Jason Judy’s amorphous electronic rock project Centric has been through several incarnations in recent years, starting with a sequence-based album in 2004 and stretching through a short-lived rock band version last summer before culminating in the one-man electronics frenzy he cobbled together for the Surround Sound installment of Lance Brenner’s C-fest series last year. Judy says he found the latter invigorating enough to light up his latent creative processes once again, resulting in the flurry of activity that gave birth to his new EP; sign up here to snag a free copy when it comes out on the 16th.
Centric - In Flight
Centric - Thanks For Something
Centric - Second Hand
Also featuring DJ sets by Bristol and Cadence.
Pop-rock that Jesus Is Just Alright With. Also featuring Richmond’s Against Grace.
The two student groups join up for Christmas tunes. You know, just in case you haven’t heard enough of ‘em while doing anything else this month.
Holiday concert from the UVA group with carols and almost-carols like “White Christmas.”
We kinda wish this fundraiser for the UVA vocal ensembles ended in “-a-thon.” Oh well.
Singer-songwriter Larkin Grimm’s dramatic vocal flourishes once made her a member of the Dirty Projectors and are now spread by Young God Records, which is also the home of Akron/Family and some of the early Devendra Banhart records.
Larkin Grimm - Ride That Cyclone
Ned Oldham, occasional Hook contributor and brother to Will, kicks things off.
Paul Lee Kupfer plays folk-blues and Liz Mead plays old-soul country.
Accordion Death Squad plays Balkan and gypsy music with… well, you know.
Accordion Death Squad - Di, Margule, Di
Also featuring hectic Texans Wax Museum Pandemonium.
Rurally-minded indie-folk from Baltimore
Reggae
The Greg Ward Project - Right Time
Philly quartet Br’er came out of the recordings made by singer Benjamin Schurr during a homeless phase a few years back — he’d dart in and out of living/recording spaces with instruments in tow. This totally deserves its own genre title. Bum rock? Homelesscore? Economotronica? We’re open to suggestions here.
Christmas party for the Charlottesville Jazz Society
Local pop-rock singer-songwriter. Elephant Minor frontman Todd Binder and Richmond singer-songwriter Dean Fields open.
Goth-rock
buy tickets online
Savage metal and flesh-eating rock
buy tickets onlineAnnual holiday concert from the local opera junkies. Shows at 3pm and 8pm.
buy tickets onlineThe local vocal ensemble sings Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque holiday tunes from England and Germany as well as some more modern pieces.
The local vocal ensemble sings Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque holiday tunes from England and Germany as well as some more modern pieces.
Solo acoustic blues guitarist
Eli Cook - Static In The Blood
Sludgy local metal band that likes their keys minor and their volume levels ridiculous. Also featuring other bands with slightly-less-scary names like Forensics (too clinical) and Colossus (too X-Men).
Horsefang - River Of Dead Horses
Horsefang - We Will Use Your Dead As Vessels
Horsefang - Plaguebreaker
Horsefang - Genesis In The Retort
A year and a half ago, this local pop rock band landed Charlottesville’s first major label signing since DMB. Alabama’s Act Of Congress and Sparky’s Little Brother band Once Was open.
buy tickets onlineLocal country rockers Sons Of Bill are hard at work on their second album, which is being produced by one of the dudes behind Whiskeytown and Wilco; don’t miss this chance to check out some of the new tunes. Also featuring a set from pop-rockers Monticello Road and $5 shuttle service to Barracks Road provided Wahooptie.
buy tickets onlineBirdlips is an enchanting local indie-folk duo defined by 12-string guitar, keys, and intertwined vocal harmonies.
Birdlips - Tire Chains
Birdlips - Some Kind Of Death
This in-the-round style performance features an all-star lineup of local folk singers: Devon Sproule, Paul Curreri, Jan Smith, Browning Porter, Jeff Romano, and a special guest we’re not supposed to tell you about (but there might be a big hint below). It’s a benefit show for the Charlottesville Waldorf School, which is raising funds for a new facility that might very well turn out to be one of the most ecologically-minded school buildings in the country.
Devon Sproule - Keep Your Silver Shined
Devon Sproule - 1340 Chesapeake St.
