Teenapalooza III is Sunday afternoon at the Jewish Mother Hilltop and they’ve assembled a great lineup.  The lineup is Alana Springsteen, Zig Zag, User Friendly, Coastland, Just Folks, Matt Shwayze and The UnXpected.  Alana, who wowed the crowd at the Sugarland concert by singing Baby Girl with them, is currently writing songs with Sugarland’s Kristian Bush for her upcoming album.  Tickets are $10 are can be purchased at the door.

Our thoughts and well-wishes go out to Carl Morris, vocalist of the hard rock band KNucKLE, who is recovering from a serious motorcylce accident this past weekend.  He suffered a badly broken arm and leg and is recovering at a Fredricksburg hospital but will hopefully be home this weekend.  As you know, our local musicians work their butts off for little pay, so please check out their Facebook page to see if there is anything you can do.

That’s all for me today.  Stay cool and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC!

Whenever the duo of Rob Devinney and Brett Helke team up, you know something sonically beautiful is going to come out of it.  Case in point, Fall of Transition’s Distractions, their previous venture, is still one of my favorite albums.  So it comes to no surprise that Black Blinds would be just as impressive.

Combining the best of the ’80′s new wave and post-punk eras, Black Blinds give you a pulse-beating musical experience.  Taking in the best influential parts of Depeche Mode, The Cure and a touch of The Fixx, Black Blinds add in their own flavors that take your mind on a cosmic voyage like in title track Morphine and into the deep abyss like in Don’t Let Me Sleep.  This is a fantastically deep record that pulls you into to each story and makes you want more.

I highly recommend grabbing this record when it hits July 2 (iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and everywhere) as this will be one of your mainstay albums for the summer.

Black Blinds (2013) *****

1. Morphine
2. The Bending
3. Ghosts
4. Bloodbath
5. Unholy Savoir
6. Don’t Let Me Sleep
7. Skin and Stone
8. Holes in the Solace
9. Portraits of the Dead
10. Night Terrors

A small little county bar off of 295 will get fueled up with the rock sounds of the 757.  Three of our favorite Live Music Friday family alums, Seven Ten Oil, Revery and Like A Storm are taking over Cullens Cove in Mechanicsville Saturday night.  Like A Storm, who will be on the show next Friday, are in the middle of their sold out Adrenaline Intoxication US tour and are making their first headlining stop in the Richmond area.  The Brooks Brothers have an enormous fan base here in the Hampton Roads market and they are always HUGE supporters of our local music scene.  They always enlist two to three local bands to open their shows and they’re doing just that on their Virginia leg.  Richmond rockers, Dividing Face, will open the show and then Seven Ten Oil and Revery will take the reigns.  Seven Ten Oil, fresh off of opening for Andrew WK this week, are no strangers to Richmond.  They frequently melt the faces off the crowd each time they’re there.  I’m going to pretty much guarantee that Revery will blow the roof of the joint.  This will be the first in a series of shows they’ll be performing in the summer, so I really recommend seeing them if you get a chance.

If you’re heading up there, make sure you say hey and don’t hesitate to buy me cold beverage and if you can’t make it, I’ll have a complete review of the show in my Monday post.  If you’re staying in the 757 this weekend, there are a couple of big shows to tell you about.  You can catch of the best tonight at the Jewish Mother Hilltop, Logan Vath will be headlining and our buddy Nate Sacks and JoAnna Lynne will also be performing.  Logan, whose album Better Man Or Ghost is a must-have, will be performing with his extremely talented consisting of members of Esbern Snare, Over The Ocean and Mae.  The show kicks off at 9p and tickets will be $10 at the door.

Speaking of Esbern Snare, they will be joining forces with Rekapse and The Aragona Project tomorrow night at the Jewish Mother Backstage.  Three incredibly talented bands under one roof and all for $7!  Esbern Snare is currently in the studio working on their debut album as is Rekapse, who are working at Timbaland’s Thomas Crown Studios.  The Aragona Project is also working on new material and you can catch them on The Hampton Roads Show Friday, June 28.

