2023 in Review

Leaving the Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday, Aug. 6

So it’s been a little while since the last year-end to-do in this here corner of the Internet. I love year-end lists, and there are aspects of making them that I enjoy — most of all the way it nudges you toward revisiting albums you liked but didn’t get to know front-to-back — but things had gotten a little out of hand by 2020. I found myself stressed out during holiday family time, carving out more and more laptop hours so I could finish multi-thousand-word, multi-category, multi-post extravaganzas. Too much blurbing, too little late-December loafing.

I’m still steering clear of those over-the-top listing endeavors, but some sort of look back seemed worthwhile as a result of the Style Weekly site redesign, which improved the site’s look dramatically (take a look!) while changing the URL of each and every article I worked on this year. I thought I’d share a list of updated links, along with a few other lists tacked on below — shows, albums, songs, etc.

2023 was like a dream. I’ll probably keep the URL of this post handy for when I need to be reminded it all really happened.

Articles I Wrote

Memorable Merch Table Moments: One of our writers looks back at some thrilling live music moments from 2023.
Style Weekly, December 28, 2023

Sounds of Solidarity: Charlottesville’s WarHen Records is releasing a 40-artist compilation aimed at fundraising to resist the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Style Weekly, November 30, 2023

Press to Remember: Two new Richmond record labels have launched with the goal of surfacing sonic time capsules.
Style Weekly, November 28, 2023

Finding a Groove: Funk Trunk Records owner Quinn Cunningham on Crates, the semiannual record show series he’ll conclude on Nov. 5.
Style Weekly, October 25, 2023

Celestial Navigation: Notes on Butcher Brown’s new LP, “Solar Music,” and on witnessing the group’s Newport Jazz Festival debut.
Style Weekly, October 23, 2023

Our Bingo Card: Some of our music writers give their picks for Richmond Folk Fest.
Style Weekly, October 12, 2023

‘Kind Ghosts’: More than a decade after Mark Linkous’ death, his final album debuts
Richmond Magazine, October 11, 2023

Q&A: Kendall Street Company: Catching up with the Charlottesville jam band upon the release of its new LP, “Separation95.”
Style Weekly, October 4, 2023

Comic Book Flow: Rapper Nickelus F awoke from suspended animation to make a super-heroic new LP that combines his love of comic books and hip-hop.
Style Weekly, September 26, 2023

That One Song: “Don’t Settle Down” by Illiterate Light
Style Weekly, September 14, 2023

Autumn Albums: Six Richmond (and Richmond-adjacent) artists releasing new music this fall.
Style Weekly, September 13, 2023

PICK: Deau Eyes Tour De Richmond: Spaghetti Dinner + Strings Style Weekly,
September 11, 2023

Expanding Sounds: Downtown record store Vinyl Conflict to commemorate 15 years with a show at the Broadberry.
Style Weekly, September 6, 2023

That One Song: “Exit Check” by Opin
Style Weekly, August 28, 2023

PICK: Fighting Gravity, Cracker and Everything on Brown’s Island, Saturday, Aug. 19
Style Weekly, August 18, 2023

PICK: Model Citizen at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Sunday, Aug. 20
Style Weekly, August 16, 2023

Fanning the Flame: Ember Music Hall aims to stoke Richmond’s passion for immersive performances.
Style Weekly, August 15, 2023

A Musical Family: Veteran local rockers the Atkinsons will celebrate their 20-year anniversary at Hardywood this weekend.
Style Weekly, August 7, 2023

From RVA to Bristol: Hardywood will play host to a preview of this year’s Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion lineup — and a very special guest.
Style Weekly, July 18, 2023

Ghostly Meditations: Ambient artist Gregory Darden on losing himself during the creation of his spellbinding new album, “Forgotten Gardens.”
Style Weekly, July 17, 2023

That One Song: “Lately.” by Tre. Charles
Style Weekly, July 5, 2023

The Stage Is Set: Producer Ant The Symbol on “I Know Who I Am,” the album he’s always wanted to make.
Style Weekly, June 14, 2023

That One Song: “Checks” by Dead Billionaires
Style Weekly, June 6, 2023

Dream to Convene: Daydream Fest returns to Main Line Brewery with 16 bands across two days and a mission to foster the music scene.
Style Weekly, May 23, 2023

