White — “Tranquility” [Spotify/iTunes]

Egghunt Records

/ You Hear That?!? / 6 Comments

Egghunt

Can we stop for a quick second and talk about how Egghunt Records is absolutely killing it right now?

You’ve already heard me sing the praises of the label’s White Laces and Diamond Center releases, but there’s a bunch more singing to do:

Continue reading →

No BS! Brass Band

/ You Hear That?!? / 1 Comment

No BS Brass Band

If you did a Richmond version of the Voyager Golden Record, you’d have to include No BS! Brass Band. They’re an inseparable part of our beloved music scene, and they epitomize some of the best aspects of it. The tremendous depth of Richmond’s musical talent pool. The musicivic (Can we make that a word?) pride here that seems to reach new heights with each passing year. The way our Friday and Saturday nights seem to gravitate toward a crowded room and group of people with instruments. That’s the feeling I get when I listen to their last album, RVA All Day. “Look at what we have here. Isn’t it amazing?”

I don’t think No BS! will stop acting as ambassadors of Richmond fun anytime soon, but judging by their new album, Brass Knuckles, they have their eyes set on an even bigger role. By taking up the banner of social justice in songs like “Act Like You Know” and “Tyrannis,” the group is using their force-of-nature arrangements and abilities to amplify the voices of those in the community who are taking progressive stances on issues related to race, inequality, and policing.

Continue reading →