Acclaimed young violinist. With piano accompaniment by Robert Kulek.

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Country music legend Willie Nelson returns to perform this summer at the Charlottesville Pavilion. The pony-tailed musician played there in 2006 and 2008 and highlights a trio of acts announced Friday morning, with the others being Al Green and Lady Antebellum. Tickets for Nelson’s show— which takes place Saturday, July 24— range from $32.50 to $52.50. (file photo by Mitchell Jarrett)
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Early in her career, the term “hot wifey back porch jazz” might not have explained the music of local Americana darling Devon Sproule. Her fourth album, ¡Don’t Hurry for Heaven!, might qualify, but when Matt Curreri, brother to Sproule’s husband and sometimes collaborator Paul, first used the phrase to describe Sproule’s music, she was not quite convinced. “It’s a nice way of putting it,” she admits. “But I’m loathe to call it jazz because I have no training in jazz.” Still, the album does capture Sproule stretched outside her usual environment. Most of the ten tracks were written in America and later transformed through Sproule’s experience performing weekend festivals with a band across England. For one who usually performs solo Americana-drenched country and folk, the shift to a full band and rock ‘n’ roll was just as much of a jolt as the time change, according to Sproule, and the atmosphere of touring with a full group using jazzier rhythms and chords also opened up new realms vocally. “It was groovier stuff that me and the band were playing at these festivals,” she says. “I thought people would be critical, but they liked it more than I thought they would.” Although it carries a tinge of homesickness reflecting Sproule’s emotional state while recording in the UK, ¡Don’t Hurry for Heaven! is mostly confident, honest, emotional, and personal: “I can’t live anyplace but Virginia / I’ve never even tried,” she sings on “A Picture of Us in the Garden,” revealing the homesickness she felt touring abroad. Later on the same track: “Honey, how are we supposed to ever have us a family when the business won’t give us a buck? / I guess it’s lucky I’m still pretty young.” Anxiety, then fearlessness. Or, as Sproule puts it, “It’s personal writing with some kind of pop sensibility.” And other sensibilities as well — she’s jazzy on “Bowling Green,” sensual and sultry on “Julie,” and rock ‘n’ roll confident on “Ain’t That The Way.” “You end up continuing to improve if you’re always poking around for different stuff, different sounds,” says Sproule. “I’m trying to get to be a better a guitar player instead of thinking ahead career-wise.” ¡Don’t Hurry for Heaven! for lazy summer evenings on a Belmont porch summer evening, with poignant yet familiar lyrics. Good thing she’s “still pretty young” — that means there will be more of this. Eventually, at least. “I feel ambitious musically, but not so much to move on to a new phase or out of an old phase,” says Sproule. “I’m happy enough with what’s going on.” That would be ¡Heaven! going over quite well in the UK, per usual, and Sproule enjoying it all from over here. Devon Sproule releases ¡Don’t Hurry for Heaven! on Friday, April 30 at The Southern. The doors open at 8pm and tickets are $10-12.
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Emotionally, local roots pop-rock quintet The Downbeat Project really meant it when naming their debut album Rise. From the album’s first track, the theme of hope permeates both the lyrical and musical content. “What inspires us is transcendence,” says mandocello player Zachary Blatter (who plays under the moniker Zachary Orchard). “It translates into our music.” The title may also capture the band’s growth, as the past three years have seen them grow a fanbase through frequent performances with crowded dance floors. Although they’re known for their lush grooves and tropical flair — far more Kingston than Magaritaville— they dug a little deeper for the album. Frontman Clarence Green calls “Strange as Love” the band’s favorite track, and reportedly wrote it by scribbling in a notebook while living out of the back of his father’s truck. Then there’s “Back Home,” which is inspired by the warfare in the Middle East; and politics meets personal when he writes about his late father’s experience growing up amid segregation — “‘He Lost Faith’ is about my dad’s experience in the military,” says Green. “It’s a song about him being able to die for his country, but not be able to go through the front door of the movie theater. He taught me that there is hope, and that’s a thing people can relate to.” Hey, there it is again. And that’s precisely why Rise puts you on a sun-drenched Jamaica beach and right at home, all at the same time. Downbeat Project releases Rise on Saturday, May 1 at The Southern. Os Magrelos opens and the party moves to Random Row Books after the show. Doors open at 8pm and tickets cost $8.
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Peter Yarrow, one third of the historic folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, will speak on the music of the 1960s at Old Cabell Hall on Wednesday April 28 at 8pm to kick off the Golden Anniversary Series put on by the Center for Politics. The decade-long series will examine various 1960s events on their fiftieth anniversaries. Yarrow, who earned five Grammys and has had multiple albums go platinum, will also perform some of his classics “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Tickets are free and must be picked up at the UVA Arts Box Office in the lobby of the Drama Building at 109 Culbreth Road between noon and 5pm Monday through Friday.
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Muse, the band that opened for U2 in October at Scott Stadium, will be coming to the John Paul Jones Arena on October 27. Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 23.
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Ten member geek squad (one of whom is pseudonymed “Turbo Lover”) performing one of their Mega Man rock operas — they have two, or at least two records which come from the same story cycle, the most recent of which includes at least some input from Meat Loaf’s producer, which seems both noteworthy and appropriate at the same time. Recent festival appearances include both Bonnaroo and another called Nerdapalooza; hope they swing closer to the latter here, obviously.

