Magnus Music Presents
THIS WILL DESTROY YOU
MOUNTAINS ∙ AMEN DUNES ∙ HISTORIC
MONDAY FEBRUARY 13th
THE SOUTHERN CAFE & MUSIC HALL
ALL AGES / $10 / 7 pm
103 South 1st St.
434-977-5590
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Much has past since last we saw TWDY. Their latest LP Tunnel Blanket has blasted into even danker ambient realms and gotten rave reviews. They put out a special edition 7” vinyl, Black Dunes last December 6th as their 2nd proper single from that album. Their track “The Mighty Rio Grande” was featured prominently throughout Brad Pitt’s Moneyball. They scored an indie flick film called The Deep Field for a local Texan filmmaker friend Rui Cavender. Not a bad 2011, especially considering their last soundtrack entries were for Taking Of Pelham, 1,2,3 and a Pentagon-issued Post-Katrina Disaster Preparedness Film where they’d only heard their music was included only after it was done. Don’t miss TWDY’s return to Charlottesville MONDAY FEB. 13th. This rock is indeed cinematic. Its as much bombastic and epic as it is haunting and mysterious.

Pulling from originals, off-the-wall covers and tunes from his old band American Dumpster, the Concoction’s self-styled brand of “Appalachian Carnival Rock” is like an audio Long Island Ice Tea, where the “spirits” are Tom Waits, Gogol Bordello and Hunter S. Thompson. Insane and unpredictable selections bracketed by beausoliel grooves and compelling stream-of-conscious narratives.

Charlottesville Music Showcase Presents
WED. DEC. 7th - Christian Breeden’s MYSTERIOUS CONCOCTION at RAPTURE, 303 E. Main St., 21 +, FREE, 10 pm, 434-293-9526

“What?!? No New Year’s Eve show?” you ask. Yes, actually Love Canon is playing NYE. In Massachusetts though, opening for good buddy Josh Ritter. Incidentally, their very first gig was as a trio playing Ritter’s wedding 2 years ago. True story. LC are calling 2011 “done-ski” on WED. NOV. 30th (Magnus’ birthday!) at RAPTURE for FREE. They’re taking December, and possibly January, off to concentrate on recording an LP (tentatively called “Greatest Hits Vol. 1″), get their website up-and-running and learn a whole new batch of ’80s gems for ya for Oh Twelve.

WED. NOV. 30th
LOVE CANON @ RAPTURE
21 + / FREE / 10 pm
303 E. Main St / 434-293-9526
Genre: 80s bluegrass covers

Doing our first full-on show with Piedmont Virginia Community College today. Helping produce. Helped promote. But ultimately helping make PVCC students aware of this great 500 capacity seated venue they have at their disposal. Where they can jump on stage, sing, dance, shout and make all sorts of general fools of themselves if they want. It’s pretty awesome. Tonight Magnus partners with 106.1 FM for another installment of their “CORNER LOUNGE LIVE!” where musicians are introduced to the city by playing a full set interspersed with an introductory line of questions.

Local young bluesmen ELI COOK, with a singing voice landing somewhere between Howlin Wolf and Layne Staley and wicked guitar chops to boot was tapped to showcase tonight’s event in V. Earl Dickinson Bldg. The Blues is where Eli’s rooted, but his inspirations are broad. Last Wednesday afternoon, during an impromptu preview performance in the Bolick Student Center, this PVCC math student joked about wanting to cover Motley Crue’s “Smoking In The Boys Room” but played “Hide Your Love Away” by the Beatles instead. Tonight set will be a 50/50 split covers / originals.

Opening the night is local alternative rock band GREY MATTER, who won PVCC’s Youth Mentorship Club’s Battle Of The Bands last April. GM have been playing out locally and throughout the state for 4 years. Their keyboardist Nicholas Mann is studying Computer Science at PVCC. It was their tight musicianship and command of their tunes completed dominated over the younger competitors, and subsequently won this awesome radio promo slot, but it was a spirited evening nonetheless. There was metal acts, soul acts, jam bands. All sort of students came outta the woodwork to share their talent. We’ll definitely let you know about it next year.