That’s all for me today.  Stay safe today as Andrea comes through our area and have a great weekend.  Get out there and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC!

First up, City Voices have announced the details for their final show.  It will be this Saturday at Peabody’s featuring 15 bands including LMF’s Matt Mason and Brother Speak.  The all-day event starts up at 3p and is just $10.  City Voices will be closing the show with an explosive set featuring never before played songs and they’ll be playing their new EP, Transparency, in it’s entirety.

Electronic rock duo, Black Blinds, are set to release their new album July 2 and it’s now available for pre-orders.  Just click this link to grab it on iTunes and check out their singles, Bloodbath and The Bending, here.  It’s a great, vintage ’80s dance club sound that is definitely sure to heat up your summer.

Our good friends, The Dahus, are currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on their debut LP.  They’ve been working with Mark Padgett (Logan Vath, Bear Crossing) for the last couple of months and offered a little preview of their song “Richard Parker”.  Check it out here.

Country sensation Noel DeLisle just released his new single from his upcoming debut album set to hit in November.  “Hey You, Carolina” is available on iTunes and Google Play Music.  You can also mark your calender for Friday, November 1 as he will our Live Music Friday featured artist.

Finally, I’m happy to announce that the blog will be hitting the road in the first installment of LMF: The Blog – Road Trip.  This Saturday, I’ll be heading up 64 to Richmond to catch a show full of LMFers.  Our awesome friends from New Zealand, Like A Storm are in the middle of their Adrenaline Intoxication US tour and will be making a stop in Richmond at Cullen’s Cove and our good friends Seven Ten Oil and Revery will be supporting.  This will be a great opportunity to see our local rock stars perform and showcase their sound for the Richmond faithful.  It’s going to be a packed house as Like A Storm has been selling out every show on this tour.  I’ll have complete coverage and if you can’t make the trip up then you can catch them at Smoked Out Friday, June 14 for FREE.

That’s all for me today.  I’ll catch up with you tomorrow with my summer playlist. 

You can always catch them live somewhere in town and this weekend they’ll be at Knuckleheads in VB (Friday), County Grill in Yorktown (Saturday) and Bikes, Blues and BBQ in Hayes (Sunday).  You can always keep up to date with Anthony’s schedule by clicking this nifty little link and if you missed their performance on the show, here it is:

We are off next Friday due to NBC’s coverage of the French Open but Live Music Friday is back June 14 with our awesome friends from New Zealand, Like A Storm!

Have a great weekend and I’ll catch up with you next week.  SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC

A couple of surprising band breakups to tell you about.  The first, which really caught me and everyone else by surprise, is the breakup of Virginia Beach’s City Voices.  They had just released their fantastic EP, Transparency,  and blew the roof off of Peabody’s with Pilot! and The Harley Sumabat Band at the Transparency release show.  No word on the reasoning for the departure but plans are in place for a farewell show and it will be announced tomorrow at 12p.

Another breakup to announce and this one touches home.  Subtle Skeptics announced Tuesday that their drummer has quit and their guitarist is taking a break thus leading to their breakup.  The reason this touches home is that they were scheduled to be our Live Music Friday featured artist this week.  This is a first in the short history of LMF but it’s part of the biz, so I was busy hitting the phones and emails getting someone in place in short notice.  Luckily our good friend Anthony Rosano and The Conqueroos came through and will be here tomorrow.   Anthony and the boys play some awesome and soulful blues and we’re super excited to welcome them back.

Gina Dalmas and the Cow Tippin’ Playboys are in the studio working on their new album.  Gina tells me that they’re looking at a late summer/early fall and knowing them, it is sure to be awesome.

Also working on new material are the guys from Revery.  They have been in a writing-palooza, coming up with fresh tunes each time they get together and recently debuted a new song this past weekend at Ghost Of April’s CD release show.

Both are stacking up the summer schedule with shows, so I bet they’ll be offering little teasers of what’s to come.  Make sure you hit their pages for up-to-date schedules.