The Domino Effect opens; that’d be the older bass+tuba/synth+drums duo project from Dylan Mulshine of Rhythm Bandit, which is sort of an interesting thing to watch in that the musical ideas presented can quickly outpace the performers’ ability to play them (which we absolutely mean as a compliment). But they might end up playing Mega Man songs here too, in which case who knows.

The Protomen - Light Up The Night
The Protomen - The Hounds
The Domino Effect - Segway Song

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“Baroque Music concerning things avian, apian and amorous” by Purcell, Handel, and more.

Swing on over to Nailgun for a spell if you’d like a very long and mostly well-reasoned discussion of our 2010 music issue. (To quote Tracy Morgan at his finest: “So many words! It’s like a Mos Def CD!”) But if you’re more into the left-field loony-bin rants, grab a cup of tea and settle in, because— surprise!— you’re already in the right place.

First, there’s the category 5 shitstorm in the reader comments under the article itself, wherein various usernames, some of dubious IP address origin, valiantly champion Comparative Anatomy, a local duo that prides themselves on wearing silly costumes (rabbit/chicken) while playing their instruments (bass/bass). So, the second-best chicken-suited band in town, basically. Special thanks here to Holly, Kevin, Matthew, and molokoultra for some especially great commentary; the award for zingiest one-liner thus far goes to Young Hecho, but by all means, everyone please give us more to consider.

And for a particularly majestic finish in the stupidity race, there’s the post by the bird and bunny themselves on their MySpace blog; please do click through for comments there from their MySpace friends, who have names like “Self-Amputating Leg” and “Putrid Remains” and “Cheezface,” but we’ll archive it here for posterity since as we’ve seen before these things sometimes disappear.

FLAME WAR ON FOR COMPARATIVE ANATOMY
After what was easily the WORST show we have ever played, ever, last night, I happened to catch something while just lazily looking around that made the old Puffers smile a bit. Here is the link before I continue:

http://readthehook.com/stories/2010/04/15/Cover-Music2010-b.aspx

The Hook is a local city paper in Charlottesville that has the usual this and that. Amongst the blather about local politics involving the construction of new parking garages, commentary on when Lady Gaga is coming to the arena, and heart-stopping articles on which restaurant has the best Mongolian chicken sticks, they usually have some mentioning of music in the form of show listings with short blurbs (which we’ve been in a number of times).

Now, before I continue, don’t get me wrong, we honestly, seriously, don’t give a freaking flying (insert something here to your choosing) whether or not we were mentioned in the article above. Seriously, whatever, I didn’t even know about it until a good friend of ours, and probably the best noise/experimental musician in Charlottesville, showed us he happened to be briefly mentioned with one of the bands. Anyway, so the article is supposed to be about up-and-coming “bands to watch” in the area.

As you could expect, most of these bands are some form of really crappy and annoying punk, or some sort of variation on that ‘independent’ tag that’s thrown around like pieces of shit in the monkey trees of the local music scene. So yeah, nothing surprising about that. What I did like, however, is that a little flame war is beginning that’s shedding some light on actually how bad the music scene is in this area (at least the scene THEY decided to mention).

