Here’s a failed movie pitch: A 1980s-era top 40 solo artist of some success finds his way into a time machine and emerges in 2025 with the songwriting and production knowledge of all the years he missed in between. Yet in spite of that new understanding, he stays comforted by the tastes that defined his […]
Reverberating walls of guitars, manic drumming, screeching vocals, and ponderous lyrics with obfuscated motives give a sense of Bay Area-bred Deafheaven’s typical touchstones. Beyond those descriptors, the band has expanded its repertoire of sounds and arrangements to provide a freshness that demonstrates growth without abandoning its roots. The latest release, Lonely People with Power (2025), […]
I am impressed by Mannequin Pussy. The band makes contemporary indie rock that excels without posturing or abducting the riffs of pre-internet college radio’s heyday. MP writes melodies that sound as if no other option would make as much sense or satisfy the notes. This forgone conclusion of artistry is especially true on the choruses. The […]
Adam Sandler still makes jokes. You may be Gen X or a Boomer and think of him as the doofus next to Chris Farley on “Saturday Night Live,” but aside from being an extremely well-paid Hollywood movie star, writer, and media producer, he’s also a musician who plays for laughs. It may surprise you to […]
If you don’t have anything nice to say, word on the street is you’re not supposed to say anything. This Soul Meets Body / Shagwüf / Ladada show is an event worth looking into. Soul Meets Body’s record release party comes with a caveat, though. While I have no idea what SMB cooked up for […]
Legendary singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris brings her talents to the Ting Pavilion in support of a benefit show for Charlottesville’s Free Clinic. Not many other top-of-list names excelling in her chosen genres can outshine Harris—neither for the soft power of her inimitable voice or her laundry list of records and recognition as a Country Music Hall […]
If veteran Gainesville, Florida, band Hot Water Music is considered punk, then perhaps nothing is punk. In this stage of late capitalism and post-post-post-modern 21st-century rock, it may be pointless to even ask. We old people all realize our musical tribes have basically been absorbed by the monoculture of social media and the blurred boundaries […]
The best thing about Charlottesville’s Üga Büga is that it’s hard to describe. I’ve seen it called “Southern sludge beard metal” and “hog rock” (likely in reference to its debut, 2024’s Year of the Hog), but neither seems entirely fair. It’s sludge-ish, but not like those who plunder the slo-mo riffery of early Black Sabbath […]
For families—that is, people with kids—there may be no better local entertainment this summer than driving out to Barboursville for The SpongeBob Musical by Four County Players. Sure, you could go see the latest Pixar-y mega-movie, but films aren’t able to offer one critical element: real live humans performing with the thrill of theatrical danger. […]
American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse, Through August 2 As far as Shakespeare plays go, The Winter’s Tale is stuffed full of the tropes audiences are familiar with from the Bard’s more well-tread works: jealous rage aimed at assumed infidelity, disguised identities, forbidden love, and misuse of power. But in the reliably capable hands of the […]