Give the Drummer Some: Kelli Strawbridge shares a pair of self-produced solo EPs as tan.gent.
Style Weekly, May 16, 2023

That One Song: “Stranger” by Dogwood Tales
Style Weekly, May 8, 2023

PICK: “Let’s Talk Records!” with Matt Patton, Friday, April 28
Style Weekly, April 25, 2023

Roaming Where the Heart Is: Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood reflects on the relationships that make Richmond a unique tour stop.
Style Weekly, April 19, 2023

A Musical Monument: Curt Sydnor’s new symphony depicts Lincoln’s visit to Richmond in the final days of the Civil War.
Style Weekly, March 29, 2023

Built to Chill: Chilton House hosts one-of-a-kind concerts with a living room feel in Forest Hill.
Style Weekly, March 23, 2023

Paying Inspiration Forward: Christina Marie Gleixner of Turkish-language band Yeni Nostalji on Friday’s earthquake relief benefit at Gallery5.
Style Weekly, March 14, 2023

That One Song: “Cosmic Changes” by Lonnie Liston Smith
Style Weekly, March 8, 2023

Q&A: Bill McGee
Richmond Magazine, March 1, 2023

Back to the Future: Neo-soul artist Ms. Jaylin Brown is on the rise — and raising money for graduate study in Spain.
Style Weekly, February 28, 2023

Projecting the Unexpected: Free jazz label Out of Your Head Records kicks off a new “Second Mondays” concert series at Artspace.
Style Weekly, February 10, 2023

49 Rising: 49 Winchester lead singer Isaac Gibson looks back on an ascendent year for the Virginia alt-country outfit.
Style Weekly, January 31, 2023

Live from Musical Nirvana: Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams will perform at Richmond Music Hall in support of their new album, “Live at Levon’s!”
Style Weekly, January 25, 2023

That One Song: “Around Your Eye” by Gold Connections
Style Weekly, January 23, 2023

Side Gig: The Sefton Listening Room strives for harmony in more ways than one.
Style Weekly, January 13, 2023

Shows I Saw

I didn’t manage to keep a running list, but I did write out that list of favorite merch table moments from the second half of 2023, and here are the ones I was able to recall before New Year’s Eve shenanigans started:

1/19 Alan Parker and Minor Poet at Sefton Listening Room
2/10 Angel Olsen and Erin Rae at the National
2/13 Adam Hopkins and Scott Clark at ArtSpace
2/16 David Shultz and Russell Lacy at Sefton Listening Room
3/4 Django Haskins at Chilton House
3/13 Adam Hopkins’ School Work and Michael Hawkins & The Brotherhood at ArtSpace
3/16 Andy Jenkins and Liza Kate at Sefton Listening Room
4/13 Pippin Barnett & Gary Kalar and Scott Clark & Laura Ann Singh at Sefton Listening Room
4/18 Wild Pink, Downhaul, and Always Other at Richmond Music Hall
4/28 Drive-By Truckers, Lydia Loveless, and No BS! Brass Band at Brown’s Island
5/5 Snail Mail, Water from Your Eyes, and Dazy at Brown’s Island
5/11 Ms. Jaylin Brown and Landon Elliott at Sefton Listening Room
5/12 Sierra Ferrell and Chris Leggett & the Copper Line at Brown’s Island
5/24 Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band at Get Tight Lounge
5/29 Daydream Fest at Main Line Brewing from Sunday, May 28
6/3 Dead & Company at Jiffy Jube Live!
7/5 The Smile and Robert Stillman at the National
7/17 Pippin Barnett & Gary Kalar at ArtSpace
7/20 Jake Xerxes Fussell and Sam Moss at Richmond Music Hall
8/4-6 Newport Jazz Festival
8/8 Jason Isbell and S.G. Goodman at Brown’s Island
8/18 William Tyler & the Impossible Truth and Burke Ingraffia at Richmond Music Hall
9/11 Curt Sydnor & the Trembling Hand and Tear Ducts at ArtSpace
9/12 James McMurtry and Betty Soo at Richmond Music Hall
9/18 Trey Anastasio Band at the National
9/23 Hotspit at Richmond Music Hall
9/27 Sylvan Esso at the National
10/12 Tre. Charles and Ryan Irby at Sefton Listening Room
10/15 Richmond Folk Festival
10/19 Hiss Golden Messenger and Sylvie at Richmond Music Hall
11/13 Adam Hopkins’ Crickets SOUTH, Peni Candra Rini, and Scott Clark at ArtSpace
11/17 Curt Sydnor, Peni Candra Rini, and Au Fromage at Gallery5
11/24 Butcher Brown at the Broadberry
11/25 Modern Groove Syndicate and Ben White at the Camel
11/27 Bob Dylan at the Altria Theater
11/29 Patterson Hood at Chilton House
12/8-9 Goose at Hampton Coliseum
12/22 J. Roddy Walston at the Broadberry