Devon Sproule - Let’s Go Out
Paul Curreri - Long Gone Again Again
Jan Smith - James River
Jan Smith - Your Mamma Don’t Care
A local guitarist and a Brooklyn dance-rock duo bearing what will probably be our best band name of the month
buy tickets onlineSpirited, celebrated local alt-country act
Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees - Strike A Match
Classic rock and Americana. Also featuring the Ryalls Brothers.
Alt-folk duo consisting of locals David Tewksbury and Jennifer Seidel; bring $4 for the Emergency Food Bank or at least some canned food to donate to the needy. Ben Eppard opens.
David Tewksbury - Mystery
David Tewksbury - Deal
Fundraiser for art classes at Nelson County High School. Also featuring The Dotz Brothers and possibly others.
Raucous Cajun tunes all twisted up with punk
Jolie Fille - Lake Arthur Stomp
Well, just the flute section, actually, playing all sorts of holiday tunes.
6 Day Bender’s “mountain rock” grabs bluegrass by the neck and “plugs it in” for a more modern take using drums and electric instruments.
6 Day Bender - Kick Out The Fire
Traditional folk singer and southpaw guitarist known for his country ballads and occasional yodeling. Email for more information, and hop to it — if the past is any indication, this one might sell out.
PHOTO BY MIKE EVANS/FLICKR Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and Batesville resident Mary Chapin Carpenter can now add “newspaper columnist” to her resumé. On Friday November 21, the Washington Times debuted a new bi-weekly music column from Carpenter. Her inaugural installment centers on the band Hem, and how insurance company Liberty Mutual’s use of the band’s song “Better Days” in a TV commercial of theirs represents “a rare example of art and commerce providing a public service message for the soul.” #
Potty-mouthed guitar/cello duo
Barling and Collins - (That’s Right) I’m Looking At Your Girlfriend
Charming indie folk duo Birdlips and rock quintet Trees On Fire, both local buzz bands, will be on hand for the inaugural “Local Lounge” concert sponsored by 106.1 and recorded for eventual broadcast by WHTJ PBS.
Birdlips - Some Kind Of Death
Birdlips - Tire Chains
Trees On Fire - In The Middle [via WXJM Live!]
Also featuring young local newcomer Lester Seal.
This relatively new band first reunited 80’s rock figureheads Charlie Pastorfield and Bob Girard a few years ago, and it even indirectly gave birth to the C-ville music documentary Live From… The Hook after a particularly good gig at Uncle Charlie’s. Here, they’ll help legendary local restauranteur and C&O owner Dave Simpson launch his next project, a new music-friendly Belmont joint called Bel Rio housed in the former Saxx space.
Classic rock and old-school blues with a harmonica and a guitar.
Indie rockers from Palmyra. Also featuring Paul Burnett.
Paul McCartney, seen here at a 2005 concert in London, joins fellow U.K. rockers Radiohead on the label founded by Dave Matthews and manager Coran Capshaw in Charlottesville.Just when you thought Dave Matthews and Coran Capshaw couldn’t get any bigger than they are in the music industry, they went and signed the man whose face and voice might be the most recognizable among all living rock musicians. Next Tuesday, November 25, Matthews and Capshaw’s Charlottesville-based ATO Records will release Electric Arguments, the latest album from none other than Sir Paul McCartney.
But don’t go searching for this album from the former Beatle under “M” in your local record store. McCartney is releasing the album under the pseudonym “The Fireman,” a name he’s used twice before in the ’90s for two LPs McCartney deemed too experimental for release under his own name: 1993’s Strawberries Oceans Ships Forests and and 1998’s Rushes. But while those two albums were instrumental forays into electronica and sound collage, Electric Arguments features 13 new songs written and performed by McCartney. The album was completed in 13 days, with McCartney starting a new song from scratch each day in the studio.
Already, the album is receiving rave reviews. Rolling Stone gave it four stars, calling it “good ol’ psychedelic rock for the ex-Beatle’s headiest music in years.”
This is the second coup for ATO in a little more than a year. Last October, Capshaw and company signed U.K. rockers Radiohead and earned the rights to sell their 2007 album In Rainbows in stores after the band had made the album available online for whatever fans wished to pay for it (including $0). The album would go on to sell 3 million copies in stores.
