When last we checked in with Billy Anderson, he had re-released Billy Again Lately, a 1977 collaboration with R. Stevie Moore that hit all the right spots when it comes to DIY, slightly-off-kilter pop songs. Now he’s released Obstinato (Instrumental Encounters) and it’s a wildly different release.

Aside from the fact that it’s instrumental, the production and instrumentation here veers heavily into an almost Muzak zone. It’s borderline corny but entrancing with its variety. Tracks like Aylin Pearl are atmospheric and ambient, while Which Way to the Lido Deck? has a full-on beach resort vibe.

I can’t say this is for everyone but with track titles like Does God Believe in Atheists? or Step Away from the Bobbleheads, I have to imagine that Anderson has a sense of humor and embraces the production on these songs as a conscious limitation. It’s refreshingly different by being intentionally odd.

ONRI has been releasing music since 2012, with a decent hiatus from 2013 until now, with the release of Ephemera. The production here is thick and murky with the songs embracing an almost transcendental state of immersion. Each track is filled with spacey, squiggly guitars and vocals that feel more instrumental than instruction.

Are those bizarre adjectives to describe an EP of guitar based songs? Maybe but they’re also not inaccurate. This is a collection of songs best listened to with the lights low and extremely loud speakers to let it wrap you in its offerings.

Last we heard from Gram Ash, aka Wyatt Whit, was his Grape Lung EP, a pleasant exploration of psychedelia. Now, just a scant two months later, he’s released a follow-up EP, Welcome to the Elevator.

In terms of genre, he’s exploring similar territory with psychedelic style vocals and some brooding, tension build drums but he’s gone darker. That’s not to say that this EP is heavier or more riff based but the content and execution is decidedly more deranged. Like an acid trip veering off course, the vocals ripple with derangement, sounds swirl in and out and you’re pulled further down the rabbit hole.

There’s a decidedly more uplifting tone to the final track, which is a welcome emergence from the path previously traveled. All and all, it’s a well crafted experience that keeps you listening through the duration… and that’s no easy task these days.

In all honesty, a huge part of me hoped that this series of instrumental loops from bloopr was paying homage to the doot meme. The user avatar seems to insinuate that bloopr is at least aware of the nod to the best 1 second video on YouTube but, alas, there are no doots to be found here.

Despite that initial disappointment*, the beats offered here are pleasant and provide a nice backdrop for your daily activities. There’s even a b-side collection to go along with them that I may like even more than the primary offering. There’s a soulful vibe throughout each track that seems ripe for leveraging in a project where the songs are longer than 1:30. Nice work bloopr.

* consider this a challenge, Nashville needs more doots.

Lava Gulls started as a Knoxville band but have since moved their primary members to Nashville since late 2017, so now we can claim them as our own. Their debut full-length, Artifacts, is a sample-driven escapade that pits dance-y beats against a vaguely foreboding set of arrangements.

Much like the works of Animal Collective (or later era Flaming Lips), there’s an optimistic vibe seeping out throughout the album but each track is steeped in a darker tone. Maybe that’s being too esoteric about the production style but listening ever so slightly to the lyrics reveals that there’s some soul searching going on, which is reflected nicely in these opposing forces.

On the whole, the album is easy to imagine being performed live in a tiny, sweaty, room with a cathartic audience dancing themselves through the experience.

To call the the debut album from drumonymity ominous would be underselling it. Much like the heaviest offerings from bands like Mogwai, this is brooding, tension filled and dark.

Fortunately, it’s not all caricature or absurdly heavy for the sake of being heavy, there’s melody and drama built in to these songs that gives it an enjoyable cinematic feel. Tracks like “Human Stranding” will definitely register as brutal, big riff escapades but the later half of the album stretches out into some more melodic, almost psych-rock, areas (see “Life at Double Speed“).

All and all, another great entry for the examples of diversity of music coming out of Nashville.

I’ve been hearing output from Datenight since 2015 when they posted rough demos for the world to hear. In that time, they’ve played a bunch, refined their recordings, released some videos and have now officially unleashed their debut – Comin’ Atcha 100MPH.

The title is fitting as the music within is a bombastic onslaught of fast paced songs and punkish snarls. I can only imagine the sweat filled rooms this gets moving when performed live with audiences yelping along with the choral refrains of songs like “On the Block.”

There’s not a single song here over 2 minutes 30 seconds, a fitting structure for a band rooted in punk styles and even better for keeping the energy high for the duration.