Passion Pit’s sophomore album, Gossamer, stitches light-filled pop anthems with grown-up lyrics and a fluid style that shifts from bombastic synth slashing to singer-songwriter slow jams. Consider its lead single, “Take a Walk,” which pairs the story of an émigré’s failing marriage and financial ruin with a dance-worthy, uptempo beat. Get moving—and feeling—when the Boston-based […]
Passion Pit’s sophomore album, Gossamer, stitches light-filled pop anthems with grown-up lyrics and a fluid style that shifts from bombastic synth slashing to singer-songwriter slow jams. Consider its lead single, “Take a Walk,” which pairs the story of an émigré’s failing marriage and financial ruin with a dance-worthy, uptempo beat. Get moving—and feeling—when the Boston-based […]
It’s that time of year between the end of summer and the beginning of the Oscar races when, traditionally, the genuine crap starts hitting the multiplexes. (You’ll also find crap from January to March, and, depending on your point of view, all year.) Rush, Ron Howard’s latest, is not crap. It isn’t Oscar-worthy, either, but […]
New York-based choreographer Shannon Hummel leads members of the Cora Dance Company in two distinct dance events. In HILL, modern dancers bring their boundary-breaking choreographic style in the form of a three-day, open to the public workshop that culminates in a modern performance that addresses life’s major roadblocks and resultant recalculations. down here is a […]
Josh Hodges was a deejay who didn’t like phonies. So when an obnoxious musician started bragging about his sexual conquests out on tour in 2007, Hodges thought of a way to put him in his place. “I wasn’t even trying to start a band,” he said. “The name Starfucker was intended to make fun of […]
Take a ride through the speakeasies and music halls of jazz past with singer Kathy Kosins in a concert presented by the Charlottesville Jazz Society and WTJU-FM. Kosins paints a beautiful picture of days gone by while maintaining a youthful and contemporary style in her music. She’ll also celebrate the release of her recent album, […]
‘‘From WHYY in Philadelphia, I’m Terry Gross with ‘Fresh Air.’” Every NPR junkie knows this intro, and the anticipatory thrill as the warm, steady voice of Terry Gross floats through the radio speakers to set up the backstory of “Fresh Air’s” current interview guest. For almost 40 years, Gross has been conducting compelling, substantive interviews […]
For two weekends beginning September 28, a traveling fair entitled the Carnival de Resistance will visit Charlottesville and set up a mobile village in the parking lot of the Sojourners United Church of Christ on Elliott Avenue. The carnival theme is centered on four performances featuring earth, air, water, or fire, and combines dance, music, […]
Unbroken circle Three days after Lockn’, Andy Thacker is at the Pickin’ Shack, a shed in Downtown Charlottesville where invited friends gather weekly to trade songs and pulls of whiskey. In between blitzing through scales on his mandolin, he fields inquiries about Love Canon’s festival set—a high point for a player who’s often seemed destined […]
Let’s not mince words. It was a lackluster summer, movie-wise. For every decent surprise (Fast & Furious 6, which was better than it had any right to be; The Spectacular Now, which is a bittersweet rumination on growing up), there was a major letdown. Take Elysium. The Matt Damon-starring, Jodie Foster-supporting progressive sci-fi bloodfest should […]
Boy meets boy. Boys start band. Boys break up. Boys start new bands. That pretty much leads us to today, with Jay Farrar fronting Son Volt, an alt country/Southern rock band with a relatively strong cult following—and there is also the story of the other boy, Jeff Tweedy, who formed Wilco, a band so popular […]