Status update: Dawes scrolls past the SoCal sound on new album Passwords

The age of social media is rife with oversharing; dominated by a virtual playground where foodstagrams and political Facebook fights abound—and any semblance of privacy is tenuously maintained by CAPTCHAs and digital passwords. Los Angeles band Dawes explores this concept on its latest album, Passwords, by examining how the sociopolitical climate and our personal relationships […]

Over hard: Punk band Fried Egg goes beyond its hardcore roots

One week before the winter solstice, the weather is nasty in Charlottesville and it’s cold as fuck inside Magnolia House. The four members of hardcore punk band Fried Egg—guitarist Tyler Abernethy, bassist Sam Richardson, drummer Sam Roberts, and vocalist Erik Tsow—sit on mismatched couches and chairs in the dim living room of the DIY venue […]

Hear us out: A never-complete list of local releases from 2018

It’s time for us to take up the sticks and beat this drum again. Here’s our never-complete (but still pretty comprehensive) look at what Charlottesville-area artists released this year. We’ve focused mainly on albums and EPs, but there are dozens of other bands and artists releasing single after single, or playing songs that haven’t been […]

Playing it out: Stray Fossa is a new band with a long history

Nick Evans sometimes wakes at “god-awful hours of the night” to find his brother, Will, in the living room, sitting quietly amid microphones, coiled cables, amps, guitars, and drums, his shoulders hunched toward his computer, the blue-white glow of the screen illuminating his face, laser-focused, with headphones covering his ears. Nick laughs as he describes […]

ARTS Pick: Fall Dance Concert

Through a collaboration between faculty and students, the UVA Department of Drama’s annual Fall Dance Concert offers a variety of works that explore sound, space, and movement. In Benevolence, guest choreographer Chien-Ying Wang examines communal bonding by “investigating the effects of a dysfunctional family, community, congress, and so forth,” she says. Other pieces look at shifting […]

ARTS Pick: David Dominique Ensemble

To understand the music of composer David Dominique, shuffle a playlist that features Charles Mingus, Sun Ra Arkestra, and Igor Stravinsky, then add in a few tracks from Sonic Youth. Known for his rhythmically complex and emotionally provocative avant-garde compositions, the Richmond-based William & Mary professor is so versatile that his work ranges from writing […]

ARTS Pick: NuYoRican

The Latin Ballet of Virginia’s NuYoRican is a visual love letter to Hispanic culture. The contemporary production tells the story of Puerto Rican immigrants arriving in New York City in the 1940s, and the challenges they faced as well as the bonds they created while establishing roots in a new country. Under the artistic direction […]

Weight lifted: Juliana Daugherty finds release with Light

Between sips of seltzer and small handfuls of Chex Mix, Juliana Daugherty lovingly runs her hand along her cat Monday’s back. “I’m still kind of shocked that I managed to get it out in the world,” she says, eyeing a thick cardboard box at the bottom of a bookshelf. It’s full of vinyl copies of […]