There is not a single mention of any of our local rap or metal artists whatsoever, including some people who have been around for years doing stuff that’s leagues beyond any of the bands in this article (in terms of where they’re going with it). So, apparently someone decided to start laying it out and mentioned the fact that they thought it was something of a travesty Comparative Anatomy wasn’t mentioned in the article. Then someone else was happy that that someone mentioned us. At least we know that, in spite of the horrid display last night, our we’re funny enough to get some attention in the hair mat of this place. Anyway, yeah that’s it, maybe more flameage will spread and they’ll put us in there or something so we can do a ridiculous interview. I will keep watching this link to see if anyone else says something. Make me laugh more.

We look forward to more of the same when we release this year’s summer wedding issue.

Trees on Fire have attached themselves to several environmentally conscious movements, from their support of the efforts to save McIntire Park to their own organically-produced band merch– but with “Organica,” their debut full-length album, they put that spirit down on paper. The 14-track release is an extension of the 2009 EP by the same name, which was originally marketed as the first of a four-part EP series, and proceeds will be directed to ecologically-minded charitable organizations both here in Virginia and down in Louisiana, where they did some of the recording. “It was basically a two-year process with this album, so we grew a lot as musicians and the concept changed and evolved,” says percussionist Paul Rosner. “The approach changed as we went along, which challenged us– we wanted to push our own envelope a little bit.” The album includes the three original Organica EP tracks, then veers off into eleven new pieces characterized by reggae rhythms, Radiohead-inspired orchestral melodies, three-part harmonies, and ethnic textures you wouldn’t expect from a rock band — “a great big stew of stuff,” as Rosner puts it. “There’s a sense of urgency that runs through a lot of our music– ‘carpe diem,’” Rosner says. “We don’t want to preach, but raise questions.” Trees on Fire releases Organica on Saturday, April 24 at The Jefferson Theater. The show starts at 8pm and tickets are $15. You should really go. You know, carpe diem.

After growing up playing together in various post-punk and experimental bands throughout Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Washington DC, and Richmond, John Harouff and Neil Campbell reconvened in Harrisonburg after college as The Cinnamon Band hoping to explore the slower, more serious parts of their right lobes. After the two struggled to recreate the sound of a full band, Harouff began to tailor his songwriting specifically to the duo’s strengths, relying on the natural chemistry the musicians had created throughout their youth playing together. “When it boiled down to just two people, we were at first just working on all the songs I had initially written– we were trying to reproduce [the sound] with two people,” explains Harouff. “Then I started writing songs specifically for a two-person group and it evolved into the thing it is now.” “In some sense, it’s easier for two people– we can make eye contact with each other and lock in,” he continues. “But it’s also very, very difficult, and we spend a lot of time trying to work out ways to get songs to sound full and tight without a bass player.” The hard work paid off. Quickly garnering praise for their surprisingly full-sounding and infectious live shows, Harouff and Campbell headed to a small studio in Montreal and attempted to translate that sound into a recording with the help of Wolf Parade drummer Arlen Thompson. “Each [song] represents a different aspect of the band– they have similarities in subject matter and are musically a variation of the same things,” he says. “Some are louder than others, but it’s basically an introduction to the band, our louder and softer sides.” That means both rollicking rock and subtler, more melodic songs. Tinged with a southern country sensibility and informed by Harouff’s maturing interest in singer-songwriters, the songs are all highly autobiographical, according to the guitarist– “pretty much directly melodramatic versions of my own experiences.” Campbell supports with drum parts heavy on the kick drum while all the while dueling with Harouff on vocals. You won’t miss the bassist. “It’s the most honest combination of things that we’ve done– for years, we played loud, bombastic experimental music and I liked that,” says Harouff. “But I’ve always loved pretty music, and was never able to make it myself. Suddenly I started combining the two ends of my taste spectrum, which is unusual– but they work together.” Both acknowledge that they may eventually add in other players, but for now Harouff is content to continue to push and prod the two-pronged sound to its peak. If that means more records like All Dressed, it might be a while. The Cinnamon Band host a release party for All Dressed at midnight on Friday, April 23 at The Southern following Sarah White and the Pearls.

Country in the tradition of Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard.

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Blues singer

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Indie pop

Loxsly - Battalions

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This Brooklyn band plays indie rock in the template of Modest Mouse. Except, uh, bigger and meaner and able to rip your ass in half if you piss it off, which not going to this is almost certain to do. Also featuring the somewhat less intimidating Birdshit.

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Country

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This bluegrass band mixes together members of Leftover Salmon and the String Cheese Incident. Show up early, since opener Best New Recipe will presumably eclipse the headliner here.

