Get hip to it: EquallyOpposite’s Lamar “Gordo” Gordon and Zachary “ZacMac” McMullen make “rap music for people who don’t like rap music.” The hip-hop duo recognized something in each other that comes through in their music—funny, smart, snappy lyrics, and a willingness to be goofy. “You never know what you’re gonna get,” Gordon told C-VILLE […]
Get hip to it: EquallyOpposite’s Lamar “Gordo” Gordon and Zachary “ZacMac” McMullen make “rap music for people who don’t like rap music.” The hip-hop duo recognized something in each other that comes through in their music—funny, smart, snappy lyrics, and a willingness to be goofy. “You never know what you’re gonna get,” Gordon told C-VILLE […]
Heart unburdened: In going it alone, Rachel Ries found herself in a new community and nurtured it into the musical project Her Crooked Heart. Ries was touring for a solo album, going through a divorce, and had “leapt into the untethered unknown” when she got busy writing the transformative song cycle that defines her new […]
On Friday, July 12, a new David Berman record hit store shelves. Recorded under the moniker Purple Mountains, it’s an eponymous 10-track offering that marked the end of a decade-long hiatus for Berman, whose Silver Jews lyrics made him an indie rock icon, admired by critics and music fans alike. But just weeks after he […]
It takes a phenomenal storyteller to turn such a deeply personal story into a film like The Farewell. Based on the real experiences of writer-director Lulu Wang, The Farewell is a touching, funny, emotionally rich story about how the expression of love differs between cultures and communities. Sometimes the difference is radical and irreconcilable, but […]
Dream team: Most of the music made by Charlottesville-raised Aussie Mariana Bell can be comfortably described as indie rock influenced by jazz and folk. But in 2017, her collaboration with Sander van Doorn, DubVision, and Mako led to Bell’s name rising on the EDM charts with the single “Into the Light.” To celebrate her birthday, […]
Brass tactics: Circus-like characters, eye-catching costumes, and a blend of big-band-friendly musical styles make up the exalting sensory overload that is the MarchFourth Marching Band. The 20-member troupe from Portland, Oregon, is a festival staple, and has been tapped for high-profile gigs at the Kennedy Center, The Fillmore, and ESPN’s “ESPY Awards” show. The band’s […]
Bluegrass beginnings: Loving Dolly Parton may have gotten Irene Kelley kicked out of her first rock band (she was fired for bringing a Dolly album to practice), but in the 30 years since, her bluegrass sensibility, songwriting talent, and instrumental know-how have made her an accomplished musician. Moving from Pennsylvania to Nashville at the start […]
Gone west: Max Frost’s polished brand of indie pop has scored him alt-rock radio hits, a collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, and an opening slot for Awolnation and Twenty One Pilots. His recent album, Gold Rush, focuses on the newfound vulnerability that coincided with his move from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles, where he had […]
Head south on Harris Street, cruise past Napa Auto Parts and Sarisand Tile. Hug the first curve in the road before The Habitat Store, and there on the left, above the roof of Intrastate Pest Control, the dusty rumble of Allied Concrete cement mixers in the near distance, you’ll see it: a mural. Spools of […]
Rayne MacPhee thought her dad was having a midlife crisis. Apropos of nothing, he’d announced to the family that he was going to start keeping bees in their Greenville, South Carolina, yard. The next weekend, there they were: A few hives and thousands of honeybees. MacPhee didn’t pay much attention to her dad’s new hobby […]