ARTS Pick: Twins with Twang

It’s not a typo—The Brother Brothers are named that for a reason. Adam and David Moss are identical twins with a shared love of country and folk music, and it shows in the tunes the duo creates and performs. After pursuing individual music careers, the brothers came together in 2016 to tour as one act. Although […]

Album reviews: Golden Dawn Arkestra, Juliana Daugherty, Nicola Conte & Spiritual Galaxy, Wooden Shjips, Mary Lattimore, Tierra Whack

Golden Dawn Arkestra Children of the Sun (Nine Mile) While borrowing Sun Ra’s band name and giving songs titles like “Ra Horahkty” and “Wings of Ra,” Golden Dawn Arkestra comes from a planet that’s as much spy rock as cosmic jazz. Despite some vintage keyboards and occasional attempts at menace, GDA never fully weirds the […]

Movie review: Tag misses the mark between laughs

Is a bad movie made better because it’s funny, or is a funny movie made worse because it’s bad? And if it’s occasionally hilarious but totally dead in the water otherwise, what are you left with? So it is with Tag, a totally disposable, predictable, unfunny rehashing of tired tropes and gags we’ve seen done […]

The Can-Do Attitude gets it done in unexpected ways

The members of The Can-Do Attitude know what they look like while loading their gear into a venue for a rock show. “Who the hell are these nerds?” they imagine other bands think upon seeing drummer Brian Wilson in a loon T-shirt, the word “Loonatic” printed under the aquatic bird graphic, or watching singer and […]

Charlottesville SOUP serves up its 10th micro-grant

A bowl of soup is a comfort. Whether you are seeking relief from a head cold or cold weather, or want to pour your soul into cooking a meal shared with friends, soup is the answer. In 2013, Victoria Williams, Maureen Brondyke and Brooke Ray infused those ideas of sustenance and community into Charlottesville SOUP—a […]

ARTS Pick: Algiers hailed as the quintessential protest band

Experimental group Algiers might be this generation’s quintessential protest band. Hailing from Atlanta, the four-man act creates music with lyrics as radical and furious as its sound, with influences ranging from post-punk to Southern gospel. The band’s name refers to a famous anti-colonial battle, and its tracks usually comment on America’s history of slavery and […]

ARTS Pick: Seductive Sounds brings the funk

With roots in Washington, D.C., the funky subgenre of go-go music is almost exclusively celebrated in the mid-Atlantic area—and Seductive Sounds Gogo Band is the newest incarnation on the local scene. Formed by members of the renowned Double Faces Gogo Band, including Blacko Da Rappa, the band embodies the blend of funk, R&B and hip-hop […]

ARTS Pick: Dinosoul experiments with indie sound

Pittsburgh’s dark-pop quartet Dinosoul takes experimental-indie to the next level, mixing synth, reverb and delay-heavy guitar riffs with emotional vocals and health and wellness. Yes, that’s right. Band founder Donny Donovan is also a health, wellness and fitness coach, and Dinosoul offers a mission statement at its shows that asks “the universe to allow it […]

ARTS Pick: Liz Cooper goes from golf clubs to rock clubs

The psychedelic folk-rock band Liz Cooper and the Stampede formed at the unlikeliest of places—a golf course. Two things in life came easily to Cooper: golf and music. So, when she moved to Nashville, she found work at a country club, and eventually recorded her first EP with some co-workers. From there, she added Ky […]

Movie review: Hereditary taps the dark side of the psyche

Ari Aster’s Hereditary may be the best, scariest, and most effective American horror film in years. Not because it has the loudest scares, not because its ghosts have the creepiest faces, and not because its deaths are the most gruesome (though it does have its share). Writer-director Aster’s feature film debut builds dread at an […]