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South Carolina singer Zach Deputy plays rootsy reggae and calypso-infused pop with touches of loops and beatboxing, a blend to which acoustic rock songwriter William Walter plays the straight man here as the opener.

Zach Deputy - Why Oh Why
Zach Deputy - High Low
Zach Deputy - I’ll Be There Tomorrow
Zach Deputy - Games
Zach Deputy - Dr. Doctor

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Solo songwriter set from Bright Eyes main man Conor Oberst’s guitarist of choice for the Mystic Valley Band. Also featuring Carleigh Nesbit and Sam Bush of The Hill and Wood.

Carleigh Nesbit and Carl Anderson - Three Steps Out The Door [live]
Carleigh Nesbit and Carl Anderson - Passing Through
Carleigh Nesbit and Carl Anderson - Train Song

Carleigh Nesbit - Three Steps Out The Door
Carleigh Nesbit - River Run Dry
Carleigh Nesbit - Turn On The Heat
Carleigh Nesbit - Your City Skies

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listen to Taylor Hollingsworth at the Hype Machine

Progressive but still acoustic bluegrass band featuring BRUUUUUUUUUUUCE’s Charlottesville-based Seeger Sessions compadre Greg Lizst and more cello parts than you usually find in these things. Matty Metcalfe and Hook pal Ned Oldham open as Old Calf, har har.

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One-chord funk jams from Andy Waldeck and his buddies, mostly-unrehearsed and yet somehow still awesome.

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Singer-songwriter fella who is inexplicably still here a full seventeen years after the ubiquitous 1993 pop radio morning show staple “Solitude”. (To be fair, late-90’s singles “I’ll Be” and “I Could Not Ask For More” were also highly successful, but they sucked.) And at the Jefferson? Dude’s probably going to play a church spaghetti dinner next.

Local piano-pop songwriter Joseph Mills opens, now going as “Joseph Moses” in a nod to his former childhood nickname.

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Salsa

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The local bluegrass-rock faves have been taking it unusually easy lately, so don’t blow this one off.

6 Day Bender - Kick Out The Fire
6 Day Bender - Devil Lets You Dance
6 Day Bender

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Former King Wilkie guitarist

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“Afrolachian” performance of wild solos with Americana backdrops

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Photo by David Kling_Thing

The local hardcore punk rockers host their No Idea Records labelmates Senders; guitarist Cam Taylor promises “stoner emo” based on “many, many long nights smoking tons of pot in our warehouse and trying to rip off 90’s indie rock bands like Hum, Archers of Loaf, Seam, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Braid.” (And also, “feel free to bring the absolutely spiciest thing you can find in the world to our show and I will eat it without question.”)

Worn In Red drummer Brad Perry plays metal and still more punk beforehand as “DJ Nano.”

Worn In Red - Vital Joys
Worn In Red - When People Have Something To Say

Senders - Every Last Detail
Senders - Mind

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6 Day Bender’s frontman. Be sure to wish him a happy birthday.

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Shoegazey local rock trio. With Love Craft, perhaps named after the sci-fi author responsible for creating the horrific sea monster Kthulu, and Sharkopath, a new band from members of Bride Of The Narwhal and A Cosmonaut’s Ruin which is most likely named after the badass fictional shark of the future proposed in the 2003 Animal Planet sci-fi fake-future zoological documentary The Future Is Wild. Cosmonaut Matthew Gatto promises “lots of energy with plenty of guitar squeals and deep driving bass lines.”

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Experimental folk rock act from Philly with a tendency to get naked (seriously, multiple sources on this). Young Adult Fiction and our music issue cover starlets The Invisible Hand open.

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listen to Hermit Thrushes at the Hype Machine

Boston folk fusion quartet The David Wax Museum mixes traditional songs from the US and Mexico.

The David Wax Museum - Colas
The David Wax Museum - Beekeeper
The David Wax Museum - Jalopy Heart

Gypsy indie-folk from the perennial New York City favorites, with accordion parts and strings applied liberally and amps turned up louder than you’d expect. The newly-reformed Hill and Wood sextet opens.

