JHERZOGPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
image PJ Sykes
Artist: Chris Norris title: detail of untitled medium: ink on paper year: 2008 size: 20� x 20� represented by Ada Gallery
Artist: Joan Gaustad title: “Samples� medium: mixed media on formica tile sample year: 2008 represented by Ada Gallery
Artist: Randy Hess title: “Diddle Bang Bang” medium: acrylic on paper year: 2008 represented by Ada Gallery
Artist: Bruce Wilhelm title: Untitled II medium: graphite, watercolor, acrylic, paper on canvas year: 2008 size: 18.5 x 24� represented by Ada Gallery
Artist: Carlton Morgan title: top “Lost Child” left “Golden Ages” medium: mixed media, acrylic portfolio-carltonmorgan.blogspot.com
Artist: Bizhan Khodabandeh title: top “Softening Our Footprints” medium: screen-print size: 11 by 35.5” title: right “Inaction Reaction” medium: archival digital print size: 17.5 by 21” title: far right “Gabriel Prosser Strikes Again” medium: screen-print size: 9 by 19” represented by Gallery 5 www.mendedarrow.com
Artist: Qaisar Iqbal title: from the “Islamic Calligraphy” series based on Qur’anic Verses medium: acrylic on paper represented by ISHQ Gallery
WRITINGS
Catherine Brooks
The Holiday Gift Guide Our selection of local goodies to help with your shopping this Chrsitmas season.
ILLUSTRATIONS
“For me, painting is not of ten an active intentional thing, I constantly feel like someone else made it. The works feel completely unfamiliar when I am finished with them.”
Brandon Peck
Ghostprint’s Drawing Blood
PHOTOGRAPHY
“The Drawing Blood show concept ...is to present tattoo artists working seriously in other mediums.”
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Shannon Cleary, S. Preston Duncan, Lauren Vincelli, R. Anthony Harris, Karen Seifert
Golden Daze Volume 5 Issue 8 cover by Catherine Brooks
Publisher / R. Anthony Harris Branding / Christian Detres
Karen Seifert
DESIGN Anthony Harris, Brandon Peck, Grant Shuler
Advertising / John Reinhold Managing Editor /
S. Preston Duncan
Ombudsman / Adam Sledd New Media / Ian M. Graham Music Editor / Landis Wine Fashion / Casey Longyear Copy Editor / Matt Ference RVA TV / Ben Muri, Jon Headlee Baylen Forcier, Elliot Robinson Trusty Interns Anna Whittel, Alex Barrett
CONTENTS Heide Trepanier “I take paint, the material, with all of its faults and messes, and use it to create an odd, sad, and sometimes violent narrative.”
Fiona Ross “Her recent drawings play on that sort of goal setting with the ambition of making drawings where everything touches”
Joshua Barber “Did I have a bad upbringing? Do I have major mental issues? Is there something that I’m blocking from my past? Nothing could be farther from the truth.”
Pulp Tones: Hate Your Friends “We’re living in a time in which bands can go from non-existent to blog sensations in little over a month....”
The Reviews Are Back. Jemina Pearl- Break It Up Converge- Axe To Fall The Flaming Lips- Embryonic Lightning Bolt- Earthly Delights Brand New- Daisy
Transcending The Gig: The Art Of Show Posters “Show posters are definitely some of the purest examples of my work on my terms....”
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N E W G A L L E RY O P E N I N G
“ARCHETYPE� --A 2-person art exhibition featuring the sculpture of Jim Daigle and paintings of Nat Daigle. Artcraft Designs Gallery, a woodshop/gallery space at 508 W. Broad St in Richmond, VA, at the gateway to the First Friday Art Walk, will open its doors on Friday, December 4th, 2009, from 6:30 to 10:30 pm, to present the works of these 2 artists. The gallery will be open throughout December. Followed by a second show with new works in January. Artcraftdesignsgallery@gmail.com, Natdaigle@gmail.com Jim Daigle @ (804)986-5053 or Nat Daigle @ (804)852-0275 photos: Brandon Hysell
Heide Trepanier Heide Trepanier is one of Richmond’s most prolific artists. Her studio is tucked into the corridors of Artspace/Plant Zero, where she creates colorful abstract paintings and drawings. Her work features glops of paint transformed into wild narratives with bold outlines. Her vibrant characters tangle together in fluid motions to comment on desire, debauchery, and other human emotions. She has been awarded the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship as a graduate student at VCU and as a professional artist. Her work is represented by Stefan Stux Gallery in New York, and is known internationally from her shows in Spain, Qatar, Costa Rica and Russia, and around the United States. She is currently working on a new series of drawings and working as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond.
