RVA Shows You Must See This Week: August 9 – August 15
FEATURED SHOW
Friday, August 11, 6:30 PM
RVA Rapper’s Delight, feat. Nickelus F, Noah-O, Radio B, Cane, Reppa Ton, hosted by Mike Street, Music by Hip-Hop Henry, curated by Ant The Symbol @ The Hippodrome – $30 in advance, $35 at the door (order tickets HERE)
There are not many musical genres that can pin an exact date on their genesis. However, hip hop is an exception: scholars of the art have placed the exact moment when the genre first entered the world. That moment was the night of August 11, 1973, the night an 18-year-old DJ Kool Herc threw the Back To School Jam in the South Bronx as a party for his sister Cindy, who was still in high school. “At that party,” thedrop303.org tells us, “DJ Kool Herc used a new technique he’d been working on to loop drum and percussion breaks on records.” This was the moment hip hop began. And it’s that moment, exactly 50 years ago this Friday night, that RVA Rapper’s Delight comes to the Hippodrome to celebrate.
“Rapper’s Delight,” the Sugarhill Gang single that gives this event its name, didn’t come along for six more years, but as the first rap record to reach the Top 40 charts and make the wider world aware of what was happening in the nascent underground hip hop scene, it’s a worthy title for an evening designed not only to celebrate 50 years of the music that has since conquered the world, but also to introduce that world to the leading lights of Richmond’s hip hop scene circa 2023. Curated by visionary producer Ant The Symbol, this evening features some of the best hip hop artists this city has produced over the past 15 to 20 years — the best the current Richmond hip hop generation has to offer.
At the top of that list is Nickelus F, a ridiculously talented local wordsmith whose lyrical genius should need no introduction for anyone who has been following Richmond hip hop lately. For the rest of you, though, let me briefly explain: Nickelus F’s skills made him a 106th & Park freestyle champion and got him a gig writing for Drake, but his work in recent years with his crew, AGM, leaves his early stuff in the dust. One listen to 2018’s Stuck is enough to show that, beneath the sore-throat rhymes and woozy backing tracks beats the heart of a true lyrical genius. And then there’s Noah-O, one of the hardest-working rappers this city has ever seen. He’s gained a lot of attention around Richmond with his many project-length collaborations with talented local producers, from Fan Ran to JL Hodges. His latest is Richmond Brave, which pairs him with Big No to take his lyrical skills and representation of the local scene to a whole new level. Like Nickelus F, Radio B will be representing AGM at this event, as well as showing off the talent and leadership that has made him a true Richmond standout for over a decade now. Meanwhile, Cane will demonstrate the plentiful skills he displays on brand new album H2O, while Reppa Ton (aka Rep!) will prove that he’s the local scene’s best-kept secret. 106.5’s Mike Street will bring his unique charisma to this event as its host, Hip Hop Henry will keep the music moving all night, and of course, the whole Richmond Music Week crew will be in the house to cap off this celebration of the river city’s always-excellent music scene with a once-in-a-lifetime commemoration of hip hop and all the wonderful things it has brought to the world. An event this momentous won’t come around for at least another 50 years; there’s no excuse for missing it.
Wednesday, August 9, 7 PM
Belis, Kevin Sinatra, Austin Skinner, Aye Benny!, USUF @ The Camel – $12 (order tickets HERE)
I’ve talked plenty in this column about how it can be difficult for me, a middle-aged lady who generally is in bed by midnight even on weekends, to keep up with the new hot sounds all the kids are into. But I do make an effort, and that’s why I know about Belis, a Charlotte-based young rapper whose early successes were measured by streaming numbers: over a million for bouncy, electro-tinged 2019 single “Lemonade,” close to half a million for several others. She still hasn’t ever released an album; the closest she’s got is the yearOne EP, from 2021. Her output of singles over the past several years has been impressive, though. In particular, she’s released half a dozen tracks since the beginning of 2023 that find her in collaboration with producer Destroy Boring, who brings a spaced-out, ambient feel to her vague, airy flows. All of those tracks have racked up impressive numbers on Spotify, natch.