La Strada - My New Home
The Hill And Wood - I Can Say What You Want

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Athens, GA rock trio The Whigs have a garage-rock trio format and indie rocker sensibilities (doesn’t everyone?) which led to a huge buzz around their 2005 debut Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip, but on stage they sound much bigger than you’d ever believe. Bassist Hank Sullivant is restlessly riffing his way around the fretboard practically all the time to create a bigger rhythm section sound than any band should ever rest on one guy’s shoulders, thus giving frontman Parker Gispert the freedom to dramatically launch his guitar parts into the stratosphere even when his vocals don’t have all that much of interest to offer. Their new album In The Dark hasn’t been quite so well received, or at least wasn’t as surprising as the debut, but they still bring the heat in person. Certainly recommended, especially at this price.

The Whigs - Kill Me Carolyne
The Whigs - Hundred Million

Drunk Tigers and Ponderosa open.

Drunk Tigers - Small Town
Drunk Tigers - Lessons Hurricane

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listen to more Whigs at the Hype Machine

The latest iteration of the award-winning local alt-country songwriter’s backing band brings with it a new unforeseen punk rock energy. With Pompadour and 6 Day Bender banjo man Luke Nutting’s new rock side project The Red Rattles, formerly known as The Penny Sweets.

Sarah White - Apple In B Major
Sarah White - Half A Smile
Sarah White - Ply Me
Sarah White - Sweetheart
Sarah White - Where You’re Going

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This show by local country-rock bro-band Sons Of Bill marks the first repeat performer at the recently rebooted Jefferson Theater, but lest you think they’re settling in, they’re about to head out on a big East Coast tour with Raleigh Americana-rockers American Aquarium which they’ve named “Life In Shambles” after the stresses of living on the road (and possibly also their treatment of the hotel rooms, though that’s unconfirmed). Die-hard fans should definitely hit this show, or at least stroll by and try to weasel in to get to the merch table, because they’ll have a limited edition tour-only EP for sale featuring several tracks recently recorded on a farm out in Fluvanna called (seriously) “Strange Acres.”

Sons Of Bill - Broken Bottles
Sons Of Bill - Joey’s Arm
Sons Of Bill - Rock And Roll

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Banjo and fiddle duets, the former provided by a UVA grad and former C-ville musician best known around these parts for his 80’s band Cloud Valley.

Bill Evans and Megan Lynch - Rocks and Water

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Local guitarists

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Bluegrass

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Local rock band. Also featuring jazz-jam quartet Psychedelphia, who have been winning rave reviews from jamband critics everywhere. Well, OK, mainly at High Times, but we’ll count that triple for our purposes here since we don’t really subscribe to any other magazines at this point.

Raw Dawg - Alibi
Raw Dawg - Dig
Raw Dawg - HOI

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New funk fusion quartet led by Hornsby sax man Bobby Read.

Secret Sauce - Blackout

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Jazz pianist plays pop

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Wes-influenced local jazz guitarist

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Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Latin jazz from the local guitarist, drummer Drex Weaver, and others.

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Albemarle High School kids play Floydy jamband rock

CD release show for the alt-country trio led by local songwriter Carlton James.

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Alt-country trio led by local songwriter Carlton James.

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Country

Galen, Woody, and the Smokey Mountain Swag - Oh Mama [live]
Galen, Woody, and the Smokey Mountain Swag - I Tore Down A Mountain [live]

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Your favorite local teenage classic rock power trio is now actually a quartet with the addition of new sax player Sky Young.

The Wave - My Robot
The Wave - Sometimes
The Wave - Little People
The Wave - She Disappears

Two formidable folk guitarists, one an alum of Jefferson Airplane and its spinoff Hot Tuna, team up for a set highly influenced by old school blues greats like Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell.

David Bromberg - It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Lot To Cry

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Tunes from Brazil, Spain, and Cuba by a Latin jazz group led by local guitarist Peter Richardson

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Cover-happy folk and country singer. Also featuring Richmond folkie Andy Moore.

Laurie McClain - Some Forgotten Dare

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Bluegrass and country-rock

UVA’s Springfest this year welcomes the raucous jamband-fave pedal steel guitar player turned funky singer, backed by a killer band which features his cousin Danyel on bass and absurdly high falsetto vocals (and you can pretty much count on a Michael Jackson tribute here). He tried to go pop a few years ago, which didn’t work out, but he’s still a whirlwind on stage despite the unwieldy instrument, jumping and kicking and doing cartwheels such that it’s impossible for his hat to remain on his head. Pompadour and The Hill And Wood perform beforehand.

The Hill And Wood - I Can Say What You Want
Pompadour - Holidays

Early music ensemble

Alt-country trio led by local songwriter Carlton James. With special guest

Local pianists Jim Wray and Hod O’Brien perform classic jazz and tricky bebop in an unusual “dueling pianos” format.