by Lauren Vincelli
From Heide Trepanier’s recent artist statement:
“I take paint, the material, with all of its faults and messes, and use it to create an odd, sad, and sometimes violent narrative. This links the ‘failure’ of the paint to do what we are used to, or what we may want (clean, orderly and representational), to our failure to create order and control. This is my overlying theme. Within that theme, I use the frozen action of the paint to form a narrative. Most reference prosthetics and machines, or props of human behavior. These prosthetics are psychological in nature, and do the things that I cannot, they act the way I may perhaps like to but wouldn’t dare. For example, they misbehave, throw up on each other, have orgies, rip each other apart, become divas, destroy small towns, ride waves of paint, and produce other worlds. The drawing series I am working on is more graphic and representational in nature. They are a glimpse into the ‘worlds’ I mentioned in the paintings but rely heavily on Freudian-like desires, anthropomorphized pop culture items, disconnected parts, etc., to tell stories instead of the actions of the paint.”
www.htrepanier.com
Fiona Ross
by Lauren Vincelli
Her recent drawings play on that sort of goalsetting, with the ambition of making drawings where everything touches. This is a play on the idea of a labyrinth or a meditation technique known as “threading”. Much of her new work includes just a single line woven back and forth on a surface. Sharp U-turns in the line create accusatory fingers Ross spent many years a sculptor fascinated pointing in judgment. Ross recalled her mother’s by nature. Her geode-like sculptures adage, “When you point at someone three fingers highlighted an original use of delicate and are pointing back at you.” durable materials like iron oxide, porcelain and feldspar. For as much time as Ross spent Images from news and popular culture are on these works, she allowed gravity, fire and sometimes woven into these meticulous line nature to affect the work as well. The glasslike, drawings, but are quickly swallowed in the labyrinth glossy texture of some materials and the of ink. Recently Ross has been using her own outline parched, cracked and charred surfaces of as a feature in her work-- an interesting addition to others lent a beautiful juxtaposition to her her already fingerprint-like designs. work that left viewers to think on nature vs. Ross is thoroughly invested in the Richmond arts nurture. community. She has served on the board and in Her early drawings took on some of the several other committees at 1708 Gallery since same sculptural forms as her earlier kiln 2005. Ross is an adjunct professor of sculpture at work. Delicate Japanese paper warped and the University of Richmond. Her work is represented puckered under the intensely black, shiny, locally by ADA Gallery. Ross’s sculptures, paintings plastic-like sumi-e ink. Her painstakingly and drawings have shown all over the country and organized designs were filled in with organic as far away as China, South Korea and India. She shapes resembling the cracked surface of is currently preparing for a site-specific show at a dry desert. Her goal was to make a work Hollins University titled “Walking the Parallels to where nothing touched. Ross often sets goals Terminus.” The show will open January 7, 2010. for her work in this way.
Fiona Ross, 44, brings electricity to her drawings, working with ideas of connection and separation. Her recent drawings have become a bit more autobiographical, with the addition of her own silhouette serving as a basis for many of her new works.
www.fionaross.net
Catherine Brooks Interview by S. Preston Duncan
The familiar stor y wo uld be abo ut a talented ar tist who cultivated their aesthetic voice in a small city with a rich undergro und culture, attained a following, and moved away to a region known for making celebrities o ut of painters, where collectors and galleries pick talent like grapes at a discerning vineyard and auction their wares to affluent patrons. And that’s the stor y of Catherine Brooks, but it doesn’t end there, and lucky for Richmond. Catherine recently returned from LA, and her work is a testament to vision and craft. Her images are impeccably rendered juxtapositions of feminine beauty with the darker elements of existence; insects and ethereal depictions of nature. They are sexual and morbid, and not witho ut a cer tain Scorpio appeal. They illustrate a perspective on
the human condition that speaks to delicacy and vulnerability, sensuality and harshness, and maintain an exaltation of the human form that transcends the accomplishments of representational nudes. By por traying the supple amidst the austere, she elevates her subjects from attractive curiosities to heroically enduring allegories of perseverance and potential, revelator y transience, an embrace of fleeting idealism. Her work is haunting and unique, and harnesses a voice that many of her contemporaries have attempted to express, but fallen shor t of fully impar ting. Your use of ribbons seem to bind your figures without touching them, is this a reflection of socially imposed expectation? Is it something genderspecific, a statement on the general role of women in our culture?