No word yet on whether this means McCartney will be releasing any albums under his real name via ATO, but the last McCartney album, 2007’s Memory Almost Full, came out on Starbucks’ Hear Music label, which folded this year.
Cat-fight! This “in-the-round” style performance features a steel cage and will have the three local ladies battling it out to determine once and for all which one deserves to be crowned queen of the area singer-songwriters.
Just kidding. Probably. Keep your fingers crossed, though.
Terri Allard - Heroes
Jan Smith - James River
Jan Smith - Your Mamma Don’t Care
Shannon Worrell - Drivin’ In The Dark
Check out this double-header from this local singer-songwriter and Performing Songwriter fave — first, a $5 show for the young ‘uns centered around his kiddie album The Dragonfly Races at 4pm, and then a $15 show for the parents at 7pm.
buy tickets onlineThis formerly Sub Pop rock quartet from Seattle went country around 1997, further distancing themselves from the city’s waning grunge phase. That bought them some much-needed artistic longevity, and now lead singer Eddie Spaghetti is able to lead the new lineup through a 20-year anniversary tour that’s still defined by equal parts rockabilly, punk, and beer.
buy tickets online“Dirty-tonk” quintet from Asheville; supposedly that means bits of outlaw country, gypsy jazz, blues, and rock, all with more electric instruments than the old-timers would find acceptable.
Opening act Mister Baby involves the songs of local alt-country singer Megan Huddleston with support from a few of the Hackensaw Boys.
A few years ago Corey Harris was billed primarily as a blues artist, but his last few albums have expanded into the folk music of Mali and reggae.
Whatever he’s doing, it’s working — he was officially pronounced a genius last year in the form of a lucrative grant from the MacArthur Foundation.
buy tickets onlineThe Cashmere Jungle Lords are a Richmond rock trio, Southern-fried and dripping with Southern pride, and for the first time they’ll be playing as a quartet in C-ville with several old members returning to the fold.
The Cashmere Jungle Lords - Mr Melrose Ave
The Cashmere Jungle Lords - The Enchantment
Cashmere Jungle Lords - Luckiest Guy On Earth
Cashmere Jungle Lords - Fernando
They’re not kidding: organ player George Melvin, guitarist Royce Campbell, drummer Robert Jospé, and pianist Hod O’Brien, all on the same stage tearing into your favorite standards. Also featuring Shades Of Blue.
buy tickets onlineThe new-school country trio and the vapid teen pop vixen turned aspiring country singer join forces for the “Bob That Head Tour.” The question of what might be in each of the aforementioned heads is left as an exercise to the reader.
buy tickets onlineThis 70-something gospel singer got his start… oh, who cares.
buy tickets online
Buncha goth bands presented by The Dawning. LOLMetal (you’re welcome) by Slayer X (thanks).
buy tickets onlineAdam Smith of Truman Sparks fame performs with his solo project.
Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand - There’s Room In My Will
Also featuring the return of Red Collar and energetic fellow Durhamite indie rockers Hammer No More The Fingers.
Red Collar - Hands Up!
Red Collar - Used Guitars
Name no more the bands tongue-twistingly. Pretty please?
A Cosmonaut’s Ruin plays crunchy hard rock. Also featuring local punk rockers Worn In Red, crackling alt-rockers City Of Ships, and garage metal duo Kiste.
Worn In Red - Vital Joys
A Cosmonaut’s Ruin - Sanctum
A Cosmonaut’s Ruin - Sinking Of Elders
Dirty punk rock descended from MC5
buy tickets onlineLive electronica from the UK and four Richmond jammers
Acoustic bluegrass with a bunch of special guests including guitarist Tucker Rogers, mandolin player Andy Thacker, and singer-songwriters Travis Elliott and William Walter.
Upbeat singalongs from the piano-driven DC indie-pop trio, which seems to garner comparisons to Ben Folds and Queen at every turn. Also featuring Le Loup.
The local indie rock trio hosts an open jam.