Jim Wray and Hod O’Brien - Indeed I Do

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Folk duo

The Honey Dewdrops - Nowhere To Stand
The Honey Dewdrops - Fly Away Free

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Acoustic singer-songwriter

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Instrumental rock in the vein of Band of Gypsies and Booker T led by local guitar wizard Jamal Millner.

The PowerHouse Trio - Crepescule With Gilly

Bluesy roots-rock

The Rogan Brothers - Into The Light
The Rogan Brothers - Heartbeat
The Rogan Brothers - Hang Tough

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Reggae

The Greg Ward Project - Right Time

Singer-songwriter plays acoustic rock and popular covers

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Jazz quartet

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Awful news via the Daily Progress and straight from his wife Alfreda that local keyboard wizard George Melvin has passed away at 63 due to kidney problems and other medical complications resulting from his diabetes. Melvin lived in the area for his entire life, and toward the end was a particularly intriguing local character who could be found playing piano a staggering six nights a week out at Keswick Hall in addition to sporadic other dates around town, many of which also involved him simultaneously puffing away on his pipe. The unique “Group Sound” gigs at the South Street Brewery had him bouncing his hands across several keyboards while backed by a drum loop to effectively cover all the parts of a small jazz combo by himself. He was a key lynchpin in local composer John Carden’s jazz group Greenwich Swing Time, and he was particularly enthusiastic about his larger band format gigs with the hefty Hammond B3 organ he’d nicknamed “Miss Lucy.” “He was my soul mate, and I was very lucky in all the years that I’ve been performing to know him,” says Carden. “He really loved this community and was the musical godfather for every musician in this town.” Melvin’s Type II diabetes led to serious kidney problems beginning in 2005, and the whole situation came to a head in 2009 when his doctors finally decided he needed a transplant— Melvin was uninsured, so local musicians rallied around him for a benefit concert. This closely mirrors what happened when longtime local bassist Steve Riggs suffered a heart attack earlier the same year; elsewhere, we’re reminded that influential Big Star frontman Alex Chilton avoided seeking medical attention for his warning signs in the weeks before his fatal March 17 heart attack due to his lack of health insurance, and that medical bills to the tune of $70k may have contributed to the depression that led paraplegic singer-songwriter and occasional Gravity Lounge performer Vic Chesnutt to commit suicide on Christmas Day. “George was a beloved man, and he touched a lot of people’s lives deeply,” says friend and associate Chris Munson, one of the organizers of the “Jazz-In for George” last November. “[The benefit] paid off all his medical debt. The outpouring was stunning and showed how greatly respected he was.” “Jam session in the sky” is what they usually say about these things, in which case Melvin joins Dave Matthews Band sax player LeRoi Moore and frequent collaborator Johnny Gilmore. Hopefully they’ll play “Superstition.” Meanwhile, back down here, the recent landmark health care reform bill might soon make the prospect of being a musician with a medical condition somewhat less grim. To those that are still with us: please take care of yourselves, guys. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the American Kidney Fund and/or the American Diabetes Association. The funeral will be held at Mount Zion First African Baptist Church on Tuesday, April 20 at 2pm with visitation beginning at 1pm. There will also be a graveside ceremony on Wednesday, April 21 at 12pm at the First Church of Jesus in Hurt, Virginia.
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Either you missed them in the fall of 2006 or you missed them Thursday, April 15– but we can guarantee that if you made it to one, you didn’t miss much. Just as wild, just as talented, and just as messy the second time around, The Flaming Lips brought their spectacle to the Charlottesville Pavilion and did not disappoint. If you want to see what you missed, or just relive the glory of the night, check out photographer Tom Daly’s snaps from the show. We apologize that clicking on the slideshow link does not automatically release confetti into your lap.
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There’s something extra special for you in the big red boxes today — our 2010 music issue, a wonderful roundup of up-and-coming local bands curated by our own reliably ass-kicking Stephanie Garcia and filled with great shots by our key photographers Jen Fariello, Tom Daly, and Will Walker. Just look for Adam Smith on the cover. (He doesn’t look too pleased about it, honestly. This is probably understandable.) You should keep an eye on all these bands in the months to come, and not just because the Red Satellites drummer likes to steal things. You could start below, with this ramshackle meta-roundup of the MP3s we have on file for whomever, since we somehow neglected to post them with the article as in years past, but quite honestly these spotlights might actually be more fun. Here’s a quick sampler of Tyler Magill and Josh Krahn from Mss. earning their merit badges in Sheer Lunacy via our Q&A segment. Who would you jam with, dead or alive? Does the dead person come back to life when you jam with him or is he just lying there? How will you know you’ve made it? We are not going to make it–Tyler. Already there, Brah–Josh. Has your grandmother listened? My grandmother is never to hear this band. Are we clear on that? Stop calling her. And there’s plenty more crazy where that came from — Jesse Harper’s addiction to infomercials, for instance, or commentary from Nailgun James dubbing David Baker Benson of DBB Plays Cups “a Faulkner for the Friendster era, whatever that means.” What it means, James, is that he might just be appearing shortly on the cover of our upcoming 2004 music issue — come on, who uses Friendster anymore? — which is coming soon to a hot tub near you. Maybe we’ll even get him to smile. Mss. - Little Flies Jesse Harper and His Best Intentions - Memphis Jesse Harper and His Best Intentions - Falling Drunk Tigers - Small Town Drunk Tigers - Lessons Hurricane Borrowed Beams Of Light - Kids Are Great!!! Astronomers - Or Maybe It’s Nothing Astronomers - Perpetual Emotion Astronomers - Stratagem Astronomers - The Singularity Astronomers - Shoes Astronomers - My Hologram Astronomers - Fermata The Hilarious Posters - The Fists The Fighting The Hilarious Posters - Crossed Over The Ocean The Hilarious Posters - That Thing You Don’t The Hilarious Posters - Sugarbread Falls
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Yep, you’re quite right, there’s absolutely no way for us to make this proposal any more appealing.