I wonder if many people see the ribbons as binding. I know that the moment i finish a piece, all of my intentions become moot and the viewer becomes the authority on its content, but I want to star t off by saying it is highly improbable that I
will ever make a statement abo ut the general role of anyone with my work, and if I ever do then it is highly improbable that it will be accurate. I had hoped that in my winding ribbons and other line motifs that tend to def y gravity that I co uld in some way convey the energy that life can have and that some people seem to always be surro unded by. I love radiant people, and even more so than that I love being aro und people that recognize this energy and want to work with it defiant of the threatening entanglement it’s unwieldy nature tends to always have. To me, that desire is braver y in heroic propor tions. Where does a piece start? Do you work from photographs? Source images? Do the various components come together in the process, or are their arrangements more preconceived?
I often futily [sic] prearrange an idea for a painting. I work from photographs, images I have taken, images of friends or images of strangers off the internet. It doesn’t matter the so urce, an image will jump o ut at me that has some potential,
some hidden stor y I can draw o ut of it, so I save it or scan it into my reference files on my computer. A series will star t to form and I will make a new folder with images that I can use to convey a par ticular concept. Once a solid narrative forms I star t painting. It then quickly takes a life of its own and will demanding a completely different direction, or dive bomb into the abyss of my unfinished ar t pile.
“So much of life is chance; every moment is a freeze frame full of things free falling, ungerminated, but an instant from their realization. To capture this moment is one of the goals in my work.” I have to admit to being surprised at the size of your work when I first encountered it. Have you always worked with such small canvases, or is this something you’ve been experimenting with recently? Is there a conceptual basis for this, or is it a matter of comfort within scale?
In a classic nod to Hegel I want to make small, beautiful intriguing objects or giant pieces that dwar f the viewer and quiet them into a moment of awe. You recently moved back to Richmond from LA. Why? And how do you feel your surroundings affect your art?
Oi! Moving back to Richmond, VA was as awesome and influential for me as leaving it. The hot damp so uthern air wrapped a quilt of pungent odors and lightening bugs aro und me when I took my break laying in a hammock at 7:30 ever y evening. I loved it. There is so much historical lamina, patched and anchored. That quilt doesn’t get put away in the fall, it gets another layer. It is so vivid. It has been a year of personal loss for me. This has been my first obser vance of the fall season in 4 years and just having seasons again has helped soothe and patch the worn par ts. Having moved into Oregon Hill I am conveniently surro unded by my favorite par ts of the city and some amazing people. I have been collaborating a lot with some
amazing people since I moved back. I think it might be my favorite par t… You recently had a show at Gallery 5 that was a collaboration of more installation, sculpturally based pieces. Are you leaning towards multi-dimensional work for the future, or was this just a foray into something different for its own sake?
Despite my clearly illusion dominant work I have always been fascinated by ar t as object, and constantly working on tangents in that direction. My original major as an undergrad at Pratt was sculpture, but only recently I have I been able to marr y my love of object, illusion, and fascination with scale. Before I left LA, I was working at a sculpture fabrication studio, and it renewed a sense of accessibility in sculpture and installation to me. I love it! Making work with Tamara was one of the most natural things I have ever done. One of the major reasons for moving back to Richmond was my aspiration to attend grad school at VCU. Regardless of my future mariculation can only see it getting cooler from here. If I’m not mistaken, your mom’s a landscape artist. What influence has that had on your work, if any?
My mother ’s love of gardening and my time working for her has had a tremendo us influence in my work. In the early years of Bloomin’ Gardens (her business here in Richmond) there were several generations of women working together at what she referred to as “ladies gardening” . For years we shared generations of stories over the tops of the flowers we cared for. Those ecosystems provided a framework and context to talk abo ut the more complicated par ts of life. That is where my imager y comes from. The concept of my last show, “The Seeded Wind” comes from the idea of pregnant creative whims, is also a direct reference to a force in my life that was both a reality and a metaphor. Yo u can work in yo ur garden never noticing that a plant has volunteered and grown tall right in front of yo u, it’s yo ur garden, and yo u define what is a weed and no one else. So much of life is chance; ever y moment is a freeze frame full of things free falling, ungerminated, but an instant from their realization. To capture this moment is one of the goals in my work.
