Art is hard. There’s just no way around that fact. Sometimes you’re going to encounter something challenging and odd to your sensibilities and ask “What is that?”

The forthcoming split/collab between B|_ank and R. Stevie Moore is certain to stir up those feelings. “RSM Take One (Hum)” is a collage of Moore’s non-sequitors and meandering keyboards that turns into a berating reminder to call your mom.

The video is an equally entrancing and baffling undertaking. The nude, slithering character moves about to the track in an improvisational manner that waffles between eloquent and graceful to something out of a horror movie.

I can’t confess to understanding it – either the song or the video. There’s a press release that accompanies it that states that the piece is “a stark reaction to the passivity of contemporary culture” as well as pointing out that the entire thing is “ridiculous, impulsive, and jarring.” It likely doesn’t mean anything but serves as a strange entryway into the world of B|_ank. You decide if that’s journey intriguing.

Both acts will play The East Room on Jan 27th. Here’s the details.

On March 2nd, Fat Possum will release the debut record from Sophie Allison’s Soccer Mommy project, entitled Clean. The label “debut” is a bit of a misnomer given that she has more than a handful of releases going back to 2015 but who am I to question marketing? No one, that’s who.

The first single, “Your Dog”, comes accompanied by this great video in which Soccer Mommy herself celebrates the death and dismemberment of a presumed ex-lover. It’s disturbing in that American Psycho kind of way.

One of the primary goals of We Own This Town is to dispel the myth that Nashville is only capable of a handful of musical styles. Our community is capable of a mind-boggling diverse amount of music and we want to ensure you’re aware of that.

Enter The Mad Gear, a band highly devoted to Video Game Music. This raging version of TMNT IV’s score to the “Technodrome” should be evidence enough of their devotion but they took it way further by collaborating with Brain Jar on their own game and soundtrack. The Mad Gear: Go Right and Fight! is a five-stage side scroller beat-em-up akin to Double Dragon, Final Fight and Ninja Gaiden. If all that is gibberish to you, just know that it’s a classic formula for button mashing and absurd scenarios.

The soundtrack is a high energy 8-bit chiptune undertaking that seems to stay true to the limited musical palette the old systems offered. There’s no bad track to start with but “Of Course He Has a Base on the Moon” will give your palette the taste it needs to decide if this is right for you.

Kellen of Troy, aka Kellen Wenrich, has played alongside a long list of notables (Jenny Lewis, Mumford and Sons, The Wild Feathers, RayLand Baxter) but is likely best known to Nashville residents as the fiddle player in The Apache Relay. He released his Sad Bastard EP in 2017 and is now following up with a proper full-length.

The debut LP, Posthumous Release, is due Feb 16th and is preceded by a few singles: “Selfish Kind of Love” and “So You Found Yourself a Rockstar“. Both give a good indication of the sort of diversity you’ll find on the forthcoming record. The former being an indie-folk tale with confessional self-deprecation firmly in tow and the later being more of a Dr. Dog-esque pop/rock ditty fully vetted for summertime vibes.

This going to sound real shitty but Cover Art can be a deceiving undertaking. From the face of it, you might think this Christopher Sur EP is an homage to alterna-rock, the soundtrack to some eXtreme skydiving or maybe a Trent Reznor tribute. No offense to the graphic artist involved but those first impressions are incorrect.* This four song collection is a tribute to wonders of 60’s pop creations. In Sur’s own words:

At some point, every Beatles and Beach Boy lover makes their Beatle or Beach Boy record. I guess this is mine…

There are some obvious nods trickled throughout – like the countdown in “Words of Twain” or the pounding drums in “Setting Sun” – but it’s largely a vibe that’s being captured here. Comparisons to the Beatles and/or Beach Boys is a lofty and dangerous game but these songs are clearly coming from a place of adoration. I’ve listened to Find My Way (Tomorrow)” a half a dozen times already; as that rolling piano gives a soothingly familiar, melancholy, feel.

Seriously, no disrespect! The cover isn’t bad, it just caught me by surprise.

Third Man Records announced that they’ll be releasing a new Brendan Benson 7″ for “Half a Boy (And Half a Man)” on Friday, Feb. 19th to independent record stores with an exclusive b-side. Fortunately, they’ve made the A side available digitally, right now.

The track seems to harken more to his bigger rock sound from 2012’s What Kind of World and the press release hints at a full-length coming sometime soon. Specifically, Benson says “I’ve been producing and co-writing so much that I kinda lost sight of myself. Making this album has brought me home again.”

One of the best things to happen when mining for unearthed music in the Nashville area is stumbling upon an artist you’ve never heard previously mentioned that just so happens to have a huge catalog of works in a genre you’d never associate with the city.

There’s almost zero easily obtainable info available about Party Trash beyond their own Twitter bio; “most ignored producer since 2010.” That may be so but the latest release, squares, should not be ignored. It’s a surprising combination of softness and glitches that should be jarring and unsettling but it has an oddly calming effect.

With nearly 30 releases on Bandcamp there’s plenty more to dig into but squares serves as an excellent introduction to an artist doing something outside the norm.

For reasons I can not fully explain, I have a deep affinity for the work of E-Jail. His first release, simply titled The Name of this Band is E-Jail, features primary songwriter Rafer White on the cover, standing in his bathrobe and fluorescent shorts. The music is an eclectic mixture of beats, keyboard missives and rap-like vocals. It shouldn’t work but it does.

E-JAIL 2 continues that line of thinking. All of the elements of the first release are present but are now layered with crunchy vocals, Kayne inspired vocoders and whirling keyboard parts. It’s currently priced at $1000 USD for a single digital download.

There’s much here that could be confusing on paper but it’s best not to question when something surprising and new is appealing, just enjoy it.

The second full-length from Ohio transplant toehead, My Heart Pumps Piss For You, is exemplary in the DIY bedroom genre. It has a small and intimate vibe but still carefully pored over for additional, subtle, textures – like a faint drum beat or layered, meandering, guitars. 

It’s not filled with all-out rockers or self-indulgent acoustic ballads. It finds itself in that sweet spot between the two. It’s an altogether interesting and engaging listen with plenty of soft pop sensibilities that doesn’t blast away, vying for your attention.