That’s all for me today.  I have a lot of cool things in store for you this summer including new band profiles, record reviews and the first LMF Road Trip, where I’ll hit the road with a couple of local bands as they travel and play for the masses beyond the 757.  SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC

Our Live Music Friday featured artist this week is the muti-talented and award winning, The Fuzz Band.  They are releasing their first EP in 5 years and will be playing at the UMOJA Festival in Portsmouth Saturday night.  They also were the big winners at the 2013 VEER Local Music Awards, picking up Best Live Performer, Best R&B and Best Open Mic Night for their Fuzzy Wednesdays.

Ghost Of April is having a CD release party Friday night at Smoked Out in Virginia Beach.  They are releasing their new disc, Dead Philosophy, and admission is FREE.  So take the $10 you would spend at the door and buy a CD.  JACT, Dirty Rock and one of my personal favorites, Revery are opening the show.

That’s about it for me today.  I’ll catch up with you later in the week.  Get out there and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC!

Audiostrobelight has a new record out.  What You’re Running From dropped this week and you can grab it at your favorite digital download hole in the wall.  It’s pretty awesome and you should check out their high energy live show.  They have a FREE one coming up with our friends from Pilot! at Smoked Out off of Oceana Blvd. in VB Friday, May 31.  A show you should definitely check…especially since it’s FREE!

Our friends at The NorVa have recently been selected by Rolling Stone as one of the Top 20 Best Venues in the US of A.  A great honor for the venue and for our area.  They need your help in the Reader’s Poll for Best Venue.  Just click on this link and VOTE!  It’s your patriotic duty.

Now it’s time to announce the winner of the signed vinyl copy of The Last Bison’s Inheritance.  I received over 200 request for the album, which is awesome!  To give everyone a fair shot, I simply wrote down everyone’s name on a piece of paper, threw them in a bucket and picked a name.  The name I picked is Tanner Wells from Austin, TX.  Congrats Tanner and I’ll be shipping the record to you ASAP! 

That’s it for me and I’ll catch up with you tomorrow for Live Music Friday!  SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC!

One of my favorites bands, Revery, are filling out the calender with a slew of shows.  They will be supporting Ghost Of April’s CD release party Friday, May 24 at Smoked Out and then will head up 64 to Richmond with Seven Ten Oil to support Like A Storm’s return to Virginia.  They also have a big headlining show at the Jewish Mother Hilltop Saturday, June 29th.  Seven Ten Oil and Corbin Dallas will support and they promise a handful of surprises.  If I had to take a guess, I bet one of the surprises will be some new tunes they have been working on.  They are about to head into the studio to record the followup to their super awesome debut, Avarice & Absolution.  I have a feeling this will be an epic record. They will be adding some more dates throughout the summer, so make sure you click the this link to keep up to date with Revery.

Virginia Beach band, The Eleventh Hour are giving away their newest record, Therapy, for FREE.  That’s right: FREE.  Head on over to their bandcamp page and grab yourself a copy and if you can spare a few bucks, go ahead and pay a buck or two for it.

The Longfellow Street Music Collective will be releasing their new record, Longfellow St., this weekend.  It is a little bittersweet as they are hosting a CD release/going away show this coming Saturday.  Trey and Mallory are moving to New Orleans, so this will be their farewell Hampton Roads performance….or let’s say their last one here for a while.  They will also be our Live Music Friday featured artist this week, so make sure you tune in.  I’ll have more on their release show in Friday’s post.

The uber great Fuzz Band is gearing up to release their first EP in five years and they need to your vote in the Afro Punk Competition.  Click the link to help them out. 

That about wraps it up for me today.  For those who have emailed me about the signed copy of The Last Bison’s Inheritance, I will be announcing the winner Thursday.  Until then, get out and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC!

The band also singed a vinyl copy of Inheritance that I’m giving away.  If you want it, just shoot me an email at kyle.bloom@wavy.com and tell me you want it.  I will randomly select a name next week and send him or her this signed gem.