Albums I Enjoyed

For the third time (I think?), I contributed a top-10 to Uproxx’s critics poll. I stand by it, though with such a painfully small number of spots to work with, I necessarily left off a zillion albums I love. For a fuller picture of what resonated in 2023, see the Albums I Acquired list below.

Songs I Enjoyed

I also gave Uproxx a top-5 songs list — double what I said about the albums list, in terms of feeling incomplete. Here are a few more that feel worthy of special recognition:

Ant The Symbol — “This Is Your Life”
boygenius — “Emily I’m Sorry”
jaimie branch — “take over the world”
Butcher Brown — “I Can Say to You”
Tyler Childers — “Phone Calls and Emails”
McKinley Dixon (feat. Ang​é​lica Garcia) — “Sun, I Rise”
GEORGE — “Grey Funnel Line”
Margaret Glaspy — “Get Back”
Jason Isbell — “Death Wish”
The Mountain Goats — “Fresh Tattoo”
The National — “New Order T-Shirt”
Andy Shauf — “Wasted On You”
Sparklehorse — “Kind Ghosts”
Curt Sydnor — “Catastrophists”
Daniel Villarreal — “Traveling With”
Water from Your Eyes — “14”
Youth Lagoon — “Idaho Alien”

Albums I Acquired*

Animal Collective — Defeat
Animal Collective — Isn’t It Now?
Daniel Bachman — When The Roses Come Again
Blue Lake — Sun Arcs
boygenius — The Record
Jaimie Branch — Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((World War))
Butcher Brown — Solar Music
Tyler Childers — Rustin’ in the Rain
Scott Clark — Dawn & Dusk
Alabaster DePlume — Come with Fierce Grace
McKinley Dixon — Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Dogwood Tales — 13 Summers 13 Falls/Rodeo
Kurt Elling — SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree
Elkhorn — On the Whole Universe in All Directions
Vincent Neil Emerson — The Golden Crystal Kingdom
Fachada — Cidade Da Selva
Feist — Multitudes
Florry — The Holey Bible
Fruit Bats — A River Running to Your Heart
Asher Gamedze — Turbulence and Pulse
GEORGE — Letters To George
Margaret Glaspy — Echo the Diamond
Goose — Autumn Crossing
Steve Gunn & David Moore — Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet
Gunn Truscinski Nace — Glass Band
Hiss Golden Messenger — Jump for Joy
The Hurricane Party — CAT. 2
Jason Isbell — Weathervanes
Durand Jones — Wait Til I Get Over
L’Rain — I Killed Your Dog
Julian Lage — The Layers
Mary Lattimore — Goodbye, Hotel Arkada
Lionmilk — Intergalactic Warp Terminal 222
M. Ward — Supernatural Thing
Gia Margaret — Romantic Piano
Beck Meek — Haunted Mountain
Model Citizen — Live at Dial Back Sound
The Mountain Goats —Jenny From Thebes
Mutoid Man — Mutants
Fabiano Do Nascimento — Das Nuvens
The National — First Two Pages of Frankenstein
Bill Orcutt — Jump On It
Doug Paisley — Say What You Like
Misha Panfilov — In Focus
Misha Panfilov Septet — Gala!
Natural Information Society — Since Time Is Gravity
Andy Shauf  — Norm
Paul Simon — Seven Psalms
Lonnie Liston Smith — Jazz Is Dead 17
The Smile — Europe: Live Recordings 2022
Son of Buzzi — Die Hand Der Riesin
The Southern Belles — IV: Reprise
Sparklehorse — Bird Machine
Sufjan Stevens — Javelin
Sunwatchers — Music Is Victory Over Time
Sylvan Esso — No Rules Sandy
Dudu Tassa and Jonny Greenwood – Jarak Qaribak
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth — Secret Stratosphere
Various — STOP MVP: Artists From WV, VA & NC Against The Mountain Valley Pipeline
Daniel Villarreal — Lados B
Water from Your Eyes — Everyone’s Crushed
Wednesday — Rat Saw God
Wilco — Cousin
Sven Wunder — Late Again
Youth Lagoon — Heaven Is A Junkyard

