Scene Recap: Festivals, Anna Leonard, Death Valley Driver

Published May 5, 2023

Countless great outlets, organizations, and individuals cover the music scene in Richmond, so many that it might be hard to keep up to date on all of them. We’ll try and collect some great articles, coverage, and news bits we’ve read each week here at The Auricular.

• Been a weird week for us here at the ol’ Auricular desk as I’ve been under the weather while trying to stay up-to-date on a very busy week. But there’s a lot of news to cover so let’s get right into it.

• It’s Bandcamp Friday! We have a list of over 1,700 Richmond musicians you should look at. If you ever wanted to buy something on Bandcamp, today is the day! Here’s the link for the article. I also want to mention Bandcamp United, a unionization effort from the workers behind the platform. We love Bandcamp. We link it whenever we can over Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or even (sigh) Tidal. We support Bandcamp Fridays. We tell every musician we can that they need a Bandcamp themselves. But… we also support workers’ rights. And you do not have to choose. Bandcamp is a great platform that does a lot of good work for artists, and they need to do more to support the workers too. This unionization effort will ensure the coders, design team, support staff, et cetera will have the best opportunity to receive fair working conditions. Check out Bandcamp United and find out ways you can help them today! (Bandcamp United link here.)

• Friday Cheers kicks off its 38th season tonight with Snail Mail and openers Water From Your Eyes and Dazy. The line-up this year is really impressive so make sure you make the time for at least one of them. If I wasn’t under the weather, I would definitely be there tonight taking it all in because that line-up… that’s going to make for a truly amazing night of music. (Festival link here.)

• Speaking of outdoor festivals, the inaugural Iron Blossom Music Festival was announced this week. Taking place at Monroe Park, this two-day festival at the end of August is bringing in some heavy hitters including Hozier, Lord Huron, Rayland Baxter, Elle King, and Angelica Garcia, one of our favorite local artists who moved to LA a few years ago. The press release emphasized local food, breweries, and artisans too so it looks like there will be a lot more than music going on. Tickets went on sale this week in tiered pricing and it looks like three of the five options already sold out. If you’re interested in going, it looks like a regular Tier 2 ticket at $179.50 or a VIP Tier 1 ticket at $450 are all that remain. I am very curious about how this event is going to be pulled off in Monroe Park considering the layout (Festival link here.)

• And one more festival of note: HeartStrings Festival is announcing its artist line-up next week. This one takes place September 29th through October 1st with a really inspiring tagline. “A 3-day festival that leverages the power of music to raise awareness for homelessness and mental health in RVA.” That’s just awesome. Can’t wait to see what they have in store for us. (Festival link here.)

• Wanted to briefly mention the passing of Dean Rasmussen. Dean, better yet DEAN, was the driving force behind Death Valley Driver Video Review (DVDVR), a popular community for wrestling fans in the late ’90s. His reviews on wrestling matches, good and bad, really shaped how I consume media, specifically music. On top of that, the way he built a community that’s still going strong in 2023 is just impressive and speaks to the kind of person DEAN was. If I could make 1/10th the impact DEAN has made on a personal and critical level, I’d consider myself a huge success. There’s a GoFundMe up right now to help his family weather the costs of his treatment. Donate if you can and help honor a truly great man. (Fundraiser link here.)

• Also wanted to mention the passing of local musician Ninety Seven aka Bob Ramirez. Marilyn Drew Necci did a wonderful job covering the tribute show going down this Saturday so if you want to learn more about him and his impact, make sure to read this week’s show column. (Article link here.)

• Andrew Cothern’s RVA Playlist book came out months ago, but there are still some great pieces coming out covering it. Here’s one from Don Harrison at Richmond Magazine. Read the piece and then make sure you go pick up a copy of the book — it’s worth it, trust me. (Article link here.)

• The latest Sound Check column by Andrew Bonieskie at RVA Magazine covered a lot of ground with words about Snail Mail, White Beast, Destroyer, The Milestones, and more! Go read it! (Article link here.)

• Peter McElhinney over at Style Weekly had a great article spotlighting the So Hot Right Now concert series by Rosette Quartet. Might just have to catch one of those this June. (Article link here.)

• I really enjoyed this review of Darker Side Of Things, the new record by lilwilliam., by Vy Truong over at theMSQshop. Read it and then listen to the record. You won’t be disappointed with either. (Article link here.)

• Cassidy Snider & The Wranglers were the guests on this week’s Shockoe Sessions Live! and they delivered a really fun and rousing performance. Cassidy is such a compelling singer and lyricist and the band around her is so sharp. There’s a reason their album was nominated for the Newlin Music Prize this year so go check out this performance (and the album) when you have time. (YouTube link here.)

• River City Sounds returned this week with a new episode featuring Madly Backwards, a folk-rock act with a vibrant and buzzing sound. Check it out! (Spotify link here.)

• I mentioned Marilyn Drew Necci’s show column earlier and I’ll link it here again so you can get some ideas for cool upcoming shows this weekend. (Article link here.) If you want to see what else is going on, you’re going to want to stop by RestlessRVA‘s section of the internet to check out their list of all shows going on this weekend. This should be part of your weekend schedule by now! (Instagram link here.)

• Even while sick, I still managed to put out a roundup column this week, listing and describing all the new music coming out of the city. This week’s list covered 25 albums and 67 singles from Richmond, covering everything from post-punk to chamber pop (with funk-jazz legend making the list too!). Check back next week for more! (Article link here.)

• Time to close this out with a local song. This week, I wanted to put a spotlight on Anna Leonard, a singer-songwriter who has put out some great singles lately. I first became aware of her in mid-2021 with Taller, a brisk and bright collection of indie pop songs that caught my ear. She had put out a few songs before that, a Radiohead cover, a swaying track called “Quiet” built on this really interesting guitar line, and a twinkling demo called “Want It” that showed a lot of artistic vision and promise despite the lo-fi recording. 2022 was bookended by two singles from her, the saccharine plea “Candy” in January and the capricious track “Denial” in December that caught a lot of people’s ears with its snarky approach to grief and reproach. In February, she released her latest single, “Girlhood,” and that’s the one I really want to talk about today. I don’t want to sit here and say this track is her best or a step above anything she’s released so far. Leonard’s been really good about mixing up her style from song to song, transporting her lyricism and voice through different tempos and backdrops while building a charming discography, so it’s hard to compare song to song and point to this one as being markedly better than this one. I mean, I still think “Want It” is a great showcase of her sound, even though that was just a demo and a song like “Denial” is an ambitious number with two contrasting sections. “Girlhood” seems to occupy a similar space to “Want It,” but it decorates the sparse soundscape with plenty of soothing and nimble sounds. It’s a bedroom pop track, but one that feels roomy instead of snug, thanks to an airy hum that floats between the sliding guitar strums and yearning melody so that both can wash over the area. That melody. Man, that’s a melody that gets stuck in your head for months and lingers for years. Just typing that out makes me sing “Does it make you happy?” in a quiet voice, even though it’s a line that can fill any space you’re in, enclosed or not. Anna Leonard has a surprising amount of dexterity as an artist and I think it truly culminates on this single. It’s a song that will make you feel like you’re engulfed in a warm melodic blanket while staring at the vast sky, making you tethered to the intimate while fixated on the expanse. It’s just sublime. Check it out for yourself below and we’ll catch you next week here.