Album reviews: Caitlin Canty, Justin Townes Earle, Guster

Caitlin Canty Reckless Skyline/Self-released Caitlin Canty is one of the most beguiling singer-songwriters around, and Reckless Skyline is the latest evidence that she is a cut above the rest. Her songs run the gamut from hard luck tales of life going sideways (“Enough About Hard Times”) to looking for love in the arms of a […]

ARTS Pick: Dr. Dog

Led by childhood friends Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken, Dr. Dog spent years on the road polishing and perfecting its intellectual pop rock sound defined by four-part vocal harmonies and poetic lyrics. Repeated tour stops in Charlottesville made the band a local favorite early in its career. “I think the last time we played here, […]

ARTS Pick: Adia Victoria

Young blues musician Adia Victoria is a self-proclaimed “back porch blues, swamp cat lady, howlin’ at the moon.” Born in South Carolina and currently based out of Nashville, Tennessee, Victoria sings about the South in a soft, sweet tone, but she can turn suddenly by cranking up the energy, stomping her feet and wailing through […]

Film review: Blackhat plot remains in the cloud

“Style over substance” is not generally a criticism that sticks to Michael Mann, a singular voice among directors for his unique take on suspense and action. Though there is no shortage of machine gun fire and high speed chases in his films, Mann gives equal weight to small moments of tension or introspection, gorgeous scenery […]

ARTS Pick: The Rover

17th century spy and playwright Aphra Behn’s work returns to the American Shakespeare Center with a production of The Rover (subtitled The Banish’d Cavaliers), a romantic romp through the Naples Carnival. Rakish naval captain Willmore finds himself trapped in a love triangle filled with convents, courtesans and mistaken identities. From thieves and prostitutes to nuns […]

Trash and treasure: The upcycled beauty of PVCC’s “A Necessary Fiction”

It’s a cold world out there for trash. The wrap on your grab-and-go sandwich, the scratched CDs and ’80s Walkman, the broken toys and worn-out furniture and colorful detritus of rich, fast-paced lives are doomed to collect in landfills, antique shops and garbage-strewn street corners—unless an artist comes along. “In 1992, my neighbor was throwing […]

Hipper than jazz: Two local cats take improvisation to another plane

Jazz player and UVA music professor Robert Jospé has some pretty far-out ideas about music. But Stephen Nachmanovitch, the man who’ll join Jospé onstage for a completely improvised concert on January 24 at UVA’s Brooks Hall, makes him seem like an accountant in a conservative suit. “My early musical experiences were in the classical music […]

ARTS Pick: Sylvan Esso

In 2012, Amelia Meath (Mountain Man) joined Nick Sanborn (Megafun) in Durham, North Carolina to collaborate on a song, and even though they had their own respective projects, they agreed there was something special between them, and eventually Sylvan Esso was born. The duo released its self-titled debut album in 2014, resulting in a 10-song […]

ARTS Pick: Kawehi

Escape the arctic blast with Kawehi, the hottest one-woman band out of Lawrence, Kansas. This firecracker of a songwriter focuses on social injustice and doesn’t mince words in describing herself as a “shit talker” and “musician who walks like a trucker.” She also walks the talk by looping guitars, keys and beatboxing on innovative, themed […]

Windows down: Florida Georgia Line balances outlaw and pop country

Two stories come out of Nashville. The first one is: The town is full of amazing singer-songwriters, and you can see one of them playing on any given night at any corner bar. The second goes like this: The stars of modern country aren’t those same singer-songwriters; they’re the good-looking young people who can put […]