*Listing just stuff I have a physical copy of, and 2023 only — no archival releases. If you’re looking for those, might I recommend Evenings at the Village Gate, Live At Manchester Free Trade Hall, Manchester, U.K. July 29, 1977, Pacific Breeze 3: Japanese City Pop, AOR and Boogie 1975-1987, This Is The Place: American Soul Music Vol. 9 (1963-1974), Pharoah, or Epoch?

Bandcamp Friday: March 2023

As I’ve done in recent months — I swear I’ll get back to writing actual blog posts one of these days — I’d love to use Bandcamp Friday as an opportunity to shine a light on the Bandcamp-available music from folks I’ve recently had the pleasure of interviewing, starting with…

Ms. Jaylin Brown — Take it Easy

I had an opportunity to chat with Ms. Jaylin Brown, who is currently raising funds for graduate study in Spain, and who is already raising up those around her with songs that offer peace and rejuvenation. To say the conversation was inspiring would be an understatement. I hope you’ll read my Style Weekly piece about her journey so far, her mission going forward, and the show she has coming up tomorrow at HealThySelf Healthy Mixes.

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Nick Dunston — Atlantic Extraction

My love for Out of Your Head Records runs deep, so it was a great pleasure to speak with co-curators Adam Hopkins and Scott Clark about the label’s origins and the new monthly concert series they’re hosting at Artspace. Check out the resulting Style Weekly piece here. The first event was so excellent — a live rendition of Clark’s transcendent solo drum album, This Darkness, followed by new compositions of Hopkins’ via his HobbyHorse trio — and I even got to extract a vinyl copy of Nick Dunston’s Atlantic Extraction, which came out on the label in 2019. Well worth your Bandcamp Friday bucks if you’re a free jazz fan. One more OOYH note: The label just sent around word that vinyl copies of Mali Obomsawin’s Sweet Tooth album are shipping now and selling fast, so don’t snooze there either.

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Other items I have my eye on today:

Bill Callahan — YTI​⅃​A​Ǝ​Я
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth — Secret Stratosphere
Ryley Walker — Live In Malmo 
Cian Nugent — She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living
Youth Lagoon — Heaven Is a Junkyard
Natalia Beylis and Eimear Reidy — She Came Through the Window to Stand By the Door
Sam Gendel — COOKUP

Bandcamp Friday: February 2023

Bandcamp Friday is back!

I thought I’d celebrate by doing a quick catch-up on non-bloggy writing of mine that’s come out in January, starting with…

49 Winchester — Fortune Favors the Bold

I had a chance to speak with 49 Winchester frontman Isaac Gibson about the amazing year they had last year, as well as the band’s beginnings in Russell County, Virginia. Click here to check out the resulting article and hear Gibson sing about Russell County below.

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Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams — Live At Levon’s!

I’m still pinching myself at having gotten to speak with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, who found “musical nirvana” working with one another after so many years working alongside some of music’s biggest names. I absolutely love their new live album. Read about it here, and if you’re in Richmond, I can’t recommend their show tonight at Richmond Music Hall highly enough.

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Gold Connections — “Around Your Eye“

I spoke with Will Marsh of Gold Connections about the Indiegogo he’s launched to fund studio time for his next album, as well as the song he’s made the centerpiece of that campaign, “Around Your Eye.” It’s a characteristically killer song, and you can read about what inspired it here.

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David Shultz — “Coaster“

Not a new song, but I did get to do a new interview with David Shultz recently. He and the founder of Sefton Coffee Co., Jennie-Mae Skinner, have started a new and wildly enchanting listening room series in the basement space next door to their coffee shop. Read about it here and be sure to snag a ticket for the next one soon — I bet it’ll sell out quick.

