ARTS Pick: Family Holiday Concerts

Among the finest local traditions is when the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia and UVA’s University Singers join forces for the Family Holiday Concerts conducted by Michael Slon. This year’s program includes “Carol of the Bells,” “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” as well […]

American jazz great Bill Cole reveals new work

Composed in 1936, Peter and the Wolf is a musical fable that introduces children to the orchestra. The story is constructed such that each character has a musical theme played by different instruments: The bird’s theme is played by the flute while the cat’s theme is played by the clarinet, and so on. Throughout the […]

Flutist-guitarist Maxx Katz explores doom with a view

Before Maxx Katz plays a single note of a FLOOM set, she looks out at the audience in front of her and thinks: “We’re all going to die.” That thought in mind, she rings out one heavy chord on her silver sparkle Epiphone Les Paul and lets it tumble out of her bitchin’ amps and […]

ARTS Pick: Locals Play Locals

The event name says it all. Locals Play Locals is a big ol’ Charlottesville music cover show. More than a dozen bands and solo artists—Tequila Mockingbird, Gina Sobel’s Choose Your Own Adventure, Genna Matthew, Phil West, Marchenko and others—will swap songs and even genres in this benefit concert for Charlottesville’s Music Resource Center. Friday 11/18. $8, […]

ARTS Pick: Willie DE

When guitarist Willie DE walks onstage to unveil his sophomore album, Thunder Train, he will be taking another big step on a musical journey that cuts straight through Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. As a young aspiring musician, DE made his first bucks while busking on local streets, and credits his membership at the Music Resource Center […]

ARTS Pick: The Nth Power

Indebted to the legacy of soul music, The Nth Power offers a listener’s choice of “songs that will inspire audiences to dance, groove, make love or just stand there with goose bumps.” Bound by a belief in the spiritual power of music and the logical beauty of math (the group’s first EP is titled Basic […]

ARTS Pick: The Dexateens

In 2011, Alabama garage rockers The Dexateens were on the verge of a breakthrough when they broke up. The band left an entirely finished album, Teenage Hallelujah, unreleased, sitting in storage, collecting dust and tantalizing die-hard fans for the better part of five years. But Teenage Hallelujah’s moment has finally come, and the band has […]

ARTS Pick: Carl Broeml

When you are the lead guitarist for a beloved indie-rock band, you get appearances from cool musician friends on your solo record, as is the case for Carl Broemel on his 2016 release, 4th of July, featuring Neko Case, Laura Veirs and some bandmates from My Morning Jacket. While Broemel is known for his guitar […]

ARTS Pick: BASK

Tagged on Sonicbids as Americana, rock, country, doom post-metal and psychedelic stoner rock, Asheville’s BASK shrugs off classification with a note to fans: “Most of all we want you to listen without concern for what you are hearing. To listen only for the sake of hearing.” Judging by the slew of rave reviews for its […]

ARTS Pick: Kontakte

By the time Karlheinz Stockhausen’s mug appeared on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 (top row, fifth from the left) with dozens of other adventurous artists, the German musician had established himself as a bold composer and an electronic music pioneer known for being among the first to […]