As one-fourth of experimental pop band Animal Collective and a solo artist in his own right, Noah Lennox (who creates under the moniker Panda Bear) has been making music professionally for nearly 20 years. Along with Dave Portner (Avey Tare), Brian Weitz (Geologist) and Josh Dibb (Deakin), Lennox and the Collective made their mainstream crossover […]
In 2013, Chance Dickerson was working as a teaching assistant in the ESOL (English as a Second Language) department at Albemarle High School and he wanted to share his love of music with his students. So he set up an “underground studio” in an English class book closet and began teaching the ins and outs […]
On “Troublemaker Doppelgänger,” a bluesy jaunt from Lucy Dacus’ debut album, the singer-songwriter posits, “No child is born knowing there’s an ugly or evil thing / When did my folks stop covering my eyes?” It’s a thesis statement of sorts for No Burden, a record that explores the responsibilities of adulthood. The cover art features […]
Named after a town in Maine, folk quintet Parsonsfield formed by happenstance at the University of Connecticut around 2009. “I was beginning college and I really wanted to meet some people that had an interest in old songs like I did,” says member Chris Freeman. “I was playing guitar and discovering music from all eras […]
‘‘We all deserve the light” members of River Whyless croon on “Baby Brother,” the captivating opener on their second full-length album. The lyric resurfaces in the record’s final stretch: It’s both the name and crux of the closing track, before it fades into reverie. The Asheville-based quartet even used the line to inform the album […]
One night last February, Charlottesville luthier Brian Calhoun and his good friend, musician Dave Matthews, walked into Kardinal Hall with a massive handmade Chickapig board. Calhoun had measured the back of his car and made the board as big as he could while still fitting it into his trunk. They played a few games over […]
The 2013 documentary The Punk Singer chronicles the rise of the riot grrrl movement in the ’90s and focuses on the revolution’s central figure, Kathleen Hanna. During a highlight of the film, Hanna discusses how she and her bandmates decided to form Bikini Kill even though none of them could really play an instrument. For […]
Margaret Glaspy doesn’t mince words or deal in excess. Clocking in at a brisk 34 minutes, the singer-songwriter’s debut, Emotions and Math, made several best-of lists in 2016 with its blend of bluesy riffs and pared down rock ’n’ roll. “I do like things boiled down to their kind of most distilled nature. That was […]
Margaret Glaspy doesn’t mince words or deal in excess. Clocking in at a brisk 34 minutes, the singer-songwriter’s debut, Emotions and Math, made several best-of lists in 2016 with its blend of bluesy riffs and pared down rock ’n’ roll. “I do like things boiled down to their kind of most distilled nature. That was […]
The lion is a central figure in religious tradition and popular mythology that represents strength. Throughout history, lions have adorned royal coats of arms while political figures have taken up variations of the moniker to demonstrate valor. Known as the king of beasts, its likeness is just as common in fine art, literature and popular […]