Grey Matter goes on tonight at 7:30 pm. Radio Jock BRAD SAVAGE will be emceeing the proceedings, introducing the bands and taking breaks with them during their sets to ask his questions.

106.1 The Corner Lounge LIVE Presents
SAT. NOV. 19th - ELI COOK BAND and GREY MATTER at Piedmont VA Community College’s V. Earl Dickinson Bldg. 501 College Dr, All Ages, Free for PVCC Students w/ Vouchers / $5 gen. pub., 7 pm doors, 434-961-5376

For folks who can’t make it, the show is being recorded and will be aired multiple times of 106.1 FM. The vibe’s gonna be great. It’s a “dry” event since it’s still on State-funded school property but it’ll let out by 10 so you’ll still be able to get something to eat and a nightcap for sure.

Fire Bison (photo by Jes Cross)

Amazing thing about VCU’s arts program is how it churns out incredible musicians year-after-year. And it’s not necessarily just limited to it’s Music Majors either. English Majors write song lyrics. Sculptors shape tones on the bass. Film Majors eschew Final Cut for Logic. All these young artists explore different mediums, join up and put together all sorts of (pardon us) “winning!” combinations. Which is exactly what we’ve got tonight at the Tea Bazaar: Winning combinations, and not just within each individual band but regarding the line-up as a whole.

Canary Oh Canary (instagr.am by Shannon Cleary)

Headlining the evening is CANARY OH CANARY who (like Richmond act Dead Fame we had last month) are spearheading a growingly popular shoegaze / darkwave movement. Fans of The Jesus And The Mary Chain will certainly dig COC. Before them comes up relatively new act FIRE BISON, Dischord Records-style post-punk with dual female vocalists a la Sleater-Kinney garnering heaps of praise for their live sets. But opening the whole night around 9 pm is an experimental avant garde act a lot of CVille (especially our touring musicians) are already familiar with: BERMUDA TRIANGLES. BT are about as close to the Butthole Surfers I think Richmond has gotten in a while; equal parts weird cult, equal parts rowdy, driven by percussion and psychedlic insight.

FRI. NOV. 18th – CANARY OH CANARY w/ BERMUDA TRIANGLES and FIRE BISON at TEA BAZAAR, 414 E Main St, ALL AGES, $5, 8 pm doors, 434-293-9947. Genre: Indie / Rock / Experimental

“FACE IN A MAGAZINE” ~ CANARY OH CANARY

“BLOO” ~ BERMUDA TRIANGLES

While many musicians local to Charlottesville — or any city really for that matter — fall prey to not leaving their hometown and sharing their music with the world, local 25 yr old bluesmen ELI COOK has quietly — or rather not so “quietly” but methodically busted outta CVille and gained a name for himself out in the wild.

Bringing to mind CVillians like Tom Peloso (Modest Mouse), Corey Harris, or Devon Sproule and Paul Curreri (huge in the UK) as musicians who focused elsewhere and came back with their coffers full, Eli’s been very busy.

His brand of rocking blues, which lends itself just as much to Mississippi John Hurt as it does to ZOSO or, at times, even Kid Rock, is being spun on radio stations all over. He’s released no less than 4 albums. His latest Ace, Jack, & King came out last June to accolades that just keep on coming in. He’s toured nationally, opened up for Johnny Winter and Robert Cray. He’s even played the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center for crying out loud!

Join local radio station 106.1 THE CORNER and radio host BRAD SAVAGE and their annual CORNER LOUNGE LIVE! at PIEDMONT VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S V. EARL DICKINSON THEATER this SATURDAY NOVEMBER 19th for an interview / performance of the ELI COOK BAND with openers GREY MATTER. It’s a $5 admission for the general public but PVCC Students get in FREE with vouchers, which can be claimed in the Main Building anytime during office hours before Saturday’s performance.

