Scene Recap: Prabir, Bandcamp United, First Fridays

Published April 7, 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.

• Big day! It’s Bandcamp Friday! We have a list of over 1,500 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.)

• Bittersweet day as well. Today marks the end of Prabir Mehta’s leadership tenure at Gallery5. There have been several wonderful articles about Prabir this week (Style Weekly and Richmond Grid) so I won’t dive too much into the story here. All I have to add to the conversation is my own personal thanks! Thank you to Prabir for helping to keep Gallery5 as a safe space and thriving platform for artists in town. Some of my most vivid music memories in town happened right at Gallery5 and it’s safe to say they wouldn’t have if Prabir hadn’t been so diligent and thoughtful in his work. He’ll be on-hand at Gallery5 tonight, mingling in the crowd and also performing on stage with his roaring quartet Prabir Trio. (I typed that right, don’t worry.) Buy him a drink if you can or pat him on the back for all his hard work over the years. He’s more than earned it.

• Today is a super, super, super busy day for live music. I mean, all First Fridays are, but today feels especially so. Marilyn Drew Necci highlighted two shows worth checking out in her show column this week (as well as several others coming up this weekend). (Article link here.) RestlessRVA also has an extensive overview of everything going on today. (Instagram link here.) I’ll be hitting up three to four shows tonight, depending on the weather, so if you’re at Brambly Park, Richmond Music Hall, The Camel, or Gallery5, say hi! I highly recommend these shows, but there are several other huge ones going on tonight, so you can’t go wrong with just seeing live music tonight.

• Davy Jones profiled Benjamin Shepherd’s new song “Love Is Not Enough” over at Style Weekly. Read the article, listen to the song, and then go listen to the new album, which is also great! (Article link here.)

• Andrew Bonieskie has a new column at RVA Magazine called Sound Check that you should add to your weekly reading list. (Article link here.)

• Gabriel Santamaria talked with Jordan Tarrant about the new Tarrant single “Round The Hill” over at RVA Magazine. (Article link here.)

• One more from RVA Magazine — Taylor Kincaid (of local band Beggars) talked with Joey from Terror Cell. They had an amazing record last year called Caustic Light (and it sounds even better on vinyl). You should definitely be in tune with the sounds they’re creating. (Article link here.)

• Shockoe Sessions returned this week after a two-week hiatus due to injury and COVID with a bold performance by Saint Samuel. You might remember we premiered his latest single here last month and I’m here to tell you that song (and the EP) truly come to life in a live setting. Add this to your queue. (YouTube link here.)

• Connecting The Dots over on The Mattison Network had Black Liquid last Friday for another insightful conversation. These interviews are becoming the highlight of my Friday evenings. (YouTube link here.)

• Episode 78 of River City Sounds from earlier this week featured Nancy Raygun, which took place at the new venue The ICU. Great performance. Great conversation. Check it out. (Spotify link here.)

• Zine news. Recently got my hands on some copies of Riot Ghoul and I highly recommend them. Issue #3 in general was really interesting. (Instagram link here.) The first issue from Music Is For Nerds is also out now and will be on sale at Richmond Music Hall. Can’t wait to snag a copy tonight. (Instagram link here.)

• Time to close this column out with a local song, and what better way than to continue the celebration of Prabir! His tenure in the music scene is just as illustrious as his time with Gallery5, with great bands like Prabir & The Substitutes, Goldrush, and even his Tom Petty cover band Full Moon Fever. But Prabir Trio is my personal favorite. I’m still playing the hell out of their 2021 record Haanji whenever I can, and it’s not just because “9 To 5” was the start of my Friday evening commute this past winter season. There’s depth to this record that really rewards multiple listens. Sometimes, the lyrics just hit hard, whether they are autobiographically or just socially relevant. Other times, it’s the combination of Indian sounds and straightforward rock ‘n’ roll that does it for me. No matter what though, every time I put this record on, I leave with a completely new appreciation of the music. For the song choice, I’ll point everyone to “America,” the song I’ve listened to probably the most from the album. Lyrically, the song is an excellent observation of how flawed the American myth truly is (“We took a whole lot of opinions and we turned them into law“). Musically, it’s just as incisive with an earworm guitar riff that leads into a chaotic breakdown worthy of this type of commentary. Check it out. And then go hear it live tonight at Gallery5!