Who do you make art for? Do you have a target audience or is it simply an expression of something internal with little consideration towards public perception?
“So much of life is chance; every moment is a freeze frame full of things free falling, ungerminated, but an instant from their realization. To capture this moment is one of the goals in my work.”
For me, painting is not often an active intentional thing, I constantly feel like someone else made it. The works feel completely unfamiliar when I am finished with them. But I definitely acknowledge the collective when I am thinking abo ut what I want to contribute to it. Like a creative limbic eruption of o ur collective my ths I want to bring to the sur face the stories that sew together o ur identities …semiotically, we are conditioned to translate more information o ut of images of people, so on a technical level, I paint figuratively
because I need a vocabular y that is accessible to a wider audience. I’m not sure how much of it is a contradiction or just extremely arrogant to create something that is ver y much an internal expression, and then hope it will contribute or represent in some authentic way to o ur cultural perceptions. Perhaps it is the complete honesty with which Catherine Brooks cultivates her internal landscape, and the skill with which she expresses it, that allows for the accessibility of her work to her audience. In any case, her aesthetic vernacular hints at something universal, and gives voice to an element of the collective subconscious that has something valuable to contribute to the conversation of what it means to be beautifully human, alive, and dying.
thearborgeistproject.tumblr.com
image S. Preston Duncan
DRAWING BLOOD
By S. Preston Duncan Images courtesy of Ghostprint Gallery
Tattoos have always been the un-soliciting recipient of cultural stigmatization. The notion of the body as canvas has had a complicated relationship with police, potential employers, rival gangs, and the art world. Tattoo artists are generally seen as a seedy sub genre of the creative class, toiling under the negative associations of their epidermal medium. But as experimentalism and an openness to the non-traditional seeps into the consciousness of the new artistic movement, tattooists have found themselves transcending the marginalized confinements of their previously imposed occupational identity, and making work for galleries that is complimented by their inky profession, not devalued by it. One such opportunity for tattoo artists to showcase their work in other mediums is the annual Drawing Blood exhibit at the Ghostprint Gallery. The show runs through November 28th and includes the work of Daniel Albrigo, Jeff Srsic, Timothy Hoyer, and Phil Holt. I shot gallery owner Thea Duskin some questions about the vision behind this new Richmond tradition.
Where did the idea for this exhibition come from? How has it evolved? Being a tattoo artist myself is the most likely explanation for its origin. This is only the second year, so it will be interesting to see how it evolves! The first Drawing Blood was a massive group to represent variety, wheras consecutive years will focus on more work by a smaller group. As a concept I see it as discovery of the creative potential of a specific group of artists united by their craft. I hope to have a totally different and though-provoking juxtaposition every time.
Can tattoos be fine art? Is fine art ever restricted by medium? I don’t think of art as a restrictive concept, whether you term it fine or not I suppose is relative...... A lot of “fine� art these days is not exactly technically demanding so I think
it’s a bit of a misnomer in the modern context. I think “Traditional” may be a better term for differentiating what used to be called “fine”. Why should one medium be taken more seriously than another? In my opinion, the only art legitimately up for exclusion is mass production.
How does this show seek to affect the general perception of the tattoo aesthetic? The Drawing Blood show concept (which we will continue every year) is to present tattoo artists working seriously in other mediums. In particular I want to show more versatility, and challenge the perception of tattoo artists doing “flash art.”
As a painter and tattoo artist, how does the creation of one differ psychologically/emotionally/creatively from the other? Is one more cathartic? Significant? Well, there’s a lot more pressure for the tattoo artist to be a perfectionist, whereas it’s safe to be 100 percent exploratory in other mediums.
I still feel there is plenty of room for experimentation and development of tattoo technique and style, but one is more conservative about pushing these limits. I think they are significant in different ways: a tattoo is hugely impacting on the individual who wears it (usually their lifetime); whereas a painting can affect the general public transcending generations, but is not necessarily something they look at daily.
Does tattooing fuel your painterly instincts or exhaust them?
