Richmond Music

Wolf//Goat

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In Watermelon Sugar

Some music helps you remember. Some helps you forget. Sometimes you listen to music to work against an emotion, like when you want to cheer yourself up or snap out of a destructive train of thought. Other times, you hit “play” to extend or enhance what you’re already feeling, as if “love” or “alienation” had a bobsled in the Olympics, and you decided to hop on in for the slickened, linear ride. And then there are the times you listen to feel all those things at once — to engage in a chaotic catharsis that feels clean and messy and scary and comforting simultaneously. That’s Wolf//Goat’s wheelhouse, and their new full-length, In Watermelon Sugar, satisfies my craving for well-constructed chaos in a most buoyant, life-affirming way.

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The Trillions

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Tritones

Way back when this here blog was in its infancy, I offered a podcast recommendation — my only one to date — for Uhh Yeah Dude, an hour-long comedic show that I’ve found to be wildly addicting. Part of the pull has to do with the two hosts’ conversational idiosyncrasies. Emphasizing the wrong syllables of words and names is big (just ask Lady GuhGAH), as is giving out Jonathan’s actual cell phone number whenever he says something that could be construed as offensive. But my favorite quirk of all pops up when a train of thought has reached its absurd terminus, and laughter or ridiculousness renders the two hosts speechless. In those moments, either Seth or Jonathan will often squeeze out a beleaguered…

“I can’t. I just… I can’t.”

It’s their way of waving the white flag when something is just too much. This rhetorical device never fails to make me smile, because being happily overwhelmed — whether it’s by laughter, joy, relief or something else entirely — is one of the best sensations a person can have, and it just so happens to be the way my brain reacts when I watch The Trillions.

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The Devil Whale

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Teeth

I had a weird realization while having drinks with a friend a few nights ago. I don’t have a single active concert ticket right now. Not a one. No PDF printouts waiting to be scanned, no tickets sitting at will call… nuthin’.

How did this come to pass? Summer concert burnout is partly to blame, not that I have anything to complain about. The stack of yet-to-be-used tickets that usually lives on my wife’s desk at home got plenty thick during the past few months, and seeing Radiohead, tUnE-yArDs and Neko Case, each for the first time, The Alabama Shakes for the second time, Justin Townes Earle for the fourth, Old Crow Medicine Show twice and The Lumineers three times is pretty damn good way to spend the summer, if you ask me.

But looking forward with a clean slate is exhilarating, and it didn’t take long to find a show that has me excited to start chalking it up all over again.

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White Laces

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“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
— Bob Marley

With all due respect, Bob is wrong on this one.

I mean, I get what he’s saying, that music wields a special type of nonviolent power, but some of my favorite songs are the ones that hit you where it hurts — on gut-churning topics like mortality, heartbreak and loneliness — with intensity that you can actually feel. Those are the songs I find most vital. They’re the records I’d grab first before escaping from a burning building. Their impact is essential, in every meaning of the word.

Before I’d even had a chance to listen to it, my experience with White Laces’ debut full-length Moves could already be described as “impactful.”

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Goldrush

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Making Moves

2 weeks have passed since I had the pleasure of interviewing Prabir Mehta and Treesa Gold of Goldrush about their installment in Mad Dragon Records’ Making Moves series, and now that the 7-inch single has hit the streets (and my doorstep), I wanted to share a few thoughts… and a scurrilous accusation.

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The Low Branches

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Rock Bottom

Everything tastes better when it’s homegrown, and The Low Branches are taking a refreshingly agricultural approach to financing their upcoming full-length, 100 Years Old.

In order to grow the funds needed to release 100 Years Old, frontwoman Christina Gleixner has been seeding Bandcamp with home recordings, each of which can be purchased for $1 (or more — you have the ability to name a higher price if you’d like to donate extra). The series started with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Leah,” and it continues with an original entitled “Rock Bottom.” Gleixner was kind enough to answer a few questions via email about this latest recording, the status of 100 Years Old, and more.

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Mercies

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In My Room

Who you cover says a lot about you.

A pivotal moment in my Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr obsession occurred when I heard their electro-silken version of The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” What struck me about the cover wasn’t the degree of difficulty (though it’s true that the original is a musical beast that’s said to have taken 23 musicians and 20 takes to bring down). Nor was it the considerable chutzpah it requires to reimagine one of the most revered songs of all time. What drew me in was the sense of adventure I gleaned from Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr’s recording. In context with their elaborate marketing persona and DIY showmanship, it felt like their cover of “God Only Knows” was channeling the creative spirit that The Beach Boys had in droves — a drive that helped them expand the general sandbox in which future pop musicians could play.

I was so excited when I heard Mercies’ cover of  The Beach Boys’ “In My Room,” because that same adventurous spirit comes through loud and clear.

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Wolf//Goat

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I’m never going outside again. Ever.

Maybe you’ve seen the footage that was used to create the video for Richmond-based band Wolf//Goat’s “Madness Is Sanity.” I hadn’t. And I had no idea that in some mountainous corner of this beautiful green and blue planet we call home, EAGLES ARE PICKING UP BABY GOATS WITH THEIR TERRIFYING TALONS AND FLYING AWAY WITH THEM. I mean, seriously?!? If that doesn’t deserve an Independence-Day-style “My God…” I don’t know what does. My family wasn’t all that outdoorsy when I was growing up, but I definitely remember a mountain cabin trip or two, and I’m starting to think that it’s a miracle I made it out alive.

The video above is grisly to be sure, but it’s edited masterfully, bringing the song’s momentum shifts to life with a visceral brutality that has “recurring nightmare” written all over it. And I love that, in a twisted way, the clip offers an analogue to my short history with Wolf//Goat’s music.

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Matthew E. White

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My wife and I recently jumped on the Game of Thrones bandwagon, which means I finally understand the Internet meme pictured above. Perhaps you’ve seen it before, warning people of a powerful force that’s approaching from just beyond the horizon. I can think of no better way to describe the impending release of Matthew E. White’s Big Inner.

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Goldrush

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Promo photo

There’s being excited, there’s being really excited, and then there’s being so excited you pre-order a record the moment you can find someone who will take your money for it. That’s exactly what I did when I found out that Goldrush had recorded a 3-song single for Making Moves, a series of 7-inch records released by Drexel University’s Mad Dragon Records and curated by Motion City Soundtrack. With the release date set for August 28 and a record release show taking place shortly thereafter on September 2 at The Camel in Richmond, violinist Treesa Gold and frontman Prabir Mehta were kind enough to answer a few questions via email about recording the 7-inch, SXSW, and more.

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