Back in 2019, when she first grabbed the world’s attention, Belis revealed in an interview that she has multiple sclerosis, a chronic central nervous system disease that has left portions of her face paralyzed. It has never held her back, though, and she’s used the unusual aspects of her voice that came about as a result of MS to make her music stand out. You can expect her unique vocal stylings and melodic yet danceable beats to make her set tonight at the Camel a true delight. Local rapper Kevin Sinatra, who collaborated with Belis on a track from his latest EP, Who Gives A Fuck, will add some harsher flows and heavier beats to the proceedings, though always with the same electronic influence that runs through Belis’s music. Local rapper Austin Skinner just released the hallucinogenic, vaporwave-ish project Back2Life and will get the room bouncing with his hot new tracks during his set. The evening will be rounded out by fellow locals Aye Benny! and USUF. Even if these artists are new to you, they’ll give you plenty of reasons to dance.
Thursday, August 10, 8 PM
Skinnyy Hendrixx, On The Spot Band @ RVA Boombox – $15 in advance, $20 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s the week of hip hop’s 50th birthday, so I think it’s only natural that the column starts with multiple back-to-back hip hop shows. It’s also very appropriate for RVA Boombox, the 24-hour hip hop station broadcasting online from right in the middle of Richmond’s Arts District, to get into the act. This Thursday night finds them opening up their venue space for an evening starring Richmond sensation Skinnyy Hendrixx, who knocked everyone’s socks off last year with his amazing full-length project, The Smooth League Villain. On that album, his strong, expressive yet authoritative voice threw a giant spotlight onto his brilliant, assured lyrical flow — and the hard-hitting beats and classic multi-layered production underneath it all made The Smooth League Villain an instant classic of Richmond hip hop. It showed exactly why Skinnyy Hendrixx could get away with calling himself “the hottest thing coming out of Richmond since D’Angelo.”
Since then, our man Skinnyy has released a single in collaboration with Shady Records alumnus Westside Boogie, showing that he’s not content to rest on his laurels. Now with this live performance at RVA Boombox, he’s ready to show everyone who doesn’t already know that he’s just as capable of bringing the fire in a live performance as he is on record. He’ll be working with On The Spot Band, a local jazz/funk/soul ensemble who have demonstrated their skills both as a studio backing band and in live performances on their own and in collaboration with a variety of Richmond vocalists. Hearing them add live instrumental power to Skinnyy Hendrixx’s live rhymes is sure to take this whole evening to another level entirely. It’s a perfect way to celebrate the eve of hip hop’s 50th birthday, and to glory in yet another of the many talented artists who call this city home.
Friday, August 11, 7 PM
Flagman, Merciful Zero, Pfft @ Cobra Cabana – $10 in advance, $12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Here’s one that promises to be a ton of fun — and not just because it’s happening at Cobra Cabana (though that certainly has something to do with it). Florida trio Flagman have an unusual sound that will delight heavy music fans of all stripes, as well as anyone who enjoys music the most when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. On their 2022 album Thank You, Come Again, Flagman bounce back and forth without warning from pounding metallic riffs to Zappa-ish jazz freakouts and funky bass riffage. Veering from moments that resemble metallic prog-emo masters Fall Of Troy to overtly goofy interludes that make it impossible to ignore Flagman’s strong influence from Primus, this band never gets ridiculous enough to overshadow the high quality of their moshpit anthems. You might get the occasional giggle, but you’ll spend the vast majority of their set banging your head with reckless abandon.
Richmond’s own Merciful Zero will stand as an intriguing counterpoint to Flagman on this bill. Emotional where Flagman is goofy, melodic where Flagman is funky, Merciful Zero does have one thing in common with Flagman, and it’s the most important quality both of these bands possess: heaviness. Merciful Zero’s self-titled debut let the entire city know just how serious this quartet is when it hit the streets earlier this year, and their uncompromising live performance style demonstrates that all over again — this time at top volume. What’s more, seeing Merciful Zero live gives you the chance to appreciate the sheer magnetism of the band’s formidable frontperson, Hans. Their excellent vocals truly take the band’s complex, hard-hitting riffs to a higher plane, and you’ll want to journey with them. The night will open with a set from local newcomers Pfft, and having heard less than a minute of their music, I’m not entirely sure what they’ll have in store. That said, if their contribution to Tired & Pissed Vol. 4 is any indication, you can expect raw, ferocious hardcore that doesn’t stint on speed or fury. And that’s just what I like to hear.