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Other stuff I have my eye on:

Joe Westerlund — Elegies for the Drift
Philip James Murphy Jr — wren in the rain
Bradford Thomas — Bradventure 5
Hotspit — Memory of a Mirror Image
Mink’s Miracle Medicine — “Bottomless Lake” (John Prine cover)

Bandcamp Friday: December 2022

On the last Bandcamp Friday of 2022 — hopefully not the last ever! — in addition to sharing the usual list of releases I’m excited about, I wanted to celebrate one song in particular that’s been in heavy rotation lately: “aftermath” by Landon Elliott. I had the pleasure of interviewing Elliott about the song, which was written as Elliott was forecasting the impacts of coming out, and I hope you’ll take a moment to check out the resulting Style Weekly Q&A. This exchange in particular has stuck with me:

How has your relationship with “aftermath” changed?

This song is so special for me because it has been almost the through-line of a very tumultuous and difficult season of self-discovery… It’s meant different things at different times, but it’s always been this song about being brave — about knowing that the outcome is worth the hard work. That the outcome is worth facing your fears. That the outcome is worth doing the difficult stuff… Even now when I play it, it still gives me encouragement on the other side of all that I’ve gone through. It still encourages me to step forward.

Whatever you’re doing today, I hope you’re stepping forward. Listen to the “aftermath” below for a boost of courage, and keep an eye out for new music from Elliott. If this song is any indication, we’re in for some powerful, soul-enriching stuff.

As always, here are a few other things I have my eyes/ears on today:

McKinley Dixon — “Sun, I Rise (feat. Ang​é​lica Garcia)”
Fievel Is Glauque — Flaming Swords
Daniel Bachman — Almanac Behind 
Joan Shelley — Live at the Chapel of St. Phillip Neri
Ohbliv — Anima Mundi
Phil Cook — From The Kitchen (SO EXCITED FOR THIS&#$*FHR#&HFDWI$)

Bandcamp Friday: November 2022

Another glorious Bandcamp Friday, another opportunity to support artists via a platform that’s doing good by temporarily waiving its cut of sales.

It’s also an opportunity to catch you good people up on some of the folks I’ve had the opportunity of interviewing recently.

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Dazy — OUTOFBODY

I typically pick a song to feature in these posts, but I’m embedding this whole dang album, because Dazy’s brilliance comes into sharpest focus in aggregate. Dazy is the stage name of James Goodson, a Richmond-based power pop songsmith who started reclassifying his meticulously crafted home demos as final products after the pandemic’s onset. His writing is exceptionally tight and unfailingly catchy, and I consider myself wildly lucky to have gotten to chat with him about his full-length debut, OUTOFBODY, just a short time before this glowing Pitchfork review ran. Whether you start with my Style Weekly interview or that review, I bet you’ll rush to give the album a spin — its a rush all its own.

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Spooky Cool — “Net Ignored”

Another reason I count myself wildly lucky: I got to chat over the phone with Zac Hryciak, lead singer and songwriter for Richmond-based rock act Spooky Cool. I was blown away by their new album, Existential Pie, and a big part of that was the masterful opening track, “Net Ignored,” which is a fascinating document of Hryciak’s movement away from overtly challenging listeners and toward a more engaging, pop-facing, Ableton-enabled approach. It was such a pleasure getting to know Hryciak for this Style Weekly piece, and while the full album isn’t on Bandcamp yet, “Net Ignored” is, and it’s well worth a Bandcamp Friday buck.

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Other items I have my eye on today:

Nathan Salsburg — Landwerk No. 3 
Tom Skinner — Voices of Bishara
The Mountain Goats — The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volume 5
GEORGE — Letters To George
Yonatan Gat — American Quartet (featuring Richmond’s own Curt Sydnor!)
Landon Elliott — “aftermath”

Bandcamp Friday: October 2022

Happy Bandcamp Friday, y’all! And happy Richmond Folk Festival weekend to those who celebrate! I truly believe it’s what Richmond does best, and I had the great pleasure of speaking with some of the many talented folks who are performing here over the next few days. Some of them have music on Bandcamp and some don’t, but I wanted to share links to those articles here, in case it motivates you fellow Richmonders to head downtown and fly your folk flag high.

“It’s so easy to start dancing”
Forró accordionist Felipe Hostins looks back at his journey to the Richmond Folk Festival.

A Good Steward
Jesse Daniel aims to give the Richmond Folk Festival a taste of the Bakersfield sound.

Innovation Across Generations
Moorish griot royalty stops by the RFF in the form of Noura Mint Seymali.