Some of the work in this show seems visually connected to tattoo work, while other pieces do not at all. What were you It’s totally complimentary - the more you do one, looking for when curating this show? the more it informs the other. I generally prefer a painterly approach to tattooing, but also enjoy a somewhat traditional, graphic or line-based application when appropriate. It helps that I like to work in a lot of different mediums anyway.
I am after a good mixture of styles and ideas, particularly atypical styles (at least in tattoo culture), to drive home the idea that tattoo artists are more multi-dimensional than the public is typically aware of, and to encourage tattooists to express themselves individually.
JOSHUA BARBER
Interview By R. Anthony Harris
In the center of Joshua Barber sleeps an optimist. His thoughts put to canvas might not immediately speak of that to the casual glance but there is hope in there. He speaks in a child’s voice having conversations with adults about adult things.
Why did you get into creating art ? Art is a family tradition. I was fortunate to be exposed to different avenues within the art world even before my first kiss. I was that runny nosed kid at exhibits looking for the pepperoni cheese dip because my folks didn’t feel like getting a babysitter. I was encouraged at a young age because I showed a little bit of promise, but it really wasn’t until I became a young adult and started to have fun with art that I started to think about it as a career. Then I realized everything I had absorbed as a child. So long and short, fun.
“Before I Just Wished You Would Die, Not So Much Now”, “I Come For Your Women, But Only Your Women” “Ground Control, We’ve Got A Problem Here”. When the titles of your pieces are read back to back, the viewer gets a glimpse of your inner dialogue. Do you ever feel like you are revealing too much to total strangers? Definitely. I’ve been developing my style for over ten years now. Now that I’ve mastered my technique -muted colors, rough lines and balanced composition -- there have been times where I’ve felt like the bread maker who can bake bread in my sleep. That’s an unsettling and a very unfulfilling feeling. For me to continue to challenge myself, I need to feel a sense of vulnerability with my work. What better way than just laying out all your cards on the table and saying “bring it”. After that there is no fear because you’re honest about where you stand and you can’t turn back.
The titles seem to be of equal importance to the paintings themselves. What if they didn’t have titles, would the meaning be lost? The meaning would be lost, but the feeling wouldn’t. I’ve always focused on the feeling of a piece as my primary objective. The titles have been the conclusion and the
“ I need to feel a sense of vulnerability with my work. What better way than just laying out all your cards on the table and saying bring it.�
icing on the cake. Do I use wordplay to assign meaning? Perhaps. Or do I use words to help communicate the deeper ideas behind my art? Only an audience can really decide that. I like paint and I like words. I think it’s fine for them to hold hands and be friends.
Are you the characters speaking in first person to the viewer? Am I imagining this? No. They are.
Dead things, playful nightmares, innocent horrors, why do you find yourself coming back to the dark side over and over again? The intention of my work isn’t to ruminate over the dark side of life, but to make light of the darkest corners. Everyone is lonely. Loneliness pervades all the moments we collect in life. It feeds our darkest moments, whether the innocent fear you feel two hours after hearing your first ghost story or something more sinister, like profound regret. We, as people, have the ability to put on many faces, but the truth of
the matter is that we’re all the same. I feel my work connects the dots and lets us realize that we’ve all been in each other’s shoes. My greatest joy is when I see people actually laughing at a piece. At that point, I feel accomplished.
Do you ever step back, look at the whole of your portfolio and wonder what people think? Does it matter? The funny thing is that I don’t have to wonder...I’ve been asked every question under the sun. Did I have a bad upbringing? Do I have major mental issues? Is there something that I’m blocking from my past? Nothing could be farther from the truth. I feel that I create work that sometimes people are afraid of thinking about themselves, so they project it back on me. Does it matter? No. I’ve found myself more concerned about their opinion of my cooking skills than my painting ability. At the end of the day, it’s art...it comes with the territory.