Here’s the deal: we have two free tickets to the Titus Andronicus show on Saturday at Random Row Books, and as usual, we intend to make you do silly things in order to get them.

Since The Monitor, the celebrated new Titus album, is a concept album of sorts about the Civil War and the battleship of the same name deployed by the Union at Hampton Roads, what better way to do this than by celebrating the war’s second-greatest accomplishment? (After the abolition of slavery, of course.)

We refer, of course, to the facial hair. With all due apologies to J. Tillman here, these Civil War general beards are really something else.

Wait, whoops, no, that’s actually Titus frontman Patrick Stickles. But here’s General Ambrose Everett Burnside, literally the man after whom sideburns were named.

So go forth, would-be freeloaders, and find your favorite ridiculous Civil War facial hair configurations. Share them here using a real email address so we know how to contact you and we’ll pick a winner on Friday. We will be fairly liberal in our interpretation of what qualifies as period-appropriate— mutton chops are fine as long as they’re really awesome, but don’t expect to get away with a fu manchu or anything.

Mega bonus points, likely enough to sweep this competition, if you are yourself the one in the picture, which we’ll verify via Facebook or video chat or by having you stop by the office or perhaps not at all. Apologies for this unfair disadvantage to the ladies, or at least to most of them.

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The surviving members of Dave Matthews Band honored LeRoi Moore, who died two years ago, by donating the proceeds of their last Charlottesville concert so that the Music Resource Center could tear up its mortgage and dedicate its performance hall in the late saxophonist’s name. MORE PHOTOS
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Punk rock

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With all the acclaim constantly heaped upon them these days, you’d think Jersey punk-rockers Titus Andronicus should be playing at more established venues, but then again they only sold a few thousand copies of The Airing Of Grievances, presumably because all the tastemakers furiously Blogspotting about them had Rapidshared their copies. But anyway, water under the bridge, since now they’re on to the next record, The Monitor, which in its vaguest sense might be construed to be a concept album of sorts about the Civil War battleship of the same name and has been winning unilaterally rave reviews since its release last month. Do not miss this, especially since we’ve got free tickets for you.

Titus Andronicus - Titus Andronicus

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Neo-hippie singer-songwriter turned hardass with his new rock band

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Bluegrass flatpicker

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Charlottesville’s long-running improv blues champions

The Chickenhead Blues Band - Talk To Me, Baby
The Chickenhead Blues Band - Glamour Girl
The Chickenhead Blues Band - Hunky Dorey
The Chickenhead Blues Band - Marvin’s Water

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Singer-songwriters

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listen to Joshua James at the Hype Machine

Local artist Thomas Dean’s long-running revolving door project delivers more tunes to pummel you by on Wild Order, also the limited-edition debut release from the Creature Feature microlabel run by the Box’s music maven Sarah Carr. Also featuring Bride of the Narwhal, Ultra Dolphins, and the Alphabet.