Q&A: Cedric Burnside
The Mississippi hill country blues guitarist builds on a family legacy

I thought I’d share a couple of other recent non-bloggy pieces of writing, along with some corresponding Bandcamp listening…

That One Song: “Cave Dweller” by Hotspit

That One Song: “She” by Drook

…and lastly, a bonus recommendation for an album that’s shaping up to be a 2022 fav, the latest release from Bandcamp Friday mainstay label WarHen Records, Virginia Slim Comes Riding In by Rob Dobson. Cassette pre-orders went live today, and you can bet I put my order in first thing this AM.

Happy Bandcamping, friends. And if you’re heading down to the folk fest on Saturday, be sure to say hi.

Bandcamp Friday: September 2022

Like we never left, y’all.

There’s a bunch of non-bloggy writing I’m working on at the moment, so I didn’t get to write up a ton, but I did want to spotlight some music that’s near and dear, in addition to sharing a longer list of stuff I have my eye on today.

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Lean Year — Sides

Happy release day to one of the most moving albums you’ll hear all year. I had an opportunity to speak with the folks from Lean Year for Style Weekly, and I walked away with so much respect for their poise, their artistry, and the way their music looks unflinchingly at the big, deep, difficult stuff in life, particularly pain and loss. Here’s a passage of that conversation that has stuck with me:

“There’s so much content that is so complete and compact and digestible and it isn’t messy,” Alverson says. “There’s a trend toward that clarity. Everything is ‘What’s the story? What’s the narrative?’ It needs to be able to be bought and sold and compact and moved, and it’s really unlike living. That’s a shame.”

“We’re both atheists,” Rex says, “and we talk a lot about the power of music bridging that space between the body and the mind, and taking you outside of your head, and tapping into this very secular spiritual space. I do feel like it is the perfect state to process those liminal emotions, where you’re seeing someone make that transition from living in the world that we live in, to not, and not knowing where they’re going.”

Click here to read the rest of the article, and I highly recommend setting aside time — on a long walk, or in the car on a quiet drive — to get to know Sides. You’ll be glad it’s part of your life.

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Piranha Rama — “Placate“

Piranha Rama’s new album , Omniscient Cloud Cover, is out in late September, and while the preorder isn’t up yet — vinyl coming via Brokers Tip Records, the label run by Bob Nastanovich of Pavement! — the first single, “Placate” is indeed Bandcampable. Omniscient Cloud Cover is dynamite from start to finish — half psych-pop escape, half determined walk through difficult times. Two of the band’s founders, John Sizemore and Chrissie Lozano, were kind enough to chat about how the album came together — one step at a time — and you can read all about it in my Style Weekly piece, which went live this week.

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Other fun stuff I have my eye on, updated throughout the day:

ScottClark4tet — A & B
Dori Freeman — Songbook Vol. 1
DJ Mentos — The Maxell Tapes Volume 3
Dogwood Tales — S/T
Horse Lords — Comradely Objects
Ohbliv — Raw Power Vibrations Extended Play
Mali Obomsawin — Sweet Tooth 

Bandcamp Friday: Juneteenth 2022

Bandcamp is holding its third annual Juneteenth fundraiser, whereby the platform is pledging its share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. I’ve included my own wishlist below, but I want to take a moment to highlight an artist I spoke to recently for Style Weekly. If you’re a regular YHT reader, this won’t be the first time you’ve seen Shormey’s name. (I wrote about her 2020 release entitled God Bless Bob Ross: A Collection Of Low Fidelity Recordings almost exactly two years ago.) The Chesapeake-based bedroom pop auteur will be performing with her band tonight in Richmond at Friday Cheers as the opener for Snarky Puppy alum Cory Henry — might I suggest downloading her most recent release, thegarbanzobeanmixtape_v3, as a soundtrack for your drive/walk/ride down to Brown’s Island? You might also consider checking out my Style Weekly interview with her? Whatever your plans for this evening are, it’s a great day to snag some new music on Bandcamp.