joshuabarberfineart.com
All of these awkward paradigm shifts are beginning to make me queasy. Every time I’ve sat and begun to gather notes on bands that are emerging (I’m fighting my hands to keep from putting that word in quotation marks), I’m unnerved by how quickly the internet is digesting and shitting out bands. Keeping up with the trends is starting to make me feel sleazy, as if we’re all feeding into some unsustainable bubble. Even so, this is a beast that begs to be viewed from different angles. We’re living in a time in which bands can go from non-existent to blog sensations in little over a month, most recently evidenced by Washed Out, a solo project by a mid-twenties South Carolinian that went from his bedroom at his parents’ house to a feature on his first live show in the New York Times in a span of three months. This artistic vampirism has now begun to descend on rural pockets of Virginia. Whereas once musicians relied on a city and a scene in which to cultivate themselves, earn a following, and enjoy all the incestuous perks that go along with sharing band members and significant others, the lurching zeitgeist has begun to fetishize the rural. Among these are Eternal Summers, a jittery pop group from Roanoke, who have found themselves increasing their profile in influential circles exponentially within the past six months, and have become fast-tracked with adulation from Pitchfork and gaining coveted spots at CMJ. The same can be said for
Blacksburg’s Wild Nothing, a bedroom recording project that has suddenly started popping up everywhere online thanks to a dreamy cover of Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting.” Both are artists whose relatively obscure locales (at least to those outside of Virginia) have played a role in their increased visibility. This isn’t to say that the music they make doesn’t warrant the attention, but it’s no secret that we’re living in an age where a compelling angle is more important than ever for an artist. We are now operating less on a band’s aesthetic presence and more on an interesting personal story or synopsis. We’re not scanning album artwork in a record bin anymore, but merely scrolling over paragraphs punctuated by streaming audio. This is a boon for bands who aren’t operating in a metropolitan scene, but it can also create a horrifyingly hostile environment for the bands once they leave home. Take for instance the band Girls, who appeared on the national stage mere months ago on the strength of their Californian melodies, Elvis Costello whine, and, most of all, a backstory that included a cult, mountains of drugs, a Texas millionaire, and a dozen other press points that rang with the sort of sensationalism of the Weekly World News . This hype storm took them directly to Rolling Stone, Spin, Pitchfork , and every other major music outlet here and climbing aboard either out of true enthusiasm or the fear of looking out of touch (I’m looking at you, Spin ) while backing an album that is a passable pop record containing a collection of songs singer Chris Owens casually notes are the first he’s ever written. This isn’t to say they’re bad ,
per se, or that there needs to be some magical period of development. Leonard Cohen’s first record was released when he was thirty-four and contained his first forays into songwriting, and rings as masterful many decades later. However, that record had time to gestate, and now that Girls have embarked on their first headlining tour after being in the public consciousness mere months, things are starting to get ugly. Writer David Maltz of the Washington Post fired the first deafening shot after their DC show by stating: “Girls played an hour-long set that was amateur in quality and execution and not even engaging enough to qualify as boring. Usually talking at shows is an annoyance; last night you just wanted the conversations -- and they became more prominent as the night went on -- to be louder so there might be something interesting to listen to in the club.” This, I assure you, will be the first of many articles determined to “expose” the band as charlatans. This is being done by the same press that saddled a band that was, admittedly, quite naïve and inexperienced. Eternal Summers faced a similar problem after playing a sub-par show at CMJ (I should note that they were nothing short of magnetic the last time I saw them) and had the blogosophere nipping at their heels the next day. Each of these bands are perpetually at risk of failing to live up to the bizarre expectations of their preying benefactors. In short, I couldn’t be happier for the bands in the state who are getting attention that they deserve, as well as labels like Shdwply Records, The Perpetual Motion Machine, and others who do a great job at pushing past any of the limitations that their location could impose. Still, I can’t help but feel apprehensive that once this wave crests, even the most talented among those riding it will get a raw deal by those desperate to move onto the next trend. It’s a frightening time to be loved.