Order - Tipping Point
Order - Whatever Bubbles Up
Order - Wisdom Of The Oracle

At long last, another album from Charlottesville’s staggeringly sophisticated queen bee singer-songwriter. In all likelihood Don’t Hurry For Heaven will once again do much better in the UK than over here, which is totally lame and unacceptable and yet still the case even though we complain about this on a fairly regular basis. Buy a copy and do your part.

The Young Republic opens and then jumps right back into another set, serving as Sproule’s backing band.

Devon Sproule - The Easier Way
Devon Sproule - Julie
Devon Sproule - Good To Get Out
Devon Sproule - Don’t Hurry For Heaven
Devon Sproule - Ain’t That The Way
Devon Sproule - A Picture Of Us In The Garden

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Iron and Wine-style indie folk-rock quartet with instrumentation ranging from cellos and saws to frontman Justin Ringle’s haunting mumble. Wes Swing opens.

Horse Feathers - Belly Of June
Wes Swing - Lullaby

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Roots-rock and Americana from local alt-country champ Jim Waive and Blues Farm harmonica player Fritz Berry.

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Roots-rock and Americana band led by harmonica player Fritz Berry

Blues Farm - Miss You

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Local jazz singer and bebop pianist

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Banjo-wielding singer-songwriter with a relaxed DIY aesthetic and a new hey-I-got-a-record-deal album called Paper Boats which includes sing-along songs that usually turn into audience-participation percussion jams when she plays ‘em live.

Anna Vogelzang - America Hugs
Anna Vogelzang - Toy Boat
Anna Vogelzang - Imaginary Babies

Megan Huddleston’s alt-country band Mister Baby opens.

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The latest project from Old Time Relijun’s frontman is wild pulse-driven psychedelic rock, which should not be the least bit surprising except that it’s sung entirely in Indonesian. Adam Smith’s noise rock project Great Dads opens, and David Baker Benson’s DBB Plays Cups project reconfigures again — this time, a more electric set (their first this year not to involve acoustic guitars) with one of keys/guitar player Max Dreyer’s first stints behind the drum kit.

Arrington de Dionyso and Malaikat Dan Singa - Kedalaman Air
Great Dads - Pray To Your Riches

In the grand scheme of things, it still feels like Gaga kind of came outta nowhere, doesn’t it? Her debut single “Just Dance” was released a little over a year and a half ago, and it was really just her well-documented taste for the bizarre that turned her into a worldwide pop icon at breakneck speed. Her Monster Ball tour, accordingly, is a parade of gleefully freakish props and set changes culminating in her showdown with the Fame Monster, an octopus-piranha kind of thing representing her relationship with the cultural spotlight after which she named the rereleased version of what is still her only album thus far. Oh, and about that — even if they’re practically all worldwide chart-toppers, there just isn’t much material for her to choose from here, so you can expect a couple oddities from her days as a flea-ridden struggling artist thrown in for the diehards (they’ll be the ones dressed in strange costumes in the parking lot beforehand). Go for the visuals, if can afford it. And also because at some point she will probably play the piano with her butt.

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The most successful contemporary pop-country act that’s not named Lady Antebellum

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listen to Sugarland at the Hype Machine

Cellist

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The “southern” in this new Funky Urban Southern Ensemble quintet from pianist Jim Wray and percussionist Darrell Rose apparently sometimes refers to parts more far-flung than Louisiana and Florida; try flavors from Brazil and the Caribbean for starters.

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Buzzed-about lo-fi synth rockers with ties to various barometers of cool including Wham City and Thrill Jockey. Keyboard maestro Gerrit Welmers is partial to the self-description “post-wave,” by which he almost certainly means “post-chillwave,” which is hilarious, against all odds actually making that term even more ridiculous than it was when Washed Out came to town a month or so ago. Bravo, sir. Indie rockers Olivia Mancini and local gadget wunderkind Rhythm Bandit open.

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listen to Future Islands at the Hype Machine

Virginia Beach songwriter Jesse Chong strums along with a loop sampler and drum machine.

Electronic rock

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Finger-pickin’ foot-stompin’ folk rock.

HoboJac - Uncle Joe
HoboJac - Ramblings Of A Sinner
HoboJac - Crossroads

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