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An overly ambitious list of other items I have my eye on:

Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin — Ghosted (Narrowly missed out on a copy that a store here in Richmond had. Bummer.)
Charles Stepney — Step on Step
Ernie Francestine — Character of Light
Whitney — SPARK
Time Wharp — Spiro World (I’ve only listened a little, but what I’ve heard is incredible.)
The A’s — Fruit (Alexandra Sauser-Monnig! Amelia Meath! 2/3s of Mountain Man! Hell yeah!)
Skyway Man & Andy Jenkins — Nothing No. 1 (Another one where two favs are joining forces, coincidentally with the help of the Molly Sarlé, the 1/3 of Mountain Man who is not part of The A’s.)
Daniel Villarreal — Panamá 77 (Had this on my list for ages. It’s so good.)
Bartees Strange — Farm to Table (Happy release day!)
Cameron Ralston — Isfahan, Two Ways (Listened in the car while waiting for storms to pass before the Bright Eyes show on Brown’s Island. Made the wait 100% better.)
Revelators Sound System — Revelators (More to come on this one…)
NO BS! Brass — “That’s a Wrap“

Bandcamp Friday: May 2022

I normally write up a handful of releases for Bandcamp Friday, and I’ve listed a bunch of stuff I’m excited about below, but this time around, I want to shine an especially bright light on a single song: “Ellington Bridge,” the first single from the upcoming eponymous album by Richmond-based rock group Timothy Bailey & The Humans.

On Tuesday, a Style Weekly article went live that I’d been working on for more than five months — a deep-dive into the journey that led to the creation of Timothy Bailey & The Humans, and into the creative community that has rallied around Bailey. (The album was recorded at Spacebomb Studios with his band, a killer lineup of session players performing Bailey’s own arrangements, and production help from Creative Capital grantee Bob Massey and Chad Clark of Beauty Pill.) I feel fortunate to have had a window into such a remarkable creative achievement — music that’s as bold and beautiful as any I’ve heard, and that communicates a type of hope that will both break your heart and mend it back together stronger than it was before.

Bob Massey may have said it best:

“The culture values prodigies but discounts late-bloomers,” he says. “But I think the late-bloomer often has a lot more to offer than the prodigy. In this case, it’s an entire lifetime of experience, wisdom, skills and musicality, and it’s music for grown-ups. It’s music for people who have suffered and who have loved and who have come through the other side, or maybe are still not there yet.”

Click here to read the rest of the article, and listen to “Ellington Bridge” below. If you’re looking for a song to lift you up and fill your Bandcamp Friday with defiant joy, you’ve found it.

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More fun stuff I have my eye on:

The Modern Folk — Modern Folk One
Leon III — This Whisper Is Ours b​/​w Paper Eye (DUB REMIXES)
NO BS! Brass Band — “Undying”
ragenap — “shenandoah”
Sharon Van Etten — We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong
Sam Gendel — SUPERSTORE
dhemo — Spinning in Place
Stray Fossa — Closer Than We’ll Ever Know
Kikagaku Moyo — Kumoyo Island
Deau Eyes — Legacies

Bandcamp Friday: April 2022

This Bandcamp Friday is shaping up to be a great one, y’all. No foolin’. Here are a few things I have my eye on:

No BS! Brass Band — “Applause!“

I’m one Bandcamp Friday late with this one, but there’s no bad time for new No BS! Brass Band. There’s no bad No BS! Brass Band, for that matter, so it’s no surprise I’m loving “Applause!”

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L’Rain — Fatigue

I’m even later to this party, but I saw L’Rain open for Animal Collective at the National in early March and made sure to pick up a copy of Fatigue on the way out. It hasn’t been far from my turntable since.

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Elkhorn — Lionfish

The reissue gods have blessed us on this day. Finally getting to spin this on vinyl is a wish fulfilled. Thank you, Eiderdown Records.

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Opin — Hospital Street

Speaking of reissues, Hospital Street was a highlight of the April 2021 Bandcamp Friday. WarHen Records swooping in and releasing it on cassette to kick off their WarHen/Ten anniversary celebration is more wish fulfillment. As I said to the digital version almost exactly a year ago, “Yes plz.”

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syndays by ao — “drip drop“

Speaking of non-bloggy writing, I’ll have more to say about this soon, but Adrian Olsen’s syndays by ao series is some of my favorite music to come out of Richmond this year. A new synth exploration drops every Sunday, and I highly recommend getting in the routine of downloading them. He’s 13 weeks in, but Week 9’s track is a personal favorite.

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More fun stuff:

81355 + Spacebomb House Band — “Flip a Light On”
Charles Stepney — “Step on Step”
Rob Clearfield & Quin Kirchner — Concentric Orbits
John Calvin Abney — “Full Moon Friend“