REVIEWS
Jemina Pearl Break It Up
Ecstatic Peace Records www.jeminapearl.blogspot.com
Jemina Pearl’s solo debut picks up where her former band, Be Your Own Pet, left off. Their snotty punk attitude is tempered here by a dose of bubblegum tunefulness--think Bikini Kill mixed with the early Go-Gos--but the rebellious spirit still comes through loud and clear. Pure, irresponsible fun. - Andrew Necci
Converge
Axe To Fall Epitaph Records www.convergecult.com
If you thought Converge couldn’t create another masterpiece this late in their career, think again. Filled with blasting speed, brutal breakdowns, and the most memorable thrash riffing Converge have yet produced, Axe To Fall is comparable to their 2001 classic, Jane Doe. An absolute must for fans of metallic hardcore. - Andrew Necci
The Flaming Lips
Lightning Bolt
Brand New
Reprise Records www.flaminglips.com
Load Records www.loadrecords.com
Interscope Records www.fightoffyourdemons.com
25 years into their career, The Flaming Lips have reinvented themselves again, leaving behind the sunshine pop of their last few albums for a harsher psychedelic sound that may alienate recent converts. But dig deeper--the overdriven keyboards that dominate Embryonic hide hypnotically beautiful tunes that reward the patient listener. - Andrew Necci
Noisecore duo Lightning Bolt returns with another installment of distorted bass, effects-laden vocals, and hyperkinetic drumming, which they combine into frantic grooves that rattle stereo speakers and make listeners dizzy. Their fifth album holds no surprises for longtime listeners, but is a solid addition to their consistent discography . - Andrew Necci
Brand New continue to expand their stylistic boundaries with this experimental album, which juxtaposes screamed hardcore songs with whispered ballads and rejects the accessibility of their earlier work. Daisy is a difficult and intermittently enjoyable album, and while it may satisfy diehard fans, is unlikely to win new converts. - Andrew Necci
Embryonic
Earthly Delights
Daisy
Send your 50 word reviews to Landis@rvamag.com
by Shannon Cleary
“Show posters are definitely some of the purest examples of my work on my terms. Whatever visual ideas I’m rolling around in my head usually show up with little filter in these posters.” –Spencer Hansen
“There is almost always some sort of personal connection for me. I’m not often working on something I don’t already care about. I tend to treat each project as if it were my own and a lot of the time it is.” – Brandon Peck
“I am definitely influenced by the music of the band playing the shows, or often the words involved in the names of the band will serve as a jumping off point for some kind of imagery” – Katie McBride
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Exile 935 W Grace St Richmond, VA 23220-4124 (804) 358-3348
LIMITED EDITION SCREENPRINTED LOCAL SHOW POSTERS range from $20-45
Plan 9 Records 3012 W. Cary Street Richmond, VA 23221 (804) 353-9996 www.plan9music.com
METAL FLASKS & CIGARETTE CASES $14–28
Bygones Vintage Clothing 2916 W Cary Street Richmond, VA 23221 (804) 353-1919 www.bygonesvintage.com
DEANNA MILLER’S MISSING MONSTER STUFFED TOYS
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND SINGLES 1966-1969 BOXSET $45.95
$40.00
Deep Groove Records 317 N. Robinson Street Richmond, VA 23220 (804) 278-9112 www.deepgroovevinyl.com
Deanna Miller www.missingmonsters.com
DIGITAL SCMHIGITAL
IT’S ALL ABOUT LO-FI ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHY THESE DAYS
$65.00
Quirk Gallery 311 W Broad Street Richmond, VA 23220 (804) 644-5450 www.quirkgallery.com
JULIA DENT JEWELRY $19.95
Rumors 404 N Harrison St Richmond, VA 23220-3615 (804) 726-9944 www.rumorsownsyou.tumblr.com
RETRO DUO
PLAY YOUR NES AND SNES FAVORITES ON THE SAME SYSTEM! $49.99 AVAILABLE IN 4 DIFFERENT COLORS
Play N Trade 2930 Cary Street Richmond, VA 23221 (804) 353-7529 www.playntradecarytown.com
TESS SHEBAYLO’S ALWAYS MIDNIGHT HAIR ACCESSORIES $5 - $45 PRICE RANGE www.etsy.com/shop/alwaysmidnight
Always Midnight and other local artisans will be at the Bizarre Market Holiday, November 27th through December 24th at Chop Suey Books in Carytown. Along with the Handmade Holiday event December 11th and 12th and the Visual Arts Center of Richmond at 1812 Main Street Richmond, VA 23220 www.richmondhandmadeholiday.com
COMUNE PEREZ SWEATER $118.00
EL HEFE PIPE $250.00
Kulture 2 1/2 N 18th St Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 644-5044 www.kultureva.com
TITLED BOUND GAGGED SLINGER & SNIC CUSTOM BUBBLER. ETCHED WITH AUDREY HEPBURN $555.00
Need Supply Co. 3010 West Cary Street Richmond, VA 23221 804.767.1825 www.needsupply.com
The Toast of Richmond wRiR 97.3 FM richmond independent radio radio for the rest of us online at wRiR.oRg