Astronomers - Or Maybe It’s Nothing
Astronomers - The Singularity
Local indie rock trio
Astronomers - Or Maybe It’s Nothing
Astronomers - The Singularity
The leading local drum dude turns his usual Afrikan percussion into jazz and reggae fusion by adding a kit and a couple electric instruments, and this time around also featuring special guest Kurt Patterson as a second percussionist. This is more drums than you’ll see in one place anywhere other than a Rush concert.
Darrell Rose and the International Counselors - Free Jam #3
buy tickets onlineMaryland rock-and-Americana singer-songwriter Benjy Ferree’s latest album Come Back To The Five And Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee is a concept album about the disastrous life of Bobby Driscoll, the precocious child actor whose career launched at 9 with Song Of The South, the only Disney animated film to remain perpetually locked in the vault they always talk about because of its racial insensitivity, and ended with a rash of drug problems that left him dead at 31.
Also featuring DC country quartet Shortstack
Local rockers. Also featuring cinematic Richmond jazz-fusion quintet Glows In The Dark and acoustic soloist Kyle Woolard as Uncle Jemima.
Tribal music and African gospel in six languages from the brightly-colored 26-voice South African ensemble.
buy tickets onlineThe dangerous new country-rock band from Rob Cheatham of the Nice Jenkins.
Gunchux - Suburban Landscape
Gunchux - The Tour
Gunchux - Williamstown
Gunchux - You Crushed My Heart
Gunchux - Walk Up 21st St.
Also featuring funky Baltimoreños Basshound.
Basshound - Til I Hit The Ground
Basshound - Ranura Bastarda [live]
Heavy local rockers. Also featuring Alexandria’s Iris Divine and local youngsters Never Forgotten.
buy tickets onlineAndy Waldeck’s funky bunch of local all-stars deliberately never practices but usually still manages to sound awesome.
buy tickets onlineWe think this downstairs show is going to involve an appearance by the Richmond hardcore band, not the campiest 80’s anti-hero this side of the Toxic Avenger, but either option would be fine with us.
Also featuring Bracewar, Naysayer, Stone Cold, Sucker Punch, and Heathen.
buy tickets onlineThese five Texas metalheads were recently sponsored by a company that makes an energy drink named “Cocaine,” and the deal was brokered by Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera. Expect a lovely evening full of tender harp-laden ballads and the occasional Barry Manilow cover.
buy tickets online
This time around, the weekly gig from the local jazz combo will feature jazzy arrangements of Christmas tunes.
The celebrated young local blues guitarist plays a solo acoustic show, the latter defined in the loosest sense of the word. It’s still acoustic as long as the sound comes from a big boxy wooden guitar, right? Even if it hits a distortion pedal and a roaring amplifier along the way?
Americana songwriter from Lynchburg, featuring special guest Bill Staton on guitar and a new CD recorded in the studio upstairs.
Two local bluesy-“>rock acts.
Raw Dawg - Alibi
Raw Dawg - Dig
Raw Dawg - HOI
Jammy pop-rock singer-songwriter driven by acoustic guitar and a big ol’ backing band.
William Walter and Company - Sunflower [live]
William Walter and Company - All The Best [live]
William Walter and Company - Alright [live]
William Walter and Company - Border Crosser [live]
William Walter and Company - Myspace
Two of the loudest, nastiest heavy rock bands around. They’ll probably be hearing this one at the Box.
Horsefang - River Of Dead Horses
Horsefang - We Will Use Your Dead As Vessels
Horsefang - Plaguebreaker
Horsefang - Genesis In The Retort
Holiday tunes, mostly. Couldn’t get tickets to Mannheim Steamroller or Trans-Siberian Orchestra, eh? Sucka.
buy tickets onlineLed by faculty clarinetist Joel Rubin, the student ensemble plays klezmer instrumental and Yiddish songs from Philadelphia’s Hoffman family, of which guest trumpeter and vocalist Susan Hoffman Watts is most likely a member.
Select members of the University Singers perform pieces for chamber choir.
Local singer John Carden teams up with local jazz organ and piano wizard George Melvin.
The local songwriter celebrates the release of her new CD, which features an abundance of local talent (Joia Wood, Travis Elliott, and Blake Hunter of Trees On Fire) as well as some interesting out-of-town connections (Vienna Teng, an SNL band member, John Scofield’s spawn).
Joseph Mills opens.