Saturday, August 12, 7:30 PM
The Owners, Beex, Ett Eko @ Get Tight Lounge – $12 in advance, $15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
It’s not just a clever name, y’all: DC punk band The Owners, who formed at the height of the pandemic’s 18-month suppression of almost all live music, is a project led by the couple who’ve owned legendary DC live music venue The Black Cat for three decades now. Dante Ferrando, who previously played in classic punk bands like Ignition, Gray Matter, and Iron Cross, is on drums, while his partner Catherine Ferrando occupies the lead vocalist position. The lineup is rounded out by two longtime Black Cat employees: former Shirks/Problematics member Alec Budd on guitar, and former Ex Hex drummer Laura Harris on bass. They spent the lockdown era on the stage of the shuttered Black Cat, writing and rehearsing a set of hard-charging melodic punk tunes that they first brought to the world via livestream. Since the world opened back up, they’ve thankfully begun to play for actual live audiences, and released their self-titled debut album last fall. It’s full of catchy anthems about climate change, working class struggles, and trying to find ways to remain positive and work together to make the world a better place.
The Owners will be bringing all those tunes and more to Get Tight Lounge this Saturday night, rocking Richmond with a dose of inspiring punk outrage from longtime scene veterans who’ve proven with this new project that they haven’t lost a single step. They’ll be joined in the effort by one of the longest-running bands Richmond has to offer: Beex, who began as part of the very first wave of Richmond punk and released their debut single, “Beat Beat,” all the way back in 1979. Despite losing the band’s original vocalist, Christine Gibson, to cancer in 2007, original guitarist/current frontman Tom Applegate and co. have carried on for several decades. They recently followed up the Beach Impediment reissue of their early recordings under the name The Early Years 1979-1982 with a split LP that paired them with fellow first-wave Richmond punk rockers L’Amour. Beex’s contributions to that split prove that they’re still every bit as vital today as they were when they got started. Ett Eko, who will get this evening started, are a new band, but feature multiple veterans of Richmond bands like Canary Oh Canary and Positive No. They’ve come together in this project to dish out some postpunk tunes full of energy and melody as well as an undercurrent of menace. Their set will be a great way to kick off an evening of veteran punk excellence.
Sunday, August 13, 7 PM
Appendix, Public Acid, Vaxine, Ordinance @ Cobra Cabana – $15
Hardcore as a genre distinct from punk rock got its start in the United States at the dawn of the 1980s, thanks to groundbreaking bands like Minor Threat, Negative Approach, Black Flag, SS Decontrol, and more. However, it soon transcended America, making its way all around the world within a couple of years. One of the early hotbeds of hardcore outside the United States was Finland, where the frigid winds of Scandinavia dialed up the harshness and urgency of the early American bands. Along with leading lights like Rattus, Kaaos, Terveet Kadet, and Tampere SS, Appendix were a crucial part of that early Finnish scene, releasing their debut LP, Ei Raha Oo Mun Valuuttaa (Money Is Not My Currency), in 1983. The band’s classic lineup broke up soon after, but they’ve returned in various forms over the ensuing decades, always led by vocalist Mikki Borgerson, who sang on Ei Raha Oo Mun Valuuttaa.
In more recent years, Appendix have returned to the recording studio several times, most recently to create 2013’s Extraneus LP. Their later efforts feature a more metallic guitar sound than their early stuff, and integrate slower tempos into the proceedings on occasion, but the band has remained remarkably true to their original raw Finnish hardcore sound, and retain a reputation for raging live performances. You can expect a rare treat when they arrive at Cobra Cabana this Sunday night — one you won’t want to miss. They’ll be joined by New York-based ragers Vaxine, who display a hectic take on old-school Euro HC on the three brief EPs they’ve released since 2019. North Carolina’s Public Acid gets fast and noisy on last year’s full-length debut, Easy Weapons, and we surely can expect no less from their Cobra Cabana performance this Sunday night. Local newcomers Ordinance will start the evening off right with a set of blown-out high-speed hardcore noise. There’s nothing not to love about this one.
Monday, August 14, 7:30 PM
Out Of Your Head Records presents Second Mondays, feat. Angelica X, Andy McGraw @ Artspace – $15 suggested donation
I’ve never made my love for Out Of Your Head Records monthly Second Mondays gigs at Artspace a secret, and it’s for good reason: first of all, I love any series that attempts to bring great sounds to a neglected weeknight on a regular basis. Secondly, I especially appreciate how many artists end up performing at these shows who I never see performing elsewhere in town. That’s not technically true of Monday’s headliners, Angelica X: I did write about a gig of theirs at Black Iris some months back. However, it’s not like they’re an easy group to catch on a random weekend night — and listening to them quickly demonstrates why that is. This sextet’s frequently shifting sound is challenging. You might want to call it free jazz at one moment, but in the next moment it will transform into something closer to experimental metal, or ambient noise. Then it’ll turn right around on a dime and drop back into some straightforward bebop jazz to get your head nodding. But don’t get too comfortable; just as quickly as this band arrived at that point, they’ll turn on a dime into something you never saw coming.
This performance at Artspace will apparently be Angelica X’s last appearance in Central Virginia for some time, so you’re definitely going to want to catch them this Monday night. You’ll also want to check out the rare solo set from Andy McGraw that will kick off the evening. Best known as the director for local gamelan ensemble Gamelan Raga Kusuma, McGraw has also been part of Indonesian string band/shadow theatre troupe Rumput, facilitates a music program in the Richmond City Jail, and is currently the Chair of University of Richmond’s music department. What he’ll bring to us all when he performs solo at Artspace is not easy to predict, but considering his interest in the music of Indonesia and his wide-ranging investigations into music’s role in many different aspects of culture and society, we can be sure that it’ll be fascinating. So you should definitely show up for this one — as you should every time Out Of Your Head holds one of their monthly Second Mondays nights. You’re not going to find music like this anywhere else in Richmond.
Tuesday, August 15, 7 PM
Twisted Pine, Dalton Dash, Justin Golden @ The Camel – $10 in advance, $12 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Honestly, y’all, I’m not usually into modern string bands. Most of the time, if I’m gonna listen to a quartet that plays fiddle, mandolin, and acoustic bass, I’m probably gonna be listening to a digital transfer of some scratchy old 78 recorded a century ago in some random small town in the Clinch Valley or something. That said, I’m willing to make an exception for Twisted Pine, an ensemble who’ve long since deviated from their old-time roots and found innovative ways to incorporate modern technology and unexpected songwriting techniques into an instrumental framework that is usually only employed for Depression-era Appalachia-hillbilly cosplay. Which is fine for office workers to tap their toes along with at the summer jamboree at the local craft brewery or whatever, but never really rises to the level of essential listening.
However, on Twisted Pine’s most recent effort, 2020’s Right Now, the group shows that there are still a ton of new things to say and do within the string-band format. Twisted Pine made this album right after losing a core member and reducing from a five-piece to a quartet, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to songs like their version of bluegrass standard “Come Along Jody,” on which fiddler Kathleen Parks and flutist Anh Phung trade delightful solos; or the lengthy original “Don’t Come Over Tonight,” which casts a decidedly gloomy, almost gothic atmosphere and finds Parks feeding her fiddle through a wah-wah pedal during the song’s frenetic final moments. The resulting sound Twisted Pine creates is delightfully postmodern, bringing current and even futuristic textures to a style that, at its base, remains rooted in the American folk traditions of the 19th century. Whether you’re a diehard Americana fan (in which case, I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings in the last paragraph, haha) or an intrigued outsider hoping for something new from an old sound, you’ll find a lot to appreciate about Twisted Pine. And with Richmond folk mainstays Dalton Dash and local blues powerhouse Justin Golden rounding out the bill, you know you’ll get an evening of great performances from the moment you walk in the Camel’s front door until every last encore has been completed.
Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): rvamustseeshows@gmail.com
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