106.1 The Corner Lounge LIVE Presents
SAT. NOV. 19th - ELI COOK BAND and GREY MATTER at Piedmont VA Community College’s V. Earl Dickinson Bldg. 501 College Dr, All Ages, Free for PVCC Students w/ Vouchers / $5 gen. pub., 7 pm doors, 434-961-5376
Genres: Blues / Rock

Also up tonight is LOVE CANON‘S fiddler and Old School Freight Train member, NATE LEATH bringing a crack squad of pickers over to RAPTURE. Players include Love Canon bassist Darrell Muller, Jay Starling from Fredericksburg reggae band The Transmitters on dobro and guitarist Jared Pool — whose actually been borrowed from The Whiskey Rebellion (see above) to play this gig — on guitar. It’s shameless! These dudes are gonna be ripping bluegrass standards in addition to “dawg” tunes, ethereal bluegrass tunes pioneered by one mister David “Dawg” Grisman. In fact, here’s a pic of Nate Leath sharing the stage with Mr Grisman.

Both these gigs are FREE and both of them start at 10 PM.

WED. NOV. 2nd - WHISKEY REBELLION at SOUTH STREET BREWERY, 106 South St, 21 +, FREE, 10 pm, 434-293-6550
Genre: traditional & original bluegrass

Love Canon Presents
WED. NOV. 2nd - NATE LEATH AND FRIENDS at RAPTURE, 303 E Main St, 21 +, FREE, 10 pm, 434-293-9526
Genre: Bluegrass standards and covers

New Zealand ex-pat inspired by Portland thrift store audio hatches project to connect the dots between Captain Beefheart, Sly Stone and RZA. Releases song “Ffunny Ffriends” that goes viral and attracts attention of the whole of indie music industry. Stays sequestered, leaks out glorious psych-soul track after track, everyone wondering “Who is this?” Emerges signed to Fat Possum with an LP which sounds like b-side gold, like background music from 70s Kung Fu films, like “some kids TV theme too dark to ever be broadcast“. Assembles bassist and drummer and recreates these phased out beauties live. Takes show on road.

TUES. OCT. 18th - UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA w/ YOUNG ADULT FICTION and CANARY OH CANARY at STRANGE MATTER, 929 W Grace St. (Richmond VA), 18 +, $7, 9 pm, 804-447-4763

CLICK HERE FOR ADVANCE TICKETS

“JELLO AND JUGGERNAUTS” ~ UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA

“STRANGERS ARE STRANGE” ~ UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA

Friends since freakin preschool Benjamin Karp & Ian McGuire formed SONIC SPANK in early 2009 as an outlet for their undeniable chemistry and perverted sense of humor. Incorporating live keyboard and guitar improvisation they blended all the music they loved: House, Hip Hop, Drum & Bass, Jazz, Funk and Dubstep, and then added drummer Scotty Zwang in 2010. It’s a sonic melange penetrating the line between DJing and virtuoso musicianship that fans of Big Gigantic, Future Rock and Boombox will certainly dig. Also the perfect way to keep the party rollin after our man TREY ANASTASIO crushes the nTELOS PAVILION!

SAT. OCTOBER 15th @ RAPTURE, 303 E Main St (Charlottesville VA), 21 +, FREEEEE, 11ish, 434-293-9526

MONARCHS means butterflies. Also means to be kingly. And Celeste Griffin, the Alabama-bred song-bird and heart of the band Monarchs leads with both these attributes. At times, tender and lilting. At others, commanding and forceful. With a soulful voice akin to gals like Gillian Welch, Liz Phair, Allison Krause, Griffin leads an incredible folk-rock 4-piece with strong pop sensibilities. Influenced by Jazz just as much as the Beatles and with a confidence of knowing just exactly what a song needs, Monarchs use varying instrumentation to pull carefully and economically from multiple genres. Central VA is getting it’s a chance to experience Monarchs three times as they pass through in their way to NYC during the first week of October

MON. OCT. 3rd – MONARCHS w/ THE DISH DOGS and MICHAEL BOWMAN at BLUE NILE, 181 N Main St (Harrisonburg VA), 18 +, $5, 9 pm, 540-432-6453

TUES. OCT. 4th – MONARCHS and FUZZY BABY at BALLICEAUX, 203 N Lombardy St (Richmond VA), 21+, $6, 9 pm, 804-355-3008

WED. OCT. 5th – MONARCHS w/ JJ von BRIESEN at RAPTURE, 303 E. Main St (Charlottesville VA), 21 +, FREE, 10 pm, 434-293-9526

“TIME TO SPARE” ~ MONARCHS