Volume 99

We Own This Town: Volume 99

Welcome to 2018! While an astronomer might be quick to point out that there is nothing astronomically significant about January 1st, it works quite well as a time to refresh and begin again. A Fresh Start if you will. We’re hurdling into the new year by posting another 25 minutes of great local music, some of which is already available in EP and LP forms and some of which we have to wait a few months to be released in their entirety. Regardless, we’ve got a lot to look forward to this year and Volume 99 is just a taste of it.

  • Peachtea – Pt. 1
  • Lionlimb – Maria
  • Mouth Reader – Eyes Sink
  • Two Chalfonts – Kings Highway (Tom Petty)
  • Tape Deck Mountain – Halo
  • Woodsplitter – Heart Of It All
  • daas – Beads

*repeat repeat - “Baby It’s 2018″

As the year winds down now is the perfect time to remind you of a few facts about *repeat repeat:

  • They put on a scorching live show.
  • They released the second full-length record, Floral Canyon, on Dangerbird Records in 2017 and it’s excellent. Do Listen.
  • They are a funny bunch.

That last point is best exemplified by their antics of their podcast but there’s a quality dose of humor in the bands latest release, a quasi-Christmas song entitled “Baby It’s 2018.” It’s a short and silly treat here at the end of the year.

Smart Objects – “The Autumn Man” (Official Video)

Back in August we shared the first single from Ben Harper’s new project, Smart Objects, “The Autumn Man.” Hopefully it’s been in your rotation since that time because it’s a damn fine piece of pop work. 

Since that time, the band has been releasing a series of short films that, once stitched together, serve as the official music video for the track. There’s a clever bit of consistency throughout the pieces but, on the whole, it’s a wildly varied collection of animations. If you’re watching it and find yourself getting bored, just wait 10 seconds and some new and intriguing style will appear.

Rales – “Windsor Pl”

2018 is really gearing up to be a great year of new releases. Here’s some more evidence of that factual statement: Rales just released the first track off their forthcoming album, Air Lift. We’ll have to wait until January 12th of next year to hear the whole thing but if “Windsor Pl” is any indication of what’s in store, it’s going to be a good one.

Woodsplitter – May All Your Post Rock Dreams Come True

Woodsplitter, the genre hopping side project of All Them Witches Ben McLeod, has another new instrumental album to indulge in. Like the previously released Journey Into Krautrock and Egyptian Overlord before that, McLeod picks a flavor and dives in deep, embracing the tropes of a particular style but always with his own enjoyable twist. May All Your Post Rock Dreams Come True is, obviously, his version of quiet-to-loud arrangements the likes of Explosions in the Sky, 65daysofstatic and Mogwai (of which there is even a cover). The songs build with tension until releasing into some overtly epic onslaught of sound, best listened to at the highest of volumes.

It’s refreshing for a project to give itself such particular boundaries and still find such successful execution.

Two Chalfonts – “Merry Christmas Will Do”

I’m all for a maudlin, introspective, Christmas tune but sometimes it’s nice to get an infusion of upbeat pop-rock for the holiday season. Enter Two Chalfonts cover of Material Issue’s “Merry Christmas Will Do” – a seemingly happy song cut with melancholy lyrics if you’re paying attention. 

Two Chalfonts is John from The Lee’s of Memory and Andy from *repeat repeat. Thus far they’ve released two covers and I secretly hope that’s their masterplan for the entirety of the band. 

Mouth Reader – “Eyes Sink”

Start your weekend off right with the blazing new track “Eye Sinks” from one of Murfreesboro’s finest psych rock bands, Mouth Reader. I can only hope this means a full-length lies in wait for us in 2018.

Tristen – “Crying on Christmas Day”

Great to see Tristen keeping with her holiday tradition of releasing a new song in December. This years offering, “Crying on Christmas Day”, is a somber number but well suited for a time of year where we reflect. This pushes melancholy to its limits, in the most pleasingly moving of ways.

All purchases of the track go to Doctors Without Borders, so you can do some good this Christmas with very little effort.

Volume 98

We Own This Town: Volume 98

December is, historically, a time for reflecting on the year’s previous releases – a worthy practice if ever there was one. However, there’s still plenty of great recent releases that haven’t been highlighted on our show and that just simply will not stand. If the WOTT Music podcast is a time capsule of the great music our city has to offer, we’re going to forge ahead with documenting those releases. There may be a Best Of episode in our future but until 2017 has completely run out of steam, we’re going to keep highlighting newness.

  • The Subnovas – I Cannot Stop
  • Kim Logan – Ladyboy
  • Joshua Morse – Demon Seed (Castlevania 3)
  • Robyn Hitchcock -Time Coast
  • Nightblonde – Let’s Go To Bed (The Cure)
  • HARI – All My Darkest Dreams
  • PANGS – VANISHING POINT
  • Soccer Mommy – Inside Out
  • Spodee Boy – Sweating

Vaporwave Christmas Story

Contemporary Tapes is a Nashville based label focused on highlighting releases from the experimental and vaporwave electronic genres. They’ve released albums from locals such as Palm Spring and Strange Æons but their latest release compiles songs from artists across the country to create a surprisingly pleasing, far-out Christmas album.

Typically,  Vaporwave and Christmas would seem to be two ideas that would never work well together but this comp proves that theory 100% incorrect. Listening to “All I Want For Christmas Is You” or “The Scut Farkis Affair” it’s clear that there’s room for plenty of new styles in the Christmas genre. 

While many of these artists are not Nashville based, Contemporary Tapes is from our fine city and serves as the mastermind behind bringing this all together